In the mail.... chefjen137

How lovely are these photos? I mean really! They are the loveliest.... and probably the most scrumptious photos I've ever seen.



And guess what? The prints are mine! chefjen137 was having a giveaway at Sterling Roses Design's blog, and I won!



The best part is... I have been lusting over these prints for SO LONG! I've put them in a couple of treasuries and dreamed of the day that they would be mine!




I heard about the contest on twitter... so you should probably follow chefjen137 as well! She's great to tweet with!



Remember to check out chefjen137's shop... and feel free to visit the giveaway's host, Sterling Roses Design.

Cupcake Heaven

My morning started off chatting with some lovely ladies on twitter about cupcakes.

For those of you who know me, you know I love cupcakes. If you don't, well..... I love cupcakes.



And if I haven't said it enough times yet, I love cupcakes.


So today I made vanilla chai cupcakes. Don't ask me for the recipe, because I don't have one. I hate recipes. I'm the anti-recipe. I'll tell you my method. Make your favorite vanilla cupcake batter.... just throw in a couple tablespoons of chai latte powder in with the flour. I used Oregon Chai... but you could use your favorite. (Pssst... if you are a box mix kind of lady, that's okay! Just throw in the couple tablespoons with all your other ingredients and mix away!) The cupcakes don't really taste that chai-y. They just have a hint of chai flavor. The frosting is where that lovely chai flavor explosion comes in.



How do I make frosting? I start with butter. UNSALTED! I mean you could use salted, if you like vaguely salty frosting. I do not, so I use unsalted. I use 3/4 of a pound... which is 3 sticks. Let 'em soften for awhile. If I get impatient, I throw them in the microwave, let 'em cook for 5 seconds, rotate, 5 seconds, rotate, until I'm satisfied with their softness. Throw them in the good old KitchenAid (if you don't have a KitchenAid you can't make cupcakes. Fact.) and let 'em whip away until they're almost white. WARNING! You will have to stop the mixer to scrape the bowl down a couple of times to get all the chunks out. (eeewh butter chunks...) When I'm satisfied with the smoothness, I throw in a couple teaspoons of vanilla. Then blend. Then I added 3 packets of Oregon Chai latte mix. Then blend. Then I just mix in heapings of powdered sugar until it's at a good piping consistency.



I use a giant pastry tip like THIS ONE! from BakeItPretty.com and just lightly swirl the frosting around the cupcake. I bought the cute pics at Hobby Lobby in the Valentine's section. The liners I bought on Etsy.