These Cupcakes Were Out of This World

White chocolate spaceships

Really terrible subject line, I know, but the second order I had last week was for five dozen assorted flavors for a surprise 30th birthday party. The birthday boy is apparently a big fan of all things outerspace related, so I brainstormed with his fiance to come up with cupcakes to reflect this. She was able to find a chocolate mold online of tiny spaceships, and I used this to make white chocolate rockets.

Box of space cupcakes

The flavors of the cupcakes were red velvet, cookie dough, chocolate Oreo, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. On the pumpkin and vanilla, I piped a swirl of dark blue frosting and sprinkled some edible gold glitter and silver dragees over top before putting on the spaceships. I thought these looked pretty cool, although again I had the same issue with the edible glitter migrating all over my face when I accidentally touched it. I looked like Edward stepping into the sun (geeky Twilight reference there...).

Close up of the space cupcakes

The Cupcakes I Almost Dropped on the Port Authority Floor

Due to time constraints and other plans this weekend, I had to bake an order that was due in Toms River Saturday on Friday in Hoboken. I left my apartment early Saturday morning in order to make it down in time, anticipating shore traffic that I did eventually hit.

Cupcakes, post near-fall and frosted in Toms River

While I was standing on line for the bus to Toms River, I reached into my bag to grab my bus ticket while balancing the heavy box of two dozen cupcakes in one hand. As I was just about to grasp my ticket, I lost my balance, and the box began wobbling out of my control. I immediately panicked, fearing these cupcakes would soon be scattered on the floor in front of me. For those of you who have never been to Port Authority (which is possible now that my blog has visitors from 37 countries and 45 U.S. states!! - yay!), it is by far one of the dirtiest places I have been. In all my years of traveling through Port Authority, I have never once witnessed anyone mopping the floor. I suppose there's no point though being as pigeons and other creatures are plentiful in the terminals.

Safe, secure, boxed and ready to go

If these cupcakes had hit the floor, it would have been nothing short of a disaster. I'd have to toss the infected cupcakes, and after that, I'm not sure what I would do. Probably cry for the entire bus ride and quit baking forever. Okay, maybe not that severe, but I would have had to show up with something at 1:00 pm at the person's house expecting a dozen Oreo and a dozen toasted coconut cupcakes. I'm wondering if Entenmann's would work in a pinch. Fortunately by some crazy maneuvering that pulled no less than 10 muscles in my back, I regained a grip on the cupcakes, and no cupcakes were injured in the process. Because they weren't yet frosted, it didn't even matter they all got jumbled in the box. This was extraordinarily lucky. The cupcakes arrived in TR unharmed and ready to be frosted.

Cupcakes from the Past Weekend

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being negligent about baking & blogging lately. It's summer and it seems like a million other things have been demanding my attention, depriving my friends, family & coworkers of delicious baked goods. What can I say? The call of the bar is just too strong, and when you're getting home as the sun is coming up, getting up a few hours later to slave away in a hot kitchen is just the last thought on your mind.

That being said, I did throw together some cupcakes for a friend's informal gathering by his pool Sunday. I had some leftover Oreo frosting in my freezer and had a craving for chocolate cupcakes. I have no clue what happened with the cupcakes, but when I took them out of the oven, all of the cupcake liners pulled away from the cupcakes. They weren't even the silicone-coated ones I was initially having the problem with. As my guy friends will attest to though, they still tasted pretty good. I used the remaining Oreo frosting for half of them and threw together some vanilla frosting for the rest. I thought it was a pretty solid effort for being so hungover.

Because this weekend is 4th of July though, there will be some baking going on so be sure to check back here next week to see what made it to all the bbqs!

Cupcakes for Students

My friend Lauren is a high school teacher and I've been using her students as a cupcake focus group. They put together a "wish list" of cupcake flavors for potential new test batches. Because I'm constantly baking new cupcakes so that I can keep this blog updated and (hopefully) interesting, I told Lauren that I would bake four dozen cupcakes for her class's Great Expectations party. Classic British pastries these were not, but I don't think the kids noticed the difference.

Vanilla with sprinkles in a purple liner: my ideal cupcake

Some of the wish list cupcakes made it into this "order"- Oreo and the cookie dough. The cookie dough I have made before, but the Oreo was a new attempt. Actually, the first time I made the cookie dough cupcakes for some friends, I received two marriage proposals (but turned them both down). They are that good. Seriously. And the best part about them is they're relatively easy to make.

Cookie dough, but the best part is inside

To make the cookie dough, you just need a good vanilla batter and those Nestle Tollhouse break and bake cookies. Break the cookie dough into the preassigned pieces and freeze them for at least 20 minutes. You then push them into a liner half-filled with cupcake batter. Then you just bake like normal, and you end up with a soft cookie baked into a cupcake. It really is just amazing.

Chocolate Oreo. a.k.a. Breakfast

All the other flavors turned out pretty great too. Vanilla is just my all-time favorite. It's so simple, but delicious. I had one of the Oreo ones unfortunately for breakfast this morning. I only say unfortunately because that is 8:30 am, and I should be eating something like granola, not cupcakes. They were pretty great though. Way better than granola. I didn't have any of the Sweet & Salty this time (I mean, how many cupcake calories can I really consume in one day??), but they looked good and were made with the leftover salted caramel I had stored in the fridge after I made it the other weekend.

Sweet & Salty and Oreo, all ready to go to school

Lauren said the kids were ecstatic about the cupcakes. I'm pretty sure this cemented her as their favorite teacher ever.