Cherry Mash Cupcakes

Guys, I'm obviously the worst blogger ever. It's been a crazy couple weeks..ER visits, shigellosis (love that the wiki page for that says not to be confused with shingles. Trust me, no confusion there). Oh and bugs. Bedbugs to be exact. So yeah...the worst part is this post was all ready to go and I couldn't even click one button to make it live. Forgive me?

Anyway, on to more appropriate topics. My mom and my sister both love the cherry mash candy. I'm talking they put one in the fridge and anybody who values their life won't touch it. I like them too, but I never get to have any :( Nah, I'm joking. Mom buys them for me too. It may be that cherry mash just isn't that popular of a candy (outside of my family) but I've never seen them featured in any recipe. So here we go!

For the cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared per box directions (sub milk for water)
1 drop of cherry flavoring oil
      Seriously, this stuff is strong and you don't want too much!

For the cherry mash fudge filling:
1 cup cherry chips
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt the cherry chips in the microwave. I found that they didn't melt well until I added the sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the marshmallow cream. This will stay un-set at room temp. I suggest letting your cupcakes cool *completely* before filling them. I did not and most of my filling melted into the cupcake. Core your cupcakes and add the filling. Save about 1/2 cup to start your frosting.

For the frosting:
fudge filling from above
1 cup shortening
1-2 tbsp milk
1 drop cherry flavoring oil
1 cherry mash candy, melted
powdered sugar

Mix the first 4 ingredients then add the melted cherry mash. Add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency/flavor.

                             source: Wikipedia

I stupidly forgot my frosting gun but I had tips so I decided to use a ziplock bag for a frosting bag. That worked well for 1.5 cupcakes before the bag split down the side :( So here is my one prettily frosted one.

-Happy Baking!

Graduation Cupcakes

Yesterday was my first day of my last year of school EVER! So it was a pretty exciting day. But it also means that I won't be able to do a lot of cupcake baking, especially over the next two months since I'm living in hotels for the time being. I've got a couple things to post about during that time, but I need you guys to tell me what you want to see. I've got a stovetop and a microwave, so it's going to take some creativity :)

For today's post though, I've got some cupcakes I made for my little brother's graduation a couple weeks ago. Congratulations Eddie!

He wanted sour cupcakes, like the sour patch kids type candy. I went with a white cake and totally cheated and bought pre-made, colored buttercream. I did make my own sour sugar (does that even make sense?) with citric acid and colored sugar. I also colored my own sugar, because I didn't feel like driving to Hobby Lobby. Plus, money. So my process on this- Pour 1/2 cup sugar in a ziplock bag. Add some red food coloring. Shake it up. Add 1-2 tsp citric acid. Shake it up. I just tasted and added until it was sour enough. It doesn't take much!

This was probably the most basic cupcake I've made in a while. I focused more on decoration for this one. I used a white cake mix, prepared per box instructions (sub milk for water). And as I mentioned I bought the frosting.

I found a neat decorating bag set a while back and decided this would be the perfect time to use it. Each bag has a divider in the center so you can do two colors simultaneously. Since our high school's colors are red and white the contrast worked well for the frosting.

I also used some sour candy pieces on top of some of the cupcakes.

I hope you guys will give me some ideas of what you'd like to see while I'm not able to bake.

-Happy baking!