Fun with Fondant

I went to Michael's and got myself some fun cut outs a few weeks ago and decided to mess around with them one night when I was bored. I didn't feel like baking from scratch or making anything fancy, little bit tired. So I defaulted to a cake mix (sorry, friends) and whipped up some buttercream. I only needed a canvas to play with.

I may have gotten carried away...but hey, I like sparkly things.

Baby Ducks

Actually it is a baby boy (soon-to-be anyway). A friend of my mother was in need of some type of dessert for a baby shower she was throwing for someone. She needed individual pieces of dessert to help them celebrate. Naturally, this is code for cupcakes. 


This is something that remains true no matter what age the boy is - they are the HARDEST things to shop/create for!! Us girls, we hand it to them on a platter. We are happy with anything! As long as it comes from the boy, we are happy, right girls? 


So I had a really hard time thinking of a design for a boy baby shower. Girls I can do anything from hearts to flowers to pearls to butterflies. Boys....hmm....drawing blanks...


It came down to rubber ducks, bottles, or baby faces. Obviously, rubber ducky wins that one. Psssh.


First things first - I made my own fondant for the first time and let me tell you...IT IS SO EASY! It is easy and pie and so much more cost effective than buying it from the store. If you use fondant, please tell me you will try to make your own and I promise you will be converted for life.

1 bag mini marshmallows

food coloring

confectioners' sugar

Put marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl. (I used about 2 cups but you can use however much depending on how much fondant you need). Coat the marshmallows with a little bit of water and toss to make sure they are all covered. 

Put the mallows in the microwave for 1 minutes. They will come out looking big and fluffy. Mix with a wooden spoon that has been coated with shortening or butter to prevent sticking. Once it is a smooth mass, begin adding confectioners' sugar.

Continue mixing and adding more sugar until the fondant starts coming together and is a pliable mass. Add as much sugar as needed until the fondant is the right consistency. Knead in your food coloring. Use gel colors.

That is it! Cover completely and there you go :)

Ok, back to the cupcakes. So I made ducks out of fondant and made some blue buttercream so it looks like the ducks are floating in water! I also made a batch of chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes because I feel like brown is a boy color.

World's Best Candybar

REESE'S

I turned it into a cupcake!

My co-worker's birthday was a few weeks ago and her sweet treat from me was some reese's cupcakes. I had to make an extra "secret stash" for her because everyone else at work quickly devoured the majority of the cupcakes. 

I hope she enjoyed them and had a wonderful birthday!

What is your favorite candy bar? It can be my next undertaking!

RECIPE

From Ina Garten:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 17-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3-4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

In a stand mixer (or hand mixer) beat butter and peanut butter until smooth. On low speed, gradually add confectioner's sugar until smooth and completely combined. Change mixer to high speed and slowly add the milk. Beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes. Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired!

Giveaway!!

Yes, its true! I am doing my very first giveaway because I know everyone loves to win cool, free stuff right??


This is officially my 100th post on this little bloggy of mine. Woohoo! 


So, in honor of that little bit of excitement and the even better news that summer is here I decided I should get the future winner something that would be fun and perfect to share and impress their friends with at the next summer gathering.


Drum roll puuuh-leaseeee...

From one of my favorite shops...

What could be inside??

Cupcake gear, duh!

So, the winner will receive Sprinkle's famous Red Velvet cupcake mix (trust me, it tastes EXACTLY like what you get in the store!) and the world's cutest baking cups and decorations to make your summer BBQ a hit!

Summer is, after all, about good BBQ's with good company.


So...you enter in the usual way: 
1. be a follower of "Made with Butter and Love" and leave a comment on this post about what you are looking forward to most this summer
2. Blog about this giveaway 
3. Be my follower on pinterest




Easy peasey right?


I hope you all enter! Have a great week! :)
The winner will be announced one week from today!

I never promised you a rose garden..

That title was just an excuse to give a shout out to my girl Martina and an oldie but a goodie song of hers. 

So I left work early last week because I had nothing more to do so naturally I come home and start making cupcakes. This time was known to my co-workers as "working from home". SHH :)

I needed to practice my rose making so I frosted each cupcake with a rose.

Here is my rose garden for you all. Enjoy

And then they were gone...mmmm :)

Marscapone + Strawberry Filled Cupcakes

Who says cupcakes have to be topped off with a mound of frosting? Not me.


These simple cupcakes are light, fresh and delicious. No flavor overpowering the other...harmony :) 


So much so that they are completely acceptable to eat for breakfast..I know from experience.


Slightly Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature (cut into pieces)

1 large egg, room temperature

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (ie: light and fit vanilla yogurt)

Combine all dry ingredients in your stand mixer.

Mix in butter, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and yogurt. 

Mix until combined.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until firm.

Cupcake Filling

1 cup marscapone cheese

1/2 cup strawberries

1/4 cup white sugar

Combine in food processor until smooth.

Cupcake Glaze

1 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

4 cups confectioners' sugar

Mix sugar and water over the stove until dissolved. Bring to a simmer and then pour into a bowl with the confectioner's sugar and mix until smooth. (Don't prepare glaze until the cupcakes are cooled and filled, it hardens somewhat quickly)

Once the cupcakes have been cooled, fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip (ie: #4) with the strawberry filling.  Insert the tip into the bottom of the cupcake and fill until you feel the cupcake plump.  Then pour glaze over the top of cupcake and let cool completely.  Add sliced strawberries for decoration.

A Little Miracle

I really mean little....a baby!

There is a long story behind this but I will try to give you the shorter version.

My family has another family (the Bissins) that we are very close to. My brother and their son (Cameron) grew up together playing baseball and causing trouble through middle school and high school. My mom and Christy (the Mom) are the meaning of BFF4L and Paul (the Dad) and my dad play golf and whatever else men do on a pretty regular basis. 

Cameron was a one of a kind person. He loved everyone so deeply, lived and held nothing back, and had a smile that would literally light up a room. In September, we lost Cameron one unsuspecting morning. It turned their lives and ours upside down. Everyone is still feeling the pain from losing such an amazing person and family member at the young age of 20 years old. 

The miracle in this story is that he really made sure that part of him would still be with us and his family even though he is gone. His girlfriend found out after he passed that she was pregnant with Cameron's baby.  It is such a crazy miracle that it is hard to believe. 

He will forever live on through his soon to be daughter - Payton Cameron Krysteen Bissin.

This past weekend we celebrated Trysha's baby shower. It was a beautiful event at Cameron's house with all their friends and family present. Cameron would have been so happy to see it. To help with the celebration I made some Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies (Cameron's favorite!) and some cupcakes.

After a long few months since Cameron left us, it was great to see everyone smiling and celebrating something good that has come from this.

Rest In Peace Cameron. 

You are loved and miss always.

Things I Live By

Two things I live by:


1.  Sweets like these Oreo cupcakes!

2. This quote, which I have no idea who said it or where it came from.

"Be kinder than necessary, everyone is fighting some kind of battle."

I try to live by this quote (and trust me sometimes it is almost impossible - especially working customer service!) but I always try to remind myself that if someone is mean to me or whatever it might be, that they are probably going through something too.


It might be small, it might be life-changing, but at any given point in time most people are struggling with something. 


So be nice. It's that simple :)

Have the best day and try to do or say something extra nice to someone today! 

RECIPE:

Vanilla Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of 1 large lemon(outer yellow skin)

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

15 oreos crushed up

Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2tablespoons milk or light cream

15-20 oreos crushed by food processor

Oven 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla extract.

Add lemon zest.

Add milk.

Combine dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients on low speed.

Place some crushed oreo in the bottom of the cupcake tins and pour the batter on top.

Bake 18 minutes until it springs back at you.

For the frosting cream butter and vanilla extract together until smooth.

On low speed, add confectioners' sugar until combine.

On high speed, slowly add the milk/cream and beat on high for 5 minutes.

Then fold in the oreo crumbs.

Frost and share with friends!

Island Cupcakes

There is a new cupcake shop that opened up in my hometown in December. It is called Island Cupcakes (they don't have a website yet but you can get to know them here.)

They offer all these superlicous tropical flavors like mango, passionfruit and guava in cupcake form. I know, right? Amazing!

Naturally, I left with a box of six.

The tropical flavors were B-O-M-B. The cake had a sweet little surprise of real fruit in the middle and they were definitely unique. I would probably pass on their regular flavors (chocolate, peanut butter, etc) but definitely pick pick up a dozen mango and passion fruits. You will die in tropical heaven...and that is a good place to be.

Partycakes!

Partycakes...huh?? That is my code name for my cupcakes that got all dressed up for the party. 

My friends Jessica and Maria hosted a holiday party for a bunch of our friends just before Christmas. I have known these girls foreveerrrr. One of them I have known since 2nd grade, the rest from 6th grade and freshman year of high school. It has been a while and we have been through a lot with each other from school drama to boy drama to "what are we going to do with our lives" drama and everything in between.

We were all instructed to bring an appetizer or dessert to share with everyone so of course, what do I bring? Dessert, duh.

I brought red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and vanilla cupcakes topped with a fresh strawberry buttercream. I didn't want to make your standard cupcake because I think they are boring sometimes. Instead I made a few thin sheet cakes and cut them into little squares. I stacked three pieces of cake on top of each other with the frosting holding them together. The cupcakes were ready for the partay!

I hope everyone got to enjoy them. I know Jess sure did...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!