Posted in Baking, Bread Pudding, Cupcakes, Miscellaneous, Pasta, Pies, Uncategorized, tagged 1 year, Anniversary, Blog on August 2, 2011| 84 Comments »
Today marks the one year anniversary of Sweet Caroline’s Cooking! Not only have I expanded my culinary knowledge and skills throughout this journey, but I’ve also “met” some of the kindest and talented food bloggers along the way.
To celebrate my blog’s anniversary, I figured I’d share five of my favorite posts, including my very first post.
Posted in Alcohol, Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, tagged Butterscotch, Cream soda, Ganache, Harry Potter on July 14, 2011| 75 Comments »
I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a huge Harry Potter fan–meaning yes, I’ll be at the midnight showing tonight. So, when my friend Molly asked me yesterday if I wanted to make butterbeer cupcakes in honor of the movie release, you can bet that I sacrificed missing my favorite workout class to make these delectable treats.
The texture of the cake was fluffy and moist, and made even better with the gooey butterscotch filling and silky frosting. Though delicious, the cupcakes were extremely sweet–and that’s even coming from the girl with the huge sweet tooth. :)
Cheers!
Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Fruit, tagged Cream cheese, Raspberries, Vanilla on June 16, 2011| 76 Comments »
Although I didn’t make these cupcakes for my birthday (which is today :)), I thought they’d be the perfect post for the occasion.
I brought these fluffy and moist almond-vanilla cupcakes into work the other day. We had a bunch of interviews scheduled at our office for one of our clients, so I wanted to have a sweet treat for the media (it was also our intern’s birthday). The cupcakes were an absolute hit.
One of the photographers told me that he had a brief relationship with the cupcake. Clearly he approved. :)
I still have a few in my fridge, so I’m sure I’ll indulge in one today to celebrate!
Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Holiday, tagged Cream soda, Toffee on May 30, 2011| 34 Comments »
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day! I made these moist and delicious cream soda toffee cupcakes for today, along with barbecue baked beans (thanks for the inspiration, Greg!) and other goodies, which I’ll post at a later date.
Posted in Alcohol, Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Holiday, tagged Cinco de Mayo, Lime, Tequila on May 5, 2011| 26 Comments »
Happy Cinco de Mayo! In honor of the holiday, I baked margarita cupcakes topped with a tequila-lime meringue buttercream frosting. Initially, I wanted to feature tequila in a gourmet margarita drink, but decided to get a bit more creative with the liquor.
These cupcakes turned out moist and delicious with loads of flavor. The lime juice and zest in the cake worked brilliantly with the tequila and lime infused frosting. I think these will be a hit with my friends tonight!
Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Holiday, tagged Easter, Eggs, Lemon curd on April 25, 2011| 10 Comments »
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I spent the entire day with my family, enjoying a delectable brunch at our country club and then relaxing at home.
Naturally, I had an urge to bake, so I made Martha Stewart’s recipe for these adorable mini Easter egg cakes. Instead of using a glaze, as suggested in the recipe, I decided to make a frosting. I figured this would guarantee a thorough coating of the cakes and would give them a stark white color to resemble an egg.
Not only were the cakes adorable, but they were delicious–especially with the lemon curd filling, or shall I say egg yolk.
Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Holiday, tagged Food coloring, Glaze, Hearts, Valentine's Day on February 14, 2011| 1 Comment »
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Today is one of the few days when consuming excessive amounts of chocolate and candy is deemed appropriate—from chocolate covered strawberries to boxes of assorted chocolates to candy hearts. The list of guilty pleasures goes on. However, since I’m always baking, I consider it acceptable to eat desserts every day, especially since I have a terrible sweet tooth.
In spirit of the holiday, I made mini vanilla heart cakes, using a simple butter cake recipe from Betty Crocker. I decided to spruce them up with a red marble design, decorative sprinkles and gel. The cakes didn’t turn out as moist as I’d hoped, but at least they looked cute!
Posted in Baking, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Dessert, tagged Football on February 6, 2011| 5 Comments »
Posted in Baking, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Dessert, Fruit, Holiday, tagged Buttercream, Hearts, Raspberry, Valentine's Day on January 31, 2011| 4 Comments »
With Valentine’s Day in sight, I wanted to get a head start on some themed cooking and baking. Originally, I was planning on making strawberry macaroons, as I’ve never tasted or made the cookie. However, I was in a lazy mood and didn’t feel like baking something that would demand too much effort.
I decided to bake cupcakes instead, especially since I had some adorable new liners that I’d been craving to use. I chose a Martha Stewart recipe for raspberry cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting and lacy chocolate hearts—primarily because they looked absolutely adorable in the photo that accompanied the recipe. I was unsure about making the chocolate hearts because of the tedious process, but am so glad I took the time to make them.
I substituted a few ingredients in the recipe and the cakes turned out moist and delicious. The finely chopped raspberries in the batter were a pleasant surprise when biting into the cupcake.
I topped the cupcakes with my reliable and fool-proof recipe for sweet and smooth buttercream frosting. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any leftover berries, but next time I would definitely add fresh raspberries to the frosting to give the cupcakes a little extra zing.
Oh, and I got to use my brand new, gorgeous Kitchen Aid professional mixer—definitely a wise investment. :)
Posted in Baking, Cupcakes, Dessert, Holiday, tagged Cinnamon, Cream cheese, Gingerbread, Maple on December 21, 2010| 2 Comments »
Since I’m fully embracing the Christmas season, I wanted to experiment with the holiday’s most popular and traditional flavors. My mom purchased a variety of Christmas themed cupcake liners a month ago—a small gift that wouldn’t excite many people. But I, of course, was ecstatic over her purchase. I wanted to use some of these liners before Saturday, so I decided to bake some cupcakes for my friend, Dana’s, ugly Christmas-sweater party.
I baked gingerbread cupcakes and chose to pipe them with a cream cheese frosting. Although moist and delicious, the cupcakes did not have a strong gingerbread flavor. I decided to add cinnamon and imitation maple extract to the frosting to give the cupcakes a more prominent taste. The frosting turned out absolutely delectable and paired wonderfully with the cupcakes.
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