Food Blog Fail

I get bored. A lot. So in my free time I usually look up various food blogs to see what goodies I can make next. However, some blogs really should start including warning labels. For instance, some of the recipes posted on blogs will suck no matter how hard you try. You can follow the recipe exactly but no matter how hard you try, it will still fail. Yet suckers like me try the recipe out and find out several hours later "oh yeah that sucked".

The recipe I was supposed to try out was for a Blueberry cupcakes with an Almond ButterCream frosting. I thought because spring was in the air, or in Earth's case, global warming, I would try out a healthier cake recipe [healthy in the sense there was fruit involved].

After hours of slave labor, I finally finished the final product.

And then I tasted it... and it sucked.

It was so bad. Think of combining corn bread and a cardboard box together in cupcake form and that was what it tasted like. I'm a strong proponent of not wasting food so I thought my dogs might like it. 

I offered a cupcake to Charlie. He ran away in disgust.

Now, I thought my pug Bella would enjoy a snack considering she enjoys eating everything. She was not having it either.

When I knew my dogs weren't having it, I knew there was only one place these cupcakes deserved to go.... and that was in the trashcan. Such a Food Fail.

Peanut Butter Butter Cream Mini Cupcakes

After having a not so great day at work today, I knew I could take my frustration and anger out on only one thing. Peanut Butter. Why Peanut Butter you ask? Because it's freaking delicious and makes me feel better about myself. 

And why hang out with peanut butter when you can hang out with its best friend chocolate too?  I knew I wanted a chocolate/peanut butter cupcake. As I’m very cheap I decided I would just try to create it rather than buy one at a fancy bakery (But really. I'm super super cheap). 

For the cake I used Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix. I personally love a good cake mix. It just makes it so much easier to clean up. Prepare cake mix according to box. I cooked my mini cupcakes for around 14-16 minutes. I thought it would be fun to add in some peanut butter to the mix, so I cup up some mini reese cupcakes to the batter for a kick of deliciousness. 

The magic is all in the icing. To make the Peanut Butter ButterCream icing, I used:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups of Powdered Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Heavy Cream
• Mini Reese Cups

Mix the peanut butter and butter first using an electric mixer until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, followed by the cream. Mix until fluffy and peanut buttery!

I added a Miniature Reese cup on top as garnish! And who said you couldn't eat your problems?

Heart Cake Pops

My mother was having a party with the neighborhood ladies and we were in need of some "wow factor". We decided that we needed cakepops to use as the centerpiece in the kitchen. 

To make cakepops, first bake a standard sheet cake (My personal favorite is funfetti). Once cooled, crumble up the cake into crumbs. Add 2/3 cup of icing into the cake and mix with your hands until it is a solid dough. Act like its play-dough if you will. 

Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out pieces of cake-dough and put on a cookie sheet. Once all the hearts are cut out, put the cookie sheet into the freezer for 15-20 minutes. While the cakepops are freezing, begin melting candy coating in a small crockpot. Take a lollypop stick and dip the tip of the stick in chocolate. Slowly insert the stick into the base of the pop. Allow 30 seconds to pass to let the cake set up. Slowly dip the entire cakepop into the coating. 

I dipped the pops in pink candy coating. I then used red, clear, and hot pink sprinkles to add some pizzazz. Lightly sprinkle it while the cake is still drying. 

Let the pops stand to dry for about 20 minutes. You can use a block of styrofoam to let the cakepops stand in. Happy caking!

Thin Mint Cupcakes

It's Girl Scout season and all I could think about was some thin mints. A national treasure if you will. I told myself I wouldn't succumb to their greatness this year. However, my boss brought me in a box and now I had no excuses. So I thought I could take it one step further by making some thin mint cupcakes.

For the cupcakes: 

• 1 3/4 cups flour
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot water
• Box of Thin Mints

Heat your oven at 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pan with liners and set aside until ready to use. 


Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix on low speed until combined. 


In another bowl, mix your wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Slowly add the wet ingredients to your bowl of dry ingredients. Once combined, slowly add in the hot water and mix until smooth. Crush one sleeve of thin mints in a bag (around 12 cookies). Break into small pieces. Slowly add cookie pieces to the chocolate batter. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and cook for 18-20 minutes. 


For the Mint Buttercream Icing: 

• 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 Tbsp. milk
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. Peppermint Extract
• Green food coloring
• Thin Mint cookies (for garnish)

Cream the sugar and butter together until smooth. Slowly add the milk and mix with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Add a few drops of green food coloring and slowly mix it in the icing. 

Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe the icing onto them. Add a half of a thin mint on top as garnish and enjoy! Go get your inner girl scout on! 

Helpful Hint* Do not leave the cupcakes out in the open because you will be tempted. 

Candy Corn Cake Pops

After looking at Bakerella's beautiful cakepops (the godfather), I've decided I wanted to try these delectable little creations for myself! As Halloween was coming up, I decided to use Halloween Funfetti mix and icing from Pillsbury to get the orange-holiday vibe. Always a solid crowd pleaser.

What you need to make candy corn cake pops: 

- A can of icing (Any flavor)

- Cake mix (Any flavor)

- Lollipop sticks

- White Chocolates

- Yellow Chocolates

- Orange Chocolates 

Bake a 12" x 9" sheet cake according to the packaging's directions. Let it cool. 

While waiting for my cake to cool, I decided to take this snappy picture of my dog Bella. She is definitely ready for the Halloween season. [Pumpkin was carved ahead in the day. Bella was horrified we carved her in pumpkin version. Yet once she realized the pumpkin was edible, she was cool with it.]

After the photo session, I cut the sheet cake into sections so it is easy to crumble. Place the cake into a big bowl and crumble it until you literally have crumbs. This is a great way to release anger after a long day. Destroy a cake!

With your icing, mix 3/4 of your can into the crumbled cake mix. Mix with a back of a spoon to make this mix into a batter. Try resist eating all your batter (but seriously it's really difficult). Shape the batter into triangles for the candy corn shape. Place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. 

While the pops are freezing, you can begin the fun part-- DECORATING! Melt yellow chocolates over a double-boiler on the stove. If your chocolate is too thick, adding shortening will make it lighter and smoother for dipping. Take your lollipop stick and dip it into the yellow chocolate and insert it into your chilled cakeball. You should insert it about half-way into the pop. Once the stick is secured into the pop, dip the pop in all yellow chocolate.

After you have dipped the pop in all yellow, let it dry before adding the next coat. In order to prevent ruining your pop's shape, allow for it to dry. While this is drying, begin melting your orange chocolate. An egg carton is a great, creative way for your cake to dry and not smoosh. After about ten minutes, dip your cake pop about 2/3 into the orange chocolate. Let it dry.

While this is drying, begin melting your white chocolate. Dip 1/4 of the cakepop into white chocolate for the tip.