Cupcake Happy Dance

Hey everyone! So, yesterday I got promoted at work, and there was a big ceremony for me and three of my colleagues who also were getting promoted. I wanted to make something sweet and different from the usual coffee & donuts that are usually present at these sorts of functions. I went with my first instinct, and perused the many blogs of the Daring Bakers (handy blogroll to the left) to find just what I was craving.

Seeing as how it's summer, and my favorite cocktail is a Mojito, I went with Ivonne's Mojito Cupcakes she made for SHF#33 from her blog "Cream Puffs In Venice". I wanted to add a personal touch, so I put some shredded white chocolate in both the batter AND the frosting of these bad boys, and it added such a sweet buttery-ness that was almost unnoticeable at first bite, but really came through in the aftertaste. They went over well, and as I mentioned on Ivonne's blog, I went home empty-handed, which is a GOOD sign. One of the office secretaries even asked me for the recipe, so I e-mailed her the URL to Ivonne's blog. So, kudos Ivonne for providing such an awesome recipe! Here's the link to the recipe, in case you want to make them, too: http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/2007/07/22/shf-33-mojito-cupcakes/

Side note: this was my first (albeit, semi-successful) attempt at piping frosting from a bag. Usually, when I use a frosting bag, I end up giving up and just using a spatula to slap the frosting on. I think they turned out pretty nice!! I was doing it pretty late at night, though, so I had a two trays of very different cupcakes: the pretty ones, like the ones above, were frosted pre-10:30pm. The second tray had the aforementioned spatula treatment and were post-10:30pm. Oh, well, at least I made the effort!

I decided to include the above picture from the ceremony. That's me, second from the right! These cupcakes were the PERFECT addition to my special day, I was so happy that they not only went over really well with everyone, but the flavors to me were cupcakegasm-worthy. Yum yum!!

~Mehgan~