Turkey Day Cupcakes

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?

This year is flying by I tell ya.. I feel like every year the months get shorter and shorter, the hours in the day disappear without a word and weekends come and go in the blink of an eye.

That being said, this is my favorite time of year. The leaves are changing (kind of), the weather gets cooler and what foodie doesn't love a holiday that revolves around food? Where it is absolutely OK to say yes to thirds, dessert is a must and the main goal of the evening is to stuff yourself until you fall asleep watching football!?...I can't wait!

To celebrate this joyous occasion I made some festive little Turkey Day Cupcakes.

I apologize ahead of time that I didn't take photos of the process, but I had to pick MM up at the airport so I was running out of time- but I'll try to explain as best I can. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Turkey Day Cupcakes

Vanilla Butter Cake

Recipe from the Mermaid Bakery

Oven: 350 Bake time: 25-30 minutes

Makes 2 or 3 8inch cakes 

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 3/4 cup AP flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare pans- grease and dust with flour- line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after every addition. Mix in vanilla.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to butter/sugar/egg mixture in two parts, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and cake bounces back to touch.

Place on cooling rack for about 20 minutes before removing cakes from pan to continue cooling.

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in microwave. Stir in cocoa powder until combined. Slowly add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk beating on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add more milk if necessary.

Turkey Materials
Whoppers Malted Milk Balls
Banana Laffy Taffy
Wilton Candy Melts


Assembly
Feathers: Melt Wilton Candy Melts per directions on package. Cool for a few minutes and then place melted candy in piping bag or candy bottle. Using piping bag or bottle, make feather shapes on parchment paper. Cool completely- until feathers are good and hard.

Turkey Heads:
For the beaks- With hands slightly flatten Lafffy Taffy. Using a sharp knife, cut taffy into small triangles.
Using the warmed candy melts, place a small amount on flat part of taffy triangles and attach to malt balls. Allow taffy to set and candy to harden.
Once beak is set, use warmed candy melts and pipe small dots for turkey's eyes.
(I had a left over tube of red frosting so I made the little gobblers, but if you don't have it don't worry)

Pipe cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Place turkey head on top of piped frosting. Place feathers behind head and pipe a small amount of chocolate frosting behind feathers for stabilization and a little tail.

What are you doing for Turkey Day??

Oh and did I mention that I'm flying with another wedding cake this weekend? 

Well if not, I'm flying with another wedding cake this weekend so be on the lookout..
this time around is a little different, but I'm traveling to Savannah again. I would show you a sneak peak, but I know the bride reads here and her cake is a surprise!

Have a great weekend everyone.. see you Monday!
Happy Baking!! 

Babies, Birthdays and Cakes

No, I'm not having a baby, but my friend's co-worker is and guess who got asked to make her baby shower cake??

And no, it's not my birthday either, but a customer at The Sweet Factory definitely got a sweet birthday cake...done in record timing I might add.

The past couple of weeks was spent decorating a lot of cakes... Having a mentioned how much I love decorating cakes? Probably.. but just in case you forgot I thought I'd share with you a few decorating adventures that I've been a part of recently and the recipes they include.

Baby Shower Cake

The decorations on the cake were made to match the shower decorations that my friend Dixie had already bought for her friend.

Birthday Cake

The other afternoon a guy came in to The Sweet Factory for a birthday cake.. I took the order, made the cake that night right before I closed up shop and had an hour to decorate the cake when I got back to shop the next evening before he came to get it. I had to make the icing, filling, decorate and package the cake all in a little under an hour.. impressive right? I can say that now, but at the time I thought I was going to lose my mind..I finished it literally just as he was walking in the store to pick it up.. phheeew. Thank goodness he wanted something simple..no flowers, designs, nothing.. just three simple words. These pictures are from my phone (hence the quality) 

The final product.. nothing horribly intricate but in 45 minutes!?

The aftermath...

Deep breath followed by lots of cleaning.

Both of these cakes were Vanilla Butter Cake with Chocolate Buttercream.. weird.

Vanilla Butter Cake

Recipe from the Mermaid Bakery

Oven: 350 Bake time: 25-30 minutes

Makes 2 or 3 8inch cakes 

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 3/4 cup AP flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare pans- grease and dust with flour- and I always line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after every addition. Mix in vanilla.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to butter/sugar/egg mixture in two parts, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and cake bounces back to touch.

Place on cooling rack for about 20 minutes before removing cakes from pan to continue cooling.

Once completely cooled, assemble layers (don't forget to level the tops of your cakes!) and frost with Chocolate Buttercream.

Chocolate Buttercream

1 cup butter

1 cup crisco

8 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted 

In a large bowl, cream butter and crisco until smooth and combined.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stopping to stir every 30 seconds- set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, sift cocoa powder and powder sugar- mixing together.

Add cocoa/sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla to butter/crisco and beat on low to medium-low until incorporated.

Slowly pour in cooled chocolate and beat on high for about 3-5 minutes until smooth. 

Happy Baking!