"cause even slurred words can contain some truth"

august has been a month full of birthdays, so that means ALOT of baking has gone down in my kitchen!

at the beginning of the month i made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting. sadly, despite the wonderful yummy name, they turned out utterly horrible. i was very ashamed & baffled as to were i went wrong. not to toot my own horn but i can hold my own when it comes to baking, and read & follow a recipe quite well, but these just flat knocked me off my arse! (not in the good way!) i didn't even take pictures, thats how bad they were : (

so to redeem myself i made a simple vanilla yellow cake cupcake with super sweet buttercream frosting (i just followed the recipe on the domino powdered sugar box). my friend bentlee had requested these for his birthday, and they were a huge hit!

(sorry for the camera phone picture, i couldnt fine my digital, yet again!)

i even practiced some of my piping skills to give them that extra special touch. i was very pleased with these & they were delicious! rave reviews from my favorite test audience (my co-workers)

after that, mari requested some sort of banana cake for her birthday. to follow up my success the week before, i made banana nut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. these turned out great! i was so pleased with myself & even alyne (friend/co-worker) told me "best cupcakes you have made to date!" the cake was super moist, sweet but not overly sweet, and had a great melt in your mouth texture. the only thing i changed in the recipe was i added a cup and half of chopped walnuts, turned out wonderful! in the past i struggle with making cream cheese frosting, & pete would beg me to just buy the canned stuff. my previous attempts always seemed to turn out translucent & a sticky oozy mess. but i was not going to be defeated by a canned oil filled icing, i couldnt be! after searching numerous sites, i think i found the perfect recipe, it was like a dream. fluffy, sweet, & tangy. pure perfection!

the mess that doubling a recipe can cause. the batter got so big i had to spit it in half just so it wouldnt over load my bowl & hand mixer.

various toppings, sprinkles, coconut, & walnuts.

my favorite cupcake pan is the texas sized one. (i love it partly because its "texas" size :) )

next week for marixa's birthday i'm going to make chocolate cupcakes with three different frostings. & practice piping some more (chocolate buttercream, mint buttercream, & peanut butter)

so get to baking people!

** less than two weeks until i'm in texas!

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Now Playing: Death Cab for Cutie - "Talking Like Turnstiles"