Awkwardly taken photo… but exciting things are happening. More on this later.
hint: that is not my kitchen
Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These (very delayed) birthday cupcakes were made for co-workers last week. Originally, I wanted to make cupcakes for, or close to people’s actual birthdays, but timing and life often doesn’t work out like that. I asked for preferences and both of the teachers said they like almost everything I’ve made, but are partial to cream cheese frosting. I didn’t want to have to go food shopping so I decided to work with what I had in my cabinet. While pumpkin season has passed, I thought I’d use the can now, instead of waiting again for the fall to come. I had toasted pecans from these pies and some chocolate chips hanging around so I thought they’d be great to mix in the pumpkin batter (a Martha Stewart recipe) topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting (also, Martha). I didn’t turn my Kitchen Aid on at all and mixed everything but the frosting, with a whisk and my muscles.
I was not happy with the fact that I under-filled the cupcake liners, but nobody complained. Whenever I think I know how much to fill, I have a different recipe and it has a different weight and consistency, etc. That’s what’s happening right? I’m not too too worried about it. However, under-filling did give me the opportunity to make some babycakes, which gave me the ability to taste the cakes and share with more friends.
A Bath and Book on Baking Bread
…how’s that for alliteration, eh?
This year I made 2 new years resolutions, 1 - to try my best to doodle/draw daily, and 2 - to take a bath once* a week. I’m happy to say, almost 3 weeks in, I’m doing pretty good. I kind of started doing both of them at the end of last year, and wanted to make sure I made them a priority in my life. It’s really great to make time to take a bath and be calm and quiet once a week. I actually have to set a timer because I want to take at least a 20 minute bath and sometimes I get antsy because I’m not good at just sitting, but I’m getting much better, and I’ve been reading.
So why am I talking about this on my baking blog? Because it’s part of my life and it’s my blog and whatever stuff like that… but mostly because I just finished this book:
It’s actually a very small book (in length and size) and a very quick and easy read. The book does share some tips and recipes (as stated on the cover), but I really enjoyed hearing what Peter Mayle and Gerard Auzet had to say. The first half is the author talking about his experience visiting with, and talking to a great baker who’s got bread making in the family and has a well known bakery in the town of Cavaillon. The book made me want to know more about breads and to move to France and be an apprentice in a French bakery.
*don’t worry, I shower regularly.
My pal Casey’s birthday was on Saturday. I sent a bunch of these cookies to him. Casey loves cookies. I wanted to wait until he got them, before I posted this, so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise (which I probably already did when I asked him about his address earlier in the week).
Not that Casey needs more followers… but he’s up to a lot of really great things, you should check him out… (if you’re into comedy, or film, or girls, or boys, or entertainment, or writing, or Casey).
Earlier this week I made a bajillion peanut butter hershey kiss cookies. I also made a bunch of peanut butter and jelly cookies but didn’t take a picture of them.
I got a new apron for Christmas. Yes, another one. Did I need another apron? No, not really, but this one may be my favorite. It’s really simple, the colors are perfect, it has a flower pin (which I could add to another outfit) and it’s from this company called Proxy Apparel, which does great things.
From the tag: “Proxy Apparel is an ethical fashion company dedicated to empowering women through fashion. We support emerging designers and our products are made by women and worker-owned cooperatives around the world. Proxy empowers consumers by offering socially responsible fashion with purpose.” They have a Tumblr, too!
Just so you know, I answered the door dressed as I look in the pictures and my friend’s response was something along the lines of “I can’t believe you’re a real person.”
I know I look like such a fool in the picture on the right, I asked my roommate to take a picture of me and I was being silly and “acting” as if I was some hot shot on a photo shoot.
More views of the cake and white wine cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting.
I’ve made those cupcakes 3 times now and they’re killer. It all went very well and I am very proud and I got paid. Pictures from the party to come.
My first (paid) baking gig!
Almost a year ago was my first time baking for people I might not know, when I made Black and White cookies for an art opening. Usually when I bake I bring it to school, improv shows, or friends houses because I love sharing sweets. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I had recommendations where to buy a birthday cake for her roommate’s party and of course I offered to do it. Since she was willing to buy a cake from a real bakery, she wanted to pay me for my services and thus became my first “real” baking gig. Now I’ve only made a cake once before, which was during my baking class, so I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I was in the kitchen all day yesterday and had a couple of hiccups.
My task was to make a small cake for Vanessa (the birthday girl) and 2 dozen cupcakes. The only stipulation is Vanessa didn’t want chocolate on her cake, she was also in charge of buying the cupcake liners.
I made a mini yellow/funfetti layer cake, and I overfilled the pans so the middle took a really long time to bake and the outside over-baked and the top made a huge dome and I had a lot of cutting to do to make the cake usable. But at least I had a lot left make my roommate test with frosting (my nose is stuffy so my taste buds are off).
Also, I was a little stressed because I lost a lot of the cake, and I didn’t have a cake stand and was having a “what do I think I’m doing? I can’t possibly do this” moment, so the layers didn’t come out as beautifully as planned.
The wonderful thing about making a cake, is that frosting fixes a lot of it. You cover it, and make it pretty, and it all tastes the same. I made a simple buttercream frosting, that reminded me a lot of the kind you buy from a grocery store. It was harder than what I usually make for cupcakes, but was excellent for decorating. I couldn’t make purple, or pink or red because I didn’t have any red food coloring, so I decided to go with turquoise. Viola!
It was my first time doing lettering, and I really liked the line quality. I have some work to do on other decorations.
Note to self
Talking while measuring out ingredients that you are doubling in your head is not a good idea.
…Don’t worry, I wrote down my calculations and remeasured and everything’s okay.
Oh yeah, Minnie was there too! Except I got there just when they closed the line, but I got to see her, anyway.
+ more pictures of the kitchen.
