Blueberry Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Oh Hello there! I know I caught your eye with these yummy Blueberry Chocolate Cupcakes! :) well let me tell you, these cupcakes will blow your mind!  

Blueberry Chocolate Cupcakes

2/3 C. All Purpose Flour

2 1/2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (hersheys!)

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

4 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, Chopped (I just used mini semi sweet chips)

1/2 C plus 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter Cut into cubes

3/4 C plus 2 tbsp Sugar

3 Large Eggs, Room Temp.

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract 

1 C. Fresh Blueberries (dont forget enough to garnish with)

Makes 12 Cupcakes

-Preheat Oven to 350*F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

-In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  Place the Chocolate and butter in a large heat proff bowl and set it over simmering water in a sauce pan; remember to make sure its not touching. Stir frequently until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth.  Remove the bowl from the sauce pan and let the mixture cool to room temp for about 10 minutes.

-Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture until combined.  Then add the eggs in one at a time beating it until combined after each addition.  Then beat the vanilla in.  After, Fold the mixture gently into the flour mixture just until no traces of flour remain... dont over mix.

-Add in the blueberries and stir.

-Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups.  Fill til about 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven!

-Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and let them cool completely for 1 hour. 

**Remember if your toothpick comes out purple and wet, that's from the yummy fresh blueberries!*

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

8oz. Cream Cheese at room temp.

6 tbsp Unsalted Butter at room temp.

2 tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 C. Confectioners sugar sifted

**Optional food coloring!)

**Optional Fruit/chocolate for garnish)

-In a standing mixer, fitted with a whisk.. Mix together the cream cheese and butter.  Mix on low speed until well blended (powder will go everywhere if you go faster).  Beat for about 2 to 3 minutes.

- Add vanilla extract and food coloring and mix until smooth.

Happy Baking!

Mustache On A Stick Tutorial

Okay so I was looking on Etsy the other day for photography props. I already made one for the Newborn Princess Crown Tutorial that I had found. Crazy enough those sell for about 15 bucks! Crazy! When you could just make your own for maybe 5?. Call me cheap, but I prefer to make my own props. So anyway, I have had some requests as a photographer for photobooth props. Didnt quite know what I was getting into but decided to make some mustache's and see how well they turned out before I ventured into anything else "on a stick". 

Although I do photography for a living, I want to warn you. these pictures are not professional at all. I actually sat on my living room floor at 2 in the morning making these while watching Supernatural...*all time favorite show!*. 

Lets get started!

Gather your supplies! Here is what you need:

-Craft Scissors

-Black Felt (Preferably the stiff kind)

-Glue Gun with Glue

-Dowel Rods (smaller gage the better)

-Mustache Template Printed out and Cut (Included below)

-Not pictured *Sharpie and 2 clothes pins*

Here's the Template! Hopefully you can copy and save, I'm pretty sure it will let you. If your like me and your cheap with your black ink, just put it in paint and change the color :) Mine were pink haha. 

Here are the supplies, like I said before; the sharpie and clothes pins aren't pictured! And just in case you were wondering, the squares are actually used later on. They are felt as well but I already cut my pieces out so I used whatever was left over. (I bought 2 sheets of felt).

Lay out your pieces to make sure they will fit.

Cut them to size!

Puppy photo bomb! :D 

Its really hard to tell, but once you trace out your mustache on the felt it'll get easier to see.  I would recommend doing this near a light source. I also found that it was easier if I folded the felt in half and cut that way. It made my sides identical. 

All done! Now we just need to attach them to the stick!

Apply the glue and make sure that it has enough to cover the stick!

Now apply the piece of felt over the stick to secure it more. This gives it a cleaner and more professional look! Not to mention it will help with the stability of the stick. Make sure you push down so that it doesn't poke out :) 

There we go! perfect Mustache's On A Stick! 

:) Happy Crafting!

Newborn Princess Crown Tutorial

I noticed this on another blog and decided to give it a shot myself! Of course I put my own twist to it to make it my own but the concept is virtually the same.  I thought that the Newborn Princess Crown was the sweetest thing I've ever seen used on a baby girl! Sadly I don't have a newborn to show you how adorable these would be. Maybe someday soon I will be able to!

Gather your supplies! Here's what you need!

-Iron

-Fabric Glue ( I used Aleene's Original Tacky Glue)

-Extra Hold Hair Spray ( I used BigSexyHair All Nighter Hair Spray) Or Starch Spray

-Fabric Measuring Tape

-Craft/Fabric Scissors

-Lace Trim

-Old Towel

-Small accent beads ( I used pearls, but you can use Swarovski crystals or rhinestones)

*** Optional! Needle and Thread to sew on accent beads.

Okay! lets get started!

Measure your lace trim to be 9 inches long give or take.  This insures that it will fit on the newborns head. 

Spray the lace as many times needed with the hair spray. You could also use starch but I didn't have any on hand.  Before you let the hair spray dry, Make sure you fold over a piece of the towel and iron over the lace. Make sure you add pressure, Repeat this process as your liking.  You want the piece of lace to be as stiff as possible. 

If your lace is being difficult like mine, make sure you spray both sides and repeat. If its still not as stiff as you want, run over the piece with your iron quickly to heat the hair spray. It should come out to something like this. 

Your piece of lace should look something similar to this. Mine wasnt as stiff as I would have liked, but trial and error :) 

Take the glue, and the accent beads and place them however you want. I decided to do 3 rows of beads on the main points to make it more crown like. I may make another one without them just to see the difference. Let the glued pieces sit and dry!

Finished! Now all you have to do is put glue on one side, to join to the other end. 

I made it to where it matched up almost perfectly :)  Of course I didnt let my beads dry all the way (the white will turn clear with Aleenes).  But this was just a quick process to show you how to make this adorable crown!

Finished! Now if yours goes kinda flimsy afterwards, just take a spray bottle lid (wider than your hairspray lid) and set that in the middle. Then spray it with your hairspray or starch to give it an extra hold and let it dry. :)

I hope this was a helpful tutorial! I enjoyed this and I do plan on making more. These are adorable for newborn girl photo props! :) 

Guinness Chocolate Cupcake with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

So Wednesday is my husbands birthday. Sadly I wont be able to spend it with him so I decided to bake him some cupcakes with his favorite beer.  I found this recipe and I thought I would share it with you.

This recipe will make roughly these options:

-12 Cupcakes and a Loaf Cake (loaf pan)
-24 Cupcakes
-Fill 2 9in. Cake Pans.

So obviously the varieties are endless. I personally went with the 12 cupcakes and loaf cake.  Only because after I filled the tin cupcake liners, I had a limited amount of the batter left over. I do believe that whatever you do, you should bake it all at once... Meaning, use 2 muffin/cupcake pans instead of baking one batch and switching it out to bake another. I haven't tested my theory but I do think that the baking soda and sour cream could ultimately make the cupcakes in the second batch too dense to be official "cupcakes". It all worked out though because my husband got to take a nice loaf cake smothered in frosting back to his school. (long story).

Alright! Recipe Time!!

Guinness Chocolate Cupcake


2 C. All Purpose Flour
1/2 C. Hershey's Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 C. Granulated Sugar
1/2 C. Light or Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Unsalted Softened Butter
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Sour Cream
12 fl.Oz. Guinness Stout or Extra Stout (one full bottle)


Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or line two 12 count muffin tins with paper cups of your choice.


 -Using a Stand or Hand Mixture (if using stand use paddle attachment).  Beat the butter, and sugars together until a light and fluffy consistency. Add one egg at a time to insure an even mix. Then add the vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy. 

- In a large bowl, Mix the remaining dry ingredients together. (Flour, Cocoa, Salt, Baking Soda).

-Now add in the Sour Cream to the Sugar Mixture and beat until smooth. 

-Slowly pour Guinness into Sugar mixture, then start to integrate the remaining dry ingredients into the mixture. Make sure you beat it til a smooth consistency and scrape the sides to make sure there are no flour clumps. 

-Fill Muffin Pans a little over half of the way up.  This gives you the perfect cupcake ratio.  If you decide to go the 12 cupcake / loaf pan route, make sure you put both of them in the oven at the same time, but just add 20 more minutes to the baking time (after cupcakes are done).

Bake at 350* For:

Cupcakes: 20-25 Minutes.

Layer Cakes: 25-30 Minutes.

Loaf Pan: 35-40 Minutes.

Remember to test the cupcakes/cake with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, (out of the center of the cupcake) then they are done!

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

3 C. Confectioners Sugar (Sifted)

1 C. Unsalted Softened Butter 

2 Tbsp. Whipping Cream

1 to 2 Tbsp. Bailey's Mint Chocolate Liquor

Directions:

-In a standing mixer, fitted with a whisk.. Mix together sugar and butter.  Mix on low speed until well blended (powder will go everywhere if you go faster).  Beat for about 2 to 3 minutes.

- Add whipping cream and Baileys on a medium speed for 1 minute.  Add more baileys to your tasting/spreading needs.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know what you think! I love anything Irish so these cupcakes are definitely going to come back around for St. Pattys Day! Hmm... Maybe I'll make the frosting with Cream Cheese instead.  We will see :)