Black Chocolate Cupcakes with (the BEST) Strawberry Buttercream

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful fairy princess (read as:  beloved daughter) who asked her equally beautiful mommy (read as: all powerful queen... of the household) for a pink flower cake (chocolate, of course!) and Tinkerbell.

Now, the mommy had a bit of a problem with this request because she didn't want to put artificial coloring in the cake so how could it be pink?

Then one day, while the fairy princess and her mommy were taking a stroll around the marketplace, they chanced upon... strawberries... red, plump, fragrant strawberries!  Did I mention that the strawberries were bright RED?

DING! went a bell in mommy's head!  A strawberry infused icing would be, at the very least, pale pink... PINK!!!

And so, they went to work to make the sought-after pink flower cake.  Of course, the fairy princess had to have cupcakes to give to her friends, so the (beautiful and all powerful) queen made some cupcakes too...

And, the cupcakes had to follow the same theme of chocolate and pink flowers...

See the lovely pink flower on top of the cupcake?  See the lovely dots of strawberry bits?

See the rest of the cupcakes all lined up in their pink glory?

The fairy princess was very happy.  And proud!

What about her mommy, the queen?  Well, her heart soared as she heard the fairy princess whisper:  "Thank you Mommy!"

The End.

Baileys Cupcakes

Technically, this is not a cupcake that is suitable to kids, but we were so inspired by the response for the Lime Margarita Cupcakes that we came up with another boozy cupcake.  This time, however, it was with Baileys Irish Cream, which is the favorite of MaBelle's other half...

The cupcakes are our signature chocolate cupcake flavored with Baileys Irish Cream and frosted with Baileys Buttercream.

The reviews were more on the positive side (after all, it's really not believable if our feedback is ALWAYS good...).  Still, we think these cupcakes are winners!  No doubt!!!

Bring it on!!!

Blueberry Oat Streusel Loaf

This is a remake of a childhood favorite.  It used to be in the style of a coffeecake, with nut streusel on top.  But upon the request of certain people who do not like (or cannot eat) nuts, we've changed the nuts into oats.  And upon the suggestion of my other half, the coffeecake has been transformed into a loaf!!!

While this particular version used a homemade blueberry topping, our standard offering for this loaf will be made with prepared (canned) blueberry topping.   Other flavors possible, such as cherry, strawberry and apple.

It is still a family favorite!

Lime Margarita Cupcakes

It feels good to bake again.

The Christmas season was hectic and as the New Year came around, there were still a bit of action in our kitchen as some last minute orders came in.  But the past week saw the kitchen resting, as I was in a week-long seminar.

Which ended today, and yes, the kitchen is open tonight, with a large batch of... carrot cakes!!!

But this entry is not about that, rather, it's about this:

A boozy cupcake!!!  Lime Margarita Cupcake frosted with Lime Margarita buttercream, to be specific.

My reason?  Well, it's simple really.  I like lime.  And I like tequila...

The good news?  Everyone (on the test run) raved about them!

Here's a sample of the test batch:

And here's one up close.  The buttercream was piped in a rose-like manner.

While this one isn't really kid-friendly (given its alcoholic content, hence not really healthy either), we still kept our no added preservatives or artificial coloring "promise".

Shall I offer them as a regular item???

Birthday Cakes

As of a year ago, we decided to give home baked birthday cakes to our friends.  By far the most requested is the Ube Chiffon Cake (which I am seriously thinking of renaming as Ube Velvet), followed closely by Mocha Chiffon Cake (we are open to suggestions for a name that has a bit more impact and appeal...)

In the past year, we've had requests for these:

60th birthday:

mini mocha cake:

50th birthday:

and, just another birthday...

Other designs are possible, as are other flavors for the chiffon cake - orange, lemon, lime (or dayap) chocolate, walnut, cheese, and even durian!

Our favorite, though, will always be mocha!