How To: Make Sunset Cupcakes

  Hello!

  Remember my sunset nails? Well, this cupcake tutorial is inspired by them! The recipe below is so delicious. It's not vanilla so much as just white cake flavored; it's reeeally sweet! It's originally from here, but I added the food color/frosting details.

  You'll Need...

  1/2 cup milk

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
Red food coloring
Yellow food coloring
Frosting
(I used cream cheese)

No AA batteries means I had to use my iPhone..

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit). Line a muffin pan with paper liners (or grease a 9x9 pan if you want to make a cake instead).        

       

2) In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.

3) Divide batter into three separate bowls. Add yellow to one, red to another, and an even red/yellow combination to the last one (remember, a little goes a long way!). Stir until desired color is achieved. When spooning the batter into your cups, remember you still have two colors left... don't overdo one color!               

 4) Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or 30-40 if you're making cake. Cupcakes are done when they spring back to the touch.                      

In the nail tutorial, I added palm trees. With the cupcakes... At least I can say I tried.

 5)  After they've cooled, frost them. I used standard Duncan Hines Cream Cheese frosting, but I'm sure there's a trillion sugary recipes fit for these little calorie bombs.


    Just so you know: The food coloring method can also be used for rainbow cupcakes! I tried this a while ago, but didn't blog the recipe (there was a cornstarch incident). The mini sunsets tasted much better, anyway. :)

 

    Enjoy!

 xoxo,

    Zoe

My Top 3 Summer Drinks

   Hello!

   Due to my lack of baking ingenuity, I decided to try creating something else: drinks! Among my trials and errors, I've found some recipes perfect for summer sippin' (yeah, I really just said that). Since today's the official start of summer, I decided to post my favorites.

 Sunshine Fusion

 Serves One

 You'll Need: lemonade, (pulp-free) orange juice, Sprite

  Instructions: Combine equal parts lemonade and Sprite on ice. Add a splash of orange juice.

 Notes: This is my favorite recipe yet! It's not as breakfast-y as I imagined, so it's perfect whenever.

Watermelontini

 Serves One

 You'll Need: watermelon soda, Sprite, cranberry juice, lime juice

  Instructions: Add a half-cup of watermelon soda, followed by a splash of cranberry juice. Top off with Sprite and a squeeze of lime juice.

  Notes: I thought this sounded disgusting, but it's now one of my favorites! All the ingredients combine perfectly. The Sprite gives it a special punch.

 Caramel Banana Milkshake

  Serves Four

You'll Need: two bananas, vanilla (or banana) ice cream, caramel syrup, milk, dried banana chips

  Instructions: Slice bananas. Blend it, four scoops ice cream, two cups of milk, and four tbsp of the caramel syrup. Decorate with more syrup and/or two banana chips.

 Notes: For extra caramel action, spread a tbsp of the syrup over the bottom of your glass. You can also top the finished milkshake with another scoop of ice cream. Also, yellow food coloring makes it look more like it tastes.

 Bonus!

 Root Beer Float

  You'll Need: root beer, vanilla ice cream

  Instructions: Put two scoops of ice cream in a glass. Fill glass with root beer.

 Notes: I decided not to make it a main feature because it's so simple (and classic!).

Bonus!

 Pineapple Mashup

You'll Need: pineapple soda, cranberry juice, Sprite

Instructions: Combine an equal amount (try 1/3 cup) of each in a glass.

Notes: I just randomly had some pineapple soda, so that's what I used. Try mixing different fruity juices together! 

   
  
      What's your favorite summer drink recipe?

 xoxo,
    Zoe

Valentine Shenanigans & Baking Ventures

 Howdy!

   Since I couldn't put my Valentine's Day happenings in the actual Valentine's Day post, I decided to make a new one, just for that!

  Aside from making some of Cupid's arrows, I crafted up Valentines for some of my family. I was tremendously inspired by Scathingly Brilliant's, but wanted to make them myself.

   

 I decided I'd bake two Valentine-themed treats on separate days. The first? Whoopie pies! I couldn't believe how complicated they actually were. Since they turned out too large, there wasn't enough frosting. Sigh.

 

 Speaking of pre-14th, on Monday I wore a Pre-Valentine's Day outfit, complete with the heart shoes I got for Christmas. I don't have them on in the photo, unfortunately. I was a big, festive smack of red on the actual 14th, because I love red. Is this my first what I wore mention? I believe so!

  I apologize for how messy they look; one was actually taken in the bathroom, both taken before school. Won't happen again. Honest!

  Have I told you about my obsession with bees? Now's as good a time as any...

   

  How precious is that bee balloon? And look! I freaked out when I saw the bee cupcakes. Oh, and check out that thumb. Pretty festive nail art, if I do say so myself.

    On the real hearts day, I gave Strawberry Puffcakes a shot. And something went terribly, terribly wrong.

  Did you see what they're supposed to look like? Yeah, not like that. I did something wrong, probably with the butter and salt. Oh, well. At least they were dipped in chocolate!

   So, that cat Valentine really did the trick, because my mom got me some presents! She's the best gift-giver, I swear.

Tokidoki Airways Palette, Tokidoki Mints, Tokidoki Mirror, and chocolate Turtles (my favorite!)

The palette is absolutely gorgeous. The colors are so perfect for me, I'm just gonna die.

  Target had some fantastic Valentine things, so I hit it up on the 15th for some hearty clearance (get it?). What I got will be in an upcoming post, I suppose.

    How did you spend February 14th?

  xoxo,
     Zoe

(Sort of a) Review: SunBeam Mini Pie Maker!

    Howdy!

    About two months ago, I bought a SunBeam mini pie maker. Originally I wanted a Babycakes one, but I saw a Target ad for the then-cheaper Sunbeam one and decided to buy it.

     I won't say I didn't have expectations; the reviews were great, and I could only imagine wanting some pie and, eight minutes later, having a fresh one!

   The concept was simple: preheat the small machine, use the included cutters to cut out the base and top crusts, load those in the molds, add fruit, wait eight to ten minutes, and BAM! Mini pies!
   
       Anyway, a few days later (after getting my pie crust and fruit), I tried it...

 

       And it's FANTASTIC! It's ridiculously easy, and oh my gosh, the results are incredible! I love this thing so much. And cleaning it is so easy! ...Jeez, I could do a commercial.

    Do you have a mini pie maker? Do you plan on getting one? Here are some tips:

• Overloading your little pies can be seriously messy. Take a look at my (gross) first try:
  
  
  
• I can't express how much tastier fresh fruit is than canned!
  
  
  
• Try to prevent excess dough/crust if you want your pie to look nice (which, here, it won't!).
  
  
  

      Do you you have mini-treat maker? Do you plan on getting one?

    xoxo,

         Zoe

The Winter Holiday Post: 2011

   Good tidings to you and your kin!

(Before we get started, beware: This post is really picture-heavy!)

    The winter holidays have come and passed. Now's the time for the downward spiral of depression for many middle-aged McDonald's cashiers and those like them, for any remaining holiday cheer is sucked away by the always-brutal January. Not for me, though, because I'm a teenager!

   The holidays were a festive, productive time for me. Not only did I watch every single episode of Arrested Development (oh my, how I'll miss Buster! And Mrs. Featherbottom!! Oh, Mrs. Featherbottom!), I also redid my room (a teen's room redoing importance is the equivalent to the adult's house redoing, in case you wondered...) and finally finished my 2011 resolution: writing in a diary everyday between January 1st to December 31st, 2011. I only skipped two days all year! Man, am I glad it's over! That was horrendous!

   Moving on: I did some great holiday baking, and got some great gifts!


  Baking
 
I attempted Santa Hat Cupcakes, and they didn't, um...well, see for yourself.

    

  I saw some little poinsettia candies at the grocery and was suddenly inspired! Oh, and this icing brand is fantastic. By the way, I lost the other pictures on my hard-drive; these little cakes look waaaay better in the other pictures (ironically).

 Gifts!

  I wrapped my mom's gifts in my signature kitty wrapping paper, and got earmuffs (on clearance; score!) for some of my friends. A week or two before Christmas, my mom mistakenly opened one of my presents in front of me, and let me have it early!! It was the Mylo Xyloto deluxe edition! Isn't it gorgeous?!

        

    My main gifts two gifts (a new phone and an instant camera!) are pictured with all of my gifts, below.

   Lots and lots of cool stuff! Among a wonderful amount of media, I got some great makeup and gorgeous jewelry. Oh, and the two papers are order-emails from Modcloth and Shana Logic! My mom was unable to get the Watermelon Vans, so she made up for it with my entire ModCloth wishlist!! (That's a ring and six freaking pairs of shoes!) She also got me Shana's Necklace of the Month Club for 2012; my first of which is pictured below, next to the six freaking pairs of shoes. :)

 

And, finally, I "symbolically adopted" a World Wildlife Fund Tasmanian Devil! SWEET! (Below those is a closeup of a gorgeous Basetet necklace I received. It was purchased (but not received till Christmas:) when I went to the Egyptian exhibit!)

     

  After Christmas Sales

    For the season, J.C.Penney had a fantastic little gift section called "Wrapt". This included products from various companies (ex. Glamour Magazine, Dylan's Candy Bar). These could get pretty expensive, so I was counting on the December 26th sales to get them.

   On December 26th, I got there bright and early (thanks Mom!), and found that all Wrapt products (besides Dylan's Candy Bar...huff!) were $2. Did you read that? TWO FREAKING DOLLARS!! I was beyond excited! My best deals were a previously $34 tea set and two $28 bags, those and everything else pictured below.
(I feel like I should mention a little story: When the puffy Glamour tote came out, I wanted it badly but wouldn't buy it, nor would I ask for it. I thought $28 was too much for something I already had enough of...No matter how perfect it was. I got really, really lucky!)

    Ah, yes. The Christmas hub-bub is now over, and I'm extremely content with everything (how could I not be?). That being said, I'd like to give a little disclaimer: I feel as though I should say it, even though it should go without saying: I'm not trying to brag in any way. At all. I personally enjoy reading these kinds of posts, so I thought I'd do my own. I realize I'm extremely fortunate to have had such a great number of great gifts. That's that, and I hope you already knew it before I said it. :)

    Did you have a good holiday? If not a holiday, did you have a good break? (One full of movies, I hope!) 


  xoxo,
       Zoe