• Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Baking Banter)
• Sweet Potato and Jarlsberg Croquettes (La Fuji Mama)
• Yarn Ball Decor (Happiness Is…)
• Apple, Gruyere, and Sage Muffins & a Childhood Soup (Canelle et Vanille)
• Spicy Red Lentil, Curry & Coriander Sauce for Rice (Coffee and Vanilla)
• The Best Ramen in NYC (Serious Eats)
• Chocolate Beet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Ivy’s Feast)
• Official Valrhona Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (Cupcakes Take the Cake)
• Cute Skeleton Cupcakes (Cookies and Cups via Cupcakes Take the Cake)

On October 15th I attended a surprise going-away party for one of my best(est) friends, Stephanie. Stephanie is moving with her boyfriend from Washington DC to Pittsburgh, and though I’ll be able to see her every once in a while, it won’t be as frequent as when she was living a few miles away from me.

For her surprise party, I decided to combine some of her favorite things: almonds; salted caramel; coffee; chocolate. I found out about the surprise party a day or two before, so I was limited to the local Whole Foods for ingredients. I only had one chocolate cupcake recipe on hand and that hadn’t turned out perfect last time I baked it. I decided to use the same recipe (upped the chocolate chips to 1/2 a bag and cooked for 25 minutes exactly) and they turned out perfectly! I think it was because I was baking with love (^_^) and used sturdier liners this time.

Mise En Place

Before filling the liners, I crushed up some almond biscuits with a little melted butter in the food processor and pressed them into the bottoms of the liners. I then put the batter in, baked them, and waited for them to cool. Once cool, I cored them. I heated up the caramel, added some fleur de sel to balance the sweetness, and mixed to combine.

The caramel cream cheese frosting was made with dark, un-spiced rum as well as some more fleur de sel. I tried piping the frosting on, but my tip wasn’t working so I just cut a hole in the bag and worked from there. Since the caramel had been warm, it was thinner in consistency and seeped into the cake, leaving a space for the caramel cream cheese to fall in to, no matter how carefully I tried to balance the frosting on top.

I finished the top of the cupcakes with toasted almond slivers, a sprinkle of fleur de sel, and a drizzling of salted caramel.

Everyone seemed to love these cupcakes, and when I got a chance to try one the next day, they were delicious! The recipe yielded 28 cupcakes (probably because of the extra chocolate chips I put in), so some of them had almond cookie crusts and some didn’t.

• Recipe Sleuth: Kaz Sushi Bistro’s Seaweed Salad (Washingtonian)
• Chicken Byriani (Week of Menus)
• Mashed Carrot Potatoes with Chive and Black Pepper (Coffee and Vanilla)
• The Secret Ingredient: Maple Syrup (Serious Eats)
• Yuzu and White Chocolate Cupcakes (Chockylit)
• Postcard from Austria (Bento Concept)
• Cookie Decorator Tools (La Fuji Mama)
• Iced Coffee (Sweetest Kitchen)
• Chococat Bento (Bentolicious)

This month my office was having a potluck, only this time it was a breakfast potluck! I thought this would be a perfect time to try my hand at the Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge I’ve been seeing over at Sweetest Kitchen.

This month’s challenge was Orange and I had been dying to make some mimosa cupcakes–great for breakfast, right? If you feel inclined to vote for me, please head on over there on October 20th to cast your vote.

These cupcakes have orange zest and champagne in the cake, are filled with orange curd, brushed with champagne, and topped with a champagne whipped frosting and a candied orange peel. The cakes themselves seemed to go over well at work, but I wasn’t quite happy with them. I tried (again) to make a frosting involving corn syrup and egg whites and it just didn’t turn out. The cake was a little dense for my taste, and the orange curd didn’t sit long enough before filling the cupcakes.

I was imagining a light, bubbly, citrus taste, but got one that was sticky and heavy. Everyone at work seemed to like them so much, so I’ll link to the two recipes I combined for this one: Loves to Eat & Liz in Life. Next time I’d make a simpler orange cake with a champagne/whipped cream frosting. Sometimes simpler is better!

The winner of October’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from: Angela’s Images (a selection of handmade crafts; Bake It Pretty (a $5 electronic gift card); Beanilla (2-fold Madagascar vanilla extract & 3 Tongan vanilla beans); Hello Hanna (a pack of Sweet Stands cupcake stands); Lisa Orgler (an 8.5″x11″ original art print of your choice); Miss Kitty Creations (a handmade cupcake charm of your choice); Sweet Cuppin Cakes (a prize pack worth $25); Tundra Books (a selection 3 very sweet children’s books). Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

• French in a Flash: Classic Potatoes Sarladaise (Serious Eats)
• The Girl Who Ate the Most Balls (Gourmet Fury)
• Travel Tips: Affordable Tokyo (Viet Kitchen)
• Historic Jordan Springs Wedding (District Weddings)
• ChurchKey’s Caramel Corn Recipe (Washingtonian)
• Mark Bittman-inspired Ginger Fried Rice Recipes (Momofuku for 2 & Mango & Tomato)
• Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes (Domestic Sugar via Cupcakes Take the Cake)
• Apple Pie Baking With Domenica Machetti (Mango & Tomato)