Giveaway is now Closed…

“Mom, why can’t I have an Easy Bake Oven!? I am the only girl who doesn’t have one!!” If you were in my house when I was a child you would hear this question at least once a week. My mother’s logic was that it was a messy toy. Why did I need an Easy Bake Oven when I could use the real one? As a 42 year old woman I still haven’t let go of the disappointment. Once a gadget junkie, always a gadget junkie. As a child my need for an Easy Bake Oven went deeper than the need to keep up with my peers. I am a born kitchen gadget junkie. I admit it. I still haven’t found a self help group for this affliction and my family has not had an intervention (yet), so I carry on with my obsession.

This past summer one of my favorite new kitchen gadgets became the Babycakes Cupcake Maker . It became my go to gadget when my family felt like cakes or brownies. Of course, nothing surpasses the freshly baked cake from the oven, but in a pinch the Babycakes Cupcake Maker was a life saver. I’ve used it to bake brownies, cupcakes and even pineapple upside-down cakes. The Babycakes Cupcake Maker is easy to clean and it does not require a lot of space. It comes in many fabulous colors and, most importantly, it is user friendly. It has definitely assuaged that little empty feeling of never having owned an Easy Bake Oven. Babycakes Cupcake Maker is just a fun gadget that makes me feel like a little girl again.

The Babycakes Cupcake Maker is such a fantastic gadget that my partner at myFudo and I would love to share it with you.  Please enter our give away: Comment on this post by telling us your favorite kitchen gadget. We’d love to hear about what you cannot live without!  Also, please check out our 2011 Christmas Card Exchange.

Winner will be announced one week from today, Wednesday, September 28th.

Rules

1. Please Follow Us on Twitter and Tweet the Giveaway then come back and let us know you did.
2. Please Like our Page on Facebook, then please come back and let us know you did.
3. Those living outside the US you’ll win an Amazon gift certificate.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake -Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
This Brown Sugar Pound cake recipe comes from Martha Stewart. I love it with pineapples and so have used it to make pineapple upside-down cake. It adds that little something special.

Ingredients for Cake
1 pound (3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt
4 sticks softened unsalted butter, plus more for pans
2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9 large, room-temperature eggs
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup brown sugar

Pineapple, cut into very thin, 1 inch rounds.
1. Combine flour and 1 tablespoon salt in a bowl. Cream 4 sticks butter and dark-brown sugar with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, for 8 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla extract.
2. Lightly beat eggs, and add to mixer bowl in 4 additions, mixing thoroughly after each and scraping down sides. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 4 additions, mixing until just incorporated.
3. In a bowl cream together the 2 tablespoons butter and ½ cup brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Assembly
1. Plug in the Babycakes Cupcake Maker.
2. Place a dab of the brown sugar/butter mixture into the bottom of each Babycakes mold (do not over do it or the mixture will ooze out during baking).
3. Place a pineapple round in each mold.
4. Using a tablespoon, add the cake batter on top of the pineapple. Only fill ¾ of the mold as it will overflow.
5. Bake for about 8 minutes.

You will have enough batter to make 2 dozen small cakes, perhaps a few more. You can bake directly in the Babycakes Cupcake Maker or you can use paper liner cups (that come with the Cupcake Maker).

The Babycakes Cupcake Maker becomes extremely hot. Please be aware of this when putting your second batch into the molds.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Seven Minute Frosting
This is my go-to recipe for a chocolate cake on the fly and an impressive, but easy frosting.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup milk

1. Plug in Babycakes Cupcake Maker.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth. Increase the speed to high and slowly add the sugar. Continue beating until light.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then add the cocoa powder and vanilla.
5. With the mixer running at medium-low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.
6. Combine the water and milk in a saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from the heat.
7. With the mixer at low speed, add the flour mixture, about a 1/4 cup at a time. Carefully pour the hot liquid into the batter. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a large rubber spatula, finish combining the batter until smooth.
8. Spoon the batter into the Babycakes mold, filling ¾ of the way.
9. Bake approximately 5 minutes.

Seven Minute Frosting
Another Martha Stewart recipe, this frosting is so light and fluffy that it will please even those who claim they don’t like frosting.

Ingredients
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 large egg whites, room temperature

1. Put 1 cup sugar, the corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water into a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture just begins to simmer and sugar has dissolved, about 6 minutes. Wash down sides with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reaches 235 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, put egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining tablespoon sugar, and beat until peaks are fluffy but still soft. Slowly pour in hot sugar syrup down side of bowl. Raise speed to high, and beat until mixture has cooled and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.