Lovin' From the Oven

From-Scratch Funfetti Cupcakes

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Happy belated Easter, everyone! My baby cousin came over (alright, so maybe he’s not so baby anymore.. he’s turning 5 this year) and we did a mini Easter egg hunt for him. I absolutely adore the little munchkin and spoil him quite a bit. He doesn’t eat much, but he LOVES cupcakes. He’ll finish a cupcake in no time at all. I wanted to make something that the adults would love too, something not too sweet. I settled for vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I’ve always been a fan of Pillsbury’s Funfetti cake mix, and when I saw this recipe on the community bakebakebake from livejournal, I knew I had to make it. This recipe is adapted from livejournal user bluemotion and the original recipe can be found here; thanks! I got about 17 cupcakes from this recipe. The cream cheese frosting is pretty much a basic cream cheese recipe. I usually just play around with it until I get the consistency/taste that I want since it’s very forgiving. You can’t really mess it up. The cupcakes were a huge hit– adult and children alike. I probably should’ve left my cupcakes in a bit longer, as they sunk a bit in the middle. Besides that, the cake was wonderfully moist and the frosting was perfect– creamy and not too sweet. The cake batter tasted exactly like that from the box, which is a huge plus in my opinion. These sure won’t disappoint!

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 XL egg whites
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/8 cup plain nonfat yogurt
  • a handful of rainbow sprinkles (jimmies), optional
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. Mix together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together melted butter and sugar until combined. Add egg whites and beat until mixture is smooth and light. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the yogurt. Gently fold in sprinkles, if using. Scoop batter into prepared tins.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes, until cupcakes are barely golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out with a couple of loose crumbs. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in tins. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting:

  • About 1/3 cup and 3 T of softened butter
  • 10 oz cream cheese
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well blended. Mix in the vanilla. Gradually incorporate the powdered sugar into the batter. Beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if necessary to get the desired consistency.

And just for kicks, here’s my little chubs (phone picture):
Devouring his cupcake, frosting first, as always:

Bakerella Cupcake Pop Bouquet

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A friend of mine at school asked me if I could bake something for his girlfriend’s sister’s birthday. He basically left it up to me and let me make whatever I wanted since he trusted my taste. Ahh, the beauty of boys getting girls gifts… they always let the girls figure it out for them! Nevertheless, I was excited because I had another reason to make Bakerella’s cupcake pops once again!

This time, instead of making a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I made a devil’s chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. The result? I think these were better than the red velvet, if I do say so myself. The only thing missing was that I didn’t have the mini m&m’s to top them all off. I used a styrofoam base to stick all the lollipops in and to keep them from tipping over (you can find these bases at a crafts store in the planting section). I made the cupcake pops just like before, but stuck a lollipop stick through them once they hardened and were completely dry. If the chocolate was too thick to poke the stick through, I used the tip of a knife to carve out a tiny hole so that the stick would go in easier.

I haven’t been able to bake this weekend because of my wisdom teeth surgery, but I lucked out and only had 2 wisdom teeth instead of the usual 4 (both of mine were on the bottom)! The operation was definitely not as terrible as I thought it would be since they knocked me out. The last thing I remember was the doctor telling me, “You’re probably freaking out and wondering ‘Why haven’t I passed out yet?'” The next thing I knew, I was waking up and the procedure was done. Amazing how that works. I’ve been living off of tomato bisque, mashed potatoes, yogurt, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese for the past couple of days. Man, what I would do for a chili cheeseburger! I’m seriously craving some REAL food. Thank goodness I have a nice boyfriend who’s about to pick me up some creme brulee and caramel flan (my favorite desserts of all time) right now. :]

My family & friends have been amazing since I’ve basically been stuck in bed all weekend and I just want to say thank you! I even woke up from my nap today to find this from my boyfriend’s mom & grandma:

…a “feel better” bouquet (sorry for the crappy picture quality, it was taken on my phone)! How sweet is that?! They’re so precious. I’m recovering quite quickly compared to my friends’ horror stories about their experiences with wisdom teeth pulling, and I should be up and about in no time. Thanks for all your concerns and words of advice! :]

Chocolate Cupcakes & a Giveaway!

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When I’m in the mood for chocolate, I’m in the mood of chocolate.. lots and lots of it. A little piece from a candy bar won’t satisfy my craving. I need a mound of it, something that’s over the top chocolate-y. I was thinking of some of the most decadent chocolate treats to make for myself (chocolate mousse, pudding, flour-less chocolate cake, fudge, brownies, etc), when I just happened to turn my box of Hershey’s cocoa over. What did I find? Hershey’s “perfectly chocolate” chocolate cake with “perfectly chocolate” chocolate frosting. With a name like that, I knew I was sold. I mean, what other dessert has chocolate 4 times in the title?

I have nothing but great memories of Hershey’s. I was lucky enough to go to Hershey’s Chocolate World in Pennsylvania when I was younger with my family and see how chocolate was made. I still have a souvenir from there– a picture of my entire family on the ride that teaches you the entire chocolate making process. I remember being so appalled and in complete awe of the amount of chocolate in the factory, while wanting to take a bite out of everything. I’d definitely recommend a trip there, if you haven’t already, for all the chocolate fiends like me! :]

I followed the recipe exactly as stated, adding a bit more cocoa into both batters. The result? A perfectly chocolate chocolate cake. Moist, sweet, and chocolate-y, without a sense of empowerment from any of the flavors. Everything blended perfectly together. I dusted half the cupcakes with powdered sugar and left the other half as is. The cupcakes were so beautiful that I couldn’t help but post a million pictures of them. Enjoy!
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 3/4 cup HERSHEY’s cocoa
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour 2 9-inch round baking pans or line muffin cups with bake cups.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on med speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter onto prepared pans.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes if doing 9-inch round pans, 22-25 minutes for cupcakes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans/cups to wire racks and cool completely.
  • 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
  • 2/3 cup HERSHEY’s cocoa
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter, stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups of frosting.
Hooray for my 100th post on Lovin’ From the Oven! Thank you so much everyone for following along. You guys are the very reason why I’m still blogging today! To show my appreciation, I’ll be doing my very first giveaway! I’ll be giving away A Year of Cookie Cutters from Crate & Barrel!
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If you recall, I own this set myself and LOVE it! I used the cutters in my previous post to make no fail sugar cookies. I love it so much that one lucky winner will be able to get your own, BRAND NEW set! It comes with 12 different cookie cutters, one for each month. The cookie cutters are adorably packaged in its own cookie container. It doesn’t get any better than that!
All you have to do to enter in my giveaway is leave a comment, saying anything you’d like… a random comment, a question, a thought… on this post with a way for me to contact you by Saturday, March 14th, 11:59PM Pacific time. I’ll choose the winner by using random.org. Good luck!
You can find more details about this gift (or if you just want to buy it for yourself) on Crate & Barrel’s site HERE

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