I've Been Slacking

Regrettably I have not been able to participate in a couple of my baking blogs. I didn't do last week's TWD and I won't be able to do this week's TWD either. I have good reason though! I have to pace myself and prepare myself for the mass amounts of cupcakes I will be making this Friday. 400 to be exact. I am totally gonna take pictures, because honestly, I don't even know what 400 cupcakes looks like! Fun stuff.

Additionally, I skipped this month's Daring Bakers. It did not interest me in the least. I would have made something for nothing as neither Glenn nor myself found "Crackers" to be worth spending time and money on. I am all for experimenting and trying new things to expand my repertoire, but crackers seemed a bit silly. That's that. I'll be doing the next challenge regardless though.

Until later, Happy Baking!

It's Like I'm A Real Baker Now!

Don't you just love those plastic cupcake boxes? I was telling Glenn that putting my cupcakes in those boxes made me feel like a REAL baker. He just said to me "Love, you already are a real baker." How sweet, but then I added in that a real baker gets paid. I found those boxes at the nearby Wholesale Bakery store that I had no idea existed. It won't be long before I return to that glorious place.

After the successes of Cupcake Wednesdays at work, I have been asked to make cupcakes for the Homecoming Dance. How AWESOME is that?!?!?! 400 cupcakes to be exact. Honestly, I have no idea how I will pull it off. I have a grand total of 3 standard 12 cup muffin pans and one oven. Thankfully the cafeteria manager at school is willing to help me out by letting me use the school kitchen after hours. I can't really refuse an offer to make a couple hundred bucks and do what I love to do.

Tomorrow is going to be the sampling/tasting day for the seniors to make sure they like my goods. If they do, then I get the greenlight to start preparing myself. If not, well I don't really know. It's nice because they're trying to keep the money within the school if possible as opposed to just doing what they used to do and order from the grocery stores. That is really nice I think. Lucky me, I am the one benefiting from this. I would like to think that everyone else is too, because honestly, I think my cupcakes are way better than store bought.

Today I made 4 different kinds of cupcakes and 2 frostings for the samples. It was definitely a challenge to 1/2 and sometimes 1/4 the recipe, mostly because figuring out what half an egg looks like is definitely its own challenge. I made Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Traditional Yellow with Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream.

I really hope they like my stuff. I was really disappointed in the chocolate cupcakes because they spread out way too much and didn't get a dome top at all. If they want chocolate I will pick a different recipe of mine. In my opinion, the Red Velvet turned out beautifully with perfect domes and everything. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Cupcakes in Arizona

Glenn and I rarely venture into the Scottsdale area mostly because we don't like the people there. There is a reason my mom calls the place "Snotsdale." In any event, we were searching for a new place to eat breakfast before we set out on our trek to find Glenn a new bike and for me to go to the awesome wholesale bakery shop and we found ourselves right in the middle of Scottsdale. After breakfast, Glenn asked me if I wanted to go to Sprinkles since we were actually here, and who knows when we would be back. Well, I can't really turn down cupcakes can I, so we went.

I guess I will never understand all the madness an obsession of this place. It's quite simple inside, which I approve of, but the girls behind the counter are completely clueless if not rude. There is no attempt made to help people or to explain anything, like their idiotic whoever speaks up first gets served first policy. After the man in front of me motioned for me to go ahead, I ordered two cupcakes, Red Velvet and Peanut Butter Chocolate. After waiting 5 minutes, seriously, we were directed to pay $7.02. Ouch.

I had the first cupcake in the car, the Red Velvet and the most irritating thing happened. No, we didn't hit a bump that made my cupcake go flying. However, I did peel off the paper only to have the top of the cupcake fall off. Great, I hate when that happens. Whatever. Flavor-wise, it was decent, but a tad dry and a little dense. The frosting was a huge letdown. My favorite part of Red Velvet is the cream cheese frosting. I'm not sure if they even remembered to put the cream cheese in, it was pretty plain. Plain, but tasty.

The Peanut Butter Chocolate gets a big fat... MEH. The cake was overly dense and had an oddly artificial taste to it. I actually wondered if they used real peanut butter or a flavoring oil or something. Kinda fishy if you ask me. The frosting was a plus though. It was a very complimentary peanut butter fudge flavor that didn't leave a film in my mouth at all.

Sorry Oprah and Paris. These really aren't the best cupcakes. Try Buttercream Cupcakes in Florida or Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica if you want to know what a REAL cupcake tastes like. Don't believe the hype and save your wallet.

Cakespy's "Sweet 100"

I've been seeing that "Omnivore's 100" floating around on various blogs quite often. I contemplated doing one for myself but then realized I am too picky and my list would be boring. However, I found a new 100 list right up my alley. Cakespy has compiled their own list exclusively for those with a sweet tooth. I love this idea. Without further ado, here is Cakespy's "Sweet 100."

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you'd never ever eat.

4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and White Cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (aka Magic Bar or Hello Dolly Bar)
9. Fried Fruit Pies (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with Clotted Cream
13. Bett, Grunt, Slump, Buckle, or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana Pudding with Nilla Wafers
17. Bubble Tea (with tapioca "pearls")
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout Cookies
24. Moon Cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo Bar
29. Baba Au Rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon/Mille-Fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac Biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch Baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey Butter Cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green Tea Cake or Cookies
55. Cupcakes from a Cupcake Shop
56. Creme Brulee
57. Some Sort of Deep Fried Fair Food
58. Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An "Upside Down" Dessert (pineapple upside down cake or tarte tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a Mold
65. Black Forest Cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer Torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat Pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle/ Lobster Tail
76. Pain au Chocolat
77. A Piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow Cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits Fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade Marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or Cake made with Candy Bar Flavors (Snickers Pie, Reeses Pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas Foster or some other Flaming Dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal Crackers
100. Basbousa

Cupcakes in Florida

Apparently whenever we go out of town I now feel the need to visit at least one cupcake shop. I would love to visit more, but we always have such whirlwind vacations that there is never time. Besides, I have to get at least 4 cupcakes to make a good judgement and Glenn never wants them. A girl can only eat so many cupcakes in 3 days.

On this trip to Florida, we visited Buttercream Cupcakes and Coffee. It was a very cute little place in a small strip of similarly sized stores. There is very little room in front of the display case and with 8 people trying to see the cupcakes, it was a bit difficult. I don't mind that though because I really appreciate small independent businesses. Bigger spaces mean bigger costs. Total, we got 6 cupcakes. I chose 4 of them, which I ate all by myself, and they were Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Triple Chocolate and Vanilla Chocolate Chip. My friend Sandra chose Red Velvet and Oreo.

All of the cupcakes were wickedly moist, and that isn't something most bakeries can master, but these were heavenly. The frosting on all of them was light and fluffy and slightly over proportioned to the cake, but that is how I like mine. My favorite would have to be the Red Velvet. With the cake being as moist as it was and the cream cheese frosting perfectly smooth was to die for, how could I say no?

The service there was decent, but it didn't help that the lady in front of us with her son was an idiot. She asked what every single flavor was like. Really? What don't you understand about lime cupcake lady?

Cupcake Wednesday: Vanilla Overload

It is time again to celebrate office birthdays at work, and big surprise! Guess who was asked to make cupcakes...again: Me! I really do love all the attention, I try not to let it go to my head. Since everyone here is useless when it comes to suggestions, I decided to showcase one of my new purchases... Vanilla Bean Paste.

Oh my goodness, that stuff is heavenly! I would like to bathe in it if I could, the scent is just intoxicating. In any event, I decided to adapt a vanilla cupcake recipe to suit my desires. For the frosting I made a delicious cream cheese vanilla bean frosting. It was so good! I made minis for the rest of the staff to pick up, and everyone raved about the frosting. Yeah, it was that good. In any event, enjoy my attempt at rolling the edges of the cupcakes in sprinkles in an effort to add some variety to my decorating "skills." Do be warned however, these are not for the vanilla shy.

This recipe was adapted from one that I found on the Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit called 3 vanilla cupcakes. Here is my version

Intense Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
makes 2 dozen standard cupcakes and 2 dozen mini cupcakes

Cupcakes:
18 T butter at room temperature
2 2/3 C vanilla sugar
3 large eggs
4 C flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/3 C milk
2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 T vanilla bean paste

Frosting
1 C (2sticks) butter, at room temperature
6 oz cream cheese
3 T milk
1 T vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ½ C powdered sugar


1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes

3. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until well combined.

4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl

5. Combine milk with vanilla extract and paste.

6. Alternating between the dry ingredients and the wet, gradually add to the butter mixture starting and ending with the dry.

7. Fill muffin cups roughly 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake cupcakes for about 22-24 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Fixation Friday: Chocolate Glazed Peanut Butter Torte

***Sorry about the lack of photos. Blogger decided to rebel while I was away in FL***

Nothing like peanut buttery chocolate goodness on a Friday! Well, actually, not this Friday for me, because I am in Florida. I made this on Monday and used the wonders of blogger scheduling. Anyway...

This Chocolate Fixation recipe was chosen by Shandy of Pastry Heaven. I was SUPER excited to try this because I adore the combo of PB & C. Who doesn't? I have made many different peanut butter and chocolate pies/tortes so I was excited to try this one that seemed slightly different. As opposed to a typical graham cracker or cookie crust that has been pre-made, this one used a yummy brown sugar/butter/cocoa/flour/peanut combo that I found very tasty. Then it required pre-baking, which none of my other crusts have.

Speaking of baking, I made cookies that same day and turned off the oven when I was done with them. Then I turned the oven on again when I realized that I would be baking this crust. Then I got distracted and decided I was done for the day and turned the oven off. 15 minutes later I changed my fickle mind again and I made the crust and put it in the oven. Did you notice something there? Yeah, I never turned the oven back on again. I didn't notice that until I took the crust out and it wasn't very hot. Whatever, there wasn't anything harmful in the crust so I left it warm and partially baked.

Aside from that, everything else for this was super easy. I actually quartered the recipe because I didn't want to have a ton of leftovers in the fridge while we were gone. The best part was that I got to use my super cute mini springform pan! Hooray! I snapped a few quick pictures and then I took it upstairs so Glenn and I could devour it while we watched the terrifically awful made for TV movie "Category 7 - The End of the World" Don't waste your time in case you were wondering. It's too long to be entertaining.

To check out the recipe, go here. By the way, I give major kudos to all those people who take beautiful pictures of their food. Very rarely am I patient enough and strong willed enough to take the time and get a beautiful picture when delectable food is staring me in the face.