Tropical Lemon Cupcakes

Oh this cupcake and cake were delicious. I was out with Alex and Macky that day. Eating at cheeseboard was awesomely amazing too. They have yummy pizza and all of its vegetarian.

Then we baked Virginia Carpenter's Tropical Lemon Cake. Virginia is one of the Berkeley Kiwanians that I had competed against. Her cake had won so I decided to make it for myself. She was so right. This cake was amazing. Nothing like it that I've tasted. Sweet and Sour.

Recipe for the cake/cupcakes:
Ingredients:
1 (18.25 oz) package of lemon cake mix
1 (3 oz) package of lemon flavored gelatin mix
5 eggs
1 cup of veg oil
3/4 cup of fresh orange juice

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 in pan or line a cupcake pan with liners.
In a large bowl stir together the cake mix and lemon jello.
Combine the eggs, oil, and orange juice in a blender and blend for 5 minutes (or since I didnt have a blender, in a bowl with a hand mixer.)
Gradually add the dry mixture into the wet mixture.
Beat for another 5 minutes. Pour into pan/cupcake liners.
Bake the cake for 40-45 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. I had baked my cupcakes for like 15-20 minutes.

Glaze:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice
2 cups of powdered sugar
Directions:
Combine the fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar.
Beat until smooth.

Put it all together!
When the cake/cupcakes come out of the oven, make sure to make holes with either a fork or tooth picks. Then pour the glaze of the cake/cupcakes.

Very moist and yummy cake!

All of them! So many!

Thanks for Alex and Macky for helping me!
<3 Nina

Simple Vanilla Cupcake with Leftover Frosting

Exactly what the title says. A simple vanilla cake that I made before here.
Frosting was my leftover Strawberry Lemonade Frosting.

It was just yummy and everyone gobbled them up!

<3 Nina

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This isnt the first time that I've made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but these were really good. Soft, chewy, and I don't even really like Oatmeal Raisin cookies.

Recipe from here:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
10 tablespoons of granulated sugar
10 tablespoons of packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Gradually beat into butter mixture.
Stir in oats and raisins.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Drop balls onto a ungreased cookie sheet. Each ball should be about 1 tablespoon of batter.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack.
Cool completely.

<3 Nina

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

NOM NOM NOM!
Normally, I bake the sweet, frosting topped cupcakes, but today, I felt like making something a bit different, and well I had a couple of very overly riped bananas so muffins it was.

Using this recipe with some differences, I made some yummy, yummy muffins.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I used three bananas)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, milk, and vanilla.
Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fold in bananas and chocolate chips.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Picture time again!

In the pan
My huge muffin
with guava juice

YAY, awesome success. I'll make sure to bake more soon. =)

<3 Nina

Pineapple Upside Down...Cake

What was supposed to be cupcakes, turned into a cake.

First, my roommate has let someone borrow all of our cupcake pans so we didnt have any, and I couldnt really make pineapple upside down cupcakes without at least one. So I decided to do it the regular way and make a cake.

I followed this recipe, but made a few changes.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 20-ounce can pineapple circles
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
18-19 ounce yellow cake mix (prepare batter as directed on box OR use these ingredients)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
a little bit of water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease two circular pans (I used an 8 and a 9 in pans)
Drain canned pineapple, reserving liquid in a glass measuring cup.
Place the butter and brown sugar evenly on two each pan.
Decorate the pans with the circles. (I cut them into fourths and decorated appropriately)
Place cake mix and eggs in large bowl.
To reserved pineapple juice, add enough water to make a total of 1-1/3 cups of liquid.
Pour liquid in bowl.
Mix until well blended.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Allow to rest in pan for 2 minutes and then invert onto serving platter.

I decided to get a little funky and use some of the batter and make it green using green food coloring. It was just a little fun side of things for a party I went to.

Picture time!

This is what happens when a college student gets lazy.
Pretty decorating
All baked.
yay with the green!
FAIL CAKE!

Cupcakes would have been much more fun, but a lot more work than needed for this kickback my friend was throwing. After one of my cakes would not completely invert onto the other one, I just used the extra pineapple and decorated the other completed one. I also ate the horrible fail cake. When I got there, half the cake was gone and I'm glad that everyone there loved it. =)
<3 Nina