The cupcakes that made me do a happy dance : )

Several months ago amidst a minor tantrum over the quote for our wedding cupcakes, I decided that I would make them myself. I mean how hard could it be? And this was before the cupcake revolution of late that saw them being mass produced in our kitchen! I can't say anyone bar me was too thrilled with this choice, OH thought it would stress me out, Mum wasn't sure it was possible and thought it was alot to take on, the confidence votes were high, but I had decided and that was all there was to it. Stubborn much?! The order of the day was for Vanilla Cupcakes with a Raspberry Swirl and Buttercream frosting. However, I was informed that this would require several trials:

Packet mix raspberry swirl cakes with packet buttercream frosting
Packet mix raspberry swirl cakes with home made buttercream frosting
Packet mix raspberry swirl cakes with home made cream cheese frosting
Home made raspberry swirl cakes with packet buttercream frosting
Home made raspberry swirl cakes with home made buttercream frosting
Home made raspberry swirl cakes with home made cream cheese frosting

.....do you see my dilema.....so this weekend I decided to make a start. I made the packet mix raspberry swirl cakes and was slightly concerned at the swirling part because until recently, this is not something I have mastered. But these were super easy to swirl and the mixture sitting in the lil cupcake pans looked so freakin cool I called OH in to come check it out, did a bit of squealing and several happy dance laps of the kitchen...then decided I really should put them in the oven. I waited patiently and holy hell when they came out of the oven, I squealed, I giggled, I danced a lil jig and then I ran outside to get OH...slightly over excited I know, but check them out!


It was a shame to cover those gorgeous marbled cupcakes with frosting really....but half got the buttercream treatment and half got the cream cheese frosting treatment...and I couldn't be bothered making fresh buttercream frosting, but I promise I will for the fresh cake trials. The finished products were divided up and sent off to OH's Mum, my parents and of course us...and now we are just waiting for the votes to come in! We are going to try ours tonight, I am nervous, but really can't wait to cut into them and see if that swirl goes all the way through and really just to see how they taste. Despite the fact that everyone thinks I'm mad, I am looking forward to making our wedding cupcakes, it will give me something to do the day before the wedding and keep me occupied so I don't sit around and stress about things.

Next on my baking list was a request from OH which I found slightly odd, but he was adamant....so what can you do, you know the Strawberries and Cream jelly cupcakes from the other week? Well OH thought they would be great with Lime jelly and a lemon cream cheese frosting...lime cupcakes just don't sound appealing to me, but I made them and was slightly disappointed they didn't come out green! OH is doing the taste test today so fingers crossed...I'll let you know! EDIT: OH has informed me they were brilliant, the lime gave them a 'zing' and the lemon cream cheese frosting was the perfect match, so thrilled to here it coz I was worried about them!

And finally I have been reading about these cake balls everywhere lately. They are on my list for the next few weeks, but I went for a variation this weekend...

Oreo Truffles
2 pkts oreo smushed as much as you can
1 block cream cheese...maybe two...
Chocolate melts

Combine your oreos crumbs and cream cheese until you get a thick consistency that looks like a big dough ball.
Shape into balls and place in the fridge to set overnight or at least for a few hours
When that is done, melt your chocolate (best to do in batches so it doesn't set)
Place one ball on a fork and then spoon chocolate over it. Place back on baking tray lined with baking paper. Once they are all done put them in the fridge to set.

Now that is the proper recipe...I used two pkts of oreos, about a cup of the cream cheese frosting I had made for the cupcakes and 1 pkt of Nestle milk melts. This worked out well, but I think I added too much frosting as I didn't quite have the thick dough ball consistency, but they could still be moulded into something that resembled a ball...EDIT: OH came home from work and told me these were spot on too, no need to change quantities he says, although I may have over-coated them, but I can't help that I get excited when there is melted chocolate around!

Before chocolate coating

And after...


Nom nom nom....I think the fact I lost half of my bowl of mixture to OH before I got the chance to roll them up says it all...Stay tuned for when we try it the cake balls next week!!

Tonight I am getting out our new wizz bang casserole dish and attempting a Plum Lamb Casserole...OH has been singing plum jam lamb for about 2 days now...it's driving me nuts! Anyway, attempting that tonight and putting our cupcakes to the vote...

Happy Monday!!

Em x