DD, Luvs & Slinkey, thanks for the welcome back. It truly was not a good year for yard sales, which is probably a good thing, since I have little room for anything new. I think the economy has hit everyone hard & people just not buying new & parting with things. Plus, I did not get to that many this summer. Alot of baby items at most of the sales, not too much decor to speak of, but I'll persue my tablescapes with what I had last year & enjoy them over again.

Annie that is a great question. Let me answer your question with a question if you'll indulge me:) What frosting might travel well? I am driving from Northern CA to Washington State and it takes me upwards of 10 hours to get there. So the cupcakes will be riding in the back of my car. If I put them all the way in the back of my Subaru they won't be all hot or anything but I will have the heat on. Maybe I should frost them once I arrive at my destination? I'm not too experienced with frosting I'm afraid. About as experienced as I am with all the other aspects of cake making so in other words, very little. Again thank you. Kate

Like lyfia, I use the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe regularly, I love it. I also like Colleen's chocolate cake. Colleen's Chocolate Cake 1 Cup caster sugar 1 Cup brown sugar 2 eggs 250 g margarine (8 ounces) 2/3 Cup cocoa 1 Cup sour milk* 2 Tsp 1 Cup boiling strong coffee 3 Cup plain flour 2 Tsp baking soda Preheat oven to 170C (325F), grease and line two 20cm (8") round cake tins. Put ingredients into mixing bowl in order listed and turn on mixer. Beat until just combined. Pour into prepared tins and bake 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and leave to stand in tins for 20 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool. Ice with chocolate icing. *If you have not got sour milk, add a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to milk and leave in a warm place.~ NOTES : This is a very rich, almost black chocolate cake which stays moist for days and freezes well. I'm using Colleen's recipe for the wedding this week, making cupcakes stuffed with mini-Snickers for 2 dozen, white cupcakes with a red velvet "heart" for 2 dozen and I'm leaning toward a pumpkin spice cupcake with cinnamon frosting for the last two dozen. We'll see how it goes, LOL. I've also just filled a pastry bag with filling, stuck the tip into the top of a cupcake and squeezed in filling until the sides bulged out a bit. The only problem is that not much filling fits that way, cutting the little cone out of the top leaves room for more filling and frosting covers it up anyway. Chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow cream would be kind of like Whoopie Pies, yummy. I did make the very long and involved Cook's Illustrated filled chocolate cupcake. Good but so not worth the effort, but the filling was easy enough and you could use it: Cupcake Filling 3 tablespoons water 3/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin 4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , softened Pinch salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups marshmallow créme (see note) Combine water and gelatin in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, about 30 seconds. Stir in butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Let mixture cool until just warm to touch, about 5 minutes, then whisk in marshmallow creme until smooth; refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. Cut cone from top of each cupcake and fill cupcakes with 1 tablespoon filling each. Replace tops, frost and let sit 10 minutes. You can do it. Really you can, and they'll be delicious! Annie

Thought that was the point of silicone--no sticking --no oil. That's what I thought as well!! I've used them a few times for making egg 'muffins' to freeze & grab on the way out the door for work. And I've not had to spray for that. Fortunately, they do clean up easily. I detest my metal muffin tins. They're a pain to clean with out cupcake liners.