Mum Flowers and Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I've had a real Martha Stewart kind of day, literally.

Last month my fellow cake decorating friend Shannon, bought me Martha's Cupcakes book as a birthday gift. While I only drooled over the photos when I leafed through it, I just knew that when we got together at our next 'decorating practice' session that I would certainly have to try at least one of the recipes.

Fast forward to last night.

As nature would have it, I looked through the book the night before she was to come over. Which would be fine if all I had to do was look at the book--but I was supposed to make the icing and the cupcakes before she would arrive at my house at 12 noon the next day. oops!

I quickly tried to narrow down a recipe that wouldn't require me to make a trip to the store. I typically have a fully stocked pantry but since I have been lax in the cooking department lately, there were a few items I was out of--like cake flour. Cake flour just happens to be what all Martha's cupcakes have in common.

Honestly, there is a conversion for cake flour for all purpose flour, but at 8pm last night, I couldn't be bothered. I just used all-purpose flour for these cakes but I am thinking next time--I may want to follow the recipe for that because I think the cakes turned out a bit too dense. I used buttermilk instead of the milk and if you really are looking for flavor, my advice is add more cinnamon and possibly some other spices (cloves, nutmeg?)

These cupcakes weren't bad. Not my favorite and definitely something I could make improvements on. BUT the concept of a snickerdoodle cupcake? Divine! Especially for fall!

To top it off, I used Martha's Swiss meringue buttercream. Normally, I will ONLY make my 'go to' Italian meringue buttercream, but I really wanted to just see how Martha's was. Afterall, this was just for a practice round of decorating cupcakes anyway.

I must say, BOTH of us were pleasantly surprised over the taste of the Swiss meringue. It seemed more flavorful than the Italian meringue....more buttery. What's even better? It's a great frosting for piping out mums! (forget the Wilton buttercream I had prepared--that was getting us nowhere!!)

I so wish I got a picture of us--eating leftover frosting with a spoon.

As Martha would say "It's a good thing".

For the recipe:

Snickerdoodle cupcakes

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (cut in half)

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