And the winners are…
First for the throwdown – chocolate cupcake style. AND on National Chocolate Cupcake Day! How fitting. I made a half batch of the chocolate cake (I got 15 cupcakes) out of Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss. The recipe is definitely “fussier” than my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. This one has sour cream and coffee in it. Neither of which are staples in my kitchen. I paired it with the Brown Sugar frosting because I was intrigued by that idea…
The batter came together quite nicely. It does take 3 bowls and like I mentioned, has some ingredients that I had to send hubby out to grab for me… It does have some great flavor combinations going on. It’s got almond extract as well as vanilla and includes coffee. Both almond and coffee go great with chocolate. The batter was quite thick and very tasty. Hubby really enjoyed licking the beater 🙂 And this frosting is AMAZING. We both agreed, it’s one of the best I’ve ever made. Think of a caramel Swiss-meringue buttercream. It paired perfectly with the chocolate cupcake.
Now to the Throw-down results. I’m basing this on 3 categories: Overall Taste, Ease of making, Moistness
So it’s a TIE!?! I’ll definitely keep my go-to chocolate cupcake for when I just want to whip something up. It’s quick and easy and the results are great. But when I want to go the extra mile, I’ll make the Confetti cupcakes. It does take more effort, but the results are worth it. I’m not going to post the recipe here, but definitely I definitely recommend checking out Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss.
Now on to the GIVEAWAY!! I almost forgot about it after these amazing cupcakes. Thanks to everyone who participated! Using Random.org, I chose 5 random numbers from 1-79 and the lucky winners are…
Megan – who’s email begins with mybakingadventures
Chrissy – who’s email begins with chrissyblogs
Grifam93 – who’s email begins with aseminara
Jared – who’s email begins with jared
MoonFreckle – who’s email begins with angelaj
Congratulations to the winners!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
My last huge successful meal is the crown roast from Bon Apetite magazine. I almost canceled making it when I found out how much it cost, but ended up making it anyway. I’m glad I did, everybody loved it!
I Tweeted your giveaway!
My last hugely successful meal was sundried tomato and artichoke stuffed chicken breasts for 60you people! I have never cooked for that many people at once but with the help of my Mom we pulled it off! 🙂
My last hugely successful meal was pad Thai for friends.
Thanksgiving
I’d have to say my Christmas Eve meal. Yummy pork tenderloin, baked cauliflower and my grandma’s spinach that was all on the table within 20 minutes of my planned dinner time. I’d call that a success!
The last hugely successful meal I executed was actually a cookie swap party. I asked people who RSVP’d to bring only a dozen cookies. Everyone brought so much more and brought snacks, too. I was so worried there wouldn’t be enough, I made too much just in case. Instead I had to have one guest make sure no one left without a good supply. And we helped each other set up trays for relatives in nursing homes, nursing home staff.
The spirit of the holidays was incredible and brought a bunch of strangers so much closer. (We’re all snowbirds in a campground in Mississippi)
I made slow roasted pork chops with apples and onions, scalloped potatoes and I baked Italian bread. So simple yet delicious!
I am a vegetarian, but I made Christmas dinner for our family and successfully made the ham. Everyone loved it, thank goodness! 🙂
Thanksgiving! Gluten free thanksgiving to be more specific 🙂