BEST HOUSEWARMING GIFT, EVER!

My best friend, Jennifer, knows me better than anyone else. This is clearly evident from her (bed, bath, &) BEYOND amazing housewarming gift. Jeffrey and I recently moved into our little, Mountain View apartment and on the first day, when I was completely stressed from the move, Jenn brought over the only thing that could make everything better - a baby donut maker. Saying I was ecstatic is an understatement.

My first attempt at making the lil' nuts was vegan. Jeffrey and I decided to try a week of veganism, for a variety of reasons, but there was no stopping me on trying to make a vegan baked good. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a recipe that didn't include an egg substitute (I didn't find a good alternative at my local grocery store), sooo, I decided to use a vegan cupcake recipe -- cake donuts exist so I was like "whateva."

Here were the results. I added some purple food coloring to some of the batter (that turned brown) and made a soy milk/powdered sugar icing. Sprinks obviously.

I'm in love. They were so cute and delicious - I swear, that week turned me on to vegan sweets, so good! I'm making some real donuts tomorrow for a coworkers birthday, what recipe to try?

From Mountain View with love,
Jenny

Candy Corn Cupcakes!

A few weeks ago, I was inspired after seeing some awesome Halloween cupcakes by my friend Claire. Since then, I've been so excited to make some of my own. I decided to play with color and my favorite Halloween candy, candy corn, to make these. I'll give some instruction of what I did, just in case you want to make some - they're so easy!!

First I mixed together a white (boxed, I know, I know, I'm not hip and organic) cake mix. Then I separated the batter in 3 parts. I used food coloring to create yellow and orange portions.

Next, I layered the colors in the cupcake liners. The batter was thick enough that I could get good division between the colors without them mixing.

Here they are after baking for 12-15 minutes!

Once they cool down, throw some frosting and candy corn on them and om nom!

They were so delicious and cute! I brought them to my best friend, Lauren, for her birthday. She completely downed them... Sort of like how Jeffrey, Andrew, and I did that night. Lauren only got 5 - sorry girl!

I was foolish for letting my assistant/boyfriend Jeffrey use the rest of the batter to make his own color. I, of course, knew he'd combine some sort of gray color after he asked me earlier, "How do you make orange? Green and red?" It was so cute, I had to capture the awfulness.

Gross, I made him take them home.

Hope you enjoyed. Now I'm off - sewing for eternity in preparation for the craft fair!