Lemon Filled Cupcakes

Not all dessert recipes need to be complicated to get the attention of your guests. Sometimes they can be made using simple mixes from your pantry and a little bit of creativity. This is a a tried and true family recipe that is not only easy to make, but tastes delish! These fun cupcakes are great for taking to picnics, parties, potlucks, you name it!

What you'll need:
White Cake Mix
Lemon Pie Filling Mix
Eggs, Oil and Water, according to directions on mixes.
Icing Sugar

Bake cupcakes, white cake mix according to the directions on the box. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Prepare lemon pie filling according to the directions on the package.

Using a serated knife, cut small cones out of each cupcake.

This is what they will look like when you remove them. Set the cones aside.

Fill each cupcake with pie filling.

Replace each cupcake with a cupcake cone.

Sprinkle the cupcakes with icing sugar and serve!

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Printable Version

Nutritional Information

Playing Hooky for Cupcakes

Today I played hooky with one of my best friends and we headed up to Lollicakes in Davisville for a complimentary peanut-free cupcake for my belated birthday. (I just realized that this is the fourth post that I have made in the past week that is related to cakes, cookies, or cupcakes. I can see a pattern here).

I fully intended to take a picture of the beautiful cupcakes they gave us, but by the time I whipped out my camera there wasn't much cupcake to take a photo of.

Al's boyfriend was in the backseat and chirped up "That's it?!?! That's all you have left?!?!? After hanging out with us for over 5 years, you would think he would know better. Honestly, I really do try to savor sweets, but it just doesn't happen.

If you're ever near Mt Pleasant and Davisville in Toronto, stop by Lollicakes for a sweet treat. And don't forget to sign up for a free birthday cupcake on their website :)

Now Whiskey and I are off on a little roadtrip with the girls to my alma mater. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Its Not Goodbye, Its See You Soon

This weekend some of the gang had a surprise Going Away Party for my dear friend, Lyndsay. In a week she is heading out West to British Columbia for a new start and we couldn't let her leave without a proper send off. Despite the fact that everyone knows that I am a) always late and b) the worst at accidentally ruining surprises (seriously, do NOT tell me what you are getting people for Christmas) they entrusted me with keeping her occupied until everyone was ready for the big surprise. Thankfully I didn't say a peep, but I was 15 minutes late - what can I say, we were visiting my Mom and she was giving us all the good small town gossip.

But all was forgiven when I showed up because I brought these:

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Icing

For ages I've wanted to try this Bailey's Buttercream Icing from Deb at smitten kitchen, but I just hadn't found the occasion for it. They don't have a lot of booze in them, but they just didn't seem like the kind of thing that you would take to a family party with kids and pregnant ladies everywhere. So a big party full of slightly inebriated adults seemed like the right place to test these out.

There were a big hit! Lyndsay is not even a big "sweets" person (unlike me, oh boy), but she loved these. Caught her eating just the icing off of one of them.

To make the little "Team Lyndsay" flags, I printed off a bunch of "L"s on Word using a funky font. Then I cut them out...while watching Tomorrow Never Dies. What can I say? I love Pierce Bronson as James Bond.

I cut some reg flags using the fancy cardstock from the Holiday cards I made this year, and then glued the letters to them. I then glued each red flag onto a small bamboo fork and used a paperclip to hold them together while they dried.

Then it was just a matter of sticking them into each cupcake. Voila!

All-in-all I think that we gave her a great send off and we're all excited to hear about her great adventures out West. I'm going to miss you, Lynds, but this just means that I have to come out to visit, right?

charleston, charleston!

Photos by Mom!

Gray Dress - Forever21

Plaid Hair Bow - Handmade

Plaid Tiny Fit Blazer - Thrifted

Black Crocheted Knee High Socks - Urban Outfitters

Lace Up Heels - H&M

Last weekend, my mom, sisters, and I took a trip to Charleston! I didn't know what to expect, so when we drove in, I was in awe. The beauty of it all really overwhelmed me - it was hard to find a street or alleyway that wasn't charming and manicured and well-preserved. The entire city seems to glow.

We stayed on Meeting Street, in a fantastic home built in 1740. The rooms we stayed in were originally where the servants slept, above the kitchen - which boasted a massive brick fireplace over 10 feet wide! Every room had a fireplace in it, and wonderful, creaky hardwood floors. The owner of the house told us a story about guests staying in the rooms beneath us hearing children running all over our rooms above them one night - when no one was staying there at all. That night, Rhi turned the kitchen light on when I wasn't looking and then told me it was a kid ghost that did it. I kept waiting for the ghost to turn the light back off.

We went shopping, took a haunted jail tour (TERRIFYING), listened to Dixieland jazz (banjo! wonderful), took pictures in pretty cemeteries, walked around the Battery, and ate some fantastic seafood. I even found a place that hand rolls their own cigars, so I had to take one home for Neil. Coffee was a highlight, too.. City Lights Coffee in downtown Charleston serves Counter Culture, which is the best coffee I've ever had. And all of this with my beautiful mom and sisters.

The history of the city was the best part of it all.. voodoo history, pirate history (Blackbeard and Anne Bonny!! I did a pirate presentation in 5th grade and have been in love with them since then), the Revolutionary War and the Civil War and everything before, in between, and after. And the pride of Charleston's people when talking about these events.. and their ancestor's direct involvement with them. We had the opportunity to listen to our bed and breakfast owner talk about his home's history as well as give us tips on what to see in the city. He knew the city backwards and forwards, having lived there his entire life, and he was only too happy to share his own Charleston stories. To have that much passion and enthusiasm for your hometown, a place filled with your own personal tales as well as those of history's greats, like Washington and Beauregard and Sherman - your own history crosses paths with your country's history. How wonderful to play a part.

And the accents in Charleston! You don't truly know a Southern accent - and the differences between the accents depending on the area - until you live in the South. And the South Carolina accent is slow, deliberate, and effortlessly refined. I could listen to them talk for weeks.

The conclusion? Visit Charleston. Preferably with lovely family.

Hello, Cupcake!

I remember the days when my son was in Kindergarten. He was my first child and just starting school. I wanted to do all I could to help out in his class and be involved at his school. I told Ms. Wilson, his teacher, that I would love to make cookies anytime for the class. And I did. I made alphabet cookies and Jaguar paw print cookies (for the Jacksonville Jaguars) and hands in different skin pigments for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and hearts for Valentine's Day. And that continued on until he went on to Middle School. During that time my daughter began school and I made cookies a few years for her classes. I haven't made cookies like that in a few years now. I have hundreds of cookies cutters, dozens of Wilton cake decorating tips and icing bags and accessories. I think I finally got burned out from all the baking and decorating.

I was in Books A Million with my daughter Monday and I saw this book and couldn't resist. Makes me want to break out my Wilton stuff.

The new trend is cupcakes. They even have a chain of shoppes now that sell and serve cupcakes. I know several moms who have made or ordered cupcakes instead of the traditional birthday cake for their child's birthday celebration.

This book has some of the most clever ideas for decorating a cupcake! The fanciest I ever gotten with cupcakes are the owl cupcakes I made last year and it was also one of my first posts on my blog. Nothing compared to the ideas in this book.

Like the Shark Attack cupcakes. The shark bodies are twinkies!

Or how about these adorable panda bears...

Or Van Gogh's Starry Night!

This book is available at all the major bookstores, in store and online. Definitely worth it for inspiration and instruction.



Be Inspired! -Karol :0)

All photos from the book Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson

Adorable Cupcake Idea!

Quick update: Here's a link for an instructional video for these cupcakes! http://www.landolakes.com/tips/Halloween-Hoot-Owls-demonstration.cfm

For my first real post, I want to share a great recipe magazine . Whooo knew owl cupcakes could look so cute?!

I just picked up this Land O Lakes Recipe Collection at the grocery store (couldn't resist). I am planning on making these for my daughter's class soon.

There's numerous cute Fall & Halloween themed kids recipes in the "Kooky Cookies & Treats" section as well as "Cranberry-Cashew Jumbles", "Glazed Cardamom Coffee Cake", "Apple Ginger Pie" from the "Harvest Baking" section -just to name a few.

Great Harvest Baking recipes. Each recipe has a photo (bonus!). You can check out many of the Land O Lakes Recipe Collections when you click on the picture and order. This particular issue is available now at stores.

More magazine reviews to come, that's a promise!

Karol :0)