My Cupcake Hall of Fame

I'll be honest.  This past week I've struggled to get a post up.  It's not that I don't feel like baking, because I do!  I really, really do.  But there are extenuating circumstances here.  I'm in the final days of a 12 week Biggest Loser-style weight loss competition, and I'm *this* close to winning.  I sit in second place with a big fat cash prize dangling in front of me if I can somehow squeak my way into first place.  So as you can imagine, baking cupcakes is probably not in my very best interest right this moment.

(I know, I know, what was I thinking starting a blog about CUPCAKES in the middle of something like this?  What can I say?  I like to make things harder than they have to be.)

Fortunately for everyone, I took some pictures of one of my all-time favorite cupcakes when I made them for a friend's birthday a few weeks ago.  Aannnd....for the second post in a row we have tan frosting.   Don't judge a book by its monochromatic cover, people.  After the first bite you'll see that inside of these cupcakes, there are a couple of very nice surprises......

A St. Patrick's Day directive

So first of all, I said the other day on my facebook page that I would be giving you two St. Patrick's Day cupcakes.  I'm amending that right now; there will be only one.  Don't think I'm a slacker or anything, because I DID make two kinds of cupcakes that would be appropriate for the holiday, but when the two were put side by side, one of them was clearly better than the other.  Let's face it, with the number of cupcake possibilities out there, you've got to really bring it if you want to get noticed, and while good, Martha's Irish Coffee cupcakes from the March issue of MSL just didn't make the cut.

Also, I whipped the cream about three strokes too many, and instead of a billowy mound on top, it was more like blended cottage cheese.  Oops!

Now, I know next to nothing about Irish cultures and traditions.  Personally, I'm about as Irish as a box of Lucky Charms.  But if stereotypes can be trusted at all, the one thing I do know is that Irish people like their beer.

Enter the Stout Cupcakes.  Specifically, Guinness Stout Cupcakes.

Not Tiramisu.

Today is the birthday of one of my very first friends.  I've known Eleanor since before she was born, which is longer than I've known just about anybody, I guess, so that earns her pretty high Friend Status.  She asked me last month if I'd bake for her birthday, and of course I said I'd love to!  (Although, I say that to pretty much anyone who asks, so I suppose it's not really a testament to my friendship, but whatever.)  After much discussion, we decided on a very nice Tiramisu cupcake that is soaked in a coffee-marsala syrup and topped with mascarpone whipped cream.  They were going to be amazing, and I couldn't wait for her to come over to get them.

And then I took them out of the oven.

Oh, my! Meringue!

Today was a good day.  It's Sunday, for starters, which means that I had a big, fat nothing on the schedule. The sun was shining, which meant that the kids could play outside instead of running like donkeys around the house.  We had a great dinner where nothing got spilled, and this morning I got to bake.  That was DEFINITELY the best part.  Especially since it means that after our great dinner, I had one of these waiting for me:

That, my friends, is no joke.  Will you take a look at that?  I had that for dessert.