Coconut caramel cupcakes :)

These were a lot of fun to make! I love girls scout's cookies, especially caramel delights! So I decided to make some cupcakes that highlight the most important parts of the cookie.
For me these cookies are all about the coconut, caramel and crunch. I LOVE chocolate, but it's not the main thing that I think about when it comes to these cookies. So, while chocolate was a part of these cookies, they weren't the may part. I have also discovered the Keebler makes an awesome cookie that is very similar, if not identical to the girl scout version, they are called Coconut Dreams. I used them for this recipe as I can get a box of 18 for $2.38 at Target! (and that's without coupons)

cupcakes :
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup salted butter (room temp)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup toasted coconut (plus extra for sprinkling over the cupcakes)
18 caramel delight cookies (or Kebblers Coconut Dream)


1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cupcake cups, place one cookie in each cup.
2. Cream sugar and butter, add vanilla and egg.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and buttermilk
4. mix in toasted coconut
5. I use a cookie scoop to get even cupcakes
6. Bake for 15-17 minutes

Icing: I have no idea where the original recipe came from, I adapted it from a hand written recipe that was in my recipe notebook

1 1/4 cup brown sugar
6 Tlbs salted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp baking soda
8 oz powder sugar

In a sauce pan mix brown sugar and cream, bring to a rapid boil. Boil for one minute, mix in baking soda, boil 1 minute. Take away from heat, put in butter, DO NOT MIX.
Let it cool in fridge for 2 hours. Put in mixing bowl, beat until creamy, the color will get pretty light. Mix in the sugar. If icing is too runny you can add a little more sugar, if too stiff you can add more cream or water.

Topping:

toasted coconut

1/2 cookie (not really necessary)

chocolate drizzle- I used ghirardelli milk chocolate

Cate's cupcakes

Cate requested pink flowers with pink centers and Carolina blue icing. I love when little kids know exactly what they want and being about to produce it :)
Half vanilla, half chocolate all with blue vanilla butter cream and gumpaste flowers.

Polka dots babyshower

Half chocolate, half vanilla, with almond/vanilla buttercream. The toppers were made to match the dolkadot invitations. Simple but cute :)

Turtle cupcakes

These were another one of the just for fun cupcakes. These are soooo yummy! I am not a big icing fan, and even with just a little icing these are awesome! Super yummy chocolate cupcakes, with a hint of coffee, with a turtle inside, toped with super chocolate icing (almost a pound of chocolate in enough icing for 12 cupcakes!), caramel and pecans!

Percy Jackson cupcakes

When Mac requested Percy Jackson cupcakes, I had no idea who or what Percy Jackson was. I learned that Percy Jackson is a series of books. Mac requested Pegasus, Poseidon's trident and empire state building cupcakes. I really enjoy detailed work, which is why I LOVE doing things with flowers, so I was excited about these. I am really happy with how they turned out!
Half the cupcakes were vanilla, other half chocolate, all with butte cream and topped with fondant toppers.

Banana cupcakes

These were the second cupcakes I tried this week. I am a big fan of chocolate and bananas. I also know a lot of people who like peanut butter and banana sandwiches. So, I decided to top half of the cupcakes with peanut butter and half with chocolate icing. I also like a little crunch, so I sprinkled them with chopped pecans :) These were also tasty and I will be making them again. I am thinking it may be a good choice for Jack's first cupcake on his birthday!

peanut butter, chocolate cupcakes

I am really enjoying trying out new recipes every week. It had been a while since I was inspired to try new things out. I tried out two new recipes this week. This was the first one. The cupcakes ended up being a little dry, so I made them again, which a different chocolate cupcake, yesterday. I am not a big peanut butter fan, but these were yummy! There's just something magical about chocolate and peanut butter. Each cupcake also got a little reese's cup in the center. On my second trial with these, I pushed the reese's in more so you didn't get to it right away :) I will definitely be making these again!

Cookie cupcakes with mini candy bars

This was another, just for fun, recipe. This one comes from the same blog, Amanda & Kevin, the valentine's day, brownie/cookie bar came from. I topped them with buttercream and peanut M&ms. I am not a huge icing fan, so I left half of them without the icing. Justin said he preferred them without the icing, so I may find a different way to finish them off on the next time. The recipe is really simple, and I was amazed on how easily it came off the mini cupcake pan, as there are no liners. They are pretty yummy, next time I will add nuts to the batter and use the caramel kisses. The different filling/topping combinations for this one are endless!!

Sweet Tea, lemon cupcakes

Becky, from Cakes by Becky, and I are taking turns trying out recipes from this list of the 28 best cupcakes. This is the first one I have tried out. It's supposed to be vegan, but I used regular milk as I already had it instead of buying soymilk. The cupcake was super moist and yummy, but it didn't have much of a tea taste to it. I am not a big lemon flavor girl, but I really enjoyed this icing. I will be trying these again, but it more tea and see how it turns out. The current plan is to try a new recipe a week, so we'll see how it goes :)

Gael's baby celebration cupcakes

Gael was born 8 weeks premature, back in December. We weren't able to have a shower before he was born, so, yesterday we were finally about to celebrate him. Buttermilk cupcakes, filled and iced with dolce de leite icing, fondant details.

Petal cake

I saw this technique and had to try it out! So, this cake was done just for fun. I had some chocolate fondant left over so I decided to make a brown fantasy flower to go with it.

Buttermilk cake (my current favorite), dolce de elite filling and buttercream icing.

I LOVE how it turned out and have tons of ideas on how to use this in the future :)

super mario cookies!

I really enjoyed making these cookies! One of my best friend's birthday is today, and as I haven't figure out a good way to ship cakes, I made these cookies. I am super happy with how the colors turned out! There wasn't a good way to make Mario himself, so I went with the "m" from his hat. I always enjoy making sugar cookies, but I think this are my favorite ones to date.

So, happy birthday, Diego, and hope you enjoy them!

Leap year special!

Book your upcoming event by the end of tomorrow 2/29 and get your choice

6in cake or 18 cupcakes only $29!

Or a 2tier (8,10, serves 48+) for only $129!!

40th carolina blue and brown birthday cake :)

This cake was a lot of fun to make! I was asked to make a carolina blue/brown cake with music notes and to be creative with the rest :)
Bottom tier: Vanilla/almond Buttermilk cake, chocolate fondant. Top tier: Guinness chocolate cake, Bailey's icing, fondant.
Details are fondant and gum paste

Give away!

When I reach 500 likes on my facebook page I will randomly select two people to win a dozen sugar cookies or cupcakes if the winners are local and would prefer cupcakes :)
So, if you aren't already a fan on facebook and want a change for free goodies just head on over and like my page and share with friends. If you are already a fan you have already been entered.

Spiderman cake

Another superhero cake! I really enjoyed making these. I wasn't sure how the spiderweb was going to turn out but I am really happy with it :) Vanilla cake, vanilla butter cream, covered in fondant, fondant and butter cream details

batman cake

I had been wanting to do a superhero cake for a while so I enjoyed this one
Chocolate cake, buttercream, covered in fondant, with fondant details

Ariel Cake

I have to admit I was intimidated about this cake! I am not girly and if you do an image search for Ariel cakes you will come across some scary looking cakes! This cake turned out much better than I expected. I am really happy with how it turned out :)
Strawberry cake, vanilla butter cream, covered in fodant, fondant details.

Ambulance cake

This was a fun, different cake request, a feminine ambulance. The little girls mom had tried to talk her into princesses but Reagan said no :) Buttermilk cake, vanilla icing, fondant details.

flower cupcakes

Justin's grandma's birthday was this past week and we got together to celebrate last night. I enjoyed maybe some gumpaste flowers to top them. Half chocolate, have buttermilk vanilla, all filled and topped with butter cream.

Safari babyshower cupcakes

I have 3 friends due the first week of March! Jenn and Lisa are due a couple days apart and in the same small group from church. They are both having boys so I decided to go with blue cupcakes with cute little animals and buttons :)
Once again I went with my favorite buttermilk cake and almond/vanilla icing, fondant details .

bows and buttons cupcakes

I had the pleasure of making these cupcakes for April and Jeff's babyshower this week. April and Jeff are staff with CRU in the triad. A couple years ago I made their wedding cupcakes. So I was happy to be able to provide cupcakes for the shower of their sweet sleep upcoming baby.
This were my favorite combination: buttermilk cupcakes with almond/vanilla butter cream. The details were fondant.

Guitar babyshower

Emily contacted me a while back to ask if I could make a cake for a friend's baby shower. The nursery is being decorated with a guitar print so I took that as inspiration for the cake. I love the color combination! Buttermilk cake with chocolate buttercream

Magic Hat

This was fun and a little challenging. The mom wanted buttercream instead of fondant so we decided to go with chocolate buttercream as it takes so much food coloring to get to black the icing starts to taste funny. The cake was also chocolate. The bunny is covered in fondant and the ears are gum paste

Lili's princess castle cake

As with previous years Lili knew exactly what she wanted. This year it was a pink princess castle. She requested strawberry cake, a crown and fondant. You can't tell from the picture but the whole thing was covered in edible glitter for my favorite girly girl :) Personally, I am not a huge fan of pink but, I enjoyed this cake as I knew this is what she wanted.

wedding shower flower cupcakes

I was asked to make simple pink and purple cupcakes for a wedding shower. Half of them are lemon with vanilla butter cream and half of them are buttermilk with lemon butter cream all filled with vanilla butter cream

Hello Kitty Cake

This was a simple cute, last minute order. The mom requested something with little icing and hello kitty. It's cream cheese icing, so it's not as smooth as butter cream. The details are fondant and the cake is a vanilla butter cream.

Ladybug Cake

The past three years Eva has had very detailed descriptions of what she wanted for her birthday cakes. This year she decided she wanted a simple cake. She requested a pink ladybug. Chocolate cake and mostly buttercream. She doesn't like fondant but said it was ok if the spots were fondant. I really like how it turned out. I hadn't decorated in a while and it reminded me once again how much I enjoy it!

30th Birthday present cake

I hadn't done a gift cake in a while! This one was fun to make but a little challenging as we are getting ready to move my kitchen is even more crowded than usual! The cake is vanilla buttermilk with vanilla butter cream, covered and details are fondant.

Carolina's first year group

I am not sure what the first year group was but this was a nice simple cake to work on. It was a pretty big cake 11x15 I think. Orange buttermilk cake with almond icing, details are fondant.

5th birthday cupcakes

These were done for a little girl's 5th birthday. The only request was that some of them have flowers. They are chocolate cupcakes filled and topped with vanilla/almond butter cream and the details are fondant

Toodles inspired cake

Eli is a big Mickey Mouse playhouse fan. So, for his second birthday we went with a toodles inspired cake. This was a pretty big cake, the middle part is 10in and the ears are 6in. All orange flavored buttermilk cake with almond butter cream and fondant details.

Primary color cupcakes

I am really happy with how these turned out! The birthday party didn't have a theme, just primary colors. So, we decided to go with the kids initials for the design. The birthday girl loves pink so hers was the pink one. I always have fun making Chloe's birthday cupcakes last year I made the yo gabba gabba cupcakes and the year before it was Minnie

under the sea cookie pops

These were done for a little girl's first birthday party. They were fun to make, I forget how much I enjoy cookie pops. I love how they turned out! I am even considering doing an under the sea theme for Jack's birthday as they were so cute (they were cuter in person than the picture)

Daisies!!

This cake was a fun challenge. The cake is chocolate, with raspberry butter cream filling. Which meant I made raspberry preserves for the first time!
I took a bunch of pictures of the cake with my new camera than deleted them all thinking I had already uploaded them :(

cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes!

A while back I had the pleasure of making Karen and Mike's wedding cake. Karen's brother recently got married out of state and they had a reception in Winston this past weekend. This time around I got to make 10 dozen cupcakes. 2 dozens of each chocolate with chocolate butter cream, chocolate with vanilla butter cream, vanilla with chocolate butter cream, vanilla with vanilla butter cream, 1 dozen red velvet with vanilla butter cream and 1 dozen red velvet with chocolate butter cream, all filled with vanilla butter cream.
Here are some pictures: