You may be wondering why my cupcake is topped with a cute little candle so I’ll let you in on the reason. Today we’re celebrating the second anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie! Laurie, our founder, started the group to bake her way through Baking: From My Home to Yours and two years later there are hundreds of us baking right along with her. This week we were given the option of making either the Tarte Tatin or the Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake and while I really wanted to make the Tarte Tatin, I didn’t have the right size pan and didn’t want to fuss around with finding an alternative, so cake it was!
I said cake, but as you can see I went with cupcakes. I made 1/2 of the recipe in the book and wound up with about 9 cupcakes. The baking time was 20 minutes and these guys baked up beautifully with perfect little domes. I didn’t have the ingredients on hand to make the chocolate malt buttercream suggested in the book, so I went with my favorite peanut butter frosting from Ina Garten (recipe here). I skipped the optional melted chocolate in the cupcakes so the chocolate flavor came only from cocoa powder. It was mild but absolutely wonderful. I’m so glad I made this recipe into cupcakes – it’s definitely a new favorite!
Big thanks to Laurie for starting TWD and to Dorie for being so supportive of our endeavor. This group is a blast and I’ve made many fantastic friends since I joined. You can find the recipe for the cake on Laurie’s blog or in Dorie’s book.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
How cute to put a candle in there. Cake and frosting were big hits here…guys don’t normally like cake all that much, but they each had two pieces, well, not Alex as he is hypoglycemic, but he did have a smallish thin slice and declared it “worth the sugar count.” High praise indeed. Love the idea that half makes 9 cupcakes, will keep that in mind.
That looks so good!! Mmmm! I went with the Tarte Tatin and it turned out pretty well!
Toooo cute! I love them. Thanks so much for sticking with me all this time Tracey! xo
Beautiful little cake.
I love the idea of peanut butter frosting.
You can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate. YUM!
Oooohhhh that looks SO cute! The peanut butter frosting is the best thing EVER! I want to make some right now!
Look at your adorable cupcake on top of those adorable cake stands! So cute, and I love the candle in the cupcake, too. Peanut butter frosting sounds fabulous.
Beautiful cupcake Tracy! I like the candle. One of these days I’m going to have to try that PB frosting.
Cute little candled cuppy!! Love the idea of choco/PB. My favorite combo. Wanna make this when I need a cake/cuppys.
Perfect pairing–pb and chocolate! Glad to be baking along with you and all the others in this great group!
Having a giveaway on my blog today.
PB frosting sounds perfect w/these!
How cute! And none of the flipping hot caramel apples onto a platter suspense. I keep seeing the peanut butter buttercream and simply must try it…it sounds fantastic.
PS – Happy blogiversary! I waited to long to congratulate you but wanted you to know how much I enjoy reading your blog. As you know, I think your photos are terrific. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in the future!
what a cute cupcake (and an awesome red cakestand!). i bet this was delicious.
So cute! I love the platter!
Love your cute cupcake with the candle! Cupcakes seemed to be a better medium for this recipe than a full sized cake was.
Great photos! Peanut butter frosting on a chocolate cupcake sounds absolutely perfect to me!
I definitely need to try this recipe soon, looks wonderful! I love that first shot of the cupcake on the white cake stand, just beautiful! The frosting sounds delicious, especially with the chocolate cake.
Love the cupcakes, Tracey! The candle is a nice touch. I’ll have to try the peanut butter frosting some time. I wonder how Brianna & Gillian would like it.
Tracey – what a perfect anniversary cupcake! Perfect – even better with peanut butter! But do try the tartin – I used a small 7 or 8 inch skillet and halved the recipe (or 3/4)… it was fun, and definitely an adventure. Not to mention delicious!
Very tasty indeed!
Ciao Tracey !! I love the cupcakes I would love to try them too !!
Cute looking cupcake! I’m sure it tastes great with peanut butter frosting!
Yum! Looks lovely and how I adore anything peanut butter related!
Yipee for cupcakes and scaling down the recipe! Im glad you liked them, they look great!
Cute idea with the candle on your cupcake. Love that red plate!! And pb and chocolate…YUM!
Oh so cute! And peanut butter frosting? Yeah, totally the way to go here.
You really can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter, yummy! I love your red cake stand!
Cute cupcake… Love the picture with the candle 🙂
Lovely celebratory cupcake! I’m saving this recipe for my birthday.
yay for cupcakes! I love that frosting recipe.
Your cupcakes are so cute! And I just love these photos!! Great job! I went with the tarte, but I definitely want to give this one a try!
Love the b-day cupcake, complete with candle! How lovely.
I used that same PB frosting- it is the best.
I’ve heard so much about that PB frosting, I think I’ve got to put it on my to-try list. Your cupcakes are perfectly celebratory!