cupcakes and corks

Cupcake Wars, Season 4, Episode "Year of the Cupcake"

2012-03-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Cupcake Wars, Season 4, "Year of the Cupcake"

Have I ever heard of Cupcake Wars? Not only have I heard of the show, but I've lived and breathed Cupcake Wars for the last 14 months of my life. Batter was featured on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars, Season 4, "Year of the Cupcake!"

Living in Vail, Colorado, high in the Rocky Mountains (8,150 feet in the air), there are certain things that can only be addressed in Denver, like getting your car serviced. On one fateful day in June of 2010, I was at the car dealership when I got the call. The voicemail went something like this, “Hi Liz, this is so-and-so from Simply Delicious, and I’m calling you about Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. Please call me back asap.” After 3 different video submissions, and 14 months of waiting, I finally got the call I never knew I was waiting for all my life. They had picked me for the show.
Less than 10 days later, I was on a plane to Los Angeles with my loyal assistant in tow, Cassie Harrelson of Carbondale, Colorado.

There were so many things running through my head about the impending battle...how would my hair look...did I chose the right wardrobe...and maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that 3rd piece of pizza. Then, I had to push aside my ego and start thinking about the nitty gritty. What were the scary ingredients going to be - in every episode, everyone has to bake with ridiculous ingredients in the first round.

When it was revealed that I had to use at least 3 Chinese-inspired ingredients for the Chinese New Year theme, I couldn’t believe my luck. I’m thinking, “This is probably the most far-flung challenge that I have heard of, and also way out of my comfort zone.” I’ve eaten Chinese food all my life, but never known what really goes into those dishes.

I first thought of making a spiced vanilla cake with ginger and star anise, and maybe throwing some lychee in there. But I didn’t want to play it safe. During my Cupcake Wars episode research, I had found that lots of bakers went home too early for playing it safe. I thought about an Asian slaw noodle cupcake, but then I decided that was way too far off the grid to even take the idea seriously. After quickly deciding to go a different route, I ended up with a chocolate tofu lychee cupcake topped with ginger cream cheese frosting. You can visit Vail's local newspaper, the vaildaily.com to see the recipe:
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20120207/AE/120209891/1078&ParentProfile=1062

Being eliminated after Round 1 was disappointing because I didn’t get to show the judges and the world what I am capable of doing. I’m happy though, to have taken a risk, and left the show with no regrets.
I am thrilled to have been chosen among thousands of applicants, and I am proud how I represented my brand and my home state of Colorado. Even though baking at altitude is difficult for most, I’ve managed to find the right balance with nostalgic influences using elevated ingredients. While on Cupcake Wars, I got to experience baking at sea level once again, and am reminded that not everything is as easy as it looks on TV. Now I’m just waiting for that 2nd call - the redemption show.

Below is my photo documentary of the experience, beginning to end!

I had to send an approval shot of my wardrobe to CCW! I was allowed to send a photo wearing any purple tshirt since the ones I ordered online had not arrived yet.

The new purple tshirts had arrived! The only tshirts I have had in stock for the past couple of years are white, and I was told we weren't allowed to wear white, red or any kind of patterns since those styles don't translate on TV. After ordering 50 black tshirts to fill the minimum order, I got the call from CCW saying we couldn't wear black. But, I said, "I already ordered them, CCW!" They said, "I'm sorry, Batter." Well, good thing customink.com is a great company and I was able to call the factory and halt production of 50 custom black tshirts. I was able to switch the color to purple because they wanted us to look colorful and fun. Looking at my competitors now, I can now see why wardrobe was so important - typecasting!

Before arriving to LA, CCW came to my commercial kitchen in Minturn, which I fondly call the cupcake factory. That day, I had a couple originally from Charlotte (my hometown too!) picking up their order of red velvet cupcakes so they graced the Food Network too! Thanks Vicki & Jim!

looking a little bit shell-shocked about heading to Los Angeles for the battle!

where all the magic happens!

Minturn thumbs up!

frosting the chocolate cupcakes in the Minturn kitchen

my blue ribbon made the cut! it's for my red velvet cupcakes! get some!

little did we know that they were going to use "bloopers"...this is me doing crab hands with my oven mitts

slicing and dicing mini pb cups for the cupcake garnish in Minturn

Cassie and I chatting about our impending trip to Hollywood

clowning it up

Cassie's now infamous fish face. In her mind, she'll never live that one down. I think it's cute!

observing our hard work

beauty shot!

my beautiful mountain cupcake factory

loading up the car on cold, snowy day in Minturn

trying not to fall off the icy curb while balancing a 20lb. bucket of supplies

I gave my dear Jetta a bath before her national TV debut

Cassie loading her 20lb. bucket of supplies

the now infamous soccer foot kick! they wanted us to do something cute and fun as our exit move before driving away and a high-five wasn't good enough. I guess the soccer kick will have to do.

jetta is packed up!

look how shiny the Jetta is! she never looks that good shuttling cupcakes around Vail's mountain roads!


see ya later Minturn, here we come Hollywood!

leaving Vail for DIA!

Cassie anxiously awaiting the departure

we'll come back changed forever

yeaaaah batter!

making sure the flight is on time!

see you in a few days, Vail!


When we arrived in the City of Angels we were whisked away from LAX by APs, or assistant producers, as they call themselves. On the way to our extended stay hotel, we saw this California sunset. Cassie and I both agreed that it was a good sign!

Once we arrived to the studio the morning of the shoot, we were led to our own private dressing room with our names on the plaques outside the door! They misspelled Cassie's last name, but at least they got it right on TV!

We even had a place to hang our extra aprons, and most importantly, a full length mirror!

getting ready to go on! it was about 6am when this photo was taken...

documenting this historic moment for myself & batter cupcakes!

let the battle begin!! these faces are our intimidation faces

their intimidation faces were much more convincing

waiting for Justin to tell us about our ensuing war

Chinese New Year?!?

red bean paste was a choice from "the inspiration table"

You can tell I'm thrilled about the cupcake theme

star anise was a choice from the "inspiration table"

rushing the "inspiration table." of course I'm ahead of all the others, I was a high school track star

telling Cassie that we're going to make a chocolate tofu cupcake with sesame oil, lychee & ginger

Here I'm starting on the tofu cupcake batter and Cassie is starting on the walnut-stuffed, chocolate-dipped lychee garnish

Cassie drained the lychee fruit from its own juices, patted dry, and then stuffed each one with a walnut. She then melted Scharffen Berger semi-sweet chocolate, and dipped each lychee by hand. She then rushed them to the freezer so the chocolate would set with plenty of time left.

tofu!

Cassie rockin' out on the walnut-stuffed chocolate-dipped lychee garnish!

I'm adding tofu to the dry mix. The editing made the tofu seems much more jiggly and way "grosser" than it really was...

actually using my cute apron for hand-drying

the 30-minute warning

Cassie's telling me to get those cupcakes into the oven, quick!

really awesome hair flip after putting cupcakes in oven

Cassie rushing the chocolate lychee garnishes to the freezer

here I'm checking the tops of the cupcakes to see if they bounce back

those cupcakes, made by these hands, are on the Food Network!!

stress moment about time limit

are they going to come out undercooked?

crazy cupcake lady face, with little time left, headed to commercial break

back from commercial, I pull the cupcakes with little time left on the clock

I was shaking so badly from nerves, it probably took me at least 5 minutes just to pull them out of the oven. Well, maybe more like 10 seconds, but normally it only takes like 2 seconds. I didn't want to drop the tray!!

I am coring the centers of the cupcakes to add the lychee compote that Cassie was working on. As soon as I see steam come out of the centers of the cupcakes, I start to get real nervous. I've never made this recipe before!

adding finishing touches to the cupcakes

frosting the cupcakes with pure ginger cream cheese frosting - yum!

adding Cassie's chocolate-lychee garnish to the tofu cupcakes. notice the awesome black metallic wrappers!

Cassie jumps for joy that we're finished AND they look great! The frosting isn't melting off the cupcake and the garnish isn't too heavy. Even though it wasn't a presentation round, and only taste, we wanted them to look perfect!

what just happened!?! we're done!

we are told to approach the judge's table

my cupcake was judged 1st out of all 4 bakers! it took about 10 minutes of real time for the judges to gather their thoughts on my cupcake. I bet they had never had a tofu based cupcake before! The tofu was a substitute for oil, eggs & butter so it was light, moist & delicious! They chose to use words like "confused" and "gummy." That's alright because I left with no regrets!

Cassie and I had to have an LA celebration meal for being so proud of ourselves! We took a cab to Manhattan Beach for champagne, truffle fries, chicken wings, and a cheese platter! No more National TV diet for us!

After our decadent meal, we went for a walk on the beach and then proceeded to fall asleep on the sand with the ocean waves crashing. We woke up to the Pacific at our toes, and decided to move on, head back to the hotel & prepare for our journey back to our beautiful homes of Vail and Aspen, Colorado. Until next time Food Network...

roo's lamingtons

2012-01-26T00:49:00.000-07:00

When I got an email from one of the world class hotels here in Vail regarding "Lamingtons," I wasn't sure how to react. Do I make them? Definitely not. Was I willing to make them for the Australian hotel guests for the upcoming Australia Day? Absolutely. Give me a task that involves cake and frosting, and I will do it, and do it well.
After googling lamingtons, I discovered that they are a traditional Aussie dessert usually found in bakeries, coffee shops, cafes and especially at school bake sales. There are even such things as "lamington drives" to raise money for community causes. There are all sorts of Lamingtons. The classic lamington is vanilla sponge cake dipped in chocolate frosting, rolled in dessicated coconut. The more elevated lamington involves a strawberry jam and lemon cream filling. There are even blood orange lamingtons, found in New Zealand. As I started out on my lamington adventure, I found that the average lamington cake recipe is very similar to the batter cupcakes vanilla cupcake recipe. By starting off with one element that was familiar, the whole process seemed less intimidating.

the order was for 3 dozen lamingtons, so I made enough cake batter for 3 dozen cupcakes

after cooking the cake batter in a medium sized sheet pan for about 25 minutes, it was cooked all the way through to the middle


letting the cake cool for at least 15 minutes, I ensured that the cake wouldn't stick to the pan upon release

I measured the squares to be approx. 2"x2" with a measuring tape, and then cut the squares with a pizza cutter. I was first going to cut 36 squares from the cake, but then realized that the pan was too shallow, so I needed to double up on the layers. Instead, I measured the cake to yield 72 squares instead so each lamington would have 2 layers.

the classic lamington recipe calls for chocolate frosting, but my version of frosting on a cupcake is way different than a lamington frosting. The ratio of butter to sugar to cocoa was boldly different - almost a glaze. During research I found that some were reminded of a chocolate glazed donut when eating a lamington. I can now see why. The powdered sugar found in the frosting makes the lamington what it is.

classic lamingtons call for dessicated coconut, or unsweetened. I had a hard time finding unsweetened coconut shavings in our little mountain town, so I settled for sweetened coconut shavings.

I placed the cake squares on top of a cooling rack, with a pan underneath because the process was messy and gooey. I couldn't drop the cake squares directly into the pot of chocolate because the cake would flake off into the chocolate. I slowly coated each piece of cake, on all 6 sides, then rolled the chocolatey cake in the coconut.

The final step was transferring the lamington to a traditional cupcake wrapper! Easy to serve for the hotel, and reminiscent of my namesake!

this little nugget looks like the flatiron building to me

Roo and his Lamington

Happy Australia Day!

David Archuleta's cupcakes

2012-01-22T12:09:00.001-07:00

A fresh and exciting cupcake order over the holidays involved hundreds of mini cupcakes and David Archuleta. Interested? He has over 2 million fans on Facebook, and almost 1 million fans on Twitter. For the last show of his 2011 Tour, he came to little old Beaver Creek for his last performance of the year.
A group of his SuperFans from all over the country traveled to Beaver Creek's Vilar Center to see Archuleta perform, but to also host an impromptu, surprise 21st Birthday Party for him. And they called Batter Cupcakes to provide the goods! We prepared mini cupcakes in many different flavors, and added holiday bling for a little something extra. Here's hoping that he loved them!

Cupcake Candy Cabin

2012-01-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

The big project over the holidays was a gingerbread house submission to benefit CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, of the Continental Divide. Every year they host a gingerbread house contest at The Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, and this year, they asked me to compete in the Professional Category. We had a long list of rules and regulations, so I was hesitant at first, but then I thought, why not a gingerbread house? If I can make cupcakes, I can make anything! So I committed to the event, and was also crossing my fingers for the $1000 Grand Prize. Making a gingerbread house is way more intricate and complicated than I ever thought, and I'm glad I now have a better appreciation for the art. I missed out on the big Win this year, but now I know that my competitors started in August so more motivation to transition from summer to winter with gingerbread!

smash the gingerbread dough

roll out the dough, and add the house frame

cut out all windows and doors from house frame

bake all 4 walls and roof pieces

once you assemble frame of house on sturdy cake base, start adding accents like the peppermint pillow chimney, window treatments, gingerbread tree and peppermint stick corner supports

this addition made the house heavy, but milk duds seemed like the perfect roof shingles

milk chocolate pieces on the opposite side of the house added variety and the peppermint kisses made out to be the perfect lawn stylings


"CCC" on the front door stands for Candy Cupcake Cabin!

adding m&m roof, snow-dusted tree, powder covered front lawn, and Santa's Cupcake Hot Tub made things feel more finished

Santa relaxing with his Men

mini cupcakes sliced in half adorned he roof, where tiny gingerbread men watched guard over the house

adding extra royal icing to the edges of the roof added significant weight, but was necessary for that chilly, "it just-snowed" feel

red and green M&Ms were a tedious addition to the roof, but worth the time

I think I got docked points for having an inedible Santa and presents on the chimney, but they were too cute to pass up

and the final touch...ice skating penguin on the front walk! TaDa!

Below are a few photos of the competitors houses because you can really see Batter's whimsical Style, compared to the rest!

can you tell this house was the winner?!? this team started in August, a good 5 months before the event


2nd Place

I'm not sure which house won 3rd place, but if I had to guess, it would be the old woman in the snowboard boot

In addition to being a participant, I was also asked to be a judge for the Amateur division. Some of the "amateur" houses were better than my own gingerbread house! I also really like the LightHouse from the kids division.

kids division

amateur division 2nd place

amateur division 1st place

my favorite amateur house

until next year...

pumpkin whoopie pies

2011-11-04T14:14:00.002-06:00

What better way to kick off the fall season than with 2 things - pumpkin in the form of whoopie pies! Whoopie pies are the newest hottest thing to hit the cupcake circuit. Essentially it's a cupcake sandwich. I've been wanting to try out the whoopie for months, but I've been so busy with cupcakes, there's been no time for experiments. Good thing things are slow in them here mountains! Here's how!

Make your cupcake batter as usual, and put in piping bag!

Swirl onto cookie tray, just like you would do to frost the top of a cupcake! These whoopie pies turned out pretty enormous, so you don't have to make as big as you see here. The only downfall of the giant whoopie pie is that the weight of the 2 halves doesn't support the frosting inside.


Pop in the oven - with the heat, they will rise and expand, just like cookies!

Another downfall of the enormous whoopie pie is that the sides stick together so when you remove from baking tray to place on cooling rack, it is obvious where the sides stuck together.

I used 2 different styles of piping the batter onto the cookie tray. One is the true frosting style of piping that has almost 2 layers - you can see the swirl effect of this style in the center pie. The pie on the outer edges I did a "blob" more than a swirl style for a smoother pie after bake time.

When you pick 2 sides to become 1 whoopie pie, try to pick the 2 that are closest in size so they fit together nicely - they look like pancakes when you flip them upside down!

First I wanted to experiment with a textured filling, rather than the traditional smooth edges that you typically see. This filling is a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

As you can see, it looks nice and full, but not quite awesome...

With these whoopies, I did a traditional swirl, similar to the piping style I used to make the actual cake pies, and once the tops are placed, they look more inviting - fuller and plumper - yum.

These whoopies are enough to feed 6 people because they're so big. But, if you give yourself enough time, say, while carving pumpkins, it's possible to take care of business. Caution - you may need a fork!

summer 2011 montage

2011-10-13T11:31:00.000-06:00

mini cupcake wedding cake

2011-07-12T11:25:00.000-06:00

When my bride & groom having their ceremony at Beaver Creek and their reception at Vista at Arrowhead requested a double stacked cupcake wedding cake topper, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Pun intended! I just kind of winged it, but I'm pretty proud of how it came out! I used 3 different sized cupcakes instead of 2 for more of a wow factor - mini, classic & texas size. See the frosting process...

naked cakes, tops sliced off, glued together with frosting

outside layer piping resembles tiramisu

smooth around the outside

pipe thick ropes on flat surfaces

blend ropes into surfaces

added decor to cover up imperfections and cake edges

adding more detail to highest flat layer

adding detail to top of cake

finito!

top of cupcake tier at Vista

the artistic view

their cupcake selection was birthday cake, red velvet & peanut butter truffle

fit for a bride!

the artist's cupcake

2011-07-12T10:52:00.000-06:00

naked cupcakes, classic size & mini size

the fastest way to make a rainbow

a few of each color

classic size painter's cupcakes

mini size painter's cupcakes

looks like a colorful bunch just sitting in boxes

arrange in the artist's palette

so artistic, pun intended

vincent van gogh would be proud

time consuming order, but worth the effort

pink cake pops

2011-07-12T10:37:00.000-06:00

I guess the cake pops must be delicious because I had my first birthday party order - for pink cake pops - 3rd birthday luau theme at the pool! She loooooves pink, so the cake pops had to be pink on the inside and on the outside. Since I haven't received my special candy coating coloring agent, I was going to have to figure out a better way to turn the outside of the cake pop pinkalicious. I decided on pink sugar crystals because what better way to incorporate pink than sparkly pink!

First, I made a cake. Half vanilla cake with red food coloring and half red velvet cake. I then made cream cheese frosting, and added red food coloring for a light pink hue.

half and half cake

cream cheese frosting turns pink

After the prep work, I got to work...

get the cake out of the pan

smash the cake

add frosting to the cake

fold the frosting into the cake

add more frosting because cake needs to be fully coated


now you're ready to place in fridge so you can roll into golf ball sized cake balls

after rolling into balls, putting sticks in, dipping in white chocolate and coating in pink sugar crystals


pink fun for any age!

For the set up I followed the beach theme: the mom brought luau skirts to place around the styrofoam blocks which we had to cut to fit all the way around. She also brought flip flop shaped jelly candies for added flair. Since I was aware of this, I brought sparkly pink writing gel so that the gummies had something to stick to so the flip flops wouldn't fall off of the top of the pop. And for added effect, I brought pureed graham crackers for "sand" so that those mountain kiddos would really feel like they were at the beach. Mahalo!

Party Time!

cake pops, round 3

2011-07-12T09:53:00.000-06:00

The cake balls have to be super duper cold for the stick to get stuck in the cake ball. Once the cake balls start to thaw out to room temperature, the chocolate starts to turn red from the red velvet cake flaking off into the bowl and the stick doesn't want any business being stuck inside the cake ball. You have to return the cake balls to the fridge for at least 10 minutes to get the cake balls back to a good temperature.

I really love the sprinkles I just got from Dan the Shamrock Man.

cake pops, round 2

2011-06-29T11:06:00.000-06:00

A cake pop update...

Making cake pops for the Vail Farmer's Market last week went much better than the previous week. I made sure my cake balls were really cold before dipping in the warm chocolate so that the cake wouldn't flake off into the chocolate bowl.

I have found that once you dip the cake into the chocolate, then place onto wax paper to cool and harden, the bottom, or should I say, top...of the pops change into a flat surface. Apparently, the only way to avoid this is to get a styrofoam block, and stick the cake pop in the styrofoam to let it cool in its original round shape. Maybe I'll try this new drying technique this week.

I also had a hard time getting the stick to stick. Maybe the cake was too cold? Maybe there was too much frosting in the cake to frosting ratio? I even dipped the stick in chocolate before putting it into the cake ball but that seemed to make things worse. This is because the cake got a mind of its own after the chocolate cooled, started oozing and tried to break through the chocolate.

But, as long as I warned people that the pop was going to fall off the stick, they didn't seem to mind - the red velvet cake pops were the biggest hit!

cake pops

2011-06-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

If you haven't heard of cake pops, then you're missing out on the latest and greatest cake craze to hit the streets of America. Bakerella, the blogger, is rumored to have started the concept and now she has cake pop cookbooks and a very successful website. I had to look into the trend because even Starbucks is selling them now.

So I did my research and came up with the concept: smash up your cupcakes, add tons of frosting (but just enough to make them creamy because this is your binding agent) and then roll into golf ball sized circles. I found that you need to have cold, if not frozen cake to work them into the right shape because when the balls are sticky and your hands are warm it just doesn't work. Once you get an acceptable shape, you place a lollipop stick into the cake ball and dip in chocolate. It didn't quite work for me as well as I'd hoped because the cake was crumbling off into the melted chocolate while I was trying to dip them so I ended up with bubbly cake pop surfaces.


These are cake pops I made for the Snowball Music Festival this past March - I used vanilla cake, cream cheese frosting & dipped them in semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate. They were really good, and stayed frozen in the outdoor 10 degree temps. But, not nearly perfect. The latest batch I made last week for my Farmer's Market test run were smaller, totally dipped in chocolate and potentially looked more appetizing. I didn't take any photos of them so I will post after the weekend with my cake pop progress!

This is Cassie, my trusty assistant who drives all the way from Aspen to help out the cupcake lady at fun and festive events like this one - free live music & slingin' cake pops - yes please for this Alabama girl!

I'm really excited for round 2 of cake popping this weekend because even though they were imperfect looking, the crowds at the Vail Farmer's Market ate them up! (pun intended.)

I'm looking forward to another successful weekend of cupcake slinging and making my 2 brides happy on their big Saturdays.

colored coconut

2011-06-16T11:41:00.000-06:00

For all of those Easter bakers out there, you may already know the magic of dying coconut to look like grass. I had not delved into the world of colored coconut until a bridal shower requested pink & green vanilla coconut cupcakes. There are many methods out there, but the one that I found to be the most effective utilizes my favorite storage container ~ tupperware!

I placed 4 drops of liquid food coloring on each side of the plastic tupperware, locked the lid in place, and shook it! Shake it 'til all of the liquid coats the inside of the container. Then open up the top, place the desired amount of coconut garnish inside the tupperware & shake again. Viola! You have any colored coconut you want!

Be careful not to add too much food coloring from the outset because you can't undo the color. If you decide it's not dark enough after your first round, carefully add the food coloring to the sides of the tupperware again, avoiding dropping the coloring directly on the coconut as it will absorb instantly.

Using 4 drops for my dye job, I ended up with bright, Lilly Pulitzer inspired coconut.

To pair the frosting with the green & pink coconut, I wanted the opposite color of coconut to accent the frosting for more depth. The pink vanilla buttercream was the base frosting, then a layer of green coconut, then a dollop of pink buttercream & a sprinkle of pink coconut for the top.

The end product was a little family of pink & green cupcakes - whimsical and yummy! These cupcakes were for a pink & green bridal shower. You could use this process for any occasion like Halloween, Easter or a yellow, pink & blue baby shower!

The bridal shower collection was the following: pink & green velvet (12 o'clock & 4 o'clock), pink & green vanilla coconut (2 o'clock & 8 o'clock), mini cookie dough cupcake - vanilla cupcake filled with half-baked cookie dough, topped with chocolate buttercream (5 o'clock), pink & green texas size lemon zest - vanilla cupcake filled with lemon curd, topped with lemon cream cheese frosting (11 o'clock)

lavender hydrangea

2011-06-07T12:05:00.000-06:00

My college roommate from CU is getting married this summer - lucky for both of us - she chose Vail as her destination location from Chicago. She is going to have a fun, elegant & floral theme for her wedding cupcakes, made by yours truly.

Hydrangeas are her theme flower so she requested that I take a look at a few blogs out there to see how to make the cupcakes actually look like hydrangeas.

A few weeks ago, I happened to have an order for a high school graduate who requested chocolate lavender cupcakes just like she had on vacation in LA. I had a perfect excuse for a practice run with floral inspired buttercream.

The trick is going with a 2-toned frosting - I chose light purple & white since the frosting flavor was lavender. It creates more depth to create the illusion of how a three dimensional flower might look. Of course you could go with any color scheme to match your theme. I recommend white as at least 1 of the colors because it acts as a perfect base for the featured color. Make sure you don't overdo it on the milk when making your buttercream because it needs to be pretty stiff. In this photo you can see how the frosting loosened with the heat of my hand on the piping bag...

the stiffest frosting is on the 5pm cupcake

A bouquet fit for a bride or an afternoon tea

carrot cupcakes

2011-05-23T11:27:00.000-06:00

The carrot cupcake request is rare, but when a car load of women are road tripping to California from their mansion in Beaver Creek, it's only appropriate to have carrot cake cupcakes along for the ride. I put a cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top to compliment the spices in the cake.

strawberry cupcakes

2011-05-22T13:06:00.001-06:00

So on my 3rd attempt with the strawberry cupcake project, I think I've got it. I made a strawberry batter from scratch that was similar to the vanilla batter but less sugar made a big difference. On the 2nd attempt, I found that the cupcakes came out almost blue, like I had used blueberries. That's no fun, so I added a little bit of strawberry jam to color it up, along with a few dallops of food coloring for good measure. The result was great - more strawberry flavor & more strawberry color!

Then I cranked out a strawberry frosting. The secret to avoiding a liquid frosting result like last time is to build up more of a base to support the pureed strawberries. More butter - less milk - more fresh strawberries!

The white filling you can see in this photo is a strawberry whipped cream. The only downfall of using a whipped cream filling is that after enough time passes, the cake will absorb the cream. This component has to be added no more than 4 hours before consumption. It really does add a little extra something so it's worth it!

The final step is adding fresh cut strawberries right before serving. If you add them too far in advance the strawberries will start to absorb the sugar in the frosting and get mushy.

The bisected view of the cupcake - creamy strawberry filling complimented by moist strawberry cake & fresh strawberry frosting on top - all made with real strawberries - nothing fake about it!

the poor man's jambalaya

2011-05-19T21:55:00.000-06:00

My sister studied in Seville, Spain as part of her college experience and adopted this recipe for a simple, smorgasbord of a meal. I was only lucky enough to stumble upon making it when chatting with her on the phone a few years ago with the common "what should I make for dinner" question between sisters. All you need are a few pantry items - hot dogs, eggs, rice, ketchup & a little onion for flavor. When you're going gourmet with it you can elaborate on these items like I did - chicken & apple sausage, whole grain brown rice, sauteed garlic & onion, and some peas for a little green. The only trick to this simple recipe is timing all of the different elements to come together at the same time.

I started by boiling the rice, the peas & sauteing the garlic & white onion so that these flavors could start to marinate.

Then, while the chicken apple sausage were grilling on the outdoor Foreman the scrambled eggs went on the stove.

I used 4 eggs, plus 2 egg whites to create more volume without the added cholesterol. Once the eggs were thoroughly cooked, they were added to the sausage, peas & rice mixture.

Stir it all up, and you've got yourself a well balanced meal plus a few indulgences all in a single bowl!

I had to add a little ketchup for that perfect amount of tang. It sounds gross at first, but once you try all of these flavors together, you'll have to agree.

fresh strawberries

2011-05-13T13:29:00.000-06:00

I was doing some research on strawberries and it seems that in the past, their peak season has been June through August. A few short summer months to enjoy strawberry pies, strawberry cupcakes, strawberry glazes, strawberry jams, and even strawberry & spinach salads. Due to the new methods in farming and harvesting, they are now in prime season April through September. Yay for us! And the bonus is that they are on super duper discount at the grocery right now - 2 cases for $3! In honor of moving forward with the seasons, I have decided to experiment with a new cupcake flavor - strawberry! It may need some further tweaking before it comes to market, due to the altitude issues, but the flavor profile is right on track!


clean 'em


core 'em

I got this little tool in the home section of a department store for $6.99 - handy! and you save more valuable strawberry!

put 'em in a cuisinart and puree away!


fresh strawberry puree at your service - I wish there was smell-o-vision for this one

slice...

...and dice

ready for the oven

For this batch of strawberry cupcakes I'm using vanilla cake batter as the base flavor. For the back row, I added the strawberry puree in addition to fresh strawberry pieces. For the front row, I only added fresh strawberry pieces. You can see the obvious color difference. We'll see if there's an obvious flavor difference.

the cooling period

The cupcake wrappers were not filled enough - but not because I measured anything wrong - these cupcakes just didn't rise at all. Usually when filling the wrappers you generally fill them 3/4 full because the cupcakes should rise 1/4 above the top of the wrapper, giving you that perfect cupcake size. I am deducing that because of all of the extra sugar content in the strawberry puree and strawberry pieces, that sugar reacted with the sugar already in the vanilla batter and caused a malfunction in my high-altitude oven. This recipe may need less sugar in the vanilla batter from the get-go because the natural sugars from the strawberries will make up the difference.
Then I took a vanilla buttercream and added a bunch (too much?) of the fresh strawberry puree. It turned out to be more of a strawberry glaze than frosting. My guinea pig, who I feed all of my experiments, said that it almost tasted like sweetened strawberry yogurt. Not bad, but maybe not so good for a cupcake topping. Then I topped them off with fresh strawberry garnish for that little extra flavor and texture.

You can see how the cupcake didn't really rise due to altitude issues but the texture of the cake is quite moist. The frosting doesn't have enough hold so it becomes a glaze...still tastes like a delicious strawberry delight! Not quite a true batter cupcake. Yet...

bourbon pie

2011-05-13T12:49:00.000-06:00

what to do with leftover kentucky bourbon pie filling from the derby days cupcakes? make kentucky bourbon pie! I decided to make whole wheat pie crust to see what it would taste like. I just substituted the flour for King Arthur's whole wheat flour and it was delicious. The pie crust was flaky, buttery, and had that multi-layered texture that adds depth to the whole tasting experience.

whole wheat dough balls

pie crusted rolled out and placed in pie pan

leftover pie filling added

topped off with more pecans & chocolate chips for a little extra goodness. I'm using whole wheat crust, after all...

after 55 minutes at 325 degrees

one slice of fudgey, nutty, chocolatey bourbon pie with whole wheat crust

NYC holla back

2011-05-12T11:40:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to announce that the very famous (at least in the cupcake world) - Cupcakes Take The Cake blog - has picked up my most recent Derby Days Cupcake Photos to feature on their international cupcake platform. The founders of the blog live in NYC and fly around to cupcakeries all across the nation to give us blog followers feedback. Pretty nice gig if you ask me. The link is found here:

http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/2011/05/kentucky-derby-cupcakes-by-batter.html

As a result, my facebook fan base has grown from 326 to 342 in a matter of days. Big stuff for my little mountain town business.

cookie pie - chicago style

2011-05-08T19:23:00.000-06:00

Watching TV after the Kentucky Derby, I spotted a whole show dedicated to pizza. Having an obsession with pizza, I had to make sure I am on the inside track. They focused on NY, Chicago and LA - but what stuck out the most, of course, was the pizza featured from my birth city. The show discussed the pros and cons of deep dish (I think they're all pros) - Uno vs. Lou Malnati's - and the finale of the Chicago segment was the chocolate chip cookie pie. Tyler proceeded to drool over the under-baked pizza-shaped cookie, topped with ice cream, whipped cream & cherries. When I casually mentioned that I could do that - his eyes popped out of his head. So he went to pick up the pizza (how could we have avoided that result), and I made the cookie dough. What I learned is interesting - cookie dough is essentially cake batter without the liquids. Butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, salt & chips! I used chocolate and peanut butter chips for a little extra kick. This is what I came up with...

delish!

fresh strawberries to add texture

chocolate, vanilla & strawberry ice cream medley

derby day

2011-05-07T11:38:00.000-06:00

derby day is here and so are my trifecta of derby cuppiecakes! I think they turned out pretty darn good. now I just need to find a horse!

kentucky bourbon pie cupcake: vanilla cake swirled with bourbon pie filling, topped with cream cheese frosting, pecans, chocolate chips & drizzled with caramel and ganache

the winner's circle: chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream, complete with a vanilla red rose

the mint julep cupcake: bourbon & creme de menthe cake, topped with creme de menthe buttercream, fresh mint garnish & a festive green straw

a little something for everyone!

arriba arriba

2011-05-06T18:35:00.000-06:00

Even though this food update is about my Cinco de Mayo supper, I couldn't leave out la cena de Cinco de Cuatro because it was just as yummy. Simple but delicious - fusilli col buco from Giada's Target line, black tiger shrimp & a homemade sauce made from butter, olive oil, dill, Boursin cheese and a bit of heavy cream to thicken. The pasta was my favorite - it has such a great texture! I wish they made it in a whole wheat version!

And to the main event...Cinco de Mayo fish tacos! Since I've been trying to eat healthier as swim suit season is approaching, I am focusing on lots of veggies, proteins and whole wheat carbs if I have to go there.

the southwestern coleslaw - red cabbage, jalapenos, cilantro, honey & lime juice

la cerveza


the chips - these new artisan black bean & roasted garlic tortilla chips - they tasted more like doritos - yum!

the vail safeway didn't have fresh fish so we had to buy frozen mahi mahi - the grill master still conquered with salt, pepper, cajun seasoning & chili powder

I added sliced tomatoes, chipolte mexican corn, and homemade white sauce

que bueno!

kentucky is known for its booze

2011-05-04T20:25:00.000-06:00

As the days of May creep by, I have needed to come up with ways to promote batter. There are scarcely any people in town, and I have had to get creative. With the upcoming celebratory weekend, I am scouting out the people that like to pair their cocktails with cupcakes. Not for Mother's Day, but for the 137th Kentucky Derby! It is sure to be as grand and opulent as ever with silver julep cups & big feathery hats. To pair worthy cupcakes with the Derby, I needed to find flavors as delicious as the seersucker suits. The perfect pairing to go along with tonight's baking is gruyere on rosemary crackers with a glass of Layer Cake Malbec. Of course I love the wine named after a cake....


I have bought the bourbon, the creme de menthe and fresh pecans by the bagful.


It seems that a leprechaun has added a little of his own special touch...(it's just creme de menthe)


every baker makes mistakes! too much time in the oven! once I removed the crisped top, a light & fluffy minty shamrock cupcake emerged. ooh goody. I'm getting there...


the mint julep inspired cake has a touch of mint, bourbon & alotta love

The next experiment didn't go as well in our clean and crisp 8,150 feet up. The ultimate goal is to make a Kentucky Bourbon Pie inspired cupcake. The combination of chocolate cake batter and a variation of pecan pie filling turned out too sugary & flat-lined 6 minutes into oven time.

wah waaaaaaah


but it does taste delicious! moist, chocolatey and rich with sweet pecans.

I have kinda deduced what went wrong so I've altered the base of the recipe from chocolate to vanilla - it is butter-based instead of oil-based so I think the consistency is going to hold up much better....

this version turned out WAY lighter in color, and you can see more of the pie filling, but it did all sink to the bottom...

Since it's not quite perfect, we're not quite there yet. If I don't want to eat it, neither will my customers so I will keep experimenting until I find the perfect balance of texture, flavor & look!

the healthy life

2011-05-01T18:26:00.001-06:00

we finally made it into the month of may but it's still pounding snow here. we've had about 2 weeks of no nonsense accumulation. in honor of bringing on my own spring while everyone else is on their mud season vacation, I have been making health conscious spring inspired dishes.

whole wheat shells tossed with zucchini, cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, mozzarella & grilled chicken sprinkled with parm

whole wheat french toast topped with fresh strawberries, honey-infused greek yogurt & a side of turkey bacon