In honor of my Birthday Girl, we have Dora Coconut Cupcakes.
I had these lofty ideas of decorating each cupcake with a different Dora character hand piped out of royal icing. It was going to be amazing. But I have three small children, two of which decided yesterday would be Cry and Scream Day. That meant by last night, when I was supposed to be working on the toppers, all I wanted to do was veg and unwind from the day. So no royal icing characters, instead, whistles and sparkle star candles. I think those will go over much better with the 2 to 4 year old crowd.
Sometimes you need a savory cupcake. Especially one with bacon. It is very dense, very rich, and can double as dinner. In fact, that is what I had for dinner. Bacon and cheddar in a corn cake with a brown butter buttercream. The buttercream is incredibly rich and sweet. Makes me think of fall and butterscotch.
On our last beach trip we found a fantastic shop that sells infused olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Though I wanted to go home with half the store, I ended up with a vanilla bean balsamic vinegar. Which I immediately planned on pairing with strawberries in either an ice cream or cupcakes. Obviously cupcakes won. Strawberry cupcake with a balsamic buttercream. I love fresh strawberries in a cupcake. It was the end of the season so the flavor wasn't as strong but still, quite tasty. The balsamic gave the buttercream a very dense texture.
