Cupcakes

I'm surrounded by wonderful cooks in my family.  People who can can take anything (seriously, anything) you have in your pantry and turn it into a five course meal fit for a king. I'm an okay cook. Being an okay cook in a family of fantastic cooks ... well, it's no surprise I became the baker in the family!  And while I love to decorate cakes, it's really the baking itself that I love first and foremost.  I'm always looking for a new recipe to try.  Luckily, someone is always willing to give it the ol' taste test and let me know if it is a recipe worth making a second time. Here are a couple cupcake recipes that I tried out over the last few months that will definitely be made again ...

For Thanksgiving this past year, I made Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes.  Let's just say that I was very thankful for pumpkin in 2010!

Then, a few weeks ago, my SIL and I made Guinness Cupcakes.  There are lots of recipes on the web for this.  Find one and make these.  Tomorrow.  No, tonight!  They are that good!  First, you make the Guinness cake batter.  Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, you then fill them with dark chocolate Bailey's ganache.  As if that isn't decadent enough, you top them with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.  We got some pretty ridiculous feedback about these.  Basically, the general consensus was that these babies are unbelievably delicious.

Finally, this week I've been helping my BFF (and cake-decorating buddy) make a cake for her son's pre-school graduation party this weekend.  Also, I am making sugar cookies for my nephew over the weekend.  He is graduating from kindergarten (tear), and I want to give him a special treat.  I hope to post pictures of the cake and cookies by the end of the weekend!