La jolie fleur rouge: March 2012

Hello from Connecticut, where we have been experiencing some lovely, unseasonably warm weather! If you made your way here from Margaret's blog as part of Deb's Housewarming Potluck Blog Hop, welcome! If you are one of my regular readers, you can begin the hop over at Deb's blog.

I told Deb I would bring dessert. And not just any dessert, but my blue-ribbon winning chocolate cupcakes! Okay, they're really Martha Stewart's chocolate cupcakes, but I did win a blue ribbon for them in my town fair a few years ago, and since then they have become a go-to recipe when I need a cake or cupcakes for a party. Want to try one? Here you go!

If you'd like to make them yourself, I use the recipe from her Baking Handbook. Here's a similar one from her website:

One bowl chocolate cupcakes with fluffy vanilla frosting. I love that all the ingredients get mixed together in one bowl...the fewer dishes to wash the better in my opinion!

Martha has never steered me wrong with her baking recipes, and believe me, I have tried a lot of them! I even stood in line once to have her sign her Cupcakes book.

If you make these yourself, here are a few tips:

the batter will be awfully thin and runny...that's okay!
don't overfill the baking tins...these rise quite a bit and will stick to the the pan if they overflow! Giving the pan a spray of cooking oil is probably a good idea.
Martha says these make 2 dozen...I usually can get 2 1/2 - 3 dozen.
don't want to eat all 2 1/2 dozen? Go ahead and freeze the unfrosted cupcakes. They'll be good for at least a month.
don't worry if they don't look perfect when they come out of the pan...you're going to smother them in frosting anyway, and frosting hides all flaws!

Hopefully you're not too full from all the other great food that people brought to the housewarming...you still have three more desserts still to try! Next up is Rhona...can't wait to see what she made!

Thanks to Deb for organizing this blog-hop...it was just what I needed to get out of my blog slump!

Thanks for stopping by!

In case you're interested, here is the complete list of blog hop participants:

Drinks/Appetizers

Deb @ PaperTurtle – http://paperturtle.blogspot.com

Rinda @ Gallo Organico – http://gallorganico.blogspot.com/

Beverly @ BE glorious - http://beglorious.blogspot.com/

Soups/Salads

Alison @ Life in the Slow Lane – http://alisonslife-in-the-slow-lane.blogspot.com/

Fiona @ Staring at the Sea – http://fiona-staringatthesea.blogspot.com/

Amy @ Over at our Place - http://overatourplace.blogspot.com/

Side/Main Dishes

The “Not So” Small One @ From High in the Sky – http://fromhighinthesky.blogspot.com/