Miscellaneous Stuff!

So I made a couple other things that I wanted to share with you… first my stellar Gingerbread house. Note the moose traipsing outside the house, the igloo on the other side, and a snowman building gingerbread man!

Next,  mini gingerbread cupcakes with mini gingerbread moose/men/trees. I should really post the cupcakes recipe because it is delicious! I love them but I am not posting anymore “out of season” recipes! (Besides the pictures aren’t all that stellar!)

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Gingerbread Cookies

And finally, what I call “Box-of-chocolate” cupcakes – I went to a Forrest Gump themed New Year’s Party. Each of the chocolate cupcakes is a different flavour and you “never-know-what-you’re-gonna-get”. There are ones baked with skor bits, M&Ms, white chocolate rainbow bits, mint chocolate, marshmallow, cinnamon, coconut and hazelnut baked in. All but the hazelnut ones (which have Nutella instead) are also filled with ganache. Then there are the peanut butter stuffed, ganache stuffed, and Nutella stuffed chocolate ones.

"Box-of-Chocolate" Cupcakes

Chocolate Peppermint Patty Brownie Cupcakes

First of all, I just have a couple comments to make about chocolate and mint together. Recently, my friend Courteney (co-blogger on my other blog site Let’s Make Whoopie) made Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Mint Filling. After tasting them, I had to admit I didn’t love them. Here is the thing: although I thought the cookies were excellent, I am quite picky about the combo of chocolate and mint. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes it isn’t really my thing. I don’t like chocolate mint ice cream but I love After Eights. I love this chocolate mint truffle cake that I make sometimes at Christmas but I would never think to order something like that from a restaurant because I don’t think I would like it. So the Whoopie Pies: they were just so-so because the mint-chocolate combo wasn’t quite right for me. I am not sure if it is the ratio, the type of mint or just what it is that I don’t like about it sometimes but there is something. I tried to explain this to Courteney but she just thought I was crazy! Here’s something else: I am NOT the only one! I have encountered at least 3 others since the Whoopie Pie trial!!

The patties and the chocolate!

Anyways, I felt like I needed to add that before introducing this flavour! Chocolate Mint Peppermint Patty Cupcakes! I think this is even one of the first things I have baked since the Whoopie Pies so it is sort of ironic that I made them! There was a reason I had to make them though: back in February, I bought a bag of York Peppermint patties that were on sale with intentions of making these. That was obviously months ago now. Then about 2 weeks ago a friend at work was clearing out her cupboards and came across a bag of the mini ones. She was going to leave them out at work for people to help themselves since she didn’t really like them (they really aren’t the same) but I nabbed them to make these cupcakes with instead! Of course I promised her a few to try!

This is a a much loved recipe that has been made several times by both me and a friend of mine. It is almost directly from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes cookbook except for a couple minor changes. I like to make both the full sized and the mini-cupcakes. The mini’s are a more manageable size but the full size ones are so much tastier! There is something about the full sized ones that makes them so much better! They are a chewier texture because they have a full peppermint patty in side! Mmm… delicious.

Ok, one more comment before the recipe. I have discovered the best baking chocolate at Trader Joe’s. Instead of squares of chocolate they are discs! They melt perfectly and taste delicious.

Melted and smooth chocolate! So simple

The chocolate - 6 discs make one ounce.

The chocolate melted with the butter

Alright, now on to the recipe! Here it is:

Chocolate Peppermint Patty Brownie Cupcakes

The finished batter, it doesn't look like much!

• 8 oz semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• either 12 large chocolate covered peppermint patties or a mix of large and small ones

The finished product! They didn't photograph well

Adventures in Cake Decorating

So this first post will be brief and just share the cake baking I have been doing over the past few weeks. I started taking the basic cake decorating classes through Michaels (teaching the Wilton methods) and was FORCED to bake for the class. First it was sugar cookies (I wasn’t about to buy the basic cookies from the store like some of my co-decorators),  then a cake, then cupcakes, and finally another cake. Here are the finished products:

This was my first attempt at decorating properly! I love moose! The cake was a chai-spiced cake with raspberry jam and an almond frosting.

Red Wine Cupcakes with Blackberry Wine Frosting! I had a ton of fun decorating these guys!

This was a mango cake with mango curd filling and rum frosting! For an unflappable co-worker. The roses were a must since we learned them that day in class!

I will add the recipes for these guys later! The recipe for the cupcakes can be found on my other blog “Let’s Make Whoopie”

Ah, a new baking blog!

I realize that there is no lack of baking blogs out there! They seem to be abundant and everyone has their own style and idea of what needs to be in a blog. So what is different about mine? Not really anything except that it is about my baking!

So enjoy the deliciousness that is brought to you on this site and let me know what you think!