Friday Favorites - Valentine's Day Baking

This weekend I have two birthday parties to bake for and attend and Sunday a fun filled day of baking Valentine's Day treats with my girlfriends.  We started this tradition last year with just three of us and now we plan on making it a yearly tradition and we have ever added a couple new girlfriends to the mix.

What's on the list to bake this weekend? 

{Tony's Birthday - Red Velvet}

{Ruben's Birthday - Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes}

{Valentine's Bake-Off}

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

Red Velvet Cookies

Cake Pops

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sweet Treats - Christmas Edition

Christmas is the time of year when you can turn baking into something that you can give as gifts to friends, family and co-workers.  Here area a couple of fun ideas that can make giving more personal then going to the mall and waiting it long lines. 

{Holiday Brownies}

{Reindeer Cookies}

 

{Gingerbread Granola}

{Peppermint Marshmellows}

{North Pole Cupcakes}

Something Sweet: Red Bull Cupcakes

I am a huge fan of Red Bull, so I thought it would be fun to change things up and make a Red Bull Cupcake.  I had a hard time finding a recipe that had Red Bull in the cake as well as the frosting but we finally found one and did some minor adjustments to it to make it work.  We also made things fun buy adding Pop Rocks in blue and red flavors inbetween the frosting and the cake, for a little added twist and a fun surprise.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

• 10 table spoons of butter
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teasoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 6 ounces of red bull (sugar-free not recommended)
• red food coloring (desired amount to obtain the color you want)

Frosting:

• 12 tablespoon butter (softened)
• 2-3 cups sifted powered sugar
• 2 ounces of red bull

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until fluffy.  Add egss, mix again, and then add vanilla.
3. Sift butter, baking powder, and salt together.  Add milk and red bull.
4. Fill your cupcake pan with batter.
5. Bake for 15-20 mins, then it them cool.  Brush the tops with a little more red bull.
6. For the frosting...  cream butter, add half red bull, then add powered sugar 1/2-1 cup at a time, mixing as you go.
7. Add the rest of the red bull for flavor as desired.
8. Add icing as desired to achieve the bright blue color.

Eat and Enjoy! Such a fun recipe and it was a huge hit with everyone.

Layers

My little cousin celebrates her birthday around 4th of July and she made a special request for me to bake her birthday cupcakes.  So I tried to make them fun and festive for her and I really loved the way that the colors came out.  Although this takes some time to do all of the layers, it was well worth the smiles that it brought to her face.  The birthday girl loved them; she is already planning her colors for next year's birthday.

Summer Sweets

My girlfriend and I have wanted to start baking something new every week when we have our girl's night.  I am obsessed with cupcakes and felt that this would be a fun project for both of us to do together.  I have been on the search for new recipes and exciting things to try.  Here are some of the cupcakes that I thought would be fun to bake during the summer.

Strawberry Cream Cupcakes from Call Me Cupcake

Rainbow Cupcakes from trublmaker Tumblr

Pink on Pink Cake from Call Me Cupcake

Lemon Cupcakes from 52Cupcakes

Thin Mint Cupcakes from Ingredients of a 20 Something

Margarita Cupcakes from Ingredients of a 20 Something

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes from Indegrdients of a 20 Something

Key Lime Cupcakes Ingredients of a 20 Something

Red Velvet

For anyone that knows me, they know how much I love Red Velvet Cupcakes and anything to do with Red Velvet.  It could just be the rich red color and creamy frosting or the way that it just melts in your mouth and stains your teeth from all of the red food coloring.  Here are some fun recipes I came across but have not had the chance to try yet:

Red Velvet Crepes

Red Velvet Pancakes

Red Velvet Ice Cream

Last night my girlfriend and I enjoyed catching up over some Red Velvet Wine, which I had never tried but she swears by how good it is.  How can I not look forward to a glass of wine named after one of my favorite foods?  My first initial reaction was that it did not taste like a cupcake, which I don't even really know why I was expecting it to.  The wine was light, flavorful, and delicious.  Cupcake Vineyards is the brand that makes this wine and their winery is located in Monterey County, California.  You can find this wine at your local stores and Bev-Mo, the bottle runs around $13 but you can usually catch it on sale for around $7-$8.  I would definitely recommend this wine to all the cupcake loving wine drinkers out there.

Go ahead, live deliciously!