The Cupcake Dance!

A few weeks ago, a dream of mine came true.

I opened my cupcake shoppe!

And it isn't just any cupcake shoppe.

It is my vision.

A home for my cupcakes.

I call it The Cupcake Mansion because it should be a destination.

A place for people to fill their bellies (and mustaches, hair, skin!) with sugar and frosting and sparkles.  But also a place with purpose, a place that fills you up with happiness like when you were a little kid.  

This is the action. My friends & I preparing the cupcake mansion for lots o love. We were GLITTERIZING the wall in the shoppe. Yes, just throwing sparkles at the wet wall. (People asked how we did it.. we painted the wall with clear glaze and threw glitter all over it while it was still wet. Lots and lots of glitter!)

When I say this place has purpose..

it is more than just about making people happy.

I'm on a mission to use my God given gift of cupcake making to change lives :).  

(which you may or may not have already known, but now I'm announcing it loud and clear!)

(cupcake skirt with glitter hearts!)

I painted some lives with delicious dreams a few days after my successful grand opening!

I hosted a cupcake *surprise* party at my mansion for the New London Girls Dance Team.

22 girls who had just found out they were on the dance team.  Their coach surprised them with a trip here ♥. And the girls thought they were going bowling!   I can't even imagine what a  wondrous shock it was when we threw glitter at them and exclaimed, "Welcome to the Cupcake Mansion!" when they walked through the door! ! ! !

my adorable assistant Billie who helped me throw glitter on the girls!

I taught them how to make rainbow cupcakes and how to make edible gems out of delights like m&ms, peanut butter cups, and Hershey kisses. ♥  I even prepared 22 edible words and ballet slippers out of pink candy melts so their cupcake could dance!

Some of their creations ♥

While I was teaching cupcakes in one room, my fairy godmother (Jane) taught the girls how to make ribbon headbands that they could wear.  (So the ribbons would move with the girls when they danced)!  

♥

An adorable dance team/exchange student from Germany exclaimed the cutest thing ever: "I want to take my cupcake back to Germany!

There was one rule at this party.

If you stepped on the rug in front of the counter of goodies..(inevitable!!) you absolutely had to DANCE ♥♥♥!!

I asked the girls to make up a "cupcake dance".  As I recall it involved a mixer..and the motion of eating a cupcake ♥ Hmm I am thinking cupcake dance flash mob in the near future?! Or a visit from Ellen Degeneres (it is STILL my goal to dance with her and eat a red velvet vegan cupcake with her and her audience)!

Glitter, smiles, sugar, music, dance, cupcakes.

"A laugh is a smile that bursts."

..or so I have heard!:

Sparkly tutus!

Our "toast" to sparkly marshmallows and hot cocoa.

My Irish fairy godmother's sparkly marshmallow and hot cocoa toast:

An Irish Toast to Liars, Cheaters & Stealers:

May you lie your life down for family and friends,

May you cheat death & dishonor at every chance

And may you steal the hearts of those you love all life long.

The girls enchanted by her Irish toast ♥.

During the party I stepped back for a second to watch everything happening. And that was just it. This dream of a cupcake mission was "happening."  My glittery cupcake heart was being shared with 22 amazing girls.    

Their completed cupcakes on the cupcake skirt♥

Wrapped up in that little cupcake liner was a memory of a lifetime. D

Learning all about Amanda Cupcake ♥ on my wall of fame :)

Maybe you should make a wall of fame.

It really highlights all the wonderful people & experiences you meet when you take on life's adventures, no matter what they are!    Do you have any idea of how rewarding it is to use all your seconds and minutes in life to do good for the world..and then sit back and watch it all unfold!? (or perhaps,  watch it dance in this case). 

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tart Cupcakes

I've been reminiscing about my past summer. (All the weddings my cupcakes have attended)!!!  And I plan on continuing with that.♥  But I also have to live in the present moment.

Can I just say I am so stoked and most importantly...grateful?!

This is me beaming in the reflection of my new shiny double convection oven at the Amanda Cupcake Mansion. ♥ It even says "PRO" on it. (The pressure's on now)!

 

As of Friday morning (September 14th) my little cupcake estate was approved by the health department. This is my new kitchen.

 

My "fairy godmother" and I had a toast over Cupcake Wine and cupcakes to celebrate!

 

I even have a view to the outside world while I make cupcakes for you♥

 

This was moving day.  I used to store my entire kitchen under the basement stairs of Cronie's in Waupaca, using crates as makeshift shelves in the basement.  You ask how I stay thin making delicious cupcakes?  Here's your answer. I ran up and down the stairs to get my supplies, all night long.   (FYI, there is glitter foreverly imprinted in the wood of the stairs. I left my mark at Cronie's).

 

And..believe it or not..I made thousands of cupcakes out of this pretty historical single rack oven out of the Cronies kitchen. (I'll never ever forget where I started).  The secret to making sure my cupcakes were baked evenly with this oven?  Making sure the temp was turned down to 250 degrees and rotating the cupcake pans every so often.

 

Now you see why I was smiling in the reflection of my new oven.  With a few tear droplets coming out of my eyes too ♥ It was a *moment* in my time here as Amanda Cupcake.

 

Ok. So you want to know where the cupcakes are.

Here are some that I made right before my move:

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tart Cupcakes

to celebrate fall.

They are cupcakes that taste just like pumpkin pie..with pumpkin pie pop tarts baked inside!

 

I cut up pumpkin pie pop tarts into little squares. The pop tarts are popping out of the pumpkin colored cupcake..just like they pop out of the toaster!  The sprinkles I added look like they are falling off of the pop-tart. ♥

 

This is what the pumpkin pie pop tarts look like baked inside of a cupcake. Baking a pop tart inside of a cupcake is easy, and after they are baked inside of the cupcake they taste like little pies! 

 

Step by Step:

1.  Cut your untoasted pop tarts up into little squares using a serrated knife. 

2.  Scoop a small amount of batter into the bottom of a cupcake liner and place the pop tart square on top of the batter. 

3.  So the pop tart square is a surprise..I hide it by pouring more pumpkin pie batter over the top of the pop tart!

 

 

Now the recipe for the cupcakes so you can try this at home:

 

Pumpkin Pie Pop Tart Cupcakes ♥

 

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix
1 (14oz) can of Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 (4oz) box of vanilla pudding (or you can experiment and try other fun flavors like cheesecake, white chocolate, etc).
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup buttermilk or milk
3 eggs
Box of Pumpkin Pie pop tarts

My main ingredients in everything I bake:
Patience, Sparkles, and LOVE.

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
3. Pour your cake mix and pudding powder in stand mixer, whisk until combined.
4.  Gradually add remaining ingredients and mix on medium-high for 2 minutes, making sure to scrape down the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients.
5.  Pour batter into tins.
6.  You can place a piece of pop tart in each before baking if desired. Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean.
7.Once cooled, top with frosting and poptart.

 

♥

 

 

Tip for the pumpkin pie pop tart cupcakes:  Because there is so much delicious heavy pumpkin action going on inside of the cupcake batter, the pumpkin pie cupcakes are dense & don't rise very high.  You can fill the cupcake liners almost 3/4 full.

 

 

♥

 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz of Cream Cheese

8 oz unsalted butter

3-5 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar

 

1.  In a large bowl, whip your Cream Cheese & Butter together until creamy.

2.  Add Vanilla Extract and Heavy Whipping Cream.

3.  Gradually add Powdered sugar.  For a more "fluffy dreamy" frosting swirl, use about 2-3 Cups Powdered Sugar.   For a stiffer frosting consistency (good for piping texture), use 3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar.

My Cupcake Mansion!

I have an announcement to make.

This lady here.. She calls herself my fairy godmother.

Her real name is Jane Mulroy.

And she's holding up a sign telling me something she thinks I need to remember (I'm a cupcake workaholic, what can I say. I love what I do).

 

I met her here, at the WDUX Home Show of Waupaca in all my cupcake tutu glory:

 

 

 

♥

 

She lives in a log cabin, and also owns a circa 1848 farmhouse on her bio-dynamic farm in New London, Wisconsin ♥  Only generations of her family have lived in the farmhouse.  Jane tells me that she had this vision of filling up the farmhouse with warm life & "meaning." Her vision was to teach classes on her farmland, make it warm and inviting to the community.  Maybe host events like wedding showers, teach floral design classes, wreath making courses, cooking classes perhaps.

 

But there was one thing missing, until she found what she'd been praying for standing in a glittery tutu behind cadbury egg filled cupcakes at the Waupaca WDUX Home Show ♥.

 

Me. ♥

She was so delighted with the whole presentation of my cupcakes, she knew that the farmhouse would come alive in the way that she always envisioned if I glitterized a cupcake shop there.

 

I call the 1848 farmhouse my "cupcake mansion."

 

At first, I was hesitant.

My vision has always been this busy shoppe in the middle of a city with lots of foot traffic...♥  Maybe this was life telling me that dreams come true, but not everything happens the way you think it might.

 

Jane offered to build me a brand new commercial kitchen here.

Just as long as I paid a set amount of rent every month, and as long as we could both host really fun classes for the public in the farmhouse.

 

You see..I've been baking hundreds and hundreds of cupcakes out of a one rack oven in a kitchen that I rent out of Cronie's in Waupaca while everyone else is asleep. I leave the kitchen around 7am most of the time.   The Cronie's early morning kitchen staff usually giggles at me because I am full of glitter, frosting, half asleep..sometimes to wake up an hour later to make a delivery or meet a client (and yes..with frosting still in my hair!)

 

Proof right here..this was me after an all nighter. What a mess I make ♥

 

I've outgrown my space at Cronie's and it's time to take a second step.  I need more space to grow as Amanda Cupcake, to be able to provide the continuous love and creativity I put into my work.

 

 I'm moving in....to my cupcake mansion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I visited the cupcake mansion today and this tiffany blue room will soon be glitterized, stocked with cupcakes for sale, coffee and tea.

 

This is the classroom where I will teach cupcake classes and host events.  Another one of my dreams is to host ahmazingly fun and fabulous themed dinner parties here too ♥

 

I call this mixer my trophy, and I really want someone to "bling" it out.

 

This "cupcake mansion" in New London is allowing me to expand.

I will still be selling my cupcakes in Waupaca at select stores (Cronies Coffee House & Lucky Tree - both located on Main Street).  But I also plan on expanding to Appleton & Green Bay! Maybe even Oshkosh. ♥ 

 

I'd love to host some Cupcake TV Segments in my new cupcake mansion too!

 

And maybe even start a cupcake mail-order system!

Cupcakes in a Jar, I call them Cupcake Kaleidoscopes ♥

(because they look so pretty & yummy with never ending deliciousness from the outside of the jar)!

 

 

 

I have even bigger dreams after this that I've got planned..

This is only my second step. :)

Yes, huge dreams in a crazy world.

but I believe that your thoughts become you ♥

So why not believe in the power of your dreams?

 

 

Fall Themed Open House /Grand Opening Celebration for Amanda Cupcake's Cupcake Mansion:

Saturday October 20th

Address: N2841 US Hwy 45

South of New London ♥

1:00pm-4:00pm

More details to come ♥