Our contributor, Lauren of Crave. Indulge. Satisfy., is back with a delicious new recipe….

Spring is almost here, hooray! I am so excited it’s March for several reasons, warmer weather is near and my little guy will be ONE at the end of the month!  I am in full party planning mode for his birthday and I thought it would be fun to create a cupcake this month using one of his all time favorite foods, bananas!  Our fruit bowl is overflowing with bananas these days and it seems we can never eat them all up before they start getting pretty ripe.  So instead of turning those over ripe bananas into banana bread, I thought why not make cupcakes instead!  Makes perfect sense to me!  I hope you all enjoy my easy Banana and Cream Cheese Cupcakes!

I decided to keep the recipe really super simple this month, meaning you should probably be able to go into your pantry grab everything you need, dump the ingredients into a bowl and mix!  This recipe starts with a box yellow cake mix.  I always try to keep at least one box mix on hand for when I’m in a time crunch…which is most of the time these days with a toddler roaming around and refusing to nap for more than 30 minutes.  With the simple addition of some sour cream, bananas and vanilla extract no one will ever know they aren’t from scratch.  These cupcakes are super moist and are absolutely perfect with a nice swirl of cream cheese frosting on top.  Add some sprinkles or banana slices for a little something special!

These cupcakes can we whipped up in no time and would make the perfect after school snack.  Share them with your friends and neighbors, or with your 11-month old son as I caught my husband giving our little guy a taste.  Guess he won’t be having cake for the first time on his first birthday anymore!  Oh well, looks like he’ll be developing a sweet tooth like his momma at an early age!

Banana & Cream Cheese Cupcakes
recipe by Lauren Kapeluck
(makes 24 cupcakes)

For the cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
3 ripe bananas
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In bowl of stand mixer combine all ingredients.
3. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until well combined.  Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
5. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
7. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost with Cream Cheese Icing.

For the icing:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
2. Mix in vanilla.
3. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time beating until well combined and scraping sides of
   bowl as necessary.
4. Beat icing on medium speed for about 2 minutes until nice and creamy.
5. Place icing in piping bag fitted with French piping tip and frost cupcakes.
6. Add some sprinkles on top and garnish with banana slices.

Hope you all enjoy and Happy Spring!

	Lauren Kapeluck Lauren is a monthly contributor for The Cake Blog. She is a self-taught baker and lover of all things sugar. Read more about Lauren on her bio page.

It might not feel like it, with cold air and snow still hanging around, but Spring is just around the corner.  Before you know it, the first buds of green will be popping up on tree branches.  Birds will be chirping.  Flowers will be blooming.  And Easter will be on the way!  So today we’re getting ready with a new cake tutorial that is all about Spring!  Inspired by the gorgeous color and texture of robins’ eggs, this cake is super easy and incredibly fun.  And completely achievable for all levels of bakers, to include your favorite little egg-hunters.  It’s a DIY Speckled Easter Egg Cake tutorial and I hope you enjoy it!

Before we get started on the very scientific speckling technique, let’s talk about the cake itself.  I used a Classic Vanilla Cake recipe and baked it as four layers.  You can bake your cakes several days in advance and either freeze them or keep them in the refrigerator.  Being a mom to a little one means my windows of time are quite short.  So on Day #1, I baked the cake and made the eggs.  Day #2, I made a batch of basic buttercream icing (recipe here).  Day #3, I assembled and decorated the cake.  You, by no means, have to follow my extra prolonged, toddler-approved schedule.  But if needed, you can certainly spread this project out over several days.

Now, let’s talk about the eggs!  There are several ways you could go about making these eggs.  You can use an egg-shaped candy mold to create white chocolate eggs, colored appropriately.  You can use real eggs that are hard boiled (or blown out) and then dyed. {Please do not use raw eggs… that is just asking for trouble.}  You can shape eggs out of fondant or gumpaste.  Or you can simply purchase any speckled candy eggs that you like.  Whichever route you pick, this is your first step in decorating. Your overall color scheme starts with your eggs!

Now, let’s get to the speckling!  This project is incredibly fun AND slightly messy.  But the mess makes it fun, right?  You will absolutely get cocoa splatters on your counter, and yes, probably even your floor.  I found a few stray spots even on my refrigerator.  Hence the wax paper for your work surface and paper towels for clean up.  So please please consider this your official warning.  This is not the project for your favorite apron.  But I am happy to report that my kitchen was clean with just a few paper towels.  And my apron washed up just fine.  Now that you’ve read the disclosures… let’s get to it!

SPECKLED EGG CAKE
a DIY by Carrie Sellman

Supplies

• cake of choice, assembled and crumb-coated
• buttercream icing
• food coloring
• 1 T cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 T vanilla extract
• clean paintbrush
• wax paper
• paper towels, for clean up
• speckled eggs

STEP 1:  Color your buttercream frosting with a few drops of food coloring.  I used 2-3 drops of Americolor Sky Blue gel.  When tinting buttercream, I like to add one drop of color at a time until I reach the right shade.  If you’ve ever ruined a batch of icing before, you already know the benefit of adding color gradually.  And when in doubt, I like to error on the light side.  Buttercream naturally darkens slightly as it sets.

STEP 2:  Frost your assembled and crumb-coated cake with your pretty blue buttercream.  Smooth and shape to your liking.  It does not have to be perfect.  We’re about to splatter it up!

STEP 3:  In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla extract.  Stir well until cocoa is completely dissolved and you have a thin, chocolate paint.

STEP 4:  Cover your work area with wax paper.  Lightly dip your new (or totally clean, never used for paint) paintbrush into the chocolate.  Holding the paint brush with one hand, gently flick the bristles with your other index finger to splatter the chocolate paint.  Practice first onto your wax paper until you get the hang of it.  No need to move on to the cake until you master the flick.  When you’re ready to start speckling, hold the paintbrush fairly close to the cake and start splattering.

NOTE: A little chocolate paint goes a long way.  So dip your brush lightly.  If your paintbrush becomes ‘clogged’ with paint and is no longer splattering nicely, rinse it with water.  Dry with a paper towel.  And start again.

STEP 5:  Keep splattering away!  Move up, down and all around to completely cover the cake.

NOTE:  As you work, you will undoubtedly get a splatter that is bigger than you would prefer.  Or accidentally get carried away and bump the cake with your paintbrush.  (Don’t ask me how I know this!)  You have two options here.  Either embrace the imperfections and let it go.  Or wipe it off quickly with a light dab of water and paper towel.  Then go back to speckling.  If you look closely, you can see where I wiped one of my oh-no-it’s-too-big splatters.  Left-middle.  Not too bad of a correction and I think it adds to the speckled egg charm.

STEP 6:  Now that you have the hang of splattering, you’ll also speckle the eggs you previously made.  While you wait for the cake and the eggs to dry, now is a good time to wipe off any stray splatters on your cake pedestal.  Once both the eggs and the cake are completely dry, arrange eggs on top of cake.  Use a dab of buttercream to hold them exactly where you want them.

STEP 7:  Cut, eat and enjoy!

Now that we have the cake covered, what about the rest of your Easter Party?  Today, I’m joining up with some of my talented blogging friends to bring you this Easter Blog Hop full of lovely DIY Easter inspiration!  Hop on over to:

• Bird’s Party and learn how Bird made this adorable Easter Egg Bouquet.
• The Celebration Shoppe to download Kim’s Free Easter Bunny Printables and learn how she made these S’more Cake Pops.
• Celebrations At Home and see how Chris made lovely fabric favor bag for her family Easter baskets.

A big thanks to Bird, Kim and Chris for hopping around with us today.  I hope you give their DIY Easter Party Ideas a try!  And if you decide to give my Speckled Egg Cake a whirl… just embrace the splatter and enjoy!

	Carrie Sellman is the Founder & Editor of The Cake Blog. Her work has been published in BRIDES Magazine and featured on TLC, DIY Network, The Cooking Channel, Glamour and more. Read more about Carrie on her bio page.

Today’s featured cake is one of those cakes.  You know the ones that I’m talking about.  The cakes where your where heart takes a little leap and you know instantly.  I am in love!  Maybe it’s the clean lines.  Maybe it’s the bold colors.  Maybe it’s the sleek sophistication.  But this cake has stolen my heart and I know you’re going to fall for it too!  It comes to us from Jessica Harris, of the Jessicakes Blog, and sports her signature graphic style.  Black and white stripes, so crisp and neat, perfectly accented with a petite pink bow.  And then there’s the fabulous ruffles!  Jessica is turning the ruffle trend upside down with this design.  Well, I guess technically she’s turning the ruffle trend on its side.  But you get the idea!  In shades of pink, these ruffles are both vertical and totally modern.  It’s a new day for ruffles and things are looking fabulous!  Join me in swooning over this Sleek Ruffles & Stripes Cake!

Jessica Harris, of the Jessicakes Blog gives us the scoop on her design:

“I love clean, simple and graphic designs! I also love cakes that can stand on their own as single tiers. I enjoy giving my sweet friends small cakes for their birthdays, but a lot of designs need another tier to look complete. So, in my quest for single tier style designs, I came up with this horizontal stripe cake design last summer. I love it on it’s own…especially with that sweet accent bow I can personalize for any party! Now a lot of people might see this design and think, “SIMPLE!? – yeah right!!”, but it can be!! I actually put all the stripes on in one piece, like a sticker, using my wax paper transfer technique so the stripes go on clean and straight!! It only takes me about 45 min. to do the whole thing!!”

Jessica Harris tells us about her sleek ruffles:

“Now that I perfected my sweet little striped cake, I decided I wanted to come up with some additional designs that would work with it for larger parties. I love ruffles…they are SO feminine and so stylish right now.  But, since the stripes are more bold and graphic, I didn’t think a frilly, thin edged ruffle would be as great as a stylized ruffle design.  I created a template for the ruffles and ended up cutting out about 24 that would fit around the cake. I alternated the colors between a lighter pink and darker pink. It’s subtle, but I like that…almost as if they’re reflecting light differently and not completely different colors. I’ve done this ruffle cake twice now and I found the easiest way to put the dragees on is before I put them on the cake! So, after I cut the ruffles out of modeling chocolate, I score my stitching line and place my dragees with a little sugar water. I let them sit out for about an hour, then pick them up and put them on the cake about 1″ apart from each other. It worked beautifully and was SO much faster and easier than trying to put the dragees on after the ruffles were on the cake! I’m a mama to three little ones, so I’m all about fast and simple techniques to make beautiful cakes!!”

If you’ve fallen head over heals for this beauty, you’ll be thrilled to hear that you can now learn how to make it.  Jessica is teaching a class online at Craftsy and sharing all of her insider tips, tricks and techniques!  Not only is she sharing instructions and templates for these stripes and ruffles, but she’s also teaching fundamentals like covering cakes in buttercream, fondant and ganache.  Learn how to get smooth finishes, sharp corners and easily apply detailed patterns with her wax paper method.  You can find her new class, which just launched today, here:

Clean & Simple Cake Design with Jessica Harris

I know what’s on my to-do list this afternoon… learning from my sweet friend Jessica!  A big thank you to Jessica Harris for sharing her incredibly Sleek Ruffles & Stripes cake with us today.  It’s spectacular!

VENDORS & CREDITS
Cake:  Jessicakes