Rutgers Day 2012

Hello all,

I told you I would share all of the exciting happenings of Rutgers Day, and I will not disappoint.

Rutgers Student Bakers made over twenty different recipes in order to prepare for this day, with sweets ranging from Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats to Banana Caramel Cake Pops. My personal favorite? It would have to be a tie between the Crunch Berry Cereal Treats and the Strawberries N Cream Muffins.

With every dollar going to Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale, people just couldn't pass up the chance to try out our gourmet sweet treats!

Red Velvet Cereal Treats:

Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownies:

Trix Cereal Bark:

Cake Batter Sprinkle Bark:

S'mores Bark:

Chocolate Covered Oreos:

Banana Caramel Cake Pops:

Clementine Muffins:

Crunch Berry Cereal Treats:

Would you be strong enough to turn away any of those items? If you are, don't worry; we had even more to pick from. The Rutgers Student Bakers do not take baking lightly; only the amazing, the decadent, the mouth-watering comes out of our kitchen.

We had such a great turnout, with thousands of students. alumni, faculty, family and friends.

Everyone really got a kick out of our carrot-cake shooters...

and the members shared some great laughs together while supporting the cause to end childhood hunger.

In the end, we raised more funds than I could have hoped for, and I am so proud of each and every one of the members who played a part in this event this year. With baking every Friday in April and all day long the day before, these ladies deserve a serious round of applause. I have never been more honored to be part of a group and it reminds me why I love baking so much.

And now, drumroll please....

The following members are now officially Very Important Bakers (VIBs)

Congrats Ladies!

Shivani Amin

Allie Avillo

Tessa Caprio

Linda Ferreira

Jennifer Lee
Jenny Lin

Valerie Raziano

Elena Spathis

Prama Verma

Anne Wang
Smitha Yellayi

Another round of applause to my lovely fellow officers; without whom, I would have lost my sanity on numerous occassions:

Alycia So

Ashley So

Serena Mueller

Devon Stein

I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for an amazing Rutgers Day, and an amazing year full of wonderful baking memories.

Will Be Back to Baking ASAP!

Hello all,

Unfortunately I am writing this post to you to tell you I must take a short hiatus, as I've recently injured my knee and have to stay off of it until the swelling goes down >_<

Of course, when all I want to do is bake, I must actually do...(cringe) homework.

Alas, health comes before cupcakes. If you'd like to see my list of cupcakes I've been dreaming about baking, check out my board here on Pinterest.

But I shall return! With Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes!

AND I plan on sharing with you all the Rutgers Student Bakers All-Day Baking Extravaganza on Friday!

Rutgers Day, our biggest bake sale of the year, is this Saturday and we have been baking up every sweet under the sun to prepare for it. This Friday we will be whipping up gourmet cereal treats (Red Velvet Rice Krispies anyone?) and cake pops, so I plan on taking some awesome photos to share it all with you.

See you all soon,

Happy Baking Everyone!

If you like Pina Coladas, and Getting Caught With Cupcakes...

Hello all,

I know, I know, its's a corny blog post title, but I honestly couldn't help singing it to myself while I was baking these cupcakes, or while eating them.

We had a little setback in the weather here in New Jersey for awhile (as if that's shocking to any of us who have lived here for our entire lives) but there's finally been a breakthrough! We hit 80s and now are headed to a balmy mid-70s range for for the rest of the week. So, with all the sun, warmth, and fresh air, I thought these pina colada cupcakes would be the perfect way to go during my month of cupcakes...and I was right.

I have eaten not one, not two...but many of these little cakes as they sat on my kitchen table, staring at me with their toasted coconut, just begging to be gobbled up before anyone notices they're gone.

After being treated to the Banana Split Cupcakes awhile back, some of my peers asked me if I could bring them a few of these to our next class. For once I actually wanted to say "there are no more" because I was thinking to myself "there won't be anymore after I get to them" but of course I said I'd be happy to.

But then, who would've thought this late in the semester I'd have such luck, my professor cancelled class today. It's a sign from God - I was meant to have all of these cupcakes to myself.

Is it going to cause a serious stomach ache? Most definitely. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

Every time I eat one I am reminded that there is roughly one WEEK left of classes for the entirety of my junior year, and I am that much closer to Summer Vacation.

I hope these send you off to a blissful summer daydream as well.

Happy Baking!

Pina Colada Cupcakes Via GloriousTreats

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple, drained slightly

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two 12-cup muffin pans with liners.
2. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until it reaches a uniform consistency. Slowly beat in oil and vanilla.
4. Stir in sour cream and crushed pineapple until well combined.
5. Add flour mixture to wet ingredient mixture and beat until just combined.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full and bake at 350 for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Coconut Frosting Barely Adapted from Baked Perfection

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp coconut milk

1. Cream butter and coconut milk, then add vanilla.
2. Beat in powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

Nutella Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

 Hello all,

I think I've become obsessed with stuffing sweet treats with ooey gooey fillings. The Nutella-Stuffed Sugar Cookies, the Marshmallow Fluff-Filled Banana Split Cupcakes...it was only a matter of time before we had Nutella filled, Nutella Frosted, Chocolate Cupcakes.

Sigh. These made my week that much less stressful. With every bite comes an immediate relaxing sensation that everything: papers, exams and all, are going to work out fine.

I think we all need to stock up on these cupcakes.

They are really quite simple and easily adaptable to your needs. First, start out with any basic chocolate cupcake. You can whip up your favorite from-scratch recipe like I did, or even whip up a box mix. This is especially helpful for those like my nana with Celiac, who can now happily pick up gluten free cake mixes (and Nutella is gluten free!).

Once they are baked and cooled, cut out a decent-sized hole in the center of the cupcake. Proceed to filling said holes with lots of Nutella.

Are you interested yet?

I thought so. Now just whip up this amazing Salted Nutella Buttercream from MyBakingAddiction, pipe it on whichever way you please and ta-da!

Chocolatey-hazelnut perfection.

I hope these are as stress-relieving for all of you as they are for me. As I run this gauntlet otherwise known as upperclassmen college papers and exams, I know I will be sneaking one (or maybe five) of these cupcakes to keep me going!

Happy Baking!

Salted Nutella Buttercream By MyBakingAddiction 
(enough to generously frost 24 cupcakes)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-13oz jar Nutella
8-10 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 cup milk

1. Place butter and nutella in large bowl and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add powdered sugar, a few cups at a time, and beat until stiff frosting comes together.
3. Add vanilla extract, salt, and tablespoonfuls of milk until desired consistency is reached.

The Cupcake Challenge Continues - Maple Bacon Pancake Cupcakes

Hello all,

Now to be perfectly honest, I was never really into the whole "maple bacon" idea when it burst on the scene a year or so ago in the form of cupcakes, doughnuts, muffins and pretty much whatever other for it could take. But, with a slew of hungry male co-workers at the computer lab, I knew it was only a matter of time before the question popped up:

Can you make maple bacon cupcakes?

More specifically they asked for maple bacon brownies, but let's just say I wasn't ready for that deep of a plunge. I have yet to even try chocolate covered bacon, though it's supposedly out of this world.

So I hopped on over to another one of my favorite food blogs: Brown Eyed Baker. She pretty much has a recipe for anything, and I always love her recipe roundups (especially around the holidays). Of course, she had the recipe I needed: Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Buttercream.

Though they aren't bad, I have to say I was expecting more from these, more bacon and more maple to be more precise. Believe it or not I ended up just adding in tablespoon after tablespoon of maple syrup, all to no avail as the buttercream strictly refused to taste like maple. I also ended up crumbling in nearly twice as much bacon as instructed, but honestly who here is thinking "that's way too much bacon" ?

She did write up in her post that she was thinking of retrying the recipe with bacon in the actual cupcake, and I have to say I agree. The cupcake tasted great; it just didn't pack the flavor punch I was expecting.

I have to admit, however, after the Banana Split Cupcakes (I can tell you I lost most of my self control and ate entirely too many of those) it was probably pretty difficult to impress me. Hmm, perhaps if we stuffed the cupcakes with a maple bacon filling! Now there's an idea.

I've linked the recipe above but here it is one more time in case you missed it. I definitely recommend adding in as much bacon as you feel is necessary, even if it means way more than stated.

I usually like to keep things as surprises, but I have to admit I have had a huge craving for Nutella lately and I just found a wonderful recipe for it that I can't wait to try out this weekend.

Check back on Monday for the full details on how it turned out!

Happy Baking!