Kristen's Wedding Shower Cupcakes!

This past Saturday was my very good friend, Kristen's wedding shower. I met Kristen when I first moved to Charlotte about ten years ago. She has been a wonderful friend and so glad to have her in my life. I was thrilled when she got engaged and immediately wanted to be in charge of the desserts for the shower! Kristen is a total sweets person, as am I and her favorites are carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and white cake with chocolate frosting! I was very excited to make something special for her special day! Not that long ago I had made her a birthday cake with Chocolate Frosting and I must say it is one of the best recipes I have found thus far and super easy!

Chocolate Frosting Recipe- Tasty Kitchen- Pioneer Woman
2 and a half cups of powdered sugar- I only used 2 cups
2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder- I used DARK cocoa powder
1/2 stick of butter, softened
2 tablespoons of milk- I used fat free
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 pinch of salt- I did not do this.
This recipe had to be doubled to pipe 12 cupcakes and ice one 9inch round- I also added in about a teaspoon of whipping cream to make it fluffy.
Mix the sugar and cocoa, add in the butter, then the milk and vanilla until combined.

For the carrot cupcakes, I did a cream cheese frosting from the Food Network Site. I had used this recipe before, but this time doubled the amount of cream cheese and it was fantastic!

Cream Cheese Recipe- Food Network

Ingredients

• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract

I realized I did not really take any shots of the carrot cupcakes other than the shot on the dessert table, but they were really delish! I must admit, my table was only a fraction of the food that was there! Kristen's sister and mom made so much food, it was like being in food heaven;)

So overall it was a great day! Kristen got lots of good gifts, we stuffed our faces and celebrated her engagement! You could not have asked for a better afternoon:)
Oh and on a side note, I also made the little lollipop sticks in the cupcakes! They were super cute and held on the stick with stickers saying "LOVE" or with her new initial to be "S". They added just the right amount of fun to the table!