happy little donut cupcakes!

these cupcakes are way too cute and sooooo good! this idea cam from animated cupcakes. i made these for a birthday breakfast and they made everyone smile. 

cupcake recipe:

adapted from cupcakes from the cake doctor 

1 box cake mix

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs

½ oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract     

directions:

mix up all the ingredients and bake according to the directions on the box. allow cupcakes to cool completely.

make a hole in the middle of each cupcake (I used the bottom of a frosting tip but i think you can make a hole with a small spoon too)

cupcake glaze recipe:

from  recipezaar 

½ cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla

4-6 tablespoons of hot water          

directions:

1. heat butter in saucepan until melted

2. remove from heat

3. stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth

4. add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches the consistency you want

    (i actually used 7 tablespoons of water because i wanted the glaze to be thin)

dip cupcakes into the glaze 

and immediately decorate with sprinkles!

wrap them up and give them to someone to eat! 

happy little cupcake gifts!

hi! I just wanted to share some cute cupcake gifts my mother-in-law gave me for christmas...

  

cute little cupcake ornaments 

cupcake wrappers!

cupcake cookbooks!

and this book...        

 for this happy little dog!

my husband also gave me this awesome cookbook… i've been wanting it pretty much before it even existed. now I just have to figure out what to bake first! any suggestions?

happy little avocado cupcakes

these were for my father in law.

made from his delicious avocados.

avocados are heaven.

these cupcakes are heaven.

here is the step by recipe... 

happy little pumpkin cupcakes

these are for jack. 

a little late, but delivered as promised. 

pumpkin cupcakes with a little dot of chocolate. 

congratulations on buying your first house cupcakes!

ironically, these were the last cupcakes i made in my old place. we just bought a house too!

so that makes these cupcakes super cool special. 

just for you.

since i was in the middle of moving when i made these, most of my baking stuff was packed up so i just used a cake mix.

just a box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin.

the easiest recipe ever... tasty too. 

happy little monkeys

cookies and cream cupcakes with marshmallow cream cheese frosting!

this little guy was my favorite. 

happy little rice crispy cupcakes

these were super fun to make! 

the bottom was made with chocolate marshmallows. 

decorated with rainbow sprinkles and candy melts.

someone told me they look like little brains.

happy little chocolate chip coconut cookie cupcakes

this is my favorite vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe! this recipe is so good it needed to be made into cupcakes!

i love making these cookies! this batch of cookies was un-vegan because I used leftover milk chocolate chips. i wish i had some vegan chocolate chips on hand to make these extra delicious but they still tasted good!

cute cupcake platter given the me by my mother in law...just waiting for some cupcakes

cookie dough baked in mini cupcake liner

frosted and sprinkled

unwrapped

ready to eat! 

recipe!

vegan chocolate chip coconut cookies 

recipe adapted from vegan a go-go!, by sarah kramer, 2008, arsenal pulp press

2 tbsp ground flax seed
3 tbsp water
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small dish, mix together the ground flax and water. In a food processor or large bowl, blend or mix together the flax mixture, margarine, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and set aside. 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, coconut and chocolate chips. Add the margarine mixture and stir until well incorporated. Roll dough into balls, lay on cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool 5 minutes before removing from sheet.

Makes 18 to 24 cookies

* sometimes i use half whole wheat flour/half all-purpose flour. I always add in lots of extra coconut!

watch the step by step cookie making process here!

happy little summer vacation cupcakes

this week was the last week of school...aka last week of work! now i have the whole summer to bake cupcakes!  this school year was a stressful one and i am really looking forward to a break. to celebrate my husband decided to throw a party for me in our tiny little house. he gave me a day notice so i whipped up some quick and easy cupcakes. i was in a rush and didn't take a lot of fancy shmancy pictures but, i remembered to snap a couple shots just before they were eaten!

chocolate pink sprinkle cupcakes filled with cream cheese frosting 

green tea cupcakes filled with lemon curd

these were my favorite! i adapted an easy cake mix recipe found at kirbi cravings

green tea cupcakes and mini chocolate cupcakes

cupcake kabobs inspired by cupcakes take the cake

these were super cute and so fun to make! it's really hard to see in the pictures, but the bottom layer of kabobs have mini chocolate and mini pink cupcakes. 

i love these... the cupcake kabob combinations are endless! i will definitely be making more of these this summer. 

other fun plans/goals/ideas for the summer:

• purchase our first house
  
• make some monkey cupcakes for my nephew's birthday
  
• move into the super wonderful house i buy
  
• read lots of books
  
• visit my best friend in cabo
  
• make some pumpkin cupcakes for jack
  
• learn how to paint the inside walls of a house
  
• paint the inside of  my new house
  
• bake these vegan black bean brownies 
  
• lots of yoga 
  
• organize my cupcake/cake decorating stuff
  
• get a dog
• eat blueberries 

summer is the best

happy little cupcake party

there was a cupcake party. so i got to work....

vegan peanut butter cupcakes

recipe from vegan cupcakes take over the world.

these were good but i could definitely taste the apple cider vinegar and it was kind of a strong taste.

chocolate ice cream cone cupcakes filled with whipped vanilla frosting 

my mom used to make these for me when i was a kid. i would take them to school on my birthday and feel super cool. i'm pretty sure i have been wanting to make these ever since 6th grade.

i used a skewer to poke a hole all the way down to the bottom of the cone. then used a pastry bag to fill it up with frosting.  my husband packed them up very carefully...

rainbow cupcakes...

these were made with a cake mix. they were fun to make. i used the- batter in the ziplock bag- method. i only did three colors because i ran out of batter. so i guess you would need combine 2 or 3 cake mixes to make enough batter for all the rainbow colors. 

chocolate cupcakes with whipped vanilla pudding frosting

decorated with marshmallows and sprinkles. to make the frosting i tried this whipped topping mix in a box.  you add milk and instant pudding  and whip for a long time. i found the mix at some random store and had it hanging around for awhile. the frosting definitely tasted like pudding but it was light and fluffy which i like.

cupcake parties are fun.

happy little flower cupcakes

lemon cupcakes with whipped frosting and pretty little flowers.

here's how i decorated them... 4 bowls of colored sugar sprinkles

just roll the edge of the cupcake into the sprinkles

opps! careful not to drop the cupcakes like i did!

i love these spring colors!

carefully add a few colored sprinkles to make the flowers.

all packed up and ready to go to my husbands work!

have a great easter!

happy little chocolate banana easter egg cupcakes

i know these little cupcakes are not very creative but they taste good! i actually had a more elaborate decorating plan for these however, my first attempt at easter egg cupcakes was a bummer and i was no longer in the mood for fancy shimancy decorating. 

i used a cake box for these cupcakes (pillsbury chocolate i think) except instead of the 3 eggs the recipe called for, i put in one mashed banana and 1 tablespoon of flax and then...meka leka hi meka hiney ho... chocolate banana cupcakes! 

this was my first time trying out an egg replacement on a cake mix and i was pleasantly surprised at how puffy they baked.

i decorated them using the homemade 'hostess' cupcake technique and topped them off with some m&m chocolate eggs.

before my chocolate banana cupcake creation i planned to make these little egg cakes with this wilton egg mold.

i wanted to decorate these with powder sugar and fondant and put them on top of the cupcakes. wouldn't that of been cute? they did not come out looking too hot. the other side of the eggs look even worse! the cake fell and all the eggs looked sunken. 

i guess i could try again before sunday but i'm kinda over the idea now. any other cute spring cupcake designs you can recommend?