Holiday Cupcakes!

 A few weeks ago, my grandma (Mammaw, as I call her) got me two different packs of cupcake papers. And for the past week, I've been pondering over what kind to make and how to decorate them. I wanted to do some kind of topper on it, but just couldn't figure it out. Then it hit me like a snowstorm! Chocolates from a holiday candy mold I have! The one cupcake paper had a wreath on the bottom, so I used a little red bow on the top. The second paper had polka dots all over it, with a picture of Santa and a fun phrase on the bottom. So I used multicolored light bulbs. Here's two photos of the cupcake papers:

I wanted to make a cupcake I've never made before. And I just so happened to be cruising on different blogs and found a recipe for a snickerdoodle cake. So I turned it into cupcakes. Here's the recipe from A Bit of Bees Knees, a blog that I absolutely adore!

Ingredients


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature

1 3/4 cups fine or superfine sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups whole milk, warmed to room temperature

-Preheat oven to 325°F. 

-Butter and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.

-In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

-Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in colour.

-Beat the eggs in one at a time, fully incorporating each egg and scraping down the bowl between each addition.

-Add about 1/3 of the milk, beat to incorporate, then 1/3 of the flour, again beating to incorporate.

-Repeat this process, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until all of the milk and flour are added and mixed in evenly.

-Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake, rotating midway through, for about 35 minutes or until the cake tests done.

-Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes before turning out onto the racks to finish cooling.

I decided to make the frosting my dad uses for his red velvet cake. It so good, and not too sweet like buttercream can be. Problem is, I didn't do it correctly. I actually didn't even notice it until I had all the cupcakes iced and decorated. The butter SEPERATED! I was so upset, but there was nothing I could do. It was already late at night. It tasted fine, just looked really crappy. I loved the concept of my idea, so that's why I am posting this on here. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. So here are my cupcakes. Please excuse the horrible icing.