Inspire Me: Finally...I blogged! Oh and some lovely cupcakes

Alright, alright. I know it has been over a month since I have blogged....I know I am a hypocrite! I check my certain blogs everyday that I follow and am always so bummed out when someone takes so long to blog back...cough cough....Shay....cough cough. :) ha ha and then my dearest Brady pointed out that I have not blogged in quite some time and so I fall right back into that category. The thing is, I have had PLENTY of things to blog about. My summer has been full of trips and adventures. Do you want to know why I haven't blogged? It's not becuase I don't have time. It's because I don't have any pictures! Way lame excuse right? Well come on you have to admit, reading blogs, especially when they are long, are so much better when you have some fun pictures to look at. So, now I have some pictures, I will blog!

I decided to make cupcakes for the schedulers at my work, my boss found out and announced it to the whole department that I was making cupcakes for everyone, so instead of my one batch I have been dying to try out, I made two so I could try to feed everyone.

Of course trying two new cupcakes with two new frostings, something bad was bound to happen. Oh do you think just one bad thing happened? I wish it was only one thing. I filled the cupcake tins too high, one frosting I thought didnt make enough, the other frosting wasn't mixing so I melted the caramel more and it melted the entire thing, should I go on? Needless to say I had yet another cupcake meltdown last night. I do this everytime I make cupcakes for something I swear! Luckily I had Brady there, to let me know my life wasn't ruined. After baking for two hours I went to bed. Woke up the next morning, refreshed, but still unsure what I should do about my melted frosting that didnt set in the fridge like I hoped to. So I went to Brady's early in the morning, he gave me some good ideas and I made new frosting and used the old caramel frosting to drizzle over the cupcakes. I am not going to lie, they turned out great! After all, it is about presentation right?

I decided to make Pina Colada cupcakes, as a request from one of my co-workers. Luckily the lovely cupcake book that Brooke and Dan gave me for my birthday, Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella, had a fantastic recipe in it. The other cupcake batch I made was sort of something I just put together. It was a devil's food cake which was supposed to have a yummy caramel frosting. But you heard what happened with that so it ended up being a cream cheese frosting with the non-set caramel frosting as a surprise under the frosting as well as drizzled on top. Compliments of Brady Mower.

Pina Colada Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1/4 lb. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 TBS rum (I didnt use this in my recipe, but it calls for it)
2 TSP vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP baking soda
1/4 TSP salt
1/3 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl beat together the melted butter, pineapple juice, rum and vanilla extract with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.
3. In a seperate bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture 1/2 cup at a time until all combined. fold in the p ineapple and coconut. (I wasn't sure what "fold in" meant so I just mixed them in!)
5. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 min

Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
4 TBS unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups flaked coconut (this is a lot of coconut. I only used 1 1/2 cups and it was still a lot. But it was yummy! Use as much or as little as you prefer)
One 8 oz package cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups confectionsrs sugar
2 TSP milk
1 TSP vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Melt 2 TBS of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the coconut and cook, stirring constantly until coconut is golden brown. About 8 minutes.
2. In a bowl cream the remaining butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla slowly, beating after each addition. Beat until smooth. Stir in the toasted coconut.

Of course you have to do a fun topper! Brady did a great job

We didn't take as many pictures of the Pina Colada cupcakes by chance, but we took PLENTY of the next batch.

Chocolate Caramel Cream Cheese...Delight
Ingredients:
1 box of Devil's Food Cake
-All ingredients that are used for box mixture
Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
2 TBS heavy cream
20 caramels
2 cups of powdered sugar
Kosher salt

Instructions:
1. Melt caramel and butter. You can put it in a microwave safe bowl and put it into the microwave for about 30 seconds or until smooth, then stir. Allow to cool in the fridge for a few mintutes. (be sure not to let cool too long, just cool to the touch. You still want it to be able to drizzle)
2. Whip the butter until fluffy. Add one cup of powdered sugar and mix until it is all combined.
3. Once the caramel is cool to the touch, drizzle into the frosting mixture until it is all mixed. **IMPORTANT NOTE** This is where I messed up. I let it cool too long so when I needed to use it, it wouldn't drizzle in to mix all the way. So I decided to heat the rest of it up and not let it cool as long. Of course I was impatient and didnt wait long enough so my entire mixture MELTED. Don't be like me! This is a tricky recipe so let it cool just enough, but will still drizzle. You may need to experiement. If for some reason it ends up melting you can do what I did, make a batch of my cream cheese frosting and drizzle on top. Either way works! Okay back to instructions
4. Beat until fluffy. Mix in last cup of powdered sugar. Add in 1/4tsp to 1/2tsp of salt at a time to the mixture. REMEMBER a little salt can go a long way. Go to taste.