Carrot Cake Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting.. YUMMO

I whipped up these delicious cupcakes for Easter they were a hit.  I love carrot cake year round and love that this recipe doesn't call for raisins (but add 1/2 cup if you're a raisin lover). I used the Wilton leaf tip for kelly green leaf.   Enjoy.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep Time: 30 minutes   Cook Time: 20 minutes    Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups very finely shredded carrots (from about 4 medium carrots)*
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
6 oz cream cheese, softened
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg for 30 seconds, set aside. Shred carrots as directed in notes below, set aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and brown sugar, then add eggs and using an electric hand mixer, blend mixture on low speed 30 seconds, until slightly pale. Mix in applesauce and vanilla extract. With mixer running on low speed, slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until combined, then mix 20 seconds longer. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then pour the shredded carrots into the bowl with the remaining flour mixture and toss in flour mixture to coat carrots (they'll clump together a bit but that's fine). Pour carrot mixture into the batter and blend until evenly combined.
Pour batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean, about 19 - 21 minutes. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Set aside 1/3 - 1/2 cup of the frosting if making carrot decoration. Frost cupcakes with remaining cream cheese frosting then immediately roll edges of frosting in chopped pecans. If making carrot decoration, tint half of the remaining frosting with orange gel coloring (or red and yellow) to reach desired vibrancy, then tint remaining half with green. Pipe carrot greens with a tiny round tip and orange carrot with a medium round tip. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator. Allow to rest at room temperature before serving.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
Using an electric mixer, whip together butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Mix in vanilla extract. With mixer running on low speed, slowly add powdered sugar and beat until well blended and smooth, about 1 minute longer.
*To very finely shred carrots use the small holes on a box grater and use fairly gentle pressure so they are thinly shredded, short pieces.
Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

Lingerie cookies

I made these cookies for a friends, lingerie party I hosted.  It was the first time making this type of detailed iced cookie. They came out pretty great.  

I used a Wilton heart shaped cookie cutter, and royal icing.  These took some time to decorate because I iced in layers and had to allow drying time in between detail.  Just be creative.

My Lasik eye surgery experience...

Everyday Make-Up Look

DIY... Burlap Wreath

I decided to make a Fall Burlap Wreath and here's how:

Here is what you will need:

-Wreath Ring 18 inches
-8'' X 10 Y Burlap (I used a bigger roll than pictured and a ton left over at least enough for 2-3 more wreaths)
-Scissors 
-Floral wire (This is optional, I had a difficult time with wire and ended up not using wire, but if you choose to do so you will also need wire cutters.)
-Glue Gun
-Glue Sticks
-Accessories to decorate:  Flowers, Letters, Figurines...

Getting started with the burlap and wreath ring, I cut several strands of 12-15 inch burlap.  I found it easier to work with small strands versus trying to work with a complete roll of burlap.

Next,  I feel there is no correct way to fold in burlap into ring, its more about creativity.  I tucked secured with hot glue, folded secured with glue.  This part is about creating bigger loose folds.  If you feel your burlap looks too loose in the end, or not full enough you can always go back tuck and hot glue a little more.   

Now, I disconnected my flowers from the large stems, creating a flat surface.  This part too is about being creative.  Lay your flowers or figurines out on wreath, look at wreath from a few feet away, ask for a friends opinion. How does it look?  You want your best burlap folds to be seen so don't hide with accessories, instead let this factor into you layout cover folds you like less. Try several different layouts.
Once your layout is decided secure large flowers to wreath with a liberal amount of hot glue.  

TAda- easy peasy you have yourself a great looking wreath.

All accessories were purchased from my local thrift store totaling approximately $32.  Shop Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, Michaels, Amazon. 

 I love feedback and will answer any questions you may have concerning DIY projects
Thanks for visiting!!!

How to Grow Fabulous Lashes.

Okay, If you’ve read my previous post you know I’m a mascara junkie.  I love lashes the bigger the better.  I’ve tried many products and techniques and here’s what I’ve learned.

If you’re in need of serious lashes in a few days your best options are professional eyelash extensions that are glued onto each hair individually or adhesive glue on lashes that last a day.

If you are looking for a long-term solution keep reading.

Professional Eyelash Extensions:  Initial visit cost $75-$250

Basically, eyelash extensions are adhered to natural lashes in a 60min to 90 min appointment.  These lashes naturally fall out with your natural lashes and require maintenance every 2 weeks.  This is a great, glamorous alternative for a busy week of bridal photos and marriage. Instantly, you have gorgeous, voluminous lashes. However, they require lots of expensive up keep and maintenance. Appointments every 2 weeks costing $25-50 per 2 weeks.  Pricey!!!Pricey! Again I would only suggest this if you need instant results.  Some lashes fell out sooner than others making my lashes look very awkward.

Loreal Lash Boosting Serum- $14.99

This was my first love.  After several weeks of use I noticed some growth.  About 8 weeks in, I started receiving compliments from co-workers and strangers.  This is a great cheap alternative.

Rapid Lash- $49.95

Don’t expect instant results, it took 5-6 weeks for me to notice longer lashes.  With a little bit of patience, I did notice longer lashes.  This is an awesome alternative to expensive lash products.  I would buy again.

Latisse- $124.22

Well after much hesitation, I finally tried the Latisse prescription.  I felt totally vain asking my eye doctor for a prescription.  12 weeks later OMG!! My lashes are out of control, so full and long.  The outer lashes are crazy thick.  I get complimented pretty much daily.  I was so happy with the results.  This product produces maximum results but is extremely pricey and was hard to justify on the pocketbook. 
The picture at the top of this post are my results following 12 weeks of Latisse use.

reviews,  big eyelashes, my experience with lash boosting products 

Dora the Explorer cake.. How to

I decorated this cake for my nieces 2nd birthday.  She loves her Dora!  This was a pretty easy cake to make and took just a few hours.  The hardest part was getting the pink buttercream icing as smooth as possible.

Things you'll need:
- 2     8x3 round cake pans
-non-stick spray to coat the pans  (my personal favorite is Wilton Cake Release)
-Your favorite homemade or box cake mix

Coat cake pans with light non-stick spray,  mix cake recipe according to directions and cook according to directions.

-bubble gum balls, can be purchased at local party store
-Fondant   (I bought Wilton brand white and colored with cake coloring)
-Flower and round fondant cutters
-6 cups buttercream icing
-Wilton icing color Rose, Purple, Yellow and Green.
-Wilton grass tip #233, along with icing bags and couplers
-Wilton small round tip (to make lime colored dots)
-Fondant roller
-Dora doll or cut out   (I searched high and low for the perfect doll and eventually bought a bday card cut out Doras pic and taped it to hard poster board with double-sided tape)
-2  toothpicks  (Tape to dora cut out.  Once, connected to hard poster board.)
-Letters and stars can usually be purchased at local market with bakery

While cake was cooking I made buttercream icing and added almost a whole tube of Wilton icing color Rose.  Set aside a small amount of icing to make bright green and yellow color (1/4-1/2 cup).  Just a small amount of green and yellow coloring mixed into buttercream makes lime colored dots.  Decide what color you would like flowers and bigger/small dots.  Knead coloring into fondant.  Roll out and use cut outs, be creative.

After cooling cakes and leveling cakes.  Ice with pink buttercream icing.  Ice as smoothly as possible.  Next, add round cut outs and flowers. Keeping in mind how high your gum balls climb up the cake.  Use a small amount of buttercream to add center of flowers fondant cut out.  Add lime green buttercream dots in random spots.  Now figure out where name display will be.  Next, add grass with grass tip.  Make sure to pull straight up and in different directions to make grass appear more real.  I then, added gum balls(with firmness) changing every other color and not allowing 2 colors to touch.  Lastly, I waited to add Dora picture till I arrived at party place, so cake would fit in carrier.

I approach every cake with creativeness.  Be creative!

Questions just ask.

How to Dora cake, Dora the Explorer cake, dora cake, dora birthday cake