Cookie Monster Cupcakes

It’s Cupcake Day for the RSPCA today, and I went all out. This was my inspiration, and I’d say they come pretty close! Tips for future googlers: I made plain vanilla cupcakes from a box mix. It’s helpful if you can fill the liners higher than usual; that way you get a nice rounded dome on top. The icing is just pre-made Betty Crocker vanilla, dyed to a brilliant sky blue with food colouring we got at Iced Affair. We also used the colouring to dye a bag of dessicated coconut the same colour. (Snookums put it in a big bag, added some drops of colour, and shook it all around.) So I iced the cupcakes and then sprinkled coconut all over. Then the tricky bit. I tried just cutting a slit and sticking the cookie in, but that didn’t work very well. So I started using a sharp knife to cut a smile-shaped wedge out of the top. I also used the knife to trim the sides of each cookie into a point (so I wasn’t ramming as much bulk down into the cupcake). That worked better. The eyes are made from large white chocolate buttons with a small chocolate chip stuck on. I used the knife to cut slits and then stuck the eyes down inside.

Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to get 24 of these to work!

Update: I sold out! Everybody loved them. So far I’ve taken in $78 in donations for the RSPCA. Not bad for a few hours’ playing in the kitchen…

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
The Snook mentioned the other night that the grocery store had some lovely carrots (which he was serving to me for dinner), which reminded me that I’ve had a hankering for come carrot cake lately. I made the mistake of saying that aloud at work yesterday… and promptly received about half a dozen requests for it. A cake is always hard to transport and dish up though, so I decided to go with cupcakes instead. A few websites mention that carrot cake can be a bit dense and heavy for cupcakes, so I found this recipe with a trick to avoid the problem. You “emulsify” the oil by pouring it into a running food processor (with egg and sugar). Sounds fancy, but was actually really easy. So I baked a dozen of them last night, and this morning I decorated them. We’re actually out of maple syrup at the moment (and Coles didn’t have any last night), so I used the hand mixer to beat a bit of maple flavouring along with a good scoop of brown sugar into a block of cream cheese. It tastes FANTASTIC. Then I sprinkled on some orange icing sugar (I have the biggest collection of Halloween-related baking paraphernalia outside the US) and then topped with a walnut half. I hope everybody likes them! (And I have to say, I’m really proud of my food porn photography. Hooray for the macro mode!)