Cupcake Challenge Accepted! (Dairy-free molten lava cupcakes)

Not a traditional molten lava cake, but the
 filling mimics the molten core of a usual cake!

This past weekend, some of my crazier athletically capable friends ran the Tough Mudder event in Lake Tahoe. Basically, they impressively braved tons of ridiculous obstacles - ice-cold water, electrical shocks, walls, barbed wire, and mud - for five hours. I myself didn't participate (mud and shocks aren't my thing), but I did come with them up to the cabin in Tahoe. I thought it would be nice to bake something for them to celebrate finishing the race, which led me to create the Tough Mudder Cupcake!

The cupcake that started it all: red bean mochi cupcakes with green tea frosting

Besides baking, watching TV is another one of my guilty hobbies - and fall TV is finally here! Last night was the premiere of How I Met Your Mother's final season. Like many others, I definitely noticed a drop in quality over the seasons, but I really enjoyed the back-to-back premiere episodes. I have high hopes that the writers will bring their A-game for the final season and end the show on a good note!

Chocolate marshmallow peanut butter Nutella cupcakes!

The finished product!

When I bake, I usually follow a recipe I found on Pinterest or modify an existing recipe to suit my needs, but I do eventually want to get to the point when I can make up my own stuff. This is my first attempt at doing that - cupcakes for my housewarming party! Basically my starting point for making these cupcakes was What are things people like to eat? Then I put those things into one cupcake. Hence, the chocolate/marshmallow/peanut butter/Nutella creation that resulted!

Strawberry & Cream Bars!

I'm surprised these I even had the time to make these tonight. I'm flying out to a wedding tomorrow, so I've been trying to close out several reports for work before tomorrow, on top of hip-hop class, our first weekly roommie dinner (roommate made awesomely spicy curry, by the way), and packing for my trip. Somehow I was able to squeeze baking in there - and have it turn out well! (Granted, I'm also writing this blog while I should be writing my report, but there's still time for everything...)

Zwetschgendatschi - German Plum Cake

Had another friend's birthday over Labor Day weekend, and instead of the Nutella dessert I originally had in mind, I decided to try something a little different. Zwetschgendatschi is a traditional German plum cake and learning how to pronounce its name (ts-vetch-kin-dah-chee) was probably harder than actually making it. The recipe uses Italian prune plums, which are currently in season, so I figured it would be the perfect time to try making this.