Posts tagged baking process

Within the last week I baked for 2 birthdays and had week 2 of my baking class. This consisted of 2 batches of cookies, 2 dozen regular sized cupcakes and a ton of minis, and led to a very full sink. Thankfully, for my baking class, we don’t have to do our own dishes (it’s really a treat!)

the sink doesn’t usually get that bad, I swear

I also had 2 rehearsals and 2 shows (one which I made cookies for) and progress reports were due, so I really haven’t had much internet time, either. I have much to share.

…I call cupcakes babycakes when they are minis.

I haven’t made these cupcakes in almost a year but was feeling like strawberry is a good summer taste. 

“But Cora, it was 100+ degrees, why on earth did you turn the oven on?” you say… well, I broke it up. On Friday, wearing my bathing suit and apron, I made the batter.

I also made a mess. I haven’t gotten used to the stand mixer and pouring stuff and things like that. Also, I realized it’s kind of unnecessary to use the stand mixer for a batter to make only one dozen cupcakes, but I still love it. After the batter was done, I thought to myself, it’s not smart to add any more heat to the apartment (or waste energy) so I put the batter in the fridge.

It looks like a surprisingly small amount, given that it makes 3 dozen baby cupcakes. 

I then woke up very early on Saturday (because that’s what my body does) and it was thunder-storming and the temperature seemed to have dipped for a bit so I decided it was time to turn the oven on.

To make these yummy cupcakes, with a fruity surprise inside, I added 1/4 teaspoon of strawberry jam to each cupcake. Now, when I’ve made these before, full sized, the jam did an okay job at staying where it was supposed to stay. This time, for a little while, it looked like I was going to have a strawberry mess on my hands. A lot of the jam overflowed and got stuck to the pan, so I lost a couple of the babycakes along the way. However, I think I can tackle it better the next time by putting only half the batter in the cupcake liners and then add the jam and then the rest of the batter. 

Such little vanilla and strawberry monsters. The frosting covered it up just fine. 

I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, rather, that’s what I intended to make. I don’t know what to call them anymore because they don’t taste at all like whoopie pies.

Heres the batter BEFORE the red die. At this point I thought the batter was tasting okay. Really sticky, though.

I had no idea how much food coloring to put in, I knew it would get a lot darker once baked but I didn’t know how much. 

The batter seemed a lot more red than the final cookie.

My first batch I was having trouble making hearts, originally I tried to use this cookie press that I found in my house on a visit in the fall but the motor wasn’t strong enough or I didn’t load it right but it just wasn’t happening. I eventually figured out how to shape hearts with my hands by rolling the dough into a snake and then bending it around and using my fingers to make it nicer looking.

…It’s not burnt or disgusting, but there’s something about it that makes me feel like something’s not right. I don’t want to throw it out because that’s wasteful. So I will still bring it to work (usually) and say “it’s not my best” or “I made cookies but they’re not very good.”

I was really excited about making a Red Velvet something to bring to school (that’s where I work) for Valentine’s Day. I found a recipe for Red Velvet Whoopie Pies on Smiling Fork and was really excited about it. I’ve never made whoopie pies before or a red velvet anything from scratch and I think this is the first time I used a recipe from Smiling Fork. 

Things to learn by/what I think went wrong:

1. There was a discrepancy between Baking POWDER and Baking SODA (one was listed in the ingredients and the other was called for in the directions), I looked up a couple other red velvet recipes and found a happy medium, or so I thought. 
2. I think the butter was too soft.
3. I didn’t use enough red food coloring.
4. Not that I think you HAVE to have a stand up food mixer with a paddle attachment if the recipe calls for it, but I don’t, so that’s all I’m saying about that.
5. The cookies are a weird consistency and don’t taste like much.
6. I tried using a cookie press to shape the cookies but the thing just wouldn’t push (it’s battery powered, I’ve never used it before and didn’t know what I was doing).
7. The frosting: Not enough cream cheese and too much sugar. And too much frosting left over.

I made a bigger mess than usual. I’m still clueless on certain things, but I know some ways to make it better in the future. I’m learning, I’m learning, I’m learning. Pictures to come.

They are obviously meant for each other. 

Tonight I have an improv show with this group I’m in, Don’t Tell Mimi, which I usually bake for, and it’s Matt’s last show, which is sad, but he got to make the request of what I make, which turned out to be peanut butter cupcakes. I meant to take more pictures along the way and blog about the whole process but I was singing along to Billie Holiday and forgot. 

Below, the bowl, empty of batter. 

Always taste the batter. Always. 

Yes, some got a little too much lovin’ from the oven, but the majority of them are okay. 

I decided it would also be fixed by cream cheese frosting, because who doesn’t love cream cheese frosting?

I used a recipe I’ve posted before, but used only 1/2 cup of confectionary sugar and added 2 tablespoons of honey, to go along with the honey chai cupcakes. The taste is very subtle but a nice compliment to the cupcakes. I had a small problem with the butter the last time I made this frosting, so I softened it up a bit before mixing.