Rainbow and Cloud Cupcakes

I really love adding colour to my baking. The Wilton gel colours are so fun and easy to work with, over the past few years I have been colouring everything I can. I've made colourful cake for cake pops, sugar cookies, various icings, fudge, green bread, and my all time favourite colour experiment: rainbow cake. I really do find it a lot of fun.

This past weekend I transformed the rainbow cake idea into rainbow cupcakes. I used marshmallow buttercream for icing and I ended up with some pretty rainbows with clouds on top. I love these cupcakes (even the cupcake wrapper looked good).

Rainbow Cupcakes - Ingredients
1 box white cake mix; batter prepared as per package directions
Gel food colousrs: red (no taste), orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
6 bowls and 6 spoons
Patience while layering the cake batter

Method
Step 1. Gather supplies: Prepared cake batter, food colours, bowls, and spoons.

Step 2. Separate the batter evenly between 6 bowls. Dye each bowl a colour of the rainbow.

Step 3. This is the tedious part and requires a bit of patience. Layer your colours into cupcake pan lined with baking cups. I sat at the table and did this and it took me about 45 minutes to make 21 cupcakes. So just be aware that this will take time.

Start at either end of the rainbow spectrum (I started with purple) and add colours in order (or reverse order) along the spectrum R-O-Y-G-B-V. For the first layer, I used a toothpick and spread the purple batter out evenly to ensure the bottom of the baking cup was completely covered.

Keep adding your colours, 1 teaspoonful at a time until each cupcake has six different colour layers in it. Don't worry about the colours spreading evenly across the batter below it, I found that gravity and the baking process evened them out for me.

Step 4. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Marshmallow Buttercream - Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 jar Marshmallow fluff

I previously blogged about Marshmallow Buttercream here. To prepare: cream butter. Blend in icing sugar in 1/2 cup intervals. Stir in 1 jar of Marshamallow fluff. Done. This icing is both easy and tasty.

I thought the marshmallow in the butttercream would add a cloud like feel to the top of the cupcake, so I prepared it and piped it on using a 1M tip.

Absolutely loved how these turned out. So pretty and fun to eat.

Snowpocalypse

I'm Canadian, so it is my birthright to comment/discuss at length/complain/ about the weather.

The Weather Network's outlook for today

I braved the outdoors again today to document the real life blizzard we are experiencing. I was out for less than 10 minutes, as it was too cold to be out much longer. The weather network puts the wind gusts at 69km/hr, and the air it was throwing at me felt like -25°C (that is really cold). My gloved fingers were very unhappy.

We keep our car under a car port, but it got snow covered anyway.

Giant snow pile from having the driveway cleared (with a tractor!)

Our road looking West.

Again, looking East.

Snow is starting to weigh down the trees.

Neighbour's (Grandma's) drifted doorway. It had already been dug out once this morning.

Even with my high boots I got covered in snow. It was up to my knees. I'm a tall girl, so up to my knees in big boots is a little over 2 feet. I wasn't even in the deepest part of the snow.

The old swing set is missing the bottom half.

Definitely snow covered. Time to get back inside.

Snowmageddon

This winter is trying to get itself into record books I think. So far we have had an ice storm, temperatures as cold as the surface of Mars, and now some massive snowfall.

And it's still snowing.

We are currently under a "Blizzard Warning" and a "Wind Chill Warning" and the Weather Network is calling for even more snow tomorrow.

Good thing I enjoy indoor activities.

Influx of Snowmen in the Living Room

The Christmas tree went up on December 1st and I decorated the house with the various winter/Christmas themed items I've collected over the years. Once everything was set out, I noticed that I have a snowman theme, as they dominate every free surface we have. I didn't intend to collect snowmen (most of these items were gifts), but these little dudes make me happy. They are always smiling!

And because we have a nice blanket of snow outside, I thought I'd showcase my snowmen chilling in the snow.

Snowman tea light

Tea light with snowman scene

Tea light with multiple snowmen

Snowman figurines

Snowman wine glasses

Snowman stocking

And last but not least, what would this season be like without the abominable snowman? This year Bumble is gaurding the candy dish, though he's doing a pretty bad job so far (we will need to refill it soon). Bumble is the only snowman I can happily say I picked up myself. I just love him.

Doughnut Muffins (Are Amazing)

I have a Twitter account, and one of the neat things about following other bloggers on there is your Twitter feed often becomes a waterfall of amazing recipes and craft ideas. Recently Kelly over at Just a Sliver posted a recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins, and with a name like that I couldn't stop myself from making them.

I'm normally a cake mix kind of person, but I easily made these from scratch and they turned out great. I only had enough butter to make half a batch, but that was probably a good thing, as these were rather delicious. You want to know what makes them so delicious? Once baked, they are dipped drenched in butter and then coated with cinnamon sugar. So much yum!

Getting ready to dip

Soaking up the butter

Roll in ALL the sugar

So fricken' good!

For the complete recipe, click over to Just a Sliver.

Cat Sits On All The Things

Gary either really likes sleeping on my stuff, or I have a habit of leaving my things where she likes to sleep. It is a chicken or the egg type question, and a reminder that maybe I shouldn't leave my things lying around. Still learning that good habit.

Gary with my iPod: "I'm waiting for an important text"

"How do I get to my Twitter, again?"

Gary using The Hobbit as a pillow

Celebrating a Love of Turkey on Thanksgiving

My favourite meal to cook is a big turkey dinner. There is so much I love about it beyond the wonderful food I get to eat when it's done. I love having the house smell amazing all day. I love preparing all the sides. I love impressing people with my turkey making skills. I also love 2-3 days of leftovers and the option of making turkey soup. There is so much to enjoy.

For some people, a turkey is just served on holidays. In my family, we throw a turkey in the oven whenever there is an excuse to do so. When I was away at school, any weekend I came home was a reason to have a turkey. Now most birthdays or family get togethers are accented with a turkey. I often make one on my own birthday, as I like making them so much (but this year mom has volunteered).

I have a method for making a turkey that works for me (and works for mom, as I mostly copy her method). We cook the turkey for a long time, but somehow we don't overcook it. We stuff the bird. We make tonnes of sides. And we have a relaxing and enjoyable time preparing it. If you've never made a turkey before, there are some safe food handling concerns regarding preparation and ensuring the meat and stuffing are cooked to the proper internal temperature. For a good overview of how to make a turkey safely, please check out Butterball's Turkey Safety Tips and Turkey Ontario's How to Prepare a Turkey.
 
I will let the pros provide a step by step guide for cooking turkey, but the following are some of the things I do to have an awesome turkey dinner - every time.

An important aspect of cooking a turkey is getting a turkey deal. For me, a turkey deal is when the price is $0.99/lb or less. I love getting a turkey for $10, and a 10 pound turkey is my favourite size to prepare. There's enough for dinner with guests with the perfect amount of leftovers (too many turkey leftovers can be too much of a good thing). With Thanksgiving sales this past week, I got two 11 pounders at the $0.99 price point. Gotta love the turkey deal!

On the day of cooking, with a completely thawed turkey, I make my stuffing. I like a simple stuffing: bread, onion, garlic, mushrooms, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and butter. 

I use a turkey rack (when I remember) which makes removing the cooked turkey from the pan so much easier. Because I like to cook my turkey for a long time, it has a tendency to fall to pieces when taking it out of the pan, but the turkey rack helps keep it intact.

I stuff the bird right before it goes into the oven, stuffing the cavity and the neck. I sprinkle the turkey with salt, pepper, and some melted butter, and into the oven it goes at 325°F.

The turkey cooks throughout the day and I relax. I baste it periodically, but mostly I just let the oven do all the work. I do spend some time preparing sides, but I find that relaxing. Early in the day I peel potatoes, prepare and mash a sweet potato, and chop broccoli and carrots. 

I usually aim to have my turkey done at 5:30pm and then it is Go Time. The turkey comes out of the oven and settles for half an hour while I hop around the kitchen. The potatoes get on and boiling then mashed, the veggies get steamed, the gravy gets prepared, and the sweet potato gets reheated. Finally the stuffing comes out and the bird is carved.

And the beautiful dance that is turkey dinner is complete and is ready for consumption!

After dinner is done and (most likely) pie is consumed, I head back to the kitchen and de-bone the turkey. All the meat gets stored in a convenient tupperware for the next few days of leftovers, and the bones are frozen and saved for some fantastic turkey soup.

Best. Meal. Ever.