Here a Cupcake, There a Cupcake, Everywhere a Cupcake!

             I made all of the cupcakes for Darcy's graduation party and I survived.  156 cupcakes.  When my coworkers hear about it, they give me a strange look and say "You're nuts."  I then make it very clear to them that I would only do this for family... no one else.  I don't want people getting any ideas... right Nancy?  I took a week off work to help get ready for Darcy's party.  On Tuesday I made 2 batches of chocolate cupcakes and a batch of yellow cupcakes.  Grandma did all of the dishes for me.  It was the perfect set-up because I hate doing dishes and Grandma doesn't mind it.  We froze the cupcakes so they'd still be fresh for Sunday.  I had planned to make the white cupcakes on Tuesday instead of the yellow but hit a snag when we realized we had forgotten to buy almond flavoring while grocery shopping.  Wednesday we went grocery shopping before Grandma's dental appointment and forgot the almond flavoring again.  We had just a few things on our mind while at the store!  On Thursday I made the white cupcakes after buying the almond flavoring in Emmetsburg.  Grandma made the spice cupcakes on Friday because I was decorating for the party.  So I guess technically I didn't make ALL of the cupcakes... 
              I made 4 different kinds of frosting: cherry, Butterfinger, chocolate and cream cheese.  I had brought a half batch of the cherry and Butterfinger frosting.  The secret trick to these frosting was the base.  Each started with very basic cake decorating frosting.  I made another batch of the basic frosting and split it in half.  Half was added to the cherry frosting; the other half to the Butterfinger frosting.  Each frosting had been too strong previously.  I wanted the frosting to have a faint taste.  The chocolate frosting was very bitter after I made it.  Grandma fussed with it the next day while I was in Emmetsburg and the result was perfection.  The cream cheese frosting was made Saturday before frosting.  I didn't want to make it sit too long.  The cherry frosting was for the white cupcakes.  The chocolate frosting, the yellow cupcakes.  The chocolate cupcakes had the Butterfinger frosting.  Cream cheese frosting suited the spice cupcakes.
              Saturday Grandma and I took the cupcakes out of the freezer...which wasn't the funnest thing I've ever done.  We put the cupcakes in metal cake pans.  It was a long dash from the freezer in the garage to the counter in the kitchen with the freezing metal on our hands.  Grandma figured it would take us an hour to frost the cupcakes.  We finished frosting in an hour and a half... Grandma was pretty close!  We sprinkled sanding sugar on the white and yellow cupcakes to add a little extra elegance.  For the chocolate cupcakes, Grandma sprinkled a little extra crushed Butterfinger on them.   The spice cupcakes were elegant enough with the cream cheese frosting (and also, anything added to that would have been really gross). 

             On Sunday I took the cupcakes to the office and set them out.  I did plan for the cupcakes to be part of the decoration with the different frosting and the fancy black with white polka dot liners.  I think they turned out very nice.  (And yes, I did fuss with the presentation.)  People seemed to really enjoy the cupcakes. 

I'm a dork

           It's true.  I'm a dork.  Not only am I a dork but I publicly admit it... with examples.  The best part of my day today was buying a cupcake stand.  Yes, a cupcake stand.  And I was a little picky.  Target had a cupcake/dessert stand but it wasn't what I wanted.  I just looked it up.  It was a dessert pedestal for $16.  Here's the link: http://www.nordicware.com/store/products/detail/dessert-pedestal/7E9E9A5C-5FB9-11E0-B8E4-005056A42C5A  Not what I wanted at all.  My best friend's mom (my second mommy) and my sister-in-law have similar cupcake stands and that's what I was looking for.  I remembered Hobby Lobby carried theirs.  The brand I bought is a Wilton cupcake stand.  I had three different choices: 13, 23 or 38 cupcakes.  I, of course, chose the 38 cupcake stand.  Here's the link to the one I got: http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=BA1648DA-802D-F658-04E205A00CB91EFB&killnav=1

My little sister is graduating this month and I'm making the cupcakes for her party.  (I'm sure you're well-aware of that fact.)  Her party gave me the perfect excuse to buy the cupcake stand.  Darcy and I were talking about her party a couple weeks ago.  I told her that I was going to buy the stand for her party and she said "You so want one, just admit it.  You have a blog about food.  You want the cupcake stand."  Yup, it's true.

I Bake at Strange Times

It's true. I bake at strange hours, some by choice, others not so much. Friday, my husband and I went out for supper with a friend from college. We hadn't seen this friend for awhile so supper was a little longer than usual. We went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant from college, 45 minutes away. We got home later than we usually do which normally wouldn't have been a problem. My husband's co-workers were having a "Fruit Saturday" pot luck. He had signed up to bring fruit pizza. I love fruit pizza. I made it a lot when I was studying in Spain and crafted my own recipe. In the past, I remember not being 100% satisfied with the crust. I told Steve to buy ready made sugar cookie dough since it was so late. I didn't want to stay up all night making the pizza after all. Steve stopped by the grocery store to pick up some much needed ingredients... strawberries, cream cheese, the cookie dough, Clementine oranges. I had started slicing the kiwi and measured out the sugar for the crust. Steve came home and we got serious about this pizza. I tried to smooth the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet. I say try because the dough was sticky and kept sticking to my hands as I smoothed it out. I tried using a glass sprayed with cooking spray... it worked... somewhat. Steve started chopping strawberries and peeling oranges. I finally popped the cookie crust into the oven. I debated poking holes in the crust with a fork. My mom does this with pie crust but I decided against it. I'm not really sure why except that it was late and I was a little tired. I turned my attention to the pizza "sauce". The sauce is a fruit dip which is one of the reasons I love this version of fruit pizza. Like I said, it was late and I was a little tired. Instead of adding 2 teaspoons of vanilla to the sugar and cream cheese, I added 2 tablespoons! Yikes! I tried adding more sugar but it was still a little runny. I did the best I could and prayed that it would thicken while it was in the fridge overnight. About the same time, the cookie crust was done... The cookie was bubbling slightly... it looked alive. I pierced it with a fork and stuck it back in the oven. After taking it out of the oven a second time, I popped it in the fridge to cool down. I didn't want the crust to cook the sauce! In the meantime, Steve had finished chopping the strawberries and peeling the oranges. I'm fortunate that he loves to cook/bake as much as I do. It was getting extremely late and he had to be up for work at 6, so I told him to go to bed while I finished the pizza. After 10 minutes of being in the fridge, I decided the crust was ready... if it wasn't I was. Like I said earlier, I didn't want to be up all night making this pizza. I spread the sauce on and started the rows of the fruit. Oranges on the outside, then strawberries, then kiwi, another row of strawberries and a row of kiwi in the middle and I was done! Put some press-n-seal wrap on it and time for bed! Yay!

Making the pizza reminded me of my time in Spain and for a few minutes late Friday night, I felt as though I were in my apartment in Spain making the fruit pizza for my friends to enjoy. I hoped Steve's co-workers would enjoy it as much as my friends in Spain.

With as late as it was Friday night when I went to bed, I expected to sleep in until at least 8 Saturday morning. Not even close! I was wide awake at 5:30! That isn't even close to the time I get up for work during the week. However I didn't want to wake Steve by tossing and turning. I got out of bed and checked my Facebook account. The light of the screen blinded me until I opened our blinds to let natural light in. After 30 minutes of computer time, I was bored. What to do? What to do? What to do? Oh I know! I'll bake the cupcakes that I've been meaning to bake all week! Yup, 6 AM and I'm getting ready to bake. A little side note about these cupcakes: I like chocolate cupcakes but I have yet to find a recipe that I love. I also plan on hosting a bridal shower for my best friend sometime next winter. I wanted to do a trial run of cupcakes and find the best chocolate cupcakes. Texas sheet cake is my favorite chocolate cake. It always turns out perfect and my relatives harass me to make it for them all the time. "I wonder how it would be as a cupcake recipe?" I thought to myself many times last week. Saturday morning I decided to go for it. I measured out the flour and sugar... doing OK so far. The portion of the recipe that requires the butter, cocoa and water to be boiled was a little problematic. I didn't have enough butter. I used what I had and remembered a tip I had heard before but never tried. Applesauce can replace a half cup of oil or shortening in a recipe. Perfect! I have homemade applesauce in my fridge! I did NOT add the applesauce to the boiling cocoa mix... that sounded a little disgusting to me. I did however add it immediately after adding the cocoa mix to the flour/sugar mix. Things seemed to be going just fine for these cupcakes until the eggs. Cracking eggs is both fun and gross. Half of the shell for the first egg fell into the batter. Thankfully, the mixer was not running so I could simply scoop the egg shell out. The second egg behaved itself better than the first and didn't pose a problem at all. I spooned the batter into a muffin pan, lined with white muffin liners. I like white muffin liners better than the traditional pink, yellow and blue liners. Those liners are perfect for Easter or some other spring activity but any other time seem a little weird to me. After fussing over the cupcakes and their cooking time, they were done! They looked and smelled great. I let them cool for hours before I frosted them. OK, that wasn't actually the plan but Saturday is also my day to do laundry and I got a little distracted. I frosted them about 4 in the afternoon (oh yes, baking is a whole day activity for me!). I used my aunt's recipe with one little exception... I added a little more water. I'm still new to the decorative frosting experience and my hands hurts if the frosting isn't a little soft. I tinted the frosting teal (or as close as I could get) and got to work. Sanding sugar was sprinkled on top to make the cupcakes really elegant. I think they turned out quite nicely.

A little side note about the fruit pizza, Steve called me at 11 to say the sauce hadn't thickened and was there something we could do? Nope. Not one thing. Except start over which wasn't an option since he was at work. When he got home, he told me that the middle of the pizza was soggy so he had thrown away those pieces. The pieces on the edge were OK. I consider the fruit pizza to be a half-failure and proof that I probably shouldn't bake when tired. The cupcakes on the other hand turned out great! Proof that I can get up ridiculously early and bake!