Memories, One Mess At A Time

Gwyneth has always joined me in the kitchen while I make cupcakes. It’s been a fun way to judge her development and see the different stages she’s going through.

For instance, she went through the sitting up stage where she sat on the counter and observed everything going on. If only I knew how easy it was when I thought it was so hard. Then she moved onto the curious stage which involved a lot of me saying ‘don’t touch the mixer’ and now she’s into the ‘I want to do everything stage.’ This stage requires a lot more patience on my behalf as ingredients get tossed in haphazardly and 90% of the time completely miss the bowl.

 It’s always a lesson I need to remind myself of each and every time: the mess will be cleaned up in an hour, but the memories we’re making will last forever. So as I cringed while the powdered sugar  flung about the kitchen and all over our clothes, it was the moment when she tasted it and realized the powder was pure delicious that I remembered why I made sure to not make the cupcakes after she went to bed.  

S'more Cupcakes That Taste Nothing Like a S'more

Over the weekend I made cupcakes.

I haven't made cupcakes in a long time and I've only made them out of necessity, when I needed them as gifts or for a special occasion. Nothing like the days when I used to try a new recipe weekly just to try them out.

This weekend I wanted to not only make cupcakes but try a new recipe. It was kind of a big deal to me, because it's always a little concerning when a previous passion just disappears. As if it's a hint that I'm running towards depression and we all better be on high alert.

So I made s'mores cupcakes. I got all experimental and made a graham cracker crust and found a recipe for a marshmallow buttercream frosting that involved marshmallow cream because I think marshmallow cream is the cat's meow.

We ate them and suddenly I remembered why I stopped experimenting and now only make two types of cupcakes and why I sometimes hate baking them. 1 out of 10 experimental recipes is a success, meaning 9 out of 10 tries are usually gross and not at all what I expect.

Enter the s'mores cupcake. While they were edible, they tasted nothing like a s'more and the frosting tasted nothing like a marshmallow. It was more of an over vanilla-y buttercream which would be expected from a stick of butter, marshmallow cream and, you guessed it, vanilla.

So off to work I went with my cupcakes, my first introduction of cupcakes to the new workplace. I would've much preferred for them to be good cupcakes for the first time, but what can you do when you've got 22 so-so cupcakes? Maybe if I don't tell anyone they are supposed to taste like a s'more they won't notice?

Everyone said they were good, even though I thought they were gross. And that's the end of this sad story involving s'more cupcakes that don't taste anything like a s'more. You're welcome folks.

If you're looking for some kickass cupcake recipes, you can find those here, because I used to be a cupcake baking machine. It's true. This was apparently in my hey-day when I didn't have a child to tend to.

• Peanut Butter Cupcakes


• Chocolate Cupcakes


• Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes


• Mint-filled Brownie Cupcakes

And wouldn't you know it, I don't even have my favorite buttercream frosting recipe on this here blog. I guess we'll have to save that for another day friends, another day.

 

How to Make Fuzzy Ball Cupcakes

The World's Most Delicious Chocolate Cake Recipe

I forgot to share with you the chocolate cake I made when we had guests over for dinner the week before Easter, so here it is. It was my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which I normally make into cupcakes. Sometimes cake is better than cupcakes and a dinner soiree is just that time.

While browsing the Easter aisle I couldn't believe how cheap chocolate bunnies were and thought it'd make such a great decoration. While cute, it was a bit puny in the midst of a giant chocolate cake and could've used some more buddies, but for $1 he did the trick.

My favorite chocolate cake in all the world is the recipe off the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder, believe it or not. You think boxed cake mix is ok, until you discover a great recipe. It ruins boxed cake mix for you, fair warning.

Also, since the baby is drinking whole milk I used that instead of our usual 1%. Let me just say it took the cake up a few notches. I didn't realize it needed to be taken up anywhere but now that we've gone whole we'll never go back.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:4]

Enjoy!

Sprinkles Installs Cupcake ATMs for 24-Hour Cravings - ABC News

Nelson said, “I conceived the idea of an automatic cupcake machine after having late-night sugar cravings while pregnant with my second son.  Even as Sprinkles’ founder, I couldn’t get my midnight cupcake fix!  I thought ‘there has to be a way’ and so the concept of 24-Hour Sprinkles was born!”

I was more of a donut-crazed pregnant woman myself, but hot damn! A cupcake machine for any time of day? I can not only imagine a time when I was pregnant that I'd hit up the machine, but also plenty of drunken college nights too. Now, how do we go about getting one of these in Reno?

Sprinkles Installs Cupcake ATMs for 24-Hour Cravings - ABC News.

Insta-Friday {15th Edition}

1. Over the weekend we were out and about splurged on a little Starbucks. Starbucks is one of those things that I realized is a complete waste of money so it's a rare occasion when we allow ourselves to kiss $5 goodbye for 10 minutes of coffee goodness. And what luck! They had Valentine's Day cups. It was kind of really cool.


2. We like to give Gwyneth a little free time from her diaper every once and awhile. This is totally ridiculous and we realize this. It has resulted in pee and poo in various places around the house and as gross as that sounds, it's hilarious. This time it resulted in pee all over her mega blocks. You'd think this would deter us from giving her nakie free time, but it's too cute and a kid's butt has to get some diaper-free time, doesn't it?


3. I discovered a box of cake mix makes 24 mini cupcakes and an appropriate amount of cake pops. So the mini cupcakes (which I burnt) were topped with rainbow heart sprinkles..


4.  Our laundry room door is a godsend and the dogs like to sit in front of it and pout when it's closed. It's what keeps little bit away from pouring their water all over the floor and throwing dog food everywhere.

And that was our week in instagrams. Feel free to follow me, my name is RenoSparksMom. I'd love to see what you were up to this week. Do tell!

A Ladybug First Birthday Party

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What a party! Everything was covered in polka dots and black and red. Crepe paper was strewn about, polka dot balloons lined the yard, and Gwen was dressed to the nines with her ruby red slippers.  She made the obligatory mess of her ginormous cupcake and put on quite the show opening and playing with all of her presents.

A few days before the party I asked the husband to put a slideshow on our tv during the party. Little did we know our AppleTV had the coolest slideshow setting ever. We set a playlist from our itunes which was our background music for the party while the photos slowly went across our tv in picture frames. It would've been painstaking to sit and watch that as a slideshow of photos, but as a background for a party it was perfect and fun to look at pictures from the past year.

We also had a cute little photobooth setup in the kitchen where we found it quite difficult to pose with props and a one year old.

Ladybug Photobooth

And here's a tutorial on the banner I made for behind her highchair.

Crepe Paper Banner Tutorial

{I am linking up to these parties}

Pinspiration {Fall}

Source: justinandrebeccagreer.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: None via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: mrshappyhomemaker.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Pinspiration {Fall}

Source: justinandrebeccagreer.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: None via Lauren on Pinterest

Source: mrshappyhomemaker.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Off at the Next Cupcake Stop

This weekend marks our September Family Get Together. Myrole aside from hostess? Cupcakes.

Once upon a time I loved baking cupcakes. Every Monday Itried a new recipe and dove in wholeheartedly. The mess may have lingered in mykitchen for a day or two, driving Jake nuts, but for the most part I was happyto try things out and share them with the masses. But you know what? Most recipes were gross. I’ve found only one chocolate cake recipe I like and afrosting recipe that works.

Nowadays the idea of whipping up a batch of cupcakes brings the reality of dishesthat don’t fit in the dishwasher, trips to the store to buy ingredients and ahot kitchen.

And then thefrosting. THE FROSTING. I hate hate hate cleaning up the mess after frostingcupcakes. A mixer bowl covered in slimy goo, a tip in the bottom of a bag thatyou have to stick your finger in to clean. This is the mess that sits in the kitchen for days until Jake breaks down and cleans it for me. 

{Oh, by the way I discovered a great tip cleaning tip. Anipple brush. This will get it’s own post in due time.}

So I did the unthinkable. I pawned off the cupcakes to my brother in law's girlfriend.

When I announced this toJake his response was a deep look of concern followed by, “Are you alright?”

To which I responded with a watered down version of the aboverant.

I’ve jumped off the cupcake train and I know it’ll always bethere waiting for me. I will remember it with fondness and maybe someday I will break out the cupcake tins and wow the Mommies of baby G's friends. But for now, I'm perfectly fine with not having to deal with them. 

Off at the Next Cupcake Stop

This weekend marks our September Family Get Together. My role aside from hostess? Cupcakes.

Once upon a time I loved baking cupcakes. Every Monday I tried a new recipe and dove in wholeheartedly. The mess may have lingered in my kitchen for a day or two, driving Jake nuts, but for the most part I was happy to try things out and share them with the masses. But you know what? Most recipes were gross. I’ve found only one chocolate cake recipe I like and a frosting recipe that works.

Nowadays the idea of whipping up a batch of cupcakes brings the reality of dishes that don’t fit in the dishwasher, trips to the store to buy ingredients and a hot kitchen.

And then the frosting. THE FROSTING. I hate hate hate cleaning up the mess after frosting cupcakes. A mixer bowl covered in slimy goo, a tip in the bottom of a bag that you have to stick your finger in to clean. This is the mess that sits in the kitchen for days until Jake breaks down and cleans it for me. 

{Oh, by the way I discovered a great tip cleaning tip. A nipple brush. This will get it’s own post in due time.}

So I did the unthinkable. I pawned off the cupcakes to my brother in law's girlfriend.

When I announced this to Jake his response was a deep look of concern followed by, “Are you alright?”

To which I responded with a watered down version of the above rant.

I’ve jumped off the cupcake train and I know it’ll always be there waiting for me. I will remember it with fondness and maybe someday I will break out the cupcake tins and wow the Mommies of baby G's friends. But for now, I'm perfectly fine with not having to deal with them. 

A word on the last Recipe, if you will...

Well everyone, I have to apologize for the pink champagne cupcakes only tasting delicious for one day. It was not a pleasant experience when I went to try one the next day and, well, almost gagged. It was even less pleasant when I had to send out an email to the mother's and grandmother's who got them on Mother's Day with the subject line: DO NOT EAT CUPCAKE!!!  That's always something you want to follow up with, eh?

I am going to call that last recipe a bad one and move on to the next, one that involves a box of cake mix. Will keep you posted on their shelf life and how they turn out. 

In the meantime, enjoy Cakespy's awesome artwork.

A word on the last Recipe, if you will...

Well everyone, I have to apologize for the pink champagne cupcakes only tasting delicious for one day. It was not a pleasant experience when I went to try one the next day and, well, almost gagged. It was even less pleasant when I had to send out an email to the mother's and grandmother's who got them on Mother's Day with the subject line: DO NOT EAT CUPCAKE!!!  That's always something you want to follow up with, eh?

I am going to call that last recipe a bad one and move on to the next, one that involves a box of cake mix. Will keep you posted on their shelf life and how they turn out. 

In the meantime, enjoy Cakespy's awesome artwork.

A Cupcakey Transition

The "butterfinger" cupcakes are in the garbage and the kitchen has been cleaned. It's time to leave this hurt behind us and move on to the next great cupcake out there.

Helping with this transition are these gorgeous cupcake liners I ordered off of Etsy.

After the holidays I came to a realization that stores don't sell cute cupcake liners, just pastel, white and foil. I was forced to settle for a pack of 50 plain white ones from Walmart and decided it was time to order online. 

After a quick search on google it sent me to Etsy, where I found Sweet Estelle's Baking Supply. I got all those blue liners (90 of them) for only $5.50! And the zebra ones? I feel a pink champagne cupcake gracing those beauties. As for the pirate ones, those were from Little Monster Hugs and are for Sir Sunderland's upcoming birthday. 

As far as pricing goes, I have to admit I thought they'd be more expensive with shipping, which it does add up. However, ordering in bullk from one vendor could solve that problem and shoot, these are ten times cuter than Walmart and Michael's have to offer and kind of the same price (if not cheaper!) with the shipping. Check them out, you won't regret it.

A Cupcakey Transition

The "butterfinger" cupcakes are in the garbage and the kitchen has been cleaned. It's time to leave this hurt behind us and move on to the next great cupcake out there.

Helping with this transition are these gorgeous cupcake liners I ordered off of Etsy.

After the holidays I came to a realization that stores don't sell cute cupcake liners, just pastel, white and foil. I was forced to settle for a pack of 50 plain white ones from Walmart and decided it was time to order online. 

After a quick search on google it sent me to Etsy, where I found Sweet Estelle's Baking Supply. I got all those blue liners (90 of them) for only $5.50! And the zebra ones? I feel a pink champagne cupcake gracing those beauties. As for the pirate ones, those were from Little Monster Hugs and are for Sir Sunderland's upcoming birthday. 

As far as pricing goes, I have to admit I thought they'd be more expensive with shipping, which it does add up. However, ordering in bullk from one vendor could solve that problem and shoot, these are ten times cuter than Walmart and Michael's have to offer and kind of the same price (if not cheaper!) with the shipping. Check them out, you won't regret it.

Gross Butterfinger Cupcakes

Well ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves an unsuccessful cupcake Monday. You see, I made an attempt at making cupcakes that are supposed to taste like a Butterfinger, like the Reese's ones I made a couple weeks back. You can find the pain in the ass recipe here.

I did just as it said. Ok.....I may have forgotten the brown sugar until I tasted the batter and noticed something was missing and promptly mixed it in. But that couldn't ruin an entire recipe, could it? The brittle tastes like pure butterscotch, not butterfinger. Don't even get me started on how difficult it was to make the stuff and how it stuck to the wax paper.

And the actual cupcake itself? One word:
Sir Sunderland and I couldn't make it through a whole one.

So fellow readers, join me as I come to the realization that not all cupcakes are created equal. I hang my head low as I throw these painstakingly difficult cupcakes into the garbage and curse those idiots at Food Network magazine (oh, and also write a nasty review on their website : ))

Gross Butterfinger Cupcakes

Well ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves an unsuccessful cupcake Monday. You see, I made an attempt at making cupcakes that are supposed to taste like a Butterfinger, like the Reese's ones I made a couple weeks back. You can find the pain in the ass recipe here.

I did just as it said. Ok.....I may have forgotten the brown sugar until I tasted the batter and noticed something was missing and promptly mixed it in. But that couldn't ruin an entire recipe, could it? The brittle tastes like pure butterscotch, not butterfinger. Don't even get me started on how difficult it was to make the stuff and how it stuck to the wax paper.

And the actual cupcake itself? One word:
Sir Sunderland and I couldn't make it through a whole one.

So fellow readers, join me as I come to the realization that not all cupcakes are created equal. I hang my head low as I throw these painstakingly difficult cupcakes into the garbage and curse those idiots at Food Network magazine (oh, and also write a nasty review on their website : ))

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

After last week's success with the Reese's Peanut Butter CupCakes I was ready to try out another candy recipe by way of the Food Network magazine. When I realized I didn't have the peppermint extract needed for the Mint Patty Cakes I remembered seeing a peppermint patty recipe in Martha Stewart's cupcake book.  Buy the book? Not quite ready for that commitment (flashback to this post before judging) This is why I love the internet, a quick Google search and the recipe was mine.

I give this recipe a 4 out of 4 due to its easiness and my freakish fondness of peppermint patties. These suckers are dee-lish-ious. 

And now, for the recipe. If you're anything like me you're probably wondering where the frosting is. Well, my friends, when it says brownie cupcake, it really is just a brownie shaped like a cupcake. This is why Sir Sunderland felt the need too say that this cupcake is more like a brownie, therefore our one cupcake rule need not apply for this batch. 

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 12 *my new favorite batch size, not too little, not too many.

8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped *chocolate chips work great
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
12 small (1 ½-inch) York Peppermint Patties

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally just until melted, 4 to 5 minutes. *or you can put in microwave for about 2 minutes.
2. Remove bowl from heat. Whisk in sugar and salt until mixture is smooth; whisk in eggs to combine. Gently whisk in flour and cocoa until just smooth.

3. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into each lined cup. Place one peppermint patty on top, gently pressing into batter. Top with 2 tablespoons batter, covering patty completely. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted halfway in centers (above mint patty) comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. 

Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

After last week's success with the Reese's Peanut Butter CupCakes I was ready to try out another candy recipe by way of the Food Network magazine. When I realized I didn't have the peppermint extract needed for the Mint Patty Cakes I remembered seeing a peppermint patty recipe in Martha Stewart's cupcake book.  Buy the book? Not quite ready for that commitment (flashback to this post before judging) This is why I love the internet, a quick Google search and the recipe was mine.

I give this recipe a 4 out of 4 due to its easiness and my freakish fondness of peppermint patties. These suckers are dee-lish-ious. 

And now, for the recipe. If you're anything like me you're probably wondering where the frosting is. Well, my friends, when it says brownie cupcake, it really is just a brownie shaped like a cupcake. This is why Sir Sunderland felt the need too say that this cupcake is more like a brownie, therefore our one cupcake rule need not apply for this batch. 

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 12 *my new favorite batch size, not too little, not too many.

8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped *chocolate chips work great
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
12 small (1 ½-inch) York Peppermint Patties

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally just until melted, 4 to 5 minutes. *or you can put in microwave for about 2 minutes.
2. Remove bowl from heat. Whisk in sugar and salt until mixture is smooth; whisk in eggs to combine. Gently whisk in flour and cocoa until just smooth.

3. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into each lined cup. Place one peppermint patty on top, gently pressing into batter. Top with 2 tablespoons batter, covering patty completely. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted halfway in centers (above mint patty) comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. 

Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Prep for Easter Weekend

The goods are baked and ready to be decorated......