S'more for me!

Inspired by trip down memory lane thanks to "old skool" Pepsi (see prior post), this little darling is perfect for that sugar fanatic.  What's better than sitting around a campfire, hopefully with water near by, toasting marshmallows and smushing them between graham crackers and chocolate?!  

I am a "feelings" kind of person so now the task was laid before me to transform that feeling into a cupcake.  There are 100 to 1 s'more cupcake recipes out there and after searching for one I liked I soon found myself swimming in graham cracker, ganache, and marshmallow creme goodness.  Have you ever actually looked for a s'more recipe?  If you decide to take on this task I suggest you block out at least 2 hours. Seriously.

Back to the cupcake... I wanted a true graham cracker taste in the cupcake and decided to do a flourless cake, using the graham cracker as the "flour".  In theory this was an excellent idea but in reality I was disappointed.  The cupcake had an "eggy" taste to it and the consistency was "ew" at best.  For the chocolate I made a chocolate ganache and the frosting was marshmallow and cream cheese.  My taste testers (AKA the fam) gobbled them up as soon as I gave them the go ahead but this one isn't a winner for me.  Back to the drawing board I suppose...

It may have not tasted like I had hoped but it was a very photogenic little fella.  

Oh the memories...

As I was walking down the aisle of the supermarket, lost in the sea of labels swearing that their product has the lowest calories, carbs, cholesterol, blah blah blah.  Torn between a bag of apples and that box of pop tarts claiming that it's made of whole grains, I caught a glimpse of red, white, and blue.  Since this is not July my interest was peaked and I slowly meandered in that general direction, careful not to show to much excitement.  Lord have mercy what did I see but a glorious "old school" can of Pepsi looking back at me!

Immediately I am taken back to me sitting in the floor of my room, my 8 track blaring Bad Company, walls covered with poster of hair bands, mementos of crazy times stuck in precarious places, a cherry mash and a nice cool Pepsi.  It was during these times that I was sure of what I was, where I was going, and how I was going to get there.

As the feeling of nostalgia wears away and I find myself standing  in the aisle with teary eyes I thought to myself, "To hell with eating healthy I am going to bake cupcakes that take me back to that."  So in true rebellious fashion I grab that 12 pack and dare someone to say a word about it.

On the way home I decided to make a chocolate cupcake with Pepsi incorporated into the batter and for that cherry mash deliciousness I stuck a maraschino cherry in the center.  Once the cupcakes cooled I mixed up a Pepsi and powdered sugar glaze and poured it on top.  For more cherry flavor I made a cherry cream cheese frosting and topped it with a cherry.

  

Twilight Funky Munky Style

The "tween craze" Twilight meandered into my kitchen on one warm summer morning last month.  The client of the twin tweens gave me these ideas: zebra print, hot pink, Twilight, and cupcakes.  Commence the brewing of the ideas!

 I have seen sooo many Team Edward and Team Jacob cookies that I just couldn't bring myself to do it that way.  So after bouncing some ideas off my fellow cookie connoisseur here is the result.  The cupcake is a devilish devil's food with cinnamon and nutmeg.  It is topped with a cream cheese frosting and pink sanding sugars.  Now for the Edward vs Jacob national crisis...

The lips are made of fondant and royal icing.  They were inspired by the Rolling Stones (What's up mic?) and True Blood.  Ok, vampire done now what in the world am I to do for the werewolf?  This one stumped me for a while.  I thought of doing a paw (to kidlike), a werewolf head (a little gross for tweens), and so on and so forth.  After days of contemplating what I was going to do with the werewolf cupcakes an idea sprang up like a careless weed after a summer rain.  What about a medallion with the marking of a werewolf?!  I swear sometimes I am so dern clever I surprise myself.  

I have to say that I was really happy with these little darlings.  Score 1 for funky Munky!