About a month ago I received a request to feature a recipe for yellow cake. My one problem is that I don’t like to make cakes — mainly because they go to waste in my house. It’s easy to bring cookies, bars, or cupcakes to school or work, but the same isn’t true for a cake (which involves cutting pieces, needing plates and forks, etc.) So I decided to make yellow cupcakes for this post instead. The recipe can be easily adapted into a cake — just use cake pans instead of a muffin tin, and increase the baking time a bit!

Yellow Cake Cupcakes
Recipe source: Tasty Kitchen
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1 box yellow cake mix
4 whole eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional; but I like almond flavored cake!)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with liners.
2. Mix eggs, sour cream, oil, and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Alternate adding cake mix and water. Mix in extracts.
4. Fill the liners half-full with batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing
Recipe source: Sally’s Baking Addiction
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1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
A disposable pastry bag + large star tip

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy – about 2 full minutes.
2. Turn speed to LOW and slowly add 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar, the cocoa powder, and salt. Beat until sugar/cocoa are absorbed into the butter, about 2 minutes.
3. Turn mixer to medium speed and add the vanilla and cream. Once added, turn the mixer to high speed and beat for 1 minute. Add the last 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar if you’d like to increase the frosting’s thickness.
4. Pipe the frosting onto cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

My favorite video game of all time is Tetris. It’s simple, addicting, and oddly soothing. My love of the game was intensified when the tetriminos were colorized. Each tetrimino has a color and I stayed true to that with these cookies. I’m not overly thrilled with these cookies because my icing was more watery than it should have been — and the end result is a bit bumpy. But I try not to be one of those baking bloggers who only posts treats that turn out to be “perfect” — so here these are!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought the Tetris cookie cutters from Amazon. They come in a set, which costs about $15.
• I used Wilton gel dyes – red (for the Z piece), orange (for the L piece), yellow (for the O piece), leaf green (for the S piece), sky blue (for the I piece), royal blue (for the J piece), and violet (for the T piece).
• I outlined the cookies using white icing first — making the little compartments on each piece. When the outlines dried, I flooded the cookies with the corresponding colored icings.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
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1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes).

You’ll get about three dozen Tetris pieces using this recipe. I’d suggest doubling the batch if you want more cookies.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

You will most likely need to make two batches of icing for this project — because of all the colors involved.

I’m a total sucker for novelty treats. Like these cookies that look like cupcakes. Or treats that are a miniature (balloon cookies!) or giant version (giant Oreo cake!) of their true selves. Or treats that just make no sense (like TV dinner cupcakes!). I hope you’re all having a great week!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought a large cupcake cookie cutter on Amazon. These cookies ended up being about 5 inches tall.
• You will need the following food colorings: no-taste red, sky blue, yellow, and pink. I used Wilton gel dyes for all of these. I made two shades of blue, yellow, and pink for the cupcake wrappers. Just use a little bit more dye for the darker shade.
• You’ll also need sprinkles — the kind you use is up to you! I used round, pastel quins.
• I outlined and flooded the wrapper portion first, then outlined and flooded the white portion. As soon as you flood the white icing, add your sprinkles.
• Once the wrapper portion has dried/set, I piped the detailing in the darker shade of icing.
• The cherry on the top was the last thing I did — and I used a slightly larger round tip to make the cherries.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes).

The yield will depend on how large your cookie cutter is. I used a really large cupcake cookie cutter and got about 12-16 cookies out of this batch of dough. If you need more dough, this recipe can be easily doubled.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Note: you will likely need more than one batch of this icing. But again, it depends on how many cookies you are making!

I have a secret. Most of my friends and family know this, but I’ve never said it publicly on my blog (at least I don’t think I have). Here it is: I roll my eyes at the thought of red velvet cake. I know, I know. But I DON’T GET IT. It’s cake… with a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a bottle of red food coloring! What is so magical about this?!

I don’t hate red velvet, per se. But I just don’t get it and I think those of you who go all happy jazz hands over it should have your head examined. Having said that, just because I don’t get it doesn’t mean that I’ll never feature it on my blog. I don’t get the appeal of coconut, milk, or carrots either — but hey, I know many of you love them.

Nabisco decided to make red velvet Oreos for the Valentine’s Day season. Apparently they are a limited time only product, so I hope you are able to give them a try before they disappear from the stores. FYI — I found mine at Target.

Red Velvet Oreo Cupcakes
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For the cupcakes:
1 box red velvet cake mix (plus required oil + eggs)
Gold sprinkles
Valentine’s Day decorations (I found the arrows at Williams-Sonoma)
Cupcake liners
1 package red velvet Oreos

For the cream cheese icing:
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
A disposable pastry bag + a large star tip

1. Make the red velvet cupcakes according to box directions. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.
2. Make the icing: beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth. (Can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; before using, bring to room temperature, and beat until smooth.)
3. Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes using a disposable pastry bag and a large star tip.
4. Place one red velvet Oreo on top of each cupcake.
5. Decorate with gold sprinkles + Valentine’s Day decorations.

Mardi Gras is next Tuesday! Here are some ideas for your celebration!

1. Mardi Gras Cake Pops
2. King Cake
3. King Cake Knots
4. King Cake Monkey Bread
5. Mardi Gras Hi-Hat Cupcakes
6. Mardi Gras Mask Cookies