Birthday Breakfast

 Last week- actually exactly a week ago today- was my birthday.  My wonderful friends did an amazing job of planning a wonderful surprise birthday party.  They put so much effort into making it a very special day!

The cake was perfect- dark chocolate with pumpkin buttercream and a chocolate glaze.  I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends- thank you guys again!

One of the gifts they got me happened to be one of the kitchen gadgets that I was desperately missing from my kitchen- a waffle maker.  But this waffle maker was extra special- it was a circus animal waffle maker!  So of course we had to make waffles the next morning.

Love and Cupcakes,

Margaret

A Year of Cupcakes

Tomorrow is a rather special day- it is my birthday!  Since I am turning 19 tomorrow, I decided that I needed to spend my last day of being 18 doing something special.  My 18th year was truly incredible- I had just made my way through half of my first semester at Columbia, and had met some of the most amazing people.

I had my first cupcake baking parties with my friends from high school over break.  18 was when I really began to experiment with baking, and fell in love with baking cupcakes.  Whenever I was home I tried out new recipes, always hesitant to repeat a recipe just because there were so many new ones I hadn't tried yet.

Then, over the summer I started my blog.  The summer was full of cupcakes and treats, which continued right up until the fall.  Then I moved into The Cupcake Suite.  We have become a sort of cupcake family, spending evenings together, cooking dinner for each other and enjoying, what else, lots and lots of cupcakes.  So of course, today I decided to bake.  I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, making scones and cupcakes and enjoying a rare relaxing day.

We got more jalapeños this week in our CSA farm share, so I decided to make the cheddar jalapeño scones again, since those were a hit last time.  They went perfectly with a bowl of chili that the guys made last night.

For the cupcakes, I decided to make my classic (and favorite) black magic cupcakes, but this time i decided to go with a mocha frosting, since there is coffee in the cupcake recipe already.  They came out really well, according to my taste testers, and were a wonderful way to end my 18th year.

Mocha Frosting

Enough for 12 cupcakes

5 tbs butter, softened

6 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 tsp coffee grounds

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbs cocoa powder

Cream butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add brown sugar and mix thoroughly.  Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add coffee grounds and cocoa powder, mix, and refrigerate until firm enough to frost with.

Bon Appétit,
Margaret

Birthday Cupcakes

It has been awhile since I have baked cupcakes, but since all of my raspberries from Michigan and their complimentary baked goodies are all gone I decided it was time to bring out the cupcakes again.  I have been eying this recipe from How Sweet It Is, one of my favorite food blogs, and decided that there was no way I couldn't make this recipe.  It has sprinkles in it, come on.

It was a super easy and straightforward recipe.  Basically you just make a simple vanilla cake and add sprinkles.  Same deal for the frosting, simple vanilla frosting, add sprinkles.  The end.

But they are so adorable to look at, and delicious to eat of course.  Vanilla is one of those flavors that I really love, but don't end up making really at all because it just seems so plain.  Not when you add sprinkles.

It also happens to be one of my great friends' birthday (a friend who is one of my fellow Cupcake Suite residents), and tomorrow is another one of my dearest friends' birthday!  These can certainly double as birthday cupcakes; they definitely remind me of the kind of cupcake you would bring to school for your class on your birthday back in lower school.  Except these taste nothing like those pre-packaged grocery store cupcakes.  They are more delicious and even more adorable.

Enjoy, and Happy Birthday Tim and Erica!
Margaret