mom & pop design: sweets

Today, I drove to Koreatown to buy a table top bbq grill. I stumbled upon these pretty macarons. These are from the Cake House inside the market at Koreatown Plaza. Just a $1.50 each...because the woman there couldn't speak english, I don't know what the flavors are. So I'll tell you the colors they had: brown, light brown, green, lavendar, pink, yellow. I'll do my best to figure out the flavors when I taste them. If you know the flavors, can you let me know?

They had an assortment of breads, cakes, and sandwiches. For lunch, I bought this cool sandwich roll, made with green tea bread. It's filled with ham, egg, cheese, imitation crab, cucumber, carrots, a pickle, and lettuce. It was rolled up like sushi and sliced. Very yummy!

One day, while eating a banana chocolate chip cupcake with cream cheese frosting from vanilla bake shop, a lightbulb went on in my head. my delcious banana chocolate chip cupcake tasted strangely, and deliciously, like a muffin. I experienced cupcake algebra:

muffins = cupcakes without the frosting
thus,
muffins + frosting = cupcakes

I love decorating cupcakes, but baking them, can be somewhat of a pain for me. The muffins are store bought. And cream cheese frosting is made in seconds, in a food processor. Cream cheese frosting gloriously compliments the flavor of the muffins, or, uh...naked cupcakes.

What you'll need:
store bought mini muffins
ingredients for frosting, see below
a sandwich sized ziplock bag
scissors
toppings: sprinkles, colored sugar, chocolate chips, chocolate covered espresso beans, or whatever you have in the house!

Here are the store bought mini muffins. These are banana nut, chocolate, and blueberry.

Cream Cheese Frosting (from Cook's Illustrated)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (leave on counter for a while)
5 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 Tablespoon sour cream (i used yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.25 cups confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

Process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanila in food processor until combined. (5 seconds) Add
powdered sugar, and continue to process for 10 seconds, scraping down bowl and blades as needed.

A few seconds later, your frosting will look like this.
Scoop some of the frosting into a ziplock bag. Squeeze out air, twist, pushing frosting toward one of the bottom corners. Snip off a corner. (about 1/4 inch)
Squeeze frosting onto cupcakes, think frosty soft serve ice cream cone. Be generous. Add toppings of choice. Photograph for your blog. Eat entire dozen, and hide evidence from child and husband. (Burp.)

This cupcake is topped with sifted cocoa powder, and a choclate covered espresso bean I happened to have.
This is lovingly topped with confetti sprinkles, before stuffing into my mouth and getting into my nose.