4th of July

You are probably expecting to see a post along the lines of red, white and blue, or stars and fireworks, or maybe even something with strawberries and blueberries - that's not what you'll find in this post though, sorry to disappoint.

Life around here has been a little bit crazy around here, so this past weekend I decided it was time to try out a few ideas I've had floating around in my brain for awhile now.  A few weeks ago I took a trip to Lansing and on the way home ran across a small cake supply store, it was located in a small town right on their quant little main street.  Needless to say I completely lost track of time!  I stocked up on some adorable cupcake liners, some powdered fondant (I've been wanting to try some new kinds, so I was happy with that find), and I also found some flavoring oils that I thought would be great to try out!

So, Saturday afternoon I whipped out the mixer and powdered sugar and decided it was time to test out some new flavors of frosting

As you can tell, these were the flavors I tested out.  I combined the rum and coconut to created a delicious coconut rum buttercream that gave me a great idea for another cupcake I can't wait to try out!  The lemon was pretty decent (my dad was a big fan of that one), the cotton candy was surprisingly amazing and the bubble gum...well...kids might really enjoy it, but not me.

I didn't want to spend my time in the kitchen working on mixing up a cake, so I cheated and just used a box that made 12 cupcakes

So, I made 12 mini cupcakes and added some of my new frostings to them to have a taste testing party, some were good and worked...while others didn't.  But you live & learn.

Bubble Gum (least favorite):

 Lemon (this one came in 2nd for me):

Cotton Candy (tied for 1st):

Coconut Rum (also tied for 1st):

I think that the cotton candy and coconut rum are both very delicious, but they would be even better on a different kind of cake, as these were just plain white.

My dog also had a birthday this weekend and he turned 2! Yay!  He absolutely loves cupcakes, if he weighed more than 10 pounds he might try to attack and take you down in order to get a cupcake from you. Seriously.  So, for his birthday we decided to give him his own little mini cupcake!  He wasn't quite sure what to do when we gave him permission to actually eat it! Too funny!

Hope everyone had a safe & enjoyable 4th of July weekend!

Cupcakes and knitting - oh my!

  It's been awhile since I have had anything of interest to blog about, but that all changed Saturday afternoon when I got a phone calling asking for two dozen cupcakes for the following day.  My heart did that sort of pitter-patter it does whenever I'm faced with the opportunity to bake and decorate cupcakes, my imagination suddenly shot into overdrive thinking of all of the cake and frosting flavors I could combine! Vanilla with chocolate.  Chocolate with vanilla. Chocolate with chocolate. Vanilla with vanilla. Boston creme. Chocolate chip with peanut butter. Red velvet with cream cheese. Coconut with espresso! Oh the possibilities!
  I brought myself back down to earth and started to think (instead of daydream), these precious cupcakes were headed to a family with small children - better keep it pretty simple.  I finally settled with making one dozen chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate frosting, one dozen chocolate chip mini cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and one dozen vegan chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.  I figured that since the family has a little girl of about 3, sprinkles would be the perfect touch.

Chocolate chip with chocolate buttercream

Mini chocolate chip with vanilla buttercream

Vegan chocolate with vanilla buttercream

  This post isn't quite done yet though!  I spent a few hours last week searching through Ravelry (which happens to be one of my personal favorite websites) for a new knitting pattern when I stumbled across this adorable slouchy hat pattern.  I have been working mainly on socks lately and I wanted to start a new, fast, easy project - and this was it!  I grabbed my size 10 DBNs, a ball of purple yarn and set to work.  Two days later I had this adorable slouchy hat and was impressed with how fast it went.  

Sometimes you just need to bake

  Today when I woke up I realized I could do whatever I wanted to do - no school, no plans and no work!  So what did I decide to do?  You guessed it, bake!

  I decided to make a blueberry-peach pie, and half-way through making it I realized that I had chocolate soy milk which resulted in making some vegan chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  Half way through making these yummy cupcakes I realized that I still had a box of pudding that would be pretty tasty on this warm sunny day.

 By 1:30 this afternoon I had gone for a 2 mile walk, made a pie, made cupcakes & frosting, a box of pudding, and started knitting a sock while sitting in the sun (which resulted in very sunburned shoulders).  I would say I had a very productive morning!

Chick Pops!

  

  I recently got the book Cake Pops by Bakerella and have been waiting for a chance to make some of these adorable creations.  I kept looking at the book (and sometimes drooling) over them, but I had more pressing things to attended to....like selling my first cake, which I have to admit was rather exciting (and a huge hit too)!

  Last night I decided it was time.  With Easter being this Sunday, I decided to make the adorable little chicks.  I heated up the oven and started mixing all of my ingredients together (love that you can just use a box mix!) with great anticipation, the only problem with this was that I had to wait a half hour for the cake to bake and then I had to wait [im]patiently while it was cool before I could crumble it all up.  I still had some leftover frosting from making the birthday cake last weekend, unfortunately it was pink. Well...maybe it was fortunate because my cake balls turned from white to a cherry pink color, which is very spring-y in my opinion (and with the forecast calling for snow tonight and tomorrow I'm doing everything possible to think spring and will the snow away).  After I mixed the frosting in the with the cake crumbles I rolled the cake into little balls and set on a baking sheet covered with wax paper to leave in the fridge overnight.

  This afternoon I pulled my cake balls out of the fridge and stuck my yellow candy melts in the microwave:

I really do love the fact that when you bite into one of these little guys you are greeted with very moist and delicious cake.

  My little chicks were supposed to have yellow wings, but I didn't have the proper sprinkles to make them look decent, so I opted out of the whole wing idea.  I used orange confetti and orange wildflower sprinkles for the beak and feet as well as black decorating gel to make the eyes.  They were so much fun to make, and not nearly as time consuming as I thought, and they were a huge hit with my roommates!

Ta-da!

Happy Easter!

A Flock of Angry Birds

One of my best friends (and roommate) had a birthday this week, and her request for her birthday cupcakes were Angry Birds.  Yes, Angry Birds as in the game that everyone is obsessed with.  So of course, I accepted the challenge and tried out my hand at creating birds from cupcakes!

I made up some standard chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting (which I separated and added coloring gel to make red, green, blue and yellow).  I used marshmallows for the eyes (mini chocolate chips for the centers), black licorice for the eyebrows, orange slices for the beak, and red sprinkles for some added texture to make it look like feathers.

For the pig, I cut a marshmallow in half and covered with frosting for the snout.  You could also put green jelly beans on for ears.

I made the yellow and blue birds as well.  Enjoy!

St. Patricks Day!

What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish? (Finish reading this post and you'll get the answer!)


So. St. Pattys Day 2011 has come and gone, how did I celebrate?
Cupcakes of course!


I found a recipe for Guiness chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting.  The chocolate and the Guiness went well together, they were very moist and very delicious.  

I cut the middles out to add a chocolate ganache and found myself eating all of the crumbs!  I added one tablespoon too much of the Bailey's for my liking, but it was still wonderful and was the perfect pair for the cupcake!  I didn't end up using all of the powdered sugar in the frosting, it got too thick so I only used about three cups.

Here's the cupcakes!
Source: Smitten Kitchen

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling 

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work) (I used a knife and just made a small hole in the cupcake, they were so moist it was very easy.) 

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes. 

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)

Answer:
 Paddy O'Furniture 

Baby Socks!

 

 While I was wandering through a craft store, I stumbled upon the book Knits For The Modern Baby and found the most adorable baby socks in the book.  I had never made a pair of socks before, but I was up for the challenge of making these!

I used the Lions Brand Cotton-Ease for the cuff, heel and toe - makes them a little more durable. For the rest of the sock I used Moda Dea Sassy Stripes (which I'm pretty sure is discontinued and very hard to find, but it's 100% acrylic, self-stripping and I love it), for this particular sock I used "Vintage" but I also have "Spring" which is equally cute.

I was amazed at how fast one of these little socks can go - I even got one done in an afternoon once!  The heel scared me when I got to that section on the first sock, but I figured it out without any major hiccups thankfully!

 I managed to find a picture of the two different socks I've made so far:

The sock on the right was made with the "Spring" yarn and one on the left was made with the "Vintage" yarn!