carrot cupcakes.

This is the first cupcake I have made that I probably will not taste.

snickerdoodle cupcakes.

One word: OMGWTFBBQYUM.

These were SO amazing! And I don't even like snickerdoodles! I think what made them so great was the frosting. And... I didn't use Martha's frosting. (I'm sorry!) Her recipe called for me to use her seven-minute frosting, which is not only nearly impossible to make, but it hardens? Instead, I made a simple (and AMAZING) frosting consiting of butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk. Simple, tasty, awesome.

I don't really know what else to say. These, I think, are my favorite cupcakes to date. And they'e not chocolate!. The mint-filled brownie ones were good but, oh man, these... they took the (cup)cake. (HAH!)

devil's food cupcakes.

Devil's Food cupcakes?! Yes PLEASE. I made these for my Dad's birthday. (I also must add that I am posting all these at once because I fell off the blog-about-my-cupcakes wagon, not beacuse I made all of these in one day.)

I actually made these twice. The first time, I added cream cheese instead of sour cream. Sounds... tolerable, right? No. Despite my mix-up, I stuck them in the oven anyway. They came out okay, but kind of crumbly and dry. So, I remade them correctly and they were nice. Not nearly as chocolate-y as I would have wanted for something that's called Devil's Food. Nevertheless, it was a good combo with the chocolate Ganche frosting, which was a little rough since I had to babysit it every five minutes to make sure it didn't harden too much. It did taste delicious though! Thumbs up all around.

buttery-something cupcakes.

I call these buttery-something cupcakes because I'm not really sure what they are. In a crunch (read: I didn't have my cupcake cookbook with me), I looked through Martha's website and found this recipe.

The cupcakes themselves were extra buttery and, although they were dense, they were so tasty. I ate a few without the frosting, even! Speaking of frosting, let me share my nightmare: vanilla buttercream frosting. Sure, it sounds delicious, but don't be fooled. It is the most labor-intensive thing I have ever made. What I should have made is this basic buttercream. The buttercream that I made was very, very airy. It was decent, but did not pair well with the dense cupcakes. I also was trying my hand at piping, so I attempted to pipe the buttercream, but it just came out weird. (Although that was probably due to my poor piping skills...)

So, cupcakes? Delicious. Frosting? Not worth the effort.

mint-filled brownie cupcakes.

Today I made mint-filled brownie cupcakes, from the aforementioned Martha Stewart book. They have a peppermint patty inside, which is pretty nice. They look like brownies and I was kind of worried because they were a little hard on the outside, but they taste great! I also was fortunate to avoid any sort of peppermint patty leakage, so they look nice, too!

Hopefully those who did not enjoy my applesauce-spice cupcakes will like these. (The complaint I got on my applesauce-spice cupcakes was that they "preferred chocolate." Well, guess what, I didn't make the cupcakes for you to tell me that you liked chocolate ones better! Sheesh.) Additionally, these are cupcakes without frosting! Since they have chocolate, I doubt they will be branded as muffins.

Anyway, I will deliver these to the usual suspects (my mother's house and work) and see how they rate.

applesauce-spice cupcakes.

Yesterday I made applesauce-spice cupcakes with cream cheese and brown sugar frosting. I received this book for Christmas this year, and it has already proven to be a very good source for all things cupcake. I expect that in the near future, most all of my cupcakes will come for this book. Thanks, Martha Stewart! (Wait a minute. Click on that link. Martha Stewart is SIXTY-EIGHT?!)

Anyway, these cupcakes were somewhat of a hit. They're different from the traditional chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, and would possibly be able to pull off the "muffin" title if it weren't for the frosting. (Followup questions: does frosting MAKE a cupcake? Can you have a cupcake without frosting, or would it be a muffin?)

la primera.

I like making people happy. Food usually makes people happy. If I make food for people, maybe they will be happy. (Clarification: good food will make people happy.)

Using this logic, I bake for others, not myself. (Usually.) I'm by no means a good baker, but I would like to think that I am mildly successful at making tasty treats due to my strict adherence to my one cardinal rule: follow the recipe. Granted, variety is the spice of life, and nothing says creativity like creating your own concoction of baked goodness. But baking is not the same as cooking. It's more of a science. There are more risks involved. There's less wiggle room. And until I become more confident in my skills, I'm sticking to my rule. I'm sticking to the recipe.