MARY E THOMPSON

it's a curvy road to happily ever after

Chubby & Charming

Fun & Mine

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Today brings us to the end of Cupcake Week. I hope you had as much fun as I did with it!

No matter which cupcake is your favorite, you can make them all yours with a few simple tricks. I’m a big fan of not letting it be obvious that I just use a boxed cake mix (because we all know baking from scratch really is better), but I like things to be quick. As much as I love to bake, I don’t love standing over a stove for two hours while I painstakingly do something that could have been done with a boxed mix.

But turning that boxed mix into something that will leave everyone wondering where I learned to bake is always good.

Sprinkle On Top

The easiest way to make your cupcakes yours is to add something on top. It could be sprinkles, a cookie, graham cracker, chocolate, fruit, anything. Stick blueberries into the icing on a blueberry cupcake, sprinkle a s’mores cupcake with graham cracker crumbs, drizzle caramel over a dulce de leche cupcake, or add sprinkles for a little extra fun.

This is easy because it doesn’t require any extra planning. You can decide to decorate half the cupcakes one way and the other half another way. You can let your guests decorate their own (a big hit when there are kids involved). You can add anything you want and aren’t limited by what will survive the oven.

Plus, how fun is that? I mean really, who wants a plain chocolate cupcake when you can have a chocolate cupcake drizzled with extra chocolate and a peanut butter cup wedge on top? Well, okay, I’d eat them all, but you know what I’m saying!

Mix It In

Another simple way to customize your cupcakes is to put a surprise inside. I like doing this when I want people to think they’re just getting a regular old cupcake. It adds something special to it that surprises you on your first bite. Obviously, this is going into the oven so you might have to be careful. Keep an eye on your cupcakes to make sure whatever you add works well.

There are tons of things you can put in a cupcake. Some work better than others so you might want to test out a pan before you commit to the whole batch. Then again, how can you go wrong with cupcakes? Add candy cane pieces (small, like a crushed candy cane) in chocolate cupcakes for a holiday treat. Put an Oreo on the bottom of chocolate or vanilla cupcakes for a crunchy flavor burst (can do the same with Nilla Wafers, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chip cookies – experiment with it!). My kids love adding sprinkles to vanilla cupcake batter. I’m partial to peanut butter cups in a chocolate cupcake. And of course, you can do fruit or coffee or mint, really, you can have a lot of fun creating your very own favorite cupcake!

Paint It On

I’m a fan of buttercream frosting. I could eat it with a spoon (and have)! If you baked a raspberry lemonade cupcake, you might want something other than a standard vanilla icing though. Icing isn’t quite as easy to change as cake, though. It takes a little more finessing and planning ahead, because you might need something else from the store. Changing the color is easy, but changing the flavor isn’t.

I highly recommend looking up a recipe if you want a different icing flavor, but don’t let that stop you from experimenting! For the most part, you can start with a typical buttercream icing, then adjust it slightly to get the flavor you want.

For strawberry icing, it can be as simple as adding strawberry syrup and using strawberry milk. For peanut butter icing, add peanut butter to the mix. Mocha icing requires chocolate and instant espresso. Remember that you want bake your icing so anything you use needs to be edible as is.

Eat Up!

Now I’m starving and really want cupcakes! I see a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter icing and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top in my future. Or maybe Oreo on the bottom chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and Oreo crumbles on top. Ooh, no. I want a s’mores cupcake – graham cracker crumbs on the bottom, chocolate cupcake, and marshmallow buttercream icing with a drizzle of chocolate and graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on top. Yeah, that’s the one!

Which cupcake are you going to try first?

Men had only ever brought me trouble. Cupcakes were so much better. But he made it hard to choose. The yummy man or the scrumptious cupcake? I wasn’t sure anymore. 

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Scratch & Sniff

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You know me. I’ve already confessed that I don’t like to bake from scratch. I use a boxed mix most of the time. But once in a while, there’s a cake that I know has to be done from scratch. There’s something different, something special, about that one and you can’t use a mix. You have to do it the real way. With containers all over the kitchen, dirty dishes for days, and ingredients that you’ll use a tiny bit of then wonder what in the world you’re going to do with the rest.

It’s worth it, though.

Every year for Thanksgiving or Christmas (whatever holiday we spend with my family), red velvet cupcakes are on the menu. It’s my hubby’s favorite cake, so it’s something I make a couple times each year most years. The absolute best red velvet I’ve ever tasted is Paula Deen’s red velvet. If you’ve never tried it, trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

The other cakes I’ve made from scratch have been cake, not cupcakes. Sour cream pound cake and caramel cake. Even though they weren’t cupcakes, they were still delicious.

You know what I love about a cake from scratch?

The smell.

Now don’t get me wrong. A cake from the box smells good too, but there’s something different about a cake that took me an extended period of time to create. I’m sure it’s psychological, but the effort I put into it always makes me feel accomplished. It smells better, tastes better, feels better. The smiles on the faces of my family and friends always seem bigger and brighter.

People say the secret ingredient is love. I think that’s in everything we make. Whether we bake from scratch or mix it up with a box, we put love into everything we make. As long as we pour a little piece of our own heart into the batter, I think we’re in good shape.

What’s your secret ingredient?

I kept it locked up tight. I didn’t need it. It did its job for me, keeping me going. But then I met him, and everything changed. It was like it had a whole new purpose. And all of a sudden, my heart was beating just for him. 

Available now for FREE!

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New & Delicious

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Who doesn’t love cupcakes? I mean, really. Unless there’s a medical reason, I don’t know anyone who won’t grab a cupcake and happily eat it when there’s one around. If you read my last post, to kick off Cupcake Week, then you know I’m a fan of using a boxed cake mix for my cupcakes. Yeah, I know from scratch is better, but, as my kids will tell you, I’m lazy. I like something quick that only requires a little effort to pull together.

But sometimes I want something a little different.

I’ll confess, my favorite cupcakes are chocolate with vanilla buttercream frosting. It’s simple and classic and so very delicious. I think if I had them more, I’d be a fan of Oreo or s’mores or chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. Cookie dough. Ooh, Twix. No, no! Cream cheese brownie cupcakes!

I might have a problem.

Here’s the thing… There aren’t boxes out there for every cupcake flavor you can imagine. If you like to experiment, you might be lightyears ahead of me on this adventure, but I don’t take the time to bake that much. I think I need to change that!

If you’re like me and you like to modify the boxed cake mix to create your own new & delicious cupcake flavor, it’s just as easy as the boxed mix. These are my favorites…

Vanilla Boxed Cake

I never use yellow cake, but I think that’s a personal preference. If I use food coloring, the yellow cakes never look right, so I stick with vanilla or white cake mix as my go-to mixes. I prepare the cake mix like we talked about on Monday, then I make a few changes to fit what I want my cupcakes to taste like.

Fruit is easy to add to vanilla cake mix because the flavors won’t compete. My daughter loves strawberry and blueberry. Dice up strawberries and add them to the batter, or add whole blueberries. You can add almost any fruit to a cake mix. Even better, save some to put on top!

Chocolate chips are simple and delicious. My husband likes chocolate, but he prefers vanilla, so a chocolate chip cupcake works well for him. Other options would be butterscotch chips (yum!), peanut butter, white chocolate, or nuts. Any of them will work really well in a vanilla cupcake and give you a little surprise when you bite in. My kids love adding sprinkles to the batter!

Changing the flavor of the vanilla cupcake is easy to do and can really make your cupcakes stand out. The vanilla is a good base for a lot of other flavors. Add maple or almond extract to add those flavors in a subtle way. Use lemon extract and zest or orange or lime to make it stand out more. Add pumpkin pie spices for a fall flavor or a different pudding mix to bring things to a whole new level. Think about what your icing is going to be and compliment the flavors. You’ll have everyone asking how you made it!

Chocolate Boxed Cake

I love chocolate. There’s nothing wrong with chocolate in my opinion, but I know there are times when it’s nice to change things up a bit!

You really can’t change the flavor of chocolate, but you can bump it up. Add chocolate chips to make it even sweeter. Throw in some dark chocolate chunks for a rich surprise or white chocolate chips for a visual delight. You can even throw in colored chocolate wafers or shavings, but that’ll end up more for the visual effect than the flavor. One thing I’ve read, but haven’t tried, is to add pop (or soda as some of you say) to the batter. Chocolate root beer float? How about a chocolate cherry coke?

Adding things to the batter can make chocolate that much better. A dollop of a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, and an egg on top (before baking) will settle in the middle for a rich surprise. You can do the same with marshmallows or a mixture of marshmallow fluff and vanilla icing. Crumble up cookie pieces or candy bars and add that to the mix. Really, the possibilities are only limited by your taste buds and imagination!

Make It New & Delicious

There are options out there. You can fall down a rabbit hole of possibilities if you search Pinterest. You might be starving by the time you start baking! People are so incredibly creative out there. I like to experiment a little bit, and I think today might be a good day to do that. I’m heading to the store. I’ll see what I can find!

How are you going to change your basic boxed cake mix?

I didn’t have time for a guy. I was already overwhelmed by my job and the coworker from hell. But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He kept asking me out until I had no choice but to say yes. 

Available now for FREE!

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Quick & Yummy

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It’s cupcake week around here! Chubby & Charming is free and Lush & Lovely is only $0.99 for the week, so we’re celebrating with a virtual cupcake party! First up, Quick & Yummy Cupcakes!

I might have a little problem with sugar. Like, I can’t get enough kind of a problem. I love cupcakes, and pretty much every other sweet, but there’s just something special about cupcakes.

For my kids’ birthday party, which is coming up, I always make cupcakes. They’re easy to grab and wander around with, you don’t need anything special (you know, like forks), and they’re delicious!

But I don’t like to take forever. As much as I love to bake, I’m not a stand over the stove and melt chocolate for the batter kind of mom. I like something I can mix up and stick in the oven. The problem is the boxed cake mixes don’t always do it for me. So I make a few changes to improve them and have everyone asking for my recipe! They really are that good!

Quick & Yummy Cupcakes

You will need:

One boxed cake mix, whatever flavor you like. Since we always have tons of people, I usually do a chocolate, a vanilla, and sometimes a strawberry (my daughter’s favorite).
Jell-O pudding instant mix that’s the same flavor as your cupcake mix (chocolate for chocolate, strawberry for strawberry, etc.). You will not prepare this so you don’t need anything special.
Look at the directions on the back. They always call for water, eggs, and sometimes oil. Make sure you have all of that, plus milk and butter.

When you’re ready to bake, mix the dry ingredients together – the cake mix and the Jell-O pudding mix. After they’re mixed together well, you’ll add in your wet ingredients.

Substitute milk for the water the recipe calls for. Add one extra egg. Melt butter and substitute it for half of the required oil (some things online say to double the butter, but I never do that).

When everything is well mixed, spoon batter into cupcake wrappers (I fill them about 3/4 of the way). Bake according to the box but check the biggest ones with a toothpick before taking them out of the oven. Allow to cool, then comes the fun part!

Frosting!

1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk (start with that and add more if necessary)
To make chocolate: add 3 tbsp of cocoa and 1 tbsp oil

Mix ingredients together until well blended. If you need more milk, add very slowly (1 tsp at a time).

Of course you have to try the frosting to make sure it’s good, so grab a spoonful and test it out! (If it’s part of the directions you have to do it, right?)

Frost your cupcakes and enjoy!

What’s your favorite kind of cupcake?

Everything was perfect until he walked into my life. I had my friends, my work, cupcakes. I didn’t need a man. But he was the kind of man you couldn’t ignore, the kind of man who stepped into your mind and refused to walk away. Too bad he walked into my heart, too. 

Available now for FREE!

Ebook on Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | B&N | Google Play | Smashwords 

Writing Tips: Creating Conflict

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For you aspiring authors out there, I wanted to give you another quick lesson on making your own go at being a writer. Read on for some advice on conflict!

In every story, there’s always conflict. Sometimes it’s big and in your face, like a bad guy chasing someone with a knife. Other times it’s subtle and a little bit hidden, like a person who thinks they know what they want but really has no clue.

The best stories have a little of both.

It’s been three years since Chubby & Charming came out. If you haven’t read it yet, grab it now for free so you can understand everything I’m talking about here. I like examples, and yes, there are spoilers here.

Mandy tells herself she’s happy. That she doesn’t need a relationship to make her happy. We don’t need men, we have each other. She does believe her words, but she wants a relationship. There’s that distinction. She doesn’t need it, but she wants it. She convinces herself that because she doesn’t need a relationship that she doesn’t want one either. There’s your subtle conflict.

When Mandy meets Xander, her past experiences with attractive men bring in a new conflict. She thinks he’s going to dismiss her since she’s not model thin so she dismisses him first. She pushes him away before he has a chance to push her away. That’s a little more obvious of a conflict.

Layering in both elements adds depth to the story. If Mandy just convinced herself not to go for a relationship, or just had issues with cute men, she could get over them and move on. But having both, she’s fighting herself every time she turns around.

Of course, in the Big & Beautiful series, friends also add an element of conflict. Her friends are amazing, but they don’t always fit right in to what Mandy wants and needs. Claire has even more distrust of attractive men than Mandy does and warns her. Sam and Addi are a little more supportive, but at the end, when Mandy runs, none of them are willing to give Xander the benefit of the doubt until he shows up at Mandy’s house.

Xander’s conflicts are a lot more subtle in this story since we aren’t in his point of view. He has never felt like he truly connected with anyone he’s dated. He’s always thought there was something missing. That’s why he goes after Mandy. She’s the first woman he instantly had a spark with. He doesn’t give up because he wants to keep that feeling alive. He’s willing to do anything for her, but he needs to prove that since she’s timid.

Adding in conflict in romance can be tricky, depending on what kind of romance you write. Since this is a contemporary story, a lot of the conflict is internal, meaning within the character. I like to add in external conflict, like Mandy faces with her job and her coworker, Melody. It’s a somewhat minor subplot, but it works to show who Mandy is and push her to stand up for herself.

All conflict needs to be resolved. Anything you throw at your characters, you have to be able to fix it. With Mandy, her external conflict was partly resolved by her internal conflict. Being with Xander for a few months, she believed in him and how he felt. She convinced herself that he was being truthful about how much he cared about her. It gave her confidence she didn’t realize she was missing and the strength to stand up for herself when Melody accused her of threatening her. She didn’t need Xander, but having him changed her. Even when she thought he was gone.

Which brings me back to the internal conflict. She didn’t want him. She didn’t need him. But once she had him, she knew her life wouldn’t be the same without him in it. She couldn’t be with someone who would laugh at her, but she loved him. It was too late. He was the guy she thought he’d be, but she was blown away. Months of dating didn’t reveal his true nature, and Mandy was more hurt than she ever expected.

Of course, she was wrong when it came to who Xander really was. Claire convinced her to give him another shot, and she learned the truth. Conflict resolved.

Obviously, it’s a lot more complicated when you’re threading it into a story, but those are the high points. If you want a really good reference that goes into a lot of detail about conflict, I highly recommend Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon. It’s a great book to read to really understand how the three fit together and how to make it work in your story.

This is basically a new column for me on this blog. I want to ask if you have any questions, about writing or anything else. If you do, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy writing your conflict!

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#FiveOnFriday with Me!

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My guest author for today wasn’t able to provide a post, but it works out for me because I wanted to share something with you!

I’ve teamed up with 55+ fantastic medium to steamy small town contemporary romance authors to give away a huge collection of novels to 2 lucky winners, PLUS a Kindle Fire to the Grand Prize winner!  You can win my novel, Plump & Pretty, plus books from authors like Marie Force and Carly Phillips! 

Enter the giveaway by clicking here: bit.ly/small-town-rom-2

Good luck, and enjoy!

But it is Five On Friday, so I wanted to share a few things about the Big & Beautiful series that you might not know!

  1. I wrote the first eight books out of order. Plump & Pretty was actually the fourth book I wrote, even though it falls sixth in the series. Shapely & Stunning was eighth. The first book I wrote was Chubby & Charming though.
  2. I had no idea Tara and Olivia knew each other until I wrote the epilogue for Puffy & Precious. On top of that, I didn’t know why they weren’t friends anymore until I wrote about it in Round & Ravishing.
  3. When I first envisioned Abby, she was a skinny woman, and she was not going to end up as one of the friends with a book. By the time I revised Fluffy & Fabulous, I liked Abby enough that I wanted to give her a story of her own.
  4. I didn’t know Olivia’s full story until I started writing Curvaceous & Captivating. I knew she was divorced, but I wasn’t sure why her ex left.
  5. My two favorite couples have been Carrie and Drew, from Husky & Hot, and Olivia and Ethan, from Curvaceous & Captivating. They were the two that extracted the most emotion for me.

If you haven’t checked out the series yet, Chubby & Charming is free everywhere! And don’t forget to enter the contest to win one of two copies of Plump & Pretty, plus over 55 books from other steamy, small town contemporary authors.

I’m still celebrating release week today. Stop by and say hi to me and Ann Everett!

Have a great Friday!

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