Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes for my Scrapbooking Friends

Last Friday night was my monthly get together with my scrapbooking buddies. After the huge success of this month's MSC: Challenge...Pumpkin Patch cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting...I decided that the cupcakes would be perfect for the occasion. I was right, all my friends loved the cupcakes.



(I am so proud of these pictures. When given the right light, I think my picture taking abilities have gotten better than they used to be!)

We had a few newbies to our group this month, four of them to be exact! One of the girls, Denise, was BRAND new to scrapbooking. She was starting with some paper, a few embellishments, and photos of her daughters. One of the layouts she was working on was of her two daughters eating cupcakes! I had just made a cupcake diecut using my Cricut machine, so I offered it up to her to use on her layout. I think she was so excited that I gave her the diecut! She did a great job on her first layout, and hopefully she will be back next month.

Chewy Pumpkin Cookies

Last week I read this incredible cookie recipe on Design Mom. Design Mom is one of the blogs that I read regularly via Google Reader. And although I'm not a Mom (yet!), I still enjoy her beautiful blog everytime I see a new post. So when I saw this recipe, I absolutely had to make it. And, lucky for me, I had everything on hand in my pantry.





Alex enjoyed them, and I he isn't a real big fan of pumpkin. Although, if I keep making my Pumpkin Patch cupcakes, I may be able to make him a fan! I took these to work the next day, and my crew seemed to really enjoy them. It makes me feel so good when my co-workers say that they enjoy my baking. :)

For the recipe and instruction, visit Design Mom's blog post here. If you make them, let me know how they turn out!

MSC Challenge: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

October's Martha Stewart Cupcake Challenge, headed up by Betty at Eat My Cupcake, was the Pumpkin Patch cupcakes. This month's cupcake was selected by Kim at What The Whisk. Please pardon the crummy pictures...I took them at night in some bad kitchen lighting.

Okay, I've made plenty of cupcakes in my day. I've had this blog for about two years now. These cupcakes just might be best that I have ever made. The response by my co-workers was amazing. Well, except for the co-worker who is allergic to pumpkin.....good thing I told him what kind of cupcakes they were right when he was about to eat one!



I didn't have cake flour on hand, and I never have. Does that make me a bad baker? Anywho, I found the conversion on line and added corn starch to all purpose flour to make it the equivalent of cake flour. I thought these were fairly easy to make, and smelled fabulous while they were baking. I topped them off with the cream cheese recipe from the book, which is a great recipe, too.



I packed up the cupcakes in my favorite new accessory, my cupcake courier. I also packed a few extras in another box to take to my hair stylist (I had an appointment that day) and her staff. They loved them so much that I got an order to make them for the salon in November!


I will DEFINITELY be making these cupcakes again. For the order next month, of course. I'm also thinking about making them for Thanksgiving this year. Maybe I'll even make them into those adorable Turkey cupcakes on the following page of this recipe!

Carrot cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for Alison's Birthday

My dear friend Alison had her birthday last week, and we all celebrated by going to Luna De Noche in downtown Dallas. I had never been there before, and I thought it was pretty good, but totally overpriced!! But that's is beside the point....

This year, Alison presented me with a few suggestions for cupcakes that she would enjoy. Last year I made here these Chocolate cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting, so this year I went with Carrot cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. What can I say, Alison loves Cream Cheese frosting!!



I used the recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, and then the Cream Cheese Frosting from Crazy About Cupcakes. The cupcakes were incredibly moist, and were falling apart from their wrappers. But they were still really good. I enjoyed one the next day as a breakfast muffin (without the frosting, of course!).


Oh, and there is THIS! My new Cupcake Courier! And it is everything I had hoped for! It held all my cupcakes in place beautifully. Once it was loaded down with 2 dozen cupcakes, it was pretty heavy. It can hold up to 3 dozen cupcakes, so I imagine it could be even heavier!


Thanks Mom for supporting my cupcake habit!!!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the birthday girl with her cupcakes, but I know she enjoyed them. And, unfortunately for me, Alison lives in Austin now, so I don't get to see her very often. But, I do get to visit her in Austin every now and then!

Happy Birthday Alison....love ya!!!

Sprinkles....Is That You?

My brother and sister-in-law had given me a Sprinkles Red Velvet cupcake mix not too long ago, and I decided that my Friday night Scrapbooking Crop would be the perfect occasion to use the mix. Our group leader, Clare, absolutely loves Red Velvet.



Here is the end result:


I even tried to replicate the signature Sprinkles cupcakes frosting style...I think I better stick to my favorite open star icing tip. :) The kit also included Sprinkles signature fondant dots to decorate the cupcakes with.


I also used the Sprinkles Cream Cheese Frosting recipe listed on the can. I thought it was pretty good. Very easy to work with. But I still prefer my go to recipe in Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella.


In the end, these turned out to be a beautiful red color, and I enjoyed presenting them to my Scrapbooking girls!