"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, pancakes, crepes, pizza... ok, maybe not pizza... but it's really good!  Here's what they looked like:

 

 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:

 

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!

Pancake Sunday

I'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.

A basic pancake recipe is pretty simple (and I swear one of these days C WILL 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.

 

Anywho - a basic pancake recipe goes a little something like this:

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.

 

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.

 

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).

 

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:

 

And this:

 

Wait about 2-3 more minutes and the pancakes should be done!  Now if you're like me and just happen 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.

 

Hmm... I think I may still have some of that icing laying around... have I mentioned my pants don't fit?

Rubber 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?

I can't take the credit for the design of this cupcake.  My friend V gave me the What's New Cupcake 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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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. 

Last but not least, apply the eyes to the rubber duckies with a small dab of white icing and viola!  Rubber Duckies!

 

 

My favorite are the ones with the butt in the air :-)

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 :-)

To Infinity - And Beyond!

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.  

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!  

Some of you may remember the Spongebob cake 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.  :-)

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!

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.

 

 I love the little army men flanking the bed!

 

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.

 

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?

 

All that's missing is the claw. "Oooooohhhhhh.  The claw."

 Thanks for stopping by!  :-)

It 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 here.  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?

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.

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.

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!

,

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.

The 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.

One of my co-workers asked me to make a birthday cake for his adorable little boy's 3rd birthday party.  He saw the Spongebob Squarepants cake 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!

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. 

This was round 1:

 Round 2:

Round 3 (the one I'm happiest with):

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:

 And then went his nose.  Poor Henry didn't see it coming...

Stay tuned for updates on my foray into cake carving!

That'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! 

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. 

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!

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!

I paired it with a spinach salad that had brown turkey figs and a raspberry pomegranate vinaigrette.   Yum!