A Few of My Favorite Things (Christmas Edition)

Merry Christmas!
Things I'm loving currently:
1. Enjoying some delightful Pandora Christmas music (Baby, It's Cold Outside radio)
2. Watching some snowflakes' attempt to fall on the ground.
3. Being on Winter Break! I made it through a FULL semester of graduate school. Whew!
4. Trying on a beautiful bridesmaids dress.
5. How many goodies are on my counter top. Last night was my classmate's Christmas Party and we had a BLAST to say the least! The Secret Santa gift I won was a bag full of baked goods--how did I get so lucky?! I made Oreos dipped in brownie batter (idea from here)

Sarah made fantastic Ginger Snap cookies (my FAVORITE!) and awesome fudge! (Left on the platter)

 My Secret Santa gift was from Katie S. It was a bag FULL of chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate dipped macaroons, and some homemade caramel.

Somewhere in the evening, Katie admitted that she didn't actually make any of them. However, she DID make this fantastic bag! 

(My favorite is the Nativity Scene! So creative!)

 This is how Callie feels about puppies not getting chocolate. She was even nice this year.

 Here are more photos to entice you. Who should I expect for company? I certainly cannot eat all of these by myself! (Although, between the time these photos were taken and the post was written, the platter needed to be refilled. Don't judge.)

What are some of YOUR favorite Christmas time delights?!

Inspiration

Two blogs in one month?! Lucky you!

I often ask myself why the few of you enjoy reading my posts. I'm never consistent and it's only little old me writing. I then remember that the funniest things seem to happen to me in the kitchen. I sure hope these few and far between posts provide comic relief for you. Besides, what else can we do but laugh at ourselves?

Before I begin, let me brag. Last week was psycho, and I'm not joking. I got to do my first solo teaching in the classroom of 6th graders, and as exhausting as it was, it paid off. I even had them blogging on Wednesday! So cute! (www.theazteclearners.blogspot.com) Then, Thursday night, I got to witness the engagement of my two wonderful friends, Katie and Corey (BIG congrats here!) Saturday it was a night of celebration for Katie and Ash's birthday(s). I have had a week worthy of blogging, for sure. Okay, on to the purpose of THIS blog:

Today I took inspiration from many places:
1. I have heaps of homework that I would rather not do.
2. One of the other teachers on my team at school baked these cupcakes (amazing.)
3. The sermon on Sunday was all about skillful living, and a member skillfully baked us all Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Whipped Ganache Frosting and Maple-Roasted Bacon (Great blog, check her out!)
4. Thanksgiving is here and cupcakes are a means of celebrating, don't you agree?
5. I FINALLY watched Julie & Julia.
6. (Okay, this is after the inspirational fact, but thank God it's happening) The apartment smells SO delicious!

Today I bring you Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting. Oh yes, I did. You hate me, don't you? The batter looked so fluffy, if that is possible. It also looked to be similar to baby food. In my minimal adult experience with baby food, I assure you, this is what it looked like. (Good thing the batter tasted tons differently, I'm sure.) I mixed so many ingredients (ground cloves, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon) and then pumpkin puree. I decided it was necessary to taste the puree before I poured it into the batter, and this, I again assure you, is definitely what baby food tastes like. (Good thing we dumped in the sugar, yes?) The cakes are out of the oven cooling and looking fantastic, and I'm sure the smell has something to do with the way they look. 

So, where are these puppies going? First and foremost, we baked them for Jon's family at Thanksgiving dinner. I cannot wait to see how they feel about my baking skills! The remainder will be for Jon and I: the bakers who deserve the payment!












Happiest Thanksgiving to you, my faithful readers!






Recipes used today:
Pumpkin Cupcakes (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)
Maple Frosting (From some cupcake book, via a teacher friend)

Finding Out What Life is as a Graduate Student

Well, friends, I, again, apologize for the lack of cupcaking. It has taken its toll on my heart, too. Grad school is eating me alive. It isn't that I am always so busy, but the rare free time I do have is spent watching television, not baking! Another factor playing its role here is money. Holy wow, graduate school is expensive, as are those "living-on-your-own" bills.

But, rest assured, today, I bring you some cupcakes! I recognize that posting these adventures in the kitchen and pictures to boot tend to give a craving or two. Well, with todays cakes, you won't have to worry about those cravings for two reasons: 1. They are not that great. 2. Mark Fincham is not here to taste test. (Nor is Jon, or anyone else for that matter.)

After a day of homework, I remembered that it is November and a few of my classmates have birthdays around here, so I decided to whip something up. I have been bragging about my baking skills since July, and have failed to prove them. Hence, todays baking inspiration. I went through my few cupcake books and found a recipe that seemed simple and easy. Simple, as in, I have no ingredients or money to get some. Easy, as in, "I forgot to do that homework!" They are called Chocolate Muffins and consist of butter, flour, brown sugar, egg, and milk. That's it. Which is why I assume they do not taste good. It is my belief that the harder something is to bake, the better it will taste. I also used a new book, so I am a little hesitant to serve these puppies. Not only am I used to yielding 24 cupcakes (only 12 here), but I have 17 people in my cohort to serve! I'm stuck on the fence as to if I will bring these to school tomorrow or not. Opinions?

In short, I'm so happy I had my delicious, homemade leftover frosting in the freezer to spruce these cakes up!

Happy Fall!

Recipes used today:
Chocolate Muffins (Cakes and Cookies from ImagineThat publishing)
Vanilla Frosting, frozen/thawed from last time (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)

Time to Catch Up

Wow. Talk about my favorite things taking a backseat. School is kicking my butt, but I am in love with it! After this first three weeks, we should be in a better schedule and an easier place to bake! My gosh, we have a lot to catch up on!

Light years ago, I took upon myself to make cupcakes for my best friend Nicole's bridal shower! Should be easy, right?! I then started to get creative (and perhaps too crazy) and wanted to bake a cake! With fondant! What better practice than my brand new apartment's oven and invite her and her fiancée over for dinner? Well, the cake was too crumbly and apparently you need frosting to go under the fondant! Whoops! So, I tried again, and the cake was a little better, but the fondant was way too thick! Darn! I guess I should stick with what works best! Also, check my new cake stand! My boyfriend's mom, Kathy, gave it to me for  graduation! LOVE it!

So before this cake-escapade, I was designated to make some cakes for a dinner party with friends from school. This seems like so far away, how sad! I had a clever idea spoofed from my oreo cakes (which I apparently have deprived you of, as well! So sorry!) The oreos in this recipe go soft, and makes the cake amazing! But I thought it would be fun to use the whole cookie rather than crumbles of it!

Pre oven:

Post oven:

It sort of worked, but it was mostly just fun to experiment! The oreos ended up at the top of the cake, which was opposite of what I wanted! Oh well, good thing I have friends who don't judge me based on where the oreos end up in my cupcakes!

Soon after all of this, I started graduate school, and there was NO way I could bake during that time. In the middle of the first term, I got together with my girls from high school. For some reason, we never miss a beat when we get together. It's pretty fun to think that we have been friends since my sophomore year! I was requested to build dessert for them. In my flip flopping of whether to make a cake or cupcakes for my best's bridal shower, I thought I would try a cake, again! While mixing things together, this happened:

Have you EVER tried to mix batter without a whisk?! I do not recommend it!

It was a vanilla cake recipe I had found online. I was going to make two cakes for a double layer cake. Until this happened:

 

(See bottom of oven) 

Is that supposed to happen?

So I figured, one layer is enough! I strawberry frosted it and it was super pretty!

Not to mention: delicious! Aside from the minor emergency in the oven, this cake was a success!

I still couldn't bring myself out of the disaster that cake-baking has been for me, and decided that with my crazy schedule, my bad cake adventures, and what Nicole deserves for her bridal shower, I should just stick with cupcakes. And my favorite one to bake: Champagne cupcakes! I began baking the Monday before and froze a batch so I wouldn't run out of time. And that STILL wasn't enough time for me! I woke up very early on Saturday and frosted 51 cakes with vanilla frosting. 

Then I rolled out the white fondant and cut out the circle shapes to place on top of the cakes. WOW. I had NEVER played officially with fondant, and overall, it went well, but I was stressed to the max with this step. I finally finished half the cakes with white fondant, and began with the blue. I got in the hang of it, but it still was VERY time consuming. I found these cool stencils for desserts, and they matched the idea of the bridal shower, so I thought it would be super easy to design. That was a joke. I used gray powdered sprinkles. It was just so hard to get the sprinkles to stick and to stay in the design once I removed it. I brushed the cakes with water and tried, but it turned into such a sticky mess =( I did what I could and went on with the blue cakes, which I had bought white edible pearls for them. And yet again, the sprinkles did not stick. I pressed the cakes upside down on a pan of the pearls and that helped a little, but I still was not too happy with my creation. 

Everyone loved the cakes at the shower, and it was a wonderful, fun party full of wine and fun conversation! I just can't wait for the wedding! The night before the shower, Nicole and I went on a double date to dinner with our gentlemen. She had no idea of my whisk breaking apart, but somehow knew! For my birthday, she gave me a new whisk, spatula (both with cute pigs on them!), a NICE new bowl, and a bunch of cute cupcake books/cards! I like to describe her as my biggest supporter of this hobby, tied with Jon's Mama, Kathy!

Oh, and this was the mess I came home to:

Recipes used today:
Champagne Cupcakes (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)
Vanilla Frosting (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)
Simple Vanilla Cake (http://recipes.kaboose.com/vanilla-cake.html)
Red Velvet Cake (ala my sister!)
Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)

Stick With What You Know

Announcing: Katie Daycaint, the college graduate! Yep, I graduated! And, yep, he completely butchered my name! Oh well, I still got that cool degree! And an incredible party afterwards! They highlight of the party was my Daddy's BBQ Pork, but a close second was my cupcakes, for sure.

For the celebration, we stuck with the champagne cupcakes that I had made for New Years, along with the same Strawberry Buttercream Frosting. The baking of the cakes was fairly simple, and I noticed how quick I'm getting at these! Jon was a HUGE help this time around, my stubborn bum even let him make a batch! The work space was limited as we had the food preparations all over the place, but, I'm adaptable =)

We were going to pick up one of Costco's delicious sheet cakes, but a part of me wanted the challenge for my own party. And then we found these adorable paper cups:

And, of course, you know me, I got creative with the decor:

I used graham crackers for the squares, chocolate frosting for the hat and Twizzlers for the tassel!

The party was amazing! I am so blessed to have the best set of family and friends to celebrate my accomplishments with. The results? My Daddy said the frosting was the best he has EVER had! The champagne made the cakes super moist! They disappeared as soon as they were out! And the Mark-o-meter? See for yourself:

They are such great friends, always supporting my baking =)

So, I did it! It took 5 years, but I'm done!! Next step? Grad school in July!

Lesson learned today:

Don't go bakin' when you're tired/cranky. Cupcakes not made with love are not fun!

Recipes used today:
Champagne Cupcakes (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)
Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting (Ala Martha)
Chocolate Frosting (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)

Baking for the Queen

Why do I love birthday cupcakes? Could it be the fact that I am such a giver and love watching people indulge my cupcakes? Or, could it be that they feel so generous at that moment and let me have a cupcake, as well? Yup, I believe that's it.

Finally! A day where I have both a special occasion AND a day off! Lucky me! Tomorrow is the birthday of my favorite sister. She deserves way more than cupcakes, but giving cupcakes has been very gratifying for me! On Tuesday, we celebrate my co-worker, Sarah, but since I don't work on Tuesdays, Monday will have to do! Also, Jon comes home from his vacation tomorrow, so a cupcake or two won't hurt his welcome.

Well, for starters, my sister has been confined to a dairy-free diet for her daughter's allergy. Talk about a challenge! But one I wanted to go for, for sure. I Google-d my heart out until I found a cake recipe that seemed to be decent. One stop at the grocery later, I was a baking diva! The batter was super moist, which is just right in this 5,280 altitude. My only issue was the flavor was lacking, but we'll see how the cupcakes turn out:

With my handsome assistant in Iowa, I was all alone! I'm sure my parents LOVE it when I do experiments in their kitchen!

Here is the batter, placed, of course, in the Royal Queen paper cups!

Then, the frosting: A banana dairy-free frosting! (Thanks to Google, yet again!) 

Banana, butter (dairy free), squeeze of lemon, and lots of powdered sugar! 

YUM YUM YUM!!

I think I'll try this frosting a few more times, it is fabulous!

The cake recipe was called at 350* and 30-35 minutes, but with cupcakes, I figured turning it down would be smart. I checked it at 25 minutes and they were PERFECT. I repeat: PERFECT!! Let us just remember the good days in January with the exploding cupcakes! I am amazing!

My other challenge: Sarah. She is somewhat picky, so birthday cupcakes have to be fit for her! I focused on Cookies and Cream Cupcakes (Yes, OREOS!!) with a Marshmallow Frosting! One thing the author left out of this recipe is to make sure the cup of milk is at room temperature. Have you ever seen milk fly? Me neither, until today. The butter was at room temp, but the milk was straight from the fridge and cooled the butter down, so when I went to mix, everything (including me!) got covered in milk. Birthday wish list: A large apron. I thought about writing the change in my book for future endeavors, but I think the splatters will do for a reminder.  Holy cupcake! The batter was very worth it. I may or may have put a little more Oreo's in the mix, because those little cookies are my weakness!

Alrighty, so the cupcakes have cooled and are ready to get glamorous! The banana frosting was VERY liquidy, but just a dribble on each cake did the trick. I then became a genius. I wanted my new colored sugars to decorate these pups, and found the best way:

Sugar in an olive oil dipper, cupcake dipped in sugar! Aren't they beautiful?!

The Marshmallow Frosting gave me a little more run for my money! BUT--it is delicious! (And gooey)

Getting the 'mallows ready! (Double boiler to soften them)

Happy Birthday, Girls! Here's to many, many more!

Well, if you made it through all of this: You're a trooper! Just think of it as a two-for-one deal!

Thanks for reading this. I love to hear your thoughts in comments. 

Credit to mi madre: To make frosting more thick: beat it more!

Lesson learned today: When using measuring cups, rinse immediately. You never know how soon you'll need the 1/4 cup, again!

Recipes used today:

Dairy Free Chocolate Cake

Dairy Free Banana Frosting
Cookies and Cream Cupcake  (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella) 
Marshmallow Frosting  (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella) 

Let's Try Something New!

Oof.

I have done no justice here. School has swallowed up my life! Therefore, I have no time to make "Just Because" cupcakes, and they are only made when a celebration is occurring.

Yesterday? The other Finch-person in our lives: Sarah's birthday! We first shared a chilly and wind-blown picnic with her and then I* went home and baked! With the help of Emily, we chose Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes (say it ten times fast--it's awesome!) The recipe was SUPER weird and had two sections that said something like "Top of cupcake" and the other recipe said "The Cupcake". The top part was just a mix of egg, vanilla, brown sugar and chocolate chips, and the bottom was more of a cookie dough consistency. But that wasn't the most odd part of this recipe. I* was to bake the bottom cupcake part for 15 minutes and add the top recipe to fill the cups, which, to me*, seemed like it would be a layered cake--no. I baked the bottom part and they ended up sinking in the middle (intentionally? Maybe!), then I spooned the top recipe into the formed "bowls" to be cooked for 10 minutes. The results?

They win the award for the ugliest cupcakes ever served (yes, even worse than my first attempt!) BUT oh my gosh!! They were so delicious! A glass of milk was the best finishing touch! Best of all? Sarah's guests loved them! The night was fantastic with a wine bar and creme brulee! Happy Birthday, Sarah, love celebrating with you!

*Please note that "I" or "me" in all of my posts also includes, Jon, who:
a. Puts up with my picky-ness of baking, and
2. Helps do the odd jobs for me, like finishing up!
He's pretty great!

Recipes used today:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes (Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina Castella)