Cupcake Sunday

I have three wonderful children.  They are all very different and each has their own special gifts.  My 9 year old has this love of baking, watches Giada, Guy Fieri, Rachel Ray - you get the gist.  Of all of the cooking shows on The Food Network,  Cupcake Wars is her absolute favorite.  She (and her best friend) recently had this great idea to open their own cupcake boutique.  Asked good, old Daddy to build it, and, of course,he agreed.  They had worked out what kind of cupcakes they would sell, how much they would charge, etc.  Only to be devastated to find out we were just playing along with the "pretend" bakery.  They weren't pretending.  Oops!  You can imagine how that went over.  Our solution was to get at booth at the Farmer's Market this summer and let them sell their cupcakes there.  I told her she needed to use the time between now and then to practice and perfect her recipes.  This is how Cupcake Sunday began.

The Food Network posts all of the winning recipes on their website.  So she (my daughter) looks through all of the recipes, reads all of the reviews and then decides which cupcakes we are going to make.  I always try to sway her in another direction if the recipe she picks has a lot of negative reviews, but it is in vain.  She has made up her mind and "it will be fine Mommy".  Last week, she decided to make Southern Red Velvet Cupcakes.

 After reading the reviews, she decided to cut back on the oil and add extra cocoa to the recipe.  These cupcakes were wonderful.   When I say she made them, I mean that I am the assistant and just follow her lead.  (Not the best picture I've ever taken, but I was texting it to my sister).   I wish I had taken a picture of the first cupcakes she made, Lemon Blueberry with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.  They were yummy and so pretty!

Last night, she decided to make Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcakes.  They were to die for!  She made a few changes to the recipe.  She used hot coffee instead of hot water, cut the amount of salt in the marshmallow cream frosting, and added her own fresh raspberry garnish.  Amazing child!

I can't wait to see what she will pick next week.  I really look forward to Cupcake Sunday.  Unfortunately, I don't think my rear end does!