pineapple upside-down cupcakes

I altered my favorite Pineapple Upside-Down Cake recipe today to make Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes!

Prep: 25 min    Bake: 18 min    Stand: 1 min    Cool: 30 min

• 6 Tbs butter
• 12 Tbs brown sugar
• 2 cans sliced pinapple in juice, drained and juice reserved
• 12 maraschino cherries, without stems
• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 cupcake pans with non-stick spray. Cut butter into tablespoons, then cut those into quarters. (So you end up with twenty-four 1/4 Tbs of butter.) Place one piece in each baking cup. Place in oven for a minute or two to melt butter. Sprinkle 1/2 Tbs brown sugar over the butter in each baking cup.
2. Drain the juice from the canned pineapple (save juice!). Cut 12 pineapple slices into quarters. Arrange two quarters and 1/2 cherry in each cup. Press fruit gently into brown sugar. (To save time cutting cherries in half, or if you just like cherries!, use 24 whole cherries.)
3. Make cake mix as directed on package, using oil and eggs except use 1-1/4 cup of the reserved pineapple juice instead of the water. Cut up some of the leftover pineapple slices to make 2-4 Tbs crushed pineapple and add to batter. Pour evenly over the fruit in the 24 cups.
4. Bake 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. immediately run knife or toothpick around sides of baking cups to loosen cake, and turn pans upside down onto heatproof serving plates (or cookie sheets). Leave pans over cakes 1 minute so brown sugar topping can drizzle over cake. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or cool. 12 servings (or 24 petite servings).

What will lure me out of a nearly 3-month blogging break? Food. Beautiful, delicious food.

Super Jared to the Rescue!

Superheroes are cool, so that’s what Jared wanted for his party this year.

Here is his comic strip style invitation (I got the idea from someone online):

I made capes out of plastic tablecloths (8 capes for a dollar!) and velcro before the party.   At the party, I had symbols (a star, lightning bolt, and a shield) for the kids to decorate, then used spray adhesive (for scrapbooking) to stick them to the capes.  I had also made masks, but only a few kids wore them.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the game we played.  First the kids hit a poster of super villains with spidey frisbees, then they sprayed them with spidey webs (silly string).

The cake was a city-scape with heroes & villains fighting all over it.  Jared had requested lemon, strawberry, and orange flavored cake.  Lemon & strawberry I just made from cake mix.  But I’d never seen  orange cake mix!  lol  So, I used yellow cake mix, and just added a packet of orange kool-aid.  It was pretty good!  Anyway, here’s the cake:

Jared says that his favorite part was playing with his friends.  He’s a really sweet kid.

On his birthday, Jared kept saying that he wasn’t five yet, because it wasn’t his birthday party yet.  Now I think he’s convinced. 

pancakes, 3D, and fireworks

Independence Day (actually celebrated on Saturday, the 3rd, this year) started off early with a pancake breakfast with family and old church friends.  The fun included balloon swords and hats, a flag ceremony, and riding bikes decorated at home.

Next, many of the aunts and uncles came with us to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D.  It was fantastic!

Saturday night we watched fireworks, of course!  And we enjoyed BBQs each day of the 3-day weekend.    Good times.

   …  

*some of the photos stolen from my sister, Debi

Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcakes

A week ago was the birthday of my favorite person in the world.  When I first saw these cupcakes in my Hello, Cupcake! book, I knew I wanted to make them for Tom.  He could eat spaghetti for dinner at least once a week.

These were so much fun to make!  They’re just vanilla cupcakes in white liners.  I tinted the vanilla frosting and piped it on the cupcakes to look like noodles.  The “spaghetti sauce” is strawberry jam and the “meatballs” are Ferrero Rocher chocolate hazelnut candies.  The final touch was the “parmesean cheese” (grated white chocolate).  Yum!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Project Wedding Cake: Happily Ever After

Yesterday was the big day.  It went better than I had hoped.

I tend to overwhelm myself with projects.  I expect too much of myself.  I usually pull everything off well, but not without last minute stressing over things that I just don’t have time to get done.  Nobody knows what doesn’t get done, so everyone ends up happy with the results.  That’s the way I work.  I expected these last few days to be pretty much like that.

But this time, I made a plan that I could realistically stick to, and I stuck to it.   Hooray!   So the day went smoothly, the cake went up (and stayed up!) beautifully, and it was easy to cut and serve.

Debi came over Saturday morning and we packed up the cakes and the supplies we would need to set up the cake.  It was a little nerve-racking driving with the cakes in the back of the car.  But we got there safe and sound.

Debi was smart and took photos of the assembly.

Here I am putting supports into the cake: 

Debi came to the rescue when I just could not manage to cut the last two tubes to the right length.  She took over and then the cakes were ready to stack.

The piping connected the tiers.  I wasn’t thrilled with how the bead border turned out (I need to practice more to get better), but it ended up just fine.  Besides, we had the fresh flowers to cover any flaws. 

 

I know I look awful in these pics.  It was a windy day, and I was working.  I got cleaned up before the ceremony.

 By the time we were at this point, people were starting to show up.  I hadn’t planned exactly where I wanted to put the flowers and it needed to get done quickly.  Debi saved me there also.  She pretty much took care of placing the flowers on her own.  She has a good eye, is artistic, and decisive.  I was so grateful she was there to finish it.  The flowers looked so nice and complemented the cake perfectly.  They also tied the cake into the rest of the wedding decorations.  Anyway, I was very pleased with the finished product.

 

Here Debi & I are, happy with our cake!

 

 

 Related Posts:

• Project Wedding Cake: the Beginning
• Project Wedding Cake: Mini Test Cake

   

Project Wedding Cake: Mini Test Cake

The wedding is in three days and, happily, I am right on schedule.  Last night, I made the Chocolate Almond Buttercream.  Today, I made another batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream and decorated a test cake.

I really love Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC)!!  You can get in real trouble with this frosting.  It is very smooth, and light.  Its buttery, and not too sweet (unlike classic buttercream).  You can easily eat too much of it.  It is just about perfect.  You can find the recipe here.  Debi had already made plenty of SMBC for the wedding cake, but I wanted some extra to practice decorating.

For practice, I used an extra 4″ cake.  It is exactly what the top layer of the wedding cake will be like.  First, I did a crumb coat and put it in the freezer to firm up.

 

Then, I frosted with the SMBC.  It really is nice to frost with- very smooth and silky!

 

This is what it looked like after I smoothed it all out the best I could:

 

Next, I made a parchment bag and practiced my bead border.

Then, I added a bead border to the base of the test cake.

The wedding cake will be decorated with fresh yellow & white daisies.  It will be so pretty!

 

Tomorrow, I will pick up the flowers from the florist and trim, fill and crumb coat the cakes.  Friday, I will frost and smooth, and put in the support beams.  Saturday, Debi & I will transport the cakes to Galt, stack them, then add the bead border to the bases and accent with flowers.

I am so excited!

 

Related Posts:

• Project Wedding Cake: the Beginning
• Project Wedding Cake: Happily Ever After

Project Wedding Cake: the Beginning

I feel its my duty to document my current endevour.  I’ll regret it if I don’t.

I am making a wedding cake.  (Can you believe it??) Its my first one.  I’ve made tons of cakes before, many of them funky and impressive (imho), and many of them large.  But never a wedding cake.  (You should hear a chorus of angels sing when you read those words.  A wedding cake should be more than special, it should be EXCEPTIONAL.  It should be more than delicious, it should be EXQUISITE.  Why then, with these lofty beliefs, did I sign up for this?  Because I am crazy.)

I have wanted to make a wedding cake for a while now.  But I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance.  Consequently, when my friend and niece, Ashley, said she didn’t have a wedding cake yet, I jumped at the chance.

The Details:

• The wedding is in less than two weeks, to be held on Saturday, April 10th.
• There are an expected 70 to 100 guests.
• The bride wants both vanilla and chocolate cake.
• The theme is a garden wedding, including gerber daisies, with colors white & yellow.
• The wedding will take place in (and so I must transport my cake to) Galt- exactly 20.7 miles from my home.
• The wedding (& cake) will be outside.

 

What I have so far:

• I have decided to make a 3-tiered cake (4″, 8″ and 12″ layers, each at least 4″ tall) plus 2 extra sheet cakes to ensure there is enough cake.
• I have tested numerous cake recipies, and cake fillings.  I have narrowed it down to Dark Chocolate Cake (from scratch), and French Vanilla Cake (altered mix recipe) with Lemon Buttercream. 
• I will ice the entire cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
• Chocolate cakes are baked and in the freezer, ready to trim.
• Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC) is in the freezer, ready to re-whip when it is decorating time.
• Huge inspiration and many questions answered by resources online.  My favorite: Smitten Kitchen’s first wedding cake.
• My sister, Debi, who is a huge help.  (And my husband, Tom, who is a great taste-tester.)

 

What I still need:

• Decide between Dark Chocolate Almond Buttercream and Whipped Chocolate Ganache for the chocolate cake filling.
• More butter: head to Costco ASAP.
• More sugar: head to Winco ASAP.
• Make and freeze Lemon Buttercream & French Vanilla Cake.
• Play with PearlDust and decide whether to use in decorating.
• Purchase a few more bakery supplies: cake boards and supports.
• Decide what I’m wearing to the wedding! 

 

Related Posts:

• Project Wedding Cake: Mini Test Cake
• Project Wedding Cake: Happily Ever After

Wonderland

A week ago Saturday, our little Essie turned six.

She requested an Alice birthday, and I did my best to create Wonderland.

 

For months before, I scavenged thrift stores for various teacups & teapots.  My sister, Miriam, piped “eat me” on cookies for hours.  I looked up topsy turvy cakes online (and was quite pleased with how it turned out!).  Paper lanterns and friends completed the setting.

 

After tipping teacups, out came the plastic bag aprons and the red paint!  Earlier that week, I’d painted the rose bushes on 15ft of butcher paper.  What a lot of green poster paint it took!  White silk roses were collected from the Dollar Tree and cardboard boxes for reinforcement from Walmart at 11o’clock at night.

The little artists worked (some meticulously, others haphazardly), to fix the cards’ mistake.

That’s enough!  Off with their heads!

 

Cake, presents, croquet & party favors and Ta Da!  A fabulous party!

Most of the photos are courtesy of my sister, Debi.

Post-Edit:

I forgot that I had wanted to include this pic, of the wonderful twilight dinner we enjoyed with some family that stayed after the party (Didn’t John & Tom take wonderful advantange of the party strings by adding the lights?):