Sweet Saturdays ~ Chocolate Passion Cupcakes

This cupcake is ALL about the chocolate: chocolate cake, topped with chocolate icing, drizzled with chocolate fudge, and sprinkled with chocolate chips. My sister as adequately nick-named these cupcakes the "PMS Cupcakes". Ladies....you understand. I'm even debating adding a fudge cream filled center. Okay, truth is, I've wanted to add the filled center but my memory is lacking so I never remember until after I've put the mound of chocolate icing on top. Either way, these will definitely cure any chocolate cravings that you have.

Sweet Saturdays ~ Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

This recipe perhaps one of my most requested cupcakes...even if it is the same repeat customer every week! In all seriousness though, this is my most popular fall flavor. I modified a recipe from Annie's Eats but just barely. She has such great recipes - be sure to check them out. I have yet to find one that I don't like!
I originally searched for this recipe because I tend to follow Starbucks as far as seasonal flavors. The very same day I started searching for it, Annie posted the recipe on her website. It was fate!

Seuss-tastic Birthday!

When our youngest daughter turned 2, we threw a huge Dr. Seuss themed party for her. It wasn't really "huge" because we went all out and spared no expense. It was huge because we have 50ish family and immediate friends that we invite to our get togethers. My husband has 7 immediate brothers and sisters, who {mostly} each have several children, plus I don't know how many half brothers/sisters and step brothers/sisters. It's really confusing and after 7 years of marriage, I still don't know them all.

Cheesecake Icing

If you've ever tried one of my cheesecake cupcakes, you'll know how great this stuff tastes. If you haven't, you don't know what you're missing! This icing tastes exactly like cheesecake...thick, creamy, and delicious! No more beating around the bush; lets get straight to the point! I know...it's cruel posting the picture of the entire cupcake but it's the only picture I have of the icing. BUT...stayed tune next Saturday (02/11/12) for the recipe for this delicious Blueberry Cheesecake cupcake. Though I bet you could piece together a recipe yourself.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

*This is a recipe from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Buttercream

Whenever I have a cupcake or cake topped with chocolate icing, this is my go to recipe. I absolutely love it and so far, so does everybody else. My sister has said it taste almost like fudge. I'm sharing this because I will be posting my Chocolate Passion cupcake recipe this weekend and this chocolate buttercream recipe is a must have.

Cash Budget Envelope System

I'm sure most of you have heard of using the cash budget system. It's been made popular by Dave Ramsey but honestly, it's little more than common sense. When we have cash on hand, we're more reluctant to get rid of it...or at least I am. And that's the main idea behind the cash budget system. You don't use debit cards, credit cards or checks. You use strictly cash.
This method is great for a multitude of reasons: you're less willing to hand over a $20 bill for some $5 frivolous item than you are to slide a debit or credit card; you can visually see where your money is going and realize more quickly when you're about to go over-budget...in fact, you can't really go over-budget with this method; you keep better track of where you use your cash than you do where you use your debit card; and if you're anything like me, I detest using $1 bills (such a pain!) so they just pile up which can add up to big 'savings'.

Cakes of the week!

The winter is usually a little slow for me but now that spring is just around the corner, I'm starting to get in quite a few cake orders. Now that I'll have new cakes to do, I'd like to take the opportunity to share them with you. At the end of each week, I'll post that weeks cakes. This week it will only be one cake.