More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys!

Happy monkeys!

I loved playing the barrel of monkeys game when I was a little kid. I'm sure my mom loved it too, a cheap and easy way to keep us entertained for hours with those little plastic monkeys. But even better than monkeys you can play with are .... you guessed it, monkeys you can eat! I made these super fun and super duper cute monkeys for a birthday party and they sure were a hit. I was even able to personalize a few to look like some of the party guests. These are really easy to make, your favorite cake mix, easy to find candies, and pre-made frosting.

For the crazy monkey cupcakes you will need:

24 cupcakes (any flavor, but banana sure is fun!)
24 peanut butter sandwich cookies cut in half (I used Nutter Butters)
48 mini chocolate candies (I used mini -M&Ms)

Angry monkey!

24 vanilla wafer cookies, cut off the top 1/3
Black gel frosting
Red gel frosting
2 cans chocolate frosting

Once the cupcakes are made and cooled, frost the tops with a thin to medium layer of chocolate frosting. Reserve some frosting for hair and other features. Press two mini candies into the frosting, letter side down for the eyes. Gently press two halves of the peanut butter cookies on either side of the eyes for the ears. If the ears hang off the sides of the cupcake too much they will fall off, so make sure to squeeze them in close to the eyes. Press the vanilla wafer cookies into the frosting, rounded side up with the cut flat side closest to the eyes.

Crazy monkey!

Use the black gel frosting for pupils on the chocolate candies, eyebrows/eyelashes, and nostrils. Use the red gel frosting for the mouths. With a pastry bag and a small star tip, or a plastic bag with the corner cut out, pipe the remaining chocolate frosting for hair above the eyes, mustaches above the nostrils, or even a little beard under the mouth.


These cupcakes are great for birthdays of all ages, because, let's face it, who doesn't love monkeys?
What was your favorite birthday cake, dear readers?

In Honor of the Season....

 We all know how hectic the holidays can be, presents to be bought and wrapped, family coming over, and lets not forget the holiday treats! I know your time is precious and at a premium so I have put together a recipe for a rum cake that is sure to be enjoyed. 

What a finished rum cake should look like. Mmmmm...Rum...

1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 cup Water
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup Brown Sugar
Lemon Juice
4 Large Eggs
Nuts
1 Bottle Rum
2 cups Dried Fruit

 Sample the rum to check quality.  Take a large bowl; check the rum again to be sure it is of the highest quality.  Repeat.  Turn on the electric mixer.  Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.  Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.  At this point, it is best to make sure the rum is still OK.  Try another cup just in case.  Turn off the mixerer thingy.  Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck iin the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the fruit up off the floor.  Mix on the turner.  If the fried druit getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver.  Sample the rum to test for tonsisticity.  Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something.  Check the rum. Now shift the lemon ice strain your nuts.

Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.  Greash the oven.  Turn the cake tin 360 s and try not to fall over.  Don't forget to beat off the turner.  Finally, throw the bowl
through the window.  Finish the rum and wipe the counter with the cat.

The family cat should look similar when finished with the recipe

 Cherry Mristmas to all and to all a quiet night!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

 Falalala, la la la laaaaaaa! Ok, I promise I'm done singing. This week I made some fantastically delicious cutout cookies for work. Cutout cookies seem to be a staple this time of year at every Christmas and holiday party. This recipe will ensure that you have the best cookies at that party! This recipe does require that the dough rests in the fridge for a few hours, so make the dough ahead of time, go run some errands, and bake them later.
For this recipe you will need:

Don't forget to let the dough rest!

1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 C butter
1 egg
 1 1/2 t vanilla
 2 1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cream of tartar


Cream together the butter and sugar. Doing this creates a tender, flaky cookie. Add in the egg and vanilla, stir until just combined. Once the egg is added, try not to over-stir the dough, you want tender flaky cookies,  not tough ones. Add the baking soda and cream of tartar, followed by the flour. Mix in the flour in installments, otherwise you'll get flour all over yourself and your kitchen (and anyone/thing in a ten foot radius. Trust me, not a fun clean up). After the flour is completely mixed in, reach in with your hands (take off your jewelry first!) and roll the dough into a ball. At this point, the dough is still probably a little crumbly, it's ok. The couple hours in the fridge will fix that. Like in the photo above, tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for about 2-3 hours.

Make sure they have plenty of room!

Now that your errands are done and your dough has had its nap, go ahead and get out your rolling pin, flour, cookie cutters, spatula, and cookie sheets. Preheat the oven to 375. Put some flour down on the counter (you'll want a good amount of room to work), flour the rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about 1/4-1/2 thick. Personal preference really, some people like crispier cookies, some don't. If you want crispy, go with the thinner cookie, if not, go thicker. If you're using metal cookie cutters, you may want to dip it in flour first so the dough doesn't stick when you lift up. But hey, if the dough does rip, just smoosh it back together and start over! Try to use every inch of space on the dough round when cutting out the cookies. This lessens the amount of dough that needs to be re-worked, which in time will make for a tough cookie (good on the streets, not in the kitchen). Once all of the dough that has been rolled out has a cookie cut out, pull away the dough from the cookies before you lift them with a spatula. Oh yeah, you'll probably want to flour the spatula too. Once you have enough cookies to go in the oven leave them in for about 6-8 minutes. These cookies don't brown much, so any brown on the surface makes for a crunchy cookie. Once out of the oven, let them cool completely.

Add some sprinkles for a little something extra!

For frosting, I like to use a royal icing. It's easy to draw designs and will dry firm, perfect for storing!

Royal Icing:
4 C powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 C water (to desired consistency)
2 T meringue powder (found in the cake decorating section of your grocery store)

Combine the sugar and meringue powder carefully (again with the huge mess if you're not careful!) Slowly add the water. It only takes a little water to go from too thick to a runny mess. At this point add food coloring, or divide into multiple bowls for several colors. For the trees above, I used kelly green color, and multi colored sprinkles.

As my boss said, "These cookies are NUMMY!" (Apparently that's a word now) These cookies are guaranteed to be a hit, but watch out, everyone will want your 'secret recipe'!

A Good Walk Ruined

"I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone's golf game:  it's called an eraser."  ~Arnold Palmer

Golf Course Cupcake Cake

For those of us that are lucky enough to have golfers in our lives, we have the perfect (cup)cake for you! The best part of this cupcake cake is that it can be modeled after your favorite golfer's favorite hole, can be used with however many cupcakes you want, and can be made out of cupcakes, or a sheet cake! 
Father's day, birthday, anniversary, Tuesday, Boss's Day, the opportunities to impress with this treat are endless.


For this recipe, I'm going to assume that you already have your cake/cupcakes made and cooled. It's just easier for me that way. So, since you have your favorite flavor of cupcakes ready to go on your counter, do me a favor and grab whatever you're going to serve the cake on (cake display board, platter, etc). Play around with the cupcakes and arrange them in the shape of the particular hole that you want. Now that you have the cupcakes arranged, get together the following:


3 C white buttercream frosting (all amounts will be for 24 cupcakes which should = ~ 1/4 sheet cake)
Green food coloring gel
'Spaghetti' or 'grass' piping tip (it looks somewhat like a thimble) 
Piping tip
One chocolate chip
1/4 C crushed graham crackers (for a sand trap)
Blue food coloring gel (if you want a water hazard)


"Glue" your cupcakes in place on the serving apparatus with a small dot of the white buttercream. If you are going to include a sand trap, first frost those cupcakes with white frosting, then sprinkle the tops with graham crackers. Do this before you frost the rest of the cake! It will save you from having sand all over your grass. 

If you don't want a water hazard tint all but a tablespoon or two of the white buttercream a grassy green color (the reserved white is for the golf balls). If you do want a water hazard, separate about 1/4 of the white frosting to tint blue, color the rest green but still reserve some white for the golf balls. With an angled spatula frost the 'green' with the green buttercream. At this time, if you want a water hazard you should use an angled spatula and put that any darn place you want.


Now that you have the green and the hazards out of the way, start piping in the rough using the grass tip. *Warning* Your hand is probably going to get really sore if there is a lot of grass to pipe. Either recruit someone to tap in when your hand gets tired, or make sure there is room in the fridge where you can keep the cake while you take a break. 


Use the piping tip and white frosting to place the golf balls where you want them (in the sand trap and rough for a 'realistic' look). For the hole, take the chocolate chip and place it pointy end down into the green. 


For a large writing space (for "Happy Birthday" sentiments or "You're the Best Boss Ever, Can I Have a Raise?" adulations) make sure that the green, water hazard, or sand trap is large enough for the message. It is incredibly difficult to write a legible message on the grass, just sayin'. 


As always, happy cupcaking, and make sure to send in pictures when you attempt these recipes!

The Candyman Makes the World Taste Good

So apparently there are people out there who eat things other than cupcakes. Crazy thought, I know. So for those folks, here's a delectable choice for homemade caramels. Now, you're probably thinking, "But making homemade candy takes forever, my hands get all sticky, I have to stir constantly, and it's way too hot." Yeah, I'm not going to deny any of that. It's all true. BUT, for me at least the payoff of homemade candy is so worth it. And the rest of your family, friends, neighbors, and strangers that you give candy to will love you forever. Guaranteed.

A digital read thermometer.  Handy-Dandy!

DISCLAIMER: Do not attempt this recipe unless you have about 1-1 1/2 hours of time where you need to do nothing else (and I really mean nothing else but stand at the stove. True story). Also, please go get a digital read thermometer if you don't already have one. Pretty please. It makes this so much easier and practically guarantees perfect candy.

Ok, so you've made it this far. You apparently have nothing better to do today (hey! Me either! Let's hang out after you're done with your candy!) Before you start, get together the hardware.

1 large pot or a 3 qt. pot. (I have no idea how big mine is, all I know is I use it to make lots of pasta. Mmmm....pasta)
1 digital read thermometer WITH a programmable alarm
1 wooden spoon
1 8x8 or 9x9 (depends on how thick you want your candy) square pan
Aluminum foil
Non-stick spray
Non-stick spatula
Optional: Holiday music

Now, for the ingredients:
1 C butter, unsalted
2 1/4 C packed solid brown sugar
2 C heavy cream (None of this pansy half and half stuff)
1 C light corn syrup
2 t vanilla extract

Great! Now that you have everything together, prepare your square pan to receive the delicious molten caramel mixture. Trust me, do this ahead of time. To do this, flip your pan upside down. Really, do it. Unroll enough foil to go from edge to edge. Mold the foil around the pan. Lift the foil off, flip the pan right side up and place the foil inside. Voila! Easy foil lining! Lightly spray the foil with the non-stick spray.

All ingredients in, bringing it to a boil

Now that your pan is ready, and you don't have to go anywhere for about 45-60 minutes, turn the stove on low and melt the butter completely. Add the brown sugar, cream, and light corn syrup. Do not add the vanilla yet! Turn the heat up to medium-ish and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly.

Boiling hot molten caramel

Once the mixture boils (it should look frothy), turn on your thermometer and bring the temperature up to about 245 degrees. (The final temp will be 248 degrees, but NO HIGHER!) Please stir constantly. Nobody likes crystally burnt caramel. While stirring you may sing and dance to the optional holiday music. Once the temp reaches 245, keep an eye on the temperature as it will jump to 248 in an instant.

Let it set for 2 hours!

When it does reach 248, take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla. After the vanilla is stirred in pour the boiling hot delicious-ness into your already prepared pan. Wasn't that a good idea to do that ahead of time?

 Here comes the hard part: let it sit for about 2 hours. That means don't cut into it. Don't let the kids cut into it. Or the hubby. Or the cats. You get the idea. Once it has solidified, use the foil hanging over the edges to lift the candy out of the pan. And since you sprayed the foil first (you did, right?) the foil should peel right off of the candy. Using a really sharp knife (or a semi-sharp knife sprayed with non-stick spray) cut the caramels into strips, then into bite sized pieces. Toss into a air tight container as is, or wrap in small pieces of wax paper and hand out to small children (preferably ones you know).

How Much is that Doggy in the Window?

Yorkshire Terrier Cupcakes!

A super easy way to ensure a really moist, dense cupcake is to add pudding. I'm not talking about adding in a Snack Pack (I mean, you could, but I wouldn't recommend it). Just a box of of instant pudding added to the dry ingredients of your cake mix will ensure you never have to deal with a dry cupcake again! Just add vanilla to the yellow or white cakes, chocolate to the chocolate cakes, or mix and match whatever flavoring of pudding you want. Another fabulous perk of doing this is it's also *almost* impossible to over bake the cupcakes (I said almost, I'm sure someone out there could find a way).
But on to these adorable doggy cupcakes! These ones are Yorkie cupcakes made for a friend at work and were modeled after here Teacup Yorkshire Terrier. The puppies themselves have tons of frosting, perfect for those sweet tooth folks out there. Fortunately, the bone in the center has a more moderate amount of frosting. Everyone wins!

You will need:
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1 C water
1/3 C oil
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
1 can dark chocolate frosting
White buttercream frosting

In a large bowl combine the pudding dry mix with the dry cake mix. Add the eggs, water, and oil. If the mixture is still too thick, add water 1/4 C at a time until it is of a cupcake consistency. Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees for about 23-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely. Reserve 6 cupcakes for the bone. In a large bowl, tint the white buttercream tan by adding 2-3 T of the chocolate frosting.

To construct the puppies swirl the tan and chocolate frosting all over the bodies. Next, pipe a large tan or chocolate ball for the face. Using a small star tip add the long hair accents on the side of the face and next to the nose. Using the opposite color from the face, add eyes, nose, and highlights to the longer hair. Pipe in dark ears, with light centers in front. Voila! Yorkie puppies!

To construct the bone, take the 6 cupcakes left aside and arrange in the shape of a bone. Once arranged, pipe a small amount of frosting onto the bottom of the paper in order to 'glue' the bone in place. Spread the light tan frosting over the cupcakes. With a piping tip and the darker frosting, add puppy paws and any words you would like it to have.
There you go! A super cute and deceptively easy cupcake cake that will leave everyone wondering what bakery makes those doggies!

'Tis the Season....Well, Almost

Gingerbread cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream

I've always loved taking store bought cake mixes and making them better. This cupcake is a fabulous example of that. This delightful little treat started out life as a yellow cake mix. Yup. Who knew those box mixes could create something that fantastic? Even better, the folks at work would never have guessed that it wasn't entirely homemade!

Gingerbread Cupcakes
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/2 C dark molasses
1 T cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t allspice
2 t ginger

Prepare yellow cake mix as directed on box. Once the mix is just barely combined, add remaining ingredients. Stir only enough to incorporate ingredients. Over mixing the batter makes for tough cupcakes! Preheat the oven and fill the prepared cupcake tins with about 3-4 tablespoons of batter. (They should be about 3/4 full) I usually bake my cupcakes for the lower end of the recommended baking time, so they are just barely done. While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, prepare the frosting.

Cinnamon Buttercream
1/2 C softened butter
1/2 C shortening
6 C powdered sugar
Up to 1/2 C milk
1 T vanilla extract
3 T cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and shortening. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Once all the sugar is in the mixture should look dry and crumbly. Basically, it should look nothing like delicious frosting at this point. Add the vanilla and cinnamon, then while the mixer is turning, slowly begin to add the milk. Continue to beat the frosting and add milk until it reaches the consistency you desire. I tend to like the frosting to be a little more stiff as it will hold the sharp corners a little better when decorating. The amount of milk you add is dependent on how stiff you want the frosting, but also on how humid the day is and any number of other factors including, but not limited to, the full moon, your kids distracting you so you pour in too much, how close your mixer is to the hot oven, etc.

Once you have the frosting to your desired stiffness and the cupcakes are sufficiently cool (and I mean cool, any vestiges of remaining heat will melt the frosting into a runny mess) you can start decorating the cupcakes.

I usually find a large star tip and a reinforced pastry bag work best with the stiffer frostings, and is how I achieved the look above. Play around with different pastry tips to find your own signature swirl, or just grab a butter knife and start spreading!

As always, happy cupcaking!

Rubber Ducky, You're the One!

Up close and personal

 These fantastic yellow rubber ducky cupcakes are so easy to make and they are just so adorable! Perfect for any baby shower, kid's party, or just for someone who loves rubber duckies (as these were). They do take a little bit of time due to the freezing time needed, but aren't they worth it?

 To make these you will need:
3/4 can of white frosting (melted, tinted to the color you choose in a tall, deep bowl)
1/4 can of white frosting
Mini M&M candies
Orange Starburst candies (1/2 of each candy for the bill. Microwave slightly to soften and shape.)
Jumbo marshmallows (cut diagonally for tails)
Donut holes (for heads. Plain works best)
Baked cupcakes in liners

My rubber ducky army!

Freeze cupcakes for 1-2 hours. Attach marshmallow tail with frosting. Attach donut hole head with frosting. Freeze 1 hour. Once the tails and heads are securely fastened, hold the cupcake by the bottom and submerge completely in the melted, tinted frosting. Remove quickly and hold over the bowl until no more frosting drips off. Place on a cooling rack. Press one shaped bill onto the mouth area of the ducky. Attach M&M candy eyes (M side in!) with white frosting. Repeat until you have a ducky army capable of conquering any bathtub!


Variations:
Instead of melted frosting, spread on with a knife for a textured look.
For a fluffy ducky look, roll in tinted shredded coconut after frosting.