In order to get the "swirl" of icing, I filled the pastry bag with half orange on the left and half yellow on the right and squeezed away!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Done? Really? Maybe?
In order to get the "swirl" of icing, I filled the pastry bag with half orange on the left and half yellow on the right and squeezed away!
Devil Pops
No this has nothing to do with the devils being in the playoffs, I actually root for the flyers. Anywho, I made cake pops for mother's day. OMG. They took forever. After work Thursday baking a cake, letting it cool, mashing it into crumbs, adding icing and rolling perfectly identical size balls. I think I went to bed at 1AM. Legit.
I thought this was the worst of it, but no. Friday night I simply had to dip them in chocolate. Simply my tushy! Cake balls have been in the fridge for a solid day at this point (only really need a few hours, but this girl works full time). You melt chocolate, dip the stick in chocolate, then put the stick into the ball, dip ball in chocolate, then put it in a block of Styrofoam to dry. Sounds simple enough. Getting the chocolate to melt correctly and put a smooth coat on the ball is an art. An art I'm not good at. Don't forget to put on any decorations before they dry, they do dry quickly.
Best of luck! Actually best of luck limiting your fowl language while making these! Hah.
I thought this was the worst of it, but no. Friday night I simply had to dip them in chocolate. Simply my tushy! Cake balls have been in the fridge for a solid day at this point (only really need a few hours, but this girl works full time). You melt chocolate, dip the stick in chocolate, then put the stick into the ball, dip ball in chocolate, then put it in a block of Styrofoam to dry. Sounds simple enough. Getting the chocolate to melt correctly and put a smooth coat on the ball is an art. An art I'm not good at. Don't forget to put on any decorations before they dry, they do dry quickly.
Best of luck! Actually best of luck limiting your fowl language while making these! Hah.
Caramel Spiced Apple Cupcakes
I went rooting for a recipe, and combined a few different recipes to make these cupcakes.
What you'll need:
Box of Spice Cake Mix (and associated oil, eggs, water)
1 apple
Caramel Sauce (see recipe below)
Butter
Powdered Sugar
Prepare the spice cake mix according to the box. Dice up the apple and add it to the batter. Bake as directed.
2 Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.
3 As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
4 Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.
5 Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.
Yield: Makes a little over one cup of sauce.
Pipe onto cupcakes, drizzle with extra caramel. Enjoy!
What you'll need:
Box of Spice Cake Mix (and associated oil, eggs, water)
1 apple
Caramel Sauce (see recipe below)
Butter
Powdered Sugar
Cupcakes
Prepare the spice cake mix according to the box. Dice up the apple and add it to the batter. Bake as directed.
Homemade Caramel Sauce.
(taken from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramel_sauce/)Ingredients
- 1 cup (210 g) of sugar
- 6 Tbsp (85 g) butter
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
Method
1 First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water. 2 Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.
3 As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
4 Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.
5 Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.
Yield: Makes a little over one cup of sauce.
Caramel Buttercream
- 1 recipe caramel sauce (I used a little over half of what I made above), cooled
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 5-6 cups confectioners’ sugar
Pipe onto cupcakes, drizzle with extra caramel. Enjoy!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Coworker Bridal / Baby Shower
Not a knocked up wedding like your thinking! Two wonderful chikas from my office were celebrating special occasions, one getting married, the other having a baby. I stepped in to make a special cake.
It was a 1/2 vanilla, 1/2 chocolate cake (one layer each) cake with vanilla buttercream.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Football Whoopie Pies
Continuing down the line of my ridiculously late blog posts....Superbowl Football Whoopie Pies!
I stole the recipe from Picture the Recipe
These were an absolute touch down with my crowd of friends. The hardest part is trying to get them evenly sized so they match up well after their cooked. I must say, these take much more time than cupcakes - so be prepared!
I stole the recipe from Picture the Recipe
Anniversary Cupcakes
Tiramisu, if I do...
Wow, I couldn't be more behind in logging my baking adventures. Going back to new years eve, I decided to throw together a tiramisu for the festivities. It came out pretty well both times I've made this recently. I recommend using a decent amount of the coffee and liquor on the lady fingers to make sure they are nice an soaked. I also used a coffee flavored mascarpone.
I followed this recipe.
I followed this recipe.
Grandma got run over by a super cute reindeer!
I wanted to make a cute Christmas treat for my sister in laws kids for Christmas Eve dinner. My husband hates full size cupcakes, says they’re too much and no one wants a full cupcake, um call me a fat ass, but a large cupcake is perfect in my book.
I decided on vanilla minis with vanilla icing. For the reindeer Christmas decoration I used a half a nutter butter, some pretzels for antlers, mini chocolate chips for eyes and a red M&M for a nose. They did come out cute, but they were uber time consuming and hard to get the pretzels to stick in the cookies. I actually had to widdle down the ends of the pretzels to make them about half their width and flat. I did about a dozen reindeer then had given up.
With the rest of the bazillion minis, I iced them with the vanilla icing then mixed up the remaining icing as red and green. We had another couple over for some wine that night and I pulled out the icing bags and cupcakes and it became a fun adult project. You could totally tell which one’s the boys did! I would definitely recommend this for your next girls night in.
This is a picture of the cupcake I used for inspiration:
I decided on vanilla minis with vanilla icing. For the reindeer Christmas decoration I used a half a nutter butter, some pretzels for antlers, mini chocolate chips for eyes and a red M&M for a nose. They did come out cute, but they were uber time consuming and hard to get the pretzels to stick in the cookies. I actually had to widdle down the ends of the pretzels to make them about half their width and flat. I did about a dozen reindeer then had given up.
With the rest of the bazillion minis, I iced them with the vanilla icing then mixed up the remaining icing as red and green. We had another couple over for some wine that night and I pulled out the icing bags and cupcakes and it became a fun adult project. You could totally tell which one’s the boys did! I would definitely recommend this for your next girls night in.
This is a picture of the cupcake I used for inspiration:
Friday, February 10, 2012
Win Some, Lose Some
Sometimes you win, other times you have three refusals and you’re disqualified. We had a gingerbread contest at work this past Christmas season. Yes that’s how far behind I am, don’t rub it in. I decided since I’m a horseback rider and a baker, I should make a Trojan horse gingerbread house. Lofty goal right?
I printed out a kids paper template for making a Trojan horse. Found here! I used my favorite gingerbread recipe. Everything was going soooo smooth. The dough was perfect. I was easily able to replicate the template into gingerbread, the house smelled wonderful.
What I didn’t realize is that I totally rolled the gingerbread too thin. Now what is thin gingerbread prone to doing…….cracking and breaking. Ugh.
While assembling my beautiful creature I cracked off a leg on one side and a tail on the other. I was able to get them glued on with royal icing and decorate the beast. It was actually really cute when I finished. It even rolled along on its wheels. Success!
Then I realized I had to get this uber fragile item into work. I disassembled and in the process the leg and tail fell off again. Ugh. I carefully put it all onto cookie sheets and drove it into work. Slightly ashamed, I put it together on the presentation table, glued back on the leg and tail and it was standing when I left. I decided to leave no reference to myself in case it fell apart.
The gingerbread houses were on display for a week. By late afternoon of day one, the tail and leg had fallen off again, therefore causing a severe tilt and undue stress on other legs (laminitis dare I say – it’s a horse person joke). By day 2 it was a gingerbread heap. By day four they announced the winners, and mine had a post it note next to it saying – we have no information on this entry. Um FAIL.
I may have failed miserably, but I learned a few things in the process – thicker gingerbread is key and don’t assemble until your at work!!!!
I printed out a kids paper template for making a Trojan horse. Found here! I used my favorite gingerbread recipe. Everything was going soooo smooth. The dough was perfect. I was easily able to replicate the template into gingerbread, the house smelled wonderful.
What I didn’t realize is that I totally rolled the gingerbread too thin. Now what is thin gingerbread prone to doing…….cracking and breaking. Ugh.
While assembling my beautiful creature I cracked off a leg on one side and a tail on the other. I was able to get them glued on with royal icing and decorate the beast. It was actually really cute when I finished. It even rolled along on its wheels. Success!
Then I realized I had to get this uber fragile item into work. I disassembled and in the process the leg and tail fell off again. Ugh. I carefully put it all onto cookie sheets and drove it into work. Slightly ashamed, I put it together on the presentation table, glued back on the leg and tail and it was standing when I left. I decided to leave no reference to myself in case it fell apart.
The gingerbread houses were on display for a week. By late afternoon of day one, the tail and leg had fallen off again, therefore causing a severe tilt and undue stress on other legs (laminitis dare I say – it’s a horse person joke). By day 2 it was a gingerbread heap. By day four they announced the winners, and mine had a post it note next to it saying – we have no information on this entry. Um FAIL.
I may have failed miserably, but I learned a few things in the process – thicker gingerbread is key and don’t assemble until your at work!!!!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Toad in the Hole
Because as my friend calls them "Egg in the hole in the middle" just isn't as cool. Whenever I would spend the night at my grandmother's she'd make me this breakfast treat. Its not exactly baking, but damn they make for a perfect hangover cure! [Add advil and diet ginger ale for full relief].
In Grandmom's tradition I make these whenever friends are sleeping over and certainly for girls' weekend at the shore each summer.
In Grandmom's tradition I make these whenever friends are sleeping over and certainly for girls' weekend at the shore each summer. To make a proper Toad in the Hole, take a slice of bread, butter it, then cut a hole in the center, I prefer to use fun cookie cutters. Heat a medium pan with more butter and place the bread in the center. Next, crack and egg in the cut out as shown. You can cook the cut out on the side of the pan (It makes for a great dipping tool into the runny yolk). Flip once and serve. Good luck not breaking your yolks!
Cupcake Class @ Butter Lane
This post is way old, probably because I am WAY behind on my cake blogging. Should I blame work, riding, husband, or just my lazy self? Ha! Anywho.....my friend Kia and I got a groupon for Butter Lane's cupcake class. The groupon was $25. I wouldn't say I necessarily learned anything mind blowing but it was an amazing way to spend the evening with a good friend, and making cupcakes is always fun. Not to mention the perk of gorging myself on Butter Lane cupcakes, I think I ate 3 before I even brought home the dozen I made. OOOps. 
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thanksgiving Treats
We hosted turkey day this year. I wanted to make all mini desserts every year there are so many leftovers and its difficult to split up a whole pie. I settled on mini pumpkin pies, mini apple pies and cinnamon bun turkey cupcakes.
Mini Pumpkin Pies: I followed the recipe from make and takes
This recipe worked out perfect! My only comment would be that I had a lot of extra pumpkin filling.
Mini Apple Pies: I followed the recipe from baking bites
My comment here would be that I WAY over filled the muffin tins (not even using as much as was suggested) and they kind of exploded everywhere and were really hard to get out of the tins. In the future I'd add less apples and seal the tops on better somehow. They were a huge hit though and tasted fantastic!
Cinnamon Bun Turkey Cupcakes:
I'll admit, these are box cinnamon cupcakes with my homemade cream cheese icing. The turkey decoration on top I took from the brown eyed baker
Mini Pumpkin Pies: I followed the recipe from make and takes
This recipe worked out perfect! My only comment would be that I had a lot of extra pumpkin filling.
Mini Apple Pies: I followed the recipe from baking bites
My comment here would be that I WAY over filled the muffin tins (not even using as much as was suggested) and they kind of exploded everywhere and were really hard to get out of the tins. In the future I'd add less apples and seal the tops on better somehow. They were a huge hit though and tasted fantastic!
Cinnamon Bun Turkey Cupcakes:
I'll admit, these are box cinnamon cupcakes with my homemade cream cheese icing. The turkey decoration on top I took from the brown eyed baker
Friday, November 4, 2011
My First Sanctioned Cake
It was quite the hectic night, but I think the cake came out well. I had a riding lesson and got home around 9pm and started baking. My coworker wanted a red velvet cake that was decorated for a princess with blue icing and a tiara.I started out with red velvet cakes in the oven and left them to cool while I made dinner and got my life in order for the next day. Then I made the cream cheese icing and applied the crumb coat. I set the alarm for early the next day to throw on the final coat and decorations.
I used big scallops of icing on the rims and petite white sugar flowers as accents with white sugar crystals.
On top I put pretty pink mums (real of course - how much time do you think I have?) and the tiara.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Kahlua Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
These cupcakes were a tasty experiment. My coworker loves chocolate so I wanted to make something extra chocolate-y. This cupcake is a chocolate cake box mix except I substituted 1/2 cup of water for Kahlua. It makes the batter runny and the cupcakes extra fluffy. Keep an eye on these babies in the oven as they cooked about 4-5 minutes quicker than suggested on the box. The icing is my favorite standard Martha Stewart's Chocolate Ganache Icing. Ping me if you want the recipe. I've never gotten more compliments than when I use this icing! Lastly they are topped with mini chocolate chips!
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