Big Baking Day

I know I've been slacking off with the blogging this weekend but I've been busy and too lazy at night to blog about it!

With a birthday BBQ to attend on Saturday and an upcoming bake sale I'm helping to run at work this week (benefiting the March of Dimes), I decided to buckle down and get the bulk of my baking done on Saturday morning.

First item was my old standby, Banana Chocolate Chip muffins for the bake sale. Quick, easy and tasty.

Next, I went with an Oreo Cupcake recipe from Beantown Baker.

I figured this recipe would be a crowd pleaser since it features Oreos on the bottom of each cupcake:

I also liked the fact that it was an easy recipe since it involved doctoring cake mix rather than making everything from scratch (I normally hate using mixes, but they serve their purpose, especially when you have lot to get done in a short amount of time!) The resulting cupcakes were perfect in terms of appearance, texture and taste - just look how nicely rounded those domes are:

I went with Beantown Baker's cheat version of Cream Cheese frosting as well: Mixing 8 oz carton of cream cheese with a container of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting - this turned out to be very tasty! Topped with crushed Oreos, the cupcakes were ready for Julian's Birthday BBQ. I froze the other dozen for my bake sale on Thursday.

For my last batch of baked goods, I wanted to use up a pint of strawberries I had in the fridge. As I was looking on Beantown Baker's blog for the Oreo cupcake recipe, I ran across one for Strawberry Cupcakes. I followed the recipe exactly, except I substituted the buttermilk with the skim milk I had on hand + white vinegar to curdle it (a buttermilk substitute since I didn't have any on hand), added a little Razzmatazz liquor I had on hand for more berry flavor and a drop of concentrated red food coloring:

I had every intention of making the strawberry frosting to go along with these, but to be practical and knowing that I would freeze half of this batch for my bake sale, I just used the other half of the cream cheese frosting I had made for the Oreo cupcakes (that's why I didn't add crushed Oreos to the frosting). Although these cupcakes were made from scratch, I felt like the flavor still needed a boost so following, you guessed it, Beantown Baker's Cone method to add a secret element to the cupcakes:

Strawberry filling! I heated half a cup of chopped strawberries, the last of the Razzmatazz liquor (roughly two tablespoons) and two tablespoons of raspberry jam (alas, I had no strawberry flavored stuff on hand but it's all in the berry family) to make a filling to spoon into the cupcakes:

Once I replaced the cut cones of cake and topped the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles, they looked tempting and ready for the BBQ:

Julian was happy to see both types of cupcakes, although he kept asking me when I'd be making trifle again:

I think I'm pretty much set for my bake sale on Thursday, with a dozen of the Oreo cupcakes, a dozen of the Strawberry cupcakes and 18 Banana Chocolate Chip muffins sitting in my freezer, I just need to whip up another batch of frosting on Wednesday night for the cupcakes, and I'll be set. Now, I just need to figure out what I'm making for Easter!