Happy Birthday Sesame Street!!!

And here's to 40 more!

Last day...

Hey Friends...don't forget to VOTE for me. Today is the last day then it's on to Apples!!!

Thanks!

ICM-Earth: Music...There's an Englishman in my Cupcake

So, I did it...I actually have an IronCupcake recipe/entry this month - woo-hoo!!! I even did 2 taste tests!!!! Yay!!! This month's ICM-Earth theme is MUSIC!!!! The challenge was to make a cupcake inspired by a song. So I scanned the ol' iPod and found one of my favorite Sting songs and it just clicked for me...

An Englishman in New York

My friends couldn't figure out how that becomes a cuppy. But for me, that was easy...

Englishman = an Earl Grey cupcake

New York = with Black and White cookie icing...you know the Black and White cookie made famous by Seinfeld.

But before you read on about my cupcake adventure, you need to check out the great IC-Earth Sponsors!!! I'm competing to win some fab cupcake prizes with this entry. Check them out:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne

And starting around October 30th, visit www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com to vote for me!!!

Now back to the cupcake making excitement.

I started with the tea...

I brewed 1 cup of really strong Earl Grey tea. You can really get the Bergamont and citrus notes when you bite into the cupcake...but I'm getting ahead of myself!

First you need the cupcake! I creamed butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla until fluffy. I combined with flour, baking power, baking soda, some sour cream, lemon zest and the tea...

The Batter!!!!

I lined a regular sized cupcake tin and filled each using an ice cream scoop about 1/2 way. The batter makes about 18 cupcakes.

Bake well little cupcakes, bake well!

After about 18 minutes at 350°, I got some cupcakes! Do you know how hard it was to wait for these little guys to cool??? They smelled amazing!!!

The batter did rise a bit more than I originally expected, but rather than adjust the recipe, I like the tops that way because they remind me so much more of a Black and White cookie!

After the cupcakes cooled about 45minutes, I started icing them. I chose to do icing, rather than frosting because it is more true to the B&W cookie. For the icing, I used confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, water, vanilla and a little light corn syrup for that glossy look! I mixed up the ingredients and iced half of each cupcake and let that set.

For the 'black' side, I followed the same basic recipe, I just omitted the lemon juice for just water. Also, I used about 1/4c less of the confectioner's sugar and in it's place, used unsweetened cocoa powder. Ice the other half of the cupcakes and let set and here's what you get...

The cupcake is moist and aromatic and the icing is such a nice compliment...not too overwhelming. It was music to my ears and mouth!!! Click here for the full recipe! And don't forget to VOTE for me next week!

Englishman in New York Cupcake

Ingredients:

Tea -

1 c boiling water

6 bags of Earl Grey tea or 2TBS of loose tea

Cupcake-

1/2C (1 stick) Unsalted butter

2 large Eggs

2 C Granulated Sugar

2 C All-purpose Flour

1tsp Baking Soda

1tsp Baking Powder

1/4tsp Kosher Salt

1/4C Sour Cream

1tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1TBS Lemon Zest

'White' Icing-

1 1/2C Confectioner's Sugar

1TBS Light Corn Syrup

2tsp Fresh Lemon Juice

1-2TBS Water

'Black' Icing-

1 1/4C Confectioner's Sugar

1TBS Light Corn Syrup

2tsp Water plus...

1-2TBS Water

1/4C Unsweetened Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder

Preparation:

Cupcakes -

1- Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake tine with liners.

2- Brew tea for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags or strain, set aside

3- Beat butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy

4- Beat in flour, baking soda, baking sugar, salt, sour cream and tea. Gently stir in lemon zest.

5- Fill cupcake cups 1/2 full.

6- Bake 16-18 minutes until lightly browned and toothpick comes out clean

7 - Cool on wire rack about 45 minutes.

White Icing -

1- Mix all ingredients together until icing coats back of spatula. If too thick, add a little more water, if too thin, add a little more confectioner's sugar.

2- Ice one half of the cupcake and let set about 5 minutes.

Black Icing -

1- Mix all ingredients together until icing coats back of spatula. If too thick, add a little more water, if too thin, add a little more confectioner's sugar.

2- Ice the other half of the cupcake and let set about 5 minutes.

Dusting off the blog...

Hello...is there is any one still out there. I'm finally dusting off the blog. 'Bout time, huh? Well, I have a good reason. I'm finally going to stop lurking and join/enter Iron Cupcake. I love cupcakes...I love to try out new recipes...sounds like a match made in blog-heaven! So stay tuned as I clean up the blog and get a baking!

Right on Amazon!

I went visited the Amazon site today and look what I found!!!

How did they know I suffered from 'wrap rage'???  How did they know I was screaming to no one in particular yesterday as I attempted to free a timer for the living room lamp from the plastic prison it was in.  How did they know????  It's a shame there are more items...but hopefully this will catch on.

The solution to the economic crisis...

I couldn't agree more!!!