Birthday Treats

October: fall begins, shorter days, chillier temps, pumpkin-flavored everything, Halloween and my birthday. I'm officially a year older and the big THREE-OH is nearer on the horizon, yikes. Oops, I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway birthdays=time for cake and other goodies!

I've been obsessed lately with donut recipes and I have Pinterest to blame. However, the thought of frying donuts in hot oil in my small apartment seemed a bit horrifying. I was afraid everything I owned would smell of fried oil for months. Then I became enamored with the donut pan. The cute and perfect way to bake "healthier" donuts at home. Lucky for me, Sista Min and Twin Sista bought me a mini donut pan for my birthday!

I wasted no time to bake my first batch just a couple hours after receiving the pan. I immediately turned to King Arthur Flour's Pumpkin Cake Doughnut recipe. They blogged about it recently and so did my friend and fellow blogger of Idiot's Kitchen. I just shortened the baking time to 7-10 minutes and poof, I had about 3 dozen donuts.

Minus the egg shells I found in one of the donuts I ate, these were pretty tasty. I keep complaining about my pumpkin recipes not being spicy enough but now I think my spices are losing their punch. I will need to buy new cinnamon and nutmeg, ASAP. That aside, these had a fantastic fluffy texture and are dangerously addicting. I won't tell you how many minis I've eaten in the past 24 hours.

I emailed the birthday-candle-in-the-donut pic to Twin Sista as a virtual gift. I shared some of the donuts with my neighbors and with my friends. I almost felt like I was back in elementary school bringing treats for everyone on my birthday.

Did I have a birthday cupcake as well, you ask? Of course! My friends took me to the new Buffalo Cakery and we each ordered different flavors. I couldn't resist their French Toast with Bacon cupcake while my friends ordered Mint Chocolate and Chocolate Orange. Each cupcake is $2.50.

located at: 94 Elmwood Ave, Allentown, Buffalo, New York

My french toast cupcake was good in flavor but was a bit overbaked. It really did taste like French Toast! But the bacon topping seemed almost like bac-o-bits, in a not good way. It was the best tasting cupcake of the three but the two chocolate cupcakes were definitely a better texture. Wasn't too crazy about those flavors though. Regardless, I enjoyed the day of baking, cupcaking, and a night out with friends.