a99kitten's Musings

I love cupcakes. I have always loved cupcakes. This is not a latching-on of the trendy cupcake fascination there is today (although I like it!) So today I decided to begin my cupcake taste test :) This will be a combination of making my own and trying them at various local places.

My mom used to make homemade cream cheese frosting and it was the only frosting I ever really liked.  One time,  one of my best friend’s got the recipe from my Mom and gave the recipe to the dessert chef at Stars in San Francisco to make my cake for my birthday. I will always remember that!

Since I am in Tahoe, I didn’t want to experiment with homemade cake recipes due to the high altitude.  So today I used Betty Crocker’s Super Moist Butter Recipe Chocolate mix. It’s good. Not the best chocolate cake mix I’ve tried but good. And very soon I AM going to try the red velvet cupcake recipe on www.pinchmysalt.com! I need to compare the red velvety-ness to Sprinkles… (my favorite one of bakeries/cupcakeries so far) :)

I DID make a homemade cream cheese frosting. It is DELICIOUS! Much creamcheesier than the pre-made store ones (which are quite yummy and easy!)  I found several recipes online and chose one from pinchmysalt.com to try as my first homemade experiment.  It is very simple:

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

Ingredrients!

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.  If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth).

Bowl o'frosting

I baked all of my cupcakes, let them all cool and then made the frosting. The frosting is quite simple and quick to make and super delicious. The cupcakes are very yummy :)

Cupcakes!

I’ve sent my husband with plates full over to our neighbors to get them OUT of my house. I packed a Tupperware container with some for the office and I know a couple friends who will probably try them for breakfast tomorrow before we go river rafting :) I will save 2 for me – one for tonight and 1 for tomorrow night.

a perfect dessert...