Cupcakes Make People Happy.

2012 ended two weeks ago, but I just haven't found the words to blog here about it until now.  And that is because it was an amazing year. Can you believe I was left sort of speechless?!  So I decided to start my blog with how I ended last year. ♥

You see these cookies? They are signature Amanda Cupcake cookies! Inspired by my cupcakes.  I believe in soft sugar cookies...that are little discs of magic when you bite into them. Swirled with pillows of frosting on top and glitterized with sprinkles and all kinds of edible gems. I made them especially for one certain boy in mind ♥

Kayden is the boy I made them for. ♥

This is his mom Tina.  She is one of my volunteers.

She's a single mom, who goes to college full time too.

And somewhere in the midst of all of this, she finds some time to help me in the kitchen.

Her favorite thing to help me make in the kitchen is my frosting!

This is Tina at my Cupcake Mansion.

She does laugh the whole time she helps me make my frosting.

On a more serious note..she told me right before Christmas that her hot water heater had died, so she had to use whatever money she had to buy a new one.  Because of this, Kayden wasn't going to get any new presents, she was going to wrap one of his old fire truck toys to make it look like new and put it under the tree. I thought for sure I could do something, now that I live in the Cupcake Mansion, a place where people come from everywhere to eat cupcakes.

This was my Facebook post on my Amanda Cupcake fan page, and look at all the thumbs up.  Everyone in New London and the greater area wanted Kayden to have a Merry Christmas too! The best part after this Facebook post was when Tina surprised me by knocking on the door of my cupcake mansion that night.She just wanted to come and give me a hug :).

♥

So people came in, one by one bearing gifts.

And in return I fed the town of New London cupcakes ♥

I liked these special handmade ornaments that were especially custom made for Tina & Kayden because they will tell a story even when Kayden outgrows all his toys.

On Christmas Eve ♥

I gave him all his presents donated from the town of New London..and some donations even came through the mail from other states! He didn't open them on Christmas Eve though, I made sure to pile them all in a big bag-so he could unwrap them all on Christmas morning!

♥ This picture makes me smile, and giggle a bit. But really..it shows that cupcakes are a wonderful medium to make a big difference in one person's life. 

Like a kid in a cupcake shoppe, I let him pick whatever treat he wanted. He dove for a signature M&M sugar cookie!

This was Kayden's variety pack (his selections from the cupcake mansion)...

Some of my best cupcakes of the year:

♥A chocolate Snowman that I built out of frosting & oreo cookies

♥A chocolate peanut butter Rudolph with a shiny m&m nose

♥A sugar cookie that looks just like a cupcake

♥A Cupcake with a mini sugar cookie on top 

♥A Chocolate Mint Hug Cupcake with a thin mint baked inside

♥A Chocolate Peanut Butter Gem

I thought the best way to wrap up 2012 would be to focus on one big goal that I turned into a reality right at the end of the year.  I've always wanted to use cupcakes as a medium to make a difference in someone's life.  I have this huge dream of committing random acts of cup-kindness all over the world.  Some would say I am cupcake obsessed.  This is the reason.  The wonderful people that I meet and make smile, the lives behind the cupcakes.  This story says it all, and the fact that I was able to use my cupcakes to make someone truly happy..means that this dream of sending hope out into the world through cupcakes...is well on its way ♥ Welcome 2013. A year of cupcake hope!

17 days before Christmas: Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes!!!

 

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes

by: Amanda Cupcake ♥

 

The most important thing about making a cupcake:

Not thinking so much about making an actual cupcake..

instead.. taking a tradition that is loved...

and turning it into a cupcake.

 

 

 

Like Gingerbread Lattes before Christmas.

Your Best Friend in the Morning.

 

 

 

Topped with mini gingerbread stars & hearts cut out by hand.

A kitchen aroma of sugar and spice and all things cupcake.

 

 A nostalgic neighborhood of gingerbread latte cupcakes.   Mini Fantasy Gingerbreaad Houses constructed carefully with royal icing.  Imagine if your neighborhood sparkled with heart shaped gingerbread rooftops?

 

Oh oh oh. Who wouldn't go? Up on a yummy peanut brittle rooftop.  

 

The little reindeer on top always make everyone giggle. And really, that's one thing that Christmas is all about! The childlike happy spirit dances ♥ and plays with edible glitter of course.

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes Recipe

adapted from Cupcake Project:

Creates 12 delicious cupcakes.

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 T Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 T Espresso Powder

Creaming Ingredients:

5 T Unsalted Butter at room temp

1/2 Cup Fine Baking Sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

Liquid Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Hot Milk
1/2 Cup Unsulfured Molasses

How to bake them:
1.  Line cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners.
2.  Make sure oven is preheated to 350.
3.  Sift & Combine dry ingredients in one medium sized bowl.
4.  Combine Liquid ingredients in another medium sized bowl.
4.  Cream the butter and sugar together in large stand mixer until creamy.
5.  Add eggs to mixture gradually.
6.  Alternate the addition of dry & liquid ingredients to creamed blend until fully incorporated.
7.  Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 to the top.
8.  Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes.


The best frosting ever for this cupcake. Constructed by me, the lovely and not-so-mad cupcake scientist. ♥

Ingredients Needed:

• 4 oz Cream Cheese or 4 oz Marshmallow Creme (for a more whipped topping-think delicious drink!)
• 1 lb butter
• 1/2 Cup Hazelnut Coffee Creamer (you can try other coffee creamers too, the hazelnut is my favorite for frosting)
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• appx 3-4 cups of powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want the frosting to be)

How to make this frosting:

1.  Whip your Cream Cheese (or Marshmallow Creme) and Butter together in your stand mixer.

2.  Add your pound of butter gradually in small squares.

3.  Then add Coffee Creamer & Cinnamon.

4.  Gradually add powdered sugar to your blend.  I like my frosting to be more fluffy & dreamy so I slowly add my powdered sugar until my frosting is fluffy like a cloud!

 

 

 

Christmas Cupcakes

My array of Christmas Cupcakes this year.
I am considering writing a book with how to make every single one of these cupcakes.
Then I could create a new book every single year!
For now..here is a glimpse of Amanda Cupcake's extensive variety of Christmas Cupcakes 2010.