4th of July Cupcakes

photo credit: bakingbites.com

With summer right around the corner, my favorite holiday is just about to hit. The 4th of July will yield many barbecues and other festivities and none is complete without some special 4th of July cupcakes!
Here are some great ideas for 4th of July cupcakes and frosting and decorating.

4th of July cupcakes take 1. If you're a naturalist like me, then you hate food dye. This makes baking and decorating 4th of July cupcakes difficult since we all know that you can't have 4th of July cupcakes that don't represent the red, white, and blue. This is why I'm starting off here, because if you can avoid chemically enhanced cupcakes then you should. For these 4th of July cupcakes you can use either a chocolate cupcakes, a vanilla cupcake, or a red velvet cupcake (using beet juice of course!). If you want to make these 4th of July cupcakes with vanilla cupcakes but you want the cake to be red, you can add a little beet juice in place of water. Beet juice is strong so careful!
For 4th of July cupcake I like to use vanilla frosting. That will be your white in your red, white and blue. 4th of July cupcakes should be festive, so use a vanilla frosting, cream cheese frosting, or boiled frosting and lather up those cupcakes! Now you may be wondering where your red and blue come in if you're not going to use food dye. Luckily the 4th of July is in the summer and fruit and summer go hand in hand. Decorate your 4th of July cupcakes with blueberries and raspberries. Or decorate your 4th of July cupcakes with strawberries instead of raspberries. Voila! If you want red icing, use beets! You will have marvelous natural 4th of July cupcakes that everyone will enjoy. A nice way to decorate is to make a swirl or circle of blueberries and stick a strawberry with the top cut off faced down on the top of your 4th of July cupcakes. What would really make an amazing 4th of July cupcake would be chocolate covered strawberries.
Enjoy!

4th of July cupcakes take2: Now that we've covered our natural 4th of July cupcakes, lets get down to the nitty gritty. The simple truth is, if you want blue 4th of July cupcakes, use a yellow cake and blue food dye, you want red, use a red food dye. Plain and simple. The same goes for the icing that you'll be covering your 4th of July cupcakes in. I like to keep things simple with a yellow or white 4th of July cupcakes topped with white frosting or chocolate frosting and then red, white, and blue sprinkles. If you're feeling really festive, your 4th of July cupcakes can adorn an American flag make out of sprinkles. You can also create different color frosting to top your 4th of July cupcakes and do a swirl or a patter atop your 4th of July cupcakes. They'll look really cute. Experiment! 4th of July cupcakes should be crazy and explosive, not safe and refined.

No matter how you decorate your 4th of July cupcakes, I assure you people will love them. 4th of July cupcakes will make your holiday extra special.

Come back soon for more cupcake recipes!

Love,
The Cupcake Gal

Wedding Cupcakes

photo credit: clevercupcakes

Cupcakes are the perfect treat for every occasion. Whether it's an annual holiday or a special occasion, cupcakes are sure to leave a tasty impression. Cupcakes are a very popular birthday treat, and they are becoming increasingly popular for weddings. Wedding cupcakes are the new "it" wedding treat. It seems like everyone has them at their weddings these day, from celebrities to friends to family. There are many different kinds of cupcakes that people have had at their weddings. Usually what makes them "wedding cupcakes" is the way that the cupcakes are decorated from the frosting, to the cupcakes liners, to the sprinkles.

If you're planning a wedding, the key to having amazing wedding cupcakes is white or pastels. Simple and elegant always takes the cake, no pun intended. Red velvet wedding cupcakes have become really popular wedding cupcakes because the red of the cupcake on the bottom with hot white frosting looks really festive and elegant. There are many different cupcake recipes that are used in wedding cupcakes and none is right nor wrong.

I think the best way to be decorating cupcakes for your wedding is to keep it simple. Try doing half of the wedding cupcakes in white buttercream frosting and the other half in a subtle pink frosting or a lavender frosting. Both of these colors will look charming atop either vanilla wedding cupcakes or chocolate wedding cupcakes, or any other variety of wedding cupcakes you may have.
As far as sprinkles go, wedding cupcakes look nice with white or any subtle color sprinkles. If you use bold colors on your cupcakes they might look like they belong at a child's birthday party. If your wedding is color coordinated, just use the colors that go with your decorations. The cupcakes will fit right in. Also, pearl white sprinkles look so nice on wedding cupcakes. They really give the cupcakes an amazing feel.

An advantage to using cupcakes instead of cake is that you can have a few different kinds. And if you want it to be tiered like a wedding cake is, just buy a display that has tiers and it will make your wedding cupcakes fit right into the feel of your special day. If you're making them yourself you can find recipes on the internet.
Martha Stewart has amazing wedding cupcake recipes and if you're looking I would highly recommend her website for cupcake recipes. She also has ones that are specifically for wedding cupcakes so that really is your one stop. And in addition she'll give you tips on decorating and presentation.

So good luck with your wedding cupcakes and I'll see you soon for more great cupcake recipes and cupcake ideas!

Cupcake Liners

I recently discovered cupcake liners are now coming in reusable silicone. I know this is good for the environment and all, but there's something about the good old fashioned paper cupcake liners that I really love. I remember as a kid peeling the cupcake liners off the cupcakes and scraping down their sides, making sure I ingest every cupcake crumb, no survivors.
And paper cupcake liners can be recycled!
Another great thing about disposable cupcake liners is that you can buy them themed. They come in all different varieties, there are Christmas cupcake liners and Hanukkah ones, there are Halloween liners and birthday cupcake liners. Plus I like the way they form to the cupcake. They become the cupcake.

I know this may sound silly, but eating cupcakes is an experience and is not to be taken lightly. It actually makes people happy, and I think part of it is peeling away those cupcake liners. You can get them in pink, blue and yellow and white. I'm not talking about the foil cupcake liners, I'm talking about the the paper ones!

I'm pretty sure whole foods even sells them made from recycled paper. All I'm saying is this: new kitchen gadgets are good. But cupcake liners are just too traditional. You can't replace them. I just love seeing a table full of used cupcake liners and happy, smiling people.

I know in the midst of the earth's current situation maybe I'm being a little bit too nostalgic about my baked goods, but I'm speaking from the heart. I love cupcake liners and I'm not afraid to admit it. The cupcake papers that make my mouth water and my feet tingle. Yes, I have a crazy physical reaction to all things having to do with baked goods. I just found out about the silicone liners and I was taken aback and here I am venting about my love for paper cupcake liners. Maybe I'm over reacting (probably) but I really do love 'em. Three cheers for cupcake liners.

What are your thoughts on the whole cupcake liners situation?