Hoosier Homemade hosts a weekly link up called cupcake Tuesday that I often link my cupcake creations to. Over the last month she has been hosting a Holiday Cupcake Challenge in which I entered some of my cupcake creations from both last year and this year.

Each week has had a theme:

Week 1 – Holiday Flavor

Week 2 – Thanksgiving Cupcake

Week 3 – Christmas Cupcake

Week 4 – New Year’s Cupcake

Here are the cupcakes I entered…

Week 1 Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcake

Week 2 Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Week 3 Santa’s Crew Cupcakes

Week 4 Almond Champagne Cupcakes

It’s been so much fun to see all of the creative holiday themed cupcakes entered by the participants. People are just so awesomely creative and inspiring.

I haven’t bothered soliciting any votes from my readers for any of the individual cupcakes, but this week YOU CAN VOTE FOR ME ONCE, as “Overall Winner.” So if you’ve got literally ten seconds to throw my way, click here, and leave a comment on the Hoosier Homemade post saying that you vote for MommyTopics.

I sure would appreciate it!

Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!

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(UPDATE: If you’re here visiting from the Pioneer Woman’s Pie Post… WELCOME! You might also enjoy reading about the time I got to meet Ree, and my take on her throwdown with Bobby Flay this week, including links to some of their recipes. Thanks so much for following the link and stopping by my blog. Happy Thanksgiving!!!)

The holiday season is upon us. Year after year there is a growing expectation in my marriage for me to become…

A pie maker.

One of my husband’s most beloved things about Thanksgiving and Christmas is his grandma’s cherry pie.

When we got married and said our vows, one of them was, that I would learn to make this pie.

Okay… not really… I mean I didn’t actually have to say that during our ceremony, but believe me… it’s been implied.

In order for this marriage to work well, one of the things I will need to eventually, quite literally, “bring to the table”, is the ability to perfectly reproduce Grandma’s Cherry Pie, during the holidays.

But… I’m not quite there yet.

I’ve taken some lessons with grandma, I’ve written things down, I’ve experimented on my own, but I have not yet achieved official “Now That’s Grandma’s Pie” status. I won’t give up though. I’ll keep plugging away. My practice season is upon us.

Since I don’t quite have it down, I can’t share the secrets of making that perfect pie with you… yet.

But what I can share are these…

Holiday Pie Cupcakes.

Cupcakes.

Now there’s an area where I feel a bit more confident.

They don’t require a lot of counter space, complicated ingredients, a rolling pin, or the dreaded transfer of a thin sheet of sticky, easily tearible dough, from cutting board to pie pan.

Phew. I’m breakin’ a sweat just thinkin’ about all of that!

Back to cupcakes.

Ahhhh cupcakes.

Yes… that’s better.

Holiday fruit cupcakes that look like pie.

And… with these you don’t have to commit to just one kind.

My husband loves cherry, my father in law loves apple, my favorite is peach, and everyone loves fresh raspberry.

With these little beauties, you don’t have to commit to just one or two types of pie for your celebration. It’s easy and fun to quickly make several different kinds, at once.

I used apples, peaches, and raspberries with the batch shown, but you can use whatever types of filling your family loves best: cherries, blueberries, candied pecans, ready made pumkin pie cheesecake filling – sky’s the limit!

I’ve found that this Butter Pecan box mix flavor is perfect for these mini pies, both in taste and color.

I used canned pie filling for my Peach, and Apple Pie Cupcakes, but for the Raspberry Pie Cupcakes I used fresh raspberries, lightly covered in store bought Strawberry Glaze.

In order to make these Fruit Pie Cupcakes, you’ll need to leave plenty of room in your cupcake papers for the fruit to lay on top of the cake and still be held within the paper. When pouring the batter into the cups don’t fill them more than 1/2 way. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full is just about perfect. And, if you do have some cupcakes that puff up too high to fill with fruit, never fear… once they’re baked just use a knife to gently cut the cupcake down enough so the fruit will fit. No one will ever see the part you cut hidden under all that fruit.

Next, cover the top of the cupcake with your favorite fruits. For raspberries, blueberries, and cherries, they look beautiful if you place them one by one with your fingers, but for the canned peaches and apple slices, you can dice them up and spoon them on.

Once you get all your fruit on, you’ll be tempted to stop right there… And… of course, you could. These Fruit topped cupcakes are beautiful and delicious just like this.

But, if you want to take it a step further and create a little Holiday dessert that will truly thrill your guests, give this extra step of turning Fruit topped Cupcakes, into little Mock Pies, a try.

The Pie Hatch and Crust design is created by piping on Frosting. I like to use a delicious mixture of Butter Cream and Caramel frosting, to get a great taste, and perfect pie crust color.

One or two tablespoons of Caramel Frosting. mixed into a full tub of Buttercream, will give just the right shade for a Mock Pie Crust.

If you’ve seen any of my other Cupcake recipes, you’ll know I often just use a plain old Ziploc bag as my piping tool. But, in order to get a flat appearance for the hatch-work on the top of these pies, you really are going to want to use a piping bag and a flat tip.

Here are some examples of Wilton Tips that would be appropriate for this project. Personally I prefer a small smooth flat tip like #44 above, to create the look of a pie. The ribbed edge tips are more for creating the look of a basket weave, although if you already have a ribbed tip, you can turn it upside down so that the smooth edge is on top, to get the same effect as a smooth flat tip. Tip #46 above demonstrates this.

When you place your berries in, one by one, you’ll end up with some gaps in between them. You should fill those holes in with cut or torn pieces of berries so that you have a nice full dome shape for your hatching to rest on.

Don’t start your first line on the middle of the cupcake because it can throw off the spacing of your lines. Using your piping bag and tip, lay your first line just off of one of the sides.

Lay all of your lines across the top, from one side to the other. I was able each time to fit three or four lines across in each direction, depending on the spacing. I think the cupcakes with four lines going each way came out the best.

Rotate your cupcake and begin piping lines horizontal to the ones you’ve already done.

Don’t worry about how the ends of your lines look because they will be completely covered up by the Mock Pie Crust you’ll do next. Just make sure each end of every line touches the cupcake paper, but doesn’t droop or flop out beyond it.

If you do have some frosting that accidentally drips down the cupcake paper, use a lightly damp paper towel to wipe it off. No harm, no foul. It will dry in seconds and no one will ever know.

Your Hatch Top is done as simple as that!

You’ll be so proud of yourself at this point, and you should be… You’re almost done!

Using the same piping bag and tip, create your Pie Crust by working in sections. Don’t try to pipe all the way around the cupcake without taking a break.

Using an up and down folding pattern, pipe the area directly in front of you. Stop piping, rotate the cupcake, and pick up where you left off using the same up and down folding motion. Each cupcake will be divided into about six small sections like this.

I highly recommend taking the time after you finish decorating each cupcake, to immediately place it on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator in order to help the shape of the Buttercream on top of the fruit and glaze to set in it’s place. Leaving the cupcake out while you decorate all of the others, may cause some the frosting to begin drooping and coming apart.

And please don’t give up if your first try at this is a mess. Mine was. Just pick out a couple of cupcakes that didn’t turn out so well in the baking process and without even bothering to put any fruit on them, use them to practice the piping techniques. Or, if you can’t waste any of the 24 cupcakes you baked, practice the piping technique on the dome of an orange or a rubber ball. (Better buy an extra tub of Buttercream for this just in case) When you’ve got it down, move on to your lovely Fruit Topped Cupcakes and turn those little tarts into Pies!!!

And, whether you’re a pie expert, or are in the learning stage of pie making, be sure to head over to Tidy Mom’s Love the Pie Party for all kinds of fantastic tips, tricks, recipes, and inspiration for making great pies this holiday season.

If you do make awesome pies, you may also want to make some of these as well. They’re just to pretty, festive, unique, and EASY, not to include in your celebrations this year!

Your guests, both young and old, will adore them. And they aren’t just attractive and clever… they also taste sooooooo good!!

Happy Holidays!

This post is also linked to: Fireflies and Jellybeans

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Nothing says autumn quite like all your friend’s Facebook status’s reminding you that the Pumpkin Spice Latte is once again available at Starbucks.

So, when trying to come up with a new delicious flavor that represents the holiday season, I could think of nothing better than a Pumpkin Spice Latte flavored cupcake.

I used a box Spice Cake mix, followed the instructions, and added a cup of canned pumpkin. Instead of using a cupcake tin, I poured the batter into individual coffee cups.

After the cupcakes were baked and cooled, I drenched them with a coffee infused tres leche mixture.

Next I needed the perfect topping.

I wanted to make some home made whipped cream, but for some reason after twenty minutes of working at it with my mixer, the cream just would not thicken.

As I went to throw the carton away of mysterious non-inflating cream, I noticed that it was Half and Half, not Heavy Whipping cream.

Good one Rachael! (FYI, I don’t talk about myself in the third person, but I do talk to myself. Often.)

So… many hours later, after a trip to the store, and the purchase of some actual, genuine heavy whipping cream, I returned home with a newly developed nervousness toward trying to create whipped cream.

I knew the Half and Half had been the problem, but still… it gave me a complex.

I also wanted to make my whipped cream, Latte flavored. With already being nervous about my cream never whipping, I was doubly nervous about the thought of trying to add coffee to it, for fear of watering it down, and it once again, never puffing up.

And then it hit me…

My french press.

Do you have one of these?

I love mine.

My husband doesn’t drink coffee, so after a while it seemed silly to have a big coffee machine taking up space on my counter top, just for little ol’ me. So, I hid my big clunker coffee maker under my sink and have been using a french press ever since.

And wouldn’t you know… it works perfect for infusing heavy cream, with coffee, no water necessary.

If you’ve never seen how a french press works, after you let the water, or in this case the cream, sit for a few minutes (3 minutes for a cup of coffee / at least 10 minutes for cream) infusing with the coffee grounds, you press down this nifty very fine strainer that comes with it, and it allows the coffee or cream to rise to the top, and traps all the grounds at the bottom.

If you have a stock of emergency food supplies in your home, you should definitely add one of these little babies… makes coffee without electricity… invaluable in a crisis… I’m guessing.

It whipped up perfectly and it tastes AMAZING!

So I plopped a layer of latte whipped cream onto my latte soaked pumpkin spice cupcake, and spread the layer flat to look like… well… a latte!

Then I topped it off with some sweet vanilla whipped cream to make it really look like a drink…

Sprinkled on a little cinnamon and sugar mixture, and…

Viola!

Moist… pumpkiny… cinnamony… sweet…. latte…. cupcake goodness! It tastes the best after several hours in the fridge. YUM!

Also linked to: A Vision to Remember, Along for the Ride, Tip Junkie, New Nostalgia, Today’s Creative Blog, From My Tiny Kitchen, Blue Cricket Design, Bobbypins Boardwalk, Me and My Bucket, My Backyard Eden, We Are That Family, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Bloggeritaville, Beyond the Picket Fence, Tidy Mom

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These pumpkin cupcakes are so festive for October and November.  Just looking at them makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside… with a touch of whimsy.  I got this idea out of one of my favorite cupcake books .

These cupcakes are much more about their cute appearance than the actual cake part. You can use any cupcake recipe you like and make any flavor you want.  With everything I’ve got going on in life I usually look for a semi-homemade approach to my cooking and that’s what I did with these.

I used store bought yellow cake mix, followed the directions on the box and added:

3/4 can of pumpkin

2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

Just look at this beautiful, light, yummy, pumpkin, cupcake batter.

I love all the little speckles of pumpkin pie spice.  I just want to dip my finger into this picture and lick it. Sorry.  Ok… here we go

Another great tip for making pretty cupcakes is to put the batter into a Ziploc bag and dispense it like frosting.

This helps with equal portion control in each cup and it helps to keep from getting batter drips on your paper cups.

I used three different sizes for my cupcakes and just kept a close eye on them in the oven for cooking time differences.

Viola!

What a cute little cupcake family.  Reminds me of a story of three bears and a little girl named Goldilo….

Oh… we’re not done are we? Ahem….

…Onto the frosting.  For making the pumpkin shape I would recommend using a good thick somewhat stiff frosting.  Buttercreme would work, but with pumpkin cake I think it begs a crème cheese frosting.  If you don’t follow the directions here, make sure to double whatever recipe you use.  You’re going to need a good amount of frosting to make your pumpkin domes.

Whip sixteen ounces of crème cheese with two sticks of soft unsalted butter until light and fluffy… about three minutes.

Slowly add:

8 ounces of powdered sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tbsp of milk.

Even if your frosting seems really thick, remember you’re going to be adding some liquid with your food coloring so hold off on adding any more milk until later if you need to.  You don’t want your frosting runny or soupy because then it won’t hold it’s pumpkin shape.

Now it’s time to add the orange food coloring… look at those beautiful swirls.

Just keep adding drops until you get a nice strong orange color.

Lovely, lovely orange!

So now it’s time to frost the cupcakes.

The best approach I’ve found is to use a butter knife and put a big dollop of frosting on top.  Carefully smooth the frosting down towards the cupcake paper being careful to maintain a dome shape.  Don’t worry about making it perfectly smoothe… the sugar crystals will cover up your strokes.

Just focus on making it even and round.

Once you’ve frosted a batch of cupcakes it’s best to put them in the fridge and let them set up for at least fifteen minutes before continuing the decorating.

You can use this time to prepare your other decorating ingredients.

Your going to need a small batch of frosting that is a darker orange than what you used on your cupcakes already.  To achieve this just add a bit of red food coloring to what you’ve already made.

Put the new darker frosting into a Ziploc bag and set it aside.  This is what you’ll use to make the seams.

These rainbow Twizzlers are what you’ll use to make your stems.

Take out a few green ones.

Chop them into some different sized stems and set them aside in a bowl.

Dump your orange sugar crystals into a bowl.  I used a mix of two shades.

Looks like edible fairy dust.  Makes my heart happy.

So now you’re ready to start the final stage of your decorating.

First you’re going to roll your cupcakes gently in the sugar so that the frosting is coated with the sugar crystals.

Next, you’re going to use a sharp knife to cut seems into your cupcakes.  If you’re having a hard time cutting clean seams easily, set your cupcakes back in the fridge for another fifteen minutes, and then try again.

Cut a tiny hole in the corner of your piping/Ziploc bag of darker frosting and pipe it into the seams going from the top of the cupcake down to the paper cup.  Make the hole you cut in the bag REALLY small.  You can always make it a bit bigger if you need to, but once you cut it too big it’s no fun to have to start over and transfer all that frosting into a new bag…. I know… I did it.

Once you’ve piped on all the seems, pick out a stem and gently push it down into the frosting on the top of the cake in the center of where all your seams meet.

And there you go…pumpkin cupcakes!  They make a great treat for a kid’s party.  In fact I think these would be adorable any time of year at a little girl’s Cinderella birthday party.

In October and November these cupcakes serve as a beautiful centerpiece at any family dinner… especially on Thanksgiving.  I bet your guests won’t even realize they’re edible until you point it out.  They’re just so pretty.

If you make some, please leave a post about how it went and what creative things you did with them.

Happy, happy Autumn to you all!

Linked to: Blue Cricket Designs, Someday Crafts, Me and My Bucket, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, The Girl Creative, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, It’s So Very Cheri, Skip to My Lou, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter, Tip Junkie, New Nostalgia, Blessed With Grace, The Diaper Diaries, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Along for the Ride, C.R.A.F.T.

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Recently we celebrated Llany’s 2nd birthday.

I went with a robot theme because Llany LOVES robots. It all started after he saw a Bachyardigans episode called, “Robot Rampage” about a robot repair man. He was hooked… instantly. He wanted to watch that episode all day, every day, from then on. Lucky for him he has a responsible mother who would never allow such a magnitude of irresponsible TV watching.

Huh!

All day, every day. Not on my watch!

Just a couple times every day is plenty.

Llany just so happened to have one single shirt with a robot on it, and once he knew what a robot was from the Backyardigans cartoon, that became the only shirt he wanted to wear.

Check out this awesome new robot shirt I found for him on Zazzle.com. He loved it!

Sadly my local party store didn’t have any robot balloons, so naturally I did what any intelligent parent would do… I opted for one of Mickey.

Cause who doesn’t love Mickey? Right?!

Just because I’m throwing a robot birthday and didn’t plan far enough ahead to find a robot balloon like an organized, party planning maven of a mother would have, doesn’t mean there’s no room for Mickey. Mickey is always welcome.

And besides, Llany loves Mickey. And Llany doesn’t know anything about the silly adult world with confining rules such as, “Pick a party theme and stick with it.”

My husband does a great Mickey impression and calls the kids on the phone once in a while pretending to be Mickey. They love it. They really think Mickey calls them.

I know… we’re liars. We’re terrible, dark, evil, deceptive, Mickey liars.

We’ll come clean with them soon.

I promise.

I decided to take some pictures of the party this year from the perspective of the birthday boy. I thought it would be fun to have some photos to remember the day, that show him his birthday, from his vantage point at the time.

Try it. Just lay down and shoot your party from the ground up. It’s fun… If you’re weird like me.

The party store also did happen to have one balloon left of a Backyardigans character… when I called to order them… the day of the party…. like three hours before the party… because I plan… because I’m awesome.

See?

See!

Here’s where I planned.

I ordered these robot cupcake toppers from Amazon.com, totally before the party. Like, entire days before the party. Like I wasn’t waiting, clenching my teeth, praying they would arrive in time for the party, at all. Nope. Not me.

Nope.

What could be better for a two year old birthday than confetti cupcakes arranged as a robot army right?!

Using the display tree made them appear a bit more peaceful and ready to party.

Although, up close they still looked pretty serious.

And look what else Llany got as gifts…

Another robot shirt…

Robot pajamas…

An actual robot…

A robot Super Why…

This guy is really cool. When you push the button on his chest, his cape flies behind him while he talks. He was almost the favorite present of the birthday boy, but…

This robot Mickey Mouse Club birthday card was hands down Llany’s favorite gift.

I call it a robot card because it’s one of those that sings a song when you open it. Llany already knows the old school Mickey Mouse Club theme song, because I sing it to him often during diaper changes. A few other old school and out of date diaper change song selections I provide my children are, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”, “How Much is that Doggy in the Window?”, “Rise and Shine”, and the “Bear in the Big Blue House” theme song.

He opened this card first and we thought we would never get to any of the other presents. He just wanted to keep reopening the card and replaying the  song.

“Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me, M-I-C-K-E-Y… M-O-U-S-E….”

Even after all the presents were open, Llany left them at the table and went marching all around the living room singing and dancing with this birthday card. He was still doing that very thing with the card today in our school room.

Llany also received these robot dinosaurs. This was unquestionably my favorite gift of the night.

These dinosaurs are AMAZING!!!

They’re from the PBS kids show, “Dinosaur Train.” What’s amazing about these particular dinosaurs is that if you have more than one of them, and you set them near each other, they begin a dialogue back and forth. Each of these dinosaurs individually says over fifty different things. And the conversations they have are so educational. An example of some of what I’ve heard between the two of them goes something like this,

“Hey Borris, I’m Morris.”

“Hey Morris, I’m Borris.”

“Hey Borris, what do you eat?”

“I’m an herbavore which means I only eat plants.”

“Whoa, cool. I’m a carnivore which means I eat meat.”

“I weigh seven tons, how much do you weigh?”

“When I’m full grown, I’ll weigh seven tons.”

They go on and on, and on, back and forth. Sometimes they ask each other questions, and sometimes they say things together.

Someone out there has got to take this technology and create some talking Tea Party friends. Can you picture it?

“Trixie, it’s fine weather we’ve been having.”

“Oh yes Pixie, I just adore the Spring.”

“Trixie would you pass the sugar please?”

“Of course, do you prefer one lump or two?”

To any toy manufacturers out there reading this, you can email me about where to send the royalty check, and… you’re welcome.

There are more ideas where that one came from people. Lots of  ’em!

Just ask me about the machine idea I have that will revolutionize the laundry dilemma… oh yes… there are sketches available.

So, that was my weekend.

What did you do?

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I make a lot of cupcakes.

But can I confess something to you?

When I’m working on fancy cupcakes like these…

I DO NOT LET MY KIDS HELP!

I know… I feel guilty about it. But… that’s just the way it has to be sometimes.

I’m feeling a lot less guilty since I did this…

Kid’s Cupcake Day!!!

I set up a table outside on the lawn.

I pulled out extra sprinkles I had in the cupboards, edible markers, mini marshmallows, mini M&Ms, and whatever else I could find that they would enjoy decorating with.

I baked 12 cupcakes and poured the rest of the batter out on a cookie sheet so they could use cookie cutters to make shaped mini cakes.

I used a box mix that I had sitting around.

They made the little cut out shapes and then ate them before I could catch any pictures of them. This is the only record I have of them making the mini cakes. They were a hit.

I also gave them three bags of frosting to decorate with… lemon, strawberry, and vanilla.

And this is how you leave a four year old and an eight year unattended while decorating cupcakes… you set them up at a table OUTSIDE, and you give them frosting bags tightly closed off with twisty ties.

If you don’t use the twisty ties, and you put bags of frosting into the hands of minors, all of the frosting ends up squirting out the back end of the bags. I promise. Please… for everyone’s sanity… use the twisty ties.

If you remember nothing else from this post… remember “outside” and remember “twisty ties.”

And then you just let them go for it.

No input from Mom needed. Not on this day. Not on these cupcakes.

This day was all about Mom and kids being stress free and having Fun.

Here are the cupcakes.

Here is the frosting.

Here are the sprinkles.

Create.

I’ll sit over here, enjoy the sun, drink my iced tea, and snap pictures.

No pointers.

No tips.

No comments from the peanut gallery.

Not today.

And it turned out to be a magical and marvelous day for all of us.

I’m definitely going to do this more often.

For me, it’s much easier to set them up to do their own cupcakes on a day when I can just sit back and enjoy the fun they’re having.

Things don’t go this delightfully on a day when I let them bake, but I also need to get something baked and decorated for an event. That is when catastrophe can happen.

Next time they CAN’T bake with me, I’ll promise them their own baking day soon.

But only if they say “Pretty please”…

With a cherry on top!

Hey!

Look!

There are some of those little mini cakes they cut out and decorated. Right there in the middle. They’re a bit hard to see, but that part was really fun for them! They loved using the cookie cutters and decorating the shapes.

So…

What kind of Summer Family Fun have you been having?

Link up you Summer Family Fun posts here. Don’t forget to link back by using my badge or creating a link in your post.

I can’t wait to see what everyone’s been up to!

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The Fourth of July is such an important day to commemorate. I love honoring America’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence by being mindful of the tremendous Freedoms we enjoy as Americans, and celebrating those Freedoms with  Family, Food, Fireworks, and Fun.

When I think of a Patriotic treat that represents America, I think of Pie. More specifically… Apple Pie.

But this Mommy doesn’t do pies. I’ve tried. It’s tough. It takes a lot of counter space to roll out the dough, and I don’t have a lot of counter space. So for now I’m stickin’ to my cupcakes.

But trust me… these Cupcakes are, “as American as Apple Pie!”

I used apples, peaches, and raspberries in mine because those are my family’s favorite kinds of pies, but you could use whatever fruits your family loves best. Cherries and Blueberries would be lovely too, and so Patriotic.

I used a Butter Pecan box mix.

I’ve made cupcakes from scratch and eaten cupcakes from scratch and they can be delicious, but I’ve also never had a boxed cake mix that I didn’t like.

This Butter Pecan flavor is perfect for these mini pies, both in taste and color.

I used canned pie filling for my Peach, and Apple Pie Cupcakes, but for the Raspberry Pie Cupcakes I used Fresh Raspberries lightly covered in store bought Strawberry Glaze.

My family LOVES fresh raspberries!!! I make Raspberry Tarts all the time.

In order to make these Fruit Pie Cupcakes, you’ll need to leave plenty of room in your cupcake papers for the fruit to lay on top of the cake and still be held within the paper. When pouring the batter into the cups don’t fill them more than 1/2 way. Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 full is just about perfect. And, if you do have some cupcakes that puff up too high to fill with fruit, never fear… once they’re baked just use a knife to gently cut the cupcake down enough so the fruit will fit. No one will ever see the part you cut hidden under all that fruit.

Next, cover the top of the cupcake with your favorite fruits. For Raspberries, Blueberries, and Cherries, they look beautiful if you place them one by one with your fingers, but for the canned Peaches and Apple slices, you can dice them up and spoon them on.

Once you get all your fruit on, you’ll be tempted to stop right there. And… of course, you could. These Fruit topped cupcakes are beautiful and delicious just like this.

But if you want to take it a step further and create a little American Country Creation that will thrill your guests, give this extra step of turning Fruit topped Cupcakes into little Mock Pies, a try.

The Pie Hatch and Crust design is created by piping on Frosting. I chose a delicious mixture of Butter Cream and Caramel frosting to get a great taste and a Pie Crust color.

One or two tablespoons of Caramel Frosting mixed into a full tub of Buttercream will give just the right shade for a Mock Pie Crust.

If you seen any of my other Cupcake recipes, I often just use a plain old Ziploc bag as my piping tool, but in order to get a flat appearance for the Hatch work on the top of the pie you really are going to want to use a piping bag and a flat tip.

Here are some examples of Wilton Tips that would be appropriate for this project. Personally I prefer a small smooth flat tip like #44 above, to create the look of a pie. The ribbed edge tips are more for creating the look of a basket weave, although if you already have a ribbed tip, you can turn it upside down so that the smooth edge is on top to get the same effect as a smooth flat tip. Tip #46 above demonstrates this.

When you place your berries in one by one, you’ll end up with some gaps in between them. You should fill those holes in with cut or torn pieces of berries so that you have a nice full dome shape for your hatching to rest on.

Don’t start your first line on the middle of the cupcake because it can throw off the spacing of your lines. Using your piping bag and tip, lay your first line just off of one of the sides.

Lay all of your lines across the top, from one side to the other. I was able each time to fit three or four lines across in each direction, depending on the spacing. I think the cupcakes with four lines going each way came out the best.

Rotate your cupcake and begin piping lines horizontal to the ones you’ve already done.

Don’t worry about how the ends of your lines look because they will be completely covered up by the Mock Pie Crust you’ll do next. Just make sure each end of every line touches the cupcake paper, but doesn’t droop or flop out beyond it.

If you do have some frosting that accidentally drips down the cupcake paper, use a lightly damp paper towel to wipe it off. No harm, no foul. It will dry in seconds and no one will ever know.

Your Hatch Top is done as simple as that!

You’ll be so proud of yourself at this point, and you should be… You’re almost done!

Using the same piping bag and tip, create your Pie Crust by working in sections. Don’t try to pipe all the way around the cupcake without taking a break.

Using an up and down folding pattern, pipe the area directly in front of you. Stop piping, rotate the cupcake, and pick up where you left off using the same up and down folding motion. Each cupcake will be divided into about six small sections like this.

I highly recommend taking the time after you finish decorating each cupcake, to immediately place it on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator in order to help the shape of the Buttercream on top of the fruit and glaze to set in it’s place. Leaving the cupcake out while you decorate all of the others, may cause some the frosting to begin drooping and coming apart.

And please don’t give up if your first try at this is a mess. Mine was. Just pick out a couple of cupcakes that didn’t turn out so well in the baking process and without even bothering to put any fruit on them, use them to practice the piping techniques. Or, if you can’t waste any of the 24 cupcakes you baked, practice the piping technique on the dome of an orange or a rubber ball. (Better buy an extra tub of Buttercream for this just in case) When you’ve got it down, move on to your lovely Fruit Topped Cupcakes and turn those little tarts into Pies!!!

Like I said, your guests will adore these. They are so pretty, so clever, and they taste sooooooo good!!!

Happy 4th of July…

Here‘s What You Need...

This post linked to: Metamporphosis Monday, Just Something I Whipped UP Monday, It’s So Very Creative, Market Yourself Monday, DIY Project Parade, Motivate Me Monday, Cupcake Tuesday, Anti-procrastination Tuesday, Blue Cricket Designs, Boardwalk Bragfest, Penny Pinching Party, Show Us What You’re Workin With, Works for Me Wednesday, It’s So Very Cheri, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Thrifty Thursday, Strut Your Stuff Thursday, Under $100 Linky Party, Diaper Diaries, Get your Craft on Thursdays, I’m Lovin’ It Friday, Tatertots and Jello, Check Me Out Saturday, Funky Junk, Craft Schooling Sunday, Sunday Favorites

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The weather is getting warm and it’s time for a sweet refreshing treat!

What could be better than some Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes?

Nothing, that’s what!

So let’s get to it…

First I whipped up a store-bought Strawberry cake mix and a store-bought Lemon cake mix and put them both in Ziploc Bags.

Next I cut off a small corner of each bag and pipped a mixture of both batters into each cupcake paper. I baked them according to the box directions.

Here’s what they look like when they come out of the oven.

Pretty huh?!

Yumm!

I wanted to give the frosting on the cupcakes a fancy twisted look rather than just slopping it on with a butter knife, so I pulled out the big guns…

The piping gun!… with flower tip.

Viola!

Next I took some dry lemonade mix and some pink sprinkling sugar and…

Mixed them together and then…

Sprinkled it on my cupcakes.

I actually sprinkled the mix onto the frosting and then sprinkled the cupcakes again once the strawberries were on top.

Tip: to get this fancy little strawberry look, just cut the strawberry into slices leaving each slice attached at the stem and then fan the strawberry out on top of the cupcake.

Adding the sugar and lemonade mix adds such a pretty look to the cupcakes and strawberries, and it adds a sweet, slightly sour, lemonade flavor.

Irresistibly delicious!

You can use your extra Lemonade mix and strawberries to make a delicious drink too!

Find a beautiful spot outside, grab your Strawberry Lemonade and your Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes… and of course grab some people you love… and enjoy!

Here’s what you need…

- Store bought Strawberry Cake Mix

- Store bought Lemon Cake Mix

- Store bought Strawberry Frosting

- Fresh Strawberries

- Powdered Lemonade Mix

- Decorative Pink or White Sprinkling Sugar

Directions

- Prepare both cake mixes according to instructions on the box and put them in separate Ziploc or piping bags

- Fill cupcake pan with cupcake papers and pipe both batters into each cup to create a mixed color cupcake – Make sure each paper cup is only 2/3 of the way full to prevent overflow when baked

- Bake according to box directions and allow baked cupcakes to cool completely

- Pipe Strawberry Frosting onto cupcakes

- Mix 1 part sprinkling sugar with 2 parts dry lemonade mix and sprinkle onto frosting

- Place washed and sliced or whole small fresh strawberries onto cupcakes and sprinkle again with sugar/lemonade mix and serve

Cupcakes can be refrigerated after preparation, and strawberries re-sprinkled with sugar and lemonade mixture just before serving

Enjoy!

Linked to Cupcake Tuesday

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]]> http://www.mommytopics.com/food/strawberry-lemonade-cupcakes/feed 19 http://www.mommytopics.com/food/valentine-cupcakes http://www.mommytopics.com/food/valentine-cupcakes#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:46:52 +0000 admin http://www.mommytopics.com/?p=143

When I think of Valentine’s Day treats I immediately think of Conversation Hearts candies.

I love those little things.

I can remember as an eight year old girl sitting in my bedroom the night before Valentine’s Day, putting together my homemade Valentines to hand out at school the next day. I took great care to select each candy heart that would go inside the valentines making sure the right messages went to the right people.

To this day whenever February rolls around I can’t help but grab a box or two of the candy hearts while checking out at the grocery store.

So… naturally these little candy hearts were the obvious inspiration for my Valentine’s Day cupcake design.

I even got inspired to use my favorite Valentine Candies as an inspiration to make some tasty Brownie Pops you can see here.

I started with a basic boxed brownie mix and spread it out about 1/3 inch thick on wax paper, laid on a cookie sheet.

There wasn’t enough mix to fill the whole cookie sheet, but the batter was so gooey that I was able to spread it with a spoon to the desired thickness and it stayed in place.

I baked it at 350 degrees for 12 minutes until a toothpick came out clean.

After the brownie sheet was baked and cooled I placed the whole tray in the fridge for an hour to allow the brownie to firm up.

Next I used a small heart shaped cookie cutter to make my hearts.

I dipped the cookie cutter in powdered sugar to keep the brownies from sticking to it.

Again, after all the brownies were cut, I placed them back into the fridge to firm up again.

These melting candies can be found at most craft stores or baking supply stores. They come in all kinds of fantastic colors.

After microwaving the candies in a coffee cup for about a minute and stirring it until smooth, I placed a brownie on a fork over the cup, and began using a spoon to scoop the melted candy over it until it was covered.

Once the brownie was covered the melted candy was so thick that the heart had lost much of it’s shape.

I gently shook the brownie on the fork over the cup allowing excess coating to drizzle away from the heart and cause it to regain it’s shape.

Next I placed the candy heart onto wax paper and allowed it to dry while dipping more hearts.

I then repeated the coating process a second time on each heart in order to completely and smoothly cover each brownie.

After the two coats of melted candy have dried some of the hearts may still be miss-shaped. Simply use a sharp knife to carefully cut away excess candy around the edges.

Any rough edges that remain can easily be smoothed out with the warmth of your finger by gently rubbing them away.

Now it’s time to add all those fun messages.

Markers with edible ink can be found in the bakers aisle of your grocery store or craft store.

I prefer the look of the marker over piped candy or frosting because the effect of the marker better mimics the look of the stamped Conversation Hearts Candies.

These candy covered brownie hearts make a great little treat all by themselves, but they make an even better treat on top of some delicious cupcakes.

I chose Strawberry cupcakes to compliment the chocolate brownies and used food coloring to make pastel frostings that would match the candy colors.

If you want to play along…

Here’s what you need…

Brownie Mix and its required ingredients

Wax Paper

Strawberry Cake Mix

Cupcake Papers

White Frosting

Pastel Food Coloring

Pastel Melting Candies

Red Edible Ink Marker

Enjoy!

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]]> http://www.mommytopics.com/food/valentine-cupcakes/feed 1 http://www.mommytopics.com/food/almond-champagne-cupcakes http://www.mommytopics.com/food/almond-champagne-cupcakes#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:00:07 +0000 admin http://www.mommytopics.com/?p=114

Champagne Cupcakes just sounded like the right thing to do for New Years. But this coming New Year’s Eve happens to be particularly special to me and the details pertaining to that fact are what drove me to create this Almond Champagne Cupcake recipe.

This coming New Year’s Eve will mark the ten year anniversary of the very first date my husband and I ever went on together.

The early morning hours of this coming New Year’s day will be the ten year anniversary of our very first kiss.

And this coming summer of 2010 will be the celebration of our ten year wedding anniversary.

Our wedding took place in the Wine Country of the Temecula Valley, at the Wilson Creek Winery. Their signature Champagne which they are well known for is an Almond Champagne.

Now funny enough, my husband and I don’t drink alcohol at all, but I do often cook with wine and this time I decided to try making an elegant dessert with Champagne. If you want to serve a non-alcoholic version of these cupcakes for your family, or for the kids, just substitute the Champagne in the recipe with Sparkling Apple Cider.

Champagne in cupcakes just sounded so festive for New Years and using Wilson Creek Almond Champagne was the perfect nostalgic ingredient to represent the place where my beloved and I said our vows.

I hope this recipe can also make some of your coming celebrations extra special.

Start by combining brown and white sugars with butter and almond paste in a stand mixer bowl. Whip until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

This is almond paste. It can be found in some grocery store baking aisles and most cake supply stores.

In a separate bowl hand whisk together, eggs, milk, baking soda, and Vanilla.

It’s convenient to transfer this mixture into a container with an easy pour spout.

In a third bowl sift together flour, spices, and salt.

Now with all three bowls prepared it’s time to combine them into one delicious Almond Cupcake Batter.

Alternating between the egg mixture and flour mixture continue adding both to the sugar, butter mixture until all your ingredients are together in one bowl.

Mix on medium only until all ingredients are combined. Do not over mix.

You will end up with a light colored batter, speckled with spices, that smells like sweet Almonds.

Delicious!

To create clean, perfect Cupcakes, fill a Ziploc bag with your Cupcake Batter, cut off the tip of one corner, and pipe the batter into your Cupcake Papers 2/3 of the way.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove your cupcakes from the tins. While they cool there is plenty more to do!

On to making the Almond Champagne Buttercreme.

Now I know what you’re thinking… Marshmallow Fluff? What in the world is that for?

The Marshmallow Fluff is what allows us to have a thick buttercreme that can hold a fancy shape on top of our cupcakes, even though we will be adding a full cup of liquid in the form of Champagne to our frosting.

So here we go.

Empty entire contents of two jars of Marshmallow Fluff into your mixing bowl and begin whipping. The fluff should begin to soften and smooth making it easier to combine with other ingredients.

Slice 5 sticks of room temperature, unsalted, butter, into tablespoon size slices.

If you’re like me, you might often use “salted” butter because it’s just what you always have on hand, even in recipes that call for “unsalted.” THAT WILL NOT WORK IN THIS FROSTING.

You MUST USE UNSALTED BUTTER or your frosting will taste like a you are biting into a raw stick of butter on top of your cupcakes. Trust me… in this recipe it makes all the difference in the world!

Pop open a new bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and measure 1 cup.

Add Champagne to Marshmallow Fluff and begin mixing the two together. After 2 minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl to retrieve all of the marshmallow fluff stuck to the sides. Then, begin mixing again and continue until the marshmallow and Champagne are completely combined.

Begin adding slices of butter a couple at a time while the mixer is on a medium speed. Allow each addition to completely combine before adding the next.

Once all the butter has been combined into the frosting, add 1 tsp of Vanilla.

Next add Powdered Confectioners Sugar to your mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. Mix on medium speed until well combined.

And that’s it… your Almond Champagne Buttercreme is ready.

Make sure your cupcakes are completely cool before frosting them or you will have a sad, melted mess.

Using a butter knife, spread a thin layer of frosting on each cupcake.

Choosing well shaped Almond slices, place each piece of Almond into buttercreme on edge of the cupcake, in a single row, creating a flower petal appearance all the way around each cupcake.

Most of the time when I make cupcakes I just apply my frosting with a simple make shift piping bag made from a Ziploc.

For this special occasion however, and for this fancy of a cupcake, I suggest actually using a real piping tip with a special star or flower shaped cut, to finish off your Almond Champagne Cupcakes with an elegant design.

Pipe the frosting in a swirl and sprinkle on clear decorating sugar.

Beautiful!

The combination of the sprinkles and the color of the frosting looks just like bubbles in Champagne.

I just love it.

I made my first few cupcakes just like this because it looks so beautiful, but after eating one, I decided to continue piping the rest with only 1/3 of the frosting you see in the picture.

Just one spiral around and into the middle so that the cupcake top is covered, is plenty of frosting. This will make your cupcake/frosting ratio better balanced for taste, and allow your guests to fit their mouths over the cupcake to more easily take a bite.

And now for the fancy Chocolate topper!

This part is so fun and it opens up a whole new world of possibilities in cake and cupcake decorating.

Here’s what you need.

This Candy Kote by CK is like hard but melt-able chocolate in a tube that makes it easy to write with. I found mine at a local Cake Supply store, and there are many places that sell it online.

Place your candy tubes in hot water to melt them. To make toppers for eighteen cupcakes I recommend purchasing at least four tubes.

If you’re not comfortable creating your toppers free hand, you can create and print your designs on a simple piece of paper from your computer.

Then place your sheet of designs on a flat surface and cover it with a piece of parchment paper.

Use your tube of melted Candy Kote just like a pen and trace your designs. Make sure to allow a thick enough flow of candy to come out in order to create a strong piece that can stand up once dried.

Double check to make sure that each letter or number in each topper is connected to create one fused piece, and draw a stem on the bottom of your design to create a type of stake to stick into your frosting.

Allow your candy toppers to dry for at least 20 minutes to ensure their strength and ability to stand up on cupcakes.

Gently peel your candy piece from the wax paper and lightly press it’s stem into the cupcake frosting and…

Stand back and be amazed with yourself!

These cupcakes taste really good on their own but they’re even more delicious with some chocolate covered strawberries.

I hope if you decide to make these cupcakes, they make your special events even more spectacular!

Here’s What You Need…

Almond Champagne Cupcakes

Bowl 1

1 stick – 8 tbsp – unsalted butter, softened

3 ½ ounces almond paste (baking supply store)

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

Bowl 2

3 large eggs

2 ½ tsp baking soda

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp Vanilla

Bowl 3

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ salt

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp cloves

½ tsp cocoa powder

(These spices are all optional… you can create your own mixture of your favorite and available spices. Just keep them to a minimum so as not to overpower the almond flavor.)

18 Silver and Gold Cupcake Papers

For Almond Champagne Buttercreme and Decoration

2 Containers – 32 oz. – Marshmallow Fluff

5 sticks UNSALTED butter – This is crucial!!! Must be unsalted or your frosting will taste like greasy, salty, butter.

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 cup Powdered Sugar (plus more if needed to thicken)

1 cup Wilson Creek Almond Champagne

2 Bags Thin sliced Almonds

Clear decorative Sprinkling Sugar (baking supply store)

Dark Brown CK Candy Kote (baking supply store)

Clear parchment paper for baking

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. In stand mixer bowl whip together almond paste, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. In separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, Vanilla, and baking powder. In third bowl, whisk together flour, spices, and salt. Alternate adding egg mixture and flour mixture to sugar and butter mixture just until completely combined. Do not over-mix. Spoon batter into plastic sandwich bag, cut off tip of bag, and pipe batter into paper cupcake liners until each is 2/3 full. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow to cool completely.

Almond Champagne Buttercreme

Cut sticks of room temperature butter into tablespoon size slices and set aside. Scoop two jars of Marshmallow Fluff into Stand Mixer Bowl and begin to mix on medium speed. Pop open new bottle of Wilson Creek Almond Champagne and measure 1 cup. Add Champagne to Marshmallow Fluff and continue mixing until combined. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl to retrieve all of the marshmallow fluff and combine with Champagne. Continue mixing.  Pour in Vanilla. Gradually add in slices of butter while beating well to combine each addition. Continue until all butter has been added and mixture is smooth. Scrape bowl again and continue mixing while adding Powdered Sugar until all is well combined. Add extra sugar if needed to adjust texture. Frosting should be soft and creamy but able to hold a shape for decoration on cupcake.

Using butter knife or frosting spreader, cover each cupcake with thin layer of buttercreme. Choosing well shaped Almond slices, place each piece of Almond into buttercreme on edge of cupcake, in a single row, creating a flower petal appearance all the way around cupcake.

Spoon rest of frosting into piping bag or tube with star shaped tip. Pipe one full spiral of frosting onto top of cupcake until covered. (it is not recommended to pipe on more frosting than this to create a cone shape appearance on top of cupcakes like seen in picture. This much frosting looks pretty, but is too much frosting for eating when serving to guests.)

Lightly sprinkle frosting with decorative sugar.

Decorative Candy Cupcake Topper

Place liquid candy tube in hot water to soften. On computer select desired font, size, and word content for cupcake topper. Place several copies of text on word document and print on a regular sheet of paper. Place page of text on flat surface and cover with clear parchment paper. Using liquid candy, pipe and trace over text on parchment paper. Make sure all letters or numbers are attached to one another creating one single cupcake topper. After text is completed, pipe on a thick attached stem to bottom of text creating a type of stake to insert candy text into cupcake frosting. Allow candy pieces to dry completely, about 20 minutes.

Gently remove candy text from parchment and delicately press into frosting on cupcake.

Happy 2010!

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