To Frost or Not to Frost

Retro Birthday Cupcakes (Chocolate and White Cake with
Yellow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting & Rainbow Sprinkles)

This week I made some cupcakes for dinner with my friend Max. They were straight up white and chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream frosting and rainbow sprinkles - although where I am from they call them "Jimmys." I thought they were a great throwback to the old days. You know the birthday party around the picnic table with hats made of newspaper? Or were those just my parties... I love how playful they looked and of course they were loaded with frosting.

Max took one bite of my super cute retro cupcake and said, "there is too much frosting on this for me" and proceeded to remove almost ALL of the icing off my fab cupcake. Now I realize that everyone has their thing when it comes to cupcakes. I personally LOVE frosting. In fact, there was a time - which I am not too proud of - when I would literally crave buttercream frosting so my mother would go out buy a mini cake and I would eat the frosting and she would eat the cake. I am happy to say that is no longer. But I wonder would a cupcake be a cupcake without frosting? I am sure my mother would prefer just a smattering of icing and mostly just the cake. But surely that isn't a true cupcake.

How much is too much frosting? I whip my frosting waaay longer than most to make it light and fluffy so that the frosting doesn't overtake the cake, but perhaps I need to search for a less sugary and more buttery frosting. You know it is funny, when I try cupcakes I either LOVE the cake or I LOVE the frosting. I never love both. I wonder if I could find the perfect combination? Hmmm... yet another challenge. This is going to be a busy summer.

Retro Birthday Cupcakes (Chocolate and White Cake with
Yellow Vanilla Buttercream Frosting & Rainbow Sprinkles)

My Australian Baking Challenge

Not only am I a LOBSTER from sitting out on the deck with my mother yesterday, but I am also a sad lady today. My dear friend Lizzie left for Australia on Sunday. An incredible friend and an amazing cook we were perfect together because she always did the savory and I always did the sweet. Now my dinner parties will all be dessert parties without her...

Due to my previously mentioned dietary restrictions, I rarely eat what I make. I have taste testers. One of which was Lizzie. She has a great palate and is an incredible cook. Her input in my baking was invaluable.

* Attention, attention calling all taste testers. Must have advanced palate and love baked goods and be willing to listen to me rock out on my guilty pleasures play list.

Lizzie has offered me the ultimate challenge - should I choose to accept it. She has asked me to come up with the perfect cupcake for her WEDDING! Yes, I said wedding. Now, I have made a wedding cake before. It was 3 tiers, 2 different kinds of cake, flowers on top, with a beaded border. It was no joke. I will try to get some pictures of it so you can see it in all of its glory. But that was made in the comfort and privacy of my own home. If I made a mistake I could fix it and had all of the tools at the ready. This challenge is especially difficult. Lizzie lives in AUSTRALIA. She is getting married in January - in Australia - which is like our late July early August. You do the math. 90 degree weather easily. So, how does one make the PERFECT cupcake for an Australian wedding? Do things cook differently there? I mean it is the other side of the world. They work in Celsius, not degrees and in grams not pounds. I am going to have to verse myself in all of this prior to the big day. Until then, I will be trying every white cake recipe I can get my hands on. I find that white and yellow cake is a lot harder to make than chocolate cake. The texture is just too dense. I also have to think about a heat resistant buttercream. HA! Her colors are white and yellow. So I want to come up with a simple decoration for the cupcakes.

In the next 6 months you will witness many triumphs and failed attempts at fabulousness. Let's hope the perfect wedding cupcake can be created in that time.

White Cake with Roasted Coconut Filling, Marshmallow Meringue Frosting
topped with Roasted Coconut (The highly photographed losing cupcake)

Today is my first day of the rest of my life. I have officially started a blog chronicling my baking adventures. This is something I have been talking about for a while now and I was inspired after losing miserably at the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Cupcake Contest. I went on the Brooklyn Kitchen website the next day to read about the contest and what do I find? Oh, pictures of MY cupcakes. Not good enough to win, but pretty enough to use for the blog. Upon more sleuthing, I found site after site with pictures of MY cupcakes! I thought well if they are going to be on other people's blogs perhaps I should put them on mine.

I bake for the joy of it, the relaxation it brings, and the happy faces I see when people bite into my treats. I also experiment a lot with ingredients. Having dietary restrictions myself, a sister who is vegan, and a fair amount of celiac friends I have been forced to find creative ways to make old favorites. Join me as I bake for the masses and attempt to find the holy grail of "healthy" baked goods.

Me with my losing cupcakes. They do look delicious though and that is half the battle.

The other losing cupcake from the cupcake contest. I was sad to see that it didn't win for simple decoration. I mean I made the cherry blossoms with my own two hands! The cake was not as moist and delicious as it usually is, but I just moved and I am still getting used to my brand new oven. The more I bake in it the better they will get and my plan for total cupcake domination will come to fruition!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake with Orange Blossom Infused Vanilla "Butter cream" Frosting
and handmade Royal Icing Cherry Blossoms

I made these for my friend Lizzie's going away/birthday party. They were supposed to be pale pink, but they turned out a little brighter than anticipated. Let this be a lesson that a little goes a long way. They have a sort of New York/Sex and the City vibe to them and since she is moving - sigh - to Australia they were perfect.

Old Fashioned Yellow Cake with Vanilla Butter cream

This is my AWARD winning cake. I originally made it for my friend Liza's birthday. It was so off-the-hook that it has become my most popular cake/cupcake. I entered it into a cupcake contest last year and won second place! Go figure. It was a hot day when I made this cake for Kate's birthday - upon request - so it looks a little funny, but man it was DELISH.

Ginger infused Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
and handmade Royal Icing Apple Blossoms

I made this one for the Spaniard's - a.k.a my sister's fiance - birthday party. Dark, rich, and delicious this went over very well with the army of people at the brew house.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache and Roasted Hazelnut Garnish