Even if the fall weather hasn’t decided to stick around yet, it is time for pumpkins. And spices. And maple cream cheese frosting… then again, when isn’t time for maple cream cheese frosting? If you haven’t tried it yet, go mix some up now, I’ll wait…. right? (pronounced as two syllables like “righ-eet?”). Yep, it is manna from heaven. And I am finding excuses to bake things just to have something to put maple cream cheese frosting on… I made too much when I made the cupcakes so I still have some in the refrigerator. Oh darn.
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Tagged as: art&soul of baking, cream cheese frosting, cupcakes, maple, pumpkin, spice
A friend of mine graduated with her masters recently and her husband threw a little party in her honor. He asked me to bring a dessert (I seem to be getting a reputation). I had a hard time deciding what to make but finally decided to try out cupcake cones. They have been on my list for a little while. I’ve never made them before but have eaten one or two in the past. They look cute and festive, so I thought they’d be a fun addition to the bbq party. Of course, I couldn’t just take the easy way out with a cake mix or pre-made frosting… No, not me. I like to make things difficult.
So I proceeded to make devil’s food and vanilla cake batters from scratch followed by vanilla bean frosting and chocolate frosting. In retrospect, using boxed cake mix would have been smarter because wrapping the cones in foil (necessary for baking… at least according to the cone box) took a while. I wrapped each cone, then made a little doughnut of foil to stand it in. As she wrapped the last cone, my mom discovered that if you use a little bit longer piece of foil to wrap the cone, you can then make a stand with the extra length which was actually more stable than my doughnuts.
The cupcakes were a hit. Well, I should say the frosting was a hit. The cones and cupcakes were merely a vehicle for the frosting… hence, I will use cake mix next time. One suggestion/request from the cupcake-eaters was to add a little frosting at the bottom of each cone so that you finish with one last bite of frosting… on a high note if you will. But I don’t think that would work since the frosting would then get baked… what do you think? Can we make it work? Any ideas?
I’ll have to add the chocolate frosting and vanilla cake recipes later, I don’t have the cookbook with me right now (sorry). But I feel you should know, this month, you will be hearing from me quite a bit… daily in fact. I’ve signed up for NaBloPoMo for July which means I will be writing something everyday. I promise not to do too many “blah blah blah” posts as filler (maybe just one or two… I mean, 31 days in a row… come on, cut me some slack… joking… well, mostly). See you tomorrow.
Tagged as: chocolate, cupcake cones, cupcakes, nablopomo, vanilla bean
