tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45706373297055227172024-03-13T14:33:14.587-04:00Baking for PearlsSifting, kneading, and decorating myself back to sanity one recipe at a time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-24458045797816043852013-03-04T15:20:00.000-05:002013-03-04T15:23:16.803-05:00Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<img src="http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/149935_423016697780318_761355549_n.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
I know very little about most sports, and soccer is no exception. The ball moves back and forth really fast, and then at some point a really excited commentator from another country screams GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! as loud as they can so that my dogs go running and my speakers are blown. </div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
And that, ladies and gents, is the extent of my soccer knowledge - This proved slightly problematic when I was asked to make a soccer ball cake and cupcakes for one of the world's cutest little 4 year olds. Anywho, I was game (*snicker* corney joke ftw), so I agreed to the cake. Little did I know that it was going to be a comedy of errors.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
1. I had never baked in a dome pan before so I decided to do a trial run when we visited our friends in Charleston a few weeks ago. The batter seemed to come out fine and I put it in the oven ready to claim victory, but what came out was put fail. It was dense and chewy, and just plain gross.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
2. Round two of trials I did after we got home. The cake baked up better this time, but I still wasn't happy with the texture, so I decided to switch it up and use a different butter cake recipe that I've had success with in the past.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
3. I should know by now to listen to my gut. Like when you put the round bottom pan in your oven and go, "Hm... that looks slightly tilted to the back. I hope that doesn't tip," LISTEN TO YOURSELF. 20 minutes later I start smelling cake... and I shouldn't be able to smell cake yet... and it shouldn't smell like burning... So I frantically run to the kitchen, and this is about what I saw when I opened the oven:</div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.knitbot.org/BlogHTML/2009/LeaningTowerofCake/IMG_2959-blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.knitbot.org/BlogHTML/2009/LeaningTowerofCake/IMG_2959-blog.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is not my cake, but think this - only in vanilla, and 10x worse.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I immediately removed the lower rack that had cake goo all over it, and began the process of scraping the burning cake from the bottom of my oven so that A) the remaining cake would not taste like death, and B) In hopes that I would not set off the smoke alarm for the second time in as many days resulting in a 4 legged yellow thing shaking and stuck to my legs for the next 24 hours. C was also nice enough to remove the batteries from the smoke alarms for me - we're super conscious about fire safety in our house.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With Crisis #1 averted and the cake and cupcakes finally out of the oven, I could decorate everything. Enter problem #2.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I assumed all the shapes were the same - all nice little hexagons that line up evenly and are super simple to make. LIES. ALL LIES. Apparently the decorations on a soccer ball can be may different things, and even the simplest of them is a combination of hexagons and pentagons. Mind = blown. So I ended up using a cutter for the hexagons and free handing (read: cutting with a knife and forcing round pegs into square holes) the pentagons. Overall I think it turned out fairly well, and I was super pleased with myself - that is, until it was time to make the mini soccer balls for the cupcake decorations.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
My plan was to make the mini balls out of the leftover fondant and use an edible marker to draw the shapes. Apparently, the edible marker does not write on soft fondant. Who knew? So my brilliant solution was to coat the fondant balls in candy melts with my neato cake pop trick that I learned, and then use the marker on the firmer surface. Denied - the marker still didn't want to write on it. Option 3? Pipe those suckers with black icing. I think I sprained my palm... can you do that?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
After all of that, here's the finished product:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIX2Wkm4ae2li9GDJcwmE9wyUvaxf7Um4xwrjfZhAgerE14komYJc-LQfMi0CUlN9aZN216urZxkR2idmdUuSY0pPxwrLTilELqpFx8OxPoIhIifj2qC3Qh68zUYWRro_7HQJLZCPTeMo/s1600/Soccer+Ball+Cake1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIX2Wkm4ae2li9GDJcwmE9wyUvaxf7Um4xwrjfZhAgerE14komYJc-LQfMi0CUlN9aZN216urZxkR2idmdUuSY0pPxwrLTilELqpFx8OxPoIhIifj2qC3Qh68zUYWRro_7HQJLZCPTeMo/s640/Soccer+Ball+Cake1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My mad phone camera skillz at their best.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjaboGuDiHjREj7a5FDnv2l7gTRFJ9gIkYolO-gTe-JGhHS4IPjPc8cdf8Mhb6LSqGIkOgi43eMSyutjPXHRai029jZUjJZFWP85BNR5k9v73NRrkspO7Tk5OiNrUrmo1Kv_f-mPdj84/s1600/Soccer+Ball+Cake2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjaboGuDiHjREj7a5FDnv2l7gTRFJ9gIkYolO-gTe-JGhHS4IPjPc8cdf8Mhb6LSqGIkOgi43eMSyutjPXHRai029jZUjJZFWP85BNR5k9v73NRrkspO7Tk5OiNrUrmo1Kv_f-mPdj84/s640/Soccer+Ball+Cake2.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently the grass was the hit of the party</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-69136712580919795692013-03-04T12:54:00.000-05:002013-03-04T14:33:18.140-05:00Alive and Kicking1. Yes, I'm alive.<br />
<div>
2. No, I haven't written a blog post in a long time.</div>
<div>
3. OK, a VERY long time.</div>
<div>
4. Married life, work, and stuff gets in the way of blogging.</div>
<div>
5. Hopefully this hasn't resulted in abandonment issues.</div>
<div>
6. Here are some cakes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A couple weeks ago I made a baby shower cake - Instead of being a gender reveal cake, the mama-to-be wanted to keep everything a surprise, so we did a mix of blue and pink with blueberry and strawberry fillings. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/31426423.jpg" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Have I mentioned I love blueberries?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mama-to be also requested a dozen cake pops. I have attempted cake pops in the past, and have failed so very very miserably. As in, is that a cake pop or did you cat leave a hairball on a stick failure... Needless to say, there was much anxiety over them possibly turning out like this:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/cFnFu.jpg" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But after much soul searching (read: googling the interwebs) I decided to forge ahead with cake pops with the advice of my fellow bakers - thin that sucker out with some shortening! Apparently if you thin the candy melts the cake pops don't turn out like vomit on a stick; instead they can actually be cute! Tip #2 - forget colored candy melts - just use sanding sugar. My life is changed forever. No more buying 12 different colors of candy melts! Super easy and super cute - see?!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9L1p2ujUdCsohjzm0dSA_UqWRyJ6avegREh_FahQpVDpPVAVaVQQ05Zdeg_z1A5co-1HEZpYUKOT7yfgIQ_xENPUb06lef2ztvkOIdXCnkR1yNrbweGulttHI11l8XPSJj1S5nBuYqM/s1600/Cake+Pops2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9L1p2ujUdCsohjzm0dSA_UqWRyJ6avegREh_FahQpVDpPVAVaVQQ05Zdeg_z1A5co-1HEZpYUKOT7yfgIQ_xENPUb06lef2ztvkOIdXCnkR1yNrbweGulttHI11l8XPSJj1S5nBuYqM/s320/Cake+Pops2.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AJ8KDCXy6SLEewc9TFrrxCrLMMPbcuGGLJjVv7ZoZ-5F-1RxlV2JzBG-j0VgrxxgnWTY3zWv777QsXiRJ_yJq-m9OJvsraG85rGU88zoWi0KOEKFeUl__ujqmZye9Aj_Znzrpp2BkC8/s1600/Cake+Pops1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AJ8KDCXy6SLEewc9TFrrxCrLMMPbcuGGLJjVv7ZoZ-5F-1RxlV2JzBG-j0VgrxxgnWTY3zWv777QsXiRJ_yJq-m9OJvsraG85rGU88zoWi0KOEKFeUl__ujqmZye9Aj_Znzrpp2BkC8/s320/Cake+Pops1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Aside from the dogs almost getting a cake pop because I'm clumsy and can't hold onto things, these went off without a hitch!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As for the cake, it was fairly simple, aside from the massive panic that ensued when blue cake batter landed on top of pink cake batter. Poor C tried to come in for the assist, and I may have said nasty things in my state of panic... whoops. And I only almost ruined it once by putting the pink fondant in the wrong direction, not realizing it, and smoothing it down so it was all nice and pretty on the cake... yeah THAT was fun to take off and re-do. Oh, and luster dust sticks to chocolate my foot. I tried everything to get the chocolate letter toppers to shine - no dice. </div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLU4cYWvTMVBcCGyZ6mOoW8PypPNYve5hJpxuL5Ya9u53EFaR4LrauckUypjaIMS_UDsog1hIYwnKiExArGbrgkhTbgbpqiWscaDybyNWNsHAu2lGMKEt8Z9eXPBz6kBfLcdp6MXa9nvU/s1600/Baby+Shower+Cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLU4cYWvTMVBcCGyZ6mOoW8PypPNYve5hJpxuL5Ya9u53EFaR4LrauckUypjaIMS_UDsog1hIYwnKiExArGbrgkhTbgbpqiWscaDybyNWNsHAu2lGMKEt8Z9eXPBz6kBfLcdp6MXa9nvU/s320/Baby+Shower+Cake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why is that one question mark all wonky, you ask? It's a mystery. (See what I did there? Har har har.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So I finished the cake and the cake pops the night before and got them all ready to go for the next day, but when I woke up the next morning I had a message from papa-to-be that they were headed to the hospital and baby was on their way! So, sadly, no party was had and the cake was delivered after the baby. And in case you're curious - pink won.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-26786996058717407922011-07-22T09:24:00.002-04:002011-07-22T10:18:45.089-04:00WALL-ELast Friday one of C's co-workers asked if I would have time to make a WALL-E cake for a birthday. In spite of my reservations I agreed. I was worried since there would be no time for a trial of anything, and I knew that I was going to have to support WALL-E's eyes in some magical way... what that way was, however, I had no idea. I was also worried that due to my recent bout of insanity having left me signed up to run a 10K, my training schedule was only going to leave me with a few hours each night in which to decorate. Late night + exhausted from getting up before the chickens every morning + sore from running/strength training = bad things happening with buttercream. And nobody likes bad things happening with buttercream... or do they?<br />
<br />
I started the cake a day earlier than I usually do so that I could alleviate some of the late night stress on myself. I baked two 13x9 sheets of chocolate cake on Tuesday (you can see the recipe I used <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-thornton/chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html">here</a> - which fyi was super moist and awesome - I think I found my go-to chocolate cake recipe!). I froze the cake on Wednesday morning (see I knew the 17 cubic foot chest freezer would come in handy for something! I could have fit about 50 more of those bad boys in there along with the cow and pig - but I digress) so that it would be much easier to carve/torte. What's a torte you ask? Well a gentleman would never ask a lady.... I mean it's cutting cake into layers so that you can put delicious buttercream in between the layers. ANYWAY... I froze the sucker, torted away, and crumb coated the cake on Wednesday. I also made WALL-E's eyes. They're guarding the Smirnoff... and the butter. They eyes know how much butter I still need for the frosting.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxH0lLyUFry3aakND5k5dhS7ILPYxR94j7QrKN9YvkJU9X0ueNG8oqp2UDdI0swM-1wihwY-IgqqDYzx6zAqau2tI-kHqhB_xzMUIKxw7JAbwqeby5R76G8onDo8f_6aB4bV2x3VPcF8E/s1600/P7201570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxH0lLyUFry3aakND5k5dhS7ILPYxR94j7QrKN9YvkJU9X0ueNG8oqp2UDdI0swM-1wihwY-IgqqDYzx6zAqau2tI-kHqhB_xzMUIKxw7JAbwqeby5R76G8onDo8f_6aB4bV2x3VPcF8E/s400/P7201570.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Mmm... coating the crumbs...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeaTRRwSy3LnsMIsNkvqUbgIIxf_4dAv9wluAzipZ9nN-AdIqlJIUkIKVSVKFJSNF8yXZqjIAYGlOJmeG20s3x5EOANAhzBz-rMP-6PIdvcYUHCCayi7_hvTSFO_lr0esMKuJtFJh0Wg/s1600/P7201571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQeaTRRwSy3LnsMIsNkvqUbgIIxf_4dAv9wluAzipZ9nN-AdIqlJIUkIKVSVKFJSNF8yXZqjIAYGlOJmeG20s3x5EOANAhzBz-rMP-6PIdvcYUHCCayi7_hvTSFO_lr0esMKuJtFJh0Wg/s400/P7201571.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
So then last night I did the actual decorating, which honestly, with the eyes already done and the cake crumb coated, wasn't terrible. I made an orangy-yellow color for his body, gray for his treads and some details, and I cheated and used Wilton black decorators icing because I hate making black frosting (and because as you all know I run in street gangs and do what I want) because it never comes out back - it's always some sad shade of gray. As requested by a friend, I had C take some "Action Shots" of me decorating.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDjPdoJSR4VfYDnJMMrQCn-ZaqN40adU25SOhkaDPaY3uDSH2nREBLbxozwCJ1GzdPv4OxAThLQRKd5zqhyphenhyphenpO8456mU7o7eDEoZtgcVAa9sJoFnexItWaNF6iu8AJBl0JhsabF9Agjbb4/s1600/P7211575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDjPdoJSR4VfYDnJMMrQCn-ZaqN40adU25SOhkaDPaY3uDSH2nREBLbxozwCJ1GzdPv4OxAThLQRKd5zqhyphenhyphenpO8456mU7o7eDEoZtgcVAa9sJoFnexItWaNF6iu8AJBl0JhsabF9Agjbb4/s400/P7211575.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiselneI9ffMi6LTJnIDge9H8Xi8QThGZWLiiE9bXDtQ0joZgu-f15IvAzBUxCEjIGNPTA6YD11nCIUDfbnaIl9Ort5OZpwi8m_7JkC9wN9ouwN0GAfuFv4yQhKGQ-aMpmmp98nUYYpxNI/s1600/P7211578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiselneI9ffMi6LTJnIDge9H8Xi8QThGZWLiiE9bXDtQ0joZgu-f15IvAzBUxCEjIGNPTA6YD11nCIUDfbnaIl9Ort5OZpwi8m_7JkC9wN9ouwN0GAfuFv4yQhKGQ-aMpmmp98nUYYpxNI/s400/P7211578.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Look at the serious face... look at the precision... look at the sad amount of counter space :-( I need a new kitchen....<br />
<br />
So magic happens, I do stuff... and VOILA! WALL-E appears!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0z-ohBUS4xa4LCtqXt6wNI0OSn0k262n-S7dyA-ipzsZqtGbn07oYqdSTzWqchh37mcsW3vIZmfmZenGyNdj8qv5Mg1NIUqT2xGiJ6ymDRez3av3bshUKQqYGIQtO0zS6XrZOS8LqQY/s1600/P7211579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx0z-ohBUS4xa4LCtqXt6wNI0OSn0k262n-S7dyA-ipzsZqtGbn07oYqdSTzWqchh37mcsW3vIZmfmZenGyNdj8qv5Mg1NIUqT2xGiJ6ymDRez3av3bshUKQqYGIQtO0zS6XrZOS8LqQY/s400/P7211579.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2_nrxOrH5jyixtGQpQCQgsm-gZo7nbZXeGYFX0W64_ZvVJIXO2msyL7WDANEj1c6zBosy_ZwReWptd5T4ic4tV0RrqviRao7nMFEykeQ4g6BOl_qdJDBdfaNDMWimDtKk4fUWHfS7Ww/s1600/P7211581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2_nrxOrH5jyixtGQpQCQgsm-gZo7nbZXeGYFX0W64_ZvVJIXO2msyL7WDANEj1c6zBosy_ZwReWptd5T4ic4tV0RrqviRao7nMFEykeQ4g6BOl_qdJDBdfaNDMWimDtKk4fUWHfS7Ww/s400/P7211581.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Ignore the bottle of wine... how'd that get in there? The smirnoff must have invited friends over, cause I definitely never keep that much alcohol in my fridge...<br />
<br />
There was an epic battle with WALL-E's eyes. There was cursing, there were a few tears, there was a lot of cracking, and there was a lot of sagging... and nobody likes sagging (well OK, some gold diggers might be able to look past it and think of greener, money filled pastures - but we're not talking about that here!). So many dowels, supports, and trickery with fondant and buttercream that magically matched the color of the fondant, I managed to cover it all up, get the eyes to stay, and celebrated my victory over all things edible! OK, not all things, but I was happy.<br />
<br />
I decided to leave off the arms for a couple of reasons. 1. I didn't feel like having another epic battle over RKT support, and 2. I was tired. C said the cake looked good without the arms, and I was too sleepy to argue. Hopefully the client won't care either!<br />
<br />
C took WALL-E to work with him this morning, which always makes me nervous since I'm not there in case something goes wrong, but he made it there safely, eyes and all! And there was much rejoicing!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-77114849373664704112011-05-25T15:44:00.000-04:002011-05-25T15:44:57.443-04:00Staycation BakingSo for those of you who don't already know, last Friday was my last day at my previous job. I landed a new gig at a different company starting May 31. I'm mostly excited, a bit scared, and kinda hungry... (well it <i>is</i> snack time, people...) Anywho, in honor of my last day, and because May is Zombie awareness month, my co-workers and I put together a zombie themed potluck. Our lunch features such delicacies as brain loaf (meatloaf in the shape of a brain), brains and crackers (cheese spread formed in a brain mold), maggoty chili (chili with orzo pasta - aka chili-mac), and zombie cupcakes. The zombie cupcakes that I made were red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing colored pink piped to look like a brain on top. Here are a few pictures of the braaaaainz... *zombie drool*<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_Tbi4u1tUav2CIJlU2Bwp-lI_Cevs5dg3QtUMlxvUPbgvBfcduV9HHxxZUt3aX9Re6ZzCSzmEYQDdV8mpDq-W9HZhPAmunc7dykgGWQWWJA17-9Gf5IQgaXYBYYPGc6kVRpzupc21LU/s1600/P5201555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC_Tbi4u1tUav2CIJlU2Bwp-lI_Cevs5dg3QtUMlxvUPbgvBfcduV9HHxxZUt3aX9Re6ZzCSzmEYQDdV8mpDq-W9HZhPAmunc7dykgGWQWWJA17-9Gf5IQgaXYBYYPGc6kVRpzupc21LU/s400/P5201555.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVVlMAOZfFjkc1pXLzwAOiFWdD1TBmTS5W2sN2sMOPxaTCIlTG0uiFlRlxOTk08DT-ieSHPunt8tct3VXvEeE_6zwqdPrXN7m87rWept4HnJ2D7eRUCn8NV7w5vHKexW1pVkTOn9056k/s1600/P5201556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVVlMAOZfFjkc1pXLzwAOiFWdD1TBmTS5W2sN2sMOPxaTCIlTG0uiFlRlxOTk08DT-ieSHPunt8tct3VXvEeE_6zwqdPrXN7m87rWept4HnJ2D7eRUCn8NV7w5vHKexW1pVkTOn9056k/s400/P5201556.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And the brains and crackers that my friend J brought.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dksq-RhGgjLzlq81O7gMy-lEWXho3tXulDm3NWRCHF8RU5Yee2HY3TsWlHikd75d4nMUQc8bzeETKSpoNjwkGkSzdMlWOBE-LdGCON4Csjv_y-wBYpcQ2dOgCp2rKA1pextfQ-vtpms/s1600/P5201557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dksq-RhGgjLzlq81O7gMy-lEWXho3tXulDm3NWRCHF8RU5Yee2HY3TsWlHikd75d4nMUQc8bzeETKSpoNjwkGkSzdMlWOBE-LdGCON4Csjv_y-wBYpcQ2dOgCp2rKA1pextfQ-vtpms/s400/P5201557.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I decided to take a week off between jobs, so I've been enjoying my time at home this week as a staycation. I've gone for runs every day, spent time at the puppy park with my 4 legged blonde companion, and been able to take time for myself to do things that I want to do. Since baking is something that I love to do, and because my brother asked nicely, and because I love him, I made a batch of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies today. I attempted to mix in the chips and nuts with a rubber spatula - fail... I think there were just as much of those as there was dough, so I had to fall back on old faithful - the wooden spoon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjGJI3U4J_ZwhGVrwFRHecCzHc5BBk8dNIul-e5Q_TETNN5UVIX5c_i-9xXzQIDhlDFCo20amN8aA_ac3ZxZ8yFyq20SfVNG0mp65-3iBH31cgz3xi82gAkeiEdwm0vd_yhzJ3ykpXr0/s1600/P5251558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjGJI3U4J_ZwhGVrwFRHecCzHc5BBk8dNIul-e5Q_TETNN5UVIX5c_i-9xXzQIDhlDFCo20amN8aA_ac3ZxZ8yFyq20SfVNG0mp65-3iBH31cgz3xi82gAkeiEdwm0vd_yhzJ3ykpXr0/s400/P5251558.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
See? A much better mix!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASZK79QOIzRHr_VTg_9IKOdgtreVAjP69N2tmHDjcfuYPq27Fi6f_7SO8CUhwg2_zTO12Ye2fsvQcIHVQNGhwfs0chLYwg2Do_G8mmFKA4AOC8vAvTErbbr_mhbaWbOeleH1OWHdShIg/s1600/P5251559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASZK79QOIzRHr_VTg_9IKOdgtreVAjP69N2tmHDjcfuYPq27Fi6f_7SO8CUhwg2_zTO12Ye2fsvQcIHVQNGhwfs0chLYwg2Do_G8mmFKA4AOC8vAvTErbbr_mhbaWbOeleH1OWHdShIg/s400/P5251559.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Then I dropped them onto an ungreased cookie sheet (lord I need new ones... the wedding can't come soon enough!) and baked them for about 6 minutes a pan.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFdroD347FCH2bZ7KzD0qyi4qG-PXbCQesZDTzI5C8031V30vg-mUPm-f7XeGbJ__pAB2-WYByLzoHrjvhEbOnPuqI0rWsWtiNIzjnzhStAty2qhxjWhX-1qMH_Q-QZMWHqt8ZMpSJJU/s1600/P5251560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFdroD347FCH2bZ7KzD0qyi4qG-PXbCQesZDTzI5C8031V30vg-mUPm-f7XeGbJ__pAB2-WYByLzoHrjvhEbOnPuqI0rWsWtiNIzjnzhStAty2qhxjWhX-1qMH_Q-QZMWHqt8ZMpSJJU/s400/P5251560.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
While I was baking I popped a few of the macadamias, looked at the nutritional info, and then remembered why I never keep them in my house. So bad for you. So delicious. So still have half a can in my pantry. Trouble.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBu9q_o8OmNCrLCTCw1mVSeTdCBrYMr5obabTFPvu6TCemC8EGiCta1R4PYsT2wFSjPZFwNEPPnEXJ888NHbZFOeX-rk1UniYPAvkuYMqdUdtOjiNZiGciLLfLmVS24ncVlTs0AfDwUo/s1600/P5251562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBu9q_o8OmNCrLCTCw1mVSeTdCBrYMr5obabTFPvu6TCemC8EGiCta1R4PYsT2wFSjPZFwNEPPnEXJ888NHbZFOeX-rk1UniYPAvkuYMqdUdtOjiNZiGciLLfLmVS24ncVlTs0AfDwUo/s400/P5251562.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
When they came out of the oven they looked amazing, and of course I had to taste test 1 or 4... Reason 531 why I'm chunky.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApM9gXFSReqR0NjsWkq8reHuzAFaYdhiJZ8iUnmZcue04AGfDu8-fYilylwEln7cWZliFY83TJyLm7O8rHo_-xfQ0nDtjNlL0hY1R6F64DvghiKv_EXtDqeX3AuqWmCOpc8tmGmoFeDU/s1600/P5251563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhApM9gXFSReqR0NjsWkq8reHuzAFaYdhiJZ8iUnmZcue04AGfDu8-fYilylwEln7cWZliFY83TJyLm7O8rHo_-xfQ0nDtjNlL0hY1R6F64DvghiKv_EXtDqeX3AuqWmCOpc8tmGmoFeDU/s400/P5251563.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Mmmmm... cookies...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_qdhlxAATcjJBdX1rQVPqZtT6jRUZ5-QO6LtT6NHaNtcG4lT33fue8MhmLbsem30VLdOQvLdrussrYu-_PJ8CJVLQhuc_W2XOt1niRyLUbrISJ4T-oDlt0S9_3TAMg06nUqKMbse3fI/s1600/P5251564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_qdhlxAATcjJBdX1rQVPqZtT6jRUZ5-QO6LtT6NHaNtcG4lT33fue8MhmLbsem30VLdOQvLdrussrYu-_PJ8CJVLQhuc_W2XOt1niRyLUbrISJ4T-oDlt0S9_3TAMg06nUqKMbse3fI/s400/P5251564.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Coming soon to a Northern VA address near you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-77941854021307076332011-04-01T09:56:00.000-04:002011-04-01T09:56:37.849-04:00Liquid CourageFirst, some fun news! C and I went with several of our friends on a cruise last week, and it was AMAZING. We booked this vacation almost a year ago, so we were all super excited that it was finally here. Our boat went to Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten, and in spite of going through some pretty choppy water and feeling a little seasick, the vacation was perfect. The weather was beautiful, we had plenty of time to relax, and the alcohol was free flowing. (Speaking of alcohol - C and I went back to bootcamp Wednesday night and I swear I was sweating 80 proof...) Here are a few pictures to make you jealous :-)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtYnmPbQIR5oTjiqxeW8QLlmYDZzjJiD4xEFRu6Q4PjO1BRQRw0Ozji6fEKbTBcDAvmuMcTn-EuVhesNppflzZAJ4TRuVfzj74hxsQWRKFpVCm8Zil5lwIaG7YOgLRArx6mJXUSaJoZI/s1600/P3241511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtYnmPbQIR5oTjiqxeW8QLlmYDZzjJiD4xEFRu6Q4PjO1BRQRw0Ozji6fEKbTBcDAvmuMcTn-EuVhesNppflzZAJ4TRuVfzj74hxsQWRKFpVCm8Zil5lwIaG7YOgLRArx6mJXUSaJoZI/s640/P3241511.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oFwxOFOGnJ7AYfsERSICojKFDLGk3qKxwLDALmQ37nI8LSsa03US-oPWtF_bN3Sr2Iq9dDn4ozR3xMthlFD1jZQsx5FFC9IhLlstc9ha-ivknKyLUxYuixjn7WiIZg1fLi2DqskKjGE/s1600/P3201373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oFwxOFOGnJ7AYfsERSICojKFDLGk3qKxwLDALmQ37nI8LSsa03US-oPWtF_bN3Sr2Iq9dDn4ozR3xMthlFD1jZQsx5FFC9IhLlstc9ha-ivknKyLUxYuixjn7WiIZg1fLi2DqskKjGE/s640/P3201373.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaeJeAwR_sxYSknnj3ezzkRnAqPlF8Y9jkGslupV1XO9uWQGDO8Lj6vbMeNn3l31bPLuFvwnACFWiVnYLXVk8L8Wf5mn8602EiiHmATwSQtdSxcdQ1zzeWs_UJ5Mw2iiE4Y1YY0jxq8k/s1600/P3221421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNaeJeAwR_sxYSknnj3ezzkRnAqPlF8Y9jkGslupV1XO9uWQGDO8Lj6vbMeNn3l31bPLuFvwnACFWiVnYLXVk8L8Wf5mn8602EiiHmATwSQtdSxcdQ1zzeWs_UJ5Mw2iiE4Y1YY0jxq8k/s640/P3221421.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHIggoCFXaxY-I8C7oNz3o3L3hfwvmHMFOQjMo438ab2aZi0_W5UD7Jabyv831jL8wwGW3cPJeD8eSsKdlC_yDSljNz_Jbj3Uv6HksydcRtpldrGFmTBBovM5QcLoo46dlZJDiwEefoQ/s1600/P3221426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHIggoCFXaxY-I8C7oNz3o3L3hfwvmHMFOQjMo438ab2aZi0_W5UD7Jabyv831jL8wwGW3cPJeD8eSsKdlC_yDSljNz_Jbj3Uv6HksydcRtpldrGFmTBBovM5QcLoo46dlZJDiwEefoQ/s640/P3221426.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWwXNy-6xm79Ea9aWtHE0A4q8KW1FsHpCTCXHzDswNSigf7B2Aqg6qVabtOvk_iyr8fNE_zQAoC_sQkZkhOLO0hWFKl3YBem4Z6aPIOVXNyoxuYzO6e_8vK9HG-DiP7Dthcwj4HJ99yI/s1600/P3231444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWwXNy-6xm79Ea9aWtHE0A4q8KW1FsHpCTCXHzDswNSigf7B2Aqg6qVabtOvk_iyr8fNE_zQAoC_sQkZkhOLO0hWFKl3YBem4Z6aPIOVXNyoxuYzO6e_8vK9HG-DiP7Dthcwj4HJ99yI/s640/P3231444.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGh1CVJkP5n4z4sCIWDmDGx7ZR-8kbieCArjUnBTbU0_avcJli5R51IhMUikQtleIXtSRpM0OXezoAsrMt6pJSCQ1FLxors24cDmo0RpQGwShf1cbRpaEhTHB7EAjjS4gvpBNtk0KdwU/s1600/P3241480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGh1CVJkP5n4z4sCIWDmDGx7ZR-8kbieCArjUnBTbU0_avcJli5R51IhMUikQtleIXtSRpM0OXezoAsrMt6pJSCQ1FLxors24cDmo0RpQGwShf1cbRpaEhTHB7EAjjS4gvpBNtk0KdwU/s640/P3241480.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqtCFBVU79EdRzLQaOz_9euJQiBiVD6-cdfl6AcVrqrWjfHoBT7rG3eRbJeR7YYexxWPE2PNCkf4pus26_2T0BUwK3KCQFi4RBMcY88pJZyAq9G-efSQUQ5odQ76bwbzmXBqkD7qKhhE/s1600/P3231458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqtCFBVU79EdRzLQaOz_9euJQiBiVD6-cdfl6AcVrqrWjfHoBT7rG3eRbJeR7YYexxWPE2PNCkf4pus26_2T0BUwK3KCQFi4RBMcY88pJZyAq9G-efSQUQ5odQ76bwbzmXBqkD7qKhhE/s640/P3231458.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-2i051tnLBDz4vb3jDGHAUEAFrJNvHZo58gwpBK-ongHYlW3uuVFNG2eC9PmsSDmAPKlvQxNMbdQI_VZS6gDLkKuSPEbLeJcTXG31NcuvR4AYFEw01LxuZ8wTmOOmmN8SQQSgDxf0kQ/s1600/P3231460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-2i051tnLBDz4vb3jDGHAUEAFrJNvHZo58gwpBK-ongHYlW3uuVFNG2eC9PmsSDmAPKlvQxNMbdQI_VZS6gDLkKuSPEbLeJcTXG31NcuvR4AYFEw01LxuZ8wTmOOmmN8SQQSgDxf0kQ/s640/P3231460.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwIOs5rJuaTFi_B4_HCwGy5oTzW-xxjQyF4tzKMSqzoD3zzEde3muHpHJeNvO6jqJeVXJSK-OUv4C5FFkaWg3hXzW5fp71OO7-LX2N-T5SJbgI16ddcERoTmzt_bUABWEu00SbZ-koLg/s1600/P3241486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHwIOs5rJuaTFi_B4_HCwGy5oTzW-xxjQyF4tzKMSqzoD3zzEde3muHpHJeNvO6jqJeVXJSK-OUv4C5FFkaWg3hXzW5fp71OO7-LX2N-T5SJbgI16ddcERoTmzt_bUABWEu00SbZ-koLg/s640/P3241486.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7l8Qc9Xfw49PXQjIQCXgeR1VOXmZGuGzDUNZI0yo24uJEhlNizNn3jqWZFqIwUHAEYKGBC2XZIa8sDMFU8VdATQY2rutFUkG1kv17wDxipw__njO0NCXBmSRfPPely7ZXWYolezFHAnU/s1600/P3241488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7l8Qc9Xfw49PXQjIQCXgeR1VOXmZGuGzDUNZI0yo24uJEhlNizNn3jqWZFqIwUHAEYKGBC2XZIa8sDMFU8VdATQY2rutFUkG1kv17wDxipw__njO0NCXBmSRfPPely7ZXWYolezFHAnU/s640/P3241488.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBt5iqLA8s5zWX6IFL6-SzuIR2NXgS3_Smw_capZDvitD224GoLUgPcSn2qgjR3h_AJ6X8efaXykd9KqOXAsdUd9qATgypb3-F5StNprss85obLqkfLyfCHjmQQroZUuMKzlXYbTwBzI/s1600/P3231462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixBt5iqLA8s5zWX6IFL6-SzuIR2NXgS3_Smw_capZDvitD224GoLUgPcSn2qgjR3h_AJ6X8efaXykd9KqOXAsdUd9qATgypb3-F5StNprss85obLqkfLyfCHjmQQroZUuMKzlXYbTwBzI/s640/P3231462.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Jealous yet? :-)<br />
<br />
The cruise itself couldn't have come at a better time for us, although there's no way that we could have known that when we booked it. We found out not too long before we left that the company many of us work for was going to be going through some cutbacks and that all of us were going to be affected in some way, and some of us sooner than others. Yesterday was the first round of people leaving, and needless to say it was a rough day for everyone. In honor of emotional eating and the need for some liquid courage, I made Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with a Bittersweet Ganache.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx76CtlRR2wlrx9mZi7HBTPsuLUvLqDgV8EYz3k4N7o192bWkMLzChRyflDQ_kcvOz85RXcioAWH3K_EKTpaRvH9rtTPn0hRIquAatet9_w-xg9yibugwt4-dtiv4-EQIuS9qBI82bUto/s1600/P3311547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx76CtlRR2wlrx9mZi7HBTPsuLUvLqDgV8EYz3k4N7o192bWkMLzChRyflDQ_kcvOz85RXcioAWH3K_EKTpaRvH9rtTPn0hRIquAatet9_w-xg9yibugwt4-dtiv4-EQIuS9qBI82bUto/s640/P3311547.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Instead of putting the cupcakes out in the kitchen a little before lunch like I usually do, I decided that cupcakes for breakfast was not out of the question on a day like that, so I put them out when I first got to the office.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7w4s2Uczx7awpwwQXBQmOHR-5qS7HNEr2ZclWRyWctQ37TwPLCTz58EoB4vAC4M_JOZ9or1kPja8L9NwYmiq5-Xw1nsRZLo7UPKqLLn1taiccvEHfDjGFJy9mm_dCdkAxxz1-w20r8G4/s1600/P3311549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7w4s2Uczx7awpwwQXBQmOHR-5qS7HNEr2ZclWRyWctQ37TwPLCTz58EoB4vAC4M_JOZ9or1kPja8L9NwYmiq5-Xw1nsRZLo7UPKqLLn1taiccvEHfDjGFJy9mm_dCdkAxxz1-w20r8G4/s640/P3311549.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
I know that cupcakes couldn't make the situation any better, but I hope that they were at least a type of comfort on a day that was inherently sad for all of us. I know that all of us are moving on the bigger and better things, but I'm going to miss working with all of you. You're all amazing at what you do, and you're all wonderful people. It has been my privilege and my pleasure to have worked with you, and I hope those of us staying in the area will still see each other often. So, my cupcake to you all and wish everyone the best in whatever comes your way!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczspSd-2WxAPyXgPRRRS9hmxXjpht_uwcXfh9wwW-cXzPBnXJnNy2Oi2XksX0cSAh9b-ZeA6Wm9wduU9AZ3BrltgdWtRNwQhhbhErRZ3p64-NDTJeN5220i6RYxaoxGAwOWSxm8uX9Gg/s1600/P3311550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczspSd-2WxAPyXgPRRRS9hmxXjpht_uwcXfh9wwW-cXzPBnXJnNy2Oi2XksX0cSAh9b-ZeA6Wm9wduU9AZ3BrltgdWtRNwQhhbhErRZ3p64-NDTJeN5220i6RYxaoxGAwOWSxm8uX9Gg/s640/P3311550.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<3Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-28245473845002502272011-03-18T13:25:00.001-04:002011-03-18T13:26:36.174-04:00"Imagination is more important than knowledge."Or at least that's what Albert Einstein said. I've had several cupcake flavor combinations floating around in the ether for a few weeks now, so I decided to give them a whirl and try them out on my co-workers - they'll eat anything I bring in ;-) The first flavor was inspired by my recent stress levels at work and my strong desire to put alcohol in anything. I call it Bourbana Dana. It's a banana cake with a bourbon cream cheese icing. The cake part is moist and amazing from the bananas that are in it, but if I'm being honest, the icing is the star of this combo. I used about 2 oz of my favorite amber liquid, 16 oz cream cheese, 1 c butter, and about 8 cups of powdered sugar. The resulting icing is good on anything... the cupcakes, <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2011/03/pancake-sunday.html">pancakes</a>, crepes, pizza... ok, maybe not pizza... but it's really good! Here's what they looked like:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUZ0s2ejM1-sAyajYEnKeq5qAp1MxJynXu3HsUD_ImUxkyK8KwEceveTrlu369qvXmFLfC0v1QJ5QzdgYGdPcia_kTuu2NZn5-7zrVROctofxCsZevV6WO1Ys6qmg1mp_MX7RDc55urg/s1600/P3131367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUZ0s2ejM1-sAyajYEnKeq5qAp1MxJynXu3HsUD_ImUxkyK8KwEceveTrlu369qvXmFLfC0v1QJ5QzdgYGdPcia_kTuu2NZn5-7zrVROctofxCsZevV6WO1Ys6qmg1mp_MX7RDc55urg/s400/P3131367.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGjgaw02oZFSpVpIlEaXb9hZF7xAkMprFdhN5USKBy51tAAeBeaSfyTlMIdzVovgVqRfzGiRsxW_XNWxn8WHMA6taYmENRz0Rd9PPSUak3lPvvuvK0_f2oMgI55zEQqRJWyw41mWO2qI/s1600/P3131368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGjgaw02oZFSpVpIlEaXb9hZF7xAkMprFdhN5USKBy51tAAeBeaSfyTlMIdzVovgVqRfzGiRsxW_XNWxn8WHMA6taYmENRz0Rd9PPSUak3lPvvuvK0_f2oMgI55zEQqRJWyw41mWO2qI/s400/P3131368.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnrJmHK67x-lfFF5uXDgZI8jhQKEbQ2Ha8splQQyYc_AQg8Q3QsyUhyzQj4qsunVmT6aFSUCxcY2EUDwHwiytpcXhupp9fR9tx3VuM0YIs9ahdw7xRmLKQXcsLXeJdqMrB9mq2sFTPnw/s1600/P3131369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLnrJmHK67x-lfFF5uXDgZI8jhQKEbQ2Ha8splQQyYc_AQg8Q3QsyUhyzQj4qsunVmT6aFSUCxcY2EUDwHwiytpcXhupp9fR9tx3VuM0YIs9ahdw7xRmLKQXcsLXeJdqMrB9mq2sFTPnw/s400/P3131369.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The second flavor combo was inspired by my co-worker LH. She brought in some amazing Middle Eastern candies (from Dubai and Iran) that she remembered eating when she was little. One of the candies was a date stuffed with ground up nuts and cardamom. The flavor of the cardamom (which I like to think of as cinnamon's older, exotic, and more experienced cousin - you know, the one who comes to visit for a week or so during the summer and steals all of the cute boys... yeah that one) was intense, but in such a good way, that I felt the need to use it in a cupcake somehow. My brain settled in on a cupcake that I called Middle Eastern Mojo - it's a chocolate cardamom cake with an orange buttercream. LETHAL. That's all I have to say about this combo. I had more than one person ask if it would be wrong just to eat a tub of the icing. No, dear friends... not at all, because I just happen to have the leftover icing in my fridge, waiting for me to have a bad day. These cupcakes looked like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPWW4ui3rVjEpzib6uXrSwgJhmYnp85Rf2Sfp7MBnhcqyzoEU4K6Qh38Qz9KLj-0VY69RFjN4p6BwCJueEVapi6wIhiiJT5ofkNSCdK_gsLB8t1i64UF-Jn3Z7CZl2fMZXZfT9VJVTBk/s1600/P3131363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPWW4ui3rVjEpzib6uXrSwgJhmYnp85Rf2Sfp7MBnhcqyzoEU4K6Qh38Qz9KLj-0VY69RFjN4p6BwCJueEVapi6wIhiiJT5ofkNSCdK_gsLB8t1i64UF-Jn3Z7CZl2fMZXZfT9VJVTBk/s320/P3131363.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W32UlRLeNT4bxosfJc0qr0WmPk3vAnd7t3MtFCeGzuUGOqFNKRNjZYhmTzUfQcVwTGXZ_dPC0N77NgIWDEce5bhATc5ijCTCJiTWqYLx_zzOHZ3CV6H3h6UIpy6MlcbESfBmWiTubBw/s1600/P3131365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W32UlRLeNT4bxosfJc0qr0WmPk3vAnd7t3MtFCeGzuUGOqFNKRNjZYhmTzUfQcVwTGXZ_dPC0N77NgIWDEce5bhATc5ijCTCJiTWqYLx_zzOHZ3CV6H3h6UIpy6MlcbESfBmWiTubBw/s320/P3131365.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dW92lXNQoy2cm7nU_5vEmOkD-chN4RrJPI2fQphI13Ybf2FUpbw43m6iMjs3DbqER24ktnPNa3TWBBvU8P5GxaYSKHTRkUsjbgfW73HbzxgFjjVrgTMaUKZ4GTjoFCcnGniHHcQUcIE/s1600/P3131366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8dW92lXNQoy2cm7nU_5vEmOkD-chN4RrJPI2fQphI13Ybf2FUpbw43m6iMjs3DbqER24ktnPNa3TWBBvU8P5GxaYSKHTRkUsjbgfW73HbzxgFjjVrgTMaUKZ4GTjoFCcnGniHHcQUcIE/s400/P3131366.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
Also, I think my co-workers set a new record - I brought in about 36-40 cupcakes and they were gone in 2 hours. With an office that has no more than 25-30 people in it at a time, I thought it was pretty impressive!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-43786592751973736582011-03-13T21:11:00.001-04:002011-03-13T21:12:16.791-04:00Pancake SundayI'm not one who tends to be big on traditions, but C and I have started a few that I really enjoy. In particular, every Sunday morning we have Pancake Sunday. While C sorts through the paper (separating it into ads I like to look at, ads he likes to look at, coupons, and junk that nobody cares about) I whip up a batch of pancakes. It's never the same pancake two weeks in a row, and the kind I make generally depends on A) my mood and B) how well stocked my pantry is. I was feeling Springy this morning since little gnomes came and stole an hour of sleep from all of us last night, so I wanted to make something that reminded me that warmer weather is on its way. Enter: Strawberry Pecan Pancakes.<br />
<br />
A basic pancake recipe is pretty simple (and I swear one of these days C <b>WILL</b> learn how to make them so I can sit there sipping coffee and sifting through the paper as he covers the kitchen in flour - no worries, our dog Izzy is a great wet vac). That's her waiting for me to drop the noms.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xrZeCR-PxrL9jF0BSxkRIXUIU5F2i4-2n8xxKsjiS-jzMmltGMIp9S7f2DMOr-S7QFuC5FXxhJtENg4FDtXwXKJNaJfj-20NoaFOa0Z23DpgrKRx7J7XzBa0YazMcLA0XFng_ttSIa4/s1600/izzy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xrZeCR-PxrL9jF0BSxkRIXUIU5F2i4-2n8xxKsjiS-jzMmltGMIp9S7f2DMOr-S7QFuC5FXxhJtENg4FDtXwXKJNaJfj-20NoaFOa0Z23DpgrKRx7J7XzBa0YazMcLA0XFng_ttSIa4/s320/izzy.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anywho - a basic pancake recipe goes a little something like this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Combine 1 cup of flour, 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt in a large bowl. Make a well in this mix and set aside.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJYUQIfoWCw4-ZPm8qraw59xVZqGD8wUCyoa4NAyhTrLzTAopwldDwc1vlguZASK-b-vmMeDw7A38tvSWHXH3aaDymF6haFyeUw8MmTNT-mtZiWPsxU04-YijvFduGdzYI-dsKKVGzn4/s1600/P3131350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJYUQIfoWCw4-ZPm8qraw59xVZqGD8wUCyoa4NAyhTrLzTAopwldDwc1vlguZASK-b-vmMeDw7A38tvSWHXH3aaDymF6haFyeUw8MmTNT-mtZiWPsxU04-YijvFduGdzYI-dsKKVGzn4/s400/P3131350.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next, in a large measuring cup (because I hate making more dishes than I have to) combine 1 c buttermilk, 1 egg, and 2 tbsp oil (I use canola, but vegetable or whatever else you have on hand is fine). Since I had strawberries and pecans on hand, I went ahead an chopped some of those up too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRi2iNmuZtODSBrr1-FkyumGicHQDTh37QwrYsZC7ONw-EIigD50Q6N_WPFt0t8NkxpeftyjuxuEfWZrnyTKeqFNMbm48G5AkelaUKBsqus0FTsfPU1i5kN5ydh1mXaZPoGaQQFMf57g/s1600/P3131353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRi2iNmuZtODSBrr1-FkyumGicHQDTh37QwrYsZC7ONw-EIigD50Q6N_WPFt0t8NkxpeftyjuxuEfWZrnyTKeqFNMbm48G5AkelaUKBsqus0FTsfPU1i5kN5ydh1mXaZPoGaQQFMf57g/s400/P3131353.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I tossed the strawberries and the pecans in the flour mixture first, and then I added the buttermilk mixture. Make sure you mix until just combined - over mixing = dog pancakes. Pour the batter onto a hot greased griddle (I used about 1/4 c per pancake - this recipe should make 8 pancakes).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipy3whoTaBM6qQOwe6xOJYQ-aP8nZecnzJKceaFgLvGJlVK_8bOE8XazWUhcCZOyTZ5g7pxXWJrZs4QjlnGJJfHci1SR9TQfhkrycES7FZDLEFmehSdEbVRIEHvqscfe5gbnPiyZUbR5I/s1600/P3131354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipy3whoTaBM6qQOwe6xOJYQ-aP8nZecnzJKceaFgLvGJlVK_8bOE8XazWUhcCZOyTZ5g7pxXWJrZs4QjlnGJJfHci1SR9TQfhkrycES7FZDLEFmehSdEbVRIEHvqscfe5gbnPiyZUbR5I/s400/P3131354.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Wait until the tops look bubbly and a little bit dry and then flip. Once you're done cleaning up all the batter that flew all over you, the counter, and the eagerly waiting wet vac, you should have something that looks like this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Vci7DOrBJJBOxeh-RRNe-0BPMncZbNaRFvxg_hyUVsv2SiRPV0q7qQDnfgI_hPaurdaow3i3JShLb-Qrk9b7AIYEW73PsiAezDfgpo_tR220gQCT6lt11LJT8B1WGh1ULBD8ePTZ1xI/s1600/P3131355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Vci7DOrBJJBOxeh-RRNe-0BPMncZbNaRFvxg_hyUVsv2SiRPV0q7qQDnfgI_hPaurdaow3i3JShLb-Qrk9b7AIYEW73PsiAezDfgpo_tR220gQCT6lt11LJT8B1WGh1ULBD8ePTZ1xI/s400/P3131355.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIy6h4-0I2vmhhXQERXZyr6eJIrEAGqNIU6AqFpyJailbKDyoKgOoSyP5E9oAti7-EbF8MBZNF-fWgcVsQzQSNSfBnIlfZko2gJDflFZR9vvBFMuvRmofe9oPvup68UJ8jjy7snQKBy8/s1600/P3131359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIy6h4-0I2vmhhXQERXZyr6eJIrEAGqNIU6AqFpyJailbKDyoKgOoSyP5E9oAti7-EbF8MBZNF-fWgcVsQzQSNSfBnIlfZko2gJDflFZR9vvBFMuvRmofe9oPvup68UJ8jjy7snQKBy8/s400/P3131359.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Wait about 2-3 more minutes and the pancakes should be done! Now if you're like me and just <i>happen </i>to have some leftover bourbon cream cheese icing laying around - you know... saved for a rainy day and whatnot - then feel free to apply liberally (hey, I said this was Pancake Sunday, not Health Nut Sunday). I sliced up a banana to have on the side so that A) this picture wouldn't look like we were eating cake and icing for breakfast, and B) Because we keep getting friggin bananas in our farmers market baskets and I swear they're procreating on my counter.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqDpvSptSACrFqwvuIaQQvxId9BBKjWocvB8AJVx57AKTq_ajg8eV_6Vc96feU2WHIdeET4iwzgKg3rkAv6rHvyodd5fVTx3w5KpId7rYbWwiWOZGgfMKRycZPVwZYNjoPMuB2tprAUkI/s1600/P3131360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqDpvSptSACrFqwvuIaQQvxId9BBKjWocvB8AJVx57AKTq_ajg8eV_6Vc96feU2WHIdeET4iwzgKg3rkAv6rHvyodd5fVTx3w5KpId7rYbWwiWOZGgfMKRycZPVwZYNjoPMuB2tprAUkI/s400/P3131360.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hmm... I think I may still have some of that icing laying around... have I mentioned my pants don't fit?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-24347804015187544622011-03-07T13:15:00.000-05:002011-03-07T13:15:20.283-05:00Rubber Ducky, You're the One. You Make Monday So Much Fun!It's cupcake Monday, people! Today is one of my co-workers' birthday, so in celebration (and to lift the somewhat blue mood around here) I made duck shaped cupcakes. Who can resist smiling at a cute yellow ducky?<br />
<br />
I can't take the credit for the design of this cupcake. My friend V gave me the <a href="http://www.hellocupcakebook.com/">What's New Cupcake</a> book for my birthday / Christmas and I've been dying to give it a whirl ever since. The supplies needed are pretty basic: 24 yellow cupcakes, 2 cans plus 1 cup vanilla frosting (I think I used pillsbury), large marshmallows, doughnut holes, some kind of orange taffy (I used starburst - which C made me take into work because I was following the "one for me, one for you... one two for me, two for you" paradigm. Have I mentioned my pants don't fit...?), brown mini m&ms, and a LOT of patience.<br />
<br />
First - make your cupcakes. I used a box mix because I was being lazy, but feel free to use any recipe you want. I would recommend staying within the yellow/white cake family simply because it lets the bottom blend in with the yellow duck a bit more, but I'm sure you run in street gangs and do what you want. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEItz8cn-5jkuiNH7QEl3S0QELmZiIux6r_dx6W50EwzrGqQM8GKUCohp4pL7StDaN4qYIHOdOKgwH6IUEawssIznSOLliZpg5ZusVvf3LJV6IcxPazJ4riLgEe8NCDkBfETZzqCZqqA/s1600/P3061339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEItz8cn-5jkuiNH7QEl3S0QELmZiIux6r_dx6W50EwzrGqQM8GKUCohp4pL7StDaN4qYIHOdOKgwH6IUEawssIznSOLliZpg5ZusVvf3LJV6IcxPazJ4riLgEe8NCDkBfETZzqCZqqA/s400/P3061339.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Next you'll need to frost the tops of the cupcakes so that your marshmallows and doughnut holes have something to grab onto. It doesn't have to be a super thick layer or pretty - trust me, the tedious icing part comes soon enough.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDs0rbHeDHDM-IaNl_P0aVSkIeioaHBkKX2YacRPSMODVBawqiABmz5dqWjNiNCennyldN4Jm4RSSsavgJQ3pDO1UhKGd88hwepydGkiT8UOxZvnsxwuO7PemPrHEtwTKMlF22SHi3bI/s1600/P3061340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDs0rbHeDHDM-IaNl_P0aVSkIeioaHBkKX2YacRPSMODVBawqiABmz5dqWjNiNCennyldN4Jm4RSSsavgJQ3pDO1UhKGd88hwepydGkiT8UOxZvnsxwuO7PemPrHEtwTKMlF22SHi3bI/s400/P3061340.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Don't mind the tomatoes in the background up there... I promise no tomatoes were hurt in the making of this cupcake. Next, you'll need to attach the head and the butt (or just the butt in the case of the upside down ducks). To make the tails, you cut marshmallows in half on the diagonal. I used my kitchen scissors for this and it did a pretty good job.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyeIg0ERFZ9wUjVk-aPFPHW7Razs0OQpTPHs4Cf2RN6mmmP_A95hSO9_Bfyx9mbDc4HXQqH_r2DneFRDszcq27zNgF3G_IcnQzbYedzNDK4GO6KTYiaNSIlLLnj3sQBCO1dBtiSDepMw/s1600/P3061341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLyeIg0ERFZ9wUjVk-aPFPHW7Razs0OQpTPHs4Cf2RN6mmmP_A95hSO9_Bfyx9mbDc4HXQqH_r2DneFRDszcq27zNgF3G_IcnQzbYedzNDK4GO6KTYiaNSIlLLnj3sQBCO1dBtiSDepMw/s400/P3061341.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
At this point, if you need a break I'd recommend one because you're going to be elbow deep in icing for the next hour or so. The tedious part has arrived - you see all those little gaps where the doughnut and the marshmallow meet the top of the cupcake? Yeah... you need to spackle those with icing to smooth it out. Then you create an army of frosted ducks in your freezer - something like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIhaUT2H4qXfEGNEJ3Hsx3959F-EzLvsq0JQIJ60yKgEpgKLxh2LVMrh4AHwcZ8WIFCbhvdCmCa7nkZvFNNbZbDKbkUXi3f3N-uvzdMHpdOS1n0s70xgGe_6etQ3T7c597zBY20vuhERw/s1600/P3061344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIhaUT2H4qXfEGNEJ3Hsx3959F-EzLvsq0JQIJ60yKgEpgKLxh2LVMrh4AHwcZ8WIFCbhvdCmCa7nkZvFNNbZbDKbkUXi3f3N-uvzdMHpdOS1n0s70xgGe_6etQ3T7c597zBY20vuhERw/s400/P3061344.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Freeze the cupcakes for about 15 minutes to make sure the doughnut and the marshmallow are locked into place on the top of the cupcake. You're going to be dipping them into melted icing, so it needs to be able to stand up to some heat. Once your army has chilled, melt some yellow colored icing in the microwave (about 15 seconds at a time). Let the excess icing drip off and then leave out to dry.<br />
<br />
Once all of your ducks are dipped, then you can create the beaks and feet. I recommend microwaving and molding them in small batches. They're a lot easier to work with when they're a little bit soft. Attach the the beaks / feet with a small dab of icing - you might have to stand there for a minute or do a beak sticking dance to get them to stay, but they will eventually hold tight. <br />
<br />
Last but not least, apply the eyes to the rubber duckies with a small dab of white icing and viola! Rubber Duckies!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5sWVSfnG5afWYrbcQAV3O9XZ944ZSHss6zV2JJvMM-h8BwtUQuX_aKRmGAcxCNNzW22lkmxPDoGYrtgWoRM66nq446AYQj7yj0bJF2C17HW-1N5Vg1whwOKQdRwEuX6saxMBLl2KGewk/s1600/P3061345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5sWVSfnG5afWYrbcQAV3O9XZ944ZSHss6zV2JJvMM-h8BwtUQuX_aKRmGAcxCNNzW22lkmxPDoGYrtgWoRM66nq446AYQj7yj0bJF2C17HW-1N5Vg1whwOKQdRwEuX6saxMBLl2KGewk/s400/P3061345.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SX2xr3is3BBEuXyTIeby3fSz6A3GCOGlnkw7GrjJZwPEfk_cS9hB7FqMqABLk8wRVvtZXzJLbeL80gJegvR1bxNUgt3YCHbhrn08tDp91oklDR_UQA9g8iM3X7TX-rWxJoMwXCF_kUE/s1600/P3061346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9SX2xr3is3BBEuXyTIeby3fSz6A3GCOGlnkw7GrjJZwPEfk_cS9hB7FqMqABLk8wRVvtZXzJLbeL80gJegvR1bxNUgt3YCHbhrn08tDp91oklDR_UQA9g8iM3X7TX-rWxJoMwXCF_kUE/s400/P3061346.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My favorite are the ones with the butt in the air :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfarx5fntkXfzi0AAYMckwhyJNQi_mmEJTxLkHkr1TCh05dMxrsf_258FeqsKjj3AX98pGew7QfMEt6f679dYW1wrPylcu63CKDxQYYakAaVod1Vm3JLGXCS89GmoRPL8wQWSgxPQm34/s1600/P3061347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfarx5fntkXfzi0AAYMckwhyJNQi_mmEJTxLkHkr1TCh05dMxrsf_258FeqsKjj3AX98pGew7QfMEt6f679dYW1wrPylcu63CKDxQYYakAaVod1Vm3JLGXCS89GmoRPL8wQWSgxPQm34/s400/P3061347.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Overall I <3 these, but they took a really long time to make. The best part was everyone's reaction at work. It was awesome hearing the quaking, laughing, and joking coming from the kitchen. I think we all needed a little bit of duck butt today :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-54306831597675645352011-03-04T10:26:00.001-05:002011-03-04T10:32:25.111-05:00To Infinity - And Beyond!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Annnnnnnd, I'm back! I have no excuses other than 1) I'm lazy 2) I've been traveling a lot for work and 3) I'm trying not to be so fat so that = less baking. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I honestly haven't been baking much because baking = baked yumminess = me eating baked yumminess = my pants don't fit = BAD. Being gone several weeks at a time for work also makes it hard to bake anything. Hotel rooms are not exactly well equipped in that respect. While I was on my last work trip, however, one of C's co-workers placed an order for a Toy Story cake! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some of you may remember the <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2010/03/absorbent-and-yellow-and-porous-is-he.html">Spongebob cake </a>that I made last year for a 3 year old's birthday. This cake is for the same little boy who is now turning 4! It's awesome that I get the chance to help celebrate someone's birthday as they grow up. :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As always this was a several day process. Silly work tends to get in the way, so I have to make my cakes in stages. I generally bake the cake after work/bootcamp on Wednesday and then decorate after work on Thursday. I was a bit concerned since this was a rush order and I didn't have any time for a practice run, but I think all things considered, it came out well!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I made the bed frames from melted chocolate. I drew the template on wax paper, piped over it with chocolate, and then let it dry while I spend hours on those tiny stars. NEVER again, btw... I need to find a larger star cutter. HOURS of my life that I'll never get back, people.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFbB31hpLdwly6p0qzhlwb_xRnovqnv8IuAqnqTCDI6UQlzYVAnyvk1s5AAt9zu39WLKt-H9JbXoIep4_C-wO5Z96uH_59v2Jchh-7mDXFOaboMcO4vtRESwTjy9sgBB_I6qtNt5AnfEI/s400/P3031330.JPG" width="400" /> </div><br />
I love the little army men flanking the bed!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ojXgS2Y83pUr87DA0-raZA-YkeSmtCLy5NXFrByye3kUk0fzEY8bvfWgnTJjpsF-H9wSk8DGe3ijxyW29dMWC2ip64CMPbVG0r8bazAycKITQb-2ZpqIVPdiuEh4CTJZny-z05mMpxc/s1600/P3031331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ojXgS2Y83pUr87DA0-raZA-YkeSmtCLy5NXFrByye3kUk0fzEY8bvfWgnTJjpsF-H9wSk8DGe3ijxyW29dMWC2ip64CMPbVG0r8bazAycKITQb-2ZpqIVPdiuEh4CTJZny-z05mMpxc/s400/P3031331.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I didn't have time to make the characters myself (and let's be honest, I'm not THAT talented - they would have looked like deformed rag dolls). It's cool that the kid gets to keep the figures - everyone loves bonus presents! That, and it was awesome running around the party store yelling, "I've got Woody! I found Woody!" Hilarity ensues as all the mom's in the store shuffle their small children away from the crazy woman.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj581ompFvFCVmAOlYcCBYVwLjaS2AMnqWSi_9_tf5oG0GvbZr3pmqNJmtTTKon_VM04u0K5Cexu44hJ1tBgLUQXDS5QmGpluj6Md6fh8E5mRnCIW69CWn9k1hzguwOgB2JvdT46-ZV69k/s1600/P3031332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj581ompFvFCVmAOlYcCBYVwLjaS2AMnqWSi_9_tf5oG0GvbZr3pmqNJmtTTKon_VM04u0K5Cexu44hJ1tBgLUQXDS5QmGpluj6Md6fh8E5mRnCIW69CWn9k1hzguwOgB2JvdT46-ZV69k/s400/P3031332.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She needed the cake to feed 30 people, so I made a dozen cupcakes to go along with the cake. I know my favorite characters were the little aliens, how about you?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8vwuSLDUjdSLvSmQKnu9Dd_ZllAGSMU8H0dZ1oyHI7rd8P6uvyPbc-vJWGQOCR754BOI42FdKyZdbin8qowogDIffkFAQznxKxfYw1XfZxLdfx0hJOTJLSOIywVHwhhvvJ5oSaHC0-c/s1600/P3031334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim8vwuSLDUjdSLvSmQKnu9Dd_ZllAGSMU8H0dZ1oyHI7rd8P6uvyPbc-vJWGQOCR754BOI42FdKyZdbin8qowogDIffkFAQznxKxfYw1XfZxLdfx0hJOTJLSOIywVHwhhvvJ5oSaHC0-c/s400/P3031334.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All that's missing is the claw. "Oooooohhhhhh. The claw."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1Dov2jAe8bt3C6r4ikf80pzKHaR_isIdlU6_gyRRaHVoY-0j_6I8h7dg4x1DTGQy52Df50pCp_dvgivXMczd3AEYWBum7iiHWS4p0DUjaFEqqH2X6sRP_RGfLURKfiIL6HQHkv4PrFw/s1600/P3031337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1Dov2jAe8bt3C6r4ikf80pzKHaR_isIdlU6_gyRRaHVoY-0j_6I8h7dg4x1DTGQy52Df50pCp_dvgivXMczd3AEYWBum7iiHWS4p0DUjaFEqqH2X6sRP_RGfLURKfiIL6HQHkv4PrFw/s400/P3031337.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Thanks for stopping by! :-)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-49007900619364494972010-11-02T20:01:00.000-04:002010-11-02T20:01:59.845-04:00It make look like a cake, but to the Trained eye...A little while ago I posted about my first foray into fondant work as part of a commissioned cake. You can read about that <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2010/10/little-engine-that-could-force-me-to.html">here</a>. The second part of the challenge was sculpting the actual engine part of the cake. I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt, but what do you think?<br />
<br />
First I had to sculpt the cake into the shape of engine. The trick here was freezing the cake the day before. It makes the cake 10x sturdier and makes it more"forgiving" when a nutcase like me tries to sculpt for the first time. As long as you wrap the cake in several layers of plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer the cake will still be moist when you serve it. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjoc0jKsPucC2cFdlzpKf_w05QEUsu46Nisit8f7AxaJYR1VVgQmxqTOetvqekA-VOcdQI22S3U47stlYyLMwcqbfVnRwDoD7gqfj5Y0kW0RuPxwfxLWwnUP66YHPzgpLODElhFaGqJo/s1600/PA241214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtjoc0jKsPucC2cFdlzpKf_w05QEUsu46Nisit8f7AxaJYR1VVgQmxqTOetvqekA-VOcdQI22S3U47stlYyLMwcqbfVnRwDoD7gqfj5Y0kW0RuPxwfxLWwnUP66YHPzgpLODElhFaGqJo/s320/PA241214.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The second step is applying a crumb coat. For those of you who don't watch cake shows as obsessively as I do, a crumb coat is a thin layer of buttercream that you set in the fridge before applying the real deal buttercream. Basically, it prevents the hogillion crumbs that you created when carving the cake from getting mixed up in the outer, decorative layer of icing. Think of it as a "happy hat" for your cake. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJzIcjIPWHKJBuXdATH-2MrsAPdXeKOVP1P_N0PmNo8kNlPGpq8wD3XOy0WBtnRWQ7j72-NcRvGy5O72UBb1tMf31bhwZswX0UGNrZYSMziiuM5DUyg_1F1BvLVIf19r9gcGTjXi2mAI/s1600/PA241215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJzIcjIPWHKJBuXdATH-2MrsAPdXeKOVP1P_N0PmNo8kNlPGpq8wD3XOy0WBtnRWQ7j72-NcRvGy5O72UBb1tMf31bhwZswX0UGNrZYSMziiuM5DUyg_1F1BvLVIf19r9gcGTjXi2mAI/s320/PA241215.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I didn't take pictures as I was decorating because not only was I covered in frosting, everything that I had touched in the course of the previous 2 hours was covered as well. Since I didn't want my camera to join the peanut gallery, I decided to take pictures once I was done. Only I forgot... and packaged the cake in a huge box, covered it, and sealed it with tape. Crap... So C, got to take pictures once he got it into work... while it was storming... good times. Anywho, this is what the finished Henry looked like!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-gwkZBQwaJfnrFgqRlaWBfkpjUjsLcdV2cQX6FywwbYGrcY-qcdNZufOfh9JfL0Y5McMd_-i7U65_hyMERA4v5e2DYTomDRHkXBqylq_eZrxO3zTvDCuJrET8iITBO8ih3se8mQL3bs/s1600/PA251216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">,<img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-gwkZBQwaJfnrFgqRlaWBfkpjUjsLcdV2cQX6FywwbYGrcY-qcdNZufOfh9JfL0Y5McMd_-i7U65_hyMERA4v5e2DYTomDRHkXBqylq_eZrxO3zTvDCuJrET8iITBO8ih3se8mQL3bs/s320/PA251216.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVasI0hlYmpKEuyvkoBC1_vHDr82w4ciUGs_lpKzUMrPyfM4lcO9Do265dX1vkHEoeW3bh1prWhwiGJ8WFpLHInvVSiLW_Sa-WSdiVmA0UF9thYi2_NRU78flpZvaA8JQZv3J9Wsdcos/s1600/PA251217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVasI0hlYmpKEuyvkoBC1_vHDr82w4ciUGs_lpKzUMrPyfM4lcO9Do265dX1vkHEoeW3bh1prWhwiGJ8WFpLHInvVSiLW_Sa-WSdiVmA0UF9thYi2_NRU78flpZvaA8JQZv3J9Wsdcos/s320/PA251217.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixacsDDmN6dzL-Z3zulx3W9zhOVHzBi3AEy0lsKc7p0_Kb3rhTupmrdZzZoj7rS2jWzjulqrvLdmhpXNaCv92AUlAFRufnkEVsR78jF5oXA6vKytVp8-ITN69Sw4R0LE81cLo_zvQYJrk/s1600/PA251218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixacsDDmN6dzL-Z3zulx3W9zhOVHzBi3AEy0lsKc7p0_Kb3rhTupmrdZzZoj7rS2jWzjulqrvLdmhpXNaCv92AUlAFRufnkEVsR78jF5oXA6vKytVp8-ITN69Sw4R0LE81cLo_zvQYJrk/s320/PA251218.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYHzjNq9hiM5wIUS4_HXP_s9IQWAG3It8aGRqP7T_-uN3en7mJnlYqnVUqaA0cPhY6VWHJb0o20MvJ0yx_-AAc_OazjL_HNplUItu-fFy-kMl7oAGqO0T6aoSzuhNHjOLeBkju3lZ948/s1600/PA251219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYHzjNq9hiM5wIUS4_HXP_s9IQWAG3It8aGRqP7T_-uN3en7mJnlYqnVUqaA0cPhY6VWHJb0o20MvJ0yx_-AAc_OazjL_HNplUItu-fFy-kMl7oAGqO0T6aoSzuhNHjOLeBkju3lZ948/s320/PA251219.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Apparently C's co-workers were afraid to cut into him. This was the damage around lunch time, but once someone had the cajones to take the face off, I hear it didn't last too much longer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6Zs9zlvvveJYAtf3yRXpQS4L6rNplXg9SNFKklt-3wdKa_H3YQqkU1Mc1R37cP1-ma6digDitfWmDXqb5lD9rbMcZqK7vBUEkhoRONLlJyDbtGzVGTtSPt96KZyYhkWaztylQ03MFVM/s1600/PA251220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6Zs9zlvvveJYAtf3yRXpQS4L6rNplXg9SNFKklt-3wdKa_H3YQqkU1Mc1R37cP1-ma6digDitfWmDXqb5lD9rbMcZqK7vBUEkhoRONLlJyDbtGzVGTtSPt96KZyYhkWaztylQ03MFVM/s320/PA251220.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaO2wKEXTbCjjnA8NCkvoyqJe0MhN-O4NvFviTjbxYoeBoqVsDJjibNzXVkpb-0nJ__24Z24XnTW-jX4PGhATzcKE6R7f9BvyVyM6bm3esQ-mCaVqLawSml9vvzrgkhV0U-VXqKeYgdVo/s1600/PA251221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaO2wKEXTbCjjnA8NCkvoyqJe0MhN-O4NvFviTjbxYoeBoqVsDJjibNzXVkpb-0nJ__24Z24XnTW-jX4PGhATzcKE6R7f9BvyVyM6bm3esQ-mCaVqLawSml9vvzrgkhV0U-VXqKeYgdVo/s320/PA251221.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-27350770091295193512010-10-23T21:49:00.000-04:002010-10-23T21:49:25.315-04:00The Little Engine That Could (force me to post again)So I'd like to say that I have some awesome excuse for not posting, but my only reason is that I haven't really been baking much of anything in the last few months. Lame-sauce, I know. In order to make up for my shameful lack of baked goods, I bring you phase 1 of my most difficult cake yet: Henry the Tank Engine.<br />
<br />
One of my co-workers asked me to make a birthday cake for his adorable little boy's 3rd birthday party. He saw the <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2010/03/absorbent-and-yellow-and-porous-is-he.html">Spongebob Squarepants cake</a> that I made several months ago and liked what I had done, so he asked if I would be willing to make a cake for him - of course! :-) The tricky part? He and his wife are throwing a "Henry the Tank Engine" party and he wanted the cake in the shape of Henry (the #3 Engine from Thomas the Tank Engine). Now, I've done a few character cakes before, but they've all been drawn on a flat cake. My challenge here is that this will be a carved cake and it will involve some fondant work, both things which I've never done!<br />
<br />
I wanted to do a practice round so that the real cake wouldn't be my first time practicing these new techniques, so over the last couple of days I made marshmallow fondant and began practicing Henry's face. It's not perfect, but for never having worked with this medium before I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. <br />
<br />
This was round 1:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xeq2l7BNdVH_oulky4meg_qRmZMfQDbseUvHTsxebTiB6M4VS0EV4HT0hOpRcygmBZHqXfP7k8PVweu-9ifAPdUcOdVDIo_CX-Ij_zHN0njoAiXb3NG7DZnBgOSdmLoDDD-towNxOSY/s1600/PA221198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xeq2l7BNdVH_oulky4meg_qRmZMfQDbseUvHTsxebTiB6M4VS0EV4HT0hOpRcygmBZHqXfP7k8PVweu-9ifAPdUcOdVDIo_CX-Ij_zHN0njoAiXb3NG7DZnBgOSdmLoDDD-towNxOSY/s320/PA221198.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Round 2:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFffKMPCYxAdkpvzywM-ooEHGHejsahwvDAwijVHEk-ogG5TW18ONwxusPWVzE4uwyA-tkZt0Pe-xCfl_7dPUBq_VDUD0jIByl-EZH0NfC0Ml4HqZFY3Oat-9r3kxXA7ZVvDSAL-RdjZE/s1600/PA231202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFffKMPCYxAdkpvzywM-ooEHGHejsahwvDAwijVHEk-ogG5TW18ONwxusPWVzE4uwyA-tkZt0Pe-xCfl_7dPUBq_VDUD0jIByl-EZH0NfC0Ml4HqZFY3Oat-9r3kxXA7ZVvDSAL-RdjZE/s320/PA231202.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Round 3 (the one I'm happiest with):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbPwWUN04b3WlqdZxO16F_bumX3o1Hs4bdgFkgP_pOkjHoefmKt6VLBLtTaYD4j01jSG8g8EWcdQs_AFCMywjqeGVzeefjEP1dBiPoAW6EgePC1axRt07FE1MTaUzSReicCCkAlUiasY/s1600/PA231204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbPwWUN04b3WlqdZxO16F_bumX3o1Hs4bdgFkgP_pOkjHoefmKt6VLBLtTaYD4j01jSG8g8EWcdQs_AFCMywjqeGVzeefjEP1dBiPoAW6EgePC1axRt07FE1MTaUzSReicCCkAlUiasY/s320/PA231204.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Once I'd picked the face I was going to use for the trial cake, C was allowed to pick a face to chomp since he'd been asking since yesterday if he could bite Henry's face! The poor Henry was Henry #2. First went his forehead:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0J-bLmiCJ5S-Xl2onQfnUaTaPNKfPcx4eNINnIM4Xs7vqZ1f8qcDl8bxh9iGivcHjIVq6XPUL8pMgoAsgde5MG7LlLe8oR55EbFWtxZuOUVB6wZGYS5jH8oNQkF6smp22OtyH-l9UDWQ/s1600/PA231208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0J-bLmiCJ5S-Xl2onQfnUaTaPNKfPcx4eNINnIM4Xs7vqZ1f8qcDl8bxh9iGivcHjIVq6XPUL8pMgoAsgde5MG7LlLe8oR55EbFWtxZuOUVB6wZGYS5jH8oNQkF6smp22OtyH-l9UDWQ/s320/PA231208.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<br />
And then went his nose. Poor Henry didn't see it coming...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlkYJfn038FN9uAGmpsTQeRalshgPCcMPIRocz1OB-x-xvV4hoESLBLrAiI02bnv8PKGH_2cW7waMb5sL3btPwz1Sp1tQ6YBxSIfGBapP2XX1yUlaK4HOJsFD_Jx63k0RCU-4iitrI10/s1600/PA231211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRlkYJfn038FN9uAGmpsTQeRalshgPCcMPIRocz1OB-x-xvV4hoESLBLrAiI02bnv8PKGH_2cW7waMb5sL3btPwz1Sp1tQ6YBxSIfGBapP2XX1yUlaK4HOJsFD_Jx63k0RCU-4iitrI10/s320/PA231211.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Stay tuned for updates on my foray into cake carving!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-33875428542535996462010-08-30T08:54:00.000-04:002010-08-30T08:54:49.206-04:00That's Not Baking!!!A while a go one of my BFFs asked me to post about some of the healthier food that I've been fixing instead of the baked yumminess, which has obviously been severely lacking recently. So here goes! <br />
<br />
Fish and I have had a difficult relationship in years past. I blame it on my mom (like most adults do with any "problem") and her love of feeding us fish sticks as children. To this day when I smell fish, I'm taken back to those sticks of fishy mush coated in heaven knows what covered in ketchup so that I could choke them down. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieD75RxPAO1Rgyz7yCtCz_XZ99Qq909mEWE-5EEI3uShSt-Jhm2gtaIEgdSJK2FIjCQnWbtzzFTzpMgAYOe4iL0F-E4uqP4mz4F0Y2YEt2Ch35Y-7MynWc0krXIZ7ZyLXq-nOK_mriQjM/s1600/Fish_sticks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieD75RxPAO1Rgyz7yCtCz_XZ99Qq909mEWE-5EEI3uShSt-Jhm2gtaIEgdSJK2FIjCQnWbtzzFTzpMgAYOe4iL0F-E4uqP4mz4F0Y2YEt2Ch35Y-7MynWc0krXIZ7ZyLXq-nOK_mriQjM/s400/Fish_sticks.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Gross, right? That's what I thought about all fish.. or at least I did until recently. C LOVES fish, including their mushy sticks, and since I've cut most of the meat out of his diet already, I figured I couldn't deny him another source of healthy, lean protein simply because I didn't like it based on childhood memories of frozen, processed fish. Enter Tilapia. It's a mild (read non-fishy fish) that can be used in lots of different ways. We generally broil it with some kind of topping, but this past week I decided to try something a little different. I had leftover low-fat buttermilk in my fridge from making a dessert for C to take into work, and I also had some potato flakes in my pantry from the last time I made sticky buns (yes, there are potato flakes in my sticky buns... what's it to ya?), so I decided to make potato encrusted tilapia. It's pretty simple, and pretty darn tasty too!<br />
<br />
First I mixed the leftover buttermilk (maybe 1/2 c) with a clove of chopped garlic and let it sit for a few minutes. Then I lightly seasoned the fish with salt and pepper and let it soak in the buttermilk for a few minutes. Once it was done introducing itself to the buttermilk, I dredged it in some potato flakes, popped it into a hot pan that had some olive oil in it. Let that puppy sizzle on each side for 2-4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish) and serve!<br />
<br />
I paired it with a spinach salad that had brown turkey figs and a raspberry pomegranate vinaigrette. Yum!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwE8p3lScJsH95LRN5GVMHh6ci5z4fT8RTjSh75iPaiFAVgTEFkqRvZdUDfAZA7vxuHK0g2IZOG7TJcN9WKuS7efGNHUQH6v5T3mYdI3z89Bxn7Q0c40oj3AXOBedVM_NOliIRxlA9WU/s1600/P8231109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwE8p3lScJsH95LRN5GVMHh6ci5z4fT8RTjSh75iPaiFAVgTEFkqRvZdUDfAZA7vxuHK0g2IZOG7TJcN9WKuS7efGNHUQH6v5T3mYdI3z89Bxn7Q0c40oj3AXOBedVM_NOliIRxlA9WU/s400/P8231109.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-8139022528741155882010-07-24T20:47:00.000-04:002010-07-24T20:47:00.724-04:00My Shortcake Goes Both Ways<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I know I promised to get out of my baking funk, and for the most part I think I have. I have moved on from the disappointing cupcakes and have decided to focus on things that I can actually eat (i.e. slightly healthier). In the latest issue of cooking light there was a recipe for a citrus shortcake that was intended to be used for several desserts (a trifle and a brandied peach shortcake). There were recipes for the dessert ideas, but I run in street gangs and do what I want, so I took their recipes as suggestions and worked with what I had in the house.<br />
<br />
But before I could make the desserts, I had to actually make the shortcake. The recipe can be found <a href="http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2001901">here</a>. And what would a post be without some pictures?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAhhwbAZMJVcLxQOJl8SLoexEeqG8FHXYFiNVsh-GLRwAkpkdXdbZL4kljlKWFVY6fw35kUJBD2WboVw8Kjm9ml9aABaLPpI8hGyWxTwTSrtoYzCDLLi-xOA44lZvH-Xd2I4vPdiW87E/s1600/P7181038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAhhwbAZMJVcLxQOJl8SLoexEeqG8FHXYFiNVsh-GLRwAkpkdXdbZL4kljlKWFVY6fw35kUJBD2WboVw8Kjm9ml9aABaLPpI8hGyWxTwTSrtoYzCDLLi-xOA44lZvH-Xd2I4vPdiW87E/s320/P7181038.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BO6J2et6i8nF3DXlhkMRjLsf6sZgZMXcXiY3uyEepBUhyphenhyphenR1rEbk7iSc62-3h05FI2b4DbvWhvKMMlzSqRhEKbRil4ovMz71DMwRKWcAeEcYbKXUt07KE5_IKhp6oWgfRQS6pIbGZdZQ/s1600/P7181039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BO6J2et6i8nF3DXlhkMRjLsf6sZgZMXcXiY3uyEepBUhyphenhyphenR1rEbk7iSc62-3h05FI2b4DbvWhvKMMlzSqRhEKbRil4ovMz71DMwRKWcAeEcYbKXUt07KE5_IKhp6oWgfRQS6pIbGZdZQ/s320/P7181039.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0TauThnZ_enAwn4Q_SRmeHV-G9T32QVfiqZPtBvd9tNBzL3POMvGTheh0QWPlGUChHK5T6HmRkESnG7j8VoRxq6ilpovm_zCP1mLxiGA2y7l5SfCtsR2ejlIx9u-pVhb2xZZBa_1zKc/s1600/P7181043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0TauThnZ_enAwn4Q_SRmeHV-G9T32QVfiqZPtBvd9tNBzL3POMvGTheh0QWPlGUChHK5T6HmRkESnG7j8VoRxq6ilpovm_zCP1mLxiGA2y7l5SfCtsR2ejlIx9u-pVhb2xZZBa_1zKc/s320/P7181043.JPG" /></a></div><br />
The recipe told me to make this in an 8x8 square baking dish, but since I don't have that I improvised. I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZ56GfmGNpd9ivB8Ik3IyD1VKP1sMvLXyp_Yfj0WgsedcZQ20V83Yz8VxVD_EnbZZNxQc6uQtIMpnjpd9lBjVYPs-9l5rRdvnY03leDqC_CUOtliY-wk0L80yRxQb7PABWSYoqn2kpIE/s1600/P7181046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZ56GfmGNpd9ivB8Ik3IyD1VKP1sMvLXyp_Yfj0WgsedcZQ20V83Yz8VxVD_EnbZZNxQc6uQtIMpnjpd9lBjVYPs-9l5rRdvnY03leDqC_CUOtliY-wk0L80yRxQb7PABWSYoqn2kpIE/s320/P7181046.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Now that the shortcake was done, I had a couple desserts to make. The first was a berry trifle. I cut a couple slices of the shortcake into small cubes and put them in the oven to toast. While they were getting a tan, I mixed about 1 c of greek yogurt with 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tsp of orange zest, and maybe a tbsp of fresh orange juice. Then I tossed some strawberries and blueberries in another couple tbsp of fresh oj and let them all get acquainted with each other while the shortcake finished getting toasty. When the cubes looked more latina then white-bread I took them out of the oven and layered them in a glass with the berries and the yogurt sauce. All said and done, they looked like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzVom3zCaMu9SoKvgqkk0kc9dUYy2bh3atfaZzAqgqB3inqyRZxLznpSpdg3u_RHJgZ4w6GD9d6mlOrf9iDpmYjFIz_drHl1XJf5os7oHVC5fv4xRyy69P4dFYjGcPz93xmj61S8oj9Y/s1600/P7201049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzVom3zCaMu9SoKvgqkk0kc9dUYy2bh3atfaZzAqgqB3inqyRZxLznpSpdg3u_RHJgZ4w6GD9d6mlOrf9iDpmYjFIz_drHl1XJf5os7oHVC5fv4xRyy69P4dFYjGcPz93xmj61S8oj9Y/s400/P7201049.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
Next up was peachy shortcake (om nom nom). The recipe in Cooking Light called for Brandy, and grilling peaches, and lots of other ingredients. Since the peaches I had were in season, ripe, and basically amazing, I decided to forget all of the complicated stuff and let the peaches speak for themselves. I removed the skin, sliced them, and then drizzled with just enough honey to make a light sauce. Next I mixed about 1/4 c of greek yogurt with 1 tbsp of honey to sweeten it. Last, but definitely not least, I layered the citrus shortcake with the peaches and the yogurt sauce. The end result was such a fresh, light dessert that it was perfect for the ridiculous summer heat we've been having these last few days.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Vxgq1QQXuBhwpIRnJVl1qMcIAoC0gTnsl34nx0glJKE87TcXofQ2sYodJ9v2p_DxTlCIdoJDjcIocLI9_oy7zzTf4TWPGALpeH2oIlsENu53SxbY4DYurp_6MSj_rVY_KDWMaoCnMqI/s1600/P7241057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Vxgq1QQXuBhwpIRnJVl1qMcIAoC0gTnsl34nx0glJKE87TcXofQ2sYodJ9v2p_DxTlCIdoJDjcIocLI9_oy7zzTf4TWPGALpeH2oIlsENu53SxbY4DYurp_6MSj_rVY_KDWMaoCnMqI/s320/P7241057.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Take home message? Recipes are great, but don't go out of your way to follow them. Listen to you gut, go with what's in your pantry, and the end results will be well worth it! Enjoy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-74198172396533429132010-07-01T14:50:00.000-04:002010-07-01T14:50:22.888-04:00Bring in 'da noise, bring in 'da funkCause that's what I'm in. A Baking Funk. I was all excited about the cupcake journey until cupcake after cupcake from that book seemed to disappoint. It's so hard to be excited about a project that doesn't deliver on a consistent basis. Sad no baked yumminess panda.<br />
<br />
There are tons of other recipes that I've back-logged in my "omg that would be amazing" file, but due to recent events I've been trying to cut back on calorie-laden foods. What recent event, you ask?<br />
<br />
BAM! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0CeJp1vA8-Vdz3ZVDxp-GpqwkVN_Kiv_zbz0uqc7homwnH8oVVuHXt3fT50FfPna-lY5tLkhISA5pkkvCqumP7k6qajjvbX5-VHPi0vrDs9pa71nnCSxgXh3dlZps93wdXji0GTDXKls/s1600/Ring02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0CeJp1vA8-Vdz3ZVDxp-GpqwkVN_Kiv_zbz0uqc7homwnH8oVVuHXt3fT50FfPna-lY5tLkhISA5pkkvCqumP7k6qajjvbX5-VHPi0vrDs9pa71nnCSxgXh3dlZps93wdXji0GTDXKls/s400/Ring02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
So now that I've entered the world of wedding planning and actually have to fit into a pretty white dress at some point without feeling like a sea cow, a cupcake, or a snow beast, I have to cut back on the baked goods (cause as we all know, you can't bake something and then not "quality test" it at least once... or maybe twice...)<br />
<br />
I promise that I'll attempt to be better about posting in the future, it just may not be as frequently since I'm not baking as much as I was. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-16802240057445904152010-05-25T08:08:00.002-04:002010-05-25T08:10:26.512-04:00Pucker Your Sucker White Chocolate Lemon Meringue PieSo this post is long overdue. I made this pie the same weekend that I had all of my wisdom (teeth) removed and had bling (titanium dental implant) put in, but I've been too busy and/or lazy to post about it. After some prodding from C, I decided that I should finally share the joy that was white chocolate lemon meringue pie (and I say was, because it lasted about 2.5 days in our house).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Let me start with I <3 lemon meringue pie. Like, I would marry it if it were legal to marry an inanimate object, if I didn't think people would look at me funny, and there wasn't the danger of me getting a little too hungry one day... hrm. Anyway, growing up this is one of the things I remember my grandma fixing for special occasions. Granted, I think she used canned pie filling, but the sentiment was still there. When I saw a recipe in a magazine that added white chocolate to this most beloved dessert, I almost peed myself with glee. (OK, not really... but I was totally stoked).<br />
<br />
First things first, you need to make a pie crust. I showed you all how to do this <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2010/03/pi-day.html">on pie day.</a> When you've made your crust, place it in a 9-in pie plate, fold/crimp the edges, prick it with a fork, and bake it in a 475 degree oven for 8-10 minutes (or until lightly browned). Take that sucker out of the oven and let it cool while you get busy making magic.<br />
<br />
Ingredients<br />
<br />
1/2 c white chocolate morsels<br />
2 tbsp heavy cream<br />
1 1/3 c sugar, divided<br />
1/4 c cornstarch<br />
1/4 tsp salt<br />
1 c cold water<br />
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten<br />
1 tbsp lemon zest<br />
1/3 c fresh lemon juice<br />
2 tbsp butter<br />
2 tbsp sour cream<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
3 egg whites<br />
1/4 tsp cream of tartar<br />
<br />
Directions<br />
<br />
In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the white chocolate and cream. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals until the chocolate has completely melted and is smooth (about 1 min). Spread evenly over the bottom of your baked pie crust.<br />
<br />
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 c sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually whisk in water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat; cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat.<br />
<br />
Gradually add 1/2 c of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, whisking to combine. (Side note - this is a very important step. What it does is slowly raise the temperature of your egg so that when you add them to the hot mess you just made, you end up with velvety lemony goodness instead of lemony scrambled eggs.)<br />
<br />
Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot mixture in the saucepan. Return to medium heat and cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened.<br />
<br />
Whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, sour cream, and vanilla. Cook for 1 minute, until mixture is thickened. Remove this bad boy from the heat.<br />
<br />
In a medium bowl beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed with an electric mixer (unless you have super human strength and can do this by hand... I am not blessed with that skill) until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/3 c sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.<br />
<br />
Pour the hot filling into the white chocolate smothered pie crust. Spread the meringue over the hot filling, completely sealing to the edge of the crust. Bake for 20 minutes at 350-ish or until meringue is lightly browned.<br />
<br />
When it comes out of the oven it will look something like this:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdy7ry0SGzF2Rttz5qNVyRUHimNPD85_CVv61ueR97-5VMKhIxxzv5jThOqCcf2HhWBUMD8YVwKJlJH3f5CdwuV0D_R5_mzQTsICIvffURRIksQD10mcZ0rGql2fa-aKYIRSxJsjL57uY/s1600/P5090969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdy7ry0SGzF2Rttz5qNVyRUHimNPD85_CVv61ueR97-5VMKhIxxzv5jThOqCcf2HhWBUMD8YVwKJlJH3f5CdwuV0D_R5_mzQTsICIvffURRIksQD10mcZ0rGql2fa-aKYIRSxJsjL57uY/s400/P5090969.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4prRh2jXnDw1X77D2bb9XqBtrMpJVAKsuXrRMelNyABgjvoVE3qoE58y4IX5C_FFYlQEaolcyr8zBxrluj_yQkKFaHyJWHhQKrEwL4tFB4ORWyn7_qzgqXcSjtYHOSn0GV_p8nKWx9s/s1600/P5090970.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL4prRh2jXnDw1X77D2bb9XqBtrMpJVAKsuXrRMelNyABgjvoVE3qoE58y4IX5C_FFYlQEaolcyr8zBxrluj_yQkKFaHyJWHhQKrEwL4tFB4ORWyn7_qzgqXcSjtYHOSn0GV_p8nKWx9s/s400/P5090970.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXhjo42Gat0j0-jQN3I5vPfqjhHYzxW_yuVfWInCuLVLQ5VNN4xmZ4ZEvP_x4RGQt58pRshgaiV1MowSgbiEHzVoDEK4NSvL1MnozB3nxSaKNINXkY0Ynlv3IoTZQYYbgHObmvnIIZbj8/s1600/P5090971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXhjo42Gat0j0-jQN3I5vPfqjhHYzxW_yuVfWInCuLVLQ5VNN4xmZ4ZEvP_x4RGQt58pRshgaiV1MowSgbiEHzVoDEK4NSvL1MnozB3nxSaKNINXkY0Ynlv3IoTZQYYbgHObmvnIIZbj8/s400/P5090971.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now comes the hard part - you HAVE to let it cool. Remember that runny filling you put into the pie shell? Well it's still runny and is now about 350 degrees, which = lemony lava in your mouth. Poor choice... So yes, you have to let it cool at room temperature for 1-2 hours. To add insult to injury, you have to wait a little longer because it sets up best if you refrigerate it first - so into the fridge it goes! (An hour or so should do it.) After all that waiting, here is your reward:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuAsK_yZkFpyzEU7Hpn3lTCwqnnMHxKdHN2YMxJw78BZl-sAe7F0R8PFbDJpHgBr92DE0CZLPd28h4SvJwlkPAvWjZpkz0nZ7PIUt-WPpNd_D8EqcxkCfnTRaQekZV2yOU4Apq2PkXin8/s1600/P5090973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuAsK_yZkFpyzEU7Hpn3lTCwqnnMHxKdHN2YMxJw78BZl-sAe7F0R8PFbDJpHgBr92DE0CZLPd28h4SvJwlkPAvWjZpkz0nZ7PIUt-WPpNd_D8EqcxkCfnTRaQekZV2yOU4Apq2PkXin8/s400/P5090973.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Enjoy! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-20428441621529173372010-05-14T14:45:00.000-04:002010-05-14T14:45:25.970-04:00Hole-y Mouth Batman! Flourless Chocolate CakeFor those of you who know me well, you know I buy my baking supplies in bulk. Costco is a wonderful land where I can buy 4 lb packages of butter, 7 lb bags of powdered sugar, and 25 lb bags of flour without shame because hotpants in the next checkout aisle over has a 3 gallon jar of mayo and a lifetime supply of cheesy poofs. Now stop looking at me like that over the 25 lb bag of flour. I use it in everything I bake, and I've gone through about half of the bag in the last month. Flourless cake you say? Well shit...<br />
<br />
Like I mentioned in my <a href="http://bakingforpearls.blogspot.com/2010/05/grandma-dont-need-her-teeth-bread.html">last post</a> I had some awesometastic oral surgery last week that has left me with the chewing capabilities of an infant for the past 7 days. In honor of that I gave myself free reign to eat as much ooey gooey awesomenss asI could before my good excuse was gone. One of the things that I decided to make was a flourless chocolate cake. All I have to say is O-M-G.<br />
<br />
Once you've greased, floured, and lined a 6in round pan with parchment paper, place a cake pan filled halfway with water into a 325 degree oven.<br />
<br />
Step 1: Melt 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate with 6 tbsp butter in the microwave in 30 second intervals. You set that aside and let it cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.<br />
<br />
Step 2: Beat 3 egg yolks (reserve whites) with 1 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c cocoa powder and 1 tsp vanilla. It will be a thick mess, but it gets better. Add the slightly cooled chocolate-butter mix to the egg yolk mixture and stir until combined. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYu6A3JaEYNzHEjN8tKo_Evuw647iVc_SGb0i281WrRo5pM0M4xtUPwDI85IpePRUJVWjTRlJhhUBuWTX1mhd_Lfl1N-Zy8MNorq4xUVlGR7dyPjCy-KCwD_x5qgs0JBYIYMdjJlf8RW0/s1600/P5100976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYu6A3JaEYNzHEjN8tKo_Evuw647iVc_SGb0i281WrRo5pM0M4xtUPwDI85IpePRUJVWjTRlJhhUBuWTX1mhd_Lfl1N-Zy8MNorq4xUVlGR7dyPjCy-KCwD_x5qgs0JBYIYMdjJlf8RW0/s400/P5100976.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Step 3: Remember those egg whites you saved? (If you forgot, pretend you remembered and have your boyfriend distract any bystanders as you crack 3 more eggs, throw away the yolks and magically produce the whites in a bowl.) Beat the eggs until soft peaks form. They should look something like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1OHkx0MUiOMlQ6LuAmdqipkDZuLUybPrO_RNRYsMyFCN6ks15BM5Ikfipajtc2azeMvneM3bnDjOU2t4zhMQ5Ds0-ybgcn7sQYePlG3HnAKq9BGVd_LXqB26QZ_g6agZjb6cWKsfL4g/s1600/P5100975.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil1OHkx0MUiOMlQ6LuAmdqipkDZuLUybPrO_RNRYsMyFCN6ks15BM5Ikfipajtc2azeMvneM3bnDjOU2t4zhMQ5Ds0-ybgcn7sQYePlG3HnAKq9BGVd_LXqB26QZ_g6agZjb6cWKsfL4g/s400/P5100975.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Step 4: Fold (do not stir!!!) your egg whites into the chocolate mixture 1/3 at a time. Be gentle here people! The egg whites are what's going to give your cake some height. Stir too hard and you'll end up with chocolate flavored shoe leather. It's OK if there are a few white streaks here and there throughout the batter. You're really just looking for it to be evenly mixed.<br />
<br />
Step 5: Spoon the batter gently into the prepared 6 in round pan and place in the pan of hot water in the preheated oven. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBwHXPNSpKTFaJOCSvmueoxGBxNx2OBDLGKZLRE-7RjlrTiuHq5mAszqGAvCpq1ja_zJtF4t_XjHBoHXllWXaT_iARv6ITOs9KJY425L6g5ZjZ0JJ8SZuNQBi1ZBxIfpUJyBV55W1RHU/s1600/P5100977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFBwHXPNSpKTFaJOCSvmueoxGBxNx2OBDLGKZLRE-7RjlrTiuHq5mAszqGAvCpq1ja_zJtF4t_XjHBoHXllWXaT_iARv6ITOs9KJY425L6g5ZjZ0JJ8SZuNQBi1ZBxIfpUJyBV55W1RHU/s400/P5100977.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Bake for 45-55 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYmrTnJw-f4ue15xap71qRE1VpHt0wcifd6TwI2L-J8zRt_nLkvZZ12SH-fgDyWsr6ycjBaiquJZgUeqsytC7UFf58-n5DcZstRrnO06NR_dsJpGooGue45reqfZ4q5cyPqugfeMhyphenhyphenhg/s1600/P5100979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYmrTnJw-f4ue15xap71qRE1VpHt0wcifd6TwI2L-J8zRt_nLkvZZ12SH-fgDyWsr6ycjBaiquJZgUeqsytC7UFf58-n5DcZstRrnO06NR_dsJpGooGue45reqfZ4q5cyPqugfeMhyphenhyphenhg/s400/P5100979.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Let the cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack (or on top of your stove if hopped up on pain meds and you're too lazy to pull out a cooling rack just yet). After 15 minutes, gently run a knife along the edge of the pan to release any sticky bits, and then turn onto a cooling rack (and yes, your lazy butt does actually have to get a cooling rack now).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0kc4DOA4hy3pxjuB9byAYAGq7Y3cAaTYV4YbOJqZ45yX6koNsB9MxYpp3cfxi6fXtzrJxwtzVLZafzKJa-tHZNSe9OAZzGWfZoZ3uKlkT175rSMEQ0s1to87HCYXdyrsQVUro0IicpE/s1600/P5100980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0kc4DOA4hy3pxjuB9byAYAGq7Y3cAaTYV4YbOJqZ45yX6koNsB9MxYpp3cfxi6fXtzrJxwtzVLZafzKJa-tHZNSe9OAZzGWfZoZ3uKlkT175rSMEQ0s1to87HCYXdyrsQVUro0IicpE/s400/P5100980.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now the recipe tells you to let it cool completely and then serve. I say screw the directions. This sucker tastes like a warm ooey gooey brownie when it's fresh out of the oven like this. So you have my blessing to cut it up and dig right in!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bxmB8dSIlAsuGLRab7RudJU8HfstkYjpPZmQBYxwK3OjUkxDLA1hMCLZYjighuN9PzR-fkDrauvymxF6TuHXweXGOUgY5BB9nDhGL0WCrrCmfWuMgHYhMEgXeCJIG8HoMfgsQplf8gM/s1600/P5100982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bxmB8dSIlAsuGLRab7RudJU8HfstkYjpPZmQBYxwK3OjUkxDLA1hMCLZYjighuN9PzR-fkDrauvymxF6TuHXweXGOUgY5BB9nDhGL0WCrrCmfWuMgHYhMEgXeCJIG8HoMfgsQplf8gM/s400/P5100982.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Perhaps with some fudge sauce?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9js4LW-149Y_xdLt_hOd_bqYOYy0oD821GBmvFNmFOWGeRjh5Ea092D-P6P8aU7C5RCKBTm0DRlgZb11GI4OJ54_HBnvH3GE4XoWmzm3MxkH7s2gsuM_A72IseaqSi6GwBhSqU7NHdk/s1600/P5100984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9js4LW-149Y_xdLt_hOd_bqYOYy0oD821GBmvFNmFOWGeRjh5Ea092D-P6P8aU7C5RCKBTm0DRlgZb11GI4OJ54_HBnvH3GE4XoWmzm3MxkH7s2gsuM_A72IseaqSi6GwBhSqU7NHdk/s400/P5100984.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>*Drool*<br />
<span id="goog_607202446"></span><span id="goog_607202447"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-57231109845297427762010-05-08T19:06:00.000-04:002010-05-08T19:06:55.702-04:00Grandma Don't Need Her Teeth Bread PuddingWhew, what a whirlwind couple of weeks it's been! Last weekend one of my best friends got married, so I was in Blacksburg, VA for her wedding (hence no posting). A picture of me and the boy once the open bar started to kick in:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpb_ZeQ9wnxdTV3giN1-5SfRbC1ezzBUay_LFpRFcYgrYtoJt-bzdgtZQEaKnKtcgTFOUaEO03NILedmdTjJ2z03b9XIbm6fDts8mXbBYlZ0iwYrQ3fccFYanI0zFfYgrsPtle5zR1es/s1600/P5010951.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDpb_ZeQ9wnxdTV3giN1-5SfRbC1ezzBUay_LFpRFcYgrYtoJt-bzdgtZQEaKnKtcgTFOUaEO03NILedmdTjJ2z03b9XIbm6fDts8mXbBYlZ0iwYrQ3fccFYanI0zFfYgrsPtle5zR1es/s400/P5010951.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
My week at work was "awesometastic" (and for those of you who know me well, you know the real meaning of that word...), so I was too tired to bake at night when I got home. To add insult to the injury of my work week, I had oral surgery yesterday. I had my last 2 wisdom teeth removed and a dental implant placed for the tooth that I've never had (brotha from anotha motha, anyone?). I will say the best part about all of this is the guiltless nomming of pudding, ice cream, and as much mac n' cheese as I can eat. <br />
<br />
In honor of my inability to eat anything harder than the consistency of baby food for the next week, I've decided to dedicate this week to all things ooey, gooey, and relatively chewless. This first of this weekend's awesomeness is what I'm lovingly calling Grandma Don't Need Her Teeth Bread Pudding and I'm serving it with a whiskey sauce (to get grandma sauced, of course).<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
<br />
Pudding -<br />
1 loaf of hearty bread, cubed and dried overnight<br />
4 tbsp butter, melted<br />
1 c dried fruit of choice (I used raisins and some orange essence prunes - don't tell the boy!)<br />
8 eggs<br />
4 c half and half<br />
1 1/2 c sugar<br />
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon<br />
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg<br />
2 tsp vanilla extract<br />
<br />
Glaze -<br />
3/4 c butter<br />
3/4 c light corn syrup<br />
1 1/2 c sugar<br />
1/2 c whiskey<br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
<br />
Spray a 13x9 glass dish (or something comparable) with cooking spray. Layer the dried bread cubes and dried fruit in the dish and drizzle with the melted butter. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3WPP7Auk0kKY7OqYaGqDSsSvSdV5bpHvRrTranovKNchPCnLW58LFcfxJRzlaIK8o8AOcQ6hsmxXFC23qOm8vv-nCvy7zzw83J58Dg6yK3J2f2yDh-2_Wg-JJ_ri3PGlZukrzNrOMTk/s1600/P5080963.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3WPP7Auk0kKY7OqYaGqDSsSvSdV5bpHvRrTranovKNchPCnLW58LFcfxJRzlaIK8o8AOcQ6hsmxXFC23qOm8vv-nCvy7zzw83J58Dg6yK3J2f2yDh-2_Wg-JJ_ri3PGlZukrzNrOMTk/s400/P5080963.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Combine the eggs, half and half, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Pour over the bread and fruit in the dish. Lightly squish the bread so that it's coated in the egg mixture. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIkN1DL4isOcKaj6WoL8qQRPIbpuS0LiauJlwVGhxMqVGyKAST8pAjF5E1rzSw_AXaegLg45IOF8HvyRQJT6sOr1MBQrLIpDS8AyEhlerUsDqFQIokHIBDElqutfgUwveIz-INBGmDxk/s1600/P5080964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixIkN1DL4isOcKaj6WoL8qQRPIbpuS0LiauJlwVGhxMqVGyKAST8pAjF5E1rzSw_AXaegLg45IOF8HvyRQJT6sOr1MBQrLIpDS8AyEhlerUsDqFQIokHIBDElqutfgUwveIz-INBGmDxk/s400/P5080964.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, or until it springs back when you touch it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsr3lMpA0OfH6D1fE7m3DkU-PzmdJSeOFLY-WNyYetZ8y6elmxsLsC7e2r2w0Wve5jv9VmvIepjHCuc7MYhwNgImhfVacpAxJ-vPpGcvfx159IcvVJgsBdmdHNW5QPc-wH4uAKChejpo/s1600/P5080965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsr3lMpA0OfH6D1fE7m3DkU-PzmdJSeOFLY-WNyYetZ8y6elmxsLsC7e2r2w0Wve5jv9VmvIepjHCuc7MYhwNgImhfVacpAxJ-vPpGcvfx159IcvVJgsBdmdHNW5QPc-wH4uAKChejpo/s400/P5080965.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
For the sauce, combine the butter, sugar, and corn syrup in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. Add the whiskey and whisk that sucker good. Drizzle (or pour...) over the warm bread pudding, and then sit back and enjoy the chewless noms!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirI5EZvpdMGPD9PdFrfbP5rMeklP9z107zJ3KipqVaTW93SbeB6OCkbArJOOKDKm7H25JTWKFLLnLNwashIqMkSfJon5O6ZZenSkyXdL7sJWAsv7l_QxPxco4ZqPPRNpRGMIbs9C1UrRs/s1600/P5080967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirI5EZvpdMGPD9PdFrfbP5rMeklP9z107zJ3KipqVaTW93SbeB6OCkbArJOOKDKm7H25JTWKFLLnLNwashIqMkSfJon5O6ZZenSkyXdL7sJWAsv7l_QxPxco4ZqPPRNpRGMIbs9C1UrRs/s400/P5080967.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-81898493700698254462010-04-24T19:16:00.000-04:002010-04-24T19:16:54.096-04:00Everything's Better with BaconLadies and gentlemen, boys and girls, prepare to be amazed! Prepare to be terrified! Prepare to be shocked by the awesomeness! Prepare yourselves for... <b>Apple Bacon Bundt Cake. </b><br />
<br />
Now that you've had a chance to pick yourselves up off the floor and have steadied your constitutions, I'll repeat, prepare yourselves for Apple Bacon Bundt Cake. That's right, there's bacon in this cake. I have to admit when my wonderful mama passed along this recipe I was a bit horrified, so of course I had to try it.<br />
<br />
Imagine, if you can, a combination of sweet/tart, warm cinnamon and nutmeg, with smoky, salty bacon all wrapped up and covered in a layer of glazed goodness. That, in a nutshell, is today's cake. You start by cooking the bacon until crisp. Once the bacon is cooked, you remove it from the pan and add the apples to the hot bacon grease. I really thought this step would make me gag, but the smell of the apples caramelizing in smokey bacon drippings was actually amazing. Like a chocolate covered pretzel with its sweet/salty aroma, but a hogillion times better.<br />
<br />
The batter itself is a pretty basic spice cake recipe, minus the bacon of course. Once combined, you add the bacon and caramelized apples, pour into a greased/flour bundt pan and bake until the dogs are sitting in front of the oven salivating like Pavlov has rung a bell. On a side note, all I could think while baking this cake was "There's a hole in this cake" in a very Greek accent. Don't worry, I fixed it...<br />
<br />
When the dogs have practically licked the door off the oven, take it out and let it cool for about 10 minuts, plop it onto your cake plate of choice, slather it in the glaze that's been sitting patiently in the bowl on the counter, and then sprinkle it with bacon. You heard me... I said sprinkle it with bacon. Do it... just trust me. The end result is something that will make your mouth water and your boyfriend groan.. in a totally PG kinda way of course.<br />
<br />
And now, what you've all been waiting for... Bacon Cake Pictures!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjke0i_EYkaTSC5dn3mXTcq2Nr1O3H7nloKBJOR7anPi_ZurFvtABr_7ifKU1hscz-5MZo19_V4PT7PVBuv_E3ET1Vd9zpIhsE-IRomPM9G4Y9yc_WIa4jeRVgnYYCQ2gjN4SbjIq1Sia4/s1600/P4240775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjke0i_EYkaTSC5dn3mXTcq2Nr1O3H7nloKBJOR7anPi_ZurFvtABr_7ifKU1hscz-5MZo19_V4PT7PVBuv_E3ET1Vd9zpIhsE-IRomPM9G4Y9yc_WIa4jeRVgnYYCQ2gjN4SbjIq1Sia4/s400/P4240775.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZrMzdydbF3M4YTBml0QUpTICjuXttsG0thtruI8pL-6mSJr0G2RFic3zD4LhUg4Zpo_Cg4YypgImzglIJbgU6o4wix0d4XLxAxn2eeFAL3oEsAvTuig0VW-fKVxtbkOUomJArjw2GDeY/s1600/P4240777.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZrMzdydbF3M4YTBml0QUpTICjuXttsG0thtruI8pL-6mSJr0G2RFic3zD4LhUg4Zpo_Cg4YypgImzglIJbgU6o4wix0d4XLxAxn2eeFAL3oEsAvTuig0VW-fKVxtbkOUomJArjw2GDeY/s400/P4240777.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdebr7IsTMBaGz9haKLWdwHR74At91L7JSVjyXiAkm8hb8xLt9LBPx4d1nHl2ttie3BxL5Mqj4bGF6TZT82UovH0ex5Ez7ht6_ZpLLU_wMDtlW0GZaJ1d9J4zbgGHhB5QWhXI76wWRFzM/s1600/P4240776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdebr7IsTMBaGz9haKLWdwHR74At91L7JSVjyXiAkm8hb8xLt9LBPx4d1nHl2ttie3BxL5Mqj4bGF6TZT82UovH0ex5Ez7ht6_ZpLLU_wMDtlW0GZaJ1d9J4zbgGHhB5QWhXI76wWRFzM/s400/P4240776.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And because we could hardly wait to try it, here's what it looks like when you cut into it:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FGG9Pk1ziHF5X2wjsI5uA3tAXzNca31iUDSsNbVau7x2sR_rNOAAaTRI9xKN0ngCSEToIWTI4MFlRkxbCvgqbaF7BtrCwsKkQjilrSVbIf2xRkaVmSNw4BxqegYjsd05T8fn6CDAlu8/s1600/P4240781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FGG9Pk1ziHF5X2wjsI5uA3tAXzNca31iUDSsNbVau7x2sR_rNOAAaTRI9xKN0ngCSEToIWTI4MFlRkxbCvgqbaF7BtrCwsKkQjilrSVbIf2xRkaVmSNw4BxqegYjsd05T8fn6CDAlu8/s400/P4240781.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
See the bacon pieces in the cake?? YUM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh673ZW0PwI_mxFVcXYQB9zCDBQ961X_ZlHe7utiWzFHPHfvUfvoCWV64dCnn568BcmECdwMbsMpmkBpiHiiGndZQpmuyYAfrEpvaA2Dq4pTlNHZh6anrnYCNBVASMzWowEs2wgUCso-9g/s1600/P4240782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh673ZW0PwI_mxFVcXYQB9zCDBQ961X_ZlHe7utiWzFHPHfvUfvoCWV64dCnn568BcmECdwMbsMpmkBpiHiiGndZQpmuyYAfrEpvaA2Dq4pTlNHZh6anrnYCNBVASMzWowEs2wgUCso-9g/s400/P4240782.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8w1cpSQpt33YIicj2dq29_I1QMtpqrimGvUOL6cxUPVxRek-8NnJnrhipdZcOi7QwIsvRtw02iQnGxlZgnCuBdji9aqHhyphenhyphenqKFK61q_J38ptQQtfQTWTk-Kdx1xlfSALs02XB5KqUtc2I/s1600/P4240785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8w1cpSQpt33YIicj2dq29_I1QMtpqrimGvUOL6cxUPVxRek-8NnJnrhipdZcOi7QwIsvRtw02iQnGxlZgnCuBdji9aqHhyphenhyphenqKFK61q_J38ptQQtfQTWTk-Kdx1xlfSALs02XB5KqUtc2I/s400/P4240785.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
What? You want the recipe? Sure thing.<br />
<br />
Cake:<br />
2 c finely diced granny smith apples<br />
10 slices thick apple-wood or maple-smoked bacon<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 c natural no-sugar added applesauce<br />
1 tbsp vanilla extract<br />
1 tbsp vegetable oil<br />
2 c sugar<br />
3 c all purpose flour<br />
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon<br />
1 tsp baking soda<br />
1 tsp salt<br />
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg<br />
1/2 tsp baking powder<br />
<br />
Glaze:<br />
1 1/2 c powdered sugar<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
1 tbsp brown sugar<br />
2 tbsp no-sugar-added applesauce<br />
<br />
Directions:<br />
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 10-in fluted bundt pan. <br />
<br />
Dice the bacon into small pieces (no larger than 1/2 in) and brown in skillet until crispy. Set bacon aside to drain; add apples to remaining bacon fat and cook just until they are a little caramelized (about 1-2 min). Remove apples from skillet and set aside. <br />
<br />
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer at medium speed until thick and lemony-looking. Add applesauce, oil, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until everything is incorporated. Add sugar and beat for 1 minute.<br />
<br />
In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder; add into wet mixture and beat until fully incorporated.<br />
<br />
Reserve 3 tbsp of cooked bacon for cake topping. Add the rest of the bacon and the apples to mixture and beat for 1 minute. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.<br />
<br />
Right after you put the pan into the oven, mix ingredients for the glaze and let sit in a covered bowl until the cake is ready. <br />
<br />
Remove the cake from the oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake onto cake place. Drizzle glaze all over warm cake and sprinkle with reserved bacon.<br />
<br />
So, there you go. Hope you all can terrify your friends and family, and enjoy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-62575193353624656932010-04-18T20:37:00.000-04:002010-04-18T20:37:44.107-04:00Cupcake Sunday: Beehive Cupcakes and Mini Pear and Walnut Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I left you all last week with the mental image of me on the floor in front of the fridge and a teaser shot of the cupcakes that I made last weekend. Now that a week has gone by and I've been remiss in my blogging, I thought it was time I got off my lazy butt and posted like I should have done a week ago.<br />
<br />
Last weekends cupcake was called a Beehive Cupcake. It was a honey cupcake that had a yellow meringue frosting piped on in the shape of beehives. The cupcake itself started off more like a chocolate chip cookie base (creaming together butter and brown sugar) than a cupcake base.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXq8s478kLLpbrArTFxqTXCYUwzHDygTRgX9tp83OtubEs5nNfAOtiYI64sbm49vETP3QMQhEd_BdgtqwEy_geaosdWPOQYJD7lD20wMusUcpHG104Gk6lK2S0KcPKYky17Z16kcUocE/s1600/P4180768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXq8s478kLLpbrArTFxqTXCYUwzHDygTRgX9tp83OtubEs5nNfAOtiYI64sbm49vETP3QMQhEd_BdgtqwEy_geaosdWPOQYJD7lD20wMusUcpHG104Gk6lK2S0KcPKYky17Z16kcUocE/s400/P4180768.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now I don't know how many of you have made a meringue frosting before, but I never had. I used to watch my grandma make it to put onto shortcake, but I'd never attempted it myself. I was running a little low on eggs, so instead of wasting the yolks, I thought I would use the egg beaters egg whites that were in the fridge. The container says 100% egg white, so I figured it would work the same... WRONG. I sat there and beat those egg whites like they deserved it, and nothing... no white fluffy goodness. Not even a substantial amount of bubbles that could lie and say they were meringue. So yeah, I not only wasted egg beaters, I had to use the real egg whites anyway. As C would say, lesson learned. When I finally got it right, the frosting was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. It's like the younger, prettier sister of the fluff that you get in the jar at the grocery store. The jarred fluff wishes it could be like my fluff (...that sounds kinda wrong...).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXR9c4BVhBdDklliFvKbUlJHfCvLRC0OUSr4ZDi4CpHT0J2hqvlb1jYeOq6YOFYUSyqGLTs-MWcyShqH6fvRcsepsAKKJ3LXn2wm6f7GZ5XOMTcv7i0dOF9__z7FhBc8pzXVw1f_osjI/s1600/P4110687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXR9c4BVhBdDklliFvKbUlJHfCvLRC0OUSr4ZDi4CpHT0J2hqvlb1jYeOq6YOFYUSyqGLTs-MWcyShqH6fvRcsepsAKKJ3LXn2wm6f7GZ5XOMTcv7i0dOF9__z7FhBc8pzXVw1f_osjI/s400/P4110687.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vofaxCyr_9fmdQgc7gyxJ-jRWuOcb5Qxqv-I5ZI0pu6VSPC7VEsynSSq8MtLrEsD84eyEG11EC9_bEpDPouqYXjlBiI2y5ehhp_cEf2ktS6y0_28NnZiA9NJWFPbeONdIKvKwh-JeSg/s1600/P4110690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vofaxCyr_9fmdQgc7gyxJ-jRWuOcb5Qxqv-I5ZI0pu6VSPC7VEsynSSq8MtLrEsD84eyEG11EC9_bEpDPouqYXjlBiI2y5ehhp_cEf2ktS6y0_28NnZiA9NJWFPbeONdIKvKwh-JeSg/s400/P4110690.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICTaHBFom7ki5j3VZxSl7NlaQCHmIib4C8zyqHi8CQinMcjomx325CDHTHL7cOco_N-z4kDEWcwT8aHyhKV3LTfCHocxz9GMLQq28f29RO9UEhD1Q7DJzVwhMnQKA-E5XFmdc9rEul84/s1600/P4110691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgICTaHBFom7ki5j3VZxSl7NlaQCHmIib4C8zyqHi8CQinMcjomx325CDHTHL7cOco_N-z4kDEWcwT8aHyhKV3LTfCHocxz9GMLQq28f29RO9UEhD1Q7DJzVwhMnQKA-E5XFmdc9rEul84/s400/P4110691.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The recipe called for foil wrapped bees, but let's be honest.... the closest I was going to get to finding foil wrapped bees were the bees that Squirt catches in the backyard. Who thinks of these things?<br />
<br />
This week's cupcake (mini Pear and Walnut Cupcakes) was equally delightful. The best part? I already had almost everything I needed on hand to make them. All I had to buy was a can of pears and a small bag of walnut pieces. Rock on. I love when that happens because it makes me feel like a girl scout - always prepared. The cupcake started off similar to last week's cupcake, but instead of folding in honey at the end, I had to fold in chopped up pear and walnuts. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2gXxW6BzzIi8GpRHwYpZiiAuRsAbtZsTLiLkfFIunn2hdk5WJx-ntJsJufe_X0UhUVTkz1cM2yjClj9QR23CGATk3T_WPLlPw4rb1nJkdWIxAJbx_W5E8io2JWosC1u-M2jMMDFp0aI/s1600/P4180767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2gXxW6BzzIi8GpRHwYpZiiAuRsAbtZsTLiLkfFIunn2hdk5WJx-ntJsJufe_X0UhUVTkz1cM2yjClj9QR23CGATk3T_WPLlPw4rb1nJkdWIxAJbx_W5E8io2JWosC1u-M2jMMDFp0aI/s400/P4180767.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The frosting on these was like a little bit of Wisconsin in my mouth. One of my best friends, B, has a significant other who is from them thar parts. Said boy has an uncle who has a tree that made the maple syrup that went into the icing. D-lightful. I love knowing where my ingredients came from! (Side note - I've almost gone through the ginormous jar she gave me and that makes me only completely sad.) C liked these almost as much as last week's cupcakes, but seriously, what can compete with marshmallow fluff? That's right... nothing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCVLP4P9RbschJdivIe-4dPTpkTUJYU-rULU9WuieJ41VIaeqWVjs9mHO9yhs4yjRNmFnFtav3eZ8Ac6j-5w-_w1hqIfgw5y_gg8Yxh5BFQ0Qst4w3QoXuEJ2zCI1Hd2qlLUo-cscLSQ/s1600/P4180771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCVLP4P9RbschJdivIe-4dPTpkTUJYU-rULU9WuieJ41VIaeqWVjs9mHO9yhs4yjRNmFnFtav3eZ8Ac6j-5w-_w1hqIfgw5y_gg8Yxh5BFQ0Qst4w3QoXuEJ2zCI1Hd2qlLUo-cscLSQ/s400/P4180771.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGB7gvf5_9eYZRUGwffMoODNYj7kaHIukvR72u8BPmSkbkB6__w7rcIBl_ZsFFE_tTO68PuMDxk_kTbtDI8PjK0BdrYHas2u5sGFkf7WUyEWtX6r284Ah2g-GLI4a5mNTsm426vDMVE7U/s1600/P4180772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGB7gvf5_9eYZRUGwffMoODNYj7kaHIukvR72u8BPmSkbkB6__w7rcIBl_ZsFFE_tTO68PuMDxk_kTbtDI8PjK0BdrYHas2u5sGFkf7WUyEWtX6r284Ah2g-GLI4a5mNTsm426vDMVE7U/s400/P4180772.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-87175317180866785572010-04-11T21:25:00.000-04:002010-04-11T21:25:45.610-04:00Full Sheet Cake Adventure: Batter BattleLord, who knew making a sheet cake was going to be so much work! Last time I posted about the pan that I bought in order to do the job, but that was only part of the equation. <br />
<br />
I assumed that making the cake was going to be the easy part. Boy was I wrong. The cake that was ordered was a key lime cake. I knew I had to double my recipe in order to make a 9in layer cake, so I (stupidly) assumed that tripling the recipe was going to be enough for each half of the sheet cake. Ha, right... the tripled batch made a layer that was too thin to torte. What I ended up doing was baking the tripled batch 4 times - each batch made 1/2 of a single layer - so when all was said and done I had multiplied the recipe by 12, I had gone through 2 dozen eggs, over a pound of butter, an entire bag of flour, an entire bag of sugar, 4 bottles of key lime juice, 4 lbs of powdered sugar, and 9 limes. Ridiculous, I know. If that wasn't crazy enough, the frosting used 3 quarts of heavy whipping cream and over a tub of piping gel (used t stabilize the whipped icing).<br />
<br />
So once all the baking was done (which took 2 days of baking after work), I had to frost the sucker. Since the cake had a key lime syrup over it to keep it moist and give it flavor, it stuck like a champ to the cooling racks as I was trying to slide it onto the cake board. C had to hold the rack while I slid (aka shoved) the cake. Once the assembly and frosting was done, it was time to put the cake into the fridge until delivery time. Now, I knew that the cakes just fit side by side when they weren't on the board, but I assumed (again, stupidly... funny how that works, huh?) that it would be fine to fit into the fridge. Nope. Good to know that a full sized sheet cake on a board definitely does NOT fit. We ended up cutting off part of the board with an exact-o knife and then basically shoving the hogillion pound cake (who would have thought all of those ingredients would weigh so much...?) into the fridge. And of course, the sides of the cake hit the sides of the fridge, and the door bar had to be removed so it wouldn't smash in the front of the cake. So there I am, practically in tears because I've been working on this stupid cake for 3 stupid days and it can't even fit into the stupid fridge without getting messed up. Stupid. And of course as I'm sitting there being emotional about the hot mess that's in my fridge, C is trying to be rational and explain that I learned something valuable, and that it was good experience/practice... yaddah yaddah peanuts teacher face. I know he meant well and that's one of the reasons I love him, but emotional me is a craptastic listener, so I'm afraid all of his words of wisdom were spent on the dogs (who were of course there for support - and to lick the frosting off the side of the fridge).<br />
<br />
When all was said and done, the woman who ordered the cake was happy, I got to add money to the baking jar, and hopefully you all got a laugh from the mental image of me sitting on the floor covered in whipped cream icing in front of an open fridge cursing at an inanimate object.<br />
<br />
Pictures!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2HQHkw0FRyY_Gj0phf8zjwk8z9F4Rnj-j_cjbVLSOTpJViZnoedeDavKG0rSWN0e-zlbIMpvTGcc7dr45VNSjevw5MA5rbvON_cjIm2fnBms1ipKpvNqrXdVx2S9y3Ey6LwIZZfCvqU/s1600/P4080683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2HQHkw0FRyY_Gj0phf8zjwk8z9F4Rnj-j_cjbVLSOTpJViZnoedeDavKG0rSWN0e-zlbIMpvTGcc7dr45VNSjevw5MA5rbvON_cjIm2fnBms1ipKpvNqrXdVx2S9y3Ey6LwIZZfCvqU/s400/P4080683.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
In the fridge:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GhiR7ZXwfPv6fqe-JSjuVx4MUVsSXEa_cbgBurbrFlCd1ZGuBWbYu5ZuG4QZ-NzISecfikJdDVWCH6Ka87IkF8VjBFyG-NcORZlcXFvm3gYVVWU7z43j014vqdXUtiMmy-VxRNl0JWg/s1600/P4090684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GhiR7ZXwfPv6fqe-JSjuVx4MUVsSXEa_cbgBurbrFlCd1ZGuBWbYu5ZuG4QZ-NzISecfikJdDVWCH6Ka87IkF8VjBFyG-NcORZlcXFvm3gYVVWU7z43j014vqdXUtiMmy-VxRNl0JWg/s400/P4090684.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I know it's Sunday, and I'm supposed to post about cupcakes, but hopefully this post will do. I did make the cupcakes, but it's time for me to log off and get ready for the work week, so I'll post about them later. But in the meantime, here's what they look like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOas41YTJwKWGDD8Y7WEGI-7BKM1HArxAktQn3Kh1uxeJqWpNEQhy5SuHXFsqZskO2m1OK9BCLpB2IKisEF4dl3POF2ysP8LlzF4syCx_kmiximLC2_Sko0njUFVhbumeMTy85R6XKt-M/s1600/P4110687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOas41YTJwKWGDD8Y7WEGI-7BKM1HArxAktQn3Kh1uxeJqWpNEQhy5SuHXFsqZskO2m1OK9BCLpB2IKisEF4dl3POF2ysP8LlzF4syCx_kmiximLC2_Sko0njUFVhbumeMTy85R6XKt-M/s400/P4110687.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Enjoy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-82678462340634043112010-04-08T15:34:00.001-04:002010-04-08T15:36:28.943-04:00Full Sheet Cake Adventure: Part 1So, about 2 weeks ago I got my first full sheet cake order. One of C's co-workers is organizing a birthday party for her mother's 80th birthday, which means this cake is kind of a big deal. Other than being totally excited, I was mostly nervous. I'd never done a cake of that size before, so not only did I have no clue how much batter I was going to have to make, I didn't even have a pan that could make a cake that large. What's that mean? A trip to my favorite store ever, Cake Art! (http://cakeart.com/store/default.asp) <span style="color: #ea9999;">(side note for my fellow bakers - if you don't have a specialty baking store that you use, it's totally worth the effort to find one!)</span><span style="color: #e06666;"> </span> Now I know the site doesn't look like much <span style="color: #ea9999;">(</span><span style="color: #f4cccc;">And if I'm being honest, neither does the outside of the store - for my fellow Northern VA-ers, it reminds me of a sketchy, hole in the wall place somewhere along Rt. 1)</span>, but if you can get past the feeling of "dear lord I might die if I get out of the car" it's totally worth it.<br />
<br />
The inside of the store is kind of cramped, but down each aisle there are shelves upon shelves of anything and everything you could possibly want for baking or candy making. I'm seriously like a kid with ADD off their meds in that store. They have every possible color of gel coloring, petal glitter, and candy melt that you can think of. They have cake boxes, candy boxes, molds, and especially cake pans. In order to make the sheet cake, I needed a ginormous pan. Any old 13 x 9 pan just wasn't going to cut the mustard. That brings me to the new love of my life: My Big Daddy cake pan. It's a 12 x 18" anodize aluminum pan and NOTHING sticks to it. I mean I took the cake out of the oven last night and about 5 minutes later plopped it out onto the cooling rack. A bakers wet dream, right? <span id="goog_946878529"></span><span id="goog_946878530"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBMRe7FWZPFULCvnNjQZX0PNddldn173jI9d9keomq4UbEvwvrtksFbT4zCxqzs0As-4wByqAfOGquWO8gzKzogd6b1lop_Df-XPhShb230_941Lv1a8XBlLBMrpYOfIIN53ss9LtCwM/s1600/Big+Daddy+Pan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="630" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBMRe7FWZPFULCvnNjQZX0PNddldn173jI9d9keomq4UbEvwvrtksFbT4zCxqzs0As-4wByqAfOGquWO8gzKzogd6b1lop_Df-XPhShb230_941Lv1a8XBlLBMrpYOfIIN53ss9LtCwM/s640/Big+Daddy+Pan.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>It's a sexy pan and I <3 it.<br />
<br />
Coming soon.... Part 2: Batter BattleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-15663572816805880892010-04-04T20:36:00.000-04:002010-04-04T20:36:07.479-04:00Cupcake Sunday: Apple Pecan CupcakesSo the book (and my title) are big fat lairs. This week's "cupcake" (and I use that term loosely) is totally a muffin. Not only does it use a muffin method for combining the ingredients, but it has no frosting! Not even a glaze over the top that's trying really really hard to constitute an icing. Sad.<br />
<br />
This week's "cupcake" is of the Apple Pecan persuasion.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zxygxHMfPLjZSdbOH51sPT88tAZBYUKX_GtpMnEKfNbMNJ1LNPKX7a2iZC5m2AnxAYRu8P8hBqNdRRybViwXsQUVA90G9PcFvFiL9fzxvEATMfeYqhteTxsMgyc1SCM4R9AZ0RKGDwo/s1600/P4040675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4zxygxHMfPLjZSdbOH51sPT88tAZBYUKX_GtpMnEKfNbMNJ1LNPKX7a2iZC5m2AnxAYRu8P8hBqNdRRybViwXsQUVA90G9PcFvFiL9fzxvEATMfeYqhteTxsMgyc1SCM4R9AZ0RKGDwo/s400/P4040675.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The first, and most time consuming, step for this one was peeling, coring, and coarsely grating granny smith apples. Combine that with some self rising flour, pecans, cinnamon, milk, eggs, and melted butter and viola! Muffins... er.. cupcakes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblVwq7d59owfSVuU1HzJUO26Y1s0u3GqyW43wmv17SuZXHo08yjXk41EXOsmzK6N389tCgctcNHP4B4Qwj8hSHxva2E7zBHZq5mVmeVp-Tf4ZqXVmvl2p_tpclbwA3jEXv_Tur9G_Kes/s1600/P4040678.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblVwq7d59owfSVuU1HzJUO26Y1s0u3GqyW43wmv17SuZXHo08yjXk41EXOsmzK6N389tCgctcNHP4B4Qwj8hSHxva2E7zBHZq5mVmeVp-Tf4ZqXVmvl2p_tpclbwA3jEXv_Tur9G_Kes/s400/P4040678.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRhaBc1n6q2jrP946E5GQdPhvlRdjRV2_KaqebmZcOF2HXeZ_b-JhEf7P1g31ONnPRrkJXHs9Rp6SDwOrArXLL0UuoYkwiN9ZFeKUdL0r7iyYFI7pR1U-vlZZbDBLGh7ugCF8tRzMcucQ/s1600/P4040679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRhaBc1n6q2jrP946E5GQdPhvlRdjRV2_KaqebmZcOF2HXeZ_b-JhEf7P1g31ONnPRrkJXHs9Rp6SDwOrArXLL0UuoYkwiN9ZFeKUdL0r7iyYFI7pR1U-vlZZbDBLGh7ugCF8tRzMcucQ/s400/P4040679.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you like pecans, these are the cupcakes for you. The apple doesn't lend as much flavor as I expected from a granny smith, so it's more of a pecan cupcake that is kept moist by the use of grated apple. The book recommended serving them with yogurt or whipped cream, but C and I opted to have them with apple butter. The cinnamony sweetness was a really good complement to the mild nutty cake.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx5VWxR2kj5VJnh0KM1_WNpUoHdsX9W6oNyDxgbi5y-TfKSs-u0M1l93r0JeYjtD1lTBciV-Lt9Es52FeSwqOMMdyuCLns4scHCVu9oXuNxOS_l96c5uniD-SypwYVIQIfCZ-Btbz2O7k/s1600/P4040681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx5VWxR2kj5VJnh0KM1_WNpUoHdsX9W6oNyDxgbi5y-TfKSs-u0M1l93r0JeYjtD1lTBciV-Lt9Es52FeSwqOMMdyuCLns4scHCVu9oXuNxOS_l96c5uniD-SypwYVIQIfCZ-Btbz2O7k/s400/P4040681.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> <br />
I could see maybe making a cinnamon whipped cream to serve with them, or maybe even a cinnamon butter... mmm... cinnamon butter... maybe I should get on that...<br />
<br />
Hope everyone had a great Easter, and I'll be posting about my next cake adventure soon!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-33588810874462964332010-04-02T08:46:00.000-04:002010-04-02T08:46:22.227-04:00Easter Came EarlyAnd I'm back! So this is what I did last weekend...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOGkeFywgMZU4menMJs1Df6UKyafJ48uKBNESkCulDnMmBGWbPhGCrG7mKd2AVPT5bB3rJwYCk6S6h5jG2eEhStNAQZagPAQM5JK2xmYUt4f8euL6_32H-S-513JoLEVLELlZ7cQ2NF4/s1600/P3280660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOGkeFywgMZU4menMJs1Df6UKyafJ48uKBNESkCulDnMmBGWbPhGCrG7mKd2AVPT5bB3rJwYCk6S6h5jG2eEhStNAQZagPAQM5JK2xmYUt4f8euL6_32H-S-513JoLEVLELlZ7cQ2NF4/s640/P3280660.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><span id="goog_1451830094"></span><span id="goog_1451830095"></span><br />
That's right... she's a drag queen... and we were eating brunch. <b style="color: black;">AMAZING</b>.<br />
<br />
And now that I've spent most of my week recovering from a weekend filled with Bridal showers and Bachelorette parties, it's about time for a new post!<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago I got an order for a kid friendly Easter cake. The client was having an Easter egg hunt for her daughter and some of her friends. I tossed around the idea of doing a bunny shaped cake, or attempting to carve out an Easter Egg shape, but since I was going to have to do the work on a week night, I decided to go for a simpler double layer 9in round that had a bunny in a basket filled with Easter eggs. This is the cake that I got my idea from:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMprfTA3NgUiPX9Wjxe2X0fadKXQeGwPuwJdUr9LPaiwWGwVpThg83mto-6S6mBGdtDCdwcyjHQ3Z8z6pE9I_FylzQ9OLKexRSlwAKWFpMWm3Zvkf3v58rvL86oZK79ziXSfe5WD0THg/s1600/Peeker+Cottontail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMprfTA3NgUiPX9Wjxe2X0fadKXQeGwPuwJdUr9LPaiwWGwVpThg83mto-6S6mBGdtDCdwcyjHQ3Z8z6pE9I_FylzQ9OLKexRSlwAKWFpMWm3Zvkf3v58rvL86oZK79ziXSfe5WD0THg/s400/Peeker+Cottontail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
It was a cake that was on the Wilton website. I decided to pipe the center rabbit instead of use a color flow icing technique <span style="color: #e06666;">(technique that creates those crunchy candy pieces that we all loved as kids... or at least that I always loved so much as a kid that my bother and I would come to blows over who got the biggest piece)</span>, partly because I've never done it before and didn't want to screw up a cake I was being paid to do, and partly because I was just lazy. So here's what mine ended up looking like:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZh6B7qm-byWJPodEDNTO0PePF712HreaMu_Qgk4SLHsMhk7HEV-rcwdH2NWgRsKqspvld6YBe0FBmBNnwyzfgx3noDf9K5hSb2uy64wn3eXsY7dCxJ9rY0ry9N_2KQupUuS3AxXz9Itc/s1600/P3310670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZh6B7qm-byWJPodEDNTO0PePF712HreaMu_Qgk4SLHsMhk7HEV-rcwdH2NWgRsKqspvld6YBe0FBmBNnwyzfgx3noDf9K5hSb2uy64wn3eXsY7dCxJ9rY0ry9N_2KQupUuS3AxXz9Itc/s400/P3310670.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And a little brighter:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLGRU0PYC3yA54XCywHhrvqtZ6__F7Gp1C2gx-Grv-vvaX6527_jeKeLp6KyRMf-bpl90zYZT1kilfSkITgcpg5E42vt5gJrLN48Vh0YwaU6H46-FuLy3Hcr6OGBf3-1YWP1De7gQ3Sc/s1600/P3310673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLGRU0PYC3yA54XCywHhrvqtZ6__F7Gp1C2gx-Grv-vvaX6527_jeKeLp6KyRMf-bpl90zYZT1kilfSkITgcpg5E42vt5gJrLN48Vh0YwaU6H46-FuLy3Hcr6OGBf3-1YWP1De7gQ3Sc/s400/P3310673.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I wish the paws were a little different, I wasn't super happy with the color of the basket, and I couldn't get the grass to work around the eggs because of the frosting I was using, but the client seemed to love it. I will say that cream cheese icing is MUCH harder to decorate with than buttercream, so given that I think it came out rockin!<br />
<br />
Happy Early Easter!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-21803202166399328902010-03-22T21:05:00.000-04:002010-03-22T21:05:35.764-04:00Cupcake Sunday(ish): Half Moon Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzh3-vKckrvkz9kC6HoiKWNT4JCFCYGdDAb3crS55vQ7zRd4jrgioi7Th5ZnRY5bEPEWX47-tAVJF4m5BRyZm5qm6x6oZ7LxrFMzGc_c9krnTAKLgBcEbYzak9DqvroxZTw2ZJRueaFA/s1600-h/P3220649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzh3-vKckrvkz9kC6HoiKWNT4JCFCYGdDAb3crS55vQ7zRd4jrgioi7Th5ZnRY5bEPEWX47-tAVJF4m5BRyZm5qm6x6oZ7LxrFMzGc_c9krnTAKLgBcEbYzak9DqvroxZTw2ZJRueaFA/s400/P3220649.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
As I said last night, I got caught up in all of the hub-bub surrounding the health care vote and by the time the results were in it was way past my bedtime. Yesterday's cupcake was called a Half Moon Cupcake. It was along the lines of a black and white cookie, but it was a mix of chocolate and vanilla cake that was covered half in a powder sugar frosting and half in melted bittersweet chocolate. Overall they were pretty tasty, but I felt like they were lacking something. Maybe I was expecting them to be slightly sweeter (similar to the cake of a black and white cookie)? This is what they looked like when I finished frosting all of them:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GGWC0HUzKRz2ta6kIohF8H4fOJ69MzEN7V-qwJkiLFncpE3OSDZSam1Sc-P7Sjp9T4HPCH4dRzV_rBsuTvxsyjRCYLGIww4RUCz3L6mCnYsEFIyFNhQVSju-AWcWVhF-i_M-QSw3bJY/s1600-h/P3210646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GGWC0HUzKRz2ta6kIohF8H4fOJ69MzEN7V-qwJkiLFncpE3OSDZSam1Sc-P7Sjp9T4HPCH4dRzV_rBsuTvxsyjRCYLGIww4RUCz3L6mCnYsEFIyFNhQVSju-AWcWVhF-i_M-QSw3bJY/s400/P3210646.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
C is a good helper in the kitchen. He's always so helpful when it's time to clean up:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78TtxzaXbeHz7WWiZukBBGLDgRFsJenquHjC7MmxK0QYqmtXA3INZF3JwfgFKoGDxLoCASQRsdAE-Uy6RtDX5BOWVTMAHuBD6FncqhG_f6tvelfvrVB9y9w91JiFlQ1angWZi362DirM/s1600-h/P3210644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78TtxzaXbeHz7WWiZukBBGLDgRFsJenquHjC7MmxK0QYqmtXA3INZF3JwfgFKoGDxLoCASQRsdAE-Uy6RtDX5BOWVTMAHuBD6FncqhG_f6tvelfvrVB9y9w91JiFlQ1angWZi362DirM/s400/P3210644.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And of course I have to pick one of the "pretty" ones to show you:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjco_AVJ4uw0Fwd5vJDxSWNojYXAiodshJ2J7wmBSqTDPUmLbx3knYzkibpO4h04MHVAvUaic8Dn1TgMZkdHnrMRzjhJnJIhPbCO7_9B9RvqLmTzTjvOa5_hI77BCJk2UC1pHYKPbVSEis/s1600-h/P3210647.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjco_AVJ4uw0Fwd5vJDxSWNojYXAiodshJ2J7wmBSqTDPUmLbx3knYzkibpO4h04MHVAvUaic8Dn1TgMZkdHnrMRzjhJnJIhPbCO7_9B9RvqLmTzTjvOa5_hI77BCJk2UC1pHYKPbVSEis/s400/P3210647.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzOuaZ3HGSctu2DJ5Hw82kKHoNYWXIIznWZmuOBlvfLEn-LzJkdEhFnUf3nxM2nY1SkVfVFBNPNA5kgVrstnF1AgGJ33NDJihOyvAss4kH5gdtOO0mEbZfcW_4PwRIb3AFbawM9rZvqA/s1600-h/P3210648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzOuaZ3HGSctu2DJ5Hw82kKHoNYWXIIznWZmuOBlvfLEn-LzJkdEhFnUf3nxM2nY1SkVfVFBNPNA5kgVrstnF1AgGJ33NDJihOyvAss4kH5gdtOO0mEbZfcW_4PwRIb3AFbawM9rZvqA/s400/P3210648.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And last but not least, Izzy helps me write this post. She's a good helper:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjER4HN55h0xVwzmthnF3veoP2_gfjnaBzlqKiBFYzQ_dRkGnm6eAyttJMA53MDqwqa_Yevxd2cqN31i-mdZzaMCQAMCKiSp9WMfxVFuLr8jqjGCG8KgO-2JCK4TpO9pNOyIoqP-1Q9I_o/s1600-h/P3220651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjER4HN55h0xVwzmthnF3veoP2_gfjnaBzlqKiBFYzQ_dRkGnm6eAyttJMA53MDqwqa_Yevxd2cqN31i-mdZzaMCQAMCKiSp9WMfxVFuLr8jqjGCG8KgO-2JCK4TpO9pNOyIoqP-1Q9I_o/s400/P3220651.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I'm not sure I would make them again because of the amount of work that went into a "Meh" cupcake, but the co-workers seemed to enjoy them! I have a few more posts up my sleeve that I need to get out, but just a heads up that I won't be making a cupcake next weekend. One of my bffs is getting married and I'll be in Northern VA for the bridal shower and bachelorette party. Have a great week!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570637329705522717.post-74837967088986177542010-03-21T21:45:00.000-04:002010-03-21T21:45:11.014-04:00Yeah yeah, I know...OK, so I apparently stink at making my weekly Sunday post. I got sidetracked watching the health care debate this evening and so the cupcakes were put on hold. I cross my heart promise to post about them tomorrow!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03909362910413630666noreply@blogger.com3