Baby Gender Cupcakes

A few months ago, I blogged the news that my husband and I are expecting a baby later this summer. I mentioned that I wanted to make some sort of gender cake to announce if it was a boy or girl when the time came for us to be able to find out.

The time to find out came on Tuesday. We had our ultrasound and were told that we have a healthy baby girl on the way. Everything looks great with her development and growth, and despite the fact that she was stubborn when it came time to get measurements and get close looks at her organs, she cooperated beautifully when it came time to find out her gender. We are very excited, despite the fact that my husband claims he has no idea what to do with a baby girl. I maintain that he really has no idea what to do with a baby, but we'll figure it out together :)

Here's a 3D image of our little girl smiling:

We spent the day calling our family and some close friends to tell them the news. But I knew I still wanted to bake something to tell my coworkers the news the next day. Instead of a full-blown cake, I made vanilla cupcakes and tinted them with red food food coloring. Since the pink wasn't completely hidden by the cupcake wrapper or frosting and it wasn't like they had to bit in to the cupcake to know what color it was, I put a little pink chocolate candy on top. And as I was making the cupcakes, I realized that I could daydream - for the first time, with certainty - of baking someday with my little daughter.

My coworkers knew this day was coming, and they kept watching for me to walk in to the office. When I finally did, they rushed the cupcakes to see if they were pink or blue. As one coworker told me, announcing the gender through cupcakes was totally my mark.

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes

We had a Halloween potluck at work at the end of October (cuz we like to come up with any excuse we can to eat good food).

I volunteered to bring in dessert, mostly because I love to bake (you probably already knew that). But also because I still had some homemade cream cheese frosting chilling in the fridge, begging to be used up. I made a big batch of it when I made pumpkin spice cookies for my mom, and I couldn't let the rest of it go to waste.

I tried to branch out and make something non-pumpkiny, since I've been making so much pumpkin stuff lately. But in the end, cream cheese frosting simply tastes amazing paired with pumpkin, and it *was* a Halloween potluck. So I caved. And, I told myself it was OK because I tried out a new recipe.

I snatched this recipe for Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes out of one of those little grocery store aisle booklets last year, vowing I would make them one day. Well, that day arrived. The combination of the frosting, pumpkin, pecans and chocolate chips sounded promising. Plus, I had some mellowcreme pumpkins to use up and some fall-inspired sprinkles.

My co-workers enjoyed them, and I threw the leftovers back in the fridge in the breakroom, where they sat all weekend. But they seemed to keep pretty well because people were still eating them on Monday (and claiming they were still just as good).

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Vanilla, chocolate or cream cheese frosting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups with paper baking cups; set aside.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Make well in center of flour mixture.

In another medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture; stir until just moistened. Fold in pecans and chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake regular sized muffins for 20-25 minutes (mini muffins for 14-16 minutes), of until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Cool on wire rack. Tint frosting as desired; spread over cupcakes. Top with sprinkles.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens' Simply Better "Halloween Treats"

A visit from a friend (and more things pumpkin-related)

My friend Lesley came to visit me recently for several days. We shopped, we got pedicures, we watched football and we had some wine at a local wine bar. It was a fun time. Here we are, on our "ladies night."


Being one of my oldest and best friends, she knows (and shares in) my love of all things pumpkin. That is why she, being the awesomely amazing person she is, brought me pumpkin spice coffee. And it's why when we happened past Sprinkles one afternoon, we knew we had to stop in on a whim, in case -- please God -- they would happen to have pumpkin cupcakes that day.

Have you ever had a Sprinkles cupcake? If not, you must. They are stupidly expensive ($3.50 for a cupcake? Wha?) and worth every darn cent.

And they had them. Bless them. I think I used up a large chunk of my good karma on that one.

So we went back home, brewed some pumpkin spice coffee, lit a Mexican Pumpkin candle, ate our pumpkin cupcakes and pretended like it wasn't 102 outside in the middle of October. What a great afternoon.

I dream of Dream Cupcakes

My parents get into town today!!
To welcome them, I always do several things: I clean (even though they tell me not to), I buy pop (the diet Cokes and diet Mountain Dews are chilling in my fridge), and I bake. I inherited my sweet tooth from my parents, so they always gobble up whatever I make.
I asked my mom if she had any requests. After she named pretty much everything I've ever baked for her, I decided I was bored with all the old staples. I wanted to try something new, I told her.
"Well, I like cake," my mom said, helpfully.
"I know this about you. You must also like cupcakes..."
"Ohhh, yes, I do. They're little cakes."
That was my starting point for a scavenger hunt of my cookbooks. I would know the recipe when I saw it. Something was going to jump out at me.
On my fourth book, I saw it: Dream Cupcakes. Simple, yet really promising: chocolate cupcakes with a cream-cheese-chocolate-chip-coconut center. Oh haaaaeell yeah.

The filling (yum):

Pre-oven:

Post-oven:


Ingredients
*1 package chocolate cake mix
*6 oz. cream cheese, softened
*1/3 cup sugar
*1 egg
*1/8 teaspoon salt
*1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
*1/4 cup flaked coconut, optional
*Plus any ingredients needed to make the cake mix

Directions
Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups half full.
In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and salt; beat until creamy. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut if desired.
Drop about 2 teaspoonfuls of cream cheese mixture into the center of each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Store in the refrigerator.
Yield: about 2-1/2 dozen.
Source: Taste of Home: Cake Mix Creations

My notes:
*I used mini-chocolate chips. They were on sale, and I thought they would look cuter in the cream cheese filling than the regular ones. I was right. So if you're concerned about cuteness, too, try these.
*Check on these puppies early. My were done at 19 minutes.
*I had enough cupcake batter for about 2-1/2 dozen, but my filling was only enough for about 2 dozen cupcakes. I didn't want to skimp on the filling, since it's the main event.
*I used the optional coconut. I would maybe use a little more next time, maybe 1/2 cup. I liked the texture it gave the filling, and I'm a big fan of coconut.