Winter Wonderland Cupcakes

So this weekend my nephew turned 5! Where has the time gone!?!

It's one of my favorite things to make a pretty exciting cupcake creation for the birthdays of my niece and nephew. I don't usually do fancy things, but my niece and nephew are worth some sprinkles and fondant frustration anytime!

My nephew requested vanilla cupcakes, so that's what he got, plain and simple. I made 36 cupcakes and then squished them all onto a 16 inch cake round that I had. They BARELY fit, it was a close one. 

After that I frosted them with a buttery cream cheese frosting. To do this I went around the edge with my piping bag and then squeezed the rest of the frosting over the middle. Then I took my spatula and spread it all out. The beauty of making a winter wonderland is that it doesn't have to be perfectly smooth! (I was a little short on frosting, I was worried but it ended up working out just fine!

I then used some white sugar sprinkles and COVERED the frosting (I'm serious here, I COVERED the top of that cake). My nephew got the special birthday honor of helping me put the trees on. He did a great job! He did keep putting them into lines, but we had plenty of trees and I would just fill in around his to make it look more natural. Then we placed a snowmobile toy (his grandparents own several snowmobiles and mountain property where we ride them, my nephew loves his snowmobile!) and the masterpiece was complete! It's always really fun to push the boundaries of my decorating skills and see what I can come up with. This one is my favorite so far.

Vanilla Cupcakes

makes 24

2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans.

In a large bowl whip together the room temperature butter with the sugar until they get nice and fluffy, it's best if you let it beat for 2-3 minutes.  Add the 2 eggs, one at a time and beat for another minute. The mixture should be a light yellow color. While the eggs are mixing in, add the vanilla and the salt.

Next, measure out your baking soda, baking powder and flour in a medium bowl.  Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.  Add half of the sour cream.  Follow that with another 1/3 of the flour, the remaining sour cream and the last of the flour, beating well after each addition.

Scrape the bowl, give the batter one last power mix to get everything well incorporated (about 10 seconds on medium-high).

Scoop into the cupcake pans using a 2 oz ice cream scoop, or filling about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool.

Buttery Cream Cheese Frosting

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 8 oz block cream cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)

3-4 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl combine the butter and the cream cheese with a mixer until it gets a little fluffy, this will take about 3-4 minutes.

While the cream cheese and butter are mixing add in the vanilla and heavy cream (make sure to turn your mixer on to low!).

Now slowly add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, keeping the mixer on low to let it mix in.  Once you have the right sweetness, scrape the sides and mix on medium for about 20 seconds to make sure everything is smooth.  Don't be afraid of over-beating this.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, pipe or frost the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Love, 

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Strawberry Banana

Ah Tuesday, welcome back to Tuesday everyone!  

My niece turned 1 a month or so ago and we had a party for her this weekend.  Now as you can imagine I'm the baker in the family so I got to make her some delicious cupcakes!  She loves fruit so we went with Strawberry Banana and we also used some fondant and made a sock! 

I was pretty pleased with the result, considering that decorating is NOT my specialty.  And it was so fun to see my beautiful little niece smashing her cupcake into her mouth eating her cupcake.  I loved it!

So this recipe is super simple (do I say that about all of them?).  It's a banana cupcake with strawberry cream cheese frosting.  Yum!

Banana Cupcakes
makes 24
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
salt
vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mashed banana

Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans.

In a large bowl whip the butter and sugar using a mixer, this will take about two minutes, you want it to be light and smooth.  Once the butter is whipped, add in the eggs, one at a time.  Mix for about a minute, or until well combined.

Next, add in the vanilla and salt to taste (I'm bad and don't measure either, ever) followed by the baking soda and baking powder.

Now mesure your flour as well as your sour cream and banana.  Add in about 1/3 of the flour and mix until just combined.  Then, add in all of the sour cream.  Follow this with another addition of 1/3 of the flour and then the mashed banana.  Add the last 1/3 of the flour and mix until combined.

Once mix, scrape the sides and mix one last time to make sure that everything is incorporated.

Scoop into the lined cupcake pans filling each one about 2/3 full, or using a 2 oz. ice cream scoop.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
2 8 ounce blocks cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 1/2 tablespoons strawberry jam
3-4 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl cream together the cream cheese and butter using a mixer.  Once those two are well mixed and a bit light, add in the strawberry jam and mix well.

Now, start adding in powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.  I always taste as a go to avoid over sweetening the frosting.

When it has reached a nice consistency and flavor, scoop into a piping bag and pipe on to the cooled cupcakes (you can also just use a knife/spatula to frost them).

Decorate as you please and enjoy!

In other news, I used this fondant recipe.

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday lovelies!

I hope you had a fabulous week, as always!

This was my first full week in my new place and it is almost totally decorated!  My roommate and I have been having so much fun arranging things and making things for our walls and staying up really late talking.  It's a ton of fun!

We've been not only holed up in our apartment, we've been exploring our neighborhood as well and we are in love.  It's so wonderful (and they really like fireworks!)



This is my favorite wall!  My thrifted retro ball cart and a fabulous starburst mirror.  It's like going to the seventies!



My roomie and I hung up a bunch of embroidery circles (she loves sewing, I love cupcakes).  It's the easiest, cheapest project and it's SO cute!



Told you my neighborhood loves fireworks.  We had a block party and at the end of it there were fireworks, great fun!



Isn't this stop sign awesome?  It's yellow and is trying to keep you safe!



Strawberry lemonade cupcakes anyone?  Recipe coming soon!



My cute little German girl hairstyle.  Gotta love the braids (I'm a shoe in for a remake of The Sound of Music).



Exciting things are happening here, raspberries, maple syrup, water.



Turned into raspberry syrup and mixed with sparkling water.  Raspberry soda!  Amazing (it was missing a touch of vodka ;)).

So there you have it, a reasonable slow week (only 8 pictures this week, not the usual 15).

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Wow!  This week has been crazy!  Moving is quite the process (the best part is that it's such a good reason to get rid of SO much stuff!).

I have now found myself in a wonderfully wonderful apartment with an equally wonderful roommate and although it hasn't even been a full week since our first night here, it feels like it's been forever, it's just so lovely and we have so quickly made it into a home.

There were nights with friends, and a lot of nights with the roomie stay up late chatting, planning trips, organizing furniture and often ignoring that we have furniture and either standing or using the floor.  How charming, it's such an adventure!

Also!  With all this Instagram sharing I've never mentioned before that you can follow me on Instagram too!  My handle is @bowsandbutter, look forward to see you there.



Before I was actually moved in I had to christen to space with a cake (one thing done from my 22 before 23 list!) This is all the space I had.



Here is the finished product!  Thank you Joy the Baker this cake was fabulous! (Recipe to come).



And the classic slice shot, yum!



Here is our in progress living room, a fabulous blend of IKEA and vintage.   Love!  Those pictures resting on the couch are now hanging on the wall.



We replaced an ugly fixture with a Chinese lantern (FYI that is a jar of cupcake liners sitting on the dining room table!)



Here is the small tree that sacrificed it's life for my job.



Molasses cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting!  Recipe sometime in the near future :)



This is my house!  The light in the morning is so gorgeous and peaceful, wish I was more of a morning person so I could just sit there and drink my coffee, it's so perfect!



Me and the roomie planning a trip, we're hoping to go to Nashville!  Instead of using chairs and couches we sat on the floor, and ate strawberries out of the carton, it's the right way to do things.



This caught my eye, the street light lit up the trees and it was such an amazing view, the picture doesn't do it justice.



This is in the lobby at my office and I've been meaning to take a picture of it for forever cause it's so cool!   I want one in my house!

There it is folks.  I'm sure there will be more pictures of my new place as we get even more settled, but that was my week, relatively peaceful all things considered.

Love,

Keely