Chocolate Cupcakes

I've spent many late nights trying to perfect the chocolate cupcake. My poor husband has had to suffer through months worth of evenings tasting and testing tiny cake after tiny cake. Bless his fat little heart. Tonight I belive i've finally made it. My perfect chocolate cupcake. I have not the time to go through the differences between baking cakes and baking cupcakes but just trust me, there is a very big difference. Here we go with a step by step recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put liners in cupcake pans (around 36)

First mix up the dry ingredients.

2 cups sugar

1 cup very lightly packed brown sugar

2.625 cups all purpose flour

1.5 cups Cocoa powder

2 teaspoons salt, 2.25 teaspoons baking powder and 2.25 teaspoons baking soda.

Mix it all up.

 

Now separately mix up the wet things.

3 eggs

1.5 cups full fat buttermilk

or 3/4 cups full fat sour cream

or 3/4 cups full fat greek yogurt

3/4 cups canola or vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla

Mix it together

Pour wet into dry

Mix on medium speed, scrape the sides once or twice to get it all.

Add 1 cup boiling water.

It will steam.

It will make the batter very thin.

Put the batter into somethign that will help you easily pour.

Fill cups 2/3's full.

Bake for 25-29 minutes if you are putting all 36-40 cupcakes in at the same time.

If you are only baking 24 (two 12 count pans) at a time cook 18-22 minutes.

Wash your dishes. 

I did.

Then wait.

Or start on your frosting.

I whip mine to stretch it.

Then I drink a beer.

Then I wait more, because I forgot I was supposed to be making the frosting.

Geez time crawls.

Drink another.

Oh shoot, the icing!

 

Well it's whipped.

Had to add time, cupcakes were still moist.

Wash dishes again.

Fluffy icing.

Cupcakes are done. Cool them completely.

Find out that there are no lids for these stupid aluminium trays.

Call them all kinds of inventive names and decide to figure it out tomorrow

 

I have no photo's of the cupcakes frosted, becasue they all got eaten.

 

 

Side Recipe:

I made an Irish Soda Bread, Kinda

 

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teasoon baking powder

1 taspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.25 cups buttermilk.

 

bake 375 for 40 minutes

 

glaze:

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

three tablespoons butter milk.

mis and pour over cooled bread.

Elaine's Work

She’s got that marching to your own beat thing down. This is her work from this week at school next to everyone else’s. I’m absurdly proud.



She doesn’t color inside the lines, she fills the paper completely.




Number one apparently goes on top, and then everything follows in the right direction.



And she did the counting tree correct, just in her own way. It makes me ridiculously happy to know she’s different enough to make her special. She still does the work, just with a little flair, I’m hoping it’s something she continues to do all her life.

paris

Angry Face

Me: Laine, you cannot pull the dogs tail!

Laine: (grumpily sits down on the floor and gives me an amazingly angry face.)

Me: Oh! Are you angry at Mommy?

Laine: Yes I am. My angry. Huuuuge Angry! (waves her arms very wide, to show how hugely angry.)

Me: Is that your angry face? Are you making angry face at Mommy?

Laine: (cracking a smile) Yes. Angry face.

Me: (grabbing my phone to snap a photo) Make the face again for me. Huuuuge angry for Mommy!

Laine: this...

Ideas and Resolutions - Stolen

1. Get a library card.
2. Drink my coffee black.
3. Go into the unknown, it will expand my known.
4. Read more, especially things I disagree with.
5. Learn something from everyone.
6. Survive on little, to prove I can.
7. Do what I say I will.
8. Eat more protien.
9. Keep truth-tellers close to me.
10. Nobody likes a know-it-all, don't be one.
11. Read biographies.
12. Don't buy "stuff".
13. Be humble and curious.
14. Be as useful as I can in as many circumstances as possible.
15. Make my home a place where I feel safe.
16. Help people who have never helped me, and can't.
17. Remember who helps me and return the help with twice as much value.
18. Get a tattoo, don't worry about regrets.
19. Meet with friends more often than I think I have to.
20. Walk more.
21. Get to know my neighbors.
22. Apologize more that I need to.
23. Buy some art.
24. Get a good haircut an color.
25. Be like Jesus, not his followers.
26. Give away my best work for free.
27. Bring a bottle of wine.

stolen

Quilt

I made one this weekend.
Well mostly...

Step by Step - Tree of Life Pendant



Twelve sections of 12" long 24 gauge wire on a two inch steel ring, wrapped from the center of each wire four times.

Twist in groups of threes

Twist "roots" upwards into the ring.

Start twisting the trunk, try to keep all trunk and branch sections twisting in the same direction.

Pull off sections of two to five wires and twist branches, break off inot smaller sections and twist until you reach the edge.

Sooner or later it turns into a tree.

Add beads and wrap wire around and around the ring until all wire is used.

Sample finished tree of life.

The Rosendahl~KHPorter~KLPorter~Block~Tidwell Christmas Party