Design & Decor Blog

Every day, it’s inevitable. Around 3pm in the afternoon, I start to crave sugar. I just seem to need an extra jolt to push me through to the end of the day. And today, the perfect match for my sweet tooth would most certainly be these lemon cupcakes.

Excerpted from Cupcake Kit: Recipes, Liners, and Decorating Tools for Making the Best Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans, this recipe is easy and makes a delightfully delicious sweet treat.

“Lemons are always in season and these lemon cupcakes are ready to party, to picnic, to lunch, or to take part in any happy occasion.

The yellow part of the lemon peel has a strong lemon flavor and is used to flavor the cupcake batter and frosting. Be sure to wash and dry lemons before grating the peel, and to grate only the colored part of the rind (the white pith under the rind is bitter). The cake flour used here adds an especially tender texture to these cupcakes. It can be found in the baking section of supermarkets.”

Get the entire lemon cupcake recipe! Plus, check out our food section for more easy recipes.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter!

This blog post is designed specifically to make you salivate. These Rice Krispie treats (pictured left) from The Crispery are available for order only in the U.S. (boo!) but they look so yummy, I had to share! They come in a variety of individual flavours like: Caramel and Marshmallow, Peanut Butter, Coconut and Chocolate Dipped Crispy to name a few. Mmmm! It’s not like my hometown of Toronto doesn’t have its own fair share of bakeries that make mouthwatering treats. This blogto.com blog post lists the best cupcakes in Toronto, for example. And Rice Krispie squares are easy enough to make at home (though The Crispery certainly adds an original twist to an old favourite!) If you’re interested in making your own squares at home, here are a few recipes from Canadian Living: Cocoa frosted Rice Krispies peanut squares, Rice Krispies fruit and nut granola bars.

Anyway, I’m just feeling mighty hungry now. If you’ve got an insatiable sweet tooth and are looking for more ideas, check out our Food & Entertaining section, full of easy recipes for delicious desserts! The weekend is the perfect time to try your hand at a new recipe.

Here are a few of my faves (pictured right):

Chocolate dream scone with mascarpone spread
Cranberry pistachio biscotti
Baby butter and jam sandwiches

One of the great things about Facebook, besides reconnecting with long lost friends (and maybe a few you’d rather have remained estranged from), is being able to check out your friends’ latest and greatest pictures. Thanks to Facebook, I’m able to stay in touch with friends in a way that we just didn’t seem to have time for before the rise of social networking. I can get instant updates on their travel plans, see every angle of their newborn’s smile and check out what they were up to on the weekend. It’s great fun and while nothing replaces the necessity of face-to-face contact over drinks, it’s a pretty decent alternative when you’re busy. Anyhow … all of this is by way of explanation for how I stumbled upon this fab new find! Whilst snooping, I mean … casually perusing a friend’s photos of a baby shower she’d recently attended, I spied the loveliest, cupcake-shaped cake adorning the buffet table. Love at first sight! Where, oh where did she get the pan to make this, I wondered? But I wondered only momentarily because, in perfect Facebook fashion, everything I needed to know was right there in the comments section with a list of retailers for curious gals like myself. So I hunted it down at Williams-Sonoma and now I’m sharing it with you. Drum roll, please! I give you … The Great Cupcake Pan!

Available at: Williams-Sonoma
Price: $36

You just can’t go wrong with the gift of food. Well … okay, maybe that’s not true. I mean, I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled if someone showed up at my house with a cabbage casserole. They say it’s the thought that counts but I’d just be thinking, Wow. This person really doesn’t like me. So let me rephrase. You just can’t go wrong with the gift of baked goodies. And if you don’t have time to whip up some tasty treats yourself, then just leave it to the professionals. Frostineedibles.com is an online Canadian bakery that makes a vast assortment of cookies and other baked treats and offers overnight shipping to anywhere in Canada and the United States. So next time you’re looking for a hostess gift or housewarming present, a birthday gift or just something to satisfy your own sweet tooth, then consider Frostines Edibles. My favourite part is how they’re packaged – beautiful, re-useable boxes that come in a variety of colours and truly look like something special. Here at my office, we sampled the cookies and here’s what my colleagues had to say:

“Soft and crumbly. It dissolves in your mouth - delicious!”
Alaina Chapman

“These yummy cookies were truly delightful, melting away in my mouth. The butterscotch ripple was my fave — a simply sweet treat to cap off my lunch. If this is the way the cookie crumbles, I want more!”
Lauren McPhillips

“I had the chocolate brownie cookie … very chocolate brownie like! It was really rich and quite tasty, but somewhat dry. Would be perfect with a cold glass of milk. I imagine a serious chocolate lover would be very grateful to receive some of these to feed their craving.”
Daniela Payne

“This cookie makes a valiant effort to be all things to all people - it’s got shortbread, it has a modest filling, it has cranberries and who knows what else. That said, the holiday hubris pays off: In several sweetly satisfying bites, you get an essential taste of Christmases past, updated for the present. The verdict:  A-. The minus is for leaving out the chocolate. Now, can I have another one?”
John Kuipers

Good to know: All flavours of Frostines Edibles cookies are nut- and peanut-free.

For more information, visit: frostinesedibles.com