Blue Cupcakes Make Me Smile

Ahhh, blue cupcakes, they are delicious. So, the past week has been a hodgepodge of hiccups, making it difficult to complete projects. There are so many projects that I want to work on, but life seems to be presenting me detour signs. Fortunately, I always look for the silver lining, because it is always there. When it was discovered that a kitchen cupboard needed to be emptied, removed from wall and repaired, the mess was distressing. Right now, the dining room is cluttered with the contents of the cupboard. Even though the dining room is a bit of a mess, I see the opportunity to clean and organize the cupboard. When the cupboard is replaced onto the wall, the mess will go away and I'll have a tidy cupboard.
I've also been working on the quilt project. Right now, I am working through a tedious stage of building the quilt. When I get through that, the rest will be a breeze. Also, when I finish that bit, I'll post about it for part 2. With all the chaos surrounding me, I nearly overlooked the season premiere of "Doctor Who." Not only would I be able to see a fresh episode, but also one with a new Doctor. I thought that it would be fun to bake TARDIS blue cupcakes for the event, cupcakes would surely lift my spirits. I used a white cake mix from a box and added a whole lot of blue food coloring. I couldn't find my black food coloring to make it a true TARDIS blue, so the cupcakes came out looking Smurfy!

They may not be quite blue enough, but still blue, like happy skies. These make me happy. I made homemade frosting using an old fashioned recipe. This frosting I use for cakes and for whoopie pies. You begin by combining flour and milk and cook it until it's thick, thicker than brownie batter.

One cup of milk, five tbsp. flour and several drops of food coloring are placed in a saucepan. Stir continuously on medium heat, cook until super thick. Set aside to cool.

While the flour mixture was cooling, I combined 1 cup of shortening (or butter) and 1 cup of granulated sugar and whipped the heck out of it with an electric mixer. I whipped the mixture until it was no longer gritty. This is an important step. If the mixture is still gritty before the next step is taken, the frosting will separate. Once the flour mixture was cool and the butter mixture was smooth, I added almond extract and more blue food coloring to the butter mixture. Finally, I scooped the flour mixture into the bowl containing the butter mixture and whipped with a mixer until it resembled whipped cream. This makes a lot of frosting, I had so much left over I froze the remaining bit. It is light and airy and is so easy to spread on cake. For the cupcakes, I dipped them into the frosting and gave a spin; that was all I needed to do to get enough frosting on top.
These were so yummy to eat whilst watching "Doctor Who" and the after show. Now, I have more work ahead of me, the day is still young and the sun is still shining. I hope to post about the quilt project soon. Until then~ Toodahloo!