Saint Patrick's Day Chocolate Cupcakes Making cupcakes is so much fun and something you can include your children in that's a fun family activity. One of the most fun holidays to make cupcakes for is Saint Patrick's! When my kids were little, they loved helping me bake and decorate cupcakes and sugar cookies. This year I thought it would be fun to make chocolate cupcakes with Aunt Jeanies Chocolate Cake recipe and decorate them for Saint Patrick's Day. Instead of using the ganache frosting that goes with this recipe, I used my friend Ashley's (www.livingbeautafully.com) go-to chocolate buttercream frosting recipe. I needed a stiffer frosting that could be piped so I could top the cupcakes with the gold chocolate coins and green sprinkles. The Decorations I found these cute green and gold cupcake liners, green sprinkles, and gold chocolate coins at one of my favorite baking supply stores and couldn't wait to make these cute cupcakes. I've listed the cake recipe
Cherry Chip Mini Bundt Cakes
These mini bundt cakes are so easy to make and don't take a lot of time. I made these for Valentine's Day and everyone loved them.
For the recipe, I took one Cherry Chip cake mix and followed the directions on the box (eggs, water, oil). I then added a small package of vanilla pudding and an extra 1/4 cup water to the mixing bowl and mixed for 1-2 minutes. I baked the cakes in a greased mini bundt pan, (I'll link the pan below) baked them for 10-12 minutes and let them cool on a cooling rack. For the glaze, I mixed 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 Tbsps. of the Maraschino cherry juice, 1 tsp. almond extract. It should be a little runny. If you don't have the cherry juice from the jar of maraschino cherries you can use milk or water instead and add pink food coloring if you want the frosting pink. Put a ziplock bag in a cup and fold the edges over the cup then scoop the frosting into the ziplock bag. Snip a tiny amount off theLazy Daisy Cake
Lazy Daisy Cake
The year before my Grandma Benson passed away, I gave her a recipe box filled with blank recipe cards as a Christmas gift. The following Christmas, she gave the box back to me and had handwritten her favorite recipes on the recipe cards. A month after this, she passed away. The recipes she wrote for me have become one of my most treasured possessions. Whenever I make this simple yummy cake recipe, I think of her and the fond memories I have of her.
One of my favorite recipes that she left for me was “Aunt Mickey’s Lazy Daisy Cake” It’s a sponge cake with a cooked, then broiled frosting. This is a family favorite and another one of the recipes I grew up enjoying. We loved it when Grandma Benson (that's her in the picture frame when she was a little girl) would come to visit because we knew she’d make us a Lazy Daisy Cake and her Chicken Cracker Casserole. I will need to share that recipe