Vegan Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

I finally made my first vegan cupcake! I dedicate it to one of my best friends who is a vegan. They're mini Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes topped with a tofutti strawberry cream cheese frosting with hints of lemon and lime zest AND tequila. Sugar rim and a lime zest garnish. Perfect summer time flavor combo ;-)

I'll admit - the taste of that tofutti cream cheese by itself, was not so good... but after you add the powdered sugar and everything else.... much better!

Tequila is vegan friendly right?!

Independence Day Weekend

For all the American's out there, Happy [ early ] Independence Day!!

I whipped up a true red, white and blue American cupcake for the holiday festivities I will be partaking in this weekend . It's a vanilla cupcake swirled with red and blue topped with white nonpareils. Something fun and festive :-)

Have a great weekend everyone! (And even if your not American, it's just another excuse to have a drink and BBQ right?! ;-)

Red and blue jello shots for the weekend ... Bottoms up!

pancakes!

I [ heart ] breakfast! I eat it every morning. Today I made these summery lemon blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Even though it's not a traditional cake, it has cake in the name and I don't discriminate here! haha... who knows I may even put a muffin on this blog ;-)

I used this basic recipe and kicked it up a notch. These pancakes are pretty simple and I use it often. The texture reminds me of a Bisquick pancake, but I grew up on Bisquick so I like them and you can kind of mess around with the recipe and add things in.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• Dash of vanilla
• Mix ins: chocolate chips, bananas, peanut butter chips, nutella... the list goes on. Today I added fresh lemon zest, lemon juice and fresh blueberries.

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth. Then add your mix in if you want.
   
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake (I like mini pancakes so I use a 1/8 cup for each). Brown on both sides and serve hot.
   
3. Garnish with a little powdered sugar and lemon rind zest.
   

Not all my pancakes are perfect and the first one always messes up! I also use a gas stove so it's hard to get the flame the right temp on the pan, but the key is getting it to that perfect temperature and when you see air bubbles form and the sides begin to crust a bit - it's time to flip! I've also had times when it looks perfect and the middle is all gooey :( So annoying.... It just takes practice I guess.

Enjoy.

Ate My Way Through Philly

This has been a crazzzzy week! After the wedding cupcake/cake tower for my friends wedding, it was all about my project for my grad school class. Let's just say I got about an average 4hrs sleep for 3 nights straight! But it's turned in, the class is done...and now I wait for my grade. The boy and I decided to head up to Philadelphia for the night/day so I could relax (which I have not done in quite a few weeks now) and of course EAT :-)

Today's menu: Soft Pretzels for breakfast, cheesesteak taste test for dinner (Pat's vs. Tony Lukes and Pat's won) Can you get any more Philly than that?! Oh and of course cupcakes! Haha... And since I'm not baking, I'll review instead. I must first state I am in no way a food critic! I just feel like giving my 2 cents in this post today :)

Now on to the good stuff the...the cupcakes!! I tried 2 places today: Philly Cupcake and Grocery Inc. Both were good, but had their flaws and I'm basing my review on only 1 cupcake from each place. First was Philly Cupcake - relatively new, it was soooo cute when you walk in. I'm a sucker for ambiance and decor I will admit it (I wish I got a pic). I love love loved the way they keep the cupcakes on display in this vintage hutch kinda thing. I decided to get the white velvet raspberry cupcake. It was good, with smooth frosting, not too overly sweet. As for the negative things about it, I couldn't really taste the raspberry in the frosting, and the cake was a little grocery storish. Oh and it was $4 cash only :-/ Little steep in my opinion....
Second place was Grocery, around the corner. I had seen them while driving by - I noticed the cute cake plates first, then saw that they had actual real cupcakes on them. I decided on the Lolita - an ancho chili chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and chili roasted peanuts. Sound's good huh?? As for the positives: cheap! $1.95 for a cupcake and if you get the little cupcake protector (which I have been wanting for awhile now) it's only $5 for the protector and it comes with the cupcake...So for only $1 more, I got a cupcake AND a reusable cupcake protector thingy. Overall tasted good but not great. Negatives: did not taste any ancho chili :( And you could tell it had been sitting out for awhile and what brought me in (seeing them in the window) was also the downfall because it was SO hot that day and the sun was shining in the windows right on them. Of course I did not think of that until after I purchased them, but as my BF says - I have a stomach of steal. I've eatin street food around the world and *knock on wood* have not gotten sick yet ;-)Though I didn't find THE cupcake place in Philly, I had fun trying them out. Why did I choose such an expensive hobby again?! lol. Lastly, in honor of cupcakes I changed the sheets on the bed before the boy could say anything lol.... and looks like our dog Rocco is enjoying :)

Thanks mom for the cupcake quilt!

Rachel and Mike's Wedding

This weekend was the second wedding cake/cupcake tower I did for June. It was for our friends Mike and Rachel and this was my wedding gift to them! I think they enjoyed it a lot...and Mike loved the Redskins groom's cupcakes ;-)

What a great wedding you two :) Enjoy the honeymoon!!

Flowery Birthday

A flowery birthday order today... I ended up adding more fondant flowers than a usual order. I kind of get carried away if I'm really into something :)

Love this quote!

Purple and Orange Wedding

One wedding tower done... one more to go!! Here's a cupcake tower and cake I made for a wedding this weekend. Flavors included: red velvet, chocolate orange, and peanut butter cup :) A few days "rest" and I'll be getting things ready for another wedding for a friend of mine, for next weekend.

PS: Summer heat + cupcakes = NOT FUN!

Apple for Teacher

As I'm getting stuff ready for this weekends wedding cupcake/cake tower, and the school year is winding down, I actually had time to whip up a dozen cupcakes for some of the teachers I substitute for. I also dropped some off for the front office staff too ;-) Is there anything cuter and more perfect than an apple cupcake for a teacher? I saw this idea in the "What's new cupcake?" book and just knew I wanted to try it!

How cute are they?! They taste good too - red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese frosting :)

Not to change topics suddenly, but I just wanted to note that the DC Cupcake contest I had participated in this past weekend has been on a few blogs! Check'em out:

Metrocurean

Huffington Post

*Sigh* Now back to making batches upon batches of frosting for this weekends wedding.....

Professional Pics

My friend Erin (the one I made my very first wedding cake for) received her professional pics from the wedding photographer! What an amazing difference the picture quality is... if only I had one of those cameras ;-)

All pics were taken by Franz de Leon Photography.
Thank you Erin for letting me post the pictures!

I won!

I never win anything!! I entered the cupcake decorating contest at a cupcakery in DC called Hello Cupcake. We had to design a cupcake to represent a DC neighborhood or a political statement. I chose Chinatown and "Going Green". There were some really awesome entries! Here were mine:Lo Mein - to represent Chinatown, is a green tea w/ red bean cupcake topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. Icing was tinted with gel food colors then piped on and the peas, carrots and chop sticks are fondant.
Recycle - to represent going green, is green tea swirled with blue vanilla - to represent earth - and white chocolate cream cheese frosting. Topped with fondant flowers, vines, leaves and a recycle symbol.
Fortune cookie - to represent Chinatown, is a ginger cupcake topped with citrus cream cheese frosting. Decor includes edible star glitter (represent the stars in the Chinese flag), fondant fortune cookie and fortunes. It says "EAT CUPCAKE. BE HAPPY." and "HELLO CHINATOWN" on the fortunes.

Turns out the competition was only for decor, so they didn't get to taste it, but that was ok! My friends and family enjoyed the extras :) But anywho...

The winning cupcake....drum roll.... the lo mein one! For overall cupcake and "most likely to be eaten."

And here is what I won:
Can't believe it... I'm still in awe!!!!! Thank you Hello Cupcake and Kitchen Aid :) Congrats to all the other entries too :) And thanks to the judges!

UPDATE: There is a second leg of the competition! Please go vote online for my friend's cupcake (it's the cute elephant one :) VOTE HERE

UPDATE II : So I had NO idea my other 2 cupcakes made it to the online competition! So after you vote for the elephant, feel free to vote for the fortune cookie and recycle cupcake!