Cupcake Camp Seattle!

I was thrilled to find out on a recent biz trip to Seattle that Cupcake Camp would be there at the same time!

Here are the happy campers...the line was super long!

Two awesome people I met in line:

While I was chatting with these two, we got word that the cupcakes were gone! Bummmmmmmer! But all the proceeds all went to the Hope Heart Institute. What is better than cupcakes and a great cause?

This was my fave! I LOVE orcas.

Thankfully, some kind folks gave me one of their cupcakes inside. But let's be real, I wasn't going in to get a cupcake, I wanted to meet Jessie Oleson of Cakespy!

Above a gal is modeling Trophy Cupcakes, except they had all been bought! Wouldn't it have been amazing to see the dress filled with cupcakes?! So sad I missed it.

Below is one of my fave cupcake vendors...although I have yet to buy some of their awesome "couture!" Check out more at Bella Cupcake Couture...they'd be awesome for a party!

These vendors were from Wink Cupcakes. I loved the cupcake headband! I need one of those!!

Last but not least, I can't help photographing children wherever I go (don't worry, I had permission from her mom!). And I loved her shirt. :)

P.S. I photograph lovely events like these...check out more of my work at lyndseyfagerlund.com!

Cupcake Cupcakes!

Cupcake Pebbles, that is! This is my new favorite cereal:

I love Fruity Pebbles, so I was thrilled to find Post's new pebbles cereal. There is actually a recipe on the box for a "giant cupcake" made from cakes but it didn't make a lot of sense to me, so I opted to make plain old cupcakes.

Cupcake Pebbles Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Heinz Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake

Ingredients on box (water, veg. oil, and 3 large egg whites)

2 cups Cupcake Pebbles Cereal

Betty Crocker Strawberry Mist Frosting

Extra cereal for sprinkles

Simply follow the directions on the box and throw in the 2 cups of Cupcake cereal. Cook as directed on the box. I was feeling very lazy so I used store bought frosting. BUT it turned out being the perfect taste to match the cupcakes! Finally, sprinkle the cereal on the top.

By the way...does this gross anyone else out?! Is it common procedure to spoon the whitish stuff out of egg whites? Or am I just way too picky?

Here's the final product, complete with my new "cake plate." I found the two pieces at D.I. I think the bottom piece is actually for a light, but I liked the look.

Happy Easter to all my peeps!

For me, the excitement of a new year lasts about a day as I realize how much winter I have left to endure. But spring is something to celebrate! I love how everything comes to life again and how the weather is more mild.

Above is an idea to give a friend...don't worry, you won't be giving them salmonella...it isn't a "real" egg carton! I found the carton filled with chocolates for 99 cents. Just replace the chocolates with some chicks, add a card that says something like, "Happy Easter to one cool chick," and you've got a fun Easter present! You could even throw in some Peeps Lip Gloss! Don't you just LOVE Target's dollar section?!

Just adding pics for decoration...throwing Peeps on top of a cupcake is nothing special. ;)

How do you like my leaning tower of Peepza? (I hope you like it more than my lame joke.) Just take a row of Peeps, make a circle and push the marshmallow together. If nothing else, your kids will get a few seconds of enjoyment from it. ;)

Do these cupcakes fool you?

I like hearing about April Fool's jokes, but look out if you pull a prank on me! Just kidding.

In the spirit of April first, I was trying to remember a time I was tricked...the only thing that came to mind was when my aunt Joni prank called me at work. I was working at the University of Utah dorms (oh, sorry, they call them "residence halls" now) and always received complaints. My aunt thought it would be funny to pretend to be a student whose oven was on fire. I happen to be a patient person, so it wasn't a big deal...but she totally got me.

Everyone has probably seen cupcakes like these before, so I know I'm not fooling anyone, but they are CUTE, huh?!

The ingredients are frosting, raspberry jam, and chocolate covered peanuts! Super easy. I've seen these lots of places on the net, but my mom and I found these on delish.com.

Candy Cane Kisses Cupcakes

I apologize for the lack of new posts! I have had a sinus infection for months. I finally went to an ENT and will be having sinus surgery on Wednesday. Long story-I've dealt with allergy and sinus problems my whole life and this will be my second surgery. Okay, for comic relief I'll tell part of the story. I had sinus/deviated septum surgery about 5 years ago, and soon after, my husband's weird sleep habits led to another deviation in my septum! Early one morning I was coming back from the bathroom, and as I was getting into bed, my husband woke up in a startle, and threw his head up-right into my septum. An ENT pushed it back into place (it was awful!), but it was still deviated. Then soon after THAT, my husband was having a dream that Carrot top was attacking him and he punched me in his sleep. Yep, right on my nose.

So, now that my husband is dying of embarrassment, on to the cupcake recipe!! I had to get at least one Christmas post in before my surgery.

Last year my friend/neighbor Shellbi brought Christmas cookies over-chocolate cookies with Candy Cane Kisses in them! I was in heaven. I made some of my own, and was going to make them again this year. However, as you well know by now, I can't make anything if it isn't in a cupcake tin, so I made Candy Cane Kisses Cupcakes!

Cupcakes-makes 24

Betty Crocker Super Moist Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (don't add ingredients on box)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk (or 4 T Saco Buttermilk Blend and 1 cup water)
35 chopped Candy Cane Kisses



Add all ingredients except kisses to a large bowl. Blend for two minutes. Stir in candy cane kisses pieces. Add baking cups to cupcake pan and fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake on 350 for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few tiny crumbs attached.




Candy Cane Vanilla Buttercream Frosting- adapted from a recipe from mom, www.potsandpins.com

2 cups butter, softened (do not substitute)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

powdered sugar (approximately 4 to 6 cups)

1 package Peppermint Candy Cane cocoa mix (I bought it at Wal-Mart)

Beat butter until fluffy. Add other ingredients except the cocoa mix and 4 cups powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to desired thickness. Stir in candy cane cocoa mix.

Top the cupcake with frosting and a kiss!


Note to readers: You may think I'm a fraud always using a cake mix, but who ever said I was a baker? I want to make the recipes as easy as possible, and really, during the holidays, who has time to bake from scratch? Okay, so a lot of people do, but I'm not one of them! hehe.

Pumpkin. Need I say more?

Okay, I'll tell you a little more. I've had this jar of Libby's pumpkin puree in my cupboard a long time, saving it for the perfect recipe. (Don't worry, it hasn't expired yet!) I decided the perfect recipe for it would include cupcakes. And something that tasted like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies-my favorite! So I planned my recipe and today I discovered a bonus! Libby's is having a contest through Bakespace, and the winner gets a Kitchen-Aid mixer...and gets to choose the color! YES! Since I haven't heard anything more from Ellen's peeps, I figured I'd try to win the contest. I REALLY need a new mixer.

So the pumpkin spice chocolate chip cupcake turkey with pumpkin spice mousse was born!

To decorate, I used circus peanuts, mini chocolate chips, and orange slices candy. These would make an awesome Thanksgiving dessert for the kidlets.

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cupcakes - by the doughdough herself

1 Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix

2 cups Libby's Pure Pumpkin

4 medium eggs (all I had was med., you could substitute 3 large eggs)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Pinch nutmeg

Pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup Nestle mini chocolate chips

Add everything to a mixing bowl except the chocolate chips. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Makes 24 mouth-watering, moist, eat-so-many-you-will-gain-1o-pounds cupcakes!

Seriously. I do have a sinus infection, but these are the best things I've ever tasted. Can you see the steam rising from these warm cuppies? They are the best hot out of the oven, so feast away if you are too lazy to make frosting!

Pumpkin Mousse Frosting

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 package Jello Instant vanilla pudding

1 1/2 cups Libby's Pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup whipped cream

This may be a weird way to make mousse because I made it up and have no idea how to make mousse! But it's delish, so that's all that matters, right?!

Whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add 1 package vanilla pudding and beat in. (On second thought, you may want to fold it in, but I beated it in, which is probably why it started to look weird. But it comes out yummy, I promise!) Add pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and gradually beat in powdered sugar. Fold in 1 cup whipped cream.

Okay, so I was a little worried about not having the best sense of taste and smell today, so I went outside and recruited the neighborhood sixth graders to be my taste testers (none of my friends were home, sorry guys). I told them I was bringing these to a get-together and I needed their opinion. They said, "If they don't like them, they're crazy!" Score! Of course, kids like anything with sugar and whipping cream and chocolate chips...

Note to self: Blogging the recipe is SO much easier if I do it while I'm throwing it together! No more lost recipes! Speaking of lost recipes, I found my Halloween Oreo cupcake recipe scribbled on a piece of paper mixed in with my baking cups. So next year I'll improve it and post it in time for Halloween. ;)

Halloween Oreo Cupcakes

Here's part 1 of my post with the pictures...now I need to find the recipe! These cupcakes were SO good! I used Halloween Oreo orange filling for the frosting and it was AMAZING!! I'll try to post the rest today...




Ellen! Look at my pitiful blender! Don't you think I need a kitchen-aid?!!

So now it's after Halloween, and I still can't find the recipe I wrote down! I basically just used a chocolate cake mix and threw in blended Halloween Oreos. The frosting was made with whipped cream and I whipped in the middles of Halloween Oreos so the frosting was orange. As I'm cleaning my office over the next couple weeks, hopefully I'll come across the recipe!

Egg Nog Spice Cupcakes

If any of you live in Utah County, check out my feature in the Daily Herald tomorrow (Saturday)! I made these cuppies while they photographed me for the paper. I was pretty happy with how my creation turned out...although I would make some changes and I'll tell you what they are!

Egg Nog Spice Cupcakes - by me!

1 package Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix (just the mix, don't add anything)

1 stick unsalted softened/melted butter (hmm...did I just make up a new term-mefted butter?? sof-elted?? I'm a nerd. Really, I just didn't melt the butter all the way, so it was half softened, half melted.)

3 eggs

Pinch cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup egg nog

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup applesauce

1 1/3 cup water

All I did was combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a beater for 2 minutes. Then add them to your cupcake pan, 2/3 full. FYI, they didn't rise a ton, so you can fill them that far...I put less because I never know if the recipe will rise too much! Makes 24+ cupcakes. Oh, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I thought they were delish-but I did want them to be more egg nog-y (I LOVE egg nog!), so next time I would try adding more egg nog, like 1 cup, and less water, like 3/4 cup. But they were great as they were-really moist! My mom of Pots and Pins approved!

Cinnamon Cider Cream Cheese Frosting - by Pots and Pins

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2 T. apple cider

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste)

pinch of salt

Mix cream cheese and butter till fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar, cider, cinnamon, and salt. Beat well. Frost. Keep in refrigerator.

The frosting was really yummy! Thanks, mom!

DJ Par-tay

It's about time I post about my husband's birthday, considering it was 2 months ago! So I threw a surprise party for him since he is the funniest person to scare. I pretty much pulled it off, although he said thinking back on it he had some hints. He used to "DJ" in college...as a matter of fact, the first time I met him he had on headphones and he couldn't hear me say hello to him. Little did he know I'd be after him. haha. So above is the turntable cake I made for him. I used a Costco cake, lots of black frosting (that looks purple-gray...does anyone know how to get frosting really black?), a twizzler rope, a black plate for the record with my husband's picture on it, and a round cake underneath the record. The other pieces are fondant covered in frosting.

Here's some of the decor that I threw together...I decided for sure like 2 days before that I was going to do the party.

Of course a party wouldn't be a party without cupcakes! I created a cupcake tower to go with the turntable cake. I used two black trays and plastic "champagne" glasses. I found the disco balls at a party store...they were keychains, I just took the keychain part off. The other cupcakes are headphones and records.

Couple of doughdough moments...I really wanted to make a disco ball cupcake. I'd seen some examples online and here's what mine turned out like. Lovely. Don't use marshmallow creme as frosting...it drips right off! And obviously the foil covered party mints did not stay close to each other. What was I thinking?!I have the hardest time in the kitchen because I don't do things in an orderly fashion! As I was making my record cupcakes, I ran out of cakesters when I knew I had lots left! I spent so much time looking through the pantry and through the mess in my kitchen over and over again. I finally gave up thinking I'd just make more of another kind. Well, the next time I threw something away, guess what I found?

Above is the headphone cupcake made from tootsie rolls.
I made the records from smashed sides of Oreo cakesters and mini marshmallows. Later I discovered something easier to make record cupcakes with-Oreo makes a new cookie and as usual, I can't remember what they are called. But you can see below I turned it upside down and plopped it on white frosting.

This post is way overdue...I'm always saying I'll post something and then forget about it! I told some of the audience of Good Things Utah that I'd post this picture I took, so here ya go!

I also wanted to post some cupcakes I made for that day and I didn't get around to taking pictures of them until after...and by then most had been eaten! I improved upon my big bird cupcake for the show and am so sad I don't have a good picture! Above you can see it, but it's a little fuzzy. I worked really hard on the fondant legs to go under the cupcake-it was so CUTE! Here's cookie modeling big bird's legs...
I also made a more user-friendly sock monkake...I didn't use all of the pieces of cake this time, I just used a cupcake! Here sock monkey is opening his lunchbox and finds a cupcake! haha.
The eyes are black frosting, the ears are brown m&m's, the mouth is cut from a raspberry fig newton, the white part of the mouth is built up with frosting, the "fur" is clear sanding sugar and brown sprinkles, and the hat is made from twizzler pull and peels! It was so much easier than the last one, and I think it still looks a lot like a sock monkey!
I set up a quick photo shoot with the monster cupcakes...they are posing with my son's 1st birthday present, the Max bobblehead (my son's name is Max)....which finally arrived: about a month and a half late! Oh well, he can make his debut at my next Wild Things party...maybe for the movie opening in Oct!

Last but not least, I told the cute girl featured in this pic that I wanted to show off her hair accessory on my blog-isn't it cute? She said her friend makes them, and now I forget her friend's name!