Hazelnut Crunch Cupcakes

This is a dessert that I have featured before. And it is, without question, one of my favorite all time cakes to make. Truth be told, I bust this out when I want to impress people. The flavors are complex... Hazelnut brickle on top of orange and chocolate crumbles, on top of mascarpone and whipped cream frosting, on top of dark chocolate cake. It is true treat. I took these to a house warming party for a work colleague. Several people thought that they were from a bakery. I guess the high brown cupcake wrappers threw them for a loop. I tell ya, you get the right packaging and people think you are downright FANCY!

(For recipe, see previous post below for Hazelnut Crunch Cake).

CUPCAKES!

As usual, our family celebrated our daughter's birthday with not one, but THREE cakes this year. I always like trying new ways to decorate the baked confections. This year, I thought about rolling out Starburst candies and cutting them into fun shapes to decorate her cake. But as I always seem to be running behind on time, I quickly realized that a simpler approach was needed. Somewhere I had seen a cupcake cookbook that used lollipops to adorn children's cupcakes. So I decided that this was the way to go. I got a lot of approval from the crowd. Truth be told, the suckers were store bought (thank you, Michael's!) But next time, I vow to make my own.

These were Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Cherry Buttercream. Lots of buzzin' was goin' on after these bad boys disappeared!