I had the wonderful opportunity of making a dessert spread for my friends' sealing reception a few weeks ago. They were sealed together in the Bountiful Temple. What a great day!...especially when food and dessert is involved!
They had the reception at their private pavilion next to their cozy country home. The setup was beautiful with the rustic wood and brick complimented by the gorgeous granite! It made for a really great background for the dessert bar. The theme we were working off of was "Autumn Inspirations" so naturally the party planners chose Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. For a chocolate element we threw in some Chocolate Fudge Cake Pops tied with some festive fall colored ribbon and added some delicious Rice Krispie Treats Dipped in Vanilla because....Why Not?! It was beautiful.
I have been wanting to make some cupcake toppers so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity! I made 3 different toppers customized to the event and they turned out fabulous. I used Microsoft Publisher to design the toppers and printed them at Kinkos on white cardstock. I used a 2 inch round punch to cut them out. InkSpot WorkShop provides a nice beginner tutorial on how to make cupcake toppers that can help get you started. After that you can play around and get creative! I got my inspiration for the cupcake topper designs from The TomKat Studio.
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| Thanks for assembling the cupcake toppers, Jill! |
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| A sillhouette of the Bountiful Temple |
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| These cupcakes were a hit! |
As I have said before, Vanilla Dipped Rice Krispie Treats make the PERFECT dessert bar selection because they are super fun, really easy to make and most important of all.... the TASTIEST! These are usually my favorite item at the dessert bars. Do you honestly know anyone who would turn down a delicious rice krispie treat?!
Chocolate Fudge Cake Pops are always a favorite. I guess you really can't go wrong with chocolate in general ....right? Slap a stick in some chocolate fudgyness, tie a bow on it and you're good to go....well almost. ;D I love how these turned out. Magnifique!
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| It was great to have help drizzling and assembling the cake pops. Thanks Hope! |
What a memorable day filled with family, friends, fun and desserts!
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with
Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Yields ~24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix
15 oz. can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (or oil)
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese (can use reduced fat or regular)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. honey
2-4 cups powdered sugar (grocery store brand)
1-2 Tbsp milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake papers.
Blend together the cake mix, pumpkin, eggs, applesauce, water, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice on low to medium speed until fully incorporated. Do not beat for too long or the batter will incorporate too much air creating a lighter, spongy texture (unless you like it that way). I prefer these cupcakes to have some solid structure. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full. These do not rise a lot in the oven.
Bake for 12-15 minutes (6-7 minutes for minis) or until it passes the toothpick test.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans enough to touch them without burning yourself. Remove from pans and cool completely.
To make your frosting:
Cream the butter and cream cheese until soft and uniform. Add the honey and cinnamon. Gradually add about half the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add 2 Tablespoons of milk for a smooth texture. Continue adding powdered sugar until the cinnamon and honey flavors start to fade and the frosting starts to become sweet. I actually do not measure the powdered sugar but adjust to taste usually. It needs to be thick enough to hold up after being piped so if your frosting is still pretty soft and runny then you probably need to add more sugar.
Cream the butter and cream cheese until soft and uniform. Add the honey and cinnamon. Gradually add about half the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add 2 Tablespoons of milk for a smooth texture. Continue adding powdered sugar until the cinnamon and honey flavors start to fade and the frosting starts to become sweet. I actually do not measure the powdered sugar but adjust to taste usually. It needs to be thick enough to hold up after being piped so if your frosting is still pretty soft and runny then you probably need to add more sugar.
To decorate your sweet cuppin' cakes:
Using a ½ inch plain round tip in a piping bag (or huge ziplock), swirl on the frosting starting from the outside and swirling in. Release the pressure and pull up to create the pointy top. Assemble your cupcake toppers using lollipop sticks and tape and then push into cupcake all the way to the bottom making sure they are straight up and down. Voila!
Using a ½ inch plain round tip in a piping bag (or huge ziplock), swirl on the frosting starting from the outside and swirling in. Release the pressure and pull up to create the pointy top. Assemble your cupcake toppers using lollipop sticks and tape and then push into cupcake all the way to the bottom making sure they are straight up and down. Voila!
Vanilla Dipped Rice Krispie Treats
Ingredients:
10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies (Use the original Kellogg's Brand so they stay Rice Krispies and don't become Rice Soggies)
3-4 Tbsp Butter
Vanilla Melting Wafers ( I use Guittard Vanilla Apeels because they are good quality, easily colored and melt to a thin consistency so the shells aren't too thick.)
Put your mallows and butter in a BIG ol' microwave safe bowl and nuke at 30 second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spoon, until melted thoroughly. Dump in the rice krispies and quickly mix until uniform. Dump the mixture out onto a greased sheet pan (or another container). Remove jewelry, butter up your hands and press the mixture to compact it enough to hold together but not so much that it becomes too dense and hard. The top of the sheet pan edges seem to be the perfect height for these treats. It will take about 3 batches to fill an entire pan but you can just press it into a corner if you only want 1 batch. Let them cool.
Once cool, cut them into whatever size you want. These were about 1.5" x 3". They don't have to be perfect. I just eyeballed it. There might be scraps after you have cut your squares out...again, please test the product for quality assurance purposes.
Allow the marshmallow to set securely before dipping (an hour or two would be nice). Prepare another sheet pan with parchment paper. When ready to dip, melt the vanilla wafers (not to be confused with Nilla Wafers) however you prefer. If you are wanting to color the melt, use oil-based coloring ONLY. Add a little at a time until the desired shade is achieved. Dip the end of the Rice Krispie into the melt about half way and then shake off the excess. Drag the edge of the rice krispie against the bowl to take off the excess. Place onto the parchment and allow to dry. Repeat.
Once they are all done and fairly dry, take the left-over melt and place in a ziplock baggie. Zip the top, twist it to push the melt into a corner and snip a very small piece of the corner off. While pressing evenly, zig zag back and forth over the dipped part of the rice krispie treat. Let dry and Enjoy.
Once they are all done and fairly dry, take the left-over melt and place in a ziplock baggie. Zip the top, twist it to push the melt into a corner and snip a very small piece of the corner off. While pressing evenly, zig zag back and forth over the dipped part of the rice krispie treat. Let dry and Enjoy.
YOU GOT TO STOP THIS HORRIBLE TEMPTATIONS. I AM FAT ENOUGH. LOVE YOU.
ReplyDeleteThanks I am totally making these!
ReplyDelete