Hello out there in cupcake land!

So I've decided to start another blog. I know, I know, I have two kids under age 3. What am I thinking?

I'm thinking this: I am having way too much fun trying out different cupcake recipes to not share with my peeps. (Btw, I need tasters. Feel free to volunteer.) Also, I can't stop baking. I may be a little obsessed. This is where ya'll can keep me in check.

My adventures all started when I came across "Hello Cupcake!" in the Target book section. Since then I've picked up a few more books and magazines devoted to this sweet culinary art. I've also been hunting down websites, blogs and recipes. I have an arsenal and am 1/120 of my way into it (that's an arbitrary number I put in just there to sound like I've done a little of the "a lot" I want to do).

I thought I would start with some back logs of some of the stuff I've done so far. Sadly, I have not photographed all of my creations and the ones that I did catch on camera don't have awesome pics. Need to work on that.

Here is a list of what I have done so far:
- Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate bar frosting (I call it that because it tastes like a candy bar, not because it has candy bars in it)
- Green velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and green sparkly sprinkles for St. Pattie's Day
- Nutella cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache, frosted with Nutella frosting, drizzled with more chocolate ganache and topped with toasted coarsely chopped hazelnuts
- Strawberry Jello poke cupcakes with Cool Whip frosting, topped with a fresh raspberry - I made these for the 4th of July
- Banana cupcakes with crunchy peanut butter frosting
- Peanut butter cupcakes with a Reeses' peanut butter cup baked inside and frosted with vanilla frosting (this cupcake needs a revamp)
- Almond cupcakes with marshmallow frosting and topped with sliced almonds - this one could be better as well
- Hot Fudge Sundae cupcakes from BHG (Chocolate cupcakes with a hot fudge center, vanilla frosting, magic shell and chopped peanuts, another dollop of frosting and a maraschino cherry on top)
- Lemon strawberry pie cupcake - lemon cake filled with lemon curd, frosted with fresh strawberry frosting and topped with a fresh lemon slice
- Gluten-free coffee cake cupcake with butter frosting (Adapted from BHG's Cinnamon Roll Cupcake) and executed the second time successfully with the help of my gluten-free guru, Cara!
- Kahlua cupcakes with coffee buttercream
- Dark chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting
- Zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting (I found this treasure in an old Taste of Home magazine dedicated to cooking from your garden)
- Cherry almond cupcakes from BHG

On the decorating side of things I have done the following:
- Easter bunny butts amongst the grass from Hello Cupcake!
- Pumpkin patch cupcakes from Hello Cupcake!

Here's how green my St. Pattie's Day cakes turned out. The batter looked like melted crayons before I baked it.