DIY Glitter Cupcake Toppers

If you saw my last post on Creating Free Digital Invitations then you know that I recently threw a pink and gold "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" shower for one of my dearest friends.  To add some glitter to her shower, I decided to make these adorable gold glitter cupcake toppers.  They were super easy to make and turned out so cute.  I used my Silhouette Cameo, but if you don't have one you could use a star-shaped craft punch or even trace and cut out stars (it will just be a little more time consuming).

I went to Joann's and picked up a 12 x 24 sheet of gold glitter sticker paper.  I made a star in the Silhouette software and then replicated it to fill the page.  Then I just loaded the sticker paper in and let my Cameo get to work. 

I repeated this process with some white cardstock for the backing.  The only other thing you will need is a box of toothpicks.  Once you have your white cardstock stars cut out, one at a time peel off one of you new glitter star stickers.  Lay a toothpick on the sticker side so that it about 2/3 of it is sticking out. 

Lay a cardstock star on top and press them together. 

That's it!  Just repeat for as many cupcakes as you need.  I love the way these turned out!

They were so adorable on top of our pink frosted cupcakes!  Sorry for the photo, I forgot my regular camera.

Spring Chick Cupcakes

 
Jake's class is having a spring picnic today and his teacher asked if I would be able to make cupcakes for them.  When you are feeding a class full of five and six year old kids I've always found it to be a good idea to give them all the same thing.  That way no one can complain that they didn't get the one they wanted.  Since I would be making only one flavor of cupcake I decided to stick to vanilla because pretty much everyone at least likes vanilla, even if it isn't their favorite.  Vanilla cupcakes also make my life easy because I always make them from a box mix.  Trader Joe's vanilla cake mix is richly vanilla flavored, unbelievably moist, and just plain delicious.

With the easy part of the cupcake decided I had to figure out how to decorate them.  Since it is a spring picnic I knew I wanted something springy.  Then I was at Target and they had the 15 packs of Peep's chicks on sale.  As soon as I saw those cute little marshmallows I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Chicks sitting on the grass.  Very springy!  On top of that, it was a technique I've used before on this amazing (if I do say so myself) Cars cake I made for Jake's 3rd birthday. 

I don't know about you, but sometimes I volunteer to do something, and then I decide to try something fancy and new, and end up getting myself super stressed out.  Josh may have pointed this out to me a time or two.  These cupcakes are not like that.  The grass frosting looks impressive but it is actually super easy.  All you need is the right frosting tip, one with a bunch of little holes.  Mine is by Wilton and is number 233, but I'm sure other brands make them too.  Wilton even has a little video tutorial on how to use it to make grass. 

I started out by baking up two boxes of vanilla cupcakes (I needed 32).  Once they were cooled I made a batch of vanilla buttercream and then used Wilton's gel color Leaf Green to make it a soft green, I was going for a springlike color.  Before I got out my grass tip, I just used a frosting spreader to spread a thin layer of green frosting over the base to give the Peeps something to stick to.

Next I used my grass tip to pipe little blobs of grass around the edge of the cupcake.  Then pipe another layer of grass inside of that edge until you are left with an oval in the middle with no grass. 

Plop a Peep chick down in the center of your cupcake and you have an adorable springtime treat.

Small Batch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Frosting

Birthdays are a big deal to me as you can probably tell based on Jake's Cars and Superman parties.  That being said, we celebrate all four of our birthdays, Chanukah, and Christmas in a 5 week span.  This means that most of our celebrating for the year is clumped together.  To help spread it out, I like to celebrate half-birthdays too.  We don't do presents or parties or anything like that, but I do make Jake a special cupcake every year on his half birthday.  I ask him what he wants and then I create it.  This is his chance for an over-the-top treat and he definitely makes good use of it.

This year we weren't together on his half birthday.  He was having a "vacation" at my in-laws and we were in England for my younger sister's wedding.  Once we got back it was cupcake time.  After changing his mind a few times he finally settled on a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter chocolate chip frosting.  Since these cupcakes are made just for us, I didn't want a whole batch of cupcakes tempting me so I made this tiny batch.  These make 2 regular size cupcakes or 3 slightly smaller cupcakes (just right for our little family because Lucas is not eating treats yet). 

These cupcakes are super easy to make and don't need anything fancy.  Start out by whisking together a little bit of flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in some milk, vegetable oil, and a splash of vanilla.  Whisk it all together until well combined.

For the peanut butter component I chopped up a Reese's peanut butter cup and stirred that into the batter.  Then I filled my silicone cupcake molds about half full.  On our way home from the airport I saw a couple of billboards for the Ben and Jerry's ice cream with the caramel core.  Inspired by this, I put a dollop of peanut butter in the center before baking them.

If you want them to look a little bit prettier you could swirl the peanut butter in, but I really wanted the peanut butter core.  Also, it is going to be covered with frosting, so I didn't care what it looks like underneath.

Once they were cooled it was time for the frosting.  I'm not generally a fan of frosting but when it's peanut butter frosting, sign me up.  Add in some mini chocolate chips and I couldn't stop eating it.  This frosting is super easy.  Cream together some room temperature butter and peanut butter.  Add in some powdered sugar and beat until it's well combined.  Add in a splash of vanilla and a little milk if you need it.  Then stir in some mini chocolate chips.  Because of the chocolate chips, you can't really pipe the frosting so just drop a big spoonful on top and spread it around.

We stuck them in the fridge before eating them and I highly recommend that.  The peanut butter frosting gets a little thicker and oh so good!  When you bite into the dark chocolate cupcake with the cool peanut butter core topped with the creamy peanut buttery frosting and the slight crunch from the mini chocolate chips you will be in chocolate peanut butter heaven!

Excellent choice Jake, excellent choice!

Small Batch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Frosting
Adapted from BrettBara Chocolate Cupcakes and The Comfort of Cooking

For the cupcakes:

• 3 tbls. flour
• 2 tbls. sugar
• 1 1/2 tbls. dark cocoa powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbls. milk
• 1 tbls. vegetable oil
• splash of vanilla
• 1 Reese's peanut butter cup, chopped
• 1 - 1 1/2 tbls. creamy peanut butter

For the frosting:

• 2 tbls. butter, softened
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. milk 
• 2 tbls. mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In a small bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Stir in peanut butter cup pieces.
3. Fill cupcake tins or silicone cupcake molds about half full.  Add a dollop of peanut butter (1 - 1 1/2 tsp.) in the center of each cupcake.
4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed.
5. While cupcakes cool, make frosting.
6. Cream together butter and peanut butter.  Beat in powdered sugar.  Add in vanilla and milk, beat until combined.  Stir in mini chocolate chips.
7. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes and refrigerate until ready to serve.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Pin It Thursday, Link Party Palooza, Get It Fed Friday, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Bakerette, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, Lou Lou Girls, Mad Skills, Tips & Tricks, Create Link Inspire, Two Cup Tuesday, and Tasty Tuesday. 

Black Bottom Cupcakes, AKA Chocolate Cupcakes With Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Tops

I've never been a big fan of frosting.  I just think it's too sugary.  I know that sounds strange coming from me considering I have a huge sweet tooth but I just don't really like it.  Give me ganache any day but the big pile of frosting on top of a cupcake just doesn't do it for me.  This makes me great to be at a party with because I will scrape my frosting off and plop it right on your plate if you like.

These cupcakes are perfect for me because they don't need frosting.  They are a moist chocolate cupcake with a delicious chocolate chip studded cheesecake like top.  My mom used to make these when I was growing up and they are a recipe that always gets rave reviews.  I hadn't made them in a really long time but shortly before Luke was born, a girlfriend of mine watched Jake along with her 3 kids so that Josh and I could get in one last fancy date before baby boy arrived and I wanted to reward her.  She really loves these so I decided they would be the perfect treat to help her survive a night with four kids ages 5 and under.

They come together really quickly and are super easy, though they do make a little bit more dishes since you are making the chocolate bottom and the cheesecake top.  They are totally worth it though, and that's saying something because you know how I like to minimize dishes.

Start out by pulling a brick of cream cheese (I used reduced fat) out of the fridge and put it in the bowl of your mixer.  Then leave it there to soften while you make the chocolate base.

In a bowl combine some flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  I use a whisk because cocoa powder tends to be so clumpy.  Then make a well in the center.

In a measuring cup, stir together some water, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla.  Then pour the wet ingredients into the well in your dry ingredients.

Mix it all together until it is nice and combined.  Then set it aside.

To the cream cheese in your mixer bowl, add some sugar and an egg.  Cream it all together.  Then stir in some chocolate chips.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Put some paper liners in your muffin tin and then fill them up about halfway with your chocolate batter.  My miniature sous-chef did the filling so ours got a little bit overfilled.

Then put a generous dollop of the cheesecake batter on top.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes and enjoy.

We got 14 cupcakes out of this, so in addition to my muffin tin I used 2 silicone muffin cups on a cookie sheet.  If you fill yours a little less full you will get more, if you eat more of the cake batter (the chocolate is egg free so safe for kiddos and pregnant mamas) you will get a couple less.  Either way, you will be in cupcake heaven.   My mom says these freeze well but I can't speak from experience because they never last long enough to freeze in my house.

Black Bottom Cupcakes
 Makes about 14 cupcakes

Cheesecake Layer:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg  

1. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and egg.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Chocolate Cake Layer:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 5 tbls. oil
• 1 tbls. cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup water 

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center.
2. Mix together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water.  Pour wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients and mix together until combined. 
3. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full with chocolate batter.
4. Put a generous dollop of cheesecake batter on top.
5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday,  Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Show Stopper Saturday, Best of the Weekend, Inspiration Monday, Marvelous Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Tasty Tuesdays, Two Cup Tuesdays, Create, Link, Inspire, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wake Up Wednesdays, Pin It Thursday, and Moonlight & Mason Jars, and Create It Thursday.