# 050

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

Also made for a cookout with friends! Another hit from Martha's Cupcakes book. I love peanut butter, so I figured these couldn't go wrong.

Annnd, I'm half-way there! I've actually done more than 50 Martha things, but just haven't gotten a chance to take pictures of all of them. Anyone have any suggestions for something fabulous for #100? I'll probably get there right around Christmas time, so take that into consideration. :)

# 049

Hummingbird Cupcakes.

After reading this book, I became enamored with the idea of hummingbird cakes. (As an aside, I love Sarah Addison Allen - all of her books have a sort of fun, magical quality about them)

Thankfully, Martha had a recipe for the cupcake version in her Cupcakes book. I made them, topped with cream cheese frosting, for a Memorial Day cookout at a neighbors house, and they were a hit! Even a neighbor who claimed to not like cake (odd!) thought that they were good - with all the stuff in the batter, they have more of a muffin-like consistency.

# 039

Brown Sugar Poundcake Cupcakes (with my own Strawberry Buttercream) from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.

These cupcakes were yummy, though a bit dense, but I guess that's to be expected with POUND cake. I will definitely make them again, especially since my mom basically demanded that I make them the next time she visits. :)

# 028 + bonus recipes

Sprinkle's Strawberry Frosting (from Martha), plus Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes (from here) and Maple Buttercream Frosting (from my head). Deliciousness all around! And the frosting was good and easy, even though my cousin Stephanie gave me a hard time about buying frozen strawberries - she didn't think that was a very Martha thing to do. But the store was out of fresh ones, and the recipe called for frozen anyway! HAH!

# 016 & 017

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Seven Minute Frosting.

I made these delicious looking confections on a recent trip Ben & I took to Maine to see my parents. My dad loooooves cupcakes, and I like to make things that are different from the usual vanilla/vanilla combo. He has recently been enamored with some snickerdoodle cookies that my mom buys for him (I did not get my love of baking from her!), so I figured they were worth a shot.


The icing intimidated me at first, because of my last foray into a whipped egg white frosting, and I almost just did a plain vanilla buttercream (which I have mastered, I think), but I figured I had time, and someone to watch my child, so I would give it a shot.

And it worked! It came together just like Martha said it would, and the light, Fluff-like was a great accompaniment to the cinnamon-y cupcakes. I halved the recipe, since there were only 3.5 of us, and they were gone by the end of the next day (my dad especially really liked them!).

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes & Icing

Project #4 & #5 Devil's Food Cupcakes and Chocolate-Sour Cream Frosting

Man, I must really love you Kara!

Made for my co-worker Kara's birthday, these cupcakes were a pain in the ass. I don't mean to be negative, but I am kinda frustrated with the way the frosting turned out. Also, it was Martha's idea to pair these two recipes, but in my opinion, this was way too much chocolate for one experience. I think the cupcakes would have been better off with a butter cream frosting.

I guess I should start my saying that when it comes to frosting from scratch, I am NEVER successful. In theory, it seems like it should be fairly easy to make. There is usually little to no cooking involved, just a whole lotta mixing. Seems so straight forward. I just don't know what happens, but every SINGLE time, I am disappointed with the final product. I should probably stop trying and leave frosting to the pros.

All in all, the cupcakes turned out edible. I did bring tiny paper cups and milk with me to work though, so my co-workers didn't go into diabetic shock.

# 005 + 005.5

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Strawberry Meringue Frosting. Both from Martha's Cupcakes book. The cupcakes themselves were delicious, but I'm only counting the frosting as a half since it sort of failed... Meringue is sort of a pain in the ass, and I knew that... I heated the sugar and egg whites, and then let them do their thing with the KitchenAid. 25 minutes later, I thought they were ready... I added the butter, and everything looked alright. But when I added the pureed strawberry, it all fell apart. Quite literally. It looked like cottage cheese with strawberries mixed it. I wound up adding copious amounts of powdered sugar to get everything to come together. It tasted good, but I'm not sure what I did wrong. I'll try again sometime.














Don't judge... I had already had more than a few drinks at this point. It was my birthday! Cupcakes were enjoyed by all, and the ones I left behind (since these were made at Ashley's apartment) were apparently enjoyed by her coworkers at a staff meeting.

Project #2 Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes

My second project came from my beloved Martha Stewart's Cupcakes cookbook. These delicious mini cheesecakes even include a mini crust in the form of a Oreo cookie on the bottom of each cupcake liner. Although I had to make 2 trips to the grocery store because I misread the recipe (calls for 2 POUNDS of cream cheese, not 2 packages, which at first glance, is what I saw) I would make these again. My co-workers loved them. Also pretty easy to make, I just hate waiting for ingredients to come to room temp...

# 000

Cinnamon Vanilla Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream, a homemade apple chip, and a caramel drizzle.

Oh wow were these cupcakes yummy. I'm not counting them because techinically I made them on New Year's Eve. They were to bring to the party that we went to, and they were definitely enjoyed.

These aren't something I would make too often though, as they are quite the process. First you have to make the caramel sauce, then the apple chips, then the cupcakes, and finally the frosting. It's a lot of work, especially when you have a little one at your heels all the time.

Cupcakes were from Martha's website, caramel sauce and buttercream from Everyday Food magazine, and the apple chip was my own addition.