After the butter cream icing is made, it is important not to over handle it.  Doing so will ruin the texture and lightness of the icing.  That can be a challenge when you have used a spatula to place the icing in a piping bag, expecting it to come out perfectly as you decorate to your heart’s content, but it is not impossible.  You, too, can make perfect butter cream icing and have it behaving for you in no time.  To demonstrate, here is an excellent video that will help you get started.

This year I did have to get a little creative with some of my goodies though.  You see, some of our friends have recently decided to live a vegan lifestyle.  That does not bother me one bit, but (eek!) how do you bake for vegans?  Thank goodness for the old Google machine because without it, the friends might have had to skip out on the tastiness that I created.

I found an infographic from Peta that helped tremendously with my questions, and no it is not graphic.  It’s actually kind of cute and makes me want to consider the lifestyle for myself.  So if you have any vegan friends or just want to know substitutions and such to make any recipe vegan, here you go!

In the video below you will watch as one woman makes her own special variety of wintry cupcakes, custom decorated for the holidays.   Think snow white icing, light and fluffy cake batter risen to perfection in a hot oven on a cold and cloudy day.  Consider using winter colored decorations that are as delicious as they are beautiful:  crushed candy cane, slivered dark chocolate, edible gold.  Invite your home security team to join you for cupcakes and hot chocolate after all your baking is done, and enjoy!

Now, you know if the Kardashians can chomp on a cupcake, so can everyone else.  We are very susceptible, we Americans.  If we see our favorite celebs doing something, we think we should do it too, and before you know it there is an epidemic — like the cupcake plague we are currently living through.

Perhaps I misspoke.  After all, cupcakes are not the worst thing in the world.  A tripple cheeseburger with four slices of cheese, chili, mayonnaise and other dreadful toppings including bacon or sliced butter, for instance, would be far worse.

And then, there is the Cruise Factor.  If Tom and TomKat let Suri Cruise eat a cupcake, that’s a sign it’s probably A-okay, right?  The Cruises are infamous for their mutual eccentricities involving participation in the Church of Scientology, their denial of psychiatry as a legitimate field of medicine, and their dedication to only letting Katie Holmes eat frozen grapes for sustenance — but they are perfectly sane when it comes to cupcakes.

So, how related is the American Cupcake Obsession to celebrity participation in it?  Probably pretty close, according to some analysts.  We are affected by what pop icons do, and if they catch onto something and then begin practicing it themselves, soon enough we’ve got ourselves a full blown escapade.  That’s how celebrity works.  What is coming next?  (I’m rooting for a New Pizza Obession, or something involving eclairs….)  Still, only Hollywood seems to know what they will latch onto in the future.  Hungry yet?

Cupcake Walk

• Now, you have probably seen a cake walk where it is like a game of musical chairs and whoever is left standing when the music is turned off is out.  Well, the cupcake walk is a great way to let all the kids have a chance to win.
• You will need 10 paper plates, 20 animal pictures printed from online (10 animals, two copies of each), a glue stick, and scissors.  Glue one set of the animals to the paper plates and cut out the copies to go into a hat or bucket for you to pick out of.
• To play the game, arrange the plates in a circle on the ground.  Play music.  When the music stops the kids stop at the plate where they landed.  Draw an animal image from the bucket and call out the animal type.  Whoever is at that animal wins!  You can either put aside the drawn image and pick up the plate or let a child join in the fun.  It’s easy and kids love it.

Fun Cupcake Ideas

These brain cupcakes are not only spooky, but they look so easy.  Just pipe on the icing in the center and the sides for a creepy brainy cupcake.  Kids and zombies will love these treats.

Can you tell I’m looking for ease here?  The ghost cupcakes are darling, and it is just a nutter butter covered in white icing with a face iced on it.  Not a good idea if you know kids with peanut allergies will be present, and if you don’t know you can use some of the other ideas just to be safe.

Licorice hair, candy corn nose, and a chocolate cone and you’ve got yourself a delicious looking witch!

DC Cupcakes

The title implies that there may be other “Cupcake” locations in future seasons, but right now, we’re loving Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis. The sister started their cupcake shop in downtown DC in 2008, and have been super successful ever since. The shop sells over 5,000 cupcakes A DAY! That’s a lot of icing! The show features the sisters’ successes, their failures, and all the family drama that goes along with two sisters owning a successful cupcake business. The shows is darling, and absolutely addictive!

Cupcake Wars

With the title, you’re probably thinking food fight, and you wouldn’t be too far off. Cupcake Wars is a great show and a tasty competition between cupcake bakers from around the world. Each week, four bakers face off in three elimination challenges until only one remains. The winner is rewarded with a fat check worth 10k! They also get the chance to showcase their yummy treats at elite events held by the famous!

Cupcake Girls

Cupcake Girls follow the founders of Cupcakes, a stylish Vancouver based retail bakery, Heather White and Lori Joyce. After the tragedy on 9/11, the girls left their corporate jobs to pursue their dreams of owning a cupcake bakery. The series has followed their success and failures. The current season is focusing on the girls attempting to franchise their successful business.

My niece’s fifth birthday party happened to be over the weekend while the whole family was at the beach, and I figured that we could all celebrate with cupcake cones. I was right. They were a hit and all of the family wanted to know how I had made these treats. I used the video that you see below, and I found that they are surprisingly very easy to create. So, have a watch and get to baking!

Two-fer Vanilla Cupcakes

If you haven’t already noticed, I’m a glutton when it comes to delicious desserts.  So, when I am in need of a serious cupcake fix, I lack the self control to not down a whole batch, so my new favorite recipe is one I have dubbed a two-fer, it’s two cupcakes from one recipe.  A two-for-0ne, “two-fer.”

Cake Ingredients:                                                         White Buttercream Icing Ingredients:

1 egg white                                                                    1/2 stick of butter, room temperature

2 Tbs sugar                                                                    1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

2 Tbs melted butter                                                        1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla                                                                    2 oz. melted white chocolate

1/4 c. flour                                                                      1/2 – 1 tsp milk

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 Tbs milk

dash of salt

Directions – Cupcakes:

Preheat your oven to 350° and line your cupcake pan with 2 cupcake liners.

Add the egg white and sugar together in a bowl, and whisk until combined.  Stir in the melted butter and vanilla and mix.  Add baking powder, flour, and pinch of salt and stir together until it is smooth.  Stir in the milk.  Split up the batter equally between both of the cupcake liners.

Bake the cupcakes at 350° for about 10 minutes or until the cake has completely set.  Let them both cool, and then frost.

Directions – Frosting

Use an electric mixer and cream the butter until it is just fluffy.  Add in the vanilla extract.  Very slowly add in the powdered sugar, doing so 1/4 c. at a time mixing on a low speed.  Beat in the melted white chocolate, and to get to the right consistency, add in milk 1/2 tsp at a time.  If it is too liquid, then add more sugar.  If not enough liquid, add in milk.

This recipe is not only super easy and the perfect portion, but it tastes oh so good!  It is the perfect pick me up to the end of a day, and my husband and I love these.