MS Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

So I had a ton of Dark Chocolate Frosting from the previous cupcake left over. It was sitting in the fridge just waiting to be used up. It's hard for me to let such yumminess (is that a word?) go to waste. I noticed in the Martha cookbook that the Chocolate Chip Cupcakes use the same frosting and that they were much less time consuming than Salted Caramel Cupcakes. This cupcake was so much different than the last one. The batter was very thick and was not as sweet. The last cupcake was a chocolate rush and this one is just enough to make you smile. They were simple and quick enough to make in a couple of hours for a family gathering or party.

You can find this recipe on page 22 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

I've seen these cute little cupcake wrappers a lot recently. Although they are adorable, they really weren't functional. It was kinda hard to get the cupcake out without making a mess of it.

They did turn out pretty.
And really tasty.

I honestly wasn't so sure about these at first. I always like to try the cupcake before frosting (b.f.) to taste the cake as is and was not very excited about it. After I piped the frosting on (a.f.) and cut one for pictures I was very happy with the frosting/cake mix. It was pleasant and tasty. It got me thinking about frosting. We have all had that frosting on a store bought cupcake that was over the top sweet. You know the one where everyone scrapes it off and leaves it on the side of their plate. Since becoming a baker, I am much more observant of my cakes and cupcakes. I usually watch my recipients from the corner of my eye to see if the frosting gets tossed aside. I always feel a touch bad when it does. Almost like I failed in giving the person an enjoyable experience. Any dessert should be an amazing experience and really isn't worth your or my time when it's mediocre. You know?

So I was curious, do you like the frosting on your cake/cupcake or are you a scraper? If you are a scraper, is it because you just have never had a good quality, amazing made frosting? You tell me. I would love to hear.

Just a quick thanks to all the comments from my last post. They totally made my day. :) Hopefully you will pass my link around. The lucky recipients of these are a few different people. The computer guy at my work deserves some kudos, along with my neighbor, and a friend. Again, if you live around me I would love to share! Just let me know!

MS Chocolate Salted-Caramel Cupcakes

Oh my, oh my! I am so excited about this I can hardly stand it. Let's just say I spent most of my day baking these babies and they turned out beautifully! This is a chocolate cake filled with caramel, sprinkled with sea salt, and topped with a dark chocolate frosting. A little bit of chocolate heaven. They are rich, moist, and delicious. I have tried making chocolate cake from scratch before and failed miserably. Since then I have mostly used doctored cake mixes and have gotten good responses from those. I was a little nervous to try a scratch recipe again, but was very pleased with the results. I will definately use this cake recipe again. The original recipe is supposed to make 56 mini cupcakes, but I went for the standard size and got nineteen. You can find this recipe on page 148 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. Enjoy the photos, they really were as good as they look. The lucky recipients of these babies are my lovely in-laws.

The batter was runnier than I am used to.

This is the first time I have ever made my own caramel. I was nervous the whole time because it was taking forever to hit 360 degrees. No worries, I think I could have taken it off the heat a little quicker, but I like the dark caramel. It was yummy.

After the caramel is spooned in, I sprinkled a little sea salt on. I was excited for this because I love how sweet and salty mix.

Whala! The finished cupcake! They are so beautiful.

This cupcake stand was my sweet grandmother's. I lost her this summer. She would be so happy to see such lovely treats on it.

Don't you just want to take a bite of this! I know you do.

And here is the caramel filled center. Yummy goodness surrounded by cake, my idea of a little heaven.

Stay tuned! More yummy cuppies to come! If you are from my area, I would love to share my creations with you. Seriously, let me know if you're interested and I will let you know next time I'm baking.

Well Hello!

For those that don't know me, I love to bake. My dream is to start my own bakery in my little hometown in Idaho. I want to bake for the love of it. Baking for me is a learning process, a long one. Working full-time and raising two kiddos doesn't give me a lot of excess time for doing everything I love, but I fit it in when I can.

Recently, my husband and I were strolling through Costco when Aaron looked up at me from across the aisle. His eyes were lit up, and excited as he was flipping through a book. Curious, I walked over to him and also was in awe at the book he was holding. We flipped through the book and he said, "you have to get this". I didn't argue and excitedly put it in our jumbo cart. Ever since then I've flipped through this book multiple times dreaming of all the cupcakes I'm going to make. Well, it's been two months and I haven't made a single one. The book I'm talking about is by no other than the fabulous Martha Stewart. It is called Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.


Even more recently, Aaron and I went to the movie Julia and Julie. I adored the movie, I adored Julia. Well, after the movie I got the idea to do a blog making the recipes from Martha Stewart's book. Let's face it, I could never make any fancy French recipes, but I CAN bake. So, this is the start of My Cupcake Journey making 175 cupcakes. I will give more details of my Journey in the follow up post. Wish me luck, follow along, and please, come by and have some cupcakes!

Edited to Add:
I've joined an official Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club. Call me a nerd, but I thought it would be fun to follow along with other bakers in this blogging world. I mean who was I kidding thinking I had thought of this idea! Come to find out there are many many bloggers out there doing the same thing. SugarB from eatmycupcake.com started the club and you can find the blog roll of participating bloggers on her website. The club requires baking one MS cupcake per month chosen by a club member. I will also be baking 1-2 other cupcakes per month for my own fun. I missed Augusts cupcake so stay tuned for both August and Septembers club entry.