Cupcakes in Vegas

I was in Las Vegas over the Fourth of July and received the sweetest surprise!



Cupcakes!!! And lots of them.



They were from Kari and Brian of Retro Bakery. I "met" Kari through flickr when she was documenting her adventures in opening a bakery and I've been keeping up with her on Twitter, knowing that the next time I visited Las Vegas, I wanted to rent a car and surprise her at the bakery.

Fun! Fun! Fun! I've only been to a few cupcake bakeries. Sprinkles Cupcakes in Dallas and The Atlanta Cupcake Factory in Georgia. I know. There's something enormously wrong with that picture. So I was really excited to see Retro and check out their cupcakes.

Big problem. Right before I left, she announced they were going to be closed on the day I could come visit. On vacation of all things. Just my luck. Needless to say, I was bummed.

But, Kari did the sweetest thing. She sent some to the hotel for me the last day they were open. The Fourth of July. I couldn't believe it. I mean I've certainly never had cupcakes delivered to my room before. The bellman brought them up and for a minute I thought I was going to have to fight the guy for them. Even after I tipped him, he kept going on about them. I guess he wanted me to give him one. Well, that didn't happen. Sorry Mr. Bellman. These were all staying with me!



Can you blame me. I mean look at them. They tasted just as good as they look. And really moist too.



In the back is Pink Lemonade (Lemon cake topped with pink lemonade buttercream and hot pink glitter sugar). In the front: Hop Scotch (Vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream dipped in butterscotch ganache) This was one of my favorites!



Here we have Cinnamon Toast (Vanilla cake topped with cinnamon buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar). YUM!



And here… Milk & Cookies (Chocolate-chip cake topped with vanilla buttercream and a freshly baked mini chocolate chip cookie.) This is all wrong and all right, all at the same time. Another fave!



Left: Apple Cider (Cinnamon swirl cake topped with apple cider buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar) Front: Mint Chocolate Chip (Chocolate cake topped with green mint buttercream and mini chocolate chips) Right: Red, White & Blueberry (Blueberry cake topped with strawberry buttercream) This might have been my most fave. But it's a toss up with the Hopscotch.

Oh and, sorry about the lighting on some of these pics. The room didn't have the best angle for natural light.



But who cares about lighting when you have this much chocolate to look at. Left: Chocolate Fountain (Chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream and dipped in chocolate ganache). Right: Chocolate Covered Banana (Chocolate cake topped with banana buttercream dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with walnuts) Back: Peanut Butter Cup (Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream and dark chocolate shavings) Who am I kidding… these were all faves.



But I didn't actually eat them then.



I left them all alone in the room while we went to get dinner. It was difficult, but I knew if I tasted even one, it would be all over. By the way, if you've been to Vegas, you can probably guess where I stayed by now.



And, later when we returned.



Let's just say there was a little cupcake carnage during the taste testing. I won't give you all the messy details, but I'm glad there wasn't a camera filming me.

And the best thing about these cupcakes, was having the rest of them again for breakfast.



Thanks so much for the Retro cupcakes, Kari & Brian. I hope to really meet you guys next time.



Do you have a cupcake bakery in your area that you want to try? One that you love or one that you've just heard of? I would love to hear your recommendations.

My Fourth of July Cupcakes!!

Click here and below to see"My All American Cupcakes: Red, White and Blue!" Cupcakes that I've created.

Red, White and Blue: 4th of July Cupcakes

On flickr: here.



On flickr: here.



Or, to try these to try these "burgers," click here!

Have a great 4th!

CQ

Martha Stewart's Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and Jelly

Layla is very interested in these peanut butter cupakes...but no, she got a doggie treat instead!



Just bought Martha Stewart's book called Cupcakes....and was inspired to make her Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and Jelly for my brother, Jim,...symbolically really, because he is in the hospital right now in Spokane, WA, with bacterial pneumonia.



This is how they looked when they came out of the oven....pretty gorgeous, huh? They smelled great, too.



It was fun frosting them and putting the strawberry jelly on top...so far everyone's loved them!



I found these cool plastic containers online and I love them. I ordered both the 1/2-doz and dozen containers. They work great!

This is how they looked on the way out the door!

This is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes 18
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Frosting
Strawberry jam, for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Mix sour cream and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to mixture. Scrape sides of bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

Once cupcakes are cool, frost tops with peanut butter frosting. Place a dollop of jam in center of frosting. Decorated cupcakes will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.

Peanut Butter Frosting and Jelly

Ingredients

Makes about 3 cups
6 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla. Whisk cream until soft peaks form, and then fold into peanut butter mixture. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

Hope you like them and...have a great week!

CQ

Fast Food Fun

Cupcake Buns + Brownie Burgers + Cookie Fries = One Happy Meal!

Or many…



I can hardly stand how cute these little guys are. You've probably seen them around before. I know I have. Cupcakes Take The Cake has featured cute ones. But, they are even cuter in person as I discovered this weekend. Oh my gawd… they just make me want to smile. I switched mine up a little by doing the burger out of brownies. But, you can just as easily make chocolate cupcakes and cut them in thirds to use instead. And if you want more realistic lettuce, tint some coconut (yuck) green.

I really decided to make these when I thought about making a meal out of them for Father's Day, complete with sugar cookie french fries. I wasn't sure if they would turn out, but I am so thrilled with the end result. Actually, I think the fries might be my favorite part.

Before I started baking, I made a template for a miniature paper box tray and french fry holder. You can download the 4-page pdf (636 KB) here if you want it. The pdf contains the tray template, french fry holder template (blank & with Happy Father's Day). It also includes the design for the Happy Father's Day tissue paper.



I printed the tray template on card stock (heavier weight paper), the french fry template on vellum (semi-transparent paper) and the tissue insert on tracing paper (really thin paper from Canson Art pad).

All three paper weights went through my printer fine - one sheet at a time to be safe. But, if you're unsure about running the tracing paper through your printer, then just use regular plain white tissue paper.

Cut out the shapes as shown in the picture above with scissors or a sharp blade. Then fold along all the printed lines. Use double-sided tape to secure the flaps. Cut the tissue paper in half and place in the tray print side down.

Now, for the baking. Keeping with the fast food fun theme, I went all mixes on these. That's right. I said mixes. For the cookies, brownies and the cupcakes. Don't cringe.

You know I love learning to bake new things from scratch because it's really empowering and satisfying and it usually tastes better, too. But, before a couple of years ago, I did all my baking from a box and really don't have a problem using a mix. There, I said it. I feel better now.



So, I picked up several kinds.

The brownies baked first in a 13 X 9 pan. You don't need any help there.

The cookies came next. I wanted to do rolled sugar cookies and luckily Mrs. Crocker offered some tips on how to convert the mix for better results.



Except I didn't do the whole floured surface thing. I used parchment paper underneath and on top of the dough. Then I rolled it out with a rolling pin using rubber band spacers attached to ensure an even thickness. This is a really handy trick and so not messy. I got these tips from the book, Cookie Craft. If you want to learn more about rolled sugar cookies, it's great.



See… perfectly even dough and a clean surface.

Here's where I started experimenting, but it worked out pretty well.



Cut the dough in thin strips with a sharp knife and then a long cut down the center. The varied lengths are fine because you don't want all your french fries exactly the same size. Remove the alternating strips so it won't bake into one giant blob. (Reserve dough strips and repeat) Sprinkle sugar on top of the dough. Bake for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

These spread more than I had hoped they would for rolled sugar cookies. I know. I know. The mix thing. But, no problem. Just take your knife and cut each "steak fry" down the center for "skinny fries." Do this right when they come out of the oven. Sprinkle more sugar on top while they are still warm, too. Lightly rub it on to make sure it sticks good.

And voila……



A big pile of fries. Yum! Try not to eat too many before you serve them. You can't eat just one. Trust me.

Next up… cupcakes. I made these the next morning to spread out the work.

Boxes, brownies, and fries on one day. Cupcakes and decorating the next.



I baked 24 cupcakes using a yellow cake mix. I also exchanged 1 cup of buttermilk instead of the water. It made them nice and yummy. To test, I greased and floured one 12-cup cupcake tray and used Pam on the second. I wanted my buns to have smooth sides, you know. Well, they came out smooth, but also brown.

You can see what's coming.

Yes. Yes. I made 24 more cupcakes. This time I used milk instead of water. No reason. Just to try it.



They were good, too. And this time I used paper liners to ensure the right color cupcake bun.



Now it's time to assemble. Cut each cooled cupcake in half or thirds depending on how tall it is. Cut out 24 circles from the completely cooled brownies and place in between the cupcake bun.
I used my ever so handy graduated circle cutters to do the trick. Size 2" for uniform burgers.

Then… and this might be the most important thing.

Take a break and dispose of the scraps……



… You'll figure something out.

Next up. Frostings.



Divide the canned frosting in three bowls. Two can have equal amounts for the mustard and ketchup. The third - a little more for the lettuce. The colors I used to tint were, Wilton Leaf Green, Wilton Golden Yellow, and Americolor Super Red.



Perty!



To make the red a little deeper, use a tiny bit of violet when you mix. Place each color in a ziploc bag and snip a small tip off one corner.



Gently squeeze out the mustard and ketchup first. Then the lettuce in more of a squiggly design. Place the top of the bun on and press gently.

Now for the finishing touch. Brush a very thin layer of water over the top of the bun or either dab a few drops of water on with your finger. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and they'll stick.

There you have it.



Brownie Burger Cupcakes



And Sugar Cookie French Fries.



A perfectly sweet meal for Dad's day or any day.



And, if you use this template, there's a blank french fry holder in it. Use it and you can serve these for a family cookout or Fourth of July party.



People will go crazy for them, don't you think.



Man, that's one good looking burger. So thick … and…



Tasty, too! Hope you like them.

Now, I'm curious. When it comes to mixes, how do you roll?
Use them? Refuse them? Or improve them?