Cupcakes for Any Occasion, Reviewed

 

Cupcakes for Any Occasion by Rachel Lindsay, a.k.a. “Caked by Rach” to her over three million social media followers, is a delightful and inspiring guide that transforms cupcake baking and decorating into an accessible, joyful experience, and this is something I do not say lightly. As someone who typically dreads baking — I do it, but I don’t like it — I found myself genuinely excited to try the recipes and designs in this book. Without hesitation, I can say this is the best cupcake book I’ve encountered, perfect for novices and seasoned bakers alike.

The book features 20 delectable cupcake and frosting recipes, paired with over 50 creative decorating projects tailored for holidays, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and more. From whimsical Halloween ghosts and festive Christmas trees to charming butterflies and even playful spaghetti and meatballs designs, Lindsay’s creations are as imaginative as they are approachable. (Her skull cupcakes really spoke to me.)

Each project is accompanied by detailed, step-by-step photography and straightforward instructions, making complex-looking designs achievable for bakers of all skill levels. If you’ve ever wondered how to properly use a pastry bag, your questions are answered here — that alone, in my opinion, is worth the price of the book.What sets this book apart is its focus on simplicity and affordability. Lindsay uses basic tools and techniques that anyone can master. The recipes for cupcake bases and buttercream frostings are versatile, allowing endless mix-and-match possibilities to suit any occasion. Her clear guidance on essential baking and decorating methods ensures that even those with no prior experience—like myself—can produce stunning, professional-looking results.For added value, pairing the book with Lindsay’s online videos (Instagram and YouTube) enhances the learning experience, offering visual demonstrations that complement the written instructions.Cupcakes for Any Occasion is a foolproof guide that delivers. Whether you’re a reluctant baker or a cupcake enthusiast, this book will leave you eager to whip up your next batch of show-stopping cupcakes. Highly recommended for bakers of all ages and skill levels!

You can order your copy here.

 Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copycat Crumbl Birthday Cake Cookies

 

I have never had a Crumbl cookie. It’s not for lack of opportunity, because I have one of their stores just a few miles from my house, there’s just something about buying a cookie when I can easily make them (and eat as many as I want) that keeps me from trying what I’ve heard are some of the best cookies ever. When I came across this copycat recipe, I knew I had to give it a try. I’m glad that I did. Not only are these cookies really delicious, but they’re easy to make. They are also huge, so be warned. I think when I make these again, and I will, I’m going to make them a lot smaller. I know they won’t be authentic, but who is to know other than me? I’m also going to swap out the multicolored sprinkles for chocolate sprinkles. Doesn’t that sound good?

If you have tried their cookies and love them, this recipe is for you. If you have not tried their cookies, make these anyway, because the cookies are darned good. I think they are fine even without the frosting, so I’ll leave it up to you as to whether you want to make it or not.  It does take these cookies over the top. That they are birthday cake cookies is particularly appropriate as today is my number one son's birthday. Happy Birthday, Christopher! These are for you.

Copycat Crumbl Birthday Cake Cookies

Adapted from copycat.com

 1 c. unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs

½ t. salt

1 t. vanilla extract

1½ t. cake batter flavoring

2 t. baking powder

3 c. flour

¼ c. rainbow sprinkles

 FROSTING

4 T. unsalted butter, softened

3¼ c. powdered sugar

2 T. milk

1 t. cake batter flavoring

1-2 T. rainbow sprinkles

 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a Silpat; set aside.

 In the work bowl of a stand mixer cream, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

 Add salt, vanilla extract, cake batter flavoring, baking powder, and flour to the butter mixture, mixing until the flour is well incorporated. Add rainbow sprinkles, and mix to combine.

 Portion the cookie dough into 13 dough balls using an ice cream scoop. Place on prepared baking sheets. Press each dough ball gently with a glass to flatten to just under ¼” thickness.

 Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, for a slightly under baked texture, add a minute or two if you want them firmer.

 Cool on baking sheet fort 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 Frosting

 Combine all the frosting ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and blend until smooth using an electric mixer.

 Place the frosting in a piping bag with a medium tip. Pipe the frosting onto cookies in a pinwheel pattern, starting from the center and working outward, and immediately top with sprinkles

.Allow the frosting to set for 30 minutes before serving.

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Banana Crunch Cake with Praline Topping

Don’t ask me why (really, I mean it, don’t ask) I think of banana cake at Easter time. I know, I know, the Easter bunny eats carrots (Well, who knows? He may eat bananas as well.), and carrot cake seems to be the norm, but today I made a banana cake, and it is sensational! Seriously, I think this kicks carrot cake to the curb (Except for my Secret Ingredient Carrot Cake, of course!). It would work equally well at your Easter brunch or dinner, and the beauty of this cake is that it needs to be made the day ahead of serving. It tastes just fine and is certainly serve-worthy shortly after baking, but the flavors have a chance to meld if left to set at least eight hours.

While it needs to be made ahead, it also doesn’t keep well, so if it isn’t completely consumed the following day, put it in the freezer. It will last, frozen, for up to three months.

Obviously, this isn’t your normal banana cake if you take a look at the spices and flavorings, but the topping is what truly makes it out of this world! The secret ingredient is Melissa’s Clean Snax. Not only does it pack a nutritional wallop, but the delightful flavor and intense crunch make this praline topping incredibly good. Melissa’s has a wide variety of flavors of Clean Snax, including banana and cacao, but I did not want a trace of chocolate flavor in this cake, so went with almond. If you want to kick up the spice a bit, try their Hatch Chile Clean Snax (it’s impossible to stop eating, be warned.)

Banana Crunch Cake with Praline Topping

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 large bananas, mashed
¼ cup peanut butter
1½ tablespoons rum extract
1 large egg
1¼ cups of flour
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
¼ cup pecans, chopped

Praline Topping

¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons milk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup Melissa’s Almond Clean Snax, chopped
¼ cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour (or spray with Baker’s Joy) a 9” x 9” pan.

Cream sugar, butter, and bananas until smooth. Beat in rum extract and egg.

Blend dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl; add to wet mixture alternately with buttermilk.

Pour mixture into prepared pan, smoothing top, and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until top is golden brown, cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick tests clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Praline Topping

Bring butter and sugar to a boil in a medium/large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for one minute or until slightly thickened. Allow to cool 10 minutes. Whisk in milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Fold in Clean Snax and pecans, and pour over the top of cooled cake.

Allow cake to set, uncovered, at room temperature for eight hours or overnight before serving. This cake does not keep well, so it if it isn’t consumed the following day, freeze for up to three months.

PRINT RECIPE

A not-as-sweet banana loaf is my grandmother’s Banana Date Nut Bread, a delicious family tradition.

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(The BEST) Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking up a meal for a neighbor who, just last week, was carted off by the paramedics with a serious case of the flu.  She has since returned home (and passed the flu along to her husband) and is improving, though not as quickly as she would like.  Mr. O-P thought it would be a good idea to take them a meal, and so eagerly volunteered my services.  Good, old Mr. O-P.  Did I mention that I am only just coming off of a two-week cold that really laid me low?  Yeah, well, I did a good deed and was heartily thanked, and that did my heart good for the day.  I also made enough food to take a lunch to my dad’s tomorrow so the three of us can sit down and have a nice meal together. (Good Deed #2)

My standard “delivery” meal seldom changes.  I stick with what I know and what everyone seems to love: roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and dessert, in this case Chocolate Stout Cake that I decided to frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.  Oh, boy!  Mr. O-P found the cake more as a delivery vehicle for the frosting, although did add that it, in itself, was delicious.  I have frosted this cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Ganache, and, heaven help me, canned frosting, but this is absolutely the BEST.  Try it and see for yourself.  Oh, and the best thing is, it is SO easy!

(The BEST) Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup butter, softened

2-1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

2 tablespoons brewed, strong coffee

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler.  Stir until smooth; set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes.  In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy.  Gradually beat in confectioner’s sugar alternately with milk and coffee.  Add melted chocolate and vanilla and beat at high speed until smooth and creamy.  Frosts one cake.

This post is linked to:

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Clever Chicks Blog Hop

The Scoop

Five Star Frugal

Jamoca Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you ever catch yourself saying something that you really don't want to say, but before you can stop yourself it has already come out of your mouth, and is hanging in the air, much to your chagrin? This happened to me. I chalk it up to temporary insanity. As I may have mentioned, after three and a half years on the market, our 121-year-old Victorian-style farmhouse finally sold. Now, during the last eighteen months, Mr. O.P. has been keeping the fires burning, as it were, at the old place, and I've been living it up, albeit austerely, at the new one.  I began to like it. A lot. Queen of my own castle has always been a dream of mine, a clear, clutter-free castle has been another one. Well people, all of this was dashed last week when the mister and his two hundred boxes of God-knows-what, plus his monster-size pieces of antique furniture descended upon me and, well, my house. It has been a logistical nightmare. He is Oscar to my Felix. He is hoarder to my declutterer. At the moment, living in what now looks to be a warehouse of boxes, lining the walls, startling my poor Subaru in what used to be an empty garage, filling the storage area in the basement to capacity (I pray that we don't overload a circuit because only a trained monkey would be able to reach the circuit box.), I find myself completely off my game.  So I suppose, with all of this mess it shouldn't surprise me that I found myself, mid conversation, inviting a group of people over for a party to watch Game 4 of the World Series! What was I thinking?

So, yesterday after stumbling out of bed, drinking way too much coffee, and carelessly brushing my teeth (I do think I managed to get every other one), I found myself in the kitchen, playing “Beat the Clock,” madly whipping up dishes to suit every palate. What I failed to consider was, umm, dessert. Between innings I remembered a box of Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix hiding in the pantry.  I stirred the ingredients together and popped it into the oven. Then I reminded myself that I have long wanted to come up with a chocolate version of cream cheese frosting. Half loopy with fatigue, and remembering (why, at this moment, I do not know) that my favorite Baskin Robbins ice cream flavor used to be Jamoca Almond Fudge (do they still sell that?) I created this one. Chocolate, almond, espresso powder, and cream cheese. All of my favorite flavors rolled into one. I'm glad I made extra because I have a midnight date with a bowl and a spoon. 

Give it a try and see what you think. You can pump up the almond or espresso powder, to suit your tastes, or eliminate one or the other, or both. The chocolate and cream cheese alone carry this delicious, easy-to-spread frosting that turned my simple brownies into something special. 

Jamoca Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

½ teaspoon espresso powder

¼ teaspoon almond flavoring

½ cup cocoa (Hershey’s Special Dark recommended)

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

In a large metal mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, almond flavoring, and espresso powder until thoroughly blended.  Blend in cocoa powder.  Sift confectioners’’ sugar over cream cheese mixture, add milk, and beat until combined.  Spread over brownies (or cake).  This recipe should thickly cover a 9” x 9” pan of brownies, or thinly cover a 9” x 13” pan.

This post is linked to:

Inspire Me Tuesday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Guinness Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

This blog post is not about the delicious cake that you see pictured. No, this is about the frosting. I took a bit of a circuitous route to devise this frosting. It started, I suppose, when I relieved my dad of the jar of confectioners' sugar that remained in his pantry. I knew that he would never use it and, with mother gone, there will, sadly, be no more baking in that house. When I poured the sugar into my container, a recipe for cream cheese frosting fell out. It tugged at my heart. Little notes from mother seem to pop up when I least expect them. Finding them makes me happy and sad at the same time. My plan for the day was to make my favorite chocolate cake, Chocolate Stout Cake, and frost it with the same frosting that I always use, but instead, decided to try the recipe that had just appeared before me, making a chocolate version. It seemed like fate. Unfortunately I had no milk.  I did, however, have extra Guinness, so substituted half as much (due to the difference in viscosity) then tossed in some espresso powder for a richer flavor.  Then end result was so good I could have eaten it right from the bowl.  This is easy, no fail, spreads beautifully, amply covers the top and sides of a 9" cake, and got rave reviews from all who tried it.  I'd say it's a keeper. 

Guinness Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons Guinness
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

In the work bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, Guinness, confectioner's sugar, butter, vanilla, cocoa, and espresso powder to a spreadable consistency. Spread onto cooled cake.

This post is linked to:

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Sugar and Spice

Sunday Sweeties