Cupcake Adventure!

The best cupcake shop in the world. 

That is the exterior of the best, I mean best, cupcake shop. They have great and unique flavors, and everything is local and organic, which I love. 

I actually first found out about this shop at a bridal expo for my friend last year, and man, were we hooked. I then decided to take my roommate, who has a huge sweet tooth, here a few months ago. Whoops. Now she requests that we come here all the time! I love cupcakes but these are so rich that I have to be careful not to eat too many! 

We were downtown yesterday and just had to stop in for a bite:

I ordered the "Bramble" cupcake, which is Vanilla Butter Cake with Raspberry Rose and Cream frosting, and the "Chocolate Hibiscus," which is, you guessed it, a chocolate cake with hibiscus and cream frostings, topped with a blueberry! Delightful!

xoxo,
Caryn Elizabeth

Pre-K Wednesday: Zucchini Bread and Graduation!

Our homemade zucchini bread

We made zucchini bread with the kids this week! We let them grate the zucchini into small bits and allowed them to measure out our other ingredients. The zucchini was from our garden! It was a fun and time-consuming activity. We used a recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens' New Cook Book. You can buy the book here or see the recipe below:

Zucchini Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. 

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg. In another mixing bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup shredded unpeeled zucchini, 1/4 cup cooking oil, 1 egg, and 1/4 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. If you please, stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts before pouring batter in a 8x4x2-inch loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, remove bread from pan and cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing, makes 1 loaf (16 servings). 

Enjoy!

Graduation cupcakes

Many of the families were excited for their children to graduate for the first time ever, and one mom even made these great graduation cupcakes! She used funfetti cupcake mix (I'm in my twenties and funfetti is still my favorite). She made the graduation "caps" with a lollipop stick, a Reese's peanut butter cup, Hershey's chocolate (2 pieces per cap), an M&M, a sour worm-type candy, and melted chocolate as "glue." 

They turned out so cute! 

Hope your baking adventures are turning out delicious! 

xoxo