More Cupcakes!

Last weekend I made these cupcakes and they went pretty fast!

Mostly because I took 12 of them to work to help celebrate a friend's baby news!

She found out she's having a girl, so I thought red velvet cupcakes with pale-pink

icing was absolutely in order! Speaking of in order... I found this measuring

cup/pitcher and thought it was perfect for cupcake liner filling!

And, once again...

I was right on the money! And, speaking of money, if you

want one of your own, it won't cost you much at all!

This was the Best $6.00 I spent all week!

Speaking of spending... Mom asked me to place an order for her with

Williams-Sonoma for some of the same Bistro items I picked up. I was

happy to do it, and even happier to find the table runner I've been eyeing

is now on sale! Mom loves her butter dish and her cheese platter

as much as I am now enjoying my new pantry table runner!

While my cupcakes baked, I checked on the boys out in the solarium!

Our transition has been going quite well this week!

King Bing is back to his calm, happy self!

And, King Leonidas really seems to be enjoying his new home!

For my part, I'm really enjoying the peace and quite. And, what about all

this bright sunshine in January too? Love it! I think as soon as my cupcakes

are out of the oven, I am going to get outside and wash the Mini Cooper!

Cupcakes baked... Mini Cooper washed!

How much do we love Devil's food cupcakes?

Last week I had batter for one cupcake left over...

Today, there's batter left for two!

Time for another round of Martha's Buttercream!

The secret to smooth frosting is sifted powdered sugar!

Sifting works out all the kinks!

 Last weekend I made only one batch of Martha's buttercream...

Which left me with a few naked cupcakes. Naked
cupcakes rarely get eaten around here...

So I throw them out into the yard for the

raccoons. Because they are less picky that way!

Nevertheless, this weekend I'm doubling Martha's

recipe, thereby eliminating the risk of naked cupcakes!

The raccoons won't be happy!

I'm using a couple of different tips this time so I thought I

would share with you my trick for transferring icing from one

pastry bag into another... Just snip off the bottom of the first

bag, and use it to pipe the icing over into the second bag!

Certainly not rocket-science. However, it's a whole lot easier and less
messy than scooping icing out of the top of a used pastry bag. Right?

Last week I told you about the photo light tent I picked up and how

much I enjoy using it. Well, after my friend Cheryl read my post, she

e-mailed me to show me how she was able to tweak one of my photos

using Photo Shop. Cheryl's adjustments looked great, but the thing I

wanted to know the most was how she was able to lift, and brighten

up the background. I don't know how it happened; but I noticed a

while ago that my indoor photos were looking a bit drab. After

sharing my frustration with her, Cheryl suggested I adjust my

white-balance setting. And, you know what? She was right!

Adjusting the white-balance on my camera made all the difference!

Now, even without help from Cheryl's Photo Shop, I have

beautiful, bright, clear backgrounds again. Oh, Cheryl...

I heart-you!

Another weekend... And, another great
afternoon spent in the kitchen baking!

Before I go... This is the scene upstairs on our bed

right now. Bing and Leo getting along, and getting closer!

Could grooming each other be far behind?