Because I’ve been busy making hundreds of cupcakes lately, that’s what I’m sharing with you today: selections from my Cupcake Baking Playlist:

*note: the links will take you to the iTunes store, in case you want to listen to and/or buy the song.

Super Duper Love – Joss Stone
Because I super duper love baking, this is a good song to kick off what will be hours of mixing, measuring out, and baking the little cakes.

Sweet Lorraine – Nat King Cole
Yes, it’s what I named my little home-based bakehop after, and really- this song never gets old for me. Nat King Cole’s version is classic (it’s the song that made him famous!)

How Sweet It Is – Michael Buble
Appropriate for making frosting, sugar cookies, caramel, and candy.

Too Darn Hot – Ella Fitzgerald
One of my favorite films as a child was Kiss Me Kate- which is where this gem of a song comes from. Ella Fitzgerald’s version is perfect for when the kitchen gets too hot (in my kitchen, that’s all the time).

I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) – The Four Tops
See a pattern here? I like listening to sweet songs for sweet making.

Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
This song always makes me feel like making banana cupcakes. “These cupcakes are bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!” (Sorry, I had to).

What music do you listen to in the kitchen?

The Oscars are nearly here, and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has released his menu, for which he brought in

15 pounds of gold dust, 24 gallons of cocktail sauce, 1000 pounds of salmon, 2000 sesame miso cones, 4,800 eggs, 7,200 shrimp, and 50,000 baby veggies

to feed the expected 1500 guests. Want to see what’s on the menu?

Pre-Set First Course
Crispy Potato Galatte, Smoked Salmon, Dill Cream and Baby Greens

Entrée
Organic Chicken Pot Pie
Black Truffles and Root Vegetables

Dessert
“L’Etoile de Oscar”
(Baked Alaska with Espresso Glace and Guittard Chocolate Sorbet)
24 Carat Chocolate Oscar

Sounds like a delicious meal- simple, but comforting (yay for Chicken Pot Pie!)

If I were having it, I would be all over that 24 Carat Chocolate Oscar, which is perhaps the first registered dessert I’ve ever heard of. Executive pastry chef for the event is apparently Sherry Yard, one of my favorites for sure. I’ve made several things from her cookbooks, and they’re always, always perfect.

What are you eating on Oscar night?

Hot hot hot!!! If you immediately thought of the Cure song, you and I are obviously of the same era. I’m not here to wax nostalgic over great 80’s bands, though- just to share with you one of my favorite beverages for hot weather. It contains fresh, juicy Apples, crunchy Celery, ice and milk. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It is good- taste-wise, and for you.

If, like my mother, you’re lactose intolerant, feel free to substitute the regular milk with soy milk, rice milk, or no milk at all! That’s right, this still tastes awesome with just the Apples and Celery.

If, like my husband, you’re diabetic, go ahead and use Splenda or Stevia in place of the sugar. Or, again, none at all! When our apples are particularly sweet, my husband prefers his smoothie without any sweetener. He likes the tartness.

Apple Celery Smoothie

4 green apples, peeled and cored
4 stalks celery, peeled
4 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups ice
1 cup water

Chop apples and celery up into little pieces, and pulse to blend a few seconds in your blender. Add sugar, milk, ice, and water. Blend, blend, blend- and pour into tall glasses.

Serve with thick straws (or none, if you like milk moustaches)

One of the things my husband and I try to do every Lenten season is give up meat. Well, as much meat as possible. We love salads, of course, and a our fresh tomato and cheese sandwiches are particularly satisfying, but when we want something with a little more heft, we turn to potatoes. Baked potatoes.

My usual baked potato features a very generous amount of crispy bacon bits (the real stuff, mind you- none of that bottled capsicum “bacon”), but for Lent we do without. And you know what? The baked potatoes are still awesome. I’m convinced it’s the sour cream and chives- one of the best combinations in the world.

Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream & Chives
Serves 4, or 2 very hungry people

4 large russet potatoes
vegetable oil (Canola or Sunflower)
Kosher salt
For topping:
good butter, salted
sour cream
chives, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash potatoes well with a brush or scrubber under cold running water. Wipe gently with an absorbent cloth until dry.

Poke around 8 deep holes on each potato, using a good sturdy fork. I use a regular table fork. Coat lightly with vegetable oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and put on a baking sheet. Bake around an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, or until the flesh beneath the skin feels soft.

Serve immediately with some good butter, sour cream and chives. If you like, wrap the potatoes in foil first- this helps prevent the skin from shriveling too much.

You already know how I feel about eggs. We go through about 60 eggs here a week. Okay, so a lot of that goes to my baking business- but we are egg lovers, and one of our favorite ways to have them are Scotched.

Take a hard-boiled egg, cover in ground sausage meat, and fry. Doesn’t sound that hard, does it? I didn’t think so either, until I actually tried making the little suckers- and it was, to quote Tim Gunn, a big hot mess. The meat slipped off the eggs, leaving me with naked hard-boiled eggs, fried with some ground sausage. Tasted good, though.

Then I found this recipe, which is from the BBC’s food section- which, scotch eggs being British, is where I should have looked in the first place. It worked like a dream.

Scotch Eggs
Source: BBC Food

4 large eggs
275g/10oz sausage meat
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 spring onion, very finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
125g/4oz plain flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
125g/4oz plain breadcrumbs (I like to use Panko- gives it that extra crunch)
vegetable oil, for deep frying

Place the eggs, still in their shells, in a pan of cold salted water. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for around 8 minutes. Drain and cool the eggs under cold running water, then peel.

Mix the sausage meat with the thyme, parsley and spring onion in a bowl and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper (Simon recommends being generous with the freshly ground black pepper). Divide the sausage meat mixture into four and flatten each out on a clean surface into ovals about 12.5cm/5in long and 7.5cm/3in at its widest point.

Place the seasoned flour onto a plate, then dredge each boiled egg in the flour. Place each onto a sausage meat oval, then wrap the sausage meat around each egg. Make sure the coating is smooth and completely covers each egg. Dip each sausage meat-coated egg in the beaten egg, rolling to coat completely, then dip and roll into the breadcrumbs to completely cover.

Heat the oil in a deep heavy-bottomed pan, until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)

Carefully place each scotch egg into the hot oil and deep-fry for 8-10 minutes, until golden and crisp and the sausage meat is completely cooked. Carefully remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.