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Peanut Butter and Jelly

I didn't grow up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like other kids. I grew up on jam and bread and roasted eggplant on bread. In my teenage years I discovered the amazing butter of peanuts. I fell in love. 

      You can eat it with almost anything, oh wait that's my whipped cream obsession- I just mean its tasty and goes well with chocolate, jelly, whipped cream, bread, celery, and cupcakes. 

These babies have peanut butter in the cake and in the icing! 

Aaaand they are filled with marionberry jelly. So extremely good. This was for an order placed and it was quite hard letting go these. 

So, here they are. I also topped them with a sprinkled sugar.  

Plantain Pine Nut

I've got to tell you the story behind these babies. 2 of my downtown Portland friends Nate and Nate give me odd suggestions to include in my baking of cupcakes....So this is what they gave me on their list:

Ox Tail 

Pine Nuts 

Plantains 

Quince 

Ox tail is a no-no, at least for now...and quince are not in season yet, so I put my brunette head together and came up with a plantain pine nut. Flavors are great. Plantains are a lot more starchy than bananas and provide a sensationally unique flavor, and the pine nuts pair it quite nicely. 

Plantain in the cake and icing, topped with pine nuts and that is a plantain chip on top :) Mmm. 

These were made as mini cupcakes. Best eaten in one big bite. 

Summer Flavors

These 2 cupcake flavors both have a hint of lime in common...

The first one is a blueberry vodka lime cupcake topped with a sugared blueberry on top. The cupcake itself has blueberries throughout and the frosting combines all 3 flavors together. Vodka can also be omitted if desired. 

This next cupcake is a banana coconut lime cupcake, topped with a maraschino cherry. Tons of coconut in the frosting make it full of flavor and texture!
I'm not a huge banana fan, but this combo seemed to work great with the coconut and fresh lime!

The War of the Cakes in Cups.....

AKA Cupcake Wars! I applied with my friend/assistant Kristen.
We submitted our video last week, and we are really keeping our fingers crossed that we get on the show!
Then I can open a storefront and you can come visit me!
:)
www.facebook.com/luizascupcakes

Limoncello Lemon Cupcakes!

These are the perfect summer treat, especially if you are a lemon and limoncello fan. For those of you that don't know what limoncello is, it is a lemon liquor from southern Italy. It is amazing and these cupcakes are soaked in it!
These particular ones were gluten-free, but I promise, you won't know the difference!

These are lemon cupcakes, topped with lemon/lemon zest infused buttercream topped with a thin slice of strawberry for an added touch. Did I mention soaked in limoncello? 

Exciting Update!

Hello!
Things have been busy here at Luiza's Cupcakes, so I'm going to fill you in on what's been going on.

Recently on a bike ride, me and friend stopped in a local natural food market and new coffee shop in town. I told them of my GF cupcakes and they seemed interested. All I needed was my kitchen. Through the market, I found a gluten-free kitchen to work in and am in the application process of getting my food processors license for WA state. I dropped off some samples, and now waiting to hear back. Lord willing, you will see my cupcakes and pastries in stores nearby. I will keep you updated!

As for desserts, I have a few I will be posting this week, so stay tuned, and stay sweet! :)

Cookies-N-Cream

You will LOVE the frosting on these....they are like Oreo cookies, but 10x better and healthier....at least I like to think so :)

The chocolate cake part is dense and goes together very well with the frosting. I used coconut oil in the frosting, so you get a hint of that as well, which adds greatly to the overall flavor. Also, the 'cream' from the Oreos was removed, thus creating my own unique cream. 

Choco-banana GF

These cupcakes were so tasty! They have a carrot cake consistency and a decadent chocolate finish. These are also gluten-free and I added coconut flakes to the mix, so it has a unique, almost tropic feel to it. The chocolate frosting is more like a rich filing than a stiff icing. It all blends quite well together!

Gluten-free chocolate banana.

Gluten-Free Success!

So I tried this delicious secret recipe I conjured up...and I think I found my perfect gluten free cupcake hit! I even surprised myself with how these turned out.

Let me introduce you to...

Mr. Gluten-free Carrot Cupcake!

He's tasty, sweet, and healthy. Topped with a ricotta icing and a dash of cinnamon, he is the perfect treat for any occasion.

The perfect texture, moist and delicate. 

Ice-Cream Cupcakes

It's cupcakes! It's ice-cream! It's.....it's.....ice-cream cupcakes!
Haha. Okay, I'll stop with the cheesy jokes.
But really, ice-cream cupcakes are a mini version of an ice-cream cake. I make chocolate cupcakes with a dark chocolate ice-cream filling topped with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Filling them with the chocolate ice-cream, a fun activity. 

The finished product, topped with a symbolic chocolate chip. 

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Tiramisu is an amazing dessert. Especially when it's made the Italian way- the right way.

So, the special Easter dessert this year was a creative combination of the delicious tiramisu cream and classic chocolate cupcakes.
I removed the center of all my fresh chocolate cupcakes, drizzled them with strong coffee and filled them with tiramisu cream and topped with cocoa powder. They were absolutely amazing!

Gluten-Free Challenge

Last week I decided to find the perfect gluten-free cupcake recipe.
I know a few people that have a hard time eating delicious foods that contain gluten and I think it would be awesome to help them.

So I'm on the hunt.

I tried a recipe last week and I'm going to be honest with you, it was semi-gross. The vanilla cupcakes were too gooey and the chocolate ones weren't chocolately enough.
I'm not giving up.

I'm challenging myself to find the perfect gluten-free recipe and master it. And share it with the world.
I'll let you know when that happens. :)

In the meantime, here is a picture of a fiber-rich, gluten-free mixed berry cobbler. It got eaten in less than 2 days, and mostly by me. It was amazing.

White Chocolate Love Cupcakes

I love these cupcakes! These are a couple different cupcakes both having the same white chocolate base in the frosting. These are so perfect for bridal showers, Valentine's day, anniversaries, or just because.

White Berry.

White Berry- White berry cake with white chocolate frosting and berry frosting, decorated with white chocolate chunk and raspberry.

White Chocolate Mocha- Chocolate cake topped with a white chocolate icing, decorated with  chocolate espresso candy, chocolate chunk and chocolate powder. This one's intense. 

White Chocolate Mocha.