Savory & Sweet Cupcake Inspiration

I absolutely LOVE salads and one in particular that I have had many versions of but I must admit Mimi's makes the best of is a Strawberry, blue cheese, walnut & balsamic vinegar salad!

katyelliott.com

While creating yesterday's Tuesday Treat: Maple Bacon Cupcakes I began to think of other savory and sweet dishes that I could create into cupcakes and that salad was the first thing that popped into my head! I am really excited (and a little nervous) at the same to to create this amazing cupcake! I want it to taste just like the salad so I am planning on making a strawberry cupcake (real strawberries of course) and then topping it with a blue cheese frosting and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar along with a sprinkle of walnuts! In my mind is sounds amazing but we wont find out until next Tuesday :)

Tuesday Treat: Maple Bacon Cupcakes

So I stayed true to what I was going to create for the first Tuesday Treat, which is Maple Bacon Cupcakes! I was daring and took a small bite and to my surprise it was not too bad. The hubby loved it and that is all that really matters!

Here is how I made it!

First I made the base; maple cake

2 tbsp flour

1.5 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp imitation maple extract 

(you can use Grade B pure Maple syrup if preferred, imitation was cheaper)

*Stir*

Next I cooked up 1/2 a piece of bacon to a crisp and then chopped it up and added to the cake base. I also add about a tsp of the bacon grease.

I then baked it at 350 degrees for around 10 minutes. It came out looking more like a muffin but still had the consistency of a cupcake :)

I then created my cream cheese maple bacon frosting by just taste testing until it was deeelicious!

Cream cheese

Powder sugar

Unsalted butter

Pinch of brown sugar

Imitation maple extract

I then crisped the other half of the bacon cut it up in little pieces and topped the cupcake with it and TADA here is....

SAVORY & SWEET Maple Bacon cupcake with a Maple Cream Cheese & Brown Sugar frosting topped with toasted Bacon crumbles :)

The hubby loved it!

Pie!

So I have never baked a pie before and recently I have been having the urge to at least try to make one. Well, although sometimes I may seem crazy, I am truly not because there was no way I was going to make a pie from scratch for my first pie! Therefore, I bought 2 frozen pie crusts and canned cherries and threw them together! I dumped the cherries into one of the pie crusts and then covered with the other pie crust. With the left over crust I made two little cherries to put on top of the pie and then put some holes in the top and tada, a cherry pie! I put it in the oven for a total of 45 minutes and out came the pie. Now it was definitely not the best looking pie we have seen but it gets a 10 for taste! Now I guess the next pie I make will HAVE to be from scratch since I believe you can only get away with making 1 pie in your lifetime from frozen crust and canned fruit :) Here are some pictures!

 Before the top crust

 Crust on top cherries made

 Up close!

 Done baking

Cherry & crust goodness!

UPCOMING: Tuesday Treats!

I have decided to create a new dessert every Tuesday for you all to try out yourselves or maybe just enjoy reading about and drool over the pictures. This upcoming Tuesday I have decided to finally create something Savory, because this is a SAVORY and sweet blog isn't it?

I do not like bacon, I know, call me crazy, but I truly don't eat anything pork related (I know I am missing out on a lot of yummy things). Let me explain, growing up I really looked up to my brothers and sister. For a good part of my childhood my oldest brother did not eat pork because pigs were his favorite animal, therefore I did not eat pork, which has followed me into adulthood. However, just because I do not like pork doesn't mean all the people around me don't as well. My husband loves pork, actually he loves ALL types of meat! So I have decided to create Bacon Maple Cupcakes just for the hubby and I might actually have to try a bite!

I have not completely decided on how I am going to make them but I definitely know I am going to be making a maple based cream cheese frosting sprinkled with toasted bacon bits. For the cake I am not too sure what base I am going to use yet but I know it is going to have sprinkles of toasted bacon in it as well. I hope you are all looking forward to the upcoming Tuesday Treat next week!



Orange Gooooodness

Based on my last post you saw that I was actually able to make something without having to do it more then once to get it right! I was also able to make some yummy cake balls to go with the yummy Oreo pops for my nephew's 2nd Birthday party! My sister-in-law let me use some of her orange extract (powerful stuff) to flavor the orange chocolate melts so it kept within the orange flavor theme. I wasn't too happy with the outcome of the consistency of the melts but it still worked to say the least. Next time I flavor my melts I am going to have to use an oil based flavoring. Here are some pictures from the party!

 Orange & Chocolate Cake Balls

 Dreamsicle Oreo Pops

 The Birthday Boy!

 Birthday boys sister!

 Happy Birthday Ollie!

 The birthday boy on the slip-n-slide

More Cake Pops!