Baby Cupcake!

SURPRISE! I'm having a little cupcake.

My Mister Cupcake and I had a magical enchanted fairytale wedding (see my previous blog here). The wedding day was so magical in fact, that we conceived our first baby on our wedding night!

..And it's a girl.

Since I love all things glitter and I still have plans for the revamping of my cupcake brand, I am super excited that my first baby will be a girl. She can follow me and my sparkly glitter filled trail of adventures. (Which include baking and making people happy and many other things!)

Now maybe I'll have someone to wear tutus and throw fantastical joint birthday parties with. (She is due on my birthday, June 12th!!!!)

Here she is. At 21 weeks ♥

She has my cheekbones.

Looks like she has her dad's hair!

Isn't it amazing what they can do with ultrasound pictures?

.

...And wow, does she move around in my belly a lot!

She is photogenic & loves pop music, sweets, milk, potatoes, and orange juice.

I am thinking she'll be a big fan of dancing?! No matter what she wants to be..I want to be the best example to her that she can do anything she dreams of. The sky is the limit. 

♥

Here I am at 25 weeks, baby cupcake is growing quickly now. (This picture was taken this week!)

♥

Since my pregnancy is considered "geriatric" now that I am over 35 (sigh that word, geriatric, though), Kyrik and I found out the gender very early (around 9 weeks). A DNA test revealed she was a very healthy baby, no genetic problems. .....And it also revealed her gender!

♥

...On a very snowy day in December we  threw a mini gender reveal party for several of our closest friends & family. Mister Cupcake & I already knew the gender. But our families and close friends did not.It was really fun to surprise them!

I made this cake (with a very gender reveal appropriate pun as the message):

When we cut the cake open....

it exploded with shiny girly pink glitter!

Our closest friends and family signed this adorable onesie ♥

We are going to frame it and hang it in the nursery.

(buy it on Etsy from BugnBun's shop!)

We served unicorn Fur! (Cotton Candy)

My little niece and nephew truly believed this was unicorn fur. I might tell my little girl that there was magical unicorn fur at one of her very first celebratory parties!

......After all, wouldn't unicorn fur taste like cotton candy?

Since we are going to be a bigger family, we also bought our first new home. We officially closed at the end of January. This is our kitchen.

♥

I am going to bake my heart into art here.

Adorable ZOMBIE Cupcakes!

I made Zombie Cupcakes.

You might say this is as "dark" as my dark side gets.

Pink and Green Frosting Brains, sprinkled with sugary bones.

Candy Melt Mouths with little white zombie fangs piped on.

If you didn't notice, the pink zombie has just been bitten by the green zombie.

He is transforming into a Cupcake Zombie.

My little Cupcake Zombies might be more adorable than scary.

..And they are really fun to play with when you are done decorating them.

Perfect for The Kid at Heart.

Cupcake Zombies in a Cake Pop Forest.

There are so many scary things out there in the world.  I thought...if I am going to make Zombie Cupcakes, they should be fun and adorable with a little glob of scary on top. That's my style. Zombie Love.

And this is how you make Zombie Cupcakes come "alive"!

1.  Bake & Fill the red velvet cupcake zombie bodies with strawberry jelly or cherry pie "guts".

♥

2.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

For the "X" eyes:  I used multi-colored mismatched M&Ms, and laid them out flat on the parchment paper.  I piped little "X" shapes onto the "eyes"out of a piping bag that was filled with melted white candy melts. The white "X"'s have to dry before you can put the eyes on the zombies.

For the hungry zombie mouths..

I used Dark Chocolate Candy Melts, and cut them in half so that one side of the round candy melt was flat. These were also laid out flat on my parchment paper.

Some of the zombies were just bitten so they don't have fangs yet. Poor things.  They look bewildered.  I piped little fangs onto the candy melt mouths of the hungrier zombies with a piping bag filled with melted white candy melts. 

You'll need to pipe an electric green or electric pink frosting swirl on top of each zombie so you can put their "face" together.  The big fat zombie frosting swirl was made using my buttercream recipe (see below) and a 1A Round Tip at the end of a piping bag.

I added the "brains" on the side of the frosting swirl by "bashing" the zombies in the head with a cake pop stick. (You could also use a toothpick). This indented the frosting on the upper side of the zombie frosting head and made room for me to pipe swirl of contrasting frosting in that "hole" in the zombie's head.  The brains fit perfectly.  Are you getting hungry?

Stick the eyes and mouths on the zombies.

Scary..but adorable ♥

I made these too. Matching red velvet zombie cake pops.

These are a little less adorable and a little more scary.

All the cupcakes and cake pops are completely edible.

even the BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Zombie Unicorn Cupcake, made by one of my Cupcake Students, Natalia.

Made with a Bugle Horn, A Marshmallow, Edible Ink, and assorted candies!

Red Velvet Zombie Cupcake Recipe by Amanda Cupcake:

3 Cups Flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup veg oil
2 1/4 C Sugar
1 1/4 C Buttermilk
2 Eggs
2 T Red Color
1 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 C Water
1 tsp almond extract

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325  and line your pans with 24 cupcake liners.
2. In one large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder together.
3. In stand mixer, cream Vegetable Oil, Eggs, and Sugar together. After you have creamed these together, add your vinegar to this mixture.
4. In separate bowl, combine/ whisk liquids together: Water, Vanilla, Buttermilk, and Almond Extract.
5. Alternate the addition of dry ingredients & liquid ingredients to the creamed mixture. 
6. Add red color at the very end to make sure red velvet color is vibrant. Like Zombie Blood Red.
6. Fill Cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 min at 325 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Buttercream Frosting Recipe by Amanda Cupcake:

1 lb butter (softened)

1 T Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

8-10 Cups Powdered Sugar (depending on how thick you want your frosting to be)

Cream the butter in your stand mixer.

Mix well until fluffy and well blended.

Gradually add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract.

Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.

(The more powdered sugar you add—the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating).

♥

Fantasy Vanilla Almond Rainbow Cupcakes ♥

A true story & recipe by: Amanda Cupcake

One Starry Starry Night while everyone else was dreaming, I swirled fantasies on top of cupcakes.

Little fantasies that tasted like vanilla almond rainbows.   At the first warm & colorful bite of my rainbow cupcake creation, I "remembered" that I had "forgotten" a wild food fantasy from the days before anyone ever called me Amanda Cupcake.  

♥

Back in my angsty teen days, I was a painter.  Art was my favorite class, painting was my outlet.  Even back then though, my instincts yearned for something beyond paint.  I wished that I had the tools to create *edible* art that had never been seen before.  Paint that I could eat.  I started envisioning a new colorful creation. Ice cream themed after famous paintings. Like Van Gogh's Starry Night--inside of an Ice Cream Carton.  I envisioned myself opening the carton to reveal a frozen replica of my favorite legendary painting..as ice cream. I thought that the neatest thing ever would be if I could dip my spoon into a soft dairy canvas, and as the ice cream melted, the "paints" would  blend together into brand new colors I never even knew existed.  Sort of like Superman Ice Cream..but more "fantasy" than comic strip.

♥

Wow..so....

My rainbow fantasy cupcakes that I dove into, buttercream first.. were a real life version of "paint that I could eat."   My teenage fantasy come true. Even though this wasn't ice cream, the colors in the frosting and inside of the cupcakes evolved with every single vanilla almond bite. Just like my vision.

And the best thing ever...I actually did create these cupcakes on a starry starry night.  The starry starry night can be recreated on the cupcake by lightly sprinkling Hologram Silver Disco Dust on top of fresh frosting!

Disco Dust: There have been many questions about the Disco Dust being "edible". Here's my answer:   I use it on the cupcakes on my blog to make everything look super sparkly and fancy.  I don't sit down and eat it by the spoonful.  It sells at my local cake decorating supply store, and I put it on top of things that you can remove from the cupcake.  You can use crystal colors pearl dust or use crystallized sugar sprinkles that are at your local bulk food supplier, I do that for the cupcakes I use in production to get the same effect. If you think about all the things people eat or drink in this day and age, a little bit of glitter is pretty innocent, so if you want to sprinkle a tiny bit of disco dust on your cupcake, I know from experience working with it and eating cupcakes that have it on it for several years that it basically just passes through your system harmlessly. You might end up with a little bit of "unicorn" glitter poo.

♥

You too..can make Vanilla Almond Rainbow Fantasy Cupcakes:

Your Fantasy Vanilla Almond Rainbow Cake Mix Recipe:

• White Cake Mix (no generic labels, brand names only)
• 1 1/4 Cups Buttermilk (in place of the water on the box)
• 4 eggs
• 3.9-4 oz White Chocolate Pudding in Dry Powder Form (the pudding gives it that "from scratch" texture).
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pure Almond Extract
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• Disposable Piping Bags (for layering the rainbow colors on top of each other in the cupcake liners)
• Light colored cupcake tin (a light colored tin works better than dark so that your bright colors don't brown when baking)
• White Cupcake Liners (this recipe makes about 12-15 cupcakes)
• Oven, Preheated to 325.

A friend is always good to bake with. ♥ I'm lucky to have two of the cutest little friends ever, Hanna and Rainy. I call them my "Mini Me's'"

My edible paint colors that I swear by for fantasy rainbow cupcakes and their frosting.  Americolor Gel Paste in Electric Pink, Electric Yellow, Sky Blue. (You can buy these here or at a local cake decorating supply store).

Step 1: Combine all ingredients in stand mixer and whip together well using flat beater attachment.

Step 2: Take out 3 separate bowls and pour about 1 1/2 Cups of batter in each bowl.

Step 3: 

♥For Sky Blue:  Mix two small drops of Americolor Gel Paste in one Vanilla Batter Bowl.

♥For Electric Pink:  Mix three to four small drops of Americolor Gel Paste in a separate Vanilla Batter Bowl. 

♥For Electric Yellow: Mix three to four small drops of Americolor Gel Paste in a separate Vanilla Batter Bowl. (I use more drops of color for the yellow and the pink so that the colors are really vibrant).

Step 4:  Stop and gaze at the beauty of your bright batter colors in each separate bowl.

Pour each color of batter into a separate disposable piping bag, and cut a small hole at the end of the piping bag.

♥Cover the bottom of your cupcake liner with electric yellow batter.

♥Repeat by piping electric pink on top of your electric yellow batter.

♥Repeat again by piping Sky blue on top of your electric pink batter.

♥Now you can add little swirly swirls of extra color, until your cupcake liner is filled 1/2 full.

♥Bake at 325 for appx 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

..and taste test. I did. The cupcake is...gone!

Look how pretty the cupcake liner looks alone! You don't even need to buy the fancy schmancy ones at the store.  This started out as a plain white cupcake liner.

The Pastel Rainbow Fantasy Frosting technique:

(it's truly magical).

REAL BUTTER IS LOVE ♥

I use a homemade buttercream for the best swirl texture.

1 Lb of  Unsalted  Softened Butter in my Buttercream Recipe ♥

I swear by Marshmallow Creme as the base for my frosting.

I use 13-14 oz in my frosting recipe.

See full recipe for buttercream frosting below.

♥Just a reminder of how pretty the frosting is♥

Just like my batter, I separated my frosting into 3 bowls.

Then I mixed each gel paste color into a separate bowl (about 3-4 drops per bowl--you can always add more color if you want the color to come out more vibrant). 

Electric Yellow, Electric Pink, Sky Blue.

Hint: If you want your frosting to look more "Unicorn-esque" like these cupcakes... (these colors remind me of Unicorns!), I use white in place of yellow. Or still use the yellow but add white too as a 4th color.

To pipe a multi-color rainbow swirl:  I stacked each color of frosting on top of one another inside of a disposable piping bag. ♥  Your piping bag will look so pretty from the outside, like this!

  This is the view from the inside of the piping bag, as I am stacking the sky blue, electric pink, electric yellow buttercream frosting colors on top of each other.  

 For a dreamy puffy fantasy swirl, I use a round Wilton 1A Piping Tip like in the picture.  Before you stack the frosting inside of the piping bag, cut a hole in the end of the piping bag big enough to fit the tip, and slide the piping tip down into the end of the piping bag.  

♥No cupcake will look the same.  When all three-four colors blend together inside the piping bag you'll start seeing greens, purples, turquoise colors swirl a fantasy rainbow onto your cupcake! 

♥Where you might need patience:  For the brightest colors possible, switch piping bags every time your piping bag runs out of frosting. This prevents colors from turning muddy or brown.

The final product.  My signature rainbow fantasy cupcakes.

Maybe this summer..fantasy rainbow ice cream cupcakes?! ♥♥♥

Marshmallow Creme Buttercream Frosting Recipe:

13-14 oz Marshmallow Fluff or Cream

1 lb butter

1 T Vanilla Extract

Dash Salt (to lessen the sweetness a tad)

8 Cups Powdered Sugar (depending on how thick you want your frosting to be-use less for creamier frosting and more for thicker swirls)

• Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.
• Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
• Gradually add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract.
• Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
• (The more powdered sugar you add—the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating).
  
  
  End of the blog BONUS:
  
  

Some may also call my rainbow cupcakes  "Unicorn Poop" Cupcakes. Or you can just make Unicorns out of these cupcakes like I did here! I used Bugles as the horns, sugar eyeballs as the eyes, marshmallows cut in half for the nose and I drew the faces on the 'mallows with an edible ink marker.  Last but not least, I used little rainbow colored licorice pieces for the ears! Reminds me of the "Fluffy Unicorn" in Despicable Me!

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).