bridal shower+pink lemonade+a FAIL page

Hello! I’m so behind on my pictures!! This is what I’ve been making lately……

At the beginning of July I made cupcakes for my cousin’s bridal shower. They were carrot cake with an almond cream cheese frosting. The flowers and rings were made of fondant.

I modeled them after a picture that had the engagement ring and band on the cupcake with a sugar diamond. I’ve never used sugar diamonds before and didn’t order them in time so I used rock candy!
This is what they started as:

Yes I used a big chahunga knife to chop little rock candy pieces. And I made 2 beautiful diamonds!

I was very proud of myself at almost midnight
And in the ring:

Now for the recipe. I found it in one of the Food Network magazines and they came out deliciously moist. They tasted a bit more like a spice cake than a carrot cake, but a friend suggested adding some carrot juice to make them super moist and carroty. Here is the recipe: (reprinted from food network magazine)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Line two 24-cup mini-muffin pans with paper liners. Put the flour, almonds, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice in a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground.
Whisk the grated carrots, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until combined. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Divide among the mini-muffin cups, filling each three-quarters of the way. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pans to cool completely.

Remember this recipe is for minis! I doubled it and it made 2 dozen regular size cupcakes.

For the frosting I used a recipe that I’ve used many times with great success. It’s from Jo-Lynn on allrecipes.com:

1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

This frosting is amazing!! I can’t say enough about it!! It’s very light and whippy and lovely. Try it. You will eat it out of the bowl.

Ok! Last week I wanted to try a new summer recipe and made pink lemonade cupcakes.

Pinkalicious!!! Love em. They came a lil tart but very refreshing on a hot hot summer evening. I put the oven on in 90 degree weather!! I’m a diehard what can I say.
I like how this one came out

Yummy.

Sometimes when you are a baker, you try something out and it doesn’t work. It doesn’t set or it melts or you drop it on the floor. It fails on you. That happened to me on the 4th of July. I wanted to make a frozen raspberry cupcake that was simple and garnished with raspberries and a few patriotic stars. This is what I ended up with

Thus, I am creating a FAIL page. On it I will post all my mistakes and messes. One time I really did drop a whole cake on the floor and then cried. I’ll have to find that picture……..

UP NEXT: chocolate strawberry and cookies and cream. Possibly another attempt to meet the cake boss!!!

Oh— and my sister is moving with us to NYC too!!! ( I forgot to mention that in my last post). Love you J Rose!!!

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