My mom and I have been baking together for as long as I can remember. When I was little, it was cookies for Santa. As I’ve gotten older, she stopped baking with me as much; however, I still love it. Now, instead of cookies, I make cupcakes, using Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor, by Anne Bryn. The recipes use traditional box cake mixes and adds ingredients to turn them into unique and flavorful cupcakes. The instructions are easy to follow, and I have thoroughly enjoyed baking and eating each cupcakes. I found the book in early January of this year and have since started to move through the recipes. I started baking again after I started high school softball, when I suddenly seemed to have a lot of time on my hands.  

Apple Spiced Cinnamon Cupcake:

• 5/5: I am a huge fan of fall flavors, and this cupcake perfectly captures the taste of fall. The apple cinnamon cupcake itself is light and airy, with a strong flavor profile, while the caramel glaze adds another layer of depth, making it taste like a caramel apple in cupcake form. 

Brooklyn Blackout

• 4.2/5: I’ve made this one twice, and both times I absolutely loved the cupcake. It is a rich and flavorful chocolate cupcake with a creamy filling and a topping of enhanced chocolate pudding. A bite into this cupcake is like a bite into a chocolate wonderland, though the richness can make having more than one a challenge. 

Smore Cupcake:

• 4.5/5: This recipe transports you to a campfire in late summer or early fall. It tastes exactly like a s’more in the form of a cupcake, with a chocolate chip-filled chocolate cake and a graham cracker bottom. The drizzled marshmallow frosting adds depth, as does the chocolate topper and the graham crumble. The only thing holding this cupcake back from a 5/5 is the mess the graham cracker makes when you open the wrapper. 

The link to book

https://www.amazon.com/Cupcakes-Cake-Doctor-Anne-Byrn/dp/0761135480