Friday, October 16, 2009

Autumn is here!


I've been so busy I've not had time to write about how busy I am! I recently had a little get together to celebrate the fact that fall is here. I bought a copy of Martha Stewarts new cupcake book and I thought it would be fun to share some of the cupcakes from it, plus a couple of new ideas.
I was very happy with the book, lots of ideas and lovely presentations, the only downside is martha seems to have an awful lot more friends than I do, and her recipes often yield several dozen cakes, I prefer to make a dozen or two at a time.


I started with everyone's fall favourite, the pumpkin spice cupcake. I didnt have time for the cute pumpkin topper, so I mixed a little of the cream cheese with some caramel so that it created a pretty swirl. I think this was definitely the big winner of the day!



I was also lucky enough to get some meyer lemons at the farmers market. Although they are not in season he had a few extra on the tree. The cupcake was quite nice but not as dreamy and ephemeral as maybe the dorie greenspans perfect party cake is. Meyer lemons make a much less tart curd too, which is worth keeping in mind if you like a bit more zing.

















I then got started on a pretty looking 'hummingbird cupcake. It was another lovely tropical treat. I've seen these lovely pineapple flowers before and wanted to recreate them myself. I found them to be a lot of work and it does seem like a bit of a waste of good pineapple as they are just a bit dried out and not as tasty.


I'd also been hoping to recreate smores in a cupcake form, so I had a try at martha stewarts recipe. Being me, I decided to only stick to the cupcake recipe, I topped with a whipped chocolate ganache and a swirl of seven minute meringue frosting, which was lots of fun to burn with my ridiculously large torch from Home Depot!

Last but definitely not least, I made a rich chocolate mud cake, scooped a little out and popped a filling of coconut with cream cheese frosting and topped with a decadent dark chocolate buttercream, topped with an almond to be an 'almond joy' cupcake. Most definitely my favorite, I think this would be a wonderful treat for anyone wanting something a bit more decadent!

I'm afraid I'm out of town, so I cant share any recipes, but I have to share that chocolate mud cake recipe on my return, it was delicious and very moist!

Whats your favorite cupcake?

6 comments:

Jen said...

Your cupcakes look awesome! I've made quite a few myself. Here's a list of my favorite 10 cupcakes I've made.

Jacque said...

Oh my goodness, they all look fantastic! Wow, nice job.

I like the looks of that first one, but that pineapple flower is cool too.

caninecologne said...

hi JW! all of your cupcakes look fab!!! i especially like the look of the pineapple flower; it's very pretty.

i can't even choose which would be my favorite because all of them look lovely and I'm sure they all taste just as good!

cookingschoolconfidential.com said...

I went up and down and up and down trying to figure out what was my favorite.

Well, it all depends on criteria. But, eventually, I had to set my criteria (the most delicious), then it was easy to choose: The last one. It's that dark, rich chocolate that cries out to me.

Why I can hear it now: Eat me, Eat ME!

And now I'm craving a cupcake, alas!

Cheers!

Alice Q. Foodie said...

gorgeous! My favorite cupcake is the one that's in my hand. ;) Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Good lord, you went to town on the cupcakes. I think we may have the same Home Depot torch. Mine's ginormous.
I'm going to make the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes from MS Cupcakes on Saturday. I'll let you know how they come out.
BTW I LOVE the swirled buttercream on that pumpkin cupcake!