Adam's Lego Cupcakes

Adam's LEGO cupcakes for his 9th birthday!

I sat down one night and made a ton of little legos out of fondant, which too a long time, not surprisingly, but they turned out really cute!

And I also made the mistake of making IMBC instead of American buttercream to go on top of the cupcakes. Because even though I like the Italian buttercream better, and most people I know like it better, 9 year olds do not.

However, the green/red/yellow/blue swirls were a nice touch, right?

And here is the finished product!

Mini Margarita Cupcakes

When you have to ask your dad to go to the liquor store for you to buy some tequila, you know it's going to be an interesting day.

In my case, I asked him so that I could make mini margarita cupcakes for my friend Savannah's 21st birthday. And of course, for any 21st birthday, they need to be legit margarita cupcakes.

I'm not a big fan of the recipe that I used, which included frozen margarita mix and a splash of tequila; it was good but not quite the right texture for my liking. I'm a lot pickier than all my taste-testers, though, because nobody else complained. The frosting I made, however, was just amazing, if I can say so. I put about two shots worth of tequila and a little bit of lime food coloring in the frosting, and it just looked so good on top of the cupcakes with the green and white sugar "salt" I used to decorate.

I'll keep tweaking that cupcake recipe, though, and since we've still got a ton of tequila (I told dad I didn't need much!) and since my 21st birthday is coming up in five or six weeks, I've got plenty of reasons to keep baking!

Harry Potter Cake & Cupcakes

Well, I am still alive. But (surprise!) I've been super busy at school and haven't really been blogging like I should. Before I left for school, though, I made these adorable cupcakes and a matching Harry Potter cookie cake. Sorry the pictures suck, I took them with my phone, and the REAL pictures are still on my Dad's camera.

(So Katie, whenever you can email those to me, I'd really appreciate it!)

I got a job here in Florida, actually. It's a lot of fun and it's keeping me out of trouble, so I'll have to share some of the fun stories I've got from working in a bakery! :D

Back to Baking: Red Velvet

Gotta love those camera phone pictures!

It's been a long two weeks, guys. Right before I moved back down to school, I made a cookie cake, a dozen cupcakes, and a 50th birthday cake. (The pictures of which are all back in Georgia on my dad's camera. So hopefully he can e-mail them to me at some point, and I can share those mouth-watering photos with you!) And then... nothing.

I'd been so busy preparing for school and working with the campus ministry program that the oven stayed empty and the mixer silent.

But no longer!

I'm not sure if it was because everyone I saw on campus kept asking me when I was going make them a cake, or just because I was going through withdrawals after spending the entire summer eating, sleeping, and breathing cake, but I was going crazy. So yesterday I went grocery shopping and made my favorite red velvet recipe.

(Insert sigh of contentment.)

So I think the world is right again. I might not be up to my elbows in cupcakes and fondant and gumpaste 40 hours a week anymore (sad day!) but as long as I've got time to make some goodies for my friends and coworkers (and hellooooo, bake sales, anyone?!) I think I can survive the semester.

And on a side note, I freaking love these cupcake liners. They are too stinkin' cute!!

More Wilton: Cupcakes!

One of them fell over and got a little squished. Also, I took this picture on the roof of my car in the Michael's parking lot. In case you were wondering. ;)

In my effort to learn everything I possibly can about cake decorating and "the business," I'm still taking my Wilton beginner class. And this week's lesson was... cupcakes!

As well all I know, I do know how to ice a cupcake (I get paid to do it, after all), but this was still a fun and informative class.

For example, I learned how to make rosette's.. who knew they were so easy?! (Not me; I'd never even attempted them before!)

I also learned how to make "pompom" flowers and shaggy mums... certainly interesting little flowers, even if I've never seen their botanical counterparts before in my life.

And then of course, I had the opportunity to go a little crazy with my cupcake decorating. At work, it's just a little swirl, a little flourish, maybe some sprinkles or chocolate drizzle...nothing too 'out there' (which is fine, because those cupcakes are more about taste than customization). However, tonight I did all kinds of weird and crazy swirlies and flowers and designs...and I must say, they look cute! The color scheme I chose turned out nicely too. The blues and yellows complimented each other nicely.

So I'm not saying you should invest $60 (approx. cost of class and supplies) into this class...but if you happen to find yourself enrolled, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun, and isn't that what cake decorating should be all about? ;-)

Katie's Birthday

For my sister Katie's 17th birthday, my mom threw her a surprise party. It was a fun party and I enjoyed helping out (meaning: I enjoyed taking Katie shopping to distract her while the party was set up) and making the birthday cupcakes as well.

Originally, I wanted to make a Dr. Who themed cake, but that will just have to wait until next year. The reason I didn't make it for the surprise party was because I had just gotten home for Spring Break the day before, and I only had one night to make it.

So obviously, I decided on cupcakes! They bake faster, cool faster, and I really think they can be decorated faster, although I did make all these little fondant decorations that took some time.

And it was definitely a little more challenging to make buttercream without my stand mixer. I haven't had to do that in forever!

But it was definitely worth it. Katie and her friends enjoyed the coffee-flavored cupcakes and the fondant flowers and butterflies matching perfectly with the party's garden/patio/coffee shop theme.

Pretty Little Cupcakes

Ta-Da! Cute little chocolate cupcakes! :)

No particular reason for making these, except I haven't baked anything cute in a couple of weeks and Joy was practically begging me to make some cupcakes, and she pointed out that we had a dark chocolate cake mix and fudge icing. As much as I want to test out some scratch recipes, it was 10:00 at night and we didn't have enough ingredients.

If I couldn't make them taste homemade, I could at least make them look amazing. So what do you think?

The little gold heart on top is white chocolate, melted really slowly in the microwave, then piped with a #5 round tip and allowed to dry on wax paper. I just free-handed them, which is why they all looked different. And obviously, I made more than I needed (good plan; I broke 2 of them).

I used a clear extract and gold luster dust to "paint" the little hearts, and then just carefully peeled them off the wax paper and gently placed them on the little cakes. Simple, sweet, and stunning, if I do say so myself.

My only wish is that I had different cupcake liners (shiny gold or plain brown or something along those lines) but Joy thinks no one will notice the wrapper and will just rip right into the cupcake. I guess she has a point, but I'm a perfectionist, as always. :-)

DC Cupcakes

No, I'm not talking about the TV show. Although I guess I sort of am. OK let me rephrase that: I'm not talking about just the TV show. The DC area does have more than one bakery/cupcakery.

The first full day I had in DC, my cousin took us (me and her two adorable kids) to Cakelove at the mall. I tried the peppermint chocolate cupcake there and it was yummy. Cousin Hartley had the vanilla with chocolate icing, and if the icing smeared all over her face was any indication, she loved hers too.

Then, we all went to Georgetown Cupcakes the next day. Yup, the Georgetown Cupcakes of DC Cupcakes fame. And you know what? They were filming when we went, and the guy holding the release forms thought my baby cousin was so cute, they might put her in the show! :) How cute is that? So if you see a sweet little blonde girl on the show, that's my baby cousin! And I'm wearing a Gryffindor scarf, so I might be in the background somewhere too.

Let me tell you about their cupcakes though! The Key Lime was great...I wasn't expecting too much since KL can either be done really, really well or really, really badly. And I've had amazing KL cupcakes before, so I know what I'm talking about. I guess I was just expecting the cupcakes to be over-hyped, but trust me, they are so worth the hype. The chocolate squared cupcake was awesome too, I LOVED the icing on that one. I also tried vanilla birthday cake, gingerbread, red velvet, and white chocolate peppermint. The WCP was really good too, and even had white chocolate chips baked into the cupcake.

The whole shop was cute and definitely matched the cupcakes as far as impressiveness goes. The liners and boxes and stickers and bags all had Georgetown logos or colors on them, and everything was either shiny chrome or pink. The white Christmas tree with pink ornaments (and yes, even some cupcake ornaments) was cute too!

So if you happen to get to Georgetown Cupcakes and you get there early enough in the day so that there's not a line (they open at 10 on Saturdays), definitely pick up some cupcakes.

And for the record, I didn't eat 6 whole cupcakes...I just had a bite or two from each one. And I know you're expecting me to say this, so I will: Don't forget to vote! :)

New York Cupcakes

This past week, my roommate and I had the amazing opportunity to visit New York City. And no vacation is complete without eating some delicious cupcakes!

In this case, we checked out the bakery Crumbs, which is so popular, that they have multiple locations, including the Newark airport, and are even expanding to DC. Joy and I happened to go to the store by the New York Public Library (which was also amazing, but I'm also a book nerd, not just a cupcake nerd!)

It was difficult to decide which cupcake to buy, because they all looked amazing (and huge!!) but we picked Gingerbread because it was festive and not minty (*somebody* doesn't like mint. Weird).

Let me tell you. That gingerbread cupcake was fabulous. It was so rich and decedent with the fluffiest icing, which was sweet but not too sweet. And the cake part? Oh. My. God. So moist. So flavorful. So spicy and gingerbread-y. The only problem was that there was no way I'd be able to eat a whole cupcake all by myself. So it's good that Joy and I split it. They're really messy and crumby too, which is kinda funny, considering the name of the bakery is Crumbs and all! :-)

And Joy's cousin Beth also bought us gingerbread cupcakes from Bella's Bakery in NJ, which were more reasonably sized and had cream cheese icing (Mmm mm!) The cool thing about Bella's, though, is that they  have nut-free cupcakes for kids with allergies and also make gluten free, vegan, and organic treats as well. I love the idea. The bakery was started because the owner's daughter is allergic to nuts and couldn't eat the cupcakes that the other kids would bring to class.

Anyway, if you're in New York or New Jersey, I would gladly recommend both Crumbs and Bella's to you if you're in a cupcake-y mood. As far as any of the other bakeries that are around, I have no doubt that they're delicious, but I just haven't tried them yet. Guess that means I have to go back!

P.S. Please don't forget to vote for me! <3

Cupcakes for Life

Cupcakes for Life is a once-a year-program (on October 9th) to promote awareness for pro-life issues, most specifically abortion. The website asks, "What's worse than being in 3rd grade and not having anyone celebrate your birthday? Not being allowed to be born!"

So the basic premise is that everyone bakes cupcakes, and gives them away for free, in honor and memory of the millions of children who will never be born. I made them with the Imago Dei club on campus and we put pro-life messages on the little cuppies like "YAY BABIES" and "Life is precious."

On Friday during lunch, we gave away 110 cupcakes, along with some flyers, to bring awareness on campus.

And guess what? It was a huge success! And even though 110 cupcake seems like a lot (4 box mixes, 4 cans of icing, a whole dozen eggs...), they were given out very quickly. So next year we gotta kick it up a notch!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and it was a great cause. I'm so proud that I was able to help bring this nationwide program to my little corner of the world. Yay babies!

Peachy Keen

Remember those tragically ugly and sunken cupcakes I made that tasted like muffins?

I went ahead and decorated some of them. I used the term "decorated" very loosely, because to me, decorated means piping and cute colors and sprinkles or fondant, but I literally just slapped some whipping cream icing on them and garnished with a peach.

They might be ugly(ish), and taste like muffins, but these are some pretty awesome cupcakes, and I plan on putting this flavor in my bakery one day for sure. I might just wanna tweak the recipe some more. :)

P.S. You CAN whip cream in the blender!

Sunk!

So attempt #1 at Peach Cupcakes was kinda sorta a delicious failure.

I say failure because a) I added too much leavening (baking powder) because the recipe told me. I was outsmarted by a recipe. Gah!

And b) I sorta burned the top of them. So not only is the middle sunken (thanks to the overleavening), but the outside is really crunchy.

They might have fallen because I kept opening the oven to check on them too. But either way, they taste very yummy and the fresh peaches in them are amazing (I think if the peaches had been a little bit overripe--just a little!--they would be perfect. Also, I cut them up into little cubes, but I think big peach chunks would taste good too).

This is not my last attempt at making peach cupcakes, and I plan on finding a creamy, summery frosting to top them off with, so stay tuned for more!

I Feel Famous!

I was Googling "nerdy cupcakes"-- just for ideas, ya know? I'm a nerd, I love cupcakes (oooooh! More about geeky baking later!!!) and I figured other people did too.

The top result I got was on Geekpadshow.com, which has apparently moved to Geek Culture, but whatever their website is called, they have an article about 20 Nerdy Cupcakes.

And out of nowhere, this picture shows up, with a link to this website (which then finally links here), and I jump up and shout "THOSE ARE MY CUPCAKES!"

Seriously. That just made my day. I know it's kind of random and obscure, but I love my Harry Potter cupcakes, and I love that someone else out there (I'm talking to you, Geoffrey Golden!) loves them too.


So this post is to all those nerds out there with a sweet tooth. I promise you more nerdicious baked good soon!

19 Years and Counting

Happy birthday to me!

Yup, it's official, guys. I'm 19. (even though I've totally been telling people I'm 19 for weeks, it's just true now!)

And to celebrate, I made myself a cake. Well, a cake and cupcakes.

But I have this weird quirk that I had to overcome first: I hate starting a cake. Once I get going, I'm fine, but the beginning is rough. Which is probably why I end up decorating cakes at four in the morning the day before they're due. I am a true procrastinator, and it's an awful trait, but at least I have a good answer when job interviewers ask, "What's one of your weaknesses?" (Because "Tayor Lautner" probably isn't a very professional answer.)

Right. So it's 5:00pm Sunday and I still haven't started yet. Instead I'm half-heartedly looking through photos on Flickr trying to figure out how I'm going to tie my black/white/pink/girly/swirly/flower themed cupcakes into the cake topper, instead of making buttercream and covering my cake in delicious Duff fondant.

But fast-forward a few hours, and I have a fondant-covered cake (that smells amazing), and a handful of fondant daisies. And finally around midnight, I've finished the cake.... well, except for the 19 on top. That was done last-minute as party guests started arriving. And instead of the gumpaste 19 I wanted to do, it's made of fondant & cardboard & toothpicks & electrical tape. And it didn't fall apart until after we served the cake!

So this post is getting extremely long. I guess with age comes a verboseness I wasn't expecting. So how 'bout another picture?

It's not a perfect cake. I'm spoiled because at Bliss there's a fondant sheeter and ribbon cutters that I can use. I had to improvise here. :) I also couldn't get the pink buttercream quite the right color, so I did end up at Bliss this afternoon & bought some Fuschia Americolor gel. But really, other than that, the decorating and construction went smoothly. I was going to put a 3D daisy on top (next to the 19) but it didn't look as good as I thought it would, so Sarah ate it. :)

And the two flavors-- cookies and cream (the pink cupcakes & the top cake), and the mint chocolate (white cupcakes; the b/c was mint too!) tasted amazing! I'm so proud of this cake!

Now that the party's over, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my birthday by watching A Very Potter Sequel and recovering from my sugar-induced coma (which is a metaphor and not an actual diabetes-related medical issue, so no worries there!)

Peanut Butter and Ladies

I could tell you that I'm going to stop quoting Will Ferrell movies, but let's be honest, I'll probably never stop. I can't help it; his movies are so funny.

The other day, my best friend (you know, she had the Jeopardy cake, and told me to make the Hogwarts castle and I'm making her a disaster cake...soon) suggested that we make peanut butter cupcakes. So we did! Best. Idea. Ever.

Nobody ever called me a good food photographer. But
look at that chocolate filling!

She found a recipe for the cupcakes, I found a recipe for the peanut (butter)² cream, and we bought chocolate fudge as the filling because, really, it was a lot less work than making our own chocolate fudge. (Except my little brother didn't like it. But whatever.)

My family was pretty excited that they actually got some cupcakes of their own this time, because the last cupcakes I made were for a party and therefore off-limits. My mom in particular loooooved them. Except for the part where we cooked them a little too long and the bottoms burned. =( Because, seriously, other than that, they were PERFECT.

In Which We Have A Sleepover And Bake Cupcakes

Yesterday was my favorite day of the week. And I don't mean because Friday starts the weekend (for me, my weekends are whenever I get 2 days off from work, like last Tuesday & Wednesday). It was Bliss day!

A good, crazy, hectic time was held by all. I modeled some gumpaste and ate some cookies and was surrounded by the delicious smell of baked goods and buttercream. C'mon, what's not to love?!
Yesterday I worked on a spiral notebook cake with Meagan, another intern. We also iced cupcakes and made cookies and chocolate covered Oreos. Last week, we worked on the tractor trailer cake, and the week before that was the Post-It note retirement cake (check out Bliss' website for the pictures!)

Adam doesn't know how to use a flash!

Then I came home and planned an impromptu sleepover with my best friends and made cupcakes for a party tonight. The party is for our friend Vannida who is going to Stanford next year, so we're celebrating her awesome achievement! :) Cake mix was on sale at Publix! (Yes, I still use cake mix sometimes. So I'm not perfect and I might be occasionally lazy, but the cupcakes will still taste good.) And I picked up my paycheck. Ka-ching!

The cupcakes were chocolate with red & white buttercream-- swirled of course. And for some reason, it is still ridiculously difficult for me to put two different colored icings in the same pastry bag. But I'm working on.

And the gold stars at a nice touch, don't you think?

Icing Mustache!

Lemon, uh, Cupcakes

(Adam, uh, gave me the suggestion for today's title. He wants me to hurry up and post it so he can read it, in case you were wondering!)

Well it may not be the most patriotic batch of cupcakes, but I had been meaning to try this flavor combo, and today's holiday presented the perfect opportunity. Holidays and cupcakes go together like Chinese food and chocolate pudding.

I made blueberry cream cheese icing (it's super sweet, but still yummy) and lemon cupcakes. How summery is that? And I think the liners (from Cake Art) are simply the cutest!

Since I made the cupcakes so long ago and froze them, I was afraid they'd be dry.  Well a whole bunch of lemon-extract-flavored simple syrup prevented that problem. Were they a little too moist? Maybe. But, hey, who wants a dry cupcake?!

They'd be a lot better with fresh blueberries on top, right? We have trees (bushes?) in our backyard but the crop was awful this year. And by awful I mean nonexistent. But you take what you can get sometimes, I suppose. And we had apple pie (at Publix, we made seventy apple pies yesterday alone. What's more American than apple pie on Independence Day?! Except maybe cupcakes and fireworks) and tons of grilled food and guacamole and Varsity leftovers. So we didn't starve without our berries. :)

I hope everyone else had a beautiful and blessed day too!

And check back on Tuesday for a snapshot of what our July 4th looked like four years ago...