Everything but the kitchen sink

Hi hi!!  So I know you were all worried about me, but I'm still here!  My apologies for missing about a month's worth of posts, but so many things have been happening.  I finished all my requirements for my master's degree (finally) and so obviously had to celebrate and do absolutely nothing for a bit.  My roommie also had her Ironman up in Mont-Tremblant (insert French laugh here) and so we went up to support and spectate.  She's amazing, btw, in case you were wondering!

With all my little mini-trips I've been taking (heading to the Jersey shore this weekend - woot!), I've had little time to bake.  This is completely baffling to me since for the past two years I've physically been at school 8+ hours a week on top of a 40+ hour work week, and that doesn't even include time I spent on homework I had to do.  Where did all that time go?  I want it back!

Spread the love

Hey you guuuuuys!  I'm back!  My apologies for missing a post last week - some of my besties came into town to celebrate a good friend's wedding and with all the craziness, baking was just not going to happen.  But I'm back in the game now and as an apology to all my dedicated readers (ha ha) I've decided to make some cupcakes with one of my favorite ingredients ever.

Spreads are a wonderful invention.  What do I mean by "spreads" you ask?  Peanut butter.  Cookie butter (run to Trader Joe's if you've never tried it...seriously.  Run.)  And....drum roll please....Nutella!  Oh baby, Nutella.  Nutella is this wonderful hazelnutty slash chocolatey concoction and is so good there just so happens to be a World Nutella Day (February 5th for those who are curious).  You can stick it on just about anything but I chose a really good chocolate cupcake that isn't overly sweet.  Then I went about cramming as much Nutella as I could fit into a mini-cupcake.  It wasn't easy, but my friends, I believe I have succeeded!

Strawberry Fields forever

To celebrate the beginning of a beautiful Boston summer (and an awesome sale at the grocery store) I thought strawberry cupcakes would be the perfect recipe to share as my first food-related post.  Unfortunately, it ended up raining ALL day so it was not as summer-y as I had planned...#NewEnglandproblems.

I can't tell you how long I've been searching for a strawberry cupcake recipe that isn't shortcake-like or artificially pink.  And friends, I have found it!  The cupcake itself has the perfect amount of sweetness that works with the natural sugar from the strawberries.  And there are actual strawberries IN the cake!  I found this recipe on one of my go-to sites, The Cupcake Project, where she pairs it with a champagne glaze.  This time around, I decided to go with a vanilla bean swiss merengue buttercream.  I've recently been on quite the swiss merengue kick - it's not too sweet and its so...so...fluffy!  It does require a bit more work than your typical American buttercream (butter, powered sugar, tada!), but it's delicious, requires no refrigeration, and you'll never want to go back.