There’s something new around here. Can you tell? I’ll give you a hint. I got a new camera! Well, Adam and I got a new camera together =) I have been longing for two things, 1. A new camera and 2. A new website layout. I’ve been pining for both for quite a while and now I can cross one off the list. If you’re a blogger, you know that a key ingredient in a food website is clear, crisp pictures. My old camera was fine for a while, but I could not help but want a sharper image to take better quality pictures. Adam and I had set out last weekend to browse cameras. We had gone to Best Buy and Future shop, and were not too happy with their service. First of all, both of them had only a handful of cameras that actually had battery packs on them, so you could turn them on. And all of the ones that did have batteries in them, had no memory card. Therefore, you could not see the picture quality of a picture once you took it. Both of these were the deciding factor that we needed to look elsewhere.
We went to London Drugs, as my mom works there (in the pharmacy) to look at their selection. They were much more helpful and knew a lot about all the cameras. We told them what we wanted it for, and they pointed us in the right direction. While I would love a Digital SLR my skills, and my wallet, aren’t quite at that level yet. But this camera is perfect for what I want. It’s a Panasonic Lumix ZS7. It’s a great point-and-shoot camera, with a really big lens and great quality. It’s only a step or two down from a Digital SLR. So far I really love it. We are also going to Mexico next weekend and I cannot wait to take some lovely pictures!
Alright, on to the cupcakes. I had signed up for Ever So Lovely’s Valentine’s Exchange and was so excited to make and send out some handmade Valentine’s around the world! I received my first card today from Jessica, a blogger in Australia! I had an idea in mind for Adam’s valentine’s day card and needed to make one for my honey too (of course.)
And then I started thinking about Valentine’s day baked goods. Since we’ll be on a warm sunny beach in Cabo, I wanted to blog about something before we left. Tonight happens to be our friends birthday and we’re going over for some drinks and games. I thought it would be a great night to avoid the huge list of homework bake some cupcakes to share with them as well. Adam and I have a joke about calling each other Honey, so I thought why not make honey cupcakes for Valentine’s day? I searched the net and found this chocolate cupcake recipe by Love & Olive Oil and slightly adapted it and created my own honey frosting. These are decadent, rich and so moist. The honey adds a subtle but sweet taste to them. It makes a small batch of 12 cupcakes, which is perfect when you want to share them with a few friends.
Share some love with your Honey! and make these Cupcakes. Or, you can make this no-bake Valentine’s classic of chocolate dipped strawberries I made last year, or these other Devil’s Food Cupcakes I made a couple years ago with fondant hearts.
Chocolate Honey Cupcakes
Makes 12
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 Tbs vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Honey Butter-cream Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3 tbs. Shortening
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tbs. milk
- 3-4 cups icing sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
In a stand mixer, whisk together milk, oil, sugar, honey, and vanilla extract until combined. In large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and continue mixing until just combined.
Pour into liners, about 1/4 cup in each liner until 2/3 full. Bake 18 minutes or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely to room temperature.
To make buttercream, in a stand mixer with whisk attached whip butter and shortening until smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar one cup at a time. Adding vanilla, milk and honey as you go to thin it out. Add as much icing sugar until the desired consistency. It should be soft and not too stiff. To pipe onto the cupcakes, use a round tip and fill icing bag. Alternatively, you can use an offset spatula to ice the tops of the cupcakes.
*optional* you can add shaved chocolate to the top like I did. Using a good quality chocolate, break off a chunk about the size of your palm, or smaller. Microwave it about 10-15 seconds to soften the outsides. Using a regular carrot peeler, peel the top layer of chocolate to create curls. Place onto paper towel or dish until ready to use. Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with the shavings.
Cupcakes can be stored in container for 1-2 days.
Hope you all have a lovely Valentine’s!
