Black Forest Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting

 Every Sunday my family gets together at my moms house for Sunday Dinner. My Step Dad does most of the cooking. The rest of us usually do the desserts, especially if it is someone's birthday. This week I just wanted to make a chocolate flavored cupcake so I volunteered to make dessert. I enjoy Black Forest Cake so I thought I would attempt to make a Black Forest Cupcake. First I used a good Chocolate Cupcake Recipe and changed the ingredients just a little. (Recipe below) Baked according to directions. Let cool and hollowed out the center of the cupcakes with a paring knife. Make sure to not go through the bottom of the cupcake.

Next fill the cupcakes with cherry pie filling. I was a little lazy and used store bought cherry filling. You could make your own if you want.

Make the frosting. Frost the cupcakes. 

Sprinkle the cupcakes with mini chocolate chips. 

Enjoy the cupcakes! 

Black Forest Cupcake

Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of hot water

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup sour cream

Cherry Flavoring (I used 3 tablespoons of DaVinci gourmet cherry syrup)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners. 

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water util smooth. in a separate medium bowl, sift together the four, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3.Combine the butter and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is smooth and the butter is completely melted. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Mix with an electric mixer and beat on medium low speed until the mixture is cool, about 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla, and then the cocoa mixture, beating until smooth. 

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the four mixture in three additions, alternating wit the sour cream, beginning and ending with the four mixture. Mix each addition util just incorporated. 

6. Add Cherry Flavoring one tablespoon at a time until you get the flavor you want. (Some flavorings are stronger than others so be careful. You don't want it to taste like cough syrup!)

7. Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake approximately 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. To insure even baking rotate the pans half way through cooking times. 

8. Let cupcakes cool in pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients: 

1 8oz package of cream cheese softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions: 

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy whipping cream. stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold stiff peaks. Save any left overs in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 

Spray Painted T-Shirt with Doilies

My second son turned 17 last month and I was shopping with him at my home away from home Target. While looking at the men's clearance they had T-shirts on clearance for $2.48! They were either grey or yellow. Since yellow isn't a good color on me I bought a grey shirt that was a size larger than what I wear with the intent of altering it. 

I started by cutting off some of the length of the sleeve.

Next, I cut the neck line off and made it larger. I then used Steam-A-Steam 2 to finish off the edges of the sleeves and the neckline. I then stitched the edges with a double needle to give it a more finished look. 

Now comes the spray paint and doilies. I used 8" and 10" doilies for the pattern. I also used Krylon Black for Plastics. I used this kind of spray paint because it is what I had in my closet. You will want to put something inside of your t-shirt so that the paint doesn't go threw the back side. Here I used some foam core. You could also use cardboard, freezer paper or bunch of news papers. I also didn't want to get spray paint on the garage floor so I laid some cardboard down under the shirt. Because I wasn't sure how the shirt would look I tested with some doilies and scrap jersey material to see how it would turn out. I tried with white first but didn't like the look on grey so I used the black. 

Lay the doilies onto the shirt for placement. I played with them for a little bit before I started spraying. 

I wanted a layered look so I laid some extra fabric under the doilies where I didn't want the spray paint to go through.  

You will want to spray about 10" away from the shirt in a light sweeping motion. If you get trigger happy you will end up with some dark edges that you won't be able to fix. Each time after I sprayed the t-shirt I immediately removed the doilies.

Continue to cover up any areas that you don't want to get spray paint on and move the doilies around to finish your design. 

I sprayed the shirt 3 times but figured it need a little more.

I sprayed a few more times and even sprayed some on the sleeve.

The shirt wasn't quite fitting right so I gathered the sleeve up to the collar of the shirt. I also tailored the sides a bit to make it more form fitting. 

Here is the finished product!

I was inspired by a shirt I saw on Pinterest that used doilies to decorate their shirt. I thought that I saved it to one of my boards but can't find it. If it is your shirt let me know and I will give you proper credit. I was also inspired by a shirt that was made on The Winthrop Chronicles. 

Vacation Food

With a family of 7 food can become quite expensive in vacations. While searching the internet for food options in the San Diego area many options came up. We found Casa de Pico in La Mesa that had the best Mexican food we have ever had. Prices were a little expensive for my liking but the servings looked big from walking by other tables. The husband and I shared a plate and we were glad we did. A couple of kids shares the taquitos appitizers. So because we shared we got out of there for $78 including tip. I thought it would be alot more.
we knew pizza would be a cheap option for food. I looked up Pizza in google. One of the first places that pulled up was Costco! Oh my gosh! We eat there when we shop, so why not when on vacation!  For food, drink and dessert we all ate for $19.73!!!!! The kids want to go back tomorrow. We might just do that.

You Rock- Father's Day Photo Shoot

I am attempting to make my blog a little more personal along with the crafty side of me. What better way to start than to add pictures of my kids! I was short on time and $ for Father's Day so I decided to take my kids on a photo shoot. I took these pictures by a golf course near our neighborhood. It's really hot in Arizona in June so we got up and ready and were taking photos by 8:30am. That was not early enough! Feeling the side effects of a spider bite, a tetanus shot,very strong antibiotics and the heat made for a hot and quick photo shoot! Not to mention trying to get 5 kids to cooperate while taking photo's!

I'ts hard not to goof around while taking photo's. I had the kids each grab a rock and hold it up so I could add the saying, "You Rock Dad!" to the photo. When they put the rocks down they wanted to do "air" guitars and also say, "You Rock Dad!" I love my kids and am so blessed to have such great kids!

Here is a picture of the whole bunch in December. It was "Senior" Night at the football game. They honored all of the senior football players and had them and their families come on the field.