Chocolate & Chipotle

What's baking?

Here is the latest stuff from the oven and other creative things ....

First the non edible ... daughter and I took a felting class last night, so stink'in CUTE and easy to make ... even Mr Peepers likes the nest with the eggs!

this is daughter's nest and eggs ....

Mr Peeper's says HOPPY EASTER!

Blackout Cupcakes for a BFF's Mom's birthday plus ...

the birthday Cucpake in a custom cupcake box (yes I did make that)

Mini Apple Granola & Blackberry Pies for a secret project (soon to be revealed)

Mini Lemon Coconut Polenta cakes ... same project

Pie Pops for PI Day at school ... baked by the Next Great Baker

They were YUMMY!!!

Irish Whiskey Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Irish Bacon, St Patty would be proud!

Little Meyer Lemon Pound Cakes

200 Mini Cupcakes for the Skagit Campus Suicde Prevention Walk

That's it for this week, who knows what the weekend will bring :)

 

Cupcakes, Cupcakes & Whoopie Pies?

A lot of baking and perfecting new recpies .... for what you ask? It's a secret for now but coming soon to a computer screen near you and a Farmer's Market near me .... just you wait and see, in the mean time here is what I have been up to!

 
I know this isn't food, but come on ... have you ever seen such a cute picture of a girl and her dog!!!

Cappaucino Chip Cupcakes with a Mocha Buttercream

Valentine Day Red Velvet Heart Cakes

Cupcakes for daughter's Valentine's Day Party at School

"Pup" cakes for a Princess Puppy Birthday Party - gotta love 6 year olds!

For the boys ... PLAY BALL!!! Baseball is made out of red & white chocolate.

 
Birthday Mini's for a friend's husband's birthday! Pistachio & Red Velvet

Vanilla Chai Spice Cupcake with Chocolate Cinnamon Chip Buttercream

Blood Orange Cupcakes/Chocolate Orange Ganache
Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Devils Food Whoopie Pies

Winning cookie from Season 8 Top Chef - Potato Chip/Prezel Shortbread Cookie with Chocolate Ganache

Banana Whoopie Pie with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Filling
(daughter like the original marshmallow filling better)

Over 200 Abelskivers for Girl Scouts World Thinking Day

Tune in next time for more pictures ... one day I will actually get time to write as well!

What I have been doing of late ...

Hey at least I have time to take pictures ... one day time will slow down and I will be able to blog, just not sure when.

Cookies For Science Camp Bake Sale - sold to Coldwell Banker Realtor's for the City Wide Open House Event this weekend ... these kids are wonderful and do a lot of fund raisers to help with camp costs.

Bee Sting Cupcakes - Butter Cupcake, vanilla/almond filling, almond caramel glaze and a whipped cream-butter cream frosting - 1st Place winner in Iron Cupcake: Anacortes!

Went to the 2010 Anacortes Oyster Run & Friday Harbor with my cousin Eileen from TN

Created an AWESOME coconut cupcake

and a Matcha cupcake with a Chai spice frosting, plum sauce drizzle and candied dried hibiscus leaves

Made some birthday cupcakes for a kindergartner

Helped my daughter's class sell cupcakes for science camp at the Anacortes Farmer's Market

Sold Cupcakes at the downtown Artwalk for Relay for Life

and saw the cutest cupakes at our local yarn store ...

Now you know why I don't have time to blog more than pictures ... CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAUGHTER!!!!

Had to share the cupcakes I made for my daughter's birthday. She is at horse camp for two weeks (first time away for that long and away on her birthday, snif snif) but I will be taking these up to her this evening.

By her request we have mounds cupcakes with a coconut filling and a chocolate/coconut cream swirl butter cream & Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting. I now know why all those bakeries get big bucks for their cakes, HOLY CRAP!!! It took me 3 hours to do all those horse heads and my back is not happy with me today either.

I think she is going to love them and she will have her own mini cake with the jumper chocolate disc. Happy Birthday my sweet daughter, hope 11 is even better than 10!!!

Time isn't on my side!!!

I want to blog ... really I do!!! I want to post beautiful pictures of all my cooking creations, I want to post step by step recipes, I want to share the fun I have been having in the kitchen and with cupcakes ... BUT I CAN'T!!! I have no time!!  I have months and months of pictures and recipes to post but I have not time to do anything but get through another day and hope to see tomorrow. If I have no time then how am I doing this ... I have Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon in the oven and it takes 2 1/2 hours to cook!  I only have 1 oven so the cupcakes I have to bake for Iron Cupcake tomorrow night, have to wait and the 120 cupcakes I have to bake for an order I got, have to wait.

So I have decided to share my pictures of what I have been doing and them go from there.

Copper River Salmon Gravlox

Mini Blackberry Pies

Cinni Bon Clones

Triple Chocolate Easter Egg Cake

Anacortes Farmers Market 1st Place winner - Caramel Apple Pie

Playing with leftover Cupcake batter

Red Velvet Baseball Cupcake order
photo by Lindsey Ferrario-Koegel

Mr Peepers and Easter Cucpakes

No Oil Deep Fried Turkey

10 Minute Mole - really good

Blackberry Buttermilk Scones

Steak Sandwich w Chimmi Churi

Turtle Cupcakes

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

The Elvis - Peanut Butter, Banana & Bacon

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Pistachio Cupcakes

Teacher Appreciation Day Cupcake

So while I don't get to post often, just know I am baking & cooking and thinking of posting :)

PS: The Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon we had for dinner was good but just good, not over the top like they made it look in the movie good and takes WAY too much time to only be good.  So next time I will make my version without all the extra steps.

The GIANT Cupcake: Review

Yes I had to get one! I bought my giant cupcake pan when Wilton's first came out with it, before all the others came out with their knock offs. I have to say the if I had seen the Big Top Cupcake pan BEFORE I bought the Wilton one, I still would have bought it because after all it is Wilton and who knows more about cakes & pans then them .... maybe not?!?!?

I have tried 4 times to bake my giant cupcake, twice using the directions that came with it (If it came with the pan it has to work, RIGHT? So apparently I must have done something wrong the first time, RIGHT?!?!) The third time I used a box mix and the forth time I broke down and took another bakers advice and baked the bottom for 15 minutes BEFORE I added the batter to the top part.

Wilton's Giant Cupcake Pan

Williams-Sonoma Giant Cupcake Pan

You see the problem is the bottom part of the giant cupcake pan is SO MUCH deeper than the top part, hence the top part cooks twice as fast and burns even before the bottom is done. My first attempt went in the garbage ... my second attempt, tossed the top part and used the bottom part for cupcake pops. My third attempt while the top did not burn, it was so dry I used it for a Frisbee into the forest for the squirrels. My fourth attempt, while it did work was not what I wanted ... following the advice of a few bakers at Cake Central I gave in and baked the bottom half for 15 minutes BEFORE I added the batter to the top half. Yes it worked BUT my point was that if this was how you were suppose to bake it WHY is it not in the instructions from Wilton? Why would Wilton make this a one piece pan if you had to bake the two sides at different times?!?!?  Most everyone I have talked to about this has the same problem so it isn't just me.

Then as I was watching TV late one night to my amazement I saw Big Top Cupcake commercial ... not something new but there it was, a 2 piece giant cupcake pan!!!! Silicone no less so it won't stick!!!

 

Yes their commercial is annoying, yes the decorating is like a kid did it and yes I did order one! Hey if I knew how to weld and take apart the Wilton pan, I would ... besides I get the 3D cookie cutters as well, for no extra charge, WOOHOO!!!

In the future I won't be the first on the block to buy something new UNTIL I read the reviews or really check it out.  Sometimes the knock offs work out better and are cheaper to boot! BTW if anyone has the secret to baking the giant cupcake in the Wilton pan without having to start the bottom before the top, PLEASE let me in on it!

The Cupcake Tower: Review

I am trying to start a cupcake catering business, of course this is if I can get through all the crap, I mean forms the Health Dept wants filled out and scrape together the $150 for them to look at the paper work. Which leads me to my review of The Cupcake Tower. I have an adjustable 5 tier metal stand, which I love but the metal is so, well metal and the edges are too thin to get ribbon to stay on to cover them, so I wanted a new stand.

So what do you do when you want something, GOOGLE IT!! Which brings me to The Cupcake Tower, thank you Google! The one thing that intrigued me was it is two sisters' who have a Grandpa, who made them a stand for their younger sister's wedding and they then decided to market it online. Being a successful online business owner at one time, I always like to support these ventures as long as the product is good. I e-mailed the girls with a few questions and place my order for the tiny cupcake stand since just starting a business, not much $$$ to afford the larger size just yet. I also told them I would review the item once I received it and pass along the word to my other Cupcake Friends if I liked it. The one thing I always strive for as an online business owner was customer service because one wrong e-mail or missed order could send the message boards a buzz with negative comments, so I must tell you how happy I was to find a business that had my same feelings to service!!

REVIEW: The Cupcake Tower

Before placing my ordered, e-mailed with questions - received replies to my e-mails the same night: A+

Placed my order on Oct 16th - received my item on Oct 21 - A+

Quality of packed item - A+ - I think the box & contents could of handled a tornado just fine

Quality of product - A - PRO: very sturdy, thick and washable CON*: the tier just sit on the bases, if bumped could go down.

Set-up & instructions - A - PRO: packed with the ribbon CON: would like them to be a bit bigger and a bit more detailed.

Ribbon Detail - INGENIOUS!!! Will be so easy to swap out different colors, patterns & trims to fit any occasion!

Would I recommend this to cupcaker's every where - YES!!!

* This problem can be solved easily with the use of a Glue Dot in the center of the base, then when you are done, the glue dot just comes off and you disassemble it.

If you can afford the Large Size Cupcake Tower, go for it!!! If not, the tiny is perfect for holding 32 regular size cupcakes and I am sure if you want to upgrade with more tiers at a later time, Jennifer & Joy would accommodate.

These are a work of art ... Grandpa did a fabulous job in creating what I think will become the cupcake standard for all events to come. Congratulations Joy & Jennifer, your product brings elegance and class to any occasion!

Now I must bake cupcakes to take a picture of my new Cupcake Tower!!

Iron Cupcake: EARTH 2.0 ... it's back!!!!

After a brief hiatus, Iron Cupcake: Earth is back!!! Sandy is trying her darnedest to get on Ellen and be able to bring her cupcakes. So to help with that quest the secret ingredient for this month is MUSIC!! We had to make a cupcake designed around music or an artist.  I kind of took the easy road since my local Iron Cupcake: Anacortes was doing PINK as our secret ingredient this month ... as it turns out my favorite artist is of the same name, YEAH!!!

... SO WHAT if I used it for my local competition and this one, SO WHAT PINK is a color and not a flavor and SO WHAT if I don't win ... if it gets Sandy on Ellen then my job is done!!! 

Inspired by the famous Ellen/PINK Bathroom duo I give you my SO WHAT Cupcake

 SO WHAT PINK Cupcake - PINK White Chocolate Cupcake with PINK White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, PINK Sprinkles and a PINK camouflage Cupcake liner!!!

Thanks to our wonderful IC:Earth Sponsors:Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne

Iron Cupcake: Anacortes - October is PINK Challenge

I know, it isn't Sunday and it hasn't been every week like I promised ... I need more time in my day!!! PLEASE!!! I ask for 2 hours for Xmas, for my birthday, for Mother's Day but do I ever get what I want, NO!!! While the President works on global issues, I really think they need to consider giving all Mom's & wives 2 more hours in her day. Is 26 hours in a day too much to ask? Ok even 1 hour will do!!! Alas I am off track ...

I have a local chapter of Iron Cupcake:Earth here in Anacortes, WA, Iron Cupcake: ANACORTES and this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness we are having PINK as our secret ingredient ... no not the singer, although how FABULOUS would that be, but PINK the color. So if you live in the area or outside the area, PLEASE sign up and come as a baker or come as a taster/judge ($2 per person to taste) all proceeds go to the Susan G Koman Foundation for the Cure!

I hope to see you there!!!