Cupcakes!!

At some point last year, my husband was washing the dishes (yes, I am a lucky lady), and he dropped and broke one of my large glass mixing bowls. A few months later he thoughtfully replaced it with a large glass kitchenaid mixing bowl that fits on my stand mixer. For some odd reason I didn't take it out of the box until today. Oh my goodness this bowl is amazing because of one simple thing.... it has a spout!! My kitchenaid was great before but now it is fantastic!!

Let me explain why I am so excited for this spout. I'm making cupcakes for Mr. Barren Baker's birthday gathering tomorrow night, and for whatever reason, I have never learned a good way to fill the cupcake papers. I have tried spooning the mixture, pouring it out of whatever bowl I had mixed it in, and also spooning it into my small measuring cup and then pouring from there. I always made a huge mess and would get way more frustrated than I'd like to admit. What a time saver this bowl is. Took a bit of practice, but I was done filling the cupcake papers in way less time than ever before, and there was no mess. I tell you, it is the little things that make me happy.

As for the cupcakes... I made two different kinds, both out of Martha Stewart's cupcake book.  I stuck with simple, because I had never attempted a Martha recipe before, and I do find her a bit intimidating. First, I made her yellow buttermilk cupcakes, which came out pretty good.

I apparently pour my cupcakes much more generously than Martha because the recipe supposedly makes 32, but I only got 24. 

The other cupcakes I made were her devil's food cupcakes. The only thing I changed was I used light sour cream. Oh, and I'm pretty sure my Hershey's cocoa powder isn't "dutch processed." YUM!! I mean YUM!!! Martha, I will never doubt you again. While making them I was questioning her...why must I melt butter with the sugar in a saucepan instead of creaming the butter and sugar like I usually do? It was way more work. But apparently worth it!

Don't these look super healthy?

Melting the cocoa powder in water seemed excessive... couldn't I just add the cocoa powder to the flour. Apparently not, because I'm telling you these cupcakes are truly devilish!

 A must make... I can't wait to make the frosting and decorate them tomorrow. I'll be posting pictures of that later...










I can happily say I have finally made a Martha Stewart recipe and I am now able to pour out my cupcake batter without getting irritated. Both of these are "good things."

 (Actually the devil's food cupcake is better than a good thing.)