Here comes the bride...

I know in my last post I said I was going to try new things, but at the request of my brother-in-law and now sister-in-law, I made repeat cupcakes for their rehearsal dinner.  The rehearsal was held at the location of the wedding at beautiful Ft. Desoto beach.  The location was ideal with gorgeous views of the Sunshine Skyway bridge.  I was quite surprised since I literally went to Ft. Desoto every week during my freshman year of college and quite regularly during the remainder of my tenure at Eckerd and never once turned left at the stop sign.  I had no idea what i was missing.  Now, back to the goodies.  

At the request of the bride I made Red Velvet Cupcakes with that delicious Marscapone Cream Cheese Frosting (which I have had dreams about). For the groom I made Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.  Funny, that's Sean's favorite too.  I had grand dreams of making these really adorable cupcake picks and toppers that were wedding themed.  Alas, I couldn't find my glue gun.  I am not sure I would have had time in the end anyway, but it was no where to be found.  Next time I'll plan a little better in advance, I suppose.  

Congrats to Scott and Jennifer on your beautiful wedding!  

Baking Weekend...

Because Sean was in Ocala this weekend, I opted for some uninterrupted baking time.  I've been wanting to make some cookies for some time now and try out some chocolate cupcakes.  I decided on White Chocolate Chip, Cranberry and Macadamia Nut cookies and Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting.  

The cookies turned out great!  They are almost as good as the cookies my college roommates Mom used to make for us.  I think hers had some granola and maybe regular chocolate chips in them.  We called them Crack Cookies.  They were fabulous.  The only flaw to these cookies was my own fault, I did not line the cookie sheet with parchment paper, like the recipe suggested and wound up needing to strategically scoop the dough, so that the cranberries weren't on the bottom, because they got all burnt on the first sheet.  Next time, I will use the parchment paper.  

White Chocolate Chip, Cranberry and Macadamia Nut Cookies

I loved the Peanut Butter Frosting I made for Sean's birthday so much that I wanted to try it with Chocolate Cupcakes.  It turned out just as fabulously fluffy as before.  The cupcakes are pretty good, maybe not as moist as I was hoping, but the frosting balances that out.  

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting 

I made SO many cupcakes it is silly.  I decided to double the recipe, because for some reason, I thought one batch would only make 12 cupcakes.  Needless to say, there are 60 cupcakes in my kitchen right now. AND 40 or so cookies.  What was I thinking? 

Birthday Cupcakes!

This weekend, in honor of Sean's birthday, I made him his own batch of dream cupcakes.  My poor husband is always stuck with the "ugly cookies" or left over scraps of cupcakes and baked goods.  In honor of his birthday I looked up recipes that only he would love and settled on Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting!

The tops browned a little and had just a little crisp to them, which I think added to the combination.

Pre-Frosting

I was a little worried because the bananas were not "very ripe" as the recipe described, but they turned out well. The flavor combo is not one that I would pick, but separately, the cupcakes were light and fluffy and the frosting is just about the most delicious thing EVER! I let it mix extra to make it lighter and what a good decision that was.  Like a peanut butter cloud.  And the best part is how happy Sean is to finally have his own batch of homemade goodies! 

Here they are in all their glory.

I used a fun decorative cupcake liner since the cupcake and the frosting were light brown, not very exciting.  Someday I won't have air bubbles in my frosting. 

I would make this recipe again without a doubt! So easy and very delicious. Next time I might add some chocolate chips into the banana batter or on top of the frosting, but I didn't think about it until I was mid-baking.