Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

When I first found out about Pinterest last summer, I immediately told my friend Tori about it. Tori, being against most forms of social media including Facebook, decided to check it out but refused to make an account. Instead of pinning her finds, she does it the old fashioned way - with a bookmark. Account or not, Tori is always on top of the latest Pinterest phenomenons. It was no surprise to me that when I asked her what to bring to her annual Memorial day weekend party, she requested these Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes.

Iced Coconut Sugar Cookies

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It's Fat Tuesday and though I don't have fastnachts, I have a big fat cookie to help you get through the day. Traditionally, Fat Tuesday is the day to get the lard and fat out of the house before lent. I used all my shortening to make these, so the tradition lives on in my house (if you don't count the chocolate, girl scout cookies, ice cream and copious amounts of butter I have lying around). These big fat sugar cookies are laced with sweet shredded coconut and topped with a light fluffy frosting. Think Lofthouse sugar cookie meets coconut macaroon.

Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake with Pudding Frosting

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It's no secret that I have an obsession with all things red velvet. In fact, today I caught myself eyeing a "red velvet burrito" on a Mexican restaurant menu, desperately hoping that it was some sweet rolled up concoction oozing with cream cheese filling. Turns out it's really just a spicy red tortilla filled with the usual burrito ingredients. I think that qualifies as false advertising, but who am I to argue with a chain of restaurants?

I've never been to the Waldorf Astoria. Only two things come to my mind when I think of the swanky hotel; Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl and that weird salad with apples and mayonnaise. I really can't vouch for how closely this cake resembles theirs. I do know that this cake is dense, yet moist with that slight hint of cocoa, which is exactly how any red velvet cake should be. The addition of this light and fluffy pudding frosting makes it a surprisingly light slice of cake. And even though it's light and fluffy, the frosting still has as slight hint of tang from the cream cheese which is why it pairs perfectly with red velvet.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

If you were to ask me my favorite kind of cake, hands down I'd say red velvet with cream cheese frosting. There's just something I love about a perfectly made red velvet cake. It's obscurely chocolate flavored, yet bright red. It's dense, and moist and topped with a perfectly tangy yet sweet cream cheese frosting. I've tried many dry, flavorless attempts at red velvet and I have to say, it's hard to find the perfect recipe for this traditionally southern cake.

Butterfluffer Cupcakes

Butterscotch + Marshmallow Fluff = Butterfluffer!

Last week I bought a huge jar of fluff to make s'mores bars for a friend's birthday. So on Saturday, when I was trying to come up with a creative cupcake flavor, I knew I just had to use the fluff. Then it hit me that I had been stock piling butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips to make my favorite butterscotch maple cupcakes, and I thought, why not butterscotch and fluff?

Butter Pecan Cake

On Sunday afternoon, my family celebrated my Grandma's birthday over a home-cooked meal of stuffed chicken and all the trimmings. Not only was it my Grandma's birthday, but it also was my grandparent's 52nd wedding anniversary. Naturally, my grandparents celebrated their anniversary by buying a 60 inch 3D TV. I say naturally because my grandparents have always been up on the latest technology whether it be TVs or computers. My Granddad even bought me one of the first ever MP3 players way back when. It had enough memory to hold seven whole songs!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I was recently asked to make cupcakes for a coworker's bridal shower. Knowing she was a huge fan of pumpkin, I began dreaming up the perfect pumpkin cupcake. In my opinion, a pumpkin cupcake is not complete without some form of cream cheese frosting. I toyed with the idea of a brown sugar and cinnamon frosting but settled instead for a maple cream cheese frosting to utilize the maple extract I recently purchased. Pinterest inspired the caramel drizzle which was the perfect compliment to this spicy, moist and sweet cupcake.

Fresh Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting

...and a lesson in love and life from yours truly

I fully intended to use this post to describe how perfect this Swiss Meringue recipe is, but recent events in my life have lead me to this instead. Once my fingers hit the keyboard, I couldn't stop... so here it is. (If you're solely here for the recipe and not the life lesson, scroll to the bottom)

I learned a valuable lesson in love and life yesterday. Three weeks ago I decided to end my one year long-distance relationship. It was a tough decision, but one that I had been contemplating for a few weeks. Mistakes had been made recently and our lines of communication suffered due to distance and work schedules. I made up my mind to end it and did so cordially and matter of factly. There was no struggle, no fight. It was just... over. I woke up the next day with a new lease on life. I would focus on myself, get to the gym, lose a few pounds, work on my blog, reinvigorate my career and reconnect with old friends.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

When I first told my friends that I had found that it's possible to stuff RAW cookie dough inside a cupcake, no one believed me. "It's true," I said, "I saw it on a food blog." Knowing that my friend Rachel was coming home from Virginia to celebrate her birthday, I taunted her with the delicious possibility of such a cupcake.

I've tried cookie bottomed cupcakes and oreo stuffed cupcakes but never a cupcake stuffed with RAW dough. How was this possible? Would the chocolate chip cookie stork drop a ball of baby cookie dough inside my cupcake? Does the cookie monster take responsibility for this?

No. It's simple. You freeze the cookie dough.

Strawberry Peach Champagne Cupcakes

A Guest Post by Maggie

This guest post comes to you from my friend Maggie. Maggie and I were roommates at Elizabethtown College. I had the privilege of being a bridesmaid in her beautiful wedding last year. We share a mutual love of baking and she has quite possibly the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know. When I started the blog, I immediately went to Maggie and asked her if she would be interesting in writing some guest posts. Maggie and her husband Preston live in Lambertville, NJ.

I love the idea of champagne cupcakes - they just sound so fun and festive to me. I've always wanted to make them but never seem to have any champagne left over around the house. My husband and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary and there was a left over bottle of champagne that needed to be put to use! This was the perfect time to make the cupcakes. Even better, it was peach champagne. I love all peach flavored things and wait all year for my mom's peach pie (she only uses fresh, local, peaches with a cookie crumb crust. It is absolutely amazing). So I knew it was time for champagne cupcakes.