I♥cuppycakes!

Cupcake Hero:: September

Today’s the day. It’s what you’ve all been waiting so patiently to hear.

Cupcake Hero’s first ingredient!

I know I said new ingredient would be posted 1st of every month but I’m posting a little early to hype it up! Sok?

*drum roll*

Bet you NEVER thought I’d choose that!

Ok so I’m not a banana fan but September 21 is National Banana Day so I decided to make the first Cupcake Hero hard b/c trust me. It’s gonna take ALOT of creativity for me to like a banana anything. HA HA! But just so I’m not biased in my banana hate, my banana-loving husband and taste testers will help me.

What you waiting for? Push your kids out the door to school, fire up the Kitchen Aid mixer, get that butter to room temperature, screw in those piping tips and start baking!

Deadline: September 15th @ 11:59pm EST

BONUS: First cup-testant to email me their entry *AND* add picture to flickr group will win a participation prize! How you like them cupcakes!? HA!
Congrats Jackie! You are the first cup-testant!

Any Cupcake Hero newbies need a refresher course in the rules >> Click here.

Please feel free to link Cupcake Hero in your blog with any of these logos. Cute, eh?

National Cupcake Day Giveaway **WINNER**

What’s your favorite food holiday, CB?

Hey! Thanks for asking!

I’m a very methodical person. Call it OCD, idiosyncrasy, pocket protector nerdy… whatever. But when you ask me to pick a favorite anything, I take it seriously. So this is what I did. I narrowed down the list by looking for all the important dates relevant to my life: my birthday, husband’s birthday, wedding anniversary, dating anniversary (Yes, I still celebrate that!), brothers’ birthdays, mom’s birthday, dad’s birthday, parents-in-laws’ birthdays, brother-in-law’s birthday, sister-in-law’s birthday, godsons’ birthdays, best friend’s birthday.

And I gotta tell ya. My peeps are getting stiffed! Some of them have terrible food holidays on their birthdays.

National Artichoke and Hearts Day.
National Bagels and Lox Day. (That’s yours, Nikki. I like bagels… but lox? No thanks.)
National Day of the Mushroom.

But besides National Cupcake Day (duh?) I’ll have to go with my wedding anniversary and National Creme Brulee Day. That’s just all kinds of fabulous. I heart torched sugar.

Ok. Ok. Ready for the winner?

Congratulations Barb! You lucky girl you! I have to agree with all your favorite food holidays. I’m kind of a caramel junkie. And to the International No Diet Day I say… A-FREAKING-MEN! HA! Please email me your shipping address and I’ll pass it along to Susan. Thanks again Susan for sponsoring this giveaway. You rock my socks!

Don’t fret my readers. If you didn’t win blame Mr. Random Generator. Not me! But the giveaway fun’s not over yet. My equally (if not more) fabulous cupcake friend, Jen of Beantown Baker, is celebrating her Blogiversary by having a cupcake giveaway too! Head on over to her blog to enter and wish her Happy Blogiversary!

PS – Thanks for ALL the Cupcake Hero enthusiasm! The emails, comments, feedback etc have been amazing! The September ingredient will be announced sooner than you think! *squeal*

Happy National Cupcake Day **GIVEAWAY** (Time’s up!)

… or is it?

I’ve heard rumors in the cupcake world that August 18th is National Cupcake Day but I’m a little confused. (But that’s nothing new, eh? HA!) I can’t seem to find a positive ID on National Cupcake Day except on my favorite food holidays website: American Food Holidays. According to them National Cupcake Day is December 15th and August 18th is National Soft Ice Cream Day.

Say wha? *scratching head*

But just in case it really *IS* National Cupcake Day, I figured I’d do good by the cupcake gods by having a little ‘ol giveway!

If you’re like me, you LOVE giveaways, no?

I’m a little (ok. A LOT) crazy about entering them. But I’m also kinda lazy and the giveaways that make me do more than comment I gotta be honest… I don’t enter. Sometimes I’ll tweet for an extra entry but that’s about it. Gotta keep it simple for me to enter. That’s my philosophy.

So let’s practice what I preach.

Take a looksies at what I have for you! You’re gonna go nuts!

Cupcake cookies and a cupcake apron! (You notice my theme here?)

*Readers’ eyes bulge*

I told you so.

You know what the best thing about blogging is? Well let me tell ya! It’s meeting so many INSPIRING CREATIVE AMAZING people… like Susan of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic who is sponsoring this delicious giveaway.

Her twitter-famous cookies are just FRIGGIN’ adorable. I am SERIOUSLY jealous of her royal piping skills. But obviously creative talent runs in her family. Her mom is “sew” handy with a thread and needle. (Sorry! I couldn’t help it!) Isn’t that cupcake apron adorable? I have one just like it and I’m not lying when I tell you that a cute cupcake apron makes baking EVER better!

You can find more samples of Mama Doughmesstic’s aprons on Susan’s blog. I heart the black and green one. Am I the only one that thinks these are Etsy store worthy? Feel free to email Susan for any aprons you see on her blog or custom orders too! Tell her Clara sent ya!

Yes, CB but how do I enter?

Pushy. Pushy. Here’s the fine print. :P

Rules:
(1) Only those who live within the US eligible to win prizes. (Sorry my international peeps!)
(2) Please make sure you have a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

To enter leave a comment:
What is your favorite food holiday? Click here for a complete list.

Want an extra entry?
- Twitter (@ihcuppycakes) about my giveaway and leave me a separate comment with the link. Click “x time ago” under your tweet for the direct link. (+1 entry)
- Bake any IHC recipe and leave me a separate comment with the blog post link. Past recipes work too! (+1 entry)

Deadline: Friday, August 21st @ 11:59pm EST

Winners will be chosen by Mr. Random Generator.

But honestly if no one wants the cookies, it’s ok. I don’t mind taking care of them. *wink*

Get in ma bellyyyyyyy! Nom nom nom…

Cupcake Hero 411

As I mentioned in my previous post, CUPCAKE HERO is back. With a vengeance.

Without further ado. Let me break it down for you.

Rules:
> New ingredient or theme will be posted 1st of every month 22nd of the previous month. Ingredient must be used in the frosting and/or “cake” in some way shape or form.
> Deadline to enter will be the 15th of every month @ 11:59pm EST.
> All participants welcome but some international entries may limit prize shipping abilities.

To enter:
> Email me iheartcuppycakes{at}gmail{dot}com with your first name, blog entry link*, cupcake name. Subject line=Cupcake Hero [ingredient]
> Multiple entries welcome but please send me separate emails for each entry.
> If you haven’t already, join our flickr group. http://flickr.com/groups/cupcakehero
> Add 1-2 pictures of your cupcake to the flickr pool with a small blurb about your cupcake. This blurb will be part of the round up I do each month on my blog so feel free to write your cupcake’s name, ingredients, baking experience and/or whatever you want. I will leave a comment on every entry so you know that I’ve received it.
> Please include a link back to this post and feel free to include any of the cupcake hero logos in your blog.

* You do not have to have a blog to enter but will need to email me the complete recipe.

How the winner is chosen:
> Voting will be from 18-21st of each month.
> The cupcake with the most votes *AND* baker’s choice (me!) will go into a cupcake throw down in my kitchen.
> Give me about a week. Myself and trusted taste testers will decide the winner based on ease of replicating recipe, taste, frosting+cake flavor combination etc etc.
> Winner will receive a cupcake-tastic prize. (Prizes may vary each month)

But wait there’s more!

At the end of the year, I’ll gather all the monthly winners, pow wow with my cupcake gang taste testers and choose a TOP CUPCAKE MASTER of the year. Not only will you be in the Cupcake Hero Hall of Fame but you’ll get a MEGA COOL prize deserving of a cupcake master. Heck yeah!

So what do you say? ARE YOU IN IT TO WIN IT!? *fist pump*

Get ready to start baking b/c I’m ready to start tasting! September ingredient coming to a blog near you.

Questions, comments, clarifications and/or suggestions? Speak your peace in comments.

PS- If you or someone you know would like to sponsor a prize for Cupcake Hero, please email me.

UPDATE: Cupcake Hero is on an unofficial hiatus and not accepting entries until further notice. Read more information (here).

Martha-licious Buttermilk Cupcakes p.1

♪♫Guess who’s back… back again. CB’s back! Tell a friend!♪♫

Yup! That’s right. Vacation is over and now it’s back to reality. Can you say… major BUZZKILL? I am missing Mexico (and pina coladas) already… Le sigh.

I bet you can’t guess what I did after opening my door, dropping my purse, carryon bag and suitcase on the floor?

Ok maybe Twitter was the first thing (Hey I was internet-less for 8 days!! Cut me some slack!) but besides that…

Screw the laundry! I’m baking cupcakes! Of course. Not just any cupcakes. Martha cupcakes.

But that’s the only teaser you get. You’ll have to come back tomorrow for Part deux.

I’m such a butt huh?

Man! It’s good to be home. *evil laugh*

Recipe adapted from Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Makes about 18 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1-1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, unsalted and room temp
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs+1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pan with liners. Sift both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with flat beat, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed. Reduce speed and add eggs, one at a time until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternatively with buttermilk in 2 additions. Beat until combined. (Try not to overbeat.) Add vanilla.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

ENJOY!