Hello Cupcake!: February 2011

Sunday, February 27

Totally 80s

These were designed to match an 80s-themed birthday party. Before decorations...

And after...

And minis to match...

Pictures don't really do these cupcakes justice. They were pink, sparkly, and COVERED in glitter. For some reason glitter doesn't show in pictures. The cake was red velvet and the frosting cream cheese.

Monday, February 14

Valentine Picture Overload

I'll be honest...I get WAY more excited about baking for valentines day than I do about the "holiday" itself (and I use holiday loosely). Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who spend their whole February 14th ranting on "Hallmark Holidays"...nor have I ever really been bothered by if I have, or don't have, a "Valentine" on this one particular day. In my opinion, every day is more important than how someone treats you this one day. Keep in mind, I write ALL of this while staring at beautiful pink roses...so maybe I'm a bit biased :)

I love Valentines day for other reasons. I love the pink and red color combination you see EVERYWHERE. I love that hearts are surprisingly not tacky for a few days. I love that, at 25 years old, I still get a valentines gift and heart-shaped cookie cake from my mom. I love even more that my mom left me a gift and card in my room EARLY this year since she was in Florida this week. I love that my dad insisted on making steaks for my sister and I last night for our Valentines dinner. I guess I love that Valentines seems to be a reason to celebrate...exactly what we are all celebrating...I'm a little unsure of...but either way, I like it. So I celebrated this year by making TONS of cookies, and a few cupcakes.

If you've ever had a Hello Cupcake! cookie, you know they are HEAVY. This is why:

I think I had 13 sticks of butter sitting out at one point...and that was probably only half of what I used. Now you know why these cookies are SO good. I did several plates of these...they all looked very similar, so I only took a picture of a few.

These were for my co-workers:

These were for my students:

This was an order...simple...but I really liked them:

Last but not least, this is what I gave as a Valentines gift (to someone who has had so many cupcakes he will hardly eat them). I know these aren't pretty, and I'm not pretending like they are. I tried to add something with the red hot on top...it didn't really work. BUT, these little cheesecake bars are DELICIOUS. One of my favorite recipes.