The Velveteen Cupcakes

Last weekend I mentioned to a coworker that I enjoy baking, specifically cupcakes. That spawned a discussion about the possibility of me bringing in cupcakes, and an idea was born. I WAS planning to just make simple yellow cake and buttercreme frosting, because seriously, they're easy and delicious. But when Liz asked about red velvet cakes, I decided to give it a try.

I've never made red velvet cake before, so I had to look around a little while to find a recipe I thought would work best. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-IV/Detail.aspx is the one I decided on.

I'm not taking in the cupcakes until Saturday morning, but since I have class tomorrow morning and work tomorrow night, I decided I'd rather make them a little early. They won't be quite as fresh, but people will just have to deal and not look a gift cupcake in the... cupcake?

Anyway, I had a big project due earlier today that I've been super stressed over. So after dinner I poured myself a glass of wine and got everything together.

Facebook, as always, is a vital part of everything I do.

Holy cow did this make a lot of batter. Not expected, although looking at the amounts (1 cup butter, 3 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 1 cup buttermilk) I should have realized that. Regardless, the batter is delicious. Of course Maggie and I had to sample it.

Mmmm, soooo red and velvet-y looking!

In honor of Penguin Day. And I work at an animal shelter. It just seemed fitting.

A few cupcakes after the were pau in the oven.

Well, it's 11:20 and the cupcakes are baked. However, I am being a lazy bum and I think I'm going to wait to make frosting tomorrow after work, because I am le tired. So I will have a nap.

Happy Baking!

Ok, I lied. I waited WAAAY too long to post this photo, so I'm just adding it on here. Whoops.

Cuz Cookies are Choice!

Aloha ahiahi!

I made chocolate chip cookies tonight, because I have been craving cookies for a few days and the cupcakes I made last week were gone in 24 hours. Less, actually. Anyway, that's beside the point.

I used my normal chocolate chip cookie recipe (http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2008/04/competition-chocolate-chip-cookies.html) and the dough turned out delicious, as always. However, I think my oven isn't running as hot as it used to for whatever reason, because everything is taking longer to cook. Which is frustrating. I wound up having to not only bake the cookies several minutes longer, but I also had to turn up the temperature. And they still came out a little wonky. Nobody knows for sure.

Anyway, I definitely used my cookie making as a lure to get my friend Nick to come hang out with me.  Despite repeatedly protesting that he needed to sleep, the temptation of cookies fresh from the oven was too overpowering. Cuz cookies are choice! (I was going for an alliteration there, but all I could come up with is 'culinary,' and 'cuz cookies are culinary' just seemed... silly.) Cookies: 1, Nick: 0.

Anyway, the cookies are delicious as always and I'm happy to have them to munch on.

If you try this recipe, I recommend you follow the directions about how to separate the dough to put it on the sheet. I know, I know. Following the directions seems fairly common sense, right? Well, it's a pain in the butt and you get cookie dough all over your hands and then there's like 3 people texting you and you want to change the channel but you can't because you're a freaking cookie dough monstrosity and there's nothing you can do about it. But it's worth it, because the cookies turn out much better (at least for me: they don't bake as flat when I place them properly).

Happy baking!

A spoiled succubus is a happy succubus

I bought myself new icing tips. I didn't REALLY need them, but I've wanted new ones for so long that I decided to go for it and buy myself some. And, thank goodness, the ones I wanted were only $3 for a package that included the two I was hoping for and one other. So it might not seem like much, but it's a big deal for me.

Carly had a potluck on Saturday night, but since I was arriving late, I told her I would bring cupcakes for dessert. Besides, let's face it, cupcakes are definitely my strong suit. So of course the first new icing tip got it's first tryout!



I LOVE IT. My previous tips (you know, from the beginner set) are so tiny that it takes forever and I never get the signature puffy icing that cupcakes should have. I mean, they're great, but I don't do writing because I shake too much, and so I only ever really used the one tip. And these just turned out so fantastic! Minus the weird cupcake-cup-peeling-off-the-cupcake thing. That was annoying. Google has suggested to me that maybe it's an airtight container thing (I packed these up right away, normally my cupcakes sit out for a while after baking.


Anyway, I made half of the cupcakes swirly, and by request from Ria, did the "flower" design she likes on the other half. It was so much easier to get the right amount of icing on the cupcakes, and the cupcakes themselves looked so much more professional (minus the darn liner thing, seriously, wth man?).

I've been semi-roped into making cupcakes for my coworkers next weekend. The people I know best are all working with me on Saturday, so it's perfect timing for some cupcakes. :) I'll try another new tip then!

Good thing it's only practice...

Last night I got bored, so I decided to bake cupcakes. Keep in mind that we still have half of a peanut butter cake from Ria's birthday, and Ria JUST made brownies Friday morning (although those are all gone as of Monday night). So there's been a LOT of baked goods happening in this apartment lately.

I decided to bake cupcakes because I was bored, and wanted practice decorating them. I always do this and forget that I don't like any of the tips from my tip set. They're all just so small it's hard to do anything with them. So I messed around with one a little bit and had some fun, but overall I wasn't overly pleased with the results.

One thing that particularly helps when baking cupcakes is making sure you set your oven to the right temperature. Not 50° low. That's my first tip: set the oven to the CORRECT temperature. Because I had to put them in longer and wasn't entirely paying attention, the first batch came out a little overcooked and dry along the edges.

By the end I was so warm (the problem with baking in Hawaii) that I just scribbled frosting on the last few and called it quits. Not very inspiring, I know.

On the plus side, they're delicious. :D

Ria's Peanut Butter Spectacle

Aloha!

Last Thursday was my awesome roommate Ria's birthday. She turned 23, and I had told her AGES ago that I would make her an awesome cake for her birthday. So I asked what kind of cake she wanted, and she said something with peanut butter.

What the heck. I had never heard of peanut butter cakes. I'd heard of cookies, fudge, various other things. But for some reason it didn't occur to me that there would be peanut butter cakes and I thought it would be a nightmare to find a recipe. As it turns out, I was right, but only because there were so many to choose from! And, being the poor, starving college student I am, I was trying to choose one that either required only things I already have in my pantry, or one that only required an additional ingredient or two. Finally, I found one.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-Butter-Cake-III/Detail.aspx

Goodness gracious, it made a lot of batter. The cake is about half again as thick as the cakes I normally bake. But that just means more to go around, right? Anyway, the whole thing smells like a jar of peanut butter. She'd better like it!

I brought it to the surprise party wethrew her in our friend Carly's apartment that night. We had chili dogs and cake! We started decorating Carly's apartment as soon as Ria left for her night class.

She knew SOMETHING was happening, but she had no idea we were throwing a surprise party! We all had a blast.

Ok, so there's no pix of just the cake, but here's one of Ria about to blow out her candles!!

Ok, so this is a baking blog and my first entry is no-bake cookies...

Aloha!

Today I tried (again) to re-create the no-bake cookies my friend Dom's mother makes. Unfortunately, I've never had them, so I'm basing my success on his taste buds and memory. Therefore, I won't know if I've accomplished my goal until the cookies cool in the fridge and he gets back from class for a taste test.

Last time I made these, a few weeks ago, I had never made them before and had no idea what I was doing. I was working from the allrecipes.com recipe I had been sent AND the notes his mom had sent me, and I got confused and didn't let the chocolate boil as long as it should have. The cookies came out much softer and stickier than I remember no-bake cookies being, and although they were still delicious, I wasn't in love with the result.

This time, I made sure to boil the chocolate mixture the full minute and a half before removing from heat, and also added some extra oats, just in case (maybe a scant 1/8 of a cup). The cookies seemed much less gooey as I was dolloping them on the parchment paper, but only time in the fridge will tell.

It takes FOREVER for this stuff to boil on low heat. FOREVER. 

Adding the oats

Ready to spoon out, chill, and enjoy! Doesn't it look delicious?

I had a picture of them spooned out onto the tray but it's all blurry, so I will update when they're pau and the taste test verdict is returned!

Thanks!

UPDATE 4/5: 

The cookies came out much better this time! They are actually recognizable as individual cookies and don't just stick together if I stack them. Dom says that they still aren't quite as good as his mom's, but they're still delicious. 

Success!

So I'm a Recipe Succubus

I was informed the other day that I'm a "recipe succubus." Now, that is a term I have not been called before. I decided to google the actual definition of the word "succubus." Here's what I found: "A demon taking the form of a beautiful woman to seduce a man."

Well, okay then. I guess I'm a demon that takes the form of a beautiful woman and seduces recipes out of people. I suppose I'll take that as a compliment. And this blog was born.

Here's my deal: I love to bake. I do it when I'm happy, I do it when I'm sad, I do it when I'm stressed. A part of me would love to open a bakery, but I know I'm not that good and I'm sure I'd hate it if I had someone judging my baking beyond the normal, "holy crap this is delicious!"

So I'm here. I will share my successes (and my not-so-successes) on here, and if you care, you can read, and if you don't, oh well, this blog was free to make and I'm not really all that concerned about it.

Bon Appetit!