Happy Birthday To Me!!

To start this glorious birthday weekend celebration I thought I'd begin... the only way I know how really. With the expressive, loving nature of the cupcake. I made not one, not two, not three, but FOUR delicious flavors of cupcakes.

Ok, so I'll confess now. I cheated. It was 11:00pm last night and I really really wanted to make cupcakes for today but had limited time. I used cake mix. For all of them. However, I am not ashamed. They all turned out spectacular!

Let us start with the delicate yet seductive Lavender Cupcake.

Look at her. So pretty and so yummy. I used regular old white cake mix. Mixed it up as the back of the box requested and split the batter in two bowls equally. In one bowl, which was to become the now wonderful Lavender Cupcake, I added ground up dried lavender to the batter and some lavender water/syrup stuff that I got at the Farmer's Market. I made regular sized and mini cupcakes. I topped them off with a lavender glaze I made with the above mentioned lavender water/syrup and 1/2 cup powered sugar and garnished with the dried lavender.

I was so afraid they where going to taste like soap like every other blog warned me of, but mine turned out perfect and everyone loved them at work.

Now we have bowl two of that white cake mix. I thought I would make one generic batch so I give you plain and pretty White Cupcakes with plain white, pink and chocolate frosting.

You can never go wrong with these.

For the next two cupcake batches I have a box of chocolate cake mix. So again, I prepare the batter as indicated on the back of the box and split in two. This next cupcake includes one of my favorite cookies of all time.
I remember my Mother always used to have a tin of the regular sized cookies that came wrapped in beautiful pastel tissue paper in the pantry. I would sneak one of these every chance I got. At some point she must have noticed a tin full of empty tissue paper.
I present to you the chocolate amarettini cupcake.

I crushed up the cookies and added it to the batter and a few drops of almond extract. For the frosting I used a buttercream and added almond extract and topped with none other than a mini amarettini cookie.
Last and certainly not least, the second half of chocolate mix, and the birth of my new favorite cupcake. Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcake.I added mini chocolate chips and a few drops of peppermint extract to the batter. Holy underwear Batman, are these good. I decided on two different kinds of frosting. I took white frosting and added peppermint extract to it and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. I also used chocolate frosting and added a few of these mint drops. You may remember these little treats from such occations as weddings or baby showers. I happen to love these and always have them around. I'm so glad I do now.
These cupcakes turned out so fantastic I can't wait for my Boyfriend to try them. I KNOW he's gonna dig 'em.My favorite part of my morning was seeing my kitchen table covered in cupcakes. This makes me happy. I love making cupcakes. This was my Birthday gift to me. Yeah me!