Mmm, cupcakes.

It started when an online friend mentioned she was going to an event in Toronto known as "Cupcake Camp". Basically - you buy a ticket (cheaper tickets if you bring cupcakes), and go eat cupcakes. Who doesn't like cupcakes?

Unfortunately for her, way too many people liked cupcakes, to the point where it sounded like she didn't really enjoy herself.

I thought it sounded awesome, except for the crowds, and the vulture-like attitude of some of the attendees (as the number of attendees vastly outnumbered the number of cupcakes). So I suggested that maybe we could have one in Calgary, except for not sell tickets, and just keep it private, maybe?

This is the result:

These were my contribution:

Chocolate-covered strawberry cupcakes. Cake was adapted from an old family recipe, and the icing was made from the icing recipe on the back of the icing sugar bag, with some strawberry sauce added (unfortunately, I've lost the original source for the strawberry sauce).

Having conquered (hah!) chocolate and strawberries, I wanted to try a new (to me) technique that a lot of the girls at Cupcake Camp had used... fillings.

Decided on these:

Chocolate cupcakes with basic chocolate buttercream, and white chocolate-cream cheese filling (recipe here). I used the same chocolate cake recipe as before; it's a pretty decent recipe - low-fat (well, for a cupcake), good texture, tastes great. Takes a lot of abuse from me while experimenting. I liked the filling, but the cream cheese overpowered the white chocolate a little bit too much for my liking.

At this point, having found a "go-to" chocolate cake, I started trying white cakes. Someone pointed me to I ♥ Cuppycakes, and I felt brave enough to try one of her recipes... Malibu Strawberry-Lemon Crunkcakes. Had to make a few changes... I wanted to put the strawberry in the cupcake instead of on top, but plain (uncooked) strawberry puree was not at all working with my implements to do so, so I re-used the strawberry sauce recipe I had used for my chocolate-strawberry cucpakes. I didn't have a stand mixer, so I had to use the basic buttercream off the back of the icing sugar bag again, and just used Malibu in place of vanilla/milk. Let me tell you, booze in the icing makes it waaaay better. Not just taste, but texture too. It was the best basic buttercream I'd ever had.

Next up: Rainbow Cupcakes. A lot of people seem to be doing these lately, but the go-to recipe was one with cake mix, instant pudding, and diet Sprite. Um, no thank you. I ♥ Cuppycakes did not disappoint.

The batter was nice and thick, so the layers of different colours didn't mix at all. Despite the thick batter, the cake was fluffy and delicious. I think I may have found my go-to white cake recipe.

That brings us back to this little morsel:

Matt got me the awesomest Mother's Day present ever, a KitchenAid stand mixer. I can now make real buttercream... the kind with egg whites, ridiculous amounts of butter, and so much deliciousness you can barely stand it. But I couldn't decide what to do first... the possibilities were endless. I asked CB from I♥C what to do first (with chocolate cupcakes, as I was in the mood for chocolate). She suggested Caramel Swirl Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

OH. MY. GOD. That stuff is GOOD.

Unfortunately I had a few hiccups along the way... it's definitely not as forgiving as the basic buttercream from the icing bag. First thing I did was cook the egg whites... had my double boiler too hot, and stopped stirring for a minute to go pick up the baby. Came back to an omelet instead of icing.

Take 2 went much better (baby was in bed) and I decorated the cupcakes and stuck them in the fridge to wait for our dinner guests.

I should've taken them out sooner, or perhaps not put them in at all? Buttercream is not as good when cold, it loses the smoothness a bit (gets a tiny bit crumbly). I'm sad I didn't take them out sooner... they were still good, but not as good as they could have been.

So that's what I'm up to most weekends these days. Wil still loves baking, and he loves singing Happy Birthday to the cupcakes (whether or not they're for a birthday), so he's right in there with me most of the time (I leave the icing until after he's in bed though).

Thanks to CB for all the inspiration and sharing all her recipes! :)