For a Non-Cupcake Blog, Here's More Cupcakes

Look what I'm springing on Jenna tomorrow!  Top to bottom, starting on the left:

Burnt sugar cake with salted caramel buttercream filling and brown sugar buttercream
Same as above, drizzled with more salted caramel
Burnt sugar cake with salted caramel buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream
Same thing but with more caramel drizzle


Chocolate mud cake (chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate crumbs)
Chocolate cake, marshmallow filling, chocolate buttercream

S'mores (graham cracker cake*, toasted marshmallow filling, milk chocolate ganache) with brown sugar buttercream
S'mores with vanilla buttercream

Let's all wish her luck.  She's coming in the morning, so this is breakfast.  If there's a better way to start the day, I don't know what it is.

Edit: I forgot to mention that there are MORE cupcakes to the left of this picture, out of the shot.  Those included sweet potato and ginger cake with marshmallow filling and vanilla and brown sugar buttercreams.

Tasting went great, I sent both tasters home with nine cupcakes each and there are still more in my kitchen.  Someone help me, please.

This is Not a Cupcake Blog

...but they do tend to show up anyway.  Sometimes.

I've been cooking up all sorts of experimental flavors this week (my fridge is filled with all sorts of fun stuff), and I'll post something about those soon.  But sometimes it's nice to just make a batch of something without any guessing or weirdness that doesn't require any special purchases, and that's the story of these chocolate cupcakes.

These are Sweetapolita's Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes (there is NO BUTTER in that cupcake recipe.  I was horrified and checked it three times) with her whipped vanilla frosting--I'm normally not a fan of powdered-sugar-based frostings (blanket term: American buttercream) but this one is pretty damn good.  And it's almost completely hands-off as long as you've got a stand mixer.  Amazing.

These were taken to a potluck to accompany a hotdog bar.  All was right with the world.

(A note about cupcakes: they are not my gift.  I am finally getting to the point where I don't overfill the damn things, but that's really the best I've got.  I use them for cake tasting and when I need something quick--like this!--and that's about it.  Team cake for life.)