Pink Princess Cupcakes #6- Pretty Pink Shortcake

Pretty Pink Shortcake

Quick and simply delicious!

This is actually the next to last recipe in the Pink Princess Cupcake Book by Barbara Beery. For me, it is #6 cupcake of a total of 28 recipes that I am making from the book. This selection is very quick and easy to make with no baking required...so perfect when entertaining in a pinch, or the weather is just to hot to turn on the stove!

The book actually calls for a store bought pound cake, but I just happened to have a homemade one in the freezer. Start by cutting the cake into cubes that will fit in a standard size cupcake liner, about a 1 inch square. The cake could also be cut into a shape with a cookie cutter. These cut very easy if your cake is still a little frozen.

I differed from the book in the topping as well. The book calls for homemade whipped cream frosting with strawberry jam folded in strawberry jam. Instead of this, I went the easy route and squirted on some whipped light cream in a can. Each treat is then topped with an entire strawberry sliced. I put the sides of the strawberry in the cupcake liner as well.

Be sure to visit all of the Pink Princess Cupcakes that I have made!

The Next Pink Princess Cupcake that I will be making:

Magical Mermaid (Picked by my little Princess)

I still have been unable to find the final ingredient for the "Sunshine Princess Cupcake."

There is still have one more place I want to check before deciding on a substitution.

 

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This Pink Princess Cupcake is shared at:

Alli-N-Son: Sweet Tooth Friday

Sweet as Sugar Cookies: Sweets for a Saturday

A Well-Seasoned Life- Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Sweetology: Tea Party Tuesday

Everyday Sisters: Sharing Sundays



Purple Princess Brownie Pops

Yes...more Princess Brownie Pops!

Same brownie mix, same baking method, different decorating method

Purple Princess Brownie Pops

Last time I made Pink Princess Brownie Pops and I ran into a little difficulty in dipping the pops.

These were the first Princess Brownie Pops I made

This time instead of cooking the brownie pop halfway and then adding the stick as Wilton recommends with this Silicone Brownie Mold. I cooked the brownie fully for about 35 minutes at 325 degrees. I also filled the cavities a little bit fuller making 12 total to avoid the couple small ones I got last time. This time they took quite a long time to cool, so I put them in the freezer after about 10 minutes to speed up the process. I only have one silicone brownie mold, so I had to do this in 2 batches. Don't worry about the empty cavities the mold when the second batch it cooking, nothing bad happened.

I am trying a method to cover the brownie pop that I found in the Wilton Publication- Pops! Sweets on a Stick, they also have this method on their website, instead of trying to dip the brownie pop like a cake pop. Brownie pops are much heavier than a cake pop and want to fall off this stick easier in my experience.

Method 1- The base is first covered with the candy melts and a spatula and then chilled until firm. I decided to "pre-drill" a hole on the bottom by poking a stick in and then removing. I did so the candy wouldn't crack later when the stick is inserted.

Pre-drilled holes, stick my finger into one before the candy was dry

Next, the brownies are placed on a cooling rack placed on top of a parchment covered baking sheet and the melting candy can either be piped, poured on top of the brownie, or you can roll the brownie in the melts. Using the Wilton brand melts melted in the Wilton Chocolate Pro, they were too thick to pipe or pour. I tried adding to shortening but it was still not very pourable. I ended up rolling the sides of the brownie in the melts with a bamboo skewer stuck in the pre-drilled hole and with one finger on the base (where the candy was already dry) and one finger on the top. I used a spatula to cover the top finger spot after I sat the brownie back on the rack.
I couldn't get the candy as smooth as I wanted and I am not sure why I can cover cake pops fine, but can't cover a brownie pop?!
After the brownie is covered with candy melts, immediately insert the Princess Pops Fun Pix. Let sit until cooled or refrigerate a few minutes as I did. Once the candy is set, dip your pop stick into candy melts about 1/3 inch and insert into the pop for upright pops. Let these lay on the parchment paper a few minutes until the candy that is holding the stick in sets.

Pops laying on parchment for stick to dry

Putting the stick in last worked out very well.

The Princesses stood up fine. Something finally went as planned!

 Method 2- Cover the pop the same as in Method 1, no pre-drilling hole in base. After covering the brownie with candy melts and inserting the Princess Pops Fun Pix, insert the stick eipped in candy melts right behind the Princess Pops Fun Pix, and place Princesses on a Pops Doilies.

Final Decorations- Pipe on designs in whatever pattern you wish either with Royal Icing or Candy Melts in a piping bag with size 2 tip or just snip just a tiny bit the end off the bag.

After having a problem once again getting these Princess Brownie Pops covered in candy melts, I decided they were fine without the extra decorating that I did on the Pink Princess Brownie Pops.

Better view of doilies

If Princesses aren't your thing or you have a Prince and not a Princess, Wilton also makes Jungle Pals Pops Fun Pix! However, I am not feeling that adventurous!

 

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These Brownie Pops are shared at:
Something Swanky: Sweet Treats Thursday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday
Mangoes and Chutney: Fat Camp Friday

Cinderella Cupcakes

So this love, Mmmmm

So this is love

So this is what makes life divine

What a surprise when I turned the calendar to August yesterday evening and realized that August is my daughters 1/2 birthday. For those of you that are new to my blog, when I started baking back in October 2009, I looked for any excuse to bake...including half birthdays. Now that I have started celebrating half birthdays with a special dessert, I can't stop, especially since my youngest doesn't remember ever not having a half birthday. For half birthdays so far I have made Martha Stewart Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, My first cake- a Tinkerbell Cake, and an Animal Print Stacked cake. So what was I going to do? Usually I plan these things at least a month in advance and I had nothing. I knew that I didn't want to tackle a cake, especially in the heat of summer, so I limited it to cupcakes. My daughter new exactly what her special dessert should be...Cinderella. She even picked out the decorations she wanted on her cupcakes. By the way, she also believes her dad needs an Ariel cake for his birthday coming up...lol.

This is what I have to work with. They are all Wilton Products found at Party City. With the liners being mostly white, there was no way the design would show up at all with a chocolate or colored cake, so vanilla it is! Now I needed to find a recipe and I remembered that someone posted "Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes" on their blog in the past week...who was it? After a quick search, I found it!
The recipe I used is from Glorious Treats: Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes.
I used Madagascar Vanilla, so it darked them up a bit and well, when they weren't ready I left them in the oven and forgot to check soon enough, so a few got a little more golden that I wanted around the edges. The recipe is supposed to make 15-16. I had 13 in the first batch. I did fill them a little too full. I am lost without my ice cream scoop (it broke...need to find a new one).
I also did a second 1/2 batch of the recipe to make sure to have enough cupcakes to use all the Wilton Candies and figurines. The second 1/2 batch made 8, so I filled those to the proper size. I got these out of the oven in time and they were perfect!
Both sets of cupcakes tasted great and very vanilla-y! There was no question what flavor the cupcake was and I will be using this recipe again! Even with my bad math skills the recipe I cut in half still worked well!

These are the cupcakes. The ones that were slightly darker on the top and bottom, but not too bad.

Now to ice them. I made buttercream icing. I didn't want to use vanilla, since I don't have any clear vanilla and intended on coloring the icing. I decide on flavoring the buttercream with lime juice by substituting all of the liquid with lime juice, so the icing has a nice strong lime flavor. Last year I used lemon juice for her 1/2 birthday Tinkerbell Cake and it was a hit! The lime and vanilla actually complement each other quite well. The front 2 cupcakes are a very light pink but it didn't show up in the picture as well as I would have liked.

And then, Baker Smurf wanted in the picture...after all he is a baker!

Here's the whole family of cupcakes and the Cinderella doll, my little princess got from our trip to Disney World!
My daughter couldn't wait to eat one so she could play with the figurine, and Cinderella needed a Prince so she could go to the ball, so she is taking Baker Smurf!

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These Cupcakes are shared at:
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday
Talking Dollars and Cents- Muffin (and Cupcake) Monday
Sweetology: Tea Party Tuesday
Hoosier Homemade: Cupcake Tuesday
Rook No. 17: A Little Birdie Told Me Tuesday
Lady Behind the Curtain: Cast Party Wednesday
This Chick Cooks: These Chicks Cooked
Daily Organized Chaos: Foodie Wednesday
Something Swanky: Sweet Treats Thursday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday
Mangoes and Chutney: Fat Camp Friday