OOOPS and Banana Split Cupcakes

Want to hear a funny story? There are NOT 80 recipes in the cookbook. Yes, NOT. Enter laughing now. We went to look up the Eggnogg Cupcake recipe since we have some in the fridge and discovered we had not thoroughly done our research. There is a listing of all 80 flavors that are made by DC Cupcakes, but not all 80 are in the recipe book. There are 41. Mostly cupcakes. Sometimes it is a cake (Yum) and sometimes it is a tasty homemade hot chocolate (I'll take it!). Our mission remains the same, AND just got easier. Do every single recipe in the book. Every single one. Saturday was the Banana Split Cupcake.

This did require a trip to the store BUT I gave us bonus points for using bananas that were overripe.

Little One got right to work. Note that roller skates again.

These cupcakes were easy to start, then progressively were more difficult. The center was cut out of every cupcake which did prove to be easier than expected. I did this task as Little One made the chocolate ganache. You can see she got a little bored stirring and waiting.

I have to say the ganache was easy to make, and delicious. When the ganache (heavy cream and chocolate chips) were melted and mixed together, they were then put into the middle of every cupcake. This was really entertaining for Little One.

The frosting was easy enough but after multiple attempts to do the "signature swirl" explained on page 23 with picture diagrams and all, we determined we apparently had our own signature swirl.... and it was not as pretty. We just don't have the right equipment for that one! The book explains that you can experiment with topping your Banana Split Cupcake anyway you would like, crushed pecans, toffee bits, chocolate ganache and/or maraschino cherries. We decided to go traditional with the chocolate ganache and a cherry on top.

Overall, the cupcake was good, and I did think it tasted like a banana split, but it was not my favorite. And, I have to say, as the official "dish washer," the yummy to dirty dish ratio was not worth it in my book. Even though Little One disagrees, my husband and I say 1 star for just plain good.

Seeing this cute smile makes it all worth it though.

PS - Nana & Papa received a cupcake delivery today with Coconut and Banana Split Cupcakes. I am awaiting their taste test report! Happy Baking :)

First up! COCONUT Don apron!

This recipe seems easy enough. I put the butter out to get to room temperature. Sent the husband to the store for cream cheese and sweetened coconut. Everything else we had... wonderful! For the most part, Little One could measure and stir with direction. The recipe seemed easy enough. Being honest though, I did not sift anything - eek! We hoped it didn't matter as we added 'sifter' to our next grocery list. The frosting and coconut-ing was easy enough! And voila!

Yes, she is quite pleased with herself.

Time to taste test... FINALLY!

We decided on a four star rating system: 1 = Good 2 = Very Good 3 = Super Good 4 = Out of This World Good! When asked, she replies....... 4 Stars!

Maybe she is just very pleased with her accomplishment. Maybe we are setting high standards. Either way, these cupcakes were delicious! Even Little Brother Approved!

Much like the "Julie & Julia" version where Julie Powell attempted one Julia Child recipe per day for an entire year and wrote about it, we have our own mission. My 8-year old daughter is in love with DC Cupcakes. She started with watching the TV show on Netflix, and hasn't turned back since. Shall I say she is obsessed? I have to say, as a mother, I nurture this interest. With all the Barbie doll figurines and Britney Spears out there in the world, gearing this generation of little girls toward a goal of popularity and sexuality, this adoration for Katherine and Sophie is lovely. Not familiar with these two? Educate yourself: http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/about.html

In 2008 Katherine and Sophie left careers in fashion and venture capital to pursue their love in baking. This is admirable. This encouragement and attention to such a healthy and life fulfilling venture is music to my ears. This Christmas, my little girl received "The Cupcake Diaries" written by Katherine and Sophie and a DC Cupcake Baking Set. See the beautiful smile below.

She quickly adorned the apron and decided that roller skating waitresses have a very cool career!

After the excitement wore off, she got serious. She noted there were 80 cupcakes in the book. She took out a composition notebook (of course the DC Cupcake Flavor Composition Notebook) and numbered 1-80. She promptly wrote down every flavor. As a mother daughter team, looking at this list, we decided to make all 80 by next Christmas. You may think that task does not seem too complicated. But... remember this, there are only 52 weeks in a year. That is more than one batch of cupcakes a week. Keeping in mind that I work full-time plus, and have 3 kids, this is quite the undertaking. Next, what do we do with these cupcakes? Good question. We plan to blog about that too. Here is our One Year DC Cupcake Mission.