Neapolitan Cupakes- A NEW Recipe and the winner....

First things first- Janelle you are the winner of the ice cream scoop! Congratulations! Email me your address and I will send you the scoop. You'll love it! Thanks to everyone who entered.

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Today is National Chocolate Cake Day. But instead of making a chocolate cake, I decided to make some yummy Neapolitan cupcakes, an idea I saw a while ago, but I was up to my eyeballs in ice cream to do anything about it. This morning,  I was looking for an excuse to bake- and I found one.

I sent the kids outside to play football in the front yard- can't do that very often in January, and I turned on the oven, and got to work. I had all the ingredients on hand... love it when that happens!

I used approx. 1/2 box of cake mix for each flavor. I got 24 beautiful cupcakes.

They were so pretty, even before I baked them. (Sorry about the old muffin tin, I really need to upgrade. It's on my list.

 

 A cupcake that looks pretty before you frost it? Now that's an accomplishment in and of itself.

Here's a shot from the inside. I love the Dark Chocolate cake mix from Betty Crocker. Very delicious. Have you tried it yet?

Little Miss C.... was so happy when the cupcakes were cool enough to frost. She actually wanted frosting too.... today is full of surprises!

I used a simple Vanilla Buttercream frosting from my cookbook 101 Gourmet Cupcakes. It's so easy and the flavor is out of this world. 

And if you are the lucky few who get to eat this yummy treat- I hope you enjoy! It's a great cupcake- in my humble opinion. And now, I must go back to editing the ice cream manuscript, as I promised it to the graphic designer no later than Monday morning. First thing. That's just 3 days from now. Yikes!

Happy Baking!


Neapolitan Cupcake- NEW Recipe!

1/2 dark chocolate cake mix (approx 2 cups) in a small mixing bowl
1 yellow or butter cake mix, halved in separate bowls
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
4 tbsp. strawberry daiquiri mix
1-3 drops red food coloring
1 Recipe Vanilla Buttercream frosting

Into the chocolate cake mix, place 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk and mix until combined. Set aside.

Into one of the yellow cake mixes, add 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk and strawberry daiquiri mix, and red food coloring. Stir until combined. Set aside.

Into the remaining yellow cake mix bowl, add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, and vanilla. Stir until combined and set aside.

Line your muffin tins with paper liners. Using your small cookie scoop, place about 1 tbsp. of each flavor of batter into each liner, then repeat until liners are 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Buttercream frosting.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

It's been a drippy kind of week. Our faucet has been dripping and making funny noises since before the ice cream photo shoot, about a month now, but it finally gave out this week. I opened the cabinet door to get the dishwasher detergent, and noticed the bottom of the box was wet. Wet? Not a good sign. I screamed for my husband- and started pulling EVERYTHING out from under the sink, and there was a lot of water.

We (I should say "he") then proceeded to try to fix the faucet ( which is 18+ years old) and I tried to convince him just to get a new one. It's faster and will look better. (not so 80's inspired). So then backup was called, because the drip turned into a huge leak, which caused the water to be shut off completely. And for my kitchen, that's all out horrible. No water? How will I bake? How will I feed my family? How will I survive?

The backup, a.k.a my dad- who is the son of a plumber- who knows every trick there is.... and who comes when we (I should say "he") needs help, then convinced my honey that you really need a new faucet- fixing is not going to work. Go pick out a new sink and faucet (new faucet won't fit the holes in the old sink) and we can install it. It should take 2-3 hours, tops.

So, I got to go to Standard  Plumbing Supply store- can you say overwhelmed?

I liked this sink. But I would need new kitchen cabinets. Not in the budget. Possible dream kitchen in the future.

My honey liked this one. Me, not so much.

How many faucets does one need to choose from? I finally narrowed down my choice. First faucet that caught my eye was $650. Seriously, there needs to be price tags on everything.

Yeah, like that is going to happen. So, I found this nice lady Elaine, and she helped me narrow down my choices. I really liked this brown sink.

I started texting my honey. I left him at home on purpose and he didn't like the brown so much, but I loved it. What did I do? So I came home with the brown sick and new faucet (in price range).

After 6 hours of measuring, installing, pulling out, cutting counter top, Cafe Rio (thanks to my mom), reinstalling and several tweaks with the garbage disposal and pipes, the water is turned back on, and I have a beautiful sink, faucet and I am a happy mom and baker again. Thanks to my dad and my honey for making my life easier, and my sink more beautiful. With the amount of time I spend in my kitchen, I am so happy I have something beautiful to look at. So much so, that I don't like the dishes to sit there for very long. I want to see the sink! Whatever it takes, right?

You know how projects snowball? Well, I now think I need a new counter top, and my cabinets touched up. Guess what's on my list? Yeah, you guessed it. I've already had estimates and will be scheduling some more work in the coming months. I'll post pics as they come.

Happy Baking and Remodeling!

English Toffee Cupcake with salted caramel frosting (NEW)

These cupcakes are simply divine. A great way to enjoy your leftover toffee from the holidays.

And the salted caramel frosting adds the perfect touch to make this cupcake a place in my Cupcake Top 10. Did you know I have a Cupcake Top 10? Well I do.

Thanks to all those who taste tested this cupcake for me. I wanted to spread the love and pounds around with all you peeps!

Toffee Crunch Cupcake with Salted Caramel Frosting (NEW)

1 dark chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 bag Heath candy bar crumbles
24 pieces large English Toffee (homemade is best)
1 recipe Salted Caramel Frosting (below)


Mix together chocolate cake mix, eggs, half and half, and vanilla until well combined. Scoop batter into paper liners until 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and cool.

Frost cooled cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting, pressing small Heath crumbles around the paper liner, then top with a piece of English Toffee.

Salted Caramel Frosting (NEW)

8 tablespooons (1 stick) butter, room temperature

3 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 tablespoons milk or cream

1/2 caramel sauce (I love Mrs. Richardson's)

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.

Stop the mixer before adding the sugar or you will have a large mess to clean up. Add

the sugar, 3 tablespoons milk (cream) caramel sauce, salt and vanilla extract. Beat frosting starting on

slow increasing your speed until frosting is nice and creamy. You can add up to 3 more tablespoons of milk (cream) if frosting to too thick. I always use cream. It's Rule #3.