Baseball Truffle Topped Cupcakes

My friend Michelle and I are the baking dream team for our coworkers and friends.  Not only are we both mildly obsessed with trying new and unbelievably unhealthy recipes, we are both a smidgen anal and compulsive when it comes to planning.  When working on a team, you'd think having two chiefs with obsessive compulsive disorder and no Indians would be an inevitable disaster, but for some reason when we bake together we bring out the best in one another.

Part of it is because we both know how to take constructive criticism (and welcome it!) and part of it is because we both have different strengths.  Michelle is the cake and butter cream goddess, having made some of the most beautiful and delicious weddings cakes I've ever seen.  I am more into little details- tiny fondant roses, a million different desserts in a spread, things like that.  

This has been working incredibly well for the wedding dessert buffet we are planning together.  In fact, right after we delivered the following concoction, we spent 4 hours at my house mocking up the dessert buffet table-scape. Yup, we painstakingly placed cupcake wrappers on platters and trays and arranged them on a make-shift 12 foot table in my dining room to make sure we had enough room and platters for all the food.  We didn't.  Then we went to Walmart.  All is good now.

How did I get this far off topic?  So since our friends have realized how much we thrive on adorable baking projects, we occasionally get requests like this.  Michelle was asked to make baseball themed cupcakes for a kids birthday party, and she commissioned me to help.  Her idea was to have a baseball truffle (my part!) on top of a cupcake frosted in butter cream grass (her part!)  What resulted were the cutest darned cupcakes I've ever seen.  Yay us!

Cupcakes topped with Baseball Truffles (Cookie Dough Flavored)

Make a batch of cookie dough truffles (which I've made here) and dip in almond bark.  Make sure that the truffles will be small enough to fit on top of the cupcakes.  Let cool before proceeding.

Melt red candy melts according to package instructions and place it in a plastic bag (if this is too thick to pipe, thin it using shortening.)

Start by drawing the two half circles on the truffle with the red candy melts.  Add stitching.  Work quickly to avoid having the candy harden.

When they are dry, pipe butter cream dyed green onto your favorite flavor of cupcakes so that it looks like grass.  Top with your truffle and serve.  

Enjoy!

Wedding Tasting: Various Truffles and Pops

I'm going to file this one under "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

I don't know how or why, but my friends and I always seem to sit around and talk about how freaking cool it would be to do this or that.  Then we talk about it more and more, because really there isn't a lot more to do in Iowa other then sit around and shoot the shit and google pictures of cake.  So slowly, but surely, without ever actually making a decision, whatever it was we were talking about becomes reality.  It's not just baking, either- one minute I'm talking to my running buddies about how fun it would be to train for a marathon, and the next minute I'm on mile 19 of a training run that started at 3:30 am, climbing up a hill, in the rain, certain that my legs must be bleeding because no intact leg could possible emit this much pain.  (This.  Really.  Happened.) 

Well obviously this phenomenon happens with baking quite a bit.  My friends and I dream up some sort of crazy and extravagant cake concoction, and all of a sudden I'm standing in my kitchen with second degree burns from pastry cream all up my arms, filling and ganaching cupcakes until 1:00 am.  

Cut to my dear friend and coworker getting engaged and briefly mentioning that she'd like to do a dessert buffet instead of a traditional tiered cake.  Well my eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning and I think to myself "I COULD DO THAT" and I start dreaming with my friend about how cool it would be if we did it together.  The next thing I know we are taking the bride to lunch to discuss her likes and dislikes and the schedule a tasting.

What have I gotten myself in to???

Honestly, at this point it's still fun and exciting, but I know after assembling 200 cake pops and monogramming a whole slew of butter cream sugar cookies, I might not be signing the same tune.  But for now, I'm going to continue perusing blogs and recipes sites searching for inspiration while daydreaming about how freaking awesome this will be when done.  I'll keep googling wedding websites galore to see how others have set their buffets up- complete with cupcake wrappers, color coordinated hand made accents and decorations, and elaborate food stands that I somehow have to con my engineer husband into making for me.

So first things first- we hosted a tasting in order for the bride to decide what she wanted to have.  And here are just a few of the things that shall be taking over my kitchen in a few short months.

Oh, and I might have bought an extra fridge to support this event.  Yup, that happened.  

Paula Deens Cookie Dough Truffles turned into candy pops

...pictured with... 

White and Dark Chocolate Coated Shortbread (using this recipe.) 

White Chocolate Coated Red Velvet Cake Pops 

Monogrammed Sugar Cookies with Butter Cream Frosting 

Scotcharoos formed into truffles and dipped in melted chocolate and butterscotch chips 

Christmas Part VI: A few more recipes and a summary

It's time to wrap up this Christmas business.  The cookies have been destroyed and what little leftovers we did have are wrapped in tin foil and placed gingerly in the dessert archive.

For those of you who don't know what the "dessert archive" is, it's what my family calls my deep freezer.  I'm not making this up.   At any given moment, I could defrost enough food to host a 50 person bridal shower with a rockin' dessert buffet.  Waste not, want not.

So here's a little recap of everything sweet that I baked for the holiday, complete with a few recipes and pictures that I haven't already posted.

Desserts
- Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake
- Bread Pudding that I forgot to take pictures of because I was a little bit tipsy
- Chocolate Coffee Pots de Creme Pie times dos

Cookies and Candy 
- Sugar Cookies and Butter Cream Frosting

- Pecan Pie Bars
- Inside Out Pumpkin Bars
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Fudge
     - Maple Walnut
     - Chocolate
     - Chocolate Walnut
     - Peanut Butter
     - Candy Cane
     - Cake Batter
- Almond Bars
- Chocolate Caramel Shortbread
- Oreo Truffles
     - Add mint extract for peppermint Oreo Truffles
     - Replace Oreo's with Nutter Butters and replace the 8 ounces of cream cheese with 10 ounces of peanut butter for Nutter Butter Truffles 

Triumphant Return to Baking.... and hip hip hurrah for the birth of Christ.... and fudge

So once upon a time life happened and I stopped blogging for awhile.  But I continued to bake- oh boy did I continue to bake.  I would make things, get excited, eat all the things and forget where I got the recipe and what massive changes I made to the recipe.  Then I would want to give out the recipe or make it again, and I would turn to my trusty blog where I kept my detailed notes and archives, get really annoyed with myself and cry.  Hence the triumphant return to baking!  And what a time to start- I just had two full days of non-stop baking to prep for Christmas.

Christmas is a glorious time in my household.  To celebrate the birth of Christ, we consume more cookies, pie and cake than the average glutton would be able to eat in a month.  We pretty much do everything in excess- the presents, the food, the alcohol, the presents.... Oh- presents!  That leads me to another reason why I have to blog again.  My really pretty husband got me a computer!  I'm typing on it right now!  Look.  At.  Me.  Type.  My old computer was....well.... less than sufficient.  I got it my first year of college and immediately strapped it to my back for the next four years of my existence.  It's a little worn.  I fall a lot.  And I don't respect my physical belongings.  But I'm pretty sure I am in no way at fault for the fact that it barely functions anymore.  But regardless- I have a new computer.  So long old computer who stood loyally by me for countless papers, group projects and study guide compiling.  You are dead to me now and I've replaced you with something younger and prettier.  Husband- don't get any ideas.  

So I've gotten off track again- baking.  This is a baking blog, right?  Yes?  Good- the holiday food was wonderful, and about 30 sticks of butter (no exaggeration) and 5 lbs on my hips later, it's time to document all that I created for next year.  I'll also be going back through the last few months and typing up the big hit recipes in order to catch myself up.  So expect a few entries that are less rambling and more informative.  Who would want that?  Everyone but me?  Ok...

I'm going to start out with my favorite discovery of the season: THE EASIEST AND MOST AMAZING FUDGE YOU'VE EVER MADE OR EATEN.  This recipe has been a huge hit and I've shared it with pretty much everyone I know.  Let's count how many batches I made in the last 30 days... two maple, four peppermint, three chocolate, two peanut butter and (my favorite) two cake batter!  That's a bakers dozen batches of fudge.  Let's do this:

The Easiest Fudge Recipe Ever:
Recipe Adapted From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fudge/detail.aspx detail.aspx
The recipe below is for a double batch.

Ingredients
3 (12 ounce) bags of chocolate or other flavored chips
1 Stick Butter
2 (14 ounce) cans of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Various Extracts and mix ins, see variations below for exact details

Directions
Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper, leaving extra paper on the sides in order to help remove the fudge later.

Pour the chips in a large microwave safe bowls.  Cut the stick of butter into pads and layer on top of the chips.  Pour the two cans of sweetened condensed milk over the chips and butter.  Stir together.

Put the bowl in the microwave and microwave for 90 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave for another 90 seconds and stir again.  If after stirring well all the chips are not melted, return to the microwave for 30 seconds increments until the mixture is completely melted.

Add any mix ins or extracts you want, described below.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and let set in the fridge before cutting.

Peanut Butter Fudge
Use Peanut Butter chips instead of chocolate chips

Chocolate Walnut Fudge
Use Chocolate Chips and add in 2 cups of chopped walnuts before pouring into the pan.

Maple Walnut Fudge
Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, add 1 tsp of maple extract (more to taste) and 2 cups of chopped walnuts.  Stir well.

Candy Cane Fudge

Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, add 1 tsp of peppermint extract (more to taste) and 1 package of chopped candy cans.  Stir well.

Cake Batter Fudge

Use White Chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.
After the mixture is melted, slowly incorporate one cup of dry yellow cake mix a quarter cup at a time. Stir well.  Top with sprinkles.