Cupcake Dish Gloves

Wanna wash dishes in cupcake style?

Check out these cupcake dish gloves
from Nadia G's Bitchin' Boutique!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Most of the ice cream cone cupcakes I have seen have been batter baked inside the cone itself.

This one is very different and easy to make!

Cupcake Cookies

While searching for a football cookie cutter to make a fondant topper for a batch of cupcakes, I found a cookie cutter shaped like a cupcake. I ordered a copper cupcake cookie cutter (try saying that three times really fast) from Copper Gifts.

Cupcake Bracelets

I was shopping for a single silver cupcake charm bracelet but found much more!

Cupcake Bites

Beadage

Stylehive

Gigi's Cupcakes - Nashville

I was planning to pass through Nashville this past weekend and did a cupcake search before I left Lake Tahoe. There were several cupcake bakeries listed and I decided to try Gigi's Cupcakes because they offered many convenient locations that were right on my route.

I stopped at the Cool Springs location and bought 4 cupcakes: Scarlett Velvet (red velvet with cream cheese icing), Chocolate Malt (chocolate cake with buttercream icing and crushed malted milk balls around the edge), Tiger Tails (yellow cake with raspberry filling & buttercream icing topped with raspberry coconut) and Bailey's Irish Cream (Bailey's flavored cake with buttercream icing and chopped almonds around the edge).

The cupcakes were packaged beautifully in a "gift box" with a Gigi's sticker to seal it. The box had a cupcake holder inside to keep the cupcakes in place for transport.

Now for my cupcake critique! The cupcakes were not just pretty to look at...they were tasty as well. The cake was flavorful and the amount of icing on each one was very generous. The toppings complimented the cupcake flavors well. For me, the Bailey's cupcake could use more Bailey's, but that is just my personal preference. I loved the crushed malted milk balls on the chocolate cupcake...brilliant! The raspberry filling in the Tiger Tails cupcake was dee-lish. I would prefer cream cheese filling in the red velvet cake instead of the vanilla filling, but again, that is my personal preference. If I had a choice, I would put cream cheese icing on everything!

Gigi's web site is what sealed the deal for me to stop by, but the friendly staff and good cupcakes will bring me back again. They have a fantastic printed menu and an online menu that is updated to include weekly specials. Gigi produces a monthly newsletter (available online) and I have also subscribed to the RSS feed.

What else can I say...check out Gigi's Cupcakes in Nashville or any of their other locations.

Recipe of the Week - Chai Latte Cupcakes

Week 8

My niece just moved back to Mississippi from Lake Tahoe. She has been here for 18 months and we miss her already. She loves the flavor of Chai and in the small Mississippi town where we are from, there is little chance of her finding anything Chai...so every now and then I am going to mail her some Chai tea.
















In honor of Payton and her love of Chai, this week's recipe features Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes. As an alternative to this recipe, you can use your favorite vanilla or yellow cupcake recipe and just add the chai spice mix. If you don't have any of the spices on hand to make the chai mix, you can steep 3 chai teabags for 10 minutes in the warm whole milk. I am including a recipe for chai buttercream frosting, but if you think that will cause a chai overdose you can use a 7-minute or cream cheese frosting instead.

Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. of chai spice mix (recipe below)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole milk

Cream butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix together the flour, salt and spices and add to butter/sugar mixture. Add the two milks, alternating with flour (always begin and end with flour).

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.
__________________________________
Chai Mix

2 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tablespoon cardamom
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger


Chai Buttercream

1 cup Crisco
1 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. Chai Mix (add spices to your taste)
1 envelope Dream Whip
1/2 cup water
8 cups powdered sugar

Cream the Crisco and butter and chai mix. Mix the water, vanilla, salt & Dream Whip together and set aside. Add the powdered sugar, alternating with liquid. When everything is combined, beat on high speed for 5 minutes.

Cupcake Scarves!

The weather here at Lake Tahoe is beginning to change and fall will soon be here. I am just starting to think about what I will wear this winter and SCARVES! I love scarves. A most versatile accessory.

I am going to add these two cupcake scarves to my collection. The first one is a fleece scarf in a "cupcake" wrapper. How cute is that!

Too Sweet fleece scarf at TheFind.com

This second scarf is from Tiny Cravings and can be customized. You choose your cake & icing flavors, your sprinkles...and you can even add a cherry on top!

Cupcake Pans

When it comes time to make a cupcake...which pan will you choose? Cupcakes do not have to be round anymore. Pans come in many shapes and materials, but the most common are aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron or silicone. Many pans come in non-stick too. I am not a fan of the silicone pan but each cupcake baker will have to decide which pan works best for him or her.

The standard muffin tin has 6, 8 or 12 depressions and each cup is 3 inches in diameter and holds 4 ounces. The mini-muffin pan cup holds 2 1/8 ounces and the jumbo pan cup holds 8 3/16 ounces. Liners are not required, but they sure do make cleaning the pans easier!

Alan Silverwood has a line of bakeware that allows the baker to batch-bake multiple individual cakes and comes in round, square, hexagon and heart shapes. I have the Silverwood round and square pans and they work great, but are a little time-consuming to wash (especially the square pan).

Cupcake Disasters - Part 2

Part 2 of cupcake baking problems!


Cupcake centers are peaked

• batter was over-mixed


• oven temperature too high

Cupcakes shrink around the edges

• liners are too greasy


• too little batter


• batter over-mixed


• not enough liquid in the batter


• overbaked


• oven temperature too high
  

Cupcake tops are uneven

• oven rack is not level


• cupcake pans may be warped or bent

Cupcake crust is sticky

• cupcakes stored while still warm


• too much liquid


• underbaked


• oven temperature too low
  
• too much humidity in the environment

Cupcake Disasters - Part 1

No matter how carefully we prepare, sometimes our cupcakes just don't come out as we intended. What went wrong? The next two blog posts will explain some common causes of cupcake baking issues.


Cupcake texture too coarse

• too much baking soda/baking powder


• not enough liquid


• butter & sugar not creamed long enough (at least 5 minutes)


• oven temperature too low

Cupcakes are too dry

• overbaked


• oven temperature too high


• not enough sugar or shortening


• too much flour


• too much baking soda/baking powder

Cupcakes fell

• underbaked


• oven temperature too low


• liquid over/under measured


• batter too deep (too much per liner)


• pan moved before cupcakes were sufficiently baked


• leavening expired


• pick or tester inserted before cupcakes were sufficiently baked