Brandy's Baking: June 2012

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Colorful Cupcakes in a Jar

11:50 AM | Posted by Brandy K | | Edit Post

Cute, no? I think pretty much anything in a jar is cute though...cupcakes just take it up a notch. I've done these sweet cupcakes in a jar for two kiddo birthday parties, both of the parties had an arts & crafts theme. Perfect!

Yes, I did notice that this particular cupcake is a little "Mardi Gras" in terms of color. Oh well, a little Mardi Gras never hurt a party, especially a kid party. :) Am I right? Wait...maybe that's a little inappropriate. I think my point here is going to be that you can choose your own color combinations according to what you're celebrating. I'm thinking different shades of pink for a Pinkalicious party, or red, white and blue for Memorial Day or the 4th of July, green for St. Patrick's day, pastels for Easter, etc.

You really just need to mix up a white cake and have some 4 oz. glass jelly jars on hand. Easy! I could only find the quilted jars, but I think they turned out quite cute. I know that the regular, smooth-sided jars exist, but I could not spend ANOTHER minute at ANOTHER Walmart trying to find them. I just couldn't.

Anyway.

I used my favorite white cake recipe - Perfect Party Cake. You can use whatever white cake recipe you like, go for it!

Colorful Cupcakes in a Jar

by Brandy's Baking

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Cook Time: 15-18 minutes

Ingredients (18-20 cupcakes)

For the Cupcakes

18-20 4 oz. glass jelly jars
Your favorite white cake recipe or boxed mix.
This is the recipe I like to use: Perfect Party Cake.

For the Frosting

1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
5-6 cups powdered sugar
4-5 Tbsp whipping cream

Instructions

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F. Place 12 jars on a baking sheet. (I have a small Sil-Pat mat that I used on my baking sheet so the jars wouldn't slide around too much.) Spray each jar with baking spray.

Separate cake batter into 3-5 smaller bowls and tint each a different color with gel food coloring. Using about a tablespoon of each, carefully drop the batter into the jars. Use whatever combination of colors you want. You can spread each color horizontally for more of a layered look, or just dollop it in. Fill the jars only 1/2 full! If you fill them 1/2 full, they will bake up with a little pop of cake just over the rim of the jar. If you fill them more than 1/2 full, the batter will spill over the sides of the jar, no bueno.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and it comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until it's creamy. Add in the vanilla, salt, and 3 cups of the powdered sugar. Continue adding powdered sugar and whipping cream until the frosting is spreadable.

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This recipe is linked to: Southern Sundays
Totally Tasty Tuesdays
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Mouthwatering Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Trick or Treat Tuesday
Whatcha Baking Wednesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets for a Saturday

Labels: Cupcakes | 5 comments

Monday, June 11, 2012

The Mission Plan

5:14 PM | Posted by Brandy K | | Edit Post

Howdy folks. First off, there is no baking whatsoever in this post...sorry. This one is going straight to the "Other Insanity" files. I repeat...sorry. I've had very little time to bake so far this week, but I have ~~been forced~~ had time to observe my children trying to drive one another freakin' INSANE.

Literally.

I uncovered evidence to support my conclusion this morning, in the form of a mission plan. A mission plan on the dry erase board in the playroom. It was thoughtfully drawn out (and executed, I assume) by my daughter.

She truly is attempting to undermine her brother's sanity. She knows that it drives him crazy when she hangs out in the playroom and watches while he plays the Wii. She's decided to be a little more stealthy about it though, instead of just plopping down on the couch beside him.

I give you...The Mission Plan.

If you are not adept at reading Kinderspell, I'll translate for you...

Look at Griffin
while he plays
the Wii.

Look at Griffin
with your spy looker

When you are
done go to the bathroom

(????) when
you are done
run somewhere else
and the mission is over.

In case you are wondering, this...this is a "spy looker".

How many more weeks of summer do we have?

Labels: Other Insanity | 3 comments

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Chocolate M&M Cake

1:38 PM | Posted by Brandy K | | Edit Post

We are well into our first week of summer vacation. All that means for my kids is more time to harass one another. I looked up the word "harass" and it's defined as: to disturb persistently, torment, bother continually, pester, persecute.

Are the dictionary.com folks HIDING IN MY HOUSE?! Holy. Smokes. Accurate definition.

Anyway, my little antagonists called a truce for 37 minutes yesterday afternoon. It was beautiful. They suspended the hostilities between themselves, but decided their toys needed to BATTLE!

It seems that mermaids really like robots, so much so that they are compelled to aggressively attack them until the robots give up and MARRY the mermaids. That's right, beat them down, girls! That's really the best way to start a marriage.

The problem here though, is that the robots already have too many wives, just too many. They simply cannot stand any more wives. (After watching Sister Wives, I can understand how ~~anyone~~ a robot might want to keep the wifey number down. 4 is a-plenty, I'm sure.)

Anyhoo, the mermaids attack, the robots beat them back with their tiny mechanical arm weapons.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

I just enjoyed the 37 minutes, folks. I'm not here to judge the robots for their polygamy. I'm not here to judge the mermaids, they just want love. I just wanted 37 minutes.

***Disclaimer: Neither of my children watch Sister Wives, that's just me. Neither of my children have ever known anyone with multiple wives, I don't think. ? I have no idea why in the world it occurred to them to fight this particular battle. I can only assume it's my fault, somehow, of course. I did not intervene...mostly because I didn't know where to start, and they were not scratching and spitting at one another. I call that good.***

Would you like to talk about cake now? I know I would!

I got a request recently for a birthday treat for a lovely teacher-lady. She's a big fan of M&M candies and I've had this cake pinned on Pinterest for waaaaay too long. Bingo! I love it when things come together like that. :)

I followed the directions from Recipe Girl's post and the cake came together quickly and easily! It's a real show-stopper of a cake! Make one and pat yourself on the back, I did!

Chocolate M&M Cake

by Brandy's Baking

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients (2 layer 9" cake)

For the Cake

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Frosting

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
5-6 cups powdered sugar
4-6 Tbsp whipping cream

To Decorate:

Three 4.5-ounce regular size Kit Kat Bars (you'll need 36 Kit Kat sticks total)
One 12.6-ounce bag M&M's
Ribbon

Instructions

Make the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9x2" round cake pans, and then line with waxed paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk and vanilla, beating after each addition until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely on wire racks. (Be sure you remove the waxed paper, it's not tasty.)

Make the Frosting:

Cream together the butter and the cocoa powder. Add in vanilla and 4 cups of the powdered sugar, blend well. Add in remaining powdered sugar and cream until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.

Assemble the Cake:

Place one cake layer on cake plate/stand and cover the top with frosting. Top with second layer and frost top and sides. Working quickly, separate Kit Kat sticks and stick them onto the sides of the cake, all the way around. Leave a small space (1/4") between the Kit Kats. Tie a ribbon around the cake to keep the Kit Kats secure. Pour the M&Ms on the top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for several hours, it will be much easier to slice and serve. Of course, please do remove the bow before slicing & serving. :)

Helpful Tips:

You can bake whatever flavor cake you want. You don't have to make a chocolate cake. It tastes pretty good with a butter/yellow cake.

Be certain that you use 9" pans. 8" pans will give you cake layers that are too tall. Your cake layers need to be less than about 1 1/2" tall, or they will be too tall for the Kit Kats to act as a fence for the M&Ms.

You need to use the regular (large) size Kit Kat bars. There are some little bars (snack size) that are sold in bags, but those are way too small.

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This post is linked to: Whatcha Baking Wednesday