Cupcake & Travel Miscellany...

Sorry, I haven't posted in a few weeks. I really wanted to do the Brownie Caramel TWD because it looks impossibly decadent and I have been admiring it in the book for months now, but we headed off for a week in Mexico before I could get around to it. The vacation was wonderful and gave us great tans, and a much needed rest from regular life!

But now that we are back, I downloaded vacation pictures today, as well as a plethora of baked yummies that I figured I'd share with you guys in leiu of a 'new' post! Oh, but since you are so patient, here's a few fun vacation pictures too.

An amazing sunset we saw over the boardwalk aka El Malecon in Puerto Vallarta.



Us happy as clams one night after dinner in PV....



My better half dipping his toes in the water... my view from the hammock.



BTW...I won't be doing the biscotti this week for TWD as unfortunately I won't have the time what with catching up on a week of work, but I do plan to go for the Caramel Brownie at some point soon, since I missed it last week and it seems easy enough. Stay tuned. In the meantime, cupcakery!

Dulce de Leche cupcakes...I finally tackled these for a friend's parents anniversary and it was her special request. I am NOT a fan of dulce de leche... it is basically condensed milk baked in the oven into the dulce caramel. But in cupcake form... these were pretty heavenly actually. I would definitely make them again.





A set of cupcakes that I made and donated to a friend's Breast Cancer dance event. I was thinking strawberry cupcakes originally but I went with a Vanilla Coconut Cream cupcake to use the rest of the coconut milk I had in the fridge, and spiced cream cheese frosting colored pink! They were pretty tasty.





Not sure I ever posted these, but I made these absolutely charming Red Velvet with Cream Cheese cupcakes for an anniversary, this gentleman's lucky girlfriend apparently LOVES red velvets.





Three words. Banana. Caramel. Cupcakes. Doesn't it sound like a dream? Well, it tasted like one too. I have been working on a banana cupcake when I can find the time and have ripe bananas. I am picky...I want a lighter cake than I have been able to get thus far. But taste...I filled them with caramel ganache and topped with a spiced cream cheese frosting and diced pecans. WOW. The inside shot doesn't do them justice, but yes they are that good. I am refining them, and relishing the practice.





One of my new favorites...Chai Spice Cupcakes. I am all about the spice lately as you can tell...maybe it's the fall weather finally hitting us here in N. CA. These were amazing...! I made them for an Indian themed dinner and they were a huge hit with the diners.





Speaking of spice, I am working on Pumpkin Spice cupcakes right now for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving. I have a few recipes, I've tried one or two but so far they are not the perfect ones for me. I am still working on it, will take another pass this week. I want a lighter fluffier texture and pumpkin tends to make things slightly more dense, so if you have any recipes to suggest, please do!

A first pass at Pumpkin...they were yummy tasting, but too dense and moist of a cake for my own tastes.



And here is a random shot of 'miscellaneous' cupcakes I did for a corporate meeting, the request was 2-3 diff types of miniatures, I had fun with the flavor choices which they left up to me!