Westie Cupcakes & a lesson!

I was planning to make cupcakes for Amber's upcoming birthday and Apple wanted a lesson in cupcake decorating! I taught her how to make butter cream icing and we decorated some fun Westie cupcakes!

Just a slice...

Here is a picture of the Lusciuos 4 layer pumpkin cake before serving!

Luscious 4 Layer Pumpkin Cake

This cake seems to have replaced the pumpkin pie in my family! It came highly requested again so I finally made it! I put the recipe below with my little tweaks to make it lower fat (the original recipe can be found at http://www.kraftkitchens.com/) Mixing the batter

The top of the cake always comes out some what cracked like a pumpkin pie would... I like the effect.

I always cut the top off of one of the 2 cakes so the cake lays flatter (it also makes for a good test piece, gotta check out the flavor!!)

Even though you think you might run out of the filling, there actually will be left overs so you are able to be generous with the layers!

Here is a side view of the finished cake. Of course, it always looks kind of messy... once you cut it into slices, add whip cream and drizzle caramel on it... it looks quite nice!

What You Need!
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix (I use french vanilla!)
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened (I use the reduced fat version)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed (I use the reduced fat version)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

Make It!
HEAT oven to 350°F.
BEAT cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.
BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. (for me it usually take about 40 minutes to cook, this is quite a thick batter) Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.
BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy (room temp works best). Add sugar, remaining pumpkin and spice; mix well. Gently stir in COOL WHIP (make sure the cool whip is not frozen hard). Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife; stack on serving plate, spreading cream cheese filling between layers. (Do not frost top layer.) Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't tell you how frustrated I am at myself! I had all these great 'in progress' pictures of how to make these cupcakes... and... I forgot to put my CF card in my camera!! Ugh! Anyhow, here are the finished products!

These guys are my 'pumpkin patch' some have little halloween faces, even though its only thanksgiving, you all know how much I love halloween!

Since this is for thanksgiving... they are pumpkin cupcakes with creamcheese centres!

Thanksgiving Turkeys! These were so much fun to make... they are chocolate and very heavy on the buttercream icing as you have to build up the feathers from the bottom! I am sure some of us sweet tooths' won't mind!

Are any of these headed your way you might wonder? The box of 4 is for Brian's mom and sister...

The sampler plate is for Brian's brother's thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night...

And this big tray is headed to Aaron & Steph's for their thanksgiving tomorrow night!

I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

Bird's Nests for Mom's Birthday!

So I decided that Bird's Nests would be a great option for Mom's birthday! White cake with Coco flavored icing and toasted coconut... Super cute... Everyone loved them!

I did a multi colored cupcake again and got a really interesting pattern! I used White, Yellow and Teal... I layered it, but it baked up the outside of the cup... still looks great!

Kristie's 30th Birthday Cupcakes!

So today at work Amber and I were talking to Kristie and found out it was her 30th birthday in July and she didn't even have a party! I volunteered to make the cupcakes (and we will surprise her with them tomorrow).
I was dying to try out my new dessert decorator (pictured at the bottom) and it works just as great as I had hoped. It allows me to ice cupcakes faster with 'bigger' icing tips meaning more yumminess all around!

If you think you are seeing sparkles along with the Silver dragees, you would be right! I put edible sparkles on these cupcakes... I promise it looks amazing in person, the camera just couldnt catch how neat it really looked.

The actual cake in these is a mix of white and purple... it should look great when you bite into it!

The chocolate medalions are made with melting wafers and my poor hand writing (my mom is soooo much better at that part).

This is my new dessert decorator... I love it!

Multi Color Cupcakes

The latest in making fun cupcakes... use a white cake mix, divide it into 3 throw in some food coloring then alternate the mix in the pan... voila!!

Mario Update!

Way to go Amber and Nicole!! ... they added cookies and iced it with chocolate to look like brick for the background!

Super Mario Cupcakes!

I don't usually get the chance to work on cupcakes with anyone, but Amber and Nicole needed some help and a place to make cupcakes so their friend (who the cupcakes are for) wouldn't see them! Anyhow, we did Super Mario cupcakes and they turned out soooo great!Nicole got set up with the melting chocolates....

I made some icing and Amber got going on icing all the cupcakes...

I iced Mario and the Princess over a stencil I made and wax paper...

Amber and Nicole put the cupcakes together! They really look awesome, totally impressed!

Frogs & Lily Pads Cake

So Katie requested Frogs for the birthday cupcakes after I had decided to do the fat cats! I quickly threw together this fun frog and lily pad cakes for her the morning of the 3 birthday BBQ. The only thing that got eaten on it was the frogs! (I think that was Lilah's doing!) The fat cats were a bigger success, even afer melting in the trunk of my car... (I wont get into that, I wasnt happy!!)