cookie monster cupcakes

I recently made a giant cupcake and regular sized cookie monster cupcakes for a co-worker's son, who's first birthday was in early January. She took him to get professional pictures taken, so I made his "smash cake" -- a giant cupcake with blue icing. Below is a picture of it at my house. I hope to soon post one featuring the adorable Cole with his giant cupcake!



This was my first time using the giant cupcake mold... in order for the cake to maintain the shape of the mold, I used a recipe that was more like a bundt cake. It turned out great, and was delicious! One of the tricks I learned is that you need to pour the batter into the bottom half of the mold and cook for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven, add batter to the top half of the mold and continue baking for the recommended time. Below is a picture of the giant cupcake mold -- I found mine at Bed Bath & Beyond, but I know they're also sold at Williams Sonoma.



For Cole's first birthday party I made cookie monster cupcakes. Half were white cake, the other half were chocolate, all had blue buttercream icing. The cupcakes turned out great, although the decorating portion was incredibly time-consuming!

christmas treats

As usual I spent part of my Christmas break baking delicious Christmas goodies. I love turning up the Christmas music while baking away -- it reminds me of when I was little and would decorate sugar cookies with my mom while listening to Randy Travis sing "Old Time Christmas."

As gifts to my co-workers, as well as Brett's, I made Christmas tree sugar cookies. I used my favorite lemon cut-out cookie recipe with royal icing. They were delicious!





I recently discovered Cake Balls, so I made a couple of batches over the holiday season. Both batches were red velvet dipped in milk chocolate. YUM! I took a batch to work one day and put them out in the breakroom when I arrived in the morning. About an hour later they were all gone! Since they were popular, I made a batch for Christmas Eve dinner at my in-laws. They weren't quite as popular that night considering the ridiculous amounts of sweets and appetizers that were available for munching...





Brett noticed that I was becoming a big fan of Cake Balls, so he got me a Cake Pop cookbook for Christmas (Cake Pops - same as Cake Balls, only on a stick!* He also got me a lovely watch, and a cheese grater (practical, right?).



I haven't tried any of the Cake Pop recipes yet, but they look delicious! I'll be sure to post when I try out the cookbook.

By the way, Happy New Year to all of my readers! I'm looking forward to making many more delicious treats in 2011! Check back for pictures of Giant Cupcakes and Cookie Monster Cupcakes... I'm making lots of delicious Cookie Monster inspired treats for my friend's son who just turned one!

*Don't let your mind wander, I'm only referring to baking!