Apple Picking & A Baby Shower

I recently went apple picking with my little family up in Oak Glen. We came home with two huge bags of apples. Needless to say I have been baking like a mad woman. I decided to make fresh apple cupcakes for a friend's upcoming baby shower.

I used Martha Stewart's apple cupcake recipe. It's a good one - lots of autumn spice. I was thinking of going with a caramel frosting even though Martha recommended cream cheese. I've been doing a lot of cream cheese frosting lately and am pretty tired of it; but after I tasted the cake there was nothing that would compliment it better than a cream cheese frosting, so I bit the bullet. I used BHG's recipe instead of Martha's (Sorry Martha). BHG adds an additional teaspoon of vanilla and an extra cup or two of powdered sugar. I like the flavor and consistency of this recipe and I tend to stick with what I like.

The shower theme was based on Disney/Pixar's Up. I decorated the cakes with a fondant balloon and piped in the string. They turned out pretty cute.

I've already turned most of the apples into the following: 5 pies, 2 breads, 2 batches of cupcakes and 1 batch of apple butter.

I have one more pie to make for my hubby, some apply sorbet for my toddler and maybe some cider.