Mocha Cupcakes

And so begins the Valentine's Day desserts. 

I absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day. It's a win-win. I get presents, flowers, chocolates, AND dinner! Sorry to all guys out there, although I am low-maintenance most days of the year, Valentine's Day is definitely not one of them. Luckily, I have a wonderful boyfriend that coooompletely understands ;) These cupcakes are perfect: the icing is fluffy and light and mimics the coffee undertones in the cupcake. Plus, sprinkles make everything more amazing.

Oh, by the way, about a week ago, I applied for a research assistant position offered by the one and only Tucker Max. He's a comedy writer who has written titles such as I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and Assholes Finish First. He is absolutely HYSTERICAL, and I jumped at this wonderful opportunity to work for him. I made it to the second cut, and I will hear back (or not) by January 30th. I'll be sure to keep y'all updated!

I didn't have espresso powder or a small sieve, so I used a larger sieve and filtered the coffee-infused milk through 5 times before adding to the sugar mixture. As you can see, there were still coffee granules in the batter, but it didn't make a difference in the end product. This recipe makes 12 perfectly sized cupcakes, but if I made it again, I would definitely double it. 

Champagne Marshmallows

I still had a bottle of champagne left over from the Champagne Cupcakes so I decided to continue the theme of Champagne-flavored desserts! This recipe makes a lot of marshmallows. So be sure that you really like marshmallows or have lots of marshmallow-loving friends! By the way, these marshmallows last two weeks at room temperature, a month in the fridge, or almost indefinitely in the freezer. So you'll have plenty of time to eat all of them! ;) If you aren't too fond of the idea of alcohol-flavored marshmallows, I have some Chocolate-Swirled Marshmallows that maybe you'll like better!

Feel free to use whatever Champagne you like best; this type just happened to be on sale at the time. If you wanted to get creative, I feel like Moscato would be a great substitution. 

One of my really good friends, Stacy, marbled my nails for me! We saw the idea on Pinterest, and it was such a great idea. It's definitely a two person ordeal though unless you're extremely talented.

Champagne Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! I took a little bit of time off to recoup from the stress of finals and my first semester as a nutrition major. Thankfully, I made all As this semester, and I had my first day of classes today. If you have champagne left over from your New Year celebrations, then I have two perfect recipes to use that up for you: champagne cupcakes and champagne marshmallows (which will be up tomorrow)! For Christmas, I received a Bamboo graphic arts tablet so I can begin work on designs for recipe cards and other baking-themed projects! What cooking-related items did y'all get for Christmas?

We brought in the New Year quietly at my house. I was asleep by 12:30! Also, Jeremy and I's 3 year anniversary also landed at midnight, so we went out to eat at a fantastic place in Charlotte called The Cowfish. As their name suggests, they serve both sushi and burgers, and they are AMAZING. We got The Motherload as an appetizer, which features a slice of every fish available on their menu! ! I ate several things I knew (octopus, clam, yellowtail, tuna, salmon, shrimp) and tons of things I didn't. I had no trouble downing everything on the plate except the raw shrimp and the tempura battered prawn-big shrimp-crawfish thing. I took a bite of it, and the legs came off in the mouth and all I could think about what that it looked like I was eating a spider, and I freaked out a little. Before you go though, be aware that they have an extremely large menu. It wouldn't be a bad idea to browse the menu online before you went.