Visit w/ Grandma and Grandpa P By: Stella

Hello All!

We had a very fun visit with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle R P! Mom made a delicious meal-without an OVEN!!!
We had beef bourguignon, raspberry feta salad with craisins and raspberry vinaigrette dressing, cheesy mashed potatoes, delicious rolls, and for dessert: some cupcakes made by yours truly!

I made some little Westie cupcakes! They were a blast. No- we didn't make cupcakes without an oven...we cheated and went to Grandma's. :P I got the book Hello Cupcake! with some birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa P. and Great Grandma Z! I would totally recommend it to you. I got it for just a few dollars on Amazon, but shipping was more... (That's like all the cost these days :P)

Anyway, bring on the pictures...

I arranged them on a plate with licorice swirls. I was so excited to finally find them! Mom and I had been looking for them everywhere. They were $1 for about 10 in a bag at Market Basket. This is where I got all of my candy and it was miraculously cheap! :) Thees pups did take some effort...but once you get into the fun and try to contain all of the candy then you're all set. ;)

Today's Recipe: Westie Pup-cakes

So first comes baking the cupcakes. I used just regular size muffin tins and mini muffin tins for them. I made about 11 regular muffins and 11 mini muffins. Here we get a little bit into building with cupcakes, (excuse me, pup-cakes). ;) First we took a regular ziplock bag for piping frosting. This is a technique taught in the book. Take a Ziplock bag and cut an M tip from it. Now I am absolutely terrible at explaining things like this, so I'll put down the excerpt from the book...

Fill the Ziplock bag with frosting, press out the excess air, and seal...Push the frosting down to one corner. Reinforce the corner of the bag with 6 overlapping layers of Scotch tape. Pinch the taped corner flat. Use scissors to snip off a small V-shape, M-shape, or plain cut from the corner. (Page 14, Hello Cupcake)
I used only one color frosting-white, pure and simple! But you can use a couple different colors by...
Hold[ing] the Ziplock bag open in your hand and spread a thick line of each of 2 colors of frosting up opposite sides of the bag. Fill the bag down the center with the third color if using. Press out the excess air and seal the bag, making sure all 3 colors are pushed down to one corner. Reinforce the corner of the bag with 6 layers of Scotch tape. Pinch the taped corner flat. Use scissors to snip a small (1/8-inch) M-shape in the corner by cutting 2 small V's side by side...(Page 15, Hello Cupcake)

So that is how the piping works! I took the main cupcake, swirling a large area of frosting in the middle of the larger cupcake with a knife. Then I took the M-tip, piping along the edge of the cupcake and creating a fur look. Then I frosted the mini cupcake with a knife. Adding some piped fur I put on the candies for the face. I cut a little piece off of a mini marshmallow and then cut it diagonally in half. Then I spread a bit of frosting on it and dipped it into some pink sprinkles, creating the ear. I stuck two ears on the head with tons of frosting and then pressed a little chocolate plum sweet (or you can use chocolate raisins) on top of the marshmallow nose. I stuck two chocolate chips on for eyes. Then I placed the head on the cupcake sideways, with the bottom of the mini cupcake facing towards the back of the head of the dog. I stuck a toothpick in the two cupcakes, securing it. I stuck in the licorice tongue and then arranged the dogs on a plate in a circle, unwinding licorice wheels and curling them sideways by the dog to look like a leash. (I pasted the above picture again so you can see the leash)
This is a very cute project, and I am quite pleased with how they came out! :)
We had a great visit with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle R and look forward to another one soon!