Weekly Winner #43

Ok, I shared a video on today’s cupcakes.  And I wanna share it again.  It’s just too beautiful!  It’s a World Cup-inspired video directed and shot by Dennis Rainaldi, edited by Robert Cole and composed by (none other, my hubby) Ken McQueen.  It is a beautiful and inspiring video.  Enjoy!

Well.  It’s been another crazy, flavor-filled week.  So much variety.  So many flavors!

Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Caramel Macchiato Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Easy Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

S’more Cupcakes

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

Samoa Cupcakes

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Beach Cupcakes

And, with 20 points, the winner is…

The Caramel Macchiato Chocolate Nutella Cupcake from Life, Love & Sugar.  Check out that tasty day here.  And check back on June 30th to see how it does in the Monthly Competition.

Day 326 – Beach Cupcakes

It is Sunday.  The weather is beautiful.  The sun is shining.  Why not go to the beach?  Well, in case you can’t get to a beach, why not bring the beach to you with these Beach Cupcakes (recipe below from The Imagination Tree)?

But before we get to these fun cupcakes, I wanna share a video.  It’s a World Cup-inspired video directed and shot by Dennis Rainaldi, edited by Robert Cole and composed by (none other, my hubby) Ken McQueen.  It is a beautiful and inspiring video.  Enjoy!

Now, Beach Cupcakes, as promised.

    

The cupcakes are dense. Not dry, but not moist. A little like a corn muffin in both feel and taste. But without the corn flavor. Just kind of a sweet, generic flavor. Nothing strong or standout.

The glaze is just colored powdered sugar-water. That’s about as simple as it gets. It’s a pretty shade of blue. And just very, very sugary.

    

The cupcakes are sweet. That’s still the only distinct flavoring I’m getting. I want more vanilla or a little almond extract or something. The graham cracker adds a bit of flavor, but not very much. Not enough to really stand out against the muffin taste/feel. This cupcake is cute and really simple though. The design could be used on a lot of different recipes. And you could really add any flavoring too it that you wanted. Vanilla, almond, coconut, lemon…anything would work.

Note: They’re supposed to have the little cocktail beach umbrellas on top. I couldn’t find any. So you’ll have to use your imagination.

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3

• Frosting Taste: 3

• Overall Taste: 3

• Appearance: 3.5
• Ease of Making: 4.5
• TOTAL: 17

RECIPE

Beach Cupcakes (recipe from The Imagination Tree)

Beach Cupcakes:

• 3 eggs
• 6 oz self-raising flour
• 6 oz butter or margarine
• 6 oz caster sugar
• few drops vanilla essence
• dash of milk

Topping:

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• a few drops of water
• a few drops of blue food coloring
• graham crackers

For directions visit The Imagination Tree.

*Tomorrow: Banana Cupcakes*