Week 34: Ornament Cupcakes (Chocolate Cupcakes with Easy Buttercream Frosting)

Here's the third and final cupcake in my series of three holiday-themed cupcakes. The first was the Candy Cane Cupcake. The second was the Snowball Cupcake. The recipe I used for this one is a basic dark chocolate cupcake compliemented by Linda West Eckhardt's Quick Buttercream Frosting from her book called Cakes From Scratch in Half the Time." It's a great book! I got the idea from the cupcake ornaments I've been finding this holiday. I searched around on the web and found a similar idea.

So, I made my weekly early Sunday morning cupcake supply trip, only this time it included a trip to CVS because the Giant didn't have any Mini M&M's which are desperately necessary...as well as the miniature Reese's Cups! I came home right away and made the cupcakes because my daughter, Catherine, was having her friend, Jesse, who is also a member of our monthly dinner club, over to bake holiday-type yummies. I needed to get out of there fast. I still make the worst mess in the kitchen, so it's best that I'm in there to suffer with it all by myself. Stuff is flying all over the place, including frosting. The kitchen laptop is coated with confectioner's sugar, something kind of crunchy...and who knows what else!??

They got started baking, and I took the frosting phase of this project into my office to work on the cupcakes. It took me a while to settle on an idea and then I really got cranked up and was able to use all the colored sugars I've been collecting. Each of the 24 cupcakes is different. However, this took all f'ing afternoon. I am not kidding you! But, I totally enjoyed myself and they really were fun to do. One negative thing happened: During the Photography Phase (smile) I had to go get something downstairs and I thought I closed the door. I had a very nice blue cupcake (see photo above) on a plate on this little table in my office...when I came back into the room, the door was open and my dog, Layla was staring at the now empty plate as if another cupcake would magically appear! Good thing I had already taken a couple of shots of that cupcake...she even ate the paper liner...I took one look at her and had another bite of the frosting...It's to die for! My office, however, will never be the same! Recipe up on Monday!