Peanut Butter Frosting

I've decided that my attention to domestic activities appears to be in direct relation to the amount of time I spend alone in my home.  When my husband is home, it rarely occurs to me to try a new recipe or scrub down all the walls.  But when he isn't here... I begin to fill my time in Suzy Homemaker ways.

Today while he was at work, for example, I decided to try making some cupcakes and decorating them with a swirl of peanut butter frosting.  That was a first - I've never made peanut butter frosting before today.  I will be taking these cupcakes to bunco tonight and will see what my tasting panel thinks.  But I am getting way ahead of myself.

First, I mixed up some batter and dolloped it into the tin:

All ready to go in the oven:

When the cupcakes were baked and cooling on the counter, I began making the frosting, roughly by this recipe here.  But I subbed margarine in for butter - then cut it back because no one wants a mouthful of margarine.  I upped the peanut butter to compensate.  I used soy instead of cream.  I also added some vanilla for good measure.  It wasn't looking too promising there for awhile:

But I got it whipped into shape before too long.  Then, using a Pampered Chef kitchen gadget that always reminds me of puffed paint, I started frosting my cupcakes.

Like so:

They turned out like this:

Viola!

I wished I had chocolate sprinkles to top them with, but I don't.  Maybe I will run to the store and get some... along with a container to transport them to bunco tonight.

Happy baking!

Jack Skellington Cupcakes

Here are some pictures of the batch of Jack Skellington cupcakes I made for the Halloween party this past weekend.

I made 24 in all. They were made with yellow cake mix, and I added chocolate chips just for fun.

I used store-bought black whipped frosting to draw on the faces.

This one below just looked like a ghost, so I decorated it accordingly.

My friend Jen had given me a cardboard cupcake holder that seemed appropriate.

They were a big hit! Only 5 were left the next day.

Thanks for taking a look!

Related posts:
Flaming Pumpkins
Jack and Sally Bento

Test Cupcake

Here is my first try at a Jack Skellington face on a cupcake:

What do you think? Worth making up a batch for tomorrow's Halloween party??

Or should I just do orange frosting and leave it at that?

Happy Cupcake Bento

Told you those mini-cupcakes were the perfect size for bento:

My bento lunch contains:

• PB&J Sandwich
• Mixed nuts
• Tomatoes
• Cupcake
  

Happy Bento!

White Frosting

So, after I blogged about my cupcakes last night (and they had had some time to cool) I made up some white frosting

To keep it completely white, I did not use any margarine or soy milk.

Instead (don't tell my husband) I used Crisco and water. (With lots of powdered sugar, of course!)

I wanted them this white because of my plans for how I'm going to decorate them.

Stay tuned for decorated cupcakes...

I'm glad I made some of them little:

They are the perfect size for bento!

Enjoy!

Related posts:
Homemade Frosting Recipe
Cupcakes

Cupcakes

This evening, I made cupcakes for the first time of my adult life.

Here are the little ones before they went in the oven:

Here are the little ones after I let them get a little toasty:
I'm guessing the larger ones are more the color yellow cake mix should end up?

And how much cake on top of the cup is ideal for decorating?

I've been looking at all sorts of fancy cupcakes on Flickr, and it had me all inspired to make some of my own. But I'm starting to have second thoughts. Mine do not look nearly as uniform as the lovely pics.

Any cupcaking tips (baking or decorating) would be welcome at this point.

Thanks!