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| You will give me cake!!!! OM NOM |
One woman's attempt to win her man's heart through his stomach with no cooking skills and a "What-the-Hell" attitude!
Showing posts with label cupcake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cupcake. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Rainbow Cupcakes or Tie Dye Cupcakes, You Decide
The Rainbow Cake has been such a big hit on the blog, Facebook, and the office that I've decided to make a shortcut version for y'all that don't have hours to build a 6 layer cake. This one I made in cupcake form, but you can translate it into a single layer or double layer cake if you choose. I made these for a company meeting we have to go to today, and was able to whip them out (with baking time) in a little over an hour. The ingredients are almost the same as the Rainbow Cake:
• 1 – Box of cake mix in vanilla, white, or French vanilla flavors. (The cake base has to be white so if you see another boxed variety that would normally produce a white cake on completion, by all means go for it and tell me how it works out for you.)
• Whatever ingredients your cake mix says it needs to be made (usually eggs, oil, and water.)
• Muffin cups
• Gel food coloring in blue, red, yellow minimum. Splurge for more colors as your budget allows. Gel works better than the cheap kind that you dye Easter eggs with. You will use less dye, and the colors will be more vibrant.
• 1-2 tubs of icing. I chose white butter cream, but you can pick any flavor.
• 1 - Muffin pan (I had two muffin tins from a previous debacle, so I was able to cook all my cupcakes at once.)
• 6 bowls and spoons to mixing the colors in. Cereal bowls work just fine.
First things first, you need to make your cake batter according to the box's instructions. When it is nicely mixed, separate it equally into your six bowls. You can measure if you have OCD, or you can eyeball it like I did.
Once your batter is separated, add each color dye to its appropriate bowl. If you forgot/don't know how to make certain colors, read the Rainbow Cake post linked above.
Add your muffin cups to the tins and preheat your oven.
Now, we are going to add the colors. If you want red on the bottom, you will add the colors in this order: Red -> Orange -> Yellow -> Green -> Blue -> Purple. If you want purple on the bottom, reverse that order. I put purple on the bottom because I added too much blue to mix and my purple came out ugly. Oh well.
Add a little of the first batter into the bottom of each cup. Just a spoonful or so. You only want the muffin cups 2/3rds of the way full once ALL the colors are added. Plus you may run out of particular batter color if you are overzealous like me. Only 21 of my 24 cupcakes got purple bottoms because I was too generous at the beginning. Start spooning in a small and add more after all 24 have a little of that first color.
If you want neater layers. Tap/shake the pan a couple of times between layers to help the batter settle flatter. You will also have to be more gentle when spooning in the layers so that the force of your plop doesn't send the newest color careening towards the bottom of the pan. If you want a more rainbow tie die effect, just plop and go, maybe just poke a toothpick in a few times. Don't over do it or they will all turn out 1 color. Now, if you are wanting those Polly Perfect rainbow layers, you might as well make the Rainbow cake. In the baking process, the cupcake layers will mix a little in odd ways and there is really no stopping it. Let your OCD rest for a day and let nature do its thing.
Continue to build up your layers in order. Remember, start with a little of the color in each cup and go back an add more if you have left overs at the end of each color round.
Once you have all the colors in the cups, give the pan a firm tap or two to settle the batter in the pan. DO NOT under any circumstances try to swirl the colors with a knife or toothpick. This will blend the colors and you will end up with a bluish brown cupcake mess. If you wanted that, you should have just baked chocolate cupcakes. You can now bake the cupcakes as the box directs.
Wait until the cupcakes are completely cool before you ice them. Then they are ready to enjoy!
• 1 – Box of cake mix in vanilla, white, or French vanilla flavors. (The cake base has to be white so if you see another boxed variety that would normally produce a white cake on completion, by all means go for it and tell me how it works out for you.)
• Whatever ingredients your cake mix says it needs to be made (usually eggs, oil, and water.)
• Muffin cups
• Gel food coloring in blue, red, yellow minimum. Splurge for more colors as your budget allows. Gel works better than the cheap kind that you dye Easter eggs with. You will use less dye, and the colors will be more vibrant.
• 1-2 tubs of icing. I chose white butter cream, but you can pick any flavor.
• 1 - Muffin pan (I had two muffin tins from a previous debacle, so I was able to cook all my cupcakes at once.)
• 6 bowls and spoons to mixing the colors in. Cereal bowls work just fine.
First things first, you need to make your cake batter according to the box's instructions. When it is nicely mixed, separate it equally into your six bowls. You can measure if you have OCD, or you can eyeball it like I did.
Once your batter is separated, add each color dye to its appropriate bowl. If you forgot/don't know how to make certain colors, read the Rainbow Cake post linked above.
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| Batter up! |
Add your muffin cups to the tins and preheat your oven.
Now, we are going to add the colors. If you want red on the bottom, you will add the colors in this order: Red -> Orange -> Yellow -> Green -> Blue -> Purple. If you want purple on the bottom, reverse that order. I put purple on the bottom because I added too much blue to mix and my purple came out ugly. Oh well.
Add a little of the first batter into the bottom of each cup. Just a spoonful or so. You only want the muffin cups 2/3rds of the way full once ALL the colors are added. Plus you may run out of particular batter color if you are overzealous like me. Only 21 of my 24 cupcakes got purple bottoms because I was too generous at the beginning. Start spooning in a small and add more after all 24 have a little of that first color.
If you want neater layers. Tap/shake the pan a couple of times between layers to help the batter settle flatter. You will also have to be more gentle when spooning in the layers so that the force of your plop doesn't send the newest color careening towards the bottom of the pan. If you want a more rainbow tie die effect, just plop and go, maybe just poke a toothpick in a few times. Don't over do it or they will all turn out 1 color. Now, if you are wanting those Polly Perfect rainbow layers, you might as well make the Rainbow cake. In the baking process, the cupcake layers will mix a little in odd ways and there is really no stopping it. Let your OCD rest for a day and let nature do its thing.
Continue to build up your layers in order. Remember, start with a little of the color in each cup and go back an add more if you have left overs at the end of each color round.
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| Purple, blue, green. |
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| All 6 colors. Got a little short on orange as you can see. |
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| Weird blue dots on the left. Pretty nonetheless. |
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| Little Cuties! |
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| Tie dye on one hand, rainbow on the other. Delicious just the same. |
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
DC Dining, Finally
Sorry I have been away awhile, kids. I've been caught up with party planning for our first game night here at the new place. Plus, yesterday was my birthday, so I had to go partake in some excellent local cuisine to celebrate. However, it's time to get back to business. So, let's move on.
Enter Jaleo.
Chef Andres' style is Spanish influenced. His restaurant is a tapas bar. Neither Jon, nor I, knew what that was. What we understood it to be was appetizer-like dishes, but we had more of a little fried finger foods. Perhaps like Mexican empanadas. Boy, were we in for a surprise.
Tapas is simply Spanish for appetizer. So basically, you order 4 or 5 dishes to share about the table so that you can focus on the conversation and not dive into your meal, so to speak. Well, let me just say that our waitress was crap, and if she would have explained that to us in the beginning, we might have enjoyed our time a little bit more. The service we received was terrible! After trying to get reservations unsuccessfully for three nights, we were greeted by a teenager and waitstaff in blue jeans. I don't care how good the food is, if the waitstaff sucks, a restaurant will tank.
The first thing we were served was a chewy bread (good) with a cup of olive oil. In the olive oil was a rosemary branch and a clove of garlic (skin still on and unroasted). While it was a beautiful presentation, the oil absorbed almost none of the flavors of the aromatics. Disappointing.
Then we had to decide between a large variety of tapas (or small courses). After we finally flagged down our waitress, we asked about how many we should order. She recommended about 5 selections for a table of 2. Because we had ordered the cheese plate appetizer, we decided that each of us should picking 2 plates for the table. It was a personal goal of mine to pick one safe dish (something I knew I would enjoy) and one unsafe dish (something I had not tried before). Jon went with two safe dishes. We placed our order and leisurely ate on our cheese. We couldn't enjoy our cheese long though, because our tapas starting coming within 3 minutes, in a haphazard fashion.
My unsafe dish came out first, and coincidentally, was one of the restaurant's best sellers: Dátiles con tocino. Bacon wrapped dates, which are then battered and fried. The menu stated:‘Como hace todo el mundo’ (you will want to eat this every day). I have never eaten a date before, and with an endorsement like that, how could I not give it a whirl?
Well, six little fried dates arrived at our table within about 3 minutes of our order. They looked like little hushpuppies, plated on a white saucer with a white cocktail napkin. Presentation: F. They were, of course, molten initially. After giving them a chance to cool, I braved my first bite. The little date was chewy with a chewy bit of bacon on it. The batter was crispy, but a bit oily. It was a sweeter dish than I would have expected given the bacon. They weren't fantastic but they were OK. Definitely not something I will be craving everyday. Taste: B.
Next up was one of Jon's safe dishes. He ordered Gambas al ajillo, "the very, very famous tapa of shrimp sautéed with garlic." Initially, this was going to be a straight Jon dish, because I don't like seafood. He received a small bowl of about 5 shrimp, which appeared to sauteed or boiled in a golden yellow sauce. One bite of the shrimp revealed an intense garlic flavor. There was no fishy flavor at all. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and were not chewy. Jon devoured them, giving me a couple bites while I forced down my dates. Presentation: B+. Flavor: A.
Next came out Jon's other order: Trigueros con romesco. (Grilled asparagus with romesco sauce). Romesco is a Spanish-style, tomato, bell pepper, and garlic sauce thickened with nuts or bread. Presentation: B. Flavor B. Basically, it tasted like grilled asparagus in a thick spaghetti sauce. Meh.
The final course was mine and I was very excited to see it come out. My safe order was Lomo Ibérico de bellota con manzanas. (Fresh loin from the legendary, acorn-fed, black-footed Ibérico pigs of Spain served with roasted apples.) It was also our most expensive tapa at $20. It looked fancy enough when came out, but the plate was white, the apples were blanched, and the pork was slightly browned. It would have looked much more impressive on a brightly colored plate. Presentation: B-
Now on to flavor. I am not going to to lie, it was the most tender piece of pork I have ever eaten. It was also the fattiest piece I've ever eaten. I imagine that comes from the acorns, which are very calorie rich. The meat had a good flavor, but as you can see in the photo, the portion size would have easily fit in the palm of my hand. A good half of it was fat, so there were only a few bites of actual meat. That was very disappoint ting considering the cost. Also, the "roasted apples" were really nothing more than a smear of apple sauce. Taste: B-.
By the time we had finished all our tapas, we were still hungry, but it had been more than 30 minutes since we had last seen our waitress. We saw some desserts go by, but our growing dissatisfaction with the service encouraged us to seek dessert elsewhere. After receiving our check of over $100 for basically 5 appetizers and 1 alcoholic beverage, we were pretty unhappy. It wasn't so much the price or quantity of the food that was so disappointing, really. I mean, we expected to pay more for less at an "upscale" restaurant. However, we expected better service and way better atmosphere. The waitstaff wore blue jeans for crying out loud! If I am going to go to a premium restaurant, I expect the staff to at least be wearing black slacks, not holey jeans. It was like we were eating at a Chili's for 4 times the price. Overall restaurant rating: C+. I was, naturally, quite devastated.
Jonathan and I ventured back into the chilly night air as we walked back to the train station. We took in the city a bit and discussed our expectations versus the results of our meal. Then, we happened to notice a little bakery that was bustling still at 9 p.m. We took a peek in the window:
We wandered in and ordered a chocolate, peanut butter cupcake for me, and a red velvet cupcake for Jon. Mine was pretty good, though a little dry. I imagine they would have tasted a little better earlier in the day (probably fresher). A nice local allowed me to photographer her holding the bakery's signature box.
Enter Jaleo.
Jaleo was a restaurant that I first heard about on Iron Chef. If you remember from my previous post, Jaleo's Executive Chef, Jose Andres, smacked down my future baby's daddy, Bobby Flay, during battle goat. When I heard that Andres' restaurant was in D.C., I just had to go.
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| Well, here we are! |
Tapas is simply Spanish for appetizer. So basically, you order 4 or 5 dishes to share about the table so that you can focus on the conversation and not dive into your meal, so to speak. Well, let me just say that our waitress was crap, and if she would have explained that to us in the beginning, we might have enjoyed our time a little bit more. The service we received was terrible! After trying to get reservations unsuccessfully for three nights, we were greeted by a teenager and waitstaff in blue jeans. I don't care how good the food is, if the waitstaff sucks, a restaurant will tank.
The first thing we were served was a chewy bread (good) with a cup of olive oil. In the olive oil was a rosemary branch and a clove of garlic (skin still on and unroasted). While it was a beautiful presentation, the oil absorbed almost none of the flavors of the aromatics. Disappointing.
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| Presentation: B+, Taste: C |
Like most restaurants we go to, we always order a cheese plate. I must have been a mouse or a Frenchie in a former life, because I live for cheese. We had a variety of cheeses, mostly of Spanish goat origin. The collection was reasonably priced with a variety of excellent flavor pairings and texture ranges. Score: A+
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| Squeeek! I mean squee! |
My unsafe dish came out first, and coincidentally, was one of the restaurant's best sellers: Dátiles con tocino. Bacon wrapped dates, which are then battered and fried. The menu stated:‘Como hace todo el mundo’ (you will want to eat this every day). I have never eaten a date before, and with an endorsement like that, how could I not give it a whirl?
Well, six little fried dates arrived at our table within about 3 minutes of our order. They looked like little hushpuppies, plated on a white saucer with a white cocktail napkin. Presentation: F. They were, of course, molten initially. After giving them a chance to cool, I braved my first bite. The little date was chewy with a chewy bit of bacon on it. The batter was crispy, but a bit oily. It was a sweeter dish than I would have expected given the bacon. They weren't fantastic but they were OK. Definitely not something I will be craving everyday. Taste: B.
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| Jedi Andres: "You will want to eat this every day." Us: "Your mind tricks won't work on us Jedi." |
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| Perhaps this should have been labeled "eat every day" |
The final course was mine and I was very excited to see it come out. My safe order was Lomo Ibérico de bellota con manzanas. (Fresh loin from the legendary, acorn-fed, black-footed Ibérico pigs of Spain served with roasted apples.) It was also our most expensive tapa at $20. It looked fancy enough when came out, but the plate was white, the apples were blanched, and the pork was slightly browned. It would have looked much more impressive on a brightly colored plate. Presentation: B-
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| We are running out of room for all these little plates. |
Now on to flavor. I am not going to to lie, it was the most tender piece of pork I have ever eaten. It was also the fattiest piece I've ever eaten. I imagine that comes from the acorns, which are very calorie rich. The meat had a good flavor, but as you can see in the photo, the portion size would have easily fit in the palm of my hand. A good half of it was fat, so there were only a few bites of actual meat. That was very disappoint ting considering the cost. Also, the "roasted apples" were really nothing more than a smear of apple sauce. Taste: B-.
By the time we had finished all our tapas, we were still hungry, but it had been more than 30 minutes since we had last seen our waitress. We saw some desserts go by, but our growing dissatisfaction with the service encouraged us to seek dessert elsewhere. After receiving our check of over $100 for basically 5 appetizers and 1 alcoholic beverage, we were pretty unhappy. It wasn't so much the price or quantity of the food that was so disappointing, really. I mean, we expected to pay more for less at an "upscale" restaurant. However, we expected better service and way better atmosphere. The waitstaff wore blue jeans for crying out loud! If I am going to go to a premium restaurant, I expect the staff to at least be wearing black slacks, not holey jeans. It was like we were eating at a Chili's for 4 times the price. Overall restaurant rating: C+. I was, naturally, quite devastated.
Jonathan and I ventured back into the chilly night air as we walked back to the train station. We took in the city a bit and discussed our expectations versus the results of our meal. Then, we happened to notice a little bakery that was bustling still at 9 p.m. We took a peek in the window:
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| Nom |
We wandered in and ordered a chocolate, peanut butter cupcake for me, and a red velvet cupcake for Jon. Mine was pretty good, though a little dry. I imagine they would have tasted a little better earlier in the day (probably fresher). A nice local allowed me to photographer her holding the bakery's signature box.
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| "I'm going to be a hand model!?!?!" |
The bakery had a nice discount for returning the box in an effort to go green. I can appreciate that. We consumed our cupcakes on the street as we made our way back to the hotel. It was a pleasant way to end the evening of our first Iron Chef quality meal.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
A Sad Day in Cupcake Land
Jon and I didn't do Valentine's Day this year. It's a corporate holiday dreamed up to increase chocolate sales around the Great Depression, and we figured, meh, we just got married. That's love enough...for now.
However, I stumbled across a Food Network Magazine at the office with a recipe that I just HAD to try. I nicked the page from the magazine and dashed home with euphoric, klepto-like glee.
The recipe is for homemade chocolate mini cupcakes, frosted with peanut butter icing, dipped in a chocolate ganache. My heart was all a flutter. When I saw this recipe, I felt like this:
I should have known this was going to be a fail from the very beginning, but I was blinded by cupcake glee. Every time I encountered a warning sign that should have signified that this recipe was doomed to fail, I am going to write it in red. For example, I seriously had to go to the store on three different to get all the ingredients. Two of those three trips were to Wal-mart. Even checking out at the register at Wal-mart with these ingredients was a hassle. They just wouldn't scan, and the cashier, for some odd reason, could not properly type in the UPC code. Seriously.
The Sunday before Valentine's Day was going to be the last time that I will be cooking for awhile because Jon and I are going heading to the in-laws every weekend to help with the family business. Yea. Now was the time to cook, and there was no going back. Iplowed mixed forward.
However, I stumbled across a Food Network Magazine at the office with a recipe that I just HAD to try. I nicked the page from the magazine and dashed home with euphoric, klepto-like glee.
The recipe is for homemade chocolate mini cupcakes, frosted with peanut butter icing, dipped in a chocolate ganache. My heart was all a flutter. When I saw this recipe, I felt like this:
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| Everything in the world is MAGICAL! |
I should have known this was going to be a fail from the very beginning, but I was blinded by cupcake glee. Every time I encountered a warning sign that should have signified that this recipe was doomed to fail, I am going to write it in red. For example, I seriously had to go to the store on three different to get all the ingredients. Two of those three trips were to Wal-mart. Even checking out at the register at Wal-mart with these ingredients was a hassle. They just wouldn't scan, and the cashier, for some odd reason, could not properly type in the UPC code. Seriously.
The Sunday before Valentine's Day was going to be the last time that I will be cooking for awhile because Jon and I are going heading to the in-laws every weekend to help with the family business. Yea. Now was the time to cook, and there was no going back. I
With my mise en place rockin', I started making the cupcakes. I must have gone over the directions 500 times with OCD-like precision to make sure every single step was right. I chopped about 900 different types of chocolate:
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| Chop Chop Chop! |
Then I had to scald some heavy cream. After the cream is scalded, you are supposed to pour it over some peanut butter chips, let it sit for a few minutes, and then mix into a smooth paste for frosting. Scalding cream is really no big thing, that is unless your oven coils will not nest flat into the stove. After my pot sat on high for quite awhile without a boil, I began to wonder what was going on. After closer examination, my stove's knobs looked a little funny. Here's what I think happened: The stove's original knob got broken off by a previous tenant, so the landlord went to the hardware store and bought the first stove knob he could find. What he failed to notice during installation is that this knob is the opposite of all the other stove knobs. (i.e. this one has the HI setting on the opposite side of the dial than the other three burner knobs. So that means when this burner says HI when the temperature is actually on LO and vice versa. My hovel gets ghetto-er by the minute.
While the peanut butter set, I went to filling cupcakes sleeves. The batter was dark, rich, and absolutely fabulous. However, it was so thick, it was difficult to get it off the spoon into the muffin cups. I made a huge mess, but that was no surprise really. The real surprise came when I filled up 36 muffin cups, realizing that the recipe was only supposed to make 24 cupcakes. I put the first 24 in the oven and set the timer.
Afterward, I went to work smoothing the PB chips. I only had a shallow bowl left to mix in. I pulled out the hand mixer and started it on the slowest setting. Peanut Butter Creme Fresh soon splattered all over my kitchen because the bowl was too shallow to use a hand mixer.
You can see splatter on my hand and on the counter there.
This recipe, I swear, took every bowl, whisk, measuring spoon/cup, and spatula I owned. I had to stop 3 times mid-recipe to wash a dish that I needed. I sighed and carried on. I sadly misread that the PB mixture is to go in the freezer to harden after mixing. It was supposed to go in the fridge.
About this time, the timer is going off for the cupcakes. I take out the first batches and put in the second. Something seemed terribly wrong. Jon and I tried a cupcake to see what was up. Guess what we found:
This means that my oven temperature gauge is off as well. I had made 24 mini hockey pucks. Twenty-four f-ing Puck-cakes from scratch. I decide to carfully monitor the remaining 12 to see if they could be salvaged.
While they were cooking, I had to make a ganache and finish up the PB frosting. The recipe said that I was to mircowave the chocolate pieces with buttermilk for 2 minutes. By now, you should know how I feel about chocolate in the microwave. I started at 30 seconds and pulled my now rock hard PB frosting from the freezer. I pulled the chocolate out of the microwave and was able to ganache it right away. The PB frosting, on the other hand, required an ice-pick to get it out of the bowl. I was supposed to whip it into a fluffy paste, but it only came out as a thick turd log. I piped that shit on the salvaged second batch of cupcakes.
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| Look kids! Poo cupcakes! |
Then came the dipping of the turd-frosted cupcakes into the ganache. Sigh. The frosting didn't really adhere too well to the puck-cakes. It fell into the ganache bowl and had to be fished out and squished back on. Here is what resulted:
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| Hockey Puck-cakes with Turd-Burglar Icing Dipped in Diarrhea. Yummy. |
I walked out of the kitchen in disgust, both of my sinks full. My counters were covered in chocolate. Why you ask?
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| Dripped all over the kitchen. |
Since this incident, we have been living on pizza, sandwiches, take-out, and dinner parties at other people's houses. Fuck cooking. I quit.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Weddings Make Women Lose Their Minds...
I recently had my first bridal shower, and let me just say, "It is official, I have lost my mind." I got the bright idea to let everyone else handle the food for the shower except the little mini fondant cakes I wanted to make. Well, naturally it turned out a huge mess that went down something like this:
T'was the Night before the shower and all through the kitchen
women were cursing, and screamin' and bitchin'!
Mom lost the fondant cookie cutters, and my bright idea to use cutters to make little round cakes didn't pan out. The cut-outs just crumbled into little pieces everywhere. My aunts, who were hosting the shower, were ready to give up and buy store bought cakes. I could not bring myself to give up though, so I made a plea to start over making cupcakes instead. We tossed out the two, crumbled cake-messes that we had attempted to turn into something cute and respectable, and dashed off to the store for cupcake holder thingys. Well, my mom did because she was so upset about losing the fondant cutters that she needed to clear her head.
I, on the other hand, set about to rolling and cutting out fondant circles in preparation for later. So, after a few more hours of baking, we had some cute, little fondant-covered cupcakes. Mom went out and bought more little cutters, but we failed to get pictures with all the cute designs because we had 40 cupcakes to go. So basically you see the base coat here:
Because I was sucha horse's ass about having these things meticulously perfect, my lovely aunts went about other pressing duties...
Acting as sous chef, housekeeping, and family matriarch was Aunt Pat.
Between the four of us arguing for an hour, we finally decided on my Grandmother's buffet as the official tea holding location. (The theme was a tea party.)
Then the party started, it was craziness. The cupcakes and sandwiches were hoowarfed down in no time because 31 of the 37 people invited showed up. Let me just say that this was NOT AT ALL EXPECTED because:
a.) I'm a horse's ass and a bad friend. So naturally, I didn't expect that many people to come. What a surprise this was:
I also had an incredible game planner. She took tired, old shower games and breathed new life into them. They were hilarious and fun for all!
Here is a picture of one of her games, where people had to memorize what was on my apron and try to remember when I left the room. The person who remembered the most wins. Knowing that I love to cook, she made everything cooking related, and bird-themed, like the wedding. Truly awesome!
There was the inevitable opening of gifts, in which I tried hard to make it interesting so people didn't get bored out of their minds. There was the bow incident...
A near disaster with Jon's mother grew concerned when I mentioned that he and I had to argue about registering for some towels. I had said that I knew standard towels wouldn't fit around him because he is such a big guy. Side Note: He wanted to register for one towel for each of us, and ones that were so small that it wouldn't go around him. I insisted on "bath sheets" and added a few more to the registry behind his back. Seeing Jon's mother's uneasiness my mom calls out, "How do you know a regular towel won't fit around him..."
So other than that, all went well. When the boys started sneaking around for a sandwich, they found all the food gone and had to fend for themselves. I got a kitchen full or neato gadgets that I am itching to try out. I am thinking up my next challenge as I type...something involving using every new gadget I just got and chronicling its use here. Whew what a day! I couldn't have imagined a more perfect shower. It was beautiful, I felt beautiful. I felt so loved by all the special women in my life.
T'was the Night before the shower and all through the kitchen
women were cursing, and screamin' and bitchin'!
Mom lost the fondant cookie cutters, and my bright idea to use cutters to make little round cakes didn't pan out. The cut-outs just crumbled into little pieces everywhere. My aunts, who were hosting the shower, were ready to give up and buy store bought cakes. I could not bring myself to give up though, so I made a plea to start over making cupcakes instead. We tossed out the two, crumbled cake-messes that we had attempted to turn into something cute and respectable, and dashed off to the store for cupcake holder thingys. Well, my mom did because she was so upset about losing the fondant cutters that she needed to clear her head.
I, on the other hand, set about to rolling and cutting out fondant circles in preparation for later. So, after a few more hours of baking, we had some cute, little fondant-covered cupcakes. Mom went out and bought more little cutters, but we failed to get pictures with all the cute designs because we had 40 cupcakes to go. So basically you see the base coat here:
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| I somehow managed to get fondant all over my feet. Don't ask me how. |
Because I was sucha horse's ass about having these things meticulously perfect, my lovely aunts went about other pressing duties...
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| Aunt Loyce, finger sandwich extraordinaire! (and Official Butt Swatter. Apparently I tried to help too much.) |
Acting as sous chef, housekeeping, and family matriarch was Aunt Pat.
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| Official title: Watermelon Fruit Bowl Maker |
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| Me and Mum share a spot of tea. |
Then the party started, it was craziness. The cupcakes and sandwiches were hoowarfed down in no time because 31 of the 37 people invited showed up. Let me just say that this was NOT AT ALL EXPECTED because:
a.) I'm a horse's ass and a bad friend. So naturally, I didn't expect that many people to come. What a surprise this was:
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| That's not all of it either, there are packages behind me as well. |
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| Glee fanatic, Gingerific gal-pal Samantha (Matron of Honor Extraordinaire!) |
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| Fabulous! |
A near disaster with Jon's mother grew concerned when I mentioned that he and I had to argue about registering for some towels. I had said that I knew standard towels wouldn't fit around him because he is such a big guy. Side Note: He wanted to register for one towel for each of us, and ones that were so small that it wouldn't go around him. I insisted on "bath sheets" and added a few more to the registry behind his back. Seeing Jon's mother's uneasiness my mom calls out, "How do you know a regular towel won't fit around him..."
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| Thanks Mom for calling me out. (Sam saved the day: "Ummm, hello! THE POOL!") |
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| I was totally embarrassed and tried to hide in said bath sheet. |
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Ode to Samantha, GLEE fanatic and true friend
Ode to Samantha:
*She is the icing on a cupcake, the ginger in gingerbread.* *wink wink Sam*
Allow me a moment to get sappy. I remember when making a friend was as simple as being in the same class or liking the same games in school. The older you get, the more you realize you need those people that remember how you were when you younger, happier, and didn't give a damn about anything. Making friends is harder when you're all grown up. It takes lots of work.
Being the self-centered, attention-seeking person that I am, I haven't had a REALLY close friend in years. Mainly because, to be honest, I am a shitty friend. I am working on that. When I became engaged in March, Sam was the only woman in my life that I knew I could truly rely on. At the time, we were not particularly close, but when I asked her to be my matron of honor, she said she was so honored and got all choked up about it. She sounded so genuine that you would have thought that I had asked her to be my MOH over say.. a twin sister or something. Sam is unselfish, giving, and beautiful. She is everything I wish I could be.
Her birthday was last week, and I knew I just had to something to show her much she means to me. This is kind of hard to explain because BFF's are usually mutual. I won't pretend to believe that I am Sam's BFF, but she is most certainly is mine.
Sam loves so many things, except vegetables, seafood, and red velvet cake. Her husband had already planned a dinner out with the gang, so making her an incredible meal was out of the question. I send him a quick tweet asking if I could make her a cake. He had no objections so my confectionery gears started grinding.
I also know Sam is a fan of a few tv shows and movies, but GLEE in particular. Glee is like a culmination of so many things that Sam loves: pop music, musical theater, triumph of the under-dog, and great educators that support students.So after about 30 seconds of thought, I decided that a Glee cake was the way to go. I am thinking: fondant letters with a butter cream icing.
Sudden pause: Jonathan is freaking out when I spill this plan. He thinks this is waaaaaay to involved for transport directly after work in 100* degree heat. He applauds the thought, but thinks it is ill advised to try, yet again, a new recipe/technique when something this big is on the line. *I told him to shove it and not be so critical*
So what if I had never worked with fondant before! How hard could it be? I did a quick google search of Glee cakes, and saw 3 or 4 varieties. Then I stumbled upon some cute cupcakes involving minimal fondant and Cheerios cereals. (Apparently, this is a reference to the cheerleaders on the show, which are referred to as "the Cheerios".) I thought it was definately something I could pull off. Then, I got the idea of making some "popcorn cupcakes" so it would be like sitting around watching her favorite show with a bowl of popcorn. So here is how it went down:
Tuesday: Went to the grocery store and bought a gagillion things. I couldn't decide on which cupcake flavor to buy, so I got a yellow/chocolate swirl. That way everyone could be satisfied. Got buttercream icing knowing she likes it best. Also, got a variety of primary-colored fondants. yum yum.
Wednesday: Day of mental preparation/anguish. Purchased shiny, silver foil cupcake papers, and a bakery box for transport of precious cargo. Made it home and began prep on the "popcorn" component of the cupcakes, which is actually marshmallows. This is how to do it:
1. Using the miniature marshmallows, take a pair of sharp scissors and make 2, crosswise cuts across the flat part of the mellow. It is incredible how realistic this looks. *note: this technique could also double as a molar on a toothy cake.* Anyway, it takes, like a dozen or more per cupcake, repeat this step approximately 9 million times if you are making a huge batch.
2. After I had snipped about 1/2 a bag of these, I sealed them up and cut fondant squares with a knife. I used a simple template cut out of a manila folder. You have to roll it much thinner than you think you do. A little goes a long way. FYI, the hotter fondant gets, the more stretchy it is. My squares didn't stay perfect as I cut them under track lighting, but they were close enough to satisfy me. I put them in the fridge for use later.
3. I also spent some time printing little Glee logos off the internet, printing them in color, and cutting them out. I couldn't afford the edible paper, even if I could find it. I made a mental note to remind everyone not to eat the paper logos at the party. (Didn't work... WeeFee ate his anyway.)
Thursday: Baked the actual cupcakes, iced the ones that were to be the popcorn ones. I added the "marshmallow popcorn" and used an aerosol food-coloring to dye it yellow as if buttered. By the way, I think I can understand why those workers at the popcorn factories talk about the toxic, butter flavoring. That dye smelled like I was using spray paint, but there was no SNAFU. It was food dye..*
Friday: Raced home from work, iced remaining cupcakes. First you adhere the fondant square in the middle, then you dip the cupcake on a plate of cheerios. After that, apply a small dot of icing to the back of the paper logo and adhere to the fondant. Add some candy sprinkles for an extra pop of color, and you get these beautiful results...
We get the cupcakes all loaded in the car and dash across town to the restaurant without incident. We get them in the restaurant fridge just before she arrives. She has no clue they are coming out. Her expression was priceless...
*She is the icing on a cupcake, the ginger in gingerbread.* *wink wink Sam*
Allow me a moment to get sappy. I remember when making a friend was as simple as being in the same class or liking the same games in school. The older you get, the more you realize you need those people that remember how you were when you younger, happier, and didn't give a damn about anything. Making friends is harder when you're all grown up. It takes lots of work.
Being the self-centered, attention-seeking person that I am, I haven't had a REALLY close friend in years. Mainly because, to be honest, I am a shitty friend. I am working on that. When I became engaged in March, Sam was the only woman in my life that I knew I could truly rely on. At the time, we were not particularly close, but when I asked her to be my matron of honor, she said she was so honored and got all choked up about it. She sounded so genuine that you would have thought that I had asked her to be my MOH over say.. a twin sister or something. Sam is unselfish, giving, and beautiful. She is everything I wish I could be.
Her birthday was last week, and I knew I just had to something to show her much she means to me. This is kind of hard to explain because BFF's are usually mutual. I won't pretend to believe that I am Sam's BFF, but she is most certainly is mine.
Sam loves so many things, except vegetables, seafood, and red velvet cake. Her husband had already planned a dinner out with the gang, so making her an incredible meal was out of the question. I send him a quick tweet asking if I could make her a cake. He had no objections so my confectionery gears started grinding.
I also know Sam is a fan of a few tv shows and movies, but GLEE in particular. Glee is like a culmination of so many things that Sam loves: pop music, musical theater, triumph of the under-dog, and great educators that support students.So after about 30 seconds of thought, I decided that a Glee cake was the way to go. I am thinking: fondant letters with a butter cream icing.
Sudden pause: Jonathan is freaking out when I spill this plan. He thinks this is waaaaaay to involved for transport directly after work in 100* degree heat. He applauds the thought, but thinks it is ill advised to try, yet again, a new recipe/technique when something this big is on the line. *I told him to shove it and not be so critical*
So what if I had never worked with fondant before! How hard could it be? I did a quick google search of Glee cakes, and saw 3 or 4 varieties. Then I stumbled upon some cute cupcakes involving minimal fondant and Cheerios cereals. (Apparently, this is a reference to the cheerleaders on the show, which are referred to as "the Cheerios".) I thought it was definately something I could pull off. Then, I got the idea of making some "popcorn cupcakes" so it would be like sitting around watching her favorite show with a bowl of popcorn. So here is how it went down:
Deadline: Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday: Went to the grocery store and bought a gagillion things. I couldn't decide on which cupcake flavor to buy, so I got a yellow/chocolate swirl. That way everyone could be satisfied. Got buttercream icing knowing she likes it best. Also, got a variety of primary-colored fondants. yum yum.
Wednesday: Day of mental preparation/anguish. Purchased shiny, silver foil cupcake papers, and a bakery box for transport of precious cargo. Made it home and began prep on the "popcorn" component of the cupcakes, which is actually marshmallows. This is how to do it:
1. Using the miniature marshmallows, take a pair of sharp scissors and make 2, crosswise cuts across the flat part of the mellow. It is incredible how realistic this looks. *note: this technique could also double as a molar on a toothy cake.* Anyway, it takes, like a dozen or more per cupcake, repeat this step approximately 9 million times if you are making a huge batch.
3. I also spent some time printing little Glee logos off the internet, printing them in color, and cutting them out. I couldn't afford the edible paper, even if I could find it. I made a mental note to remind everyone not to eat the paper logos at the party. (Didn't work... WeeFee ate his anyway.)
Thursday: Baked the actual cupcakes, iced the ones that were to be the popcorn ones. I added the "marshmallow popcorn" and used an aerosol food-coloring to dye it yellow as if buttered. By the way, I think I can understand why those workers at the popcorn factories talk about the toxic, butter flavoring. That dye smelled like I was using spray paint, but there was no SNAFU. It was food dye..*
 |
| I wasn't satisfied at first, but after seeing 3 together it started to look awesome. |
Friday: Raced home from work, iced remaining cupcakes. First you adhere the fondant square in the middle, then you dip the cupcake on a plate of cheerios. After that, apply a small dot of icing to the back of the paper logo and adhere to the fondant. Add some candy sprinkles for an extra pop of color, and you get these beautiful results...
 |
| Glee is abounding at this point!!! |
We get the cupcakes all loaded in the car and dash across town to the restaurant without incident. We get them in the restaurant fridge just before she arrives. She has no clue they are coming out. Her expression was priceless...
Love you Sam. Happy Birthday!
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