My little niece turned 4 years old this Saturday and she wanted a Dr. Seuss  Horton Hears A Who birthday cake, chocolate with raspberry filling. I was more than happy to supply her with one! This is my first attempt at a “Topsy Turvey” cake. It didn’t turn out as perfect as I would have liked but I think good enough for the first try. I definitely learned a lot and will be doing things differently on my next “Topsy Turvey” cake. I made the who family out of SugarVeil. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my SugarVeil system. I have only had it for a few weeks now and have been completley amazed at how versatile it is! Horton is a cupcake that I carved and covered in fondant… I wanted it to look like he is sliding down the cake. Daughter says that he was a very clumsy elephant. I also made some cupcakes with “Specs” to match the cake. I myself have not seen the movie but my daughter schooled me on it. She said that the cake MUST have Specs on it. Apparently these are the little flowers that the who’s live on.

My friends Jennifer & Troy just got a new little pooch named Boomer. And Boomer is the sweetest dog that I have ever met. So I decided to make her some cupcakes… next thing you know I am making them for every dog that I know! I made 2 sizes Chihuahua size and Boxer size! Apparently Boomer hasn’t been eating her food and is loosing weight; but she loved my cupcake! She ate every single crumb!

Puppy Cupcakes

Makes 24 Boxer Size Cupcakes plus 24 Chihuahua Size Cupcakes

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 large jar of baby food (something with veggies and meat)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup softened butter
• 6 jerky treats ground up in a food processor
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 320ºF. Cream butter until smooth. Add baby food, mayonnaise, and eggs. Mix until smooth. Mix dry ingredients into beef mixture until batter is smooth. Fold jerky into batter. Pour batter into cupcake liners. Bake 25 minutes or until done. It will be more like the feel of pressing on a quick bread than a cake. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes.

Peanut butter Cream Cheese Frosting

• 16 ounces fat free cream cheese
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons honey

Blend all ingredients with an electric mixer in a bowl until creamy.

I like to call these little guys “The Devil Made Me Do It”. I took EVERYTHING that love and shoved it all into one little cucpcake liner; These little guys definitely put me into sensory overload! The sight, the smell (I would walk in and out of the house just to smell it over and over again), and the TASTE! So moist, so sweet and yummy. I’m getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it These little bad boys are truly SINFUL…. and I LOVE IT!

The cake itself chocolate & coconut, with cream cheese and marshmallow floater. Drizzled with chocolate & caramel glaze. Topped with toasted coconut, and roasted marshmallow….. and YES you guessed it…. drizzled again with caramel and chocolate. There I go again, gettin all worked up!… whew!

The Devil Made Me Do It

makes 24 cupcakes

Cake Batter

• 1½ cups cake flour
• ¾ cups granulated sugar
• ½ brown sugar
  
• ¼ cup cocoa powder (do yourself a favor, don’t use Hershey’s! I myself use Ghiradelli. But I have heard good things about Askinosie.. but it isn’t sold in my area and I am far too inpatient to wait for it in the mail)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup mayonnaise (fully leaded… do not attempt to use the low/non fat stuff)
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 320ºF. In a large bowl sift together flour, both sugars, cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Add boiling water and stir till mixture is completely wet. Add milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla, and mayonnaise whisking well after each addition. Fold in coconut.

Cream Cheese & Marshmallow Floater

• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup small marshmallows

Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Add vanilla and salt stirring and stir well. Fold in marshmallows.

Fill cupcake cup ¼ of the way. Drop in a tablespoon of cream cheese mixture, and then pour batter over. The cream cheese and marshmallow will float up to the top when baking. Bake till a skewer comes out clean, approximately 20 minutes

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out a thin layer of coconut. Bake at 450ºF until toasted brown. Pull out and immediately toss.

Chocolate Drizzle

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• ½ stick butter
• ½ cup heavy cream
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium size bowl add chocolate, butter, and salt. Bring cream to a boil and pour over chocolate, and stir till it reaches a creamy consistency. Add vanilla and let cool.

Caramel Drizzle

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 cup heavy cream

In a heavy sauce pan over medium high heat bring sugar mixture to a boil. Once it starts to boil swirl pot frequently to prevent burning. Once sugar turns to an amber color immediately take off of the heat and quickly add heavy cream. This will cause the sugar to seize and stop cooking. This is important because at this temperature the sugar can go from caramel to burned nasty mess in an instant. Put the mixture back on the flame once the sugar has seized and stir constantly until it reaches a smooth consistency. Allow to cool and stir often.

Drizzle Chocolate and caramel over your cooled cupcakes. Pile on a little bit of toasted coconut, and place 2 small marshmallows on top. With a culinary torch roast those marshmallows! Be careful not to catch the liner on fire… I did it a few times. Just blow it out. Once your marshmallow has toasted then drizzle on more chocolate and caramel.