Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I had a bit of fun with this and realized I can make a whole lot of different ones (chocolate covered cherries and blueberries and raspberries OH MY!).  The cupcakes is a strawberry cheesecake with a whipped cream buttercream topped with a chocolate covered strawberry.  I am not happy nor fond of the whipped cream buttercream.  In Florida it is not a good idea as it melts fast.  It wasn't stiff enough for what I was looking for in presentation.  So will either go back to a regular meringue buttercream or just a fondant disk on top with the strawberry.

This is my first time piping chocolate like this, well at least in this manner.  I think the heart came out nicely!  I definitely want to play with piping chocolate some more.

I let my daughter decorate the bottom two.  LOL she didn't do badly with the small bag.  She calls the one in the lower right the "spaghetti" design.

The cupcake also has a graham cracker / almond crust which I have to say really tastes well together.  If it weren't for the fact I lost power, the crust would have held together better so needless to say there are no photos of the crust but I promise it was yummy.  Oh I also added a little bit of Disaronno to the pink chocolate....mmmm...I think I will be adding it to the milk chocolate next time too.  LOL!

What's on the to do list.....

I have a few things I want to try.  I've been ordered to make a Snickers cupcake so that one is definitely on the list (look for it around April 16th).  Currently it's a deep chocolate cake with a peanut nougat filling topped with a caramel nougat buttercream and sprinkled with peanuts and caramel drizzle.

This week I am planning a strawberry cheesecake cupcake with a graham cracker and almond crust and a chocolate covered strawberry on top.  I haven't had cheesecake in a while and this seemed like a good excuse.

I am not a fudge person but I always wondered what fudge would be like in a cupcake.  So I have two planned.  A penuche (panucci) fudge and chocolate ganache filled chocolate cupcake with a brown sugar buttercream.  Also a white fudge cupcake - an almond vanilla cupcake filled with white fudge topped with white chocolate buttercream and white chocolate curls.

Also need to do the special Easter cupcake (pysanka, pysanky) and the not so cupcake Easter cake pops.  They looked cute so thought I'd try them.

And yes, the bridal cupcakes.  I have to find some quiet time to be able to mold fondant.  Then I can get started on that!

Have a great week!  Look for the cheesecake cupcakes maybe Tuesday.

Guava Cupcakes

I can't remember where I first heard about guava cupcakes but on a trip to South Florida I stopped at a little Cuban cafe called Relcreo Bakery.  They had oh so yummy Cuban sandwhich.  The bakery also had pastelitos de guayaba without the cream cheese though.  It was also very very yummy.  At the advice of a Cuban friend, he expressed that he's never eaten pastelitos de guayaba without cream cheese.  So a cream cheese frosting it was.

I wish I had a photo of the inside of it but alas, every now and again my camera eats the good photos.  I swear it's a representation of eating the real thing.

The cupcake is a vanilla bean cupcake with a whipped guava filling and then of course the cream cheese frosting and a little orange gumpaste rose I made.  I wanted to add sugared guava peel but couldn't find any guava.

I wasn't really sure about the combination but once I bit into one I could see why the two ingredients are favored together.  It was really really yummy!!  I will post the recipe as soon as I can get it all written out.

I've gotten the preliminary drawing for the first Bridal Cupcake and hope to start it as soon as I go out and buy the dowels.  Also someone gave me a great idea for an April Fool's Day cupcake.  I did mention 3 cupcakes with spring flowers on them and will be working on them as well.

Coming up!!

Sunday was the first day of Spring!!  Expect 3 Spring Cupcakes within the next week or so topped with 3 of my favorite flowers in either gumpaste or fondant.  

Also a Guava Cream Cheese Cupcake this week some time.

Once I get done with some of my major requirements for school, there's about a month left, I can start working on the Bridal Cupcakes.  It's just something I have in my mind that I would really like to "try".

Oh I also have an Easter Cupcake I want to make in mid April and something that's not really a cupcake but looks like fun!

I'll also present the Mother's Day cupcake in mid April.

Coming Up!

Mardi Gras is the 8th!  So be on the look out for my King Cake Cupcake!

Sunday will be the cupcake party in South Florida.  There will be a few new cupcakes that I haven't shared yet made at the party so next week look out for those!

Also, I'm a Bailey's nut.  So there WILL be a Bailey's Cupcake (with a twist) to honor

Mr St Patrick on the 17th!

I also have a very ambitious project I will be working on once I return from South Florida.  It will involve cupcakes, of course, and weddings.  I'm hoping it comes out as well as I see it in my head!  If they do, they will be gorgeous!!