these ROCK!

I am BIG fan of chocolate if you can't tell, but I also love a dessert that looks pretty too. So I just had to make these, they were pretty yummy, but will definitely try them again with a few motifications.

Rocky Mountain cupcakes:

¾ cup butter, softened (if you forget to let it sit out, cut into cubes and microwave on high for 10 seconds,     careful to not let it melt, just be soft to touch)
¾ cup superfine sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup self-rising flour
½ cup of unsweetened cocoa
½ cup chocolate chips (optional- I just feel like chocolate chips would help give it a little something more)

Icing:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 tbl milk
2 ½ cups confectionary sugar
½ cup of cocoa powder

Topping:
Pecans or Walnuts
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate for drizzling (Almond bark is easy to heat up in microwave and will harden on top)

Preheat oven to 350.
Line a muffin pan (12) with muffin cups.
The recipe says it makes 10, but I had sooo much batter. I would suggest filling them half way and doing as many as you can. Otherwise they puff up like muffins, and it is too much cake.

Cupcake batter:
Place the butter and sugar in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla.
Gradually beat in the eggs.
Sift the flour and cocoa together and then gradually fold into the mixture.
Spoon mixture into paper liners.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and spring to touch.
Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Icing:
Place butter and milk in a bowl and beat together.
Sift sugar and cocoa powder together and gradually stir in until smooth.
(Very important for the butter to be softened. If the butter is cold at all you will have chunks of it in the icing. If the butter is melted then you will have a melted mess. Though this can be fixed by adding more powdered sugar.)

Use a pastry bag or Ziploc bag with a corner cut to pipe onto each cake to form a peak.
I recommend using a good bit of the icing for each cupcake.
Then top with your marshmallows and pecans or walnuts.
Then drizzle the chocolate on top.

So I am not a big fan of marshmallows, but you really couldn’t even taste them that much. I did break mine in half, but I think next time I would add more. I would also add some of the nuts to the batter itself. This recipe was delicious, I just found the cake itself to be a little dry. I did put too much batter in each cup though and didn’t use enough icing. I think the addition of chocolate chips would help to make the cake a bit more moist.

~ Enjoy

Today, Caden and I painted & oh boy did he enjoy it! We had tried doing this one time before, but he wasn't fond of getting his hands dirty (totally a daddy thing). So we tried with a paintbrush today and he didn't want to stop. I bought a picture frame that holds 9 pictures for someone for Christmas. I was really wanting to do something different and special. Since we haven't seen these people yet, but will for Caden's birthday- I have a little time. I am thinking of taking Caden's drawings & paintings and cutting 3 squares from it and adding that into the frame along with pictures of him. I figure it will be something a little more special and unique than just pictures. Here is a picture of one of my little artist's work:

He paints like mommy lol..