Last night was “National Night Out” in my neck of the woods. This is the 27th year of this annual event. The goal is to get neighbors outside to meet and greet so we can all help watch out for one another. While our street doesn’t participate every year, we did have a nice little block party at the end of our cul-de-sac to celebrate unity on our street and get to know our neighbors better. In all, we probably had about 25 people. The men grilled hot dogs and bratwurst and the women brought chips, sodas and desserts. I offered to make cupcakes. Everyone loves cupcakes. It’s been a while since I made a big batch, and I had so much fun! I used a white and chocolate cake mix (the new lower sugar mixes) as a base, and made one large bowl of cream cheese buttercream frosting. From there, I split it all up and made variations. Here’s how it all shook out:
Toasted Coconut Cupcakes – white cake mix, Coco Lopez poured over them while they were hot (I poked holes first), topped with cream cheese buttercream and sprinkled with toasted coconut. These were a BIG hit with the grown-ups.
Strawberry Jam Cupcakes – white cake mix, a spoon full of strawberry jam in the middle (I scooped out a small divot on top and filled it with jam), topped with strawberry cream cheese buttercream and sprinkled with pink sanding sugar. These were the favorite of kids ages 2-12.
Chocolate Hershey Bar Cupcakes – chocolate cake mix with Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Syrup added to the batter, topped with a small Hershey Bar as soon as they came out of the oven. Pure and simple chocolate overload.
Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcakes – chocolate cake mix with Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Syrup added to the batter, topped with cream cheese chocolate fudge and salted, roasted peanuts dusted on top. This one was highly rated by the men in the crowd. As one so eloquently put it, “Holy cow…it’s like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cupcake!” I’ll take that as a compliment.
NanaBread's Cupcake Creations
Watch your back Crave, Sprinkles & Sugarbaby’s…I’m comin’ for ya.
Inside NanaBread's Head 