One Girl and A Cupcake Shoppe ♥

I just celebrated a year at the Cupcake Mansion in New London.
I even invited a unicorn.

Plus 300 people standing underneath a sparkly ceiling buying cupcakes.

...in a small farmhouse that I named The Cupcake Mansion a year ago.

In the same week as my Cupcake Mansion celebration..I started selling cupcakes at Woodmans (one of the biggest most awesome grocery stores in Wisconsin).  My first big box retailer.  What an honor.  We sold out in 2 days the first week! ♥ (this is me and one of my sidekicks, Katarina at Woodmans demo-ing our product).

Everything seems like a big blur, and when I look back at myself a year ago..
I see myself as an artist. A baby.
Now I see myself as an artist and a business woman. ♥
I wonder who I'll be this time next year?

At my grand opening party, my dream was to run a cupcake fashion show.
Every model dressed up like a different version of  (me) Amanda Cupcake.
There was..Lucille Ball Cupcake, Unicorn Amanda Cupcake, Rainbow Brite Amanda Cupcake, Zombie Amanda Cupcake, Cupcake Superhero Amanda Cupcake, Business Amanda Cupcake, Betsey Johnson (fashion designer) Amanda Cupcake...the list goes on ♥

But I have to be honest here.
This model... defined the true Amanda Cupcake at this moment in my career.
We named her "At Night Baking Amanda Cupcake."
Amanda Cupcake's true identity revealed.
Frosting, candy melts, flour caked onto jeans.
Glitter or frosting on my face and in my hair.
Half asleep from working so hard..

but still happy & satisfied, because creating is everything ♥
Even if it means you have to sacrifice to turn a dream into a living!

When the model blew powdered sugar at the audience, tears welled up in my eyes.  To me it was more than just a funny and fun fashion show.  The fashion show was my story, unfolding in action before my eyes.  

Me♥
In the past year..
I've made so many wishes.
(and I'm making one in this picture as I blow the sprinkles!)

I've made many mistakes but they've made me an amazing problem solver.
I've shed tears in my own cupcake batter trying to resolve them!
I've gained about 15 lbs, sigh :)
I've accepted peacefully that while the rest of the world is out partying on a Saturday night, I'm at home enjoying a bubble bath, a glass of wine, or a snooze.
I've experienced more love than I ever have!

...and sadly I've managed to figure out how to handle the criticism of haters too.
And while I am on this divine cupcake rollercoaster..
I'm gonna keep the faith♥.

That's my recipe for you in this blog entry.
It may not fill your tummy, but I hope it fills your heart.
Thank you all for your support in the past year.
Let's show everyone that cupcakes can change the world.
Perhaps a cupcake is a path to World Peace?!

quote by Kurt Vonnegut ♥
Photos by Maison Meredith Photography & Tommy Trout Photo

Mountain Dew Doritos Cupcakes & Cake Pops♥

I visit kids all over Wisconsin on a mission to teach cupcakes.

The last two places I taught cupcakes to kids (young and old) were the New London Middle School and the McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids!

Kids inspire me.

And when I teach them cupcakes..

I remind them to value their imagination forever.

It is probably one of the most valuable gifts every single one of us is born with.

My imagination is how I came up with this cupcake:♥

Mountain Dew Doritos Cupcakes

and/or

Mountain Dew Doritos Cake Pops!

Inspired by all of us (young and old) who have been busted with our hands in the bag of Doritos, cheesy fingers (and all while drinking a sugary soda). It's too good to be bad.  Too savory to be sweet. Too sweet to say no to ♥

See all these happy kids about to learn all about the art of mixing Mountain Dew, Doritos, and cupcakes?! (At New London Middle School).  They all agreed with me that Mountain Dew & Doritos are the perfect after school snack combo.

After I shared a fun try-at-home recipe with them.. the students frosted their cupcakes ♥

I gave them each a sugar cookie heart to bake inside of their Mountain Dew Cupcake. (I told them the best ingredient you can ever bake inside of a cupcake is LOVE).

Mountain Dew Doritos Cupcake Recipe:

(The "Back To School" Version)

Makes about 18 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box Lemon Cake Mix

1 Cup Mountain Dew (in place of water in the mix)

1 T Lime Zest

1 small box instant lemon pudding (in dry powder form)

2 tsp lemon extract

½ Cup Oil

4 Eggs

Doritos! (in any flavor you wish)

Optional Ingredients:  

♥1/2 Cup Crumbled Doritos to add to batter. (with this option you'll need a Freezer Size Ziploc bag and a rolling pin)
♥Americolor Gel Paste in Electric Green, Leaf Green, Electric Yellow

Method:
♥Before baking..zest your tablespoon of lime zest into a small bowl.

♥Some like to add a Dorito only as a cupcake garnish, others like to crumble up and add the Doritos to batter so there are Doritos in the cupcake.  If you are going to add Doritos to the batter....Stuff Doritos inside of a large Freezer Size Ziploc bag.  Roll the rolling pin over the full Ziploc bag.   This will crumble the chips into little pieces,  and now they are ready to bake inside of a cupcake.

1. Pour your box mix into stand mixer.

2. Make sure you pour your Sundrop out of the can ahead of time into a bowl or clear measuring cup so it will lose some of its “fizz”. Once this is done, you can add to your box mix.

3. Add box of lemon pudding, in powder form to the mixture.

4. Add lemon extract, oil, and eggs.

5. Mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes until well blended.

6. Fold in lime zest (and Dorito crumbs if you desire) with a spatula.
7. Optional, for colored batter like pictured above: See my "Fantasy Rainbow Cupcake Tutorial" if you want to layer different colors of green or other color batters inside the cupcake. 

8.  Bake at 325 in cupcake tins (filled about 2/3 full) for appx 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

MOUNTAIN DEW FROSTING:

13-14 oz Marshmallow Cream

1 lb butter

2 Teaspoons of Lemon Extract

2 Tablespoons Mountain Dew

8-10 Cups Powdered Sugar

For Decorating:

♥Bag 'o' Doritos
♥Little Red or Yellow Heart Candies (they match the colors in the Mountain Dew logo)!
♥If you want to decorate like my rainbow swirls above, my "Fantasy Vanilla Almond Rainbow" tutorial will show you how!

1.  Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.

2.  Mix well until fluffy and well blended.

3.  Gradually add extracts and Mountain Dew for flavoring.

4.  Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.  (The more powdered sugar you add—the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating).

5.  Last, but not least... Top Each Cupcake with a Dorito!

..If you didn't eat all your cupcakes, you can always turn them into...

Mountain Dew Doritos Cake Pops

(makes appx 30 1 1/2" cake balls)(Click here for a tutorial video)

You will need:

♥Baked Mountain Dew Cupcakes, cooled (see recipe above)
♥Baking Sheet Lined with Parchment Paper
♥Candy Melts
♥Candy Color (in any color you wish.  For Mountain Dew I like to use a dab of green candy color in the white candy melts, that gives it the light green color above).
♥Cake Pop and/or "Sucker" Sticks
♥Cake Pop stand or thick floral foam for cake pops to stand on while they are drying
♥Crumbled up Doritos in a small bowl.  I call them "Doritos Sprinkles" (see technique on crumbling in recipe above).

1.  Once cupcakes are cool, crumble them up into a large bowl or blend in a food processor until cake is all crumbs!
2.  In a large bowl, mix cake crumbs and small dabs of buttercream frosting until cake is a sticky "play dough" consistency. (sticky enough to form into a ball).

3.  Start rolling your cake balls-I roll them into 1" to 1 1/2" cake balls.
4.  Refrigerate until firm enough to dip into melted candy melts.
5.  While cake pops are in the fridge, melt candy melts in a deep microwave proof bowl (on the "defrost" mode until smooth and melted or in 15 second increments until melted.  Watch closely-if you over microwave, candy melts will burn).
6.  Add any candy color desired to your melted candy melts.

Cupcake Bonus: If you want the multi-color "swirl" look pictured above, this is how it's done:
♥Pour melted white candy melts into 3 different bowls.
♥Color each bowl of candy melts a different color (using candy colors of your choice).
♥Select one color as your base and add a tablespoon full of each color to your base.
♥"Twirl" and "Swirl" the colors you just added to your base with a toothpick.  Don't overmix or your colors will all blend together and get muddy.  The goal is for your candy melts to look "marbled" inside the bowl.

7.  Once your cake pops are firm enough for dipping, remove from refrigerator.
8.  Use your melted candy melts as "glue."  One at a time, dip the top part of each cake pop stick in candy melts, and stick 1/2 way down into each cake ball.  Let dry for a few minutes.  This will secure the cake pop stick into the cake ball. And..as magical as it is..you have a cake pop now instead of a lonely cake ball♥
9. Dip each cake pop upside down into the bowl of melted candy melts.  Do not graze the side of the bowl or push the cake pop down into the bottom of the bowl (cake pops are soft and delicate, they will fall off the stick if pushed up against the bowl. Twirl the cake pop gracefully in a circle in the "pool" of melted candy.
10.  Hang the cake pop upside down and lightly shake until the excess candy melts stop dripping off of the cake pop.

11.  Stick the cake pop right side up on stand or in foam to let dry.
12.  Sprinkle on the crumbled Doritos if you want to add Doritos.

If you decorated your cake pops using the "swirl" effect, they might look something like this:♥

Twinklies, Unicorns, Minions, and Throwing Glitter In The Air!!!

I made "Twinklie" Cupcakes.

♥

Inspired by Twinkies.  I call them Twinklies. Because they *sparkle*.  Yellow Cupcakes..stuffed with Marshmallow Cream Buttercream..  Swirled with the same fluffy buttercream on top.  I made these awhile ago, when the world was sad and void of Hostess Twinkies.

You know what Twinkies have inspired (now that they have returned)?

Minion Cupcakes ♥ from Despicable Me.
I know you've seen them..all over the internet!
People turning Twinkies into yellow minion cupcake toppers!

I had so many friends posting the yellow Twinkie Minion Cupcake photos on my personal Facebook timeline, begging me to make them.   But I knew that I had to do something a little different. A little more Amanda Cupcake-esque.  Waiting is sometimes worth it because *I* was inspired when I went to see.....Despicable Me 2!

I made these:

The Purple Minion Clones.

The whole movie Despicable Me 2 is based out of a cupcake bakery.

And when I saw the purple Minion Clones..I just knew they'd make the perfect cupcake minion army!Purple hair, funny chompy teeth, crossed eyes!  I love how the minion clones try so hard to be mean but they are still such kind souls underneath the purple. 

I cut Twinkies in half, and froze them for about an hour on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper so they'd be solid enough to make it through a cupcake fondue process!  In the meantime, I melted white candy melts in  a deep bowl (deep enough to dip twinkies in).  I colored the candy melts with purple candy color gels after after the candy melts were melted and smooth.

These are my minions in progress.. after, dipping in purple candy melts, setting down on parchment paper and sprinkling on eyes.  I was thinking that the Minions might end up looking like Grimace (from McDonalds) or the ghosts (from Pac Man).  New inspirations for a cupcake in the future perhaps?!

♥

How I got this far:  After the Twinkies were frozen, I dipped cake pop sticks in the melted purple candy melts, and immediately stuck them into the bottom flat side of the Twinkie to "glue" the Twinkie to the cake pop stick and let the cake pop stick set for a few minutes for easy dipping!

Hint:  It's easier to add eyes to the purple Twinkie clones while the candy melts are still wet.  It only took the eyeballs a few minutes to dry onto the Twinkie..and I was on my way to the next step....

Piping Goggles around the eyeballs!

Using a 7/16" Round Tip inside of a disposable piping bag.

I folded a few dots of black color gel paste into white buttercream to achieve the grey goggle color

♥

Another Hint:  I love to make all my cupcake creatures look cross eyed (it gives them character--especially Minions!)  So  don't be afraid to have crazy fun sticking the eyeballs on the candy coated Twinkies!

I piped white teeth on to the Purple coated Twinkie using another small round tip.  The purple hair was piped on with a small open star tip.  (The "lavender" hair color was achieved by adding a small dot of purple gel paste color to white buttercream).   

♥

I baked the cupcakes using my "Twinklie" recipe and colored the batter Regal Purple (using Americolor Gel Paste).  I didn't fill the cupcakes with the Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream, since the cupcake had to be pretty stable to hold the Minion Clones on top. 

However..

A Twinkie Coated in Candy Melts..

On top of a Cupcake frosted with Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream..was double the cupcake love.  Maybe even triple..

...or Army Sized Cupcake Love!! ♥♥♥

My Minion Clone Cupcakes.

♥

Another reason I love Despicable Me..Unicorns ♥

Unicorn Cupcakes were simple.

♥Bugles-for the horns

♥Mini Pastel Licorice Candies for the ears

♥Sugar Eyes

♥Marshmallows cut in half for the noses

♥Edible Ink marker in black for the nostrils!

(if you want to know how to make the rainbow frosting, see my Rainbow Cupcake tutorial!)
"It's Beautiful!"
(this was a quote by Agnes referring to her pet unicorn in Despicable Me 2)!


Your own "Twinklie" recipe

Easy to bake at home ♥♥♥♥

Ingredients for the Cupcake:

1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix

1 Box of Instant Vanilla Pudding, as Powder (3-4 oz)

1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

Directions:

♥Preheat Oven to 325.
♥Line Prepared Cupcake Pans with 18 cupcake liners.

♥Using your stand mixer, blend ingredients together: Yellow Cake Mix, Vanilla Pudding, Buttermilk, Vanilla Extract, Vegetable Oil, and Eggs.

♥After 30 seconds of mixing ingredients together, scrape your bowl with a rubber spatula to incorporate all ingredients together.

♥Mix again for 1-2 minutes until batter is creamy.
♥Use an ice cream scoop to fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full.
♥Bake in your oven at 325 for approximately 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of cupcake comes out clean.
♥Let cool before decorating.



Colorful Twinklies!

 

The Filling and Frosting
You can leave the cupcakes with the filling inside only without frosting on top.
Or..you can go the extra mile and pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes after filling.
Either way, this filling recipe works as both a frosting and a filling for the Twinklies.

Marshmallow Cream Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:
14 oz Marshmallow Cream
1 lb butter-softened but not melted (yes, 1 lb. Everything is better with butter!)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
8 Cups Powdered Sugar or more, depending on how thick you want frosting to be.

♥Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.
♥Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
♥Gradually add vanilla extract.
♥Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
(The more powdered sugar you add--the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating).

Decorating:
♥Use a cupcake corer to form a hole in the center of your Twinklie Cupcakes.
♥Slide an open star tip down to the end of a disposable piping bag and cut a hole large enough to fit the piping tip.

♥Fill your piping bag with the Marshmallow Cream Buttercream you just made.
♥Now fill the inside of your cupcake and continue to swirl on top of the cupcake, as pictured above!
♥Sprinkle with edible sparkles, gems, or confetti! Whatever you fancy ♥

♥...or..don't fill it all and top it with a Twinkie disguised as a purple Minion!!

"Always be yourself unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn."

Yes my cupcake friends here are...Wearing Unicorn Horns, Throwing Glitter in the air, and Making Wishes at my Cupcake Mansion in New London ♥♥