Review and #Giveaway: Baking for the Firemen - King Arthur All Natural Golden Vanilla Cake Mix and Swirl Baking Cups

This is a very special Baking for the Firemen! It was the fire meeting closest to the hubby's birthday so I wanted to send in a special treat. When I contacted my very favorite baking company, King Arthur, it was decided that cupcakes were in order.

Cupcakes are delicious, easy to eat and fun to make. I started with King Arthur's All Natural Golden Vanilla Cake mix. I don't usually use cake mix as you all know but I figured with it coming from the King  it would be yummy. I got everything I needed ready.

Following the very easy directions on the box I took softened butter and oil and 2/3rds of the mix and put it in my mixer. After that had come together nicely I was ready for the next step.

What makes this mix produce a moist and tender cake is making it like you would a homemade cake. So after the first ingredients were well mixed I added milk and the remaining cake mix in alternating thirds, mixing on low, just until blended.


Then came the fun! The very bright and happy Swirl Baking Cups. 

I just love all those colors! Don't you? I lined my impossible to clean any longer well used cupcake pan with them and was ready to go.

In went that rich and delicious batter. I will not tell you how I know it was delicious batter just take my word for it.

Now aren't they pretty cupcakes? They are truly some happy cupcake cups.
While the cupcakes were baking I used a one of the recipes from the King Arthur's site. There is a huge collection and I have tried several of them and I have not been disappointed.


This one is called Super Simple Chocolate Frosting. While not exactly SUPER simple, it is easy and the frosting was TO.DIE.FOR. I will neither confirm nor deny the existence of a piping bag of it in my refrigerator.


I heated some heavy cream just to the boiling point. While that was happening I sifted together confectioner's sugar and cocoa. You can add espresso powder if you want but I chose not too. 

You mix the cocoa and confectioner's sugar together and then add the hot cream. You stir this until it gets nice and smooth. It looks a little funky at first but it does get creamy. (I forgot to take a photo of what it looks like in it's creamy stage...sorry about that.)


Butter and more confectioner's sugar and beaten in a stand mixer until well blended. Then vanilla is added and mixed in. 

Then spoonful by spoonful you add the chocolate mixture until it is smooth. I put it into the refrigerator until I was ready to ice the cupcakes. It is deadly good.


I brought out my bags and tips and piped the icing onto the cupcakes. I really need to get a plain tip with a wider opening. But these didn't look too bad. I'm also a bit out of practice...

Then since it was the hubby's 60th birthday!!!! I brought out the edible glitter and the silver sanding sugar to sparkle them up a bit.

And candles, of course!
I was told they were delicious! I was bummed 'cause the firemen didn't ask about the candles and hubby didn't tell them it was his birthday.


MEN!


Well, at least they had a yummy treat. King Arthur never fails me. I am truly thrilled with their products; I order a whompin' box o'flour quarterly when they offer free shipping. Flour stores very well in the freezer and that way I have my White Whole Wheat flour that you all know I love.
 I am not sure that the UPS man loves my 70lb boxes....


One lucky reader will win a box of All Natural Golden Vanilla Cake Mix and a set of Swirl Baking Cups! How cool is that?
How do you win? It's easy!
But first some rules:


US only
No PO boxes
18 yrs old+


MANDATORY ENTRY:


Go to King Arthur and tell me a product (other than the ones mentioned in this post ) that you would like to try. Be sure to leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win.


EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Follow King Arthur Flour on Facebook

2. Follow @KingArthurFlour on Twitter

3. Follow @BrokenTeepee on Twitter and tweet the following (once per day)

#win Golden Vanilla Cake Mix and Swirl Baking Cups from @KingArthurFlour and @BrokenTeepee @http://tinyurl.com/3r2mqvr #giveaway

4. Share the giveaway using the share buttons at the end of the post (except StumbleUpon)

5. Like Broken Teepee on Facebook

SEE THE EXTRA ENTRIES PAGE FOR ADDITIONAL WAYS TO ENTER.

All entries need to be in by 9PM MDT on May 7th when I will go to Random.org to choose the winner. He/she will have 48hrs. to respond or I will choose new winners.

Good luck everyone.

Disclosure:  I received products gratis from King Arthur. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free products. I received no monetary compensation for this post.