Week 25: fruity, nutty harvest cupcakes

All of a sudden fall has arrived in Washington, D.C....a little cold and windy, too. The temperature started to drop yesterday afternoon, on the way back from a wedding in Baltimore. That's when I remembered this really cool recipe in Elinor Klivan's cupcakes! book. It is a cupcake that evokes fall feeling all by itself...the colors, the aroma, the beauty of it!

Oh, something really funny happened about that wedding. I was going with a collegue of mine, Margaret, who like me is on the creative side and both of us are a bit mindless about details like directions...and could not find our invitations with the directions and other important info. Oh well. I remembered three things about the location: it was in Baltimore, at a castle, and it was on Falls Road. I googled it and found the directions, so we were golden! It said it was about 50 miles from my house. We left home at 9:30 a.m. for an 11:00 a.m. wedding. We actually got to the castle at 10:45..plenty of time to spare. We walked up and a few people were there. We went inside and signed the guest book and while Margaret was in the bathroom someone handed me a little bottle of bubbles and a program. I was looking around for someone I knew and glanced down at the program.

Uh Oh...it read Amelilia Brittany Libernini...Yikes...it should have been Melissa Sweeney (our colleague)...OMG! We were at the wrong castle! Forcing a calmness I didn't have, I casually went outside and called a couple of people also supposed to be at the wedding, but got no answer. Finally, I tried my boss. She answered right away and all I said was "we're lost!" I just couldn't admit that we had gone to the wrong castle....Well, we arrived 1/2 hour late, but luckily, the wedding was late, too. Here's what happened. It turns out that there are TWO castles on Falls Road in Baltimore...only a couple of miles apart (who would have known?)! One is called Cloisters Castle and the other is called Maryvale Castle. WE WERE WEDDING CRASHERS...this became the biggest laugh at the wedding...but it did lead to a very nice cupcake recipe, in the end!

Download the recipe: Week 25: Harvest Cupcakes PDF

11 comments:

  1. Well, as usual they look delicious & your presentation is great!!

    The muffin cups though..what kind are they?? They look like those reusable silicone cups..I haven't seen those in red yet though, only pastels. Inquiring minds would love to know =)

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  2. Anonymous8:50 AM

    Ooo! Ooo! It's like a Clif bar, a granola bar and a cupcake all in one convenient little package. Thick, sweet, tasty and with lots of texture.

    I'm going to come live in your house so that I can help lick the bowls.

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  3. Anonymous10:13 AM

    For Roxy - these aren't cupcakes they are muffins but they are some of the best pumkin muffins I have ever had!
    PUMPKIN MUFFINS

    Preheat oven to 350ยบ

    3 1/3 cups flour
    2 cups sugar
    2 tsp baking soda
    ½ tsp baking powder
    ½ tsp salt
    4 eggs
    1 1 lb can of pumpkin
    1 cup melted butter
    8 oz chocolate chips

    Mix first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Whisk eggs, pumpkin and butter in another bowl until well blended. Stir chocolate chips into wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients over dry mixture and stir until moistened. Scoop into baking cups. Makes about 24 muffins.
    Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until springy in center.
    Warm in micro before serving or lightly toast in toaster oven and serve with butter.

    Peggy

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  4. Oh we have so many castles here in sunny Baltimore!

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  5. Anonymous12:40 PM

    Between your blogs from last week (Vanilla Cupcakes with Vermont Maple Frosting) and this week (Wedding Crashers at the Castle) remind me of one of my favorite episodes of "Friends" when Ross and Chandler go to Vermont together. Ross eats too much maple candy on the way there and arrives on the most amazing sugar high.
    I'm waiting for your first television appearance!

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  6. Obsessed: The cupcake liners are from a place called The Confectionary House. This is the url: http://www.confectioneryhouse.com/

    they have nice dark brown ones too. Aren't they fun?

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  7. Anonymous8:57 PM

    I love the "wedding crasher" story -- what a hoot. I bet you laughed yourself silly. Can't wait to try the cupcakes (and those pumpkin muffins above). I enjoy checking in with you!

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  8. Thank you..I must go browse confectionary House now =)

    I'm so glad to know there are other people out there who get excited over little things such as muffin cups lol =)

    Have a great weekend!!

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  9. This is a fun blog! I've just recently caught cupcake fever... I had underestimated the poor little things for so long... now I frequently find myself scouring the web for cupcake photos. :)

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  10. Anonymous5:24 AM

    i am one of the people who popped over here due to "my yahoo"'s feature, and now i intend to visit regularly. i love baking, i am homesick for washington (we moved from woodley park to bangkok in 2001), and i love cupcake queen's writing style. this wedding crasher story had me chuckling -- how mortifying!

    i'll try anonymous/peggy's recipe for pumpkin muffins this week with my kids.

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  11. Anonymous1:36 PM

    That is truly funny that you show up at my wedding, while trying to find your colleague's wedding. And here I am reading about it on the internet while looking at cupcake recipes a year later.
    What a coincidence.
    Amelia Brittany Libernini

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