Cupcake Heaven :-)

I love cake in all forms, but especially in the form of cupcakes...little bite size pieces of goodness. I mean LOVE cake. Anyone who wants to know the way to my heart and stomach...it's in cake with buttercream frosting. OMG, I'm in heaven.

So when I went to make dessert for Easter dinner, I knew I'd be making cupcakes. I've made Ina Garten's Carrot Cupcakes several times before with fabulous results. DH absolutely LOVES these carrot cupcakes and ate nearly as many as I did, LOL.

A lot of people in the reviews of the recipe on Food Network complain about the oven temp and have problems, but honestly, I have made these many times and followed the recipe to a T and never had a problem. The only things I do differently is skip the raisins, substitute pecans for the walnuts, and add the shaved, candied carrot on top, which she put in the Better Homes and Gardens version of the recipe. I love the little candied carrot bits on top. Just yummy :-)

This year, I also made her Peanut Butter frosted Chocolate Cupcakes, (pictured above) and decorated them with mini Reese's peanut butter cups. These ones weren't my favorites (that's not to say I didn't eat like three of them though, LOL). The chocolate cupcakes have more of a dark chocolate flavor, and I like my chocolate semi-sweet. They were good...just not my favorites. Judging by the family guests, though, the chocolate was a big hit. They were all gone after Easter dinner :-)

After watching Chris Kimball, from America's Test Kitchen, on the Today show, I wanted to try his red velvet cupcakes. I LOVED the cupcakes themselves, but the frosting was too close to the flavor of the one on the carrot cupcakes (almost identical recipes). When I make these again, I'll either do a buttercream frosting or not make the carrot ones at the same time :-)

I definitely need to unearth my pastry bag next time I make some cupcakes so I can make them all fancy like they do on Cupcake Wars. I love that show and the gorgeous work they do in such a short period of time. Wish I was there to eat the leftovers ;-)

What'd you make for Easter dessert? What's your favorite dessert? I don't make dessert very often (because then I EAT it, LOL) but it really is my favorite part of the meal. I have vowed that when I get old and gray, I'm only going to eat dessert. It worked for my grandma, who lived to 97 :-)

Shirley
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