Bow Tie Cupcakes and Cookies

A friend and colleague of mine is about to have a boy and she recently had a bow tie themed baby shower. She asked myself and our other colleague to bake cookies and cupcakes for the shower and we went all out. I made my famous chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and golden yellow cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting.

I found free print outs on the Elli Blog, which is one of my new favorite blogs by the way, and I made bow ties to top the cupcakes. I also cut out fondant dots to add a variety of decorations and color that matched her invitation.

My colleague Christine is the queen of iced sugar cookies and she made these beautiful works of art below. Click here to get the recipe.

I will share this recipe again. It’s my go-to for any form of chocolate cake from sheet cake to cupcakes and I use it in a variety of ways. And, it’s so easy! For the Butter Golden I used the a box mix and made the chocolate buttercream frosting below and added 2/3 Cup of cocoa powder.

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup Cocoa
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup boiling water

This recipe can be mixed by hand or with a stand mixer with the whisk attachmentMix all dry ingredients together. Add the oil, buttermilk and eggs and mix well. Pour in the boiling water and mix until incorporated. The batter will be very thin. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 min or until a toothpick can be inserted and comes out clean.

Buttercream Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter, add sugar and milk in thirds. Add the vanilla in first round of milk and sugar.