Sweet, delicious cravings

#15 on my Things to do Before I Go Broke list -- increase my baking skills, has lead some friends of mine to send over some very cool new recipes. Which got me thinking...if I had the time (like a couple of free weekends...of which I am not allowed to have apparently), what would I like to bake? Thus please see the following, and add any that you may like to try eating ;) At some point in my nesting stage, I will get to them all (in no particular order) :)

1) Strawberry cupcakes
2) Rocky Road Brownies--the dessert kind, not the Indian people kind ;)
3) Ferrer-Rocher Nutella Cupcakes
4) Margarita cupcakes
5) Champagne cupcakes
6) Scones (of any flavor)
7) Oreo cheesecake balls (although I HAVE made these before, I'd like to make them again)
8) something with coconut (suggestions?)
9) a peanut butter & apple cinnamon crepe (Mmmmm. had these in Vegas once...so friggin' good)
10) Okay, this is going to sound weird to most people, but remember, I am preggers -- Bacon filled waffles (as shown below via ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com)
11) Lemon curd cupcakes
12) Bakerella Cupcake Pops
13) Homemade Mini Donuts (in different flavors)
14) Butterscotch Pie
15) Sweet Potato cupcakes
16) Guiness Cupcakes (for ITPav)
17) Ooey Gooey Yummy Brownies (TGF Paul Deen)
18) OH's Creme Brulee French Toast
19) Fruit Turnovers (Strawberry, Apple, Pear, Blueberry, etc)
20) something with Dulce de Leche
21) something with caramel & fleur de sel
22) something with pumpkin (not pie)
23) Ice Cream Cone cupcakes
24) S'mores Cupcakes
25) Martha Stewart's Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

**I also want to learn to take better photos of what I bake so that I can post them up here on the blog! Any ideas would be most helpful!

My Heaven

Ferrer-Rocher Nutella Cupcakes

Yes, that's right this is what would be waiting for me (along with a few other things) at the pearly white gates of Heaven.

Cupcake Campers Unite!

Hi all! So I am very excited to say that i will be taking part in the ever growing Cupcake Camp extravaganza! You've seen them in Toronto and San Francisco! Now welcome them to our home, NYC!! Unfortunately, as I've been super swamped this week at work, I will not be able to bake my own creations/concoctions to show off, so I will be purchasing 2 dozen cupcakes from Crumbs Bakery on 42nd Street. (Still super delicious...Bababooey, yummmmmmmmmmmmmminess!!)

If anybody is interested in baking cupcakes and taste-testing cupcakes tomorrow evening, check out the link below. They'll explain everything. Hope to see you there!

http://cupcakecampnyc.blogspot.com/

Sunday Cupcaking Sunday

So as I promised last week, I baked and baked and baked this weekend. The two pics to the right are the Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream frosting (recipe taken from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's Living magazine). Since our get-together was in honor of the wedding of a close family friend, I decided to pull out the gel cake writers and throw a congrats on the cupcakes. Pic #2 (to the right) also has 6 cupcakes in which I added some mint extract and green food coloring to the leftover cupcake batter and frosting -- to make MINT chocolate chip cupcakes (Hubby's fave flavor -- but only if it's green :D). They have been placed in my Cupcake Courier which is the BEST way to transport your cupcakes. I'll be honest--was not a fan of the Wilton cupcake carrier. My cupcakes went flying all over the place. In the Cupcake Courier, each cupcake depression is deep enough to keep the cupcakes in place (unless of course you tip the whole thing upside down...which I don't recommend).

The cupcakes below are the Sexy Low-Fat Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Skinny Confectioners' Icing from the book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. This was for my RaakStaar who is Vegan, and is also traveling to the sunny shores of Puerto Rico this weekend for a wedding. I still wanted her to be able to indulge in some sweet cupcakey goodness. These were a HUGE hit. My sister (who only loves foods that are "meant" to be fatty TO BE FATTY, but then craves salads. This I don't get, but my mom wishes I could be more like her in that respect :D) -- anyhoo, my sister LOVED these cupcakes, and even took some home (where my mother finished them off, and even complemented my increased skills in the baking area -- Woohoo validation!!)

Go Martha! Go Martha!

*courtesy of Martha Stewart Living*

So I'm not a great fan of Martha Stewart's, but sometimes, she comes up with some great ideas. Her home line at KMart is actually quite lovely. AND the February 2009 issue of her Living Magazine...*one sole tear of sheer happiness rolls down my cheek*...it's just....exquisite. Why, you ask? Because the cover story is all about...CUPCAKES!!!

So I know everyone (all 4 of you) voted equally for either a Strawberry ShortCupCake or the Baileys Irish Cream Cupcake, but i think I may have to try out Martha's Boston Cream Cupcake first. I mean, look at it. The custardy vanilla cream splicing the cake, and the ooey-gooey chocolate ganache oozing off the top. This CANNOT be made healthy, I'm sure. But it looks so damn amazing! *I actually want to hug the screen right now, it looks so good!!* There are plenty of other recipes in the issue that I want to try as well. And on top of ALL of this Cupcake-aganza (yes there's more), today's episode of The Martha Stewart Show is, again, ALL ABOUT CUPCAKES!!! The girls over at Cupcakes Take the Cake were there, of course! (You can spot them out in the audience in the preview of the episode on Martha's site).

I'll also be making Vegan cupcakes this weekend, as we're having a get-together with some friends, one of whom (my dear RaakStar) is vegan, and who tends to get left out of the yummy goodness sometimes.

I'll let you know how they all turn out!