Rainbow Revue - Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies

When I started this blog 5 months ago one of the first things I attempted was rainbow cupcakes.  I had issues with the icing method I experimented with.  I painted stripes of color on the inside of a pastry bag and then filled it with white icing.  

What I hoped would happen was a colorful blend of icing when I piped the buttercream.  Instead, I had  spots of color running through mostly white icing.  I was not happy and have been wanting to try again.

So, my friend Amy joined me to give it another go.  To make it a bit different and more fun we mixed in neon colored gel dye, rather than the usual red, orange, yellow, etc.  Also, we used four colors instead of six.  This made it easier to prevent overfilling the cupcake liners.  We used the same method for the cupcakes as my original Rainbow Cupcake post, which you can find here.  

There was enough batter to make about three more cupcakes, but Amy had the idea to make Whoopie Pies with the extra.  We used a Whoopie Pie baking pan and she filled each cavity with several colors instead of just one.  They were adorable!

While the baked cakes were cooling, I mixed up a batch of vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

2 sticks of butter

4 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-5 tablespoons half and half

Using a mixer, beat butter until it is fluffy.  Add 3 cups of sugar - one cup at a time - mixing until it's completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and half and half along with last cup of sugar and mix, adding more half and half until the icing is the desired consistency.

We decided to use the same four colors of the cupcakes for the icing.  I split the buttercream into four bowls and Amy added the gel dye.  When she was done mixing, I spooned a small amount of each color, one on top of the other, into a pastry bag.  The result was much closer to what I had in mind color-wise.  The colors did mix together in the bag creating some new shades, but I loved the finished cupcake!

After the cupcakes were frosted, we put a ring of icing on the base of a Whoopie Pie and capped it off.  We loved them, too!

I read about a THIRD method of making color swirl icing, which I'll try at another time.  In the meantime, I am really taken by these neon cakes.  They make me smile, and, hopefully, they'll do the same for you, too!

I have shared this recipe on: Things that make you say Mmmmm...Monday Linky
Sunday Scoop Linky Party
Not Your Ordinary Recipe's Foodie Friday

Frog and Lamb Cupcakes

Just before leaving for our trip to India, my family celebrated my twin nieces 5th birthday.  Since they were very small, Abigail has loved frogs and Madeline loves her lambs.  So, I wanted to create fun birthday treats for them.  While browsing on Pinterest (if you haven't signed up for Pinterest yet, you should!  It's a virtual pinboard filled with ideas and inspiration for just about anything you can think of!)

Many times on Pinterest you can find how-to's or recipes but in this instance, I had to work off the photos alone.  These did not appear to be too complicated so I gave them a go!

To begin, I made Funfetti cupcakes for the girls.  I baked them as directed.

While they were cooling, I started to make the froggy eyes and lamb heads.  The original picture of the frog eyes looked to be sliced marshmallows and chocolate chips.  I wanted a deeper black eye dot and cleaner circles, so I went with white chocolate wafers and black cake gel.    I used the flat part of the chocolate wafer to add the black dot, as you can see in the photo below.  While the gel was setting I started working with pre-made black fondant, which I purchased at Michaels craft store.  This was my first time working with fondant, and I didn't see a need to try making homemade since no one eats it anyway.  At least no one I know does.  So, bought it and was surprised at how it had a liquidy film around it and how and messy it was!  At first I assumed it was a bad batch, or too old, or something wrong.  However, as I worked it all together with my hands it became firmer and drier.  Once this was done I made nice round ball shapes and flattened them out  to add the eyes, as in the photo below:

Once I was done I referenced the lamb cupcake picture I was working from and saw that a flattened ball was completely the wrong shape!  I needed to make a much smaller OVAL shape and add tiny ears, as in the photo below:

I never follow the first rule in baking....ALWAYS read the entire recipe first (or in this case, double check the photo you are following).  Save yourself the trouble and wasted time!  I share this mistake of mine with you as a cautionary tale!

Once the lamb heads were done, I melted some white chocolate in a squeeze bottle.  I wanted to add small white dots to make eyes on the fondant shapes.  Be warned that if you try to do this immediately after melting the chocolate it will be extremely runny and you will not have control over how much comes out.  A mess will ensue.  Again, a firsthand cautionary tale.

To finish the eyes, I used the same black gel I used for the frog eyes to dot the white chocolate.  Then, I took the top of the chocolate squeeze bottle (after removing it from the bottle and rinsing the chocolate off) to make two indents for a nose shape.

I mixed up two batches of buttercream icing.  From the first batch I put aside a few spoonfuls to dye red for the frog mouth.  I dyed the remaining icing a deep green.  Just green alone wasn't achieving the shade I wanted, so I added a small bit of blue and then red to the green.  I don't know the exact number of drops I used, I just played around with it until I was happy.  It's important to add one drop at a time, though, so you don't overdo it and ruin the icing color.

Next, I iced the frog cupcakes, trying to make them as smooth as possible.  I took the spoonfuls of icing I set aside and added red gel.  After placing the eyes on the cupcakes, I used a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off to pipe the smile on. They looked adorable!

As for the lamb cupcakes, I filled a piping bag with buttercream icing and used a #4 piping tip, lifting up and down repeatedly on the top of the cupcake to create a "fluffy" effect.  I added the pre-made fondant heads to the iced cupcakes, placing them at a small angle, finishing off by piping a bit more fluff on the top of the head.

The girls and party guests loved them!  Yes, they were cute, but they were also DELICIOUS!

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite girls!!

I have shared this recipe with A Little Nosh for Tastetastic Thursday, a linky party.
It's a great site, head over there to check it out for some great ideas and inspiration!

Make Way For These Baby Shower Favor Ducklings

I just love these little guys!   I had an order for baby shower favors and we chose ducks to go with the story book theme.  The first step, of course, it to make a good sugar cookie dough:

The  Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

From Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.  Cover and chill dough for at least on hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.  Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven.  Cool completely.

I mixed up some icing with confectioners sugar and water.  Add a very small amount of water at a time, you will need less than you think to reach your desired thickness.  If you've added too much water just mix in more confectioners sugar.  I don't have exact measurements, I just eye it.  I make it thick enough to outline the cookie to make a border.  I will then fill the bordered area with flood icing, which is thinned out (by adding a few drops of water) thicker icing.  Be careful not to make it too thin, or it will be harder to control and may not stay within the border.  For these cookies I used a squeeze bottle to ice the cookies.  I filled the bottle with icing using a funnel.

Begin outlining the cooled cookies working with three or four cookies at a time.  With these ducks I did not outline the beak, as I wanted to use orange.  Outlining the beak in yellow would just look weird after filling it with orange!

Next, take the flood icing (I used a separate squeeze bottle for the flood icing) and fill in the outlined area of the cookie.  I used a toothpick to spread the icing to the edge of the border.

Let the filled in cookies set for a few hours before beginning the next steps.  I used the border-thick icing to add wings to the ducks.  I added a bit of red gel coloring to the leftover yellow to make a shade of orange, funneled it into a squeeze bottle, and added the beaks. (I took this photo at night so the coloring is off.)

The last step was adding the eyes.  I used edible eyes purchased in the baking section at Michaels craft store.  My date was a bit hectic, so I didn't place the eyes on before the icing set.  So, I had to use icing to "glue" them onto the duck.  With a toothpick I spread a generous amount of icing on the back of the eye and placed it onto the cookie.

Adorable!  The baby is a girl, so I wrapped the cookies in plastic bags and tied them with pink ribbon.  Congratulations to the parents-to-be!!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies: Prettier in Pink!

I wanted to make something simple and fun after the golf course, so I chose these adorable cookies. I first saw these cookies here: http://dailynibbles.com/2011/02/01/in-the-kitchen-pink-peanut-butter-hugs/, and immediately fell in love. Pink is my favorite color, they mimic the hot pink/zebra combination that is so popular right now, and they just make me smile. Turns out, as is often the case with baking something for the first time, it wasn't so easy! Coloring these correctly took a few tries...3 batches of dough later I was finally pleased with the result.

To make these cookie you will need the following things:

Your favorite Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, pink sanding sugar, Hershey Hugs, neon pink gel food coloring, and red gel food coloring (optional). I have a Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I have been following forever and I love it so much I would hesitate to even think about using another one. Here it is:

Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer Reese's Peanut Butter)

1/4 cup shortening (I prefer Crisco baking sticks, butter flavor)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cream together the butter, shortening, and peanut butter. Mix in sugars, egg and milk. Add the remaining ingredients. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet at least three inches apart. Using a fork make a crisscross pattern by pressing down on the cookie. Dip the fork in flour between cookies to prevent the dough from sticking. Bake between 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool several minutes before removing them from cookie sheet.

Since I was making pink cookies, I added a few drops of AmeriColor's Christmas Red gel food dye. I read this would make a terrific shade of hot pink. I used a hand mixer to incorporate the color; doing it by hand proved to be impossible for me, I am not strong enough to evenly mix it completely.

I had some issues with coloring the dough, which I will explain in a moment. Once the desired color is mixed into the dough, roll it into 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls, dredge through pink sugar until fully coated, and bake:

After the cookies are finished baking, immediately place a Hershey Hug in the middle of the cookie, pressing it down about 1/2 way. The Hug will keep it's shape as long as it's not touched (the chocolate will half melt from the heat of the cookie). Once the cookie and the chocolate cool completely, the Hug will become solid again and the cookies can be packaged or placed in an airtight container to store.

Voila! Adorable hot pink zebra strip peanut butter cookies! Now, let's go over coloring the dough.

For the first batch I mixed up, I didn't think it was possible for it to turn pink with only a few drops of Christmas red, so I added some neon pink. I baked them and was not pleased. So, I mixed up another batch and mixed in the neon pink, still was skeptical of how they would look baked, panicked and added some red. This was close, much better, but still too dark for my taste. After thinking about it, and not ready to give up, I decided to mix up a third batch of dough and split it in two. In one half I mixed in only Christmas red dye. In the other half, I mixed in only neon pink. Here are the results of all four trials:

From Top to bottom: Uncooked dough, baked cookie with no sugar, finished cookie with sugar and hug.

The first column is the mostly red dye with some neon pink added. The second column is mostly neon pink with some red added. The third column is red dye only, and the fourth neon pink only. I had to use my judgement on how much dye to add. I was almost ready to stop at my second attempt (second column), but I'm happy I experimented with only using one color. Here is a close-up of column two and column four finished cookies, the two I decided were closest shade of the hot pink I was trying to achieve:

Cookie on left is neon pink and red dye, cookie on right is neon pink dye only.

The cookie on the left had a bit too much of a red hue and in certain light did not appear pink enough. So, the cookie on the right is the winner! I mixed approximately 6 drops of food coloring in one batch of cookie dough. I may add a bit more to darken the pink a bit, but three batches of cookies later I finally achieved my goal and I'm happy!