Cherry & Almonds

Almond extract, in my opininon is one of the more stronger flavorings, but I happen to love it!  So much so, I re-created this recipe for Cherry-Almond cupcakes.  This is an almond-vanilla flavored cupcake with cherry (maraschino) and almond buttercream frosting topped with a maraschino cherry.  Yum!

'Tis The Season!

(Singing) "It's Christ-maaas, all over the world"...the New Edition version (my era, sorry! :-).  What better way to continue the 'eat sweets for the holidays' (in moderation that is) tradition than to savor a vanilla cupcake with peppermint frosting topped with crushed peppermint candy.  Doesn't that red swirl just scream Candy Cane?!  Yup, it's the Holiday Season alright!

Vanilla cupcake with peppermint frosting topped with crushed peppermint candy

Holiday Tree Lighting Event

This past weekend I had a large order for a Christmas tree lighting event.  The three cupcake flavors I made were vanilla w/peppermint buttercream frosting, red velvet (RV) and devil's food chocolate (DFC) w/cream cheese frosting and before I go any further I have a disclaimer: Vanilla cupakes are not the easiest cupcake to make contrary to the thought that they are (in fact hard-as-heck in terms of getting the perfect fluffly & light cupcake).  I feel like my RV & DFC I have down packed, but those vanilla's can be a bear.  WELL! I think I've found what works and garners the best results.  This time I switched up my mixing methods (did away with the creaming method for this flavor) and I was sa-tis-fied!!  Yay to me for conquering such a feat..lol  So moving on, each cupcake was placed in an individual cupcake box which was wrapped in a gold or crimson bow.  Oh yeah, I labeled each box with a Christmas tag indicating the flavor of the cupcake.  I love these type of projects!

Cotton Candy Mania!

Thanks again to my invent-a-flavor game, a friend of mine suggested I try cotton candy cupcakes!  Not that it hasn't been done before (you'll be hard-pressed to find a cupcake flavor that has yet to be discovered, BUT, if you do, let me know and I'll try it), it's just that I had never tried it.  The end result was what you would expect...Cotton Candy Goodness (if you're a cotton candy fan)!  The cupcake and frosting are both filled with cotton candy, so you won't miss that sugary taste!