All Things Cupcake

i just wanted to thank All Things Cupcake for being nice enough to feature the cute Halloween cupcakes c. & i made a few weeks ago on their website.

So check out "ATC" for everything you have ever wanted to know about cupcakes from costumes, to recipes,beanies, and everything else in between.

its spooky time!

it is October my favorite month of the year! lots of pumpkin carving, make spooky treats, wearing fun costumes, and it is my birthday month!! the decorations are awesome there is a crisp cool feel in the air. i cant get enough!
C. and i decided to plant a little garden this year. we had tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins. unfortunately by the first frost this is all we had to show for our trouble. i guess we don't really have the touch yet ....

maybe next year we will do better :)

we are only a week into october and we have wasted no time partaking in the haunted halloween activities!

c. takes pumpkin carving and easter egg dying very seriously. i love that about him.
Madison carving her master "peace" ha ha that was a funny joke you will get it soon......get it now? master "peace" this is madison's peace sign made of bones.

ruby girl even got her own pumpkin- this was before she though it would be fun to chew it up...madison and me. i love her.all of the beautiful pumpkins together. pretty awesome if you ask me.

all of these designs came out of a book called "diggin the decades" so all of the designs are nostalgic things turned haunted. Like Evil PacMan. Carved by drewdrew (c. little bro)

Punk-Ula done by C. - his was the coolest out of all of them it has shadows and shading and all this other fancy pants stuff. he did an awesome job like always!

last but not least is my little pumpkin. if you can not tell she is a marilyn monroe witch. i think she is adorable.

What would a blog post be without something about baking?! madison's older sister is having a birthday this weekend and i was assigned the task of cupcakes. it is going to be a Costume/Halloween party and i wanted to do something fun.

So i decided put a spin on the typical tie-dye cupcake idea- and turn it colors that most people don't really consider incredibly appetizing- a spooky combination of yellow, purple, orange and green matched the adorable Halloween cupcake cups.add some neon green frosting, black sprinkles and a spider! and TU-DUH!! spooky cupcakes.

pie bites

this summer has been way to fun (and hot) to stay inside and bake, but sunday brought nice cooler temps and some rain and i felt a little motivated to bake somethin tasty!

being inspired by the always creative and talented Bakerella, i made these adorable little pie pops!these little treats are very simple! start with some pre-made pie crust. use a rolling pin to roll out the crust.

pick a cute cookie cutter to make your bite size shapes (the stars are really cute but there was a lot of space in the points that didn't have any pie filling in them so they were a bit dry, i would suggest using a more even/circular shape)place sucker sticks and push them gently into the bottom pie crust. Start adding the goods, you can use any pie filling you are cravin, be careful not to over do it on the filling cause it will leak out all over. the stars only held one cherry and some juice.

put the tops on and crimp the edges using a fork. i brushed a little egg white on top and around the seam to help hold them together better.follow the baking instructions on the pie crust box.as mentioned the stars were a bit dry, so in an attempt to liven them up i whipped up a simple almond glaze. it consists of about a cup of powdered sugar, a splash or two of milk, and a few teaspoons of almond extract. sorry i don't have exact measurements for this i just make it to taste.let them cool for a few minutes, then drizzle on the glaze.

after all that work with the sticks and all i decided i liked them better without, so they became pie bites, instead of pie pops.delicious!!serve warm with some vanilla ice cream.for the apple pie bites i used a more open shape, and they worked much better!repeat all the same steps.... add the filling. crimp the sides. brush with egg white. bake.

the only thing different for the apple is right when they are finished baking brush the tops with a dab of butter and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mix.

these bites are "easy as pie" and were a major hit!

he grew up so fast

this year my awesome little brother graduated from brighton high school. i think that means i am getting old. here are a few things that are super radical about my little bro.
1. he can make anybody laugh, no matter how cranky or unhappy they may be.

2. he wears leather pants to senior dinner dance and totally rocks them

3. he was involved in everything at brighton! he never missed a dance, or a game, or any other activity.

4. he is nice to everyone!!

5. he will still play power rangers with me on the trampoline

6. he plays lacrosse- and i love lacrosse. here is a pic of the alumni game-c. is in the U of U gear behind scottie.

7. he has a very strong testimony and has worked towards his goal of going on a mission- he will be turning in his papers really soon!

8. he just graduated from high school and is already done with his associates degree!!

9. he cleans up very nicely!!!10. he is the best brother that any sisters could have asked for! our lives would have been pretty boring if we had not had scottie around! look at all those tassels and things he got to wear at graduation!! i was lucky to get the one on my hat!! :)

we missed sami-she went to lagoon day.my parents & scottieuncle jason & jen

g-ma & g-pa draper

and of course what holiday would be complete without baking something?!?! as my gift to scott i made some awesome cup cake caps!! blue and orange and delicious! i got this adorable idea from the amazing bakerella. these were pretty easy and so cute!!

thanks to deni for doing the arranging for me! we're a good team!

because i am a girl of my word...

school got out...i still havent checked my grades...i am to nervous....but i will....later....

for memorial day i decided to do a little baking. i found this delicious recipe on the always creative and entertaining pioneer woman site (if you havent already read the adorable love story of her and the marlboro man, black heels to tractor wheels, you should go and do so immediately) well, my first attempt was what us pros call a bust. there was cake over flowing everywhere and burning to the bottom of the oven. it was a DISASTER!! but after i tasted the cake and found it was delicious i had to get back on the horse and try again.

and this was the little beauty that came out of it!! this cake was so delicious!! i would recommend this cake to anyone! i put the link up at the top to get the exact recipe but the only thing i would change would be to bake it in two 8" rounds instead of one and trying to cut it in half. and i have to thank my g-ma for gifting me this beautiful 40s milky glass cake plate.i love it!!

when there is nothing better to blog about.

my life is fairly uninteresting. and when life gets a little dull its time to add frosting and sprinkles!! it is a friend of ours birthday-and i thought it would be so nice if we baked him a cake- well i was mostly just looking for an excuse to use my cool new cake pan-but it was still a nice gesture. c. is always such a good sport and participates in all my baking endeavors. just one more reason i love him!

this is my awesome Giant Cupcake cake pan after her maiden voyage.

right out of the pan..... i think i added a little to much batter to the bottom half, it looks like a giant muffin! which then gave me the idea that next time i make a muffin loaf i will bake it in this so it will still look like a muffin- i need to host a tea party or something and serve giant muffins! anyway back to the current cake....there is not a recipe or instructions of how much batter to put in the pan, so i guessed and made two box white cakes-i used a little over a box and a half in the cake so with the remainder we made these adorable little cupcakes. c. & linda (his mom) decorated this cute little rainbow of cupcakes. (sweet little shout out to equality & equal rights for ALL!!) :)TA-DA!!! so pretty and colorful!!we look lovely at 1 am when we finally finished this master piece....
(on a side note if anyone would like their own awesome giant cupcake pan by wilton-they are available at target, and amazon.com. mine is from amazon because it was like $10 cheaper- also, the bottom takes longer to bake then the top does!! fill the bottom half and start baking it for 15-20 minutes then add the batter to the top. this should make it so the top does not burn)