Summer is being a real tease right now.

One day it’s hot.

The next it’s cold.

In reality, it’s basically cloudy when you wake up, then it’s hot and sunny for a few hours in the mid afternoon (when most people are working and cannot take advantage of the sunshine), and then by later afternoon it’s cloudy and windy again (once everyone is off work and has time to enjoy being outdoors), and at night it’s usually scattered rain showers.

Not much of a summer so far.

On the plus side, Italy won. So there’s that.

Forza Italia!

{Not a bad looking team… ;) }

I’ll be in my home country of Italy in just over a month!! Hopefully we will be able to celebrate a Euro win !!

Today is the beginning of a long weekend for Canada. July 1st is Canada Day, Canada’s “birthday” if you will, a holiday celebrating there anniversary of July 1, 1867 when the BNA Act, British North America Act, was put into place, uniting Canada as a single country within the British Empire. As a History minor, I should know the in’s and out’s of these things, taking several Canadian history courses, however, Google will also tell you this. Also, I just graduated and I have chosen to turn off my brain until September when I start my PDP.

Adam and I are actually spending the holiday in the states. Does this make us bad Canadians?

We’re going to Maple Falls, and hopefully down to Seattle for a day. I hope the weather warms up, however, Seattle has a worse reputation than Vancouver does for being a ‘rainy’ city.

 Next weekend will hopefully be sunnier, once we are in July. At least it better be. I hope to see a lot of readers/ fellow bloggers at the Blogger Picnic in the Park that I’m planning! In fact – these cupcakes are a ‘real life’ version of the adorable cupcake graphic I used for the poster. Although, I have seen ‘watermelon’ cupcakes online. Honestly, every time I have an idea for a cupcake I Google it, and I’m a little saddened, yet not surprised, to see that it has already been done. I guess it is a little hard with all of the worldwide bakers out there to come up with seriously original ideas these days. But I guess ‘great minds think alike.’

These are quite easy – I used an open tip with white SMB and piped a small outline on top of the cupcake, not filled in, just a circle. Then I used my closed star tip with some pink/tulip SMB colouring for the ‘flesh’ of the watermelon and topped it with some ‘chocolate chip’ seeds. Although next time I will search out some Watermelon Kool Aid that I had seen another blogger use in the frosting, and some candy coated sunflower seeds for the ‘seeds’ such as these or these. You can also add some lime to the base cupcake as well, for some extra flavour.

I made these to bring to a friend – along with some other cupcakes I’m going to be blogging about soon!

These are a great summer cupcake, just make sure to store in a very cool place, otherwise the frosting will melt, and buttercream that has been left out in the sun is not good. Believe me. It is not a pretty sight, or smell.

Watermelon Cupcakes – Makes 24

To make the cupcakes, add a few drops of lime/green food colouring to your favourite vanilla cupcakes. You can also add a few tsp. of lime juice, or lime pudding to your recipe as well. Bake and let cool completely.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

5 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

3 sticks butter, chilled, cut into cubes

Directions: 

In a metal mixing bowl, preferably from your stand mixer, place over a pot of simmering water, not boiling. Add sugar and egg whites. Be sure there is no yolk or oil in the egg whites, they will not whip properly otherwise.

Whisk constantly, until thermometer reads between 140-160 degrees F. If you do not have a thermometer, heat until sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. This takes about 7-10 minutes.

Transfer metal bowl back to stand mixer, with whisk attachment and whip until the egg whites are thick and glossy and cool. The bowl itself should be cool to the touch, again this takes about 7-10 minutes on high.

Once the glossy thick texture is achieved, switch to a paddle attachment, and on medium add the chilled cubes of butter, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

The texture will begin to change, to a heavier, silky texture. It may look curdled, but continue to mix and it will become smooth once again. This time my butter was a bit too warm, and my frosting was curdling and soupy. I place it in the fridge for 15 minutes, added a couple more pieces of chilled butter and began to whip again. It became smooth once again.

Reserve about 1 cup of white vanilla frosting, and transfer to a piping bag with an open tip.

In another bowl, add a few drops of pink/red frosting to achieve a ‘watermelon’ colour. Mix to incorporate colour fully, and then transfer to another piping bag with a closed star tip.

As I mentioned earlier, use the white frosting to outline a circle on the top of the cupcake. Do this to all of the cupcakes, and then switch to the ‘pink’ frosting.

To complete the ‘watermelon’ effect, add a few chocolate chips for ‘seeds.’

There you go, watermelon cupcakes! Perfect for picnics – and definitely making an appearance at the blogger meet up I think!

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Wow.

That was a mouthful.

Literally.

When I was daydreaming up my ultimate birthday treat for today, a few ideas came to mind. Lots of delicious combinations, but there is no better combination than peanut butter and chocolate. It’s just plain smart.

I actually have a really slight allergy to peanuts. Nothing life threatening, and it would probably take quite a bit of peanuts to have any reaction, like hives or an upset stomach. So, for years I have had to shy away from delicious things like Reese’s peanut butter cups. I switched to Almond Butter, even making my own at home. But, I thought for ONE day a year I can indulge in my most favourite combination of flavours. It is, after all, my birthday.

At first I thought a Reese’s baked in the cupcake, with some frosting. But then I went a step further, Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Frosting. Maybe topped with another Reese’s cup.

And then, I went another step. Dark Chocolate Dipped Hi-Hat cupcakes. Like a double decker Reese’s, PB&Chocolate on the bottom, PB&Chocolate on the top. With a chocolate cupcake sandwiched between.

These are heaven. They are actually ridiculous. A half cupcake will do ya. Definitely good for sharing. Definitely good for birthdays.

Adam and I went to Wal-Mart Sunday to get supplies. I have never bought so much sugar, ever. The cart was ridiculously full of chocolate and all things peanut butter. This is a once a year occasion. My cart has never been so un-healthy! Thankfully I balanced my half cupcake yesterday, taste-testing, with a green smoothie for breakfast today.

These would not last long in the house. And there is only two of us. So I sent some with Adam to work, and dropped some off at the neighbours. As well, as share some later with family =)

You could say these are the king of cupcakes, topped with a Reese’s cup crown.

Those were good.

But then I thought, it could use some more chocolate.

Yup.

Dig In.

I dropped some off at my Mom’s as well, and she said she microwaved it for three seconds, and it was out of this world good. She said luckily there was only one, otherwise she would have eaten them all.

Double-Decker-Reese’s-Peanut-Butter-Cup-High-Hat Cupcakes

You will need:

- 1 bar Dark Chocolate OR 1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chips

- 24 of your favourite dark chocolate cupcakes/devil’s food cake - This is my go to recipe here

- 24 Reese’s peanut butter cups

Place cupcake liners in muffin tin, and place a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in the bottom. Top with batter, bake according to recipe, I baked mine for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool completely.

Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream

While Cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Ingredients:

5 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 sticks butter, softened, cut into cubes

1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth – not natural.

Directions: 

In a metal mixing bowl, preferably from your stand mixer, place over a pot of simmering water, not boiling. Add sugar and egg whites. Be sure there is no yolk or oil in the egg whites, they will not whip properly otherwise.

Whisk constantly, until thermometer reads between 140-160 degrees F. If you do not have a thermometer, heat until sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. This takes about 7-10 minutes.

Transfer metal bowl back to stand mixer, with whisk attachment and whip until the egg whites are thick and glossy and cool. The bowl itself should be cool to the touch, again this takes about 7-10 minutes on high.

Once the glossy thick texture is achieved, switch to a paddle attachment, and on medium add the slightly softened cubes of butter, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

The texture will begin to change, to a heavier, silky texture. It may look curdled, but continue to mix and it will become smooth once again.

At this point, add in the peanut butter and continue to beat until fully incorporated.

Transfer to a piping bag.

To Assemble:

Once cupcakes are cool, using a large open tip, pipe Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream onto cupcakes. You want a swirled look. Think – Dairy Queen Ice Cream cone.

You can also top with another Reese’s, or, dip in chocolate to achieve a hi-hat cupcake. I highly recommend this.

After piping frosting, place cupcakes in freezer/fridge to chill for a few moments.

In microwave, in 1 minutes intervals at 50% power, melt chocolate in microwave safe bowl. Make sure the bowl is deep enough so the cupcake will fully become enrobed in chocolate. Heat until completely melted, stir with a spoon to break down smaller chunks.

Take one chilled cupcake at a time, and dip into melted chocolate. Allow excess to drip off, and place upright once again in fridge/freezer to set.

Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes.

These can be kept in the fridge, and can be eaten chilled, or place on counter for 10-15 minutes prior to eating.

I recommend eating them slightly chilled, the baked reese’s in the bottom becomes a delicious chocolate/peanut butter disk, and the chocolate coating on the icing is great to bite into! It’s also easier to cut them in half – so you get even distribution.

These will last about 2-3 days in the fridge.

When I was younger I loved making crafts. Growing up that love never really stopped. I was into craft-booking for a while, and of course baking now. But I still love doing crafts. I remember in elementary school you would make your own valentine’s, out of red, pink and white cardboard paper and white doilies. They were always heart shaped, usually the type you fold in half, and then open up to the card. I’ve mentioned before that I volunteer at an elementary school as part of my application to the teaching program. I said I would bring in a special treat for Valentine’s day. I was inspired to create cupcakes that looked like edible Valentine’s like the one’s children make. They work incredibly well with the fondant, it cuts like buttah. I used a scalloped edge scissor for most of the hearts.

I actually used craft scissors, the fancy ones, I have an entire block of about 15 different patterns, to make the fondant hearts look like doily’s. I layered them with pink and red fondant hearts to look like a homemade Valentine card. They turned out quite cute. I used the ‘postal’ scissors to make a little Valentine’s ‘Stamp.’

They are rich chocolate cupcakes with whipped buttercream frosting. Perfectly sweet for your Valentine.

This is the first year we are home for Valentine’s Day since Adam and I started dating. The first year, we celebrated the night before, as he left on the 14th for Mexico for two weeks with his company, escaping the craziness that was the Olympics. Last year, we were both in Mexico for Valentine’s day, in Cabo!

However, though I had big plans for Valentine’s Day this year, staying in making a delicious dinner, and of course an indulgent dessert followed by a movie, they will be slightly altered due to my ongoing allergy elimination diet. The only silver lining is that tomorrow I can start to introduce beef! Which means we can both enjoy a nice steak for dinner. I have also been ok eating beans, so we’ll have some green beans, along with potatoes, maybe these super cute heart potatoes, or hasselback, and of course a salad, with only olive oil for dressing. I will definitely be making some chocolate dipped strawberries, because you have to have a little chocolate on Valentine’s, and I may go crazy if I don’t eat some chocolate soon.

Hope the kids are excited for these cupcakes tomorrow as their lunch time treat.

‘Send’ some love with these Valentine’s Stationery inspired cupcakes.

To make, you can use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe, or try this Devil’s Food Cake recipe I used for my Valentine’s Day Cupcakes before