curiouser and curiouser

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop." -Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

There really is not much to say about these cupcakes. They are simple and delicious. Start out with a spice cake, end with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Together they make such a lovely cupcake.

The decorating was very easy. I just printed off the text box that said "eat me," cut it out, taped it on a toothpick and stabbed it into the cupcake.

Spice Cake:
Spice cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk all ingredients together and fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Put cupcakes in the oven and reduce heat to 325 - this will help your cupcakes get a nice round top (at least, it did this once. -I will continue to experiment to see if it works every time). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
pinch salt
2 lb powdered sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tsp cinnamon
white food coloring - *optional*

Cream together butter, cream cheese, and pinch of salt. Add one cup powdered sugar. Once incorporated, add another cup. Add 1 tablespoon of milk. Continue to add powdered sugar and milk alternately. Mix in cinnamon at the end.

At this point I added some white food coloring to brighten up the frosting.

you're going to want a glass of milk

If you give a mouse a cookie...

I'm going to turn it into a cupcake!

For these cupcakes, I just mixed up a golden vanilla cake mix, scooped it into my liners, then sprinkled mini chocolate chips over the top.

Then I made some delicious cream cheese cookie dough frosting. I spread it on the cupcakes, then rolled it in cookie chunks.

Super yummy!

While I was taking pictures, my cute girl said, "Wanna take a picture of ME?" So, of course, I had to. :)

Cream Cheese Cookie Dough Frosting:
1 stick butter
8 oz cream cheese
pinch salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups (approx.) powdered sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Beat together butter, cream cheese, and salt. Add in brown sugar, flour, and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Mix in chocolate chips.

particular sadness

I read a book a few months ago called The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I had read the synopsis on goodreads and thought it sounded really interesting and fun - someone who can taste emotions in food? What a cool idea. Unfortunately, I didn't like the book at all. It was really depressing, and the end was too strange for me. And it's hard to find something too strange for me...but this book did it.

Despite the fact that I didn't like the book, there was a part of the book where Rose's (the main character) mom makes her a lemon cake with chocolate frosting for her birthday. I've seen a few lemon/chocolate recipes before, and the combination just seemed weird to me. But I decided to give it a try anyway. It was really yummy!

Lemon Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting:
Lemon cake mix and ingredients needed to prepare according to back of box

1 stick butter, softened
pinch of salt
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4-5 tablespoons milk
1 tsp vanilla

Prepare cake mix according to directions on box.

In a stand mixer, beat butter and salt until butter is loosened up. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat on low. Add one tablespoon of milk. Add cocoa and remaining powdered sugar. Beat in two more tablespoons milk and vanilla. If needed, add another tablespoon or two of milk.