Times Square Ball Drop Cupcakes

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....Happy New Year! It's 2012 and time to start blogging again. My family celebrated New Year's in Florida again this year. Two years ago I made some shark cupcakes for New Year's in Florida, which inspired this entire blog. Even though I didn't have all my baking supplies with me in Florida, I "made do" with an old fashioned muffin tin, spoon, and knife for spreading frosting. After a quick trip to the party store, they were ready to decorate.

I am sad to see that it's been 8 months since I've blogged, but I do have some pretty darn good excuses for my hiatus. Let's just do a quick review of last year's MAJOR events in my life:

January/February: survived a blizzard, continued ELL certification classes at Mizzou every Saturday from 9am-3pm (and did LOTS of homework), wedding planning was in full gear

March/April: spring break in Georgia, met with wedding vendors, finished up more ELL coursework

May/June (here's where it gets really CRAZY): nephew's graduation, bridal shower with coworkers, bachelorette party in Florida, bridal shower in Cape, bachelorette party in Columbia, wedding dance lessons, began 2 online summer classes, and SOLD my condo (therefore became homeless), packed up everything and put it in storage, moved in with a friend, shopped for a house, got our marriage license (on the same day our offer on the house was accepted)

July: rehearsal dinner, wedding, honeymoon in Hawaii, flew back into KC and went to a friend's wedding, returned to Columbia to close on our house, unpacked wedding gifts and storage items

August: continued unpacking and decorating, started a new year of teaching 3rd grade, began my last ELL certification course, and at the very end of August....found out I was PREGGO!

September: went to Vegas for my 30th birthday with the girls (no cocktails for me), Chicago for a wedding, and was sick, sick, sick for most of the month

October: sick

November: sick

December: started feeling better, Christmas with both families, and New Year's in Florida

Whew! As you can see, things really started to slow down by the end of the year. Being sick was the pits, but of course we were still so thankful for and ecstatic about our growing family. It also forced me to stop overbooking myself and allow time for resting. During those months, the thought of sweets (a.k.a. cupcakes) was nauseating. Hard to believe, but I just didn't want to come near my new Kitchen-aid mixer. It was sad, because I have LOTS of new cupcake tools from the wedding/showers. I knew that I'd start feeling better eventually, and I'm already back in the kitchen in 2012. So, I raise a glass to the New Year (filled with sparkling grape juice, of course) with many hopes of using all my new cupcake items to bake, create, and blog. After all, I'll have kid birthday parties to bake for now. And, with my new obsession of Pinterest, the ideas are endless!

The Clawwwwwwwww!

My little nephew turns three this month, and I made him his birthday cupcakes over this past weekend when I got to see him. He's a huge Toy Story fan, and he requires that his stuffed Buzz and Woody be tucked into bed next to him every night. The Toy Story movies are some of my all time favorites, and I just love the aliens. Here's a quote to take you back to the original Toy Story movie...

Buzz:This is an intergalactic emergency. I need to commandeer your vessel to Sector 12. Who's in charge here?
All Aliens: [pointing up] The clawwwwwwwww!
Alien #1: The claw is our master.
Alien #2: The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.
Woody: This is ludicrous.

How can you not love the aliens?

Peepshi = PEEP Sushi

Happy Easter! Today I enjoyed a day with family, and I completed a project with my fiance's niece. I know it's not cupcakes, but I had to post this creation. This project was centered around one of my favorite springtime candies, PEEPS. After surveying many people, I've found that you either love them or hate them. I, of course, love them. My favorite are the yellow chicks (not bunnies). I know the different colors aren't supposed to have different flavors, but to me, yellow tops the rest. Maybe you aren't a fan of sushi, but how could you not love peepshi? It's created with Rice Krispie Treats, Fruit By the Foot, and PEEPS. Add a little wasabi (marshmallow pistachio fluff), and you have a meal. It's the perfect combination of sugar, sugar, and more sugar!

Peace, Love, & Cupcakes!

I'm on a roll with blogging tonight, so I figured I would post some cupcakes I created in back in January. I didn't have a chance to blog them at the time, but now I have to share. These were designed for twin girls turning nine years old. One loves peace signs, and the other loves butterflies. I used colored melted chocolate to form the peace signs and the wings. Bold icing colors and neon sprinkles gave them that groovy 60's look. The girls love brownies, so the cupcakes are actually baked from brownie mix. Just stir up brownie mix according to the box recipe, and drop spoonfuls into a muffin tin. A great treat for kids and adults alike. Of course I had to make a batch to taste test before sending them off to the girls' birthday party. From what I hear, they were a hit!

Toasted Butter Pecan Cupcakes

I'm back! I couldn't let my fiance's birthday pass without making time to whip up a batch of "from scratch" cupcakes and frosting. I started with a red velvet cake recipe, and I topped each one with cream cheese frosting. There is no shortage of butter contained in this creation, which makes for a rich flavor. Then, to top them off, I buttered and toasted pecans. I found myself choosing taste over fancy decoration this time. Simple, yet delectable.

I have to apologize for this post being my first post of 2011. I was diligent in posting each and every month of 2010, but this has been a busy start to the year. I've got a lot of great things going on right now, but my cupcake baking/decorating has had to take a backseat due to the following:

-I'm finishing a full year program to gain an ELL teaching certification. This means class every Saturday for six hours and homework throughout the week. Only two weeks of Saturday classes left, though.
-Wedding planning has been fun, but has been a whirlwind of decision making. Who knows what text, font, image, paper, inserts, envelopes, and stamps I want for invitations?! I'm more concerned with sampling the possible flavors of cupcakes for the wedding. I was also happy to add a few baking items to the wedding registry list, convincing myself I would make time to bake again soon.
-The condo was prepped for selling, and my finance and I tried our best to be handy by installing a ceiling fan, light fixture, and dishwasher. O.K., so that was mostly him, but I did help pass him tools. My big job was to paint the upstairs, and if I never see a paint roller again, it will be too soon. We've had several showings, and we hope to start house hunting in the near future.

I plan to have more time for cupcakes this summer (between bachelorette parties, bridal showers, and last minute wedding details) to get going on the cake pops. I did bake a practice batch recently, but they aren't quite ready for the blog. I need a little more time to perfect them.

A White Christmas

This year's Christmas was wonderful, but it flew by way too fast. I'm used to getting two full weeks off for Christmas, but this year I worked up until two days before. I guess I got a taste of reality like those working in non-education related fields. To top it off, there were no snow days before Christmas this year. I always depend on a snow day or two to finish my Christmas baking, gift wrapping, and decorating. So, this month's cupcakes came after the 25th, but before New Year's Eve. They commemorate our beautiful white Christmas here in Missouri. Although my fiance and I had a long drive on Christmas day, we were happy to be together, got to see both families, and we had an amazing view of the snow stretching across the state.

This will be the last post of 2010, and I'm proud to say that I managed to contribute at least one post a month to my blog. More importantly, I've stuck with my new hobby (cupcake making) for a full year! This past year couldn't have gone better, and I have so much to look forward to in 2011 (A WEDDING!!!). But, as far as cupcakes go, I have some new ideas and motivation to try the latest craze in cupcakes-cake pops! My sister gave me this book, and I can't wait to get started on this new project in 2011...

Thanksgiving Cupcake Feast

It's almost Thanksgiving, and I carved out some time this week to create a sweet version of the staple dish at every Thanksgiving dinner. Many variations on traditional turkeys have become popular over the years. Some families indulge in deep fried turkey and others go completely overboard by combining three meats to create turducken. I, on the other hand, prefer to have turkey for dessert. These cupcakes are made with caramels rolled out and cut to be molded around a mountain of icing. They are stuffed with crunchy granola and sugary sprinkles to represent parsley. The drumsticks are caramels shaped around wheat sticks and tipped with icing. The turkeys rest in a lettuce bed created from corn flakes coated in green icing. Making these cupcakes reminds me how thankful I am that I have such a wonderful fiance (one who will unwrap 72 caramels and shape some of them around wheat sticks to make 24 drumsticks). I have so much to be thankful for: a great place to live, a supportive family, dependable friends, a rewarding job, and great hobbies (like cupcakes!).