Guess what week is it folks?????
If you guessed Cupcake Week you are not only a genius you are smart too!! HOORAY for Cupcakes!
My co-host for this week is La Fuji Mama (here on out called LFM). She and I teamed up and started scheming
several months ago on what we wanted to do for Cupcake Week. We wrangled up a goat load of cupcake recipes and cupcake crafts to share with you guys all week long! I'll be
posting all of the cupcake crafts and LFM will be posting her super
fantastic cupcake recipes (complete with custom Cupcake Week recipe
cards made by GallyChops (that fella is uber talented... I am kinda sad to see him go...ummm. not).
LFM came up with some pretty darn awesome recipes that I think you guys are really going to love...(and guess what my favorite part is about this whole cupcake week extravaganza... not all of the recipes are for sweet cupcakes!!). She came up with some killer savory recipes too (she's the sweet tooth of the FujiChops gang and I am more of the savory type)!
All this week you will be able to flip flop
between our two blogs by clicking on the flip or flop buttons at the
bottom of each post (who does not love to flip flop every now and then
right???)!
I am having my surgery Tuesday and I have somehow managed to get everything done for 5 whole days of posts (it took a craftastic miracle...let me tell you)! Starting today through Friday you will be entertained by virtual Lolly and LFM (virtual Lolly is almost as much fun as regular pants Lolly...almost). I have asked LFM to post a surgery update for me on her blog Wednesday (so if you want to see how things went for me Tuesday hop on over to her place to get the skinny on ole GallyChops)!
To start the week off right I have a cupcake recipe guest today named Jessica (is that
not the coolest way to kick off CCW...with a cupcake guest recipe!!!!)! She's going to be sharing her
super fabulous mint chocolate cupcakes with mint icing and marshmallow fondant
(who knew there was such a thing)!!!
Let's get going with the interview!
LollyChops: What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?
Jessica: Pepperoni and Black Olives..
LollyChops: What
recipe do you cook best (the one you are known for or that all your
friends always want you to make)?
Jessica: My chocolate chip cookies are
bomb-a-licious..
LollyChops: What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Jessica: Mint Chocolate Chip..
LollyChops: If a recipe calls for a clove of garlic – how much do you really use?
Jessica: 2-3..I cook for Mumsy [a garlic-holic]
LollyChops: What is your all-time favorite comfort food?
Jessica: Either Beef Burgundy.. or homemade Mac n cheese..
LollyChops: Tell
us something we'd be surprised to learn about you.
Jessica: I’ve changed majors
4 times so far in 2 quarters at CWU. And am now planning to major in
Anthropology along with a Specialization in Religious Studies.
LollyChops: What's
your favorite color combination? Do you find yourself gravitating
toward it over and over?
Jessica: Light green, pale yellow, light blue, and
Orange.. can you tell..?
Let's cuppapolt into the recipe (ohhhh that was horrid)!
Mint Chocolate Cake
2 ¼ cups all-purpose or 2 ½ cups cake flour
1 2/3 cups sugar
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 ¼ cups water
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
2.
In large bowl, beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed
for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes,
scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into cupcake pans filling between ½
and 2/3 full.
3. Bake 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4. Cool for 10-15 minutes before transferring cupcakes from pan to wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
5. Frost
Mint Icing
1 teaspoon Wilton Clear Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoon peppermint extract*
2 tablespoons milk or water
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon Wilton Meringue Powder
1 lb. sifted confectioner’s sugar (about half a package)
1.
Sift confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder into a large mixing bowl,
set aside. Cream shortening, flavorings and milk or water. Gradually
add sifted dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all
ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional
minute or so, until creamy.
[This will create a thick consistency {great for icing roses}. Add one additional tablespoon milk/water to create a medium consistency {great for other flowers/decorations}. Add two additional tablespoons of milk/water to the thick consistency to make thin consistency {perfect for piping and icing the cake}.
Marshmallow Fondant
16 oz white mini marshmallows (1 bag)
2 – 5 tablespoons of water
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (1 bag)
½ cup solid vegetable shortening
1.
Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in microwave for 30
seconds. Open microwave and stir. Repeat 30 second cycles until it is
melted (about 2 ½ minutes). Remove from microwave and top the
marshmallow mix with ¾ of the powdered sugar.
2. Grease your hands
(palms, between fingers, back of hands) and counter GENEROUSLY. Dump
the marshmallow/sugar mixture onto the greased counter.
3. Knead the
pile. Pull the confectioner’s sugar to the center as you continue to
knead. [you’ll feel overwhelmed like this will never end. Just keep
kneading and trust me, eventually it will all come together.
4. Add
the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your
hands and counter when fondant begins to stick again. If the mix is
tearing easily, it is too dry; add ½ tbsp of water at a time and
continue kneading. If tiny bits of dry powdered sugar are visible,
continue kneading and add a few more drops of water. After about 8
minutes, it should start resembling fondant.
5. Fondant is best if
left double wrapped overnight; however, same day use is fine. Prepare
fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of shortening, wrap
in plastic wrap and put in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as
possible.
Download the super cool recipe cards (there was too much for just one card) below.
Mint Chocolate Cake & Mint Icing
AND
Marshmallow Fondant
Giant GallyChops + cupcake HUGS!
P.S. MomChops is going to be taking over my email all of this week. So if you leave me a comment or write to me she's going to be keeping me in the loop and writing you guys back (is that cool or what)!!!
P.S.S.T. If you want to learn all about the history of the cupcake and get to know my co-hoster flip on over to LFM's place to check things out over there.
