Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 09:25 AM
Good morning, bloggies! 
I slept so late this morning! It was awesome and totally worth it. I feel so much better this morning. I almost feel like my normal self again. I just need to get rid of my stuffy nose!
Breakfast
Mal finished off the peanut butter the other day and almost threw out the jar. The horror! 
Luckily, I saved it in just the nick of time, and used it for OIAJ this morning.
I made blueberry oatmeal this morning.
In the mix:
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup Galaxy Granola
- 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
Mmmmm… peanut butter! 
I also had some iced coffee with hazelnut milk with breakfast.
So, even though I was feeling under the weather yesterday, I wasn’t too sick to bake cupcakes! 
I’m not going to lie, eating homemade carrot cake cupcakes for lunch definitely made me feel better! I was in cupcake heaven!
My cupcake baking extravaganza was part of a fun promotion with OpenSky. I have lots of adorable cupcake-related products in my shop, so I thought it would be cool to create a special cupcake aisle.
My cupcake aisle has 5 great items all handpicked by me, including cupcake plates, cupcake stands, cupcake wrappers, and a cupcake kit. Plus, 1 bundled item that includes a set of 4 cupcake plates + 1 color cupcake stand. All of the products are so adorable! I’m sort of obsessed with the dessert plates.
So, here’s the deal:
- If you purchase any of the individual items from my cupcake aisle, you get 10% off, PLUS an exclusive carrot cake cupcake recipe that I created the other day. Just use the coupon code ‘CUPCAKEAISLE’ at checkout.
- If you purchase the bundle of items (cupcake plates + stand), you get 30% off (only $39.90 vs normally $58), PLUS you get my exclusive cupcake recipe. (You don’t need a coupon code for this deal.)
My cupcake aisle is only open for 1 week with these deals, so act fast. But, I’ll be adding more great cupcake-inspired products to the aisle in the future. Happy shopping!
P.S. These cupcake goodies make wonderful gifts, especially for bridal and baby showers. They come in really cute packaging!
Question of the Day
If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: cupcakes, OpenSky
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 09:13 AM
In honor of Halloween, I chose a really easy cupcake recipe for this guest blog post. I had a poll on my Creative Confectionery website to find out what type of Halloween candy everyone loved most. The winner was candy corn. And so was born my candy corn Halloween cupcakes! I don’t have a really great name for them yet – if you feel inspired by the pictures and come up with something, feel free to email me with your idea at creativeconfectioneryblog@gmail.com.
Now, onto the recipe!
Candy Corn Halloween Cupcakes
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Tub Whipped White Frosting
Red & Yellow Food Coloring
Black Gel Icing
White Gel Icing
Traditional Candy Corn
For this recipe I used my go-to Pillsbury & Betty Crocker baking supplies found in any local grocery store. I have a great yellow cupcake recipe from scratch that I will be sharing on my blog in the near future. The nice thing about using boxed cupcake stuff, though, is that you can really concentrate on the creative decorating, which was my objective.
Mix together the cake mix as directed on the box (you will need 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and water). Divide prepared mix into two small bowls evenly. Next, add red & yellow food coloring to one and yellow to the other so that you get a bright orange color in one and a very yellow color in the other. Even though you’re using yellow cake mix, putting a bit of yellow food coloring inside really enhances the color!
The key to the character of these cupcakes is to see the whole thing. So, spray your cupcake pan(s) with cooking spray & place your cake mix directly in, without cupcake liners. First, place in orange cake mix and then yellow cake mix. Do this slowly so that the colors don’t mix. If it looks like the orange is seeping up the sides, don’t worry, t he inside of your cupcakes will still have the correct “candy corn color” arrangement when done. I realized this morning I switched the order of the orange & yellow – oh well! J Bake as directed on the box. When they come out and have cooled for about 10 minutes, place on a plate and put into the fridge for about a half hour so that they are very cool.
Once your cupcakes are cool, frost them with white icing. Place back into the fridge for another half hour so that the icing sets. Then, remove from the fridge & decorate with black icing to create the “spider’s web” effect.
For the candy corn bug: I used the white & black icing to create the eyes and wings. For the eyes, you place two white dots directly on the candy corn and then use a toothpick to make the black pupil. Place the bug on top of the cupcake and press down gently with a toothpick. Use the black gel icing to “capture” your bug in the web.
These cupcakes are super fun, very easy, and child friendly! And, they taste great!
Posted by: Tina
Posted in: Uncategorized, guest blogger
Tags: cupcakes
