Hummingbird Cupcakes

Have I ever shared my undying love of cupcakes? I'm only kidding, I know my cupcake obsession is a little too hard to hide. It has been going strong for years now, long before they were ever "trendy".

I dream up cupcake flavors in my spare time. I wear cupcake jewelry. I sport cupcake shirts. I even bake cupcakes in...wait for it...a cupcake apron!

I stop at every cupcake shop in every.single.city that we visit.



I better go on to tell you about these awesome cupcakes before you write me off as totally cupcake obsessed crazy and stop reading.

We loved these cupcakes! I found them over at Annie's Eats and knew I HAD to make them asap...and that I did.

Banana, pineapple, and coconut are combined to make the most delicious, fruity, springy cupcake imaginable. It is a denser cake that reminded me a lot of a carrot cake texture. All that wonderful fruitiness is topped off with a delicious cream cheese icing.

They would be absolutely perfect for your Easter celebration!



Yield: approximately 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
11 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1¼ tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; whisk together and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, vanilla, and sugar and beat until blended and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the mashed banana. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Gently fold in the pineapple, nuts (if using), and coconut with a spatula until evenly mixed.

Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling each about ¾ full. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.


Recipe Credit: Annie's Eats

Back to School Cupcakes

Ready or not it is back to school time!

What better way to get in the spirit than by making some yummy school bus cupcakes!!!

I recently invited two of my favorite kids over to make some cupcakes. We had so much fun baking the cupcakes, eating the icing, and decorating them. What can I say...it doesn't get much better than a cupcake.

Here they are showing off their creations!!!

Here is Ethan...icing the cupcakes!!!

Meanwhile, Rylee is cutting the wafer cookies to look like school buses...she couldn't let those extra pieces go to waste, now, could she?

Here is the finished product!

This would be a great project to make with your kids or you could make them yourself and surprise the kids :)

Here is what you need:

Cooled cupcake (use your favorite recipe)

Blue and green frosting

Wafer cookies

Chocolate chips

Black and white decorators gel (I just used regular icing)

Red mini M&M's (Again, I just used red icing)

Instructions:

Frost each cupcake...half green and half blue.

Cut a small notch on the top of the wafer cookie...so it resemble a bus. You may also need to cut some off of the end so it fits on the cupcake.

Set the cookie on the cupcake. (Make sure the top of the bus is on the blue sky...)

Add two chocolate chips for the wheels.

Use the black and white decorators gel or icing for the details on the bus. Then use the red M&M's or red icing to make the stop sign on the bus!

Now you have one tasty, frugal treat that the whole family will love!!!!

(If you are using black and white icing instead of decorators gel...put the icing in a Ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the end. Then you can pipe it on the cupcakes pretty easily. Of course if you have piping bags use those, but I know most people don't)

This post is linked to Frugal Friday at www.lifeasmom.com