Muffins & Sliders That POP!

Hey there! It never slows down around here but I hope you guys are having a great week! I've been praying about a specific area in my life recently and God may have opened a door today which is really exciting! Even if that specific door isn't quite where I'm supposed to go, the possibility has caused me to find some exciting things and my life is going to be getting a lot more busy soon - scary....but exciting! More on that later......

For now, I'm sharing with you two more recipes from the baby shower. First up - Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Sweet and tangy. Moist and fluffy. They're the perfect on-the-go summer breakfast - paired with your favorite cup of coffee. Or, in the evening, a refreshing end to that summer picnic. Who doesn't love one of these? They're beautiful to look at and delicious to eat! They also happen to be a favorite of mine and my sister's.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Lemon Glaze (original here)

2/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lemon

2 cups AP flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the icing:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare muffin pan. Rub together lemon zest and sugar until sugar is moist and the smell of lemon is strong. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt with sugar-lemon zest mixture until well blended. In another bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and butter until blended and pour over dry ingredients. Stir gently with spatula, being careful not to overmix. Gently stir in poppy seeds. Fill muffin pans (each liner about 2/3 full) and bake about 18-20 minutes until lightly browned and tester inserted in center comes out clean. Leave in pans 5 minutes then remove and cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, put the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice.  Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. Then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely.

Here's what they looked like at the party:

Sorry they aren't clearer. I forgot to take a close up of them at the party. Don't you just love those polka dot liners? I think they are super cute. PYP had them in four different colors and, yes, I bought all three! :)

Second, we have Ham & Swiss Poppy Seed Sliders and Turkey & Cheddar Poppy Seed Sliders. Again, sorry about the unclear photo. I was so busy that day that I didn't get close-ups of everything. Most things. But not everything.

Poppy Seed Sliders (source)

24 good white dinner rolls

24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip

Poppy seed sauce:

1 Tablespoon poppyseeds
1 1/2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. You do not have to use all of the sauce! Just use enough to cover the tops. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy. Serve warm.

Tomorrow I'll share a few decoration projects I did (I know, me, the non-DIYer) that will make you all proud. Be sure to stop by Wait Til Your Father Gets Home where I'm guest posting today and read about these delicious Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes just in time for back-to-school!

 While you're there, don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway hosted by a TON of fabulous bloggers. Until next time, happy reading and, more importantly, happy cupcake-ing!

Mixed Berry Lemonade {Sunflower} Cupcakes

I know - the title makes you wonder - but I’m so excited to tell you about these cupcakes! They turned out so perfectly (if I do say so myself) and were such a hit! I can’t tell you how fulfilling it is to ghave an idea that comes together, start to finish, and makes other people happy!!

 I made these for a dear friend of our family whose birthday we were celebrating. This lady and her husband are such a huge part of our lives and we are so thankful to know them! Linda is an awesome woman and a huge encouragement and blessing in our lives. Her husband Jim is like a second dad to us and a really great friend to my dad! She is currently going through her third, yes THIRD, bought with cancer and her attitude is just amazing! She knows that God is in control and, while she certainly has her moments, she takes everything in stride and faces it head on – with God leading the way!! I know she has to be scared, but her faith is what gets her through. I’m just so humbled by her. So, when Jim said he wanted to do something for her birthday, I was in! And I knew exactly what I wanted to try. Her favorite flowers are Sunflowers so here’s where my mind went…

Ah! They're just so pretty...I love them!  

Anybody recognize those liners? I got them from Pick Your Plum and love them!! Check out the link on my side bar under "affiliates" for more of their awesome goodies!

Here's how I made these beauties...

Mixed Berry Lemonade Cake

1 box white cake mix

4 egg whites

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup frozen (can use fresh) blueberries

1/2 cup frozen (can use fresh) strawberries

2 tablespoons blackberry jam

Juice and peel of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pans. Mix all ingredients in mixer until just combined. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full with batter and bake until springy to touch or tester inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool.

Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, cold

1 teaspoon vanilla

juice and peel of 1/2 lemon (or more depending on desired taste)

yellow gel food coloring

approx. 4 cups confectioner's sugar

Cream butter, shortening, and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, lemon juice and peel and mix until combined. Add sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. If you need more than 4 cups for consistency, add extra a little at a time until you get it where you want it. Add enough food coloring to reach desired color and keep icing cool until ready to use.

You'll be happy to know that I actually took pictures of the flower making process! Now you can see what I'm talking about as I explain the procedure....yay me! 

Step 1

Lightly frost cupcake with a small amount of icing and drop about a teaspoonful of blackberry jam in the center. It's ok if the jam runs because you're going to cover this up with the petals. 

Step 2

Around the outside edge of the cupcake, use a star tip to pipe a row of petals all the way around. To make each petal, press on your piping bag so that the icing starts to come out of the tip, stop pressing, and pull away from cupcake. If you're not comfortable with piping, you may want to practice a few times on parchment or wax paper. Once you get it down and feel comfortable, you can scrape the icing up and mix it back into the bowl to use on the cupcakes (waste not, want not). ;)

Step 3

Last, but certainly not least, move in on the cupcake and pipe a second row of petals, making sure to completely cover the edge of the jam so that you have a round center. Try to place this second row in between the petals of the first row. Voila! A beautiful sunflower cupcake!!

Even if you don't make the sunflowers (although I don't know why you wouldn't...they're so perfect for summer) please try this recipe! It's so delicious and refreshing this time of year. My dad said that these are his favorite so far and, even though I started with a box mix, I still feel accomplished because I doctored it up so much. 

Also, two things you may have noticed. First, A Cupcake Love Affair is now accepting sponsorships through Passionfruit Ads. If you're looking for a place to advertise your blog or shop, stop by my Sponsor page and check out all the options! Second, you may have noticed that my followers count is steadily heading toward the big 200 (well, for me, that's big)! Between GFC and Bloglovin', almost 200 readers are following along with us and I have to tell you that that's really exciting for me! I never thought that many people would be interested and, yet, you all just keep on showing up and coming back for more. Thank you! I've decided to do another giveaway when I reach 200 so spread the word. What will I be giving away? Let me just say this...I won't be the only one giving something away and the number of "bloggy" friends who have volunteered to participate...well, you don't want to miss this!! If you're a fellow blogger and would like to participate in the giveaway, shoot me an email on my contact page.

I hope you're all having a fantastic summer! Until next time, happy reading and more importantly, happy cupcake-ing!

A Lemon & Raspberry Friendship

As promised, this post is all about lemons and raspberries. When I started this blog I wondered if I would have a hard time coming up with ideas for cupcakes or interesting topics to write about. Silly me. I should have known that my life, by nature, is crazy and quite interesting so how could I possibly have any problems with this? Case in point - my friend, Michal, when I told her about the blog, immediately asked me to start working on Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes to practice for her future wedding. No, she's not engaged but, as any woman knows, you can never start planning your wedding too early!

First, let me tell you a little about what this girl means to me. I believe that God literally made her to be my friend. Truly. Our dads are both Baptist preachers and actually, my dad assists hers as the Associate Pastor at the church we both attend. They both have four daughters, look uncannily alike, get along way too well, have the same birthday, and are probably brothers separated at birth. Michal and I met in 2005 when we started working at the same ministry in central Florida. We got to know each other at work and through our church and discovered that we're basically the same person. So many things about each of us are mirrored in the other. There are few people in this world that I consider a kindred spirit and she is most definitely one of them. You could say that she's the yin to my yang, the pea to my pod, or the raspberry to my lemon. :)

Me and Michal - an oldie but a goodie :)

Now, the reason you're here - the cupcakes. I decided to do these a couple of different ways to give her options. The first is a lemon cake - light and moist - filled with a thick raspberry sauce. Second, a raspberry cake (a tweaked version of my Sweet & Sour Strawberry Cake) filled with a tangy lemon curd filling. The icings are a Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream and a Raspberry Buttercream. I mixed and matched these cakes, fillings, and icings in order to find the combination that best reflects our friendship - sweet & lovely with just a little bit of sass!

These cupcakes aren't for the faint of heart! For me, they're a little too strong in taste. I think I'd prefer to have a neutral flavor mixed in with all the lemon and raspberry. Maybe next time I'll try a vanilla cupcake with lemon and raspberry fillings and icings or the fruity cakes but with a vanilla icing with the sauces on top. I'm definitely not a fan of the result of adapting my S&S cake to raspberry. I don't know what got lost in translation but something definitely did! My coworkers agreed that the cupcake combination they liked was the lemon cake, raspberry filling, raspberry buttercream, and lemon drizzle - Michal really liked that one. So, it's back to the drawing board for the perfect raspberry cake.

The good cupcake :)

Here are the recipes:

Lemon Yogurt Cake ( adapted from  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-yogurt-cake-recipe/index.html ):

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350*.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared liners and bake until a cake tester placed in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cupcakes are done, allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While they're is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over each cupcake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

*Makes about 20 standard size cupcakes.

Strawberry Lemonade Birthday Cake

I know, I know. This is a cupcake blog. However, I'm taking a break from the norm for a coworker's birthday and decided to share it with you. If it makes you feel any better, this cake could very easily be turned into a cupcake! Whew! Now you're relieved. I'd hate to let my awesome readers down. I promise this post won't disappoint, despite it's lack of respect for the integrity of the almighty cupcake.

This week my boss asked me to take over the employee birthday celebrations. Now, let me tell you. I have never worked at a place that took better care of its employees...ever! They tend to go all out for our birthdays, personalizing the whole celebration as much as possible. So, needless to say, I have big shoes to fill. And, funnily enough, I just realized the reason for the timing of this change. There are FIVE birthdays in our office in March!! Yep, five. Which means we may just have a few more detours from our cupcake path in the next few weeks. But, back to this post.....

My first birthday girl is Ms. Rita. A sweet, funny, caring lady who makes me smile every time she laughs. She runs our shipping department. Well, to be honest, she IS our shipping department! She has a big job and does it well. In trying to figure out the right dessert to celebrate this sweet lady's birthday my options were wide open. She's not at all picky and has a child-like excitement over sweets that I just love! Hello! What baker wouldn't?? So, I decided to do a little investigative work on this cake that will help me with my next cupcake post. Remember how I kept promising Raspberry-Lemon cupcakes then posting about Triple Chocolate, cupcake liners, and oh yes, Doughnuts? Well, the very next post (after this one) will be the promised Raspberry-Lemon. Again, back to this post....

The cake that I've chosen for Rita's birthday is going to use one of the cake recipes that I'm hoping to use for the next cupcakes. Added to that is my Strawberry Cake recipe from my Sweet & Sour Strawberry Cupcakes post. Ready for it? Strawberry Lemonade Birthday Cake! Yum-my! I'm so excited about this one. It's such a classic flavor combination. Pinterest addict that I am, I came across the Lemonade cake recipe on that fantastic site (Pinterest) and decided to use it here. So, the cake goes like this - 4 alternating layers, 2 each of Strawberry Cake (see link above) and Lemonade Cake, filled and iced with a light Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream. I "messy iced" the cake (my favorite!), put a rosette/fresh strawberry border on top, and drizzled with a homemade Strawberry Lemonade Sauce that I threw together in a pot on the stove.