Holy Fondant, Batman!

Here’s a little glimpse of the work I have been doing with gum paste and fondant recently. I learned to make a rose, cala lily, leaves, and a simple bow! I also made a carnation, but it’s not pictured since it turned out so poorly/unfinished. I wish I could show more, but my lessons got cut short because of all the sudden madness involved with getting our new jobs and house hunting. BUT— I already found some options in Nashville for cake decorating lessons and classes so I am stoked to keep sharing all the neat things I learn!

Have you ever tried working with gum paste or fondant? These pieces actually photographed really well but I still just see a lot of imperfections when I look at them! It’s so hard not to judge too harshly so I just keep reminding myself that they were all first tries— I can’t wait until everything is out of boxes and I have a kitchen again so I can keep practicing!

A Rosy Little Birthday

This week I made these cupcakes as a special order for a friend! His mom’s birthday was coming up and the request was simple (or so I thought): 24 red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I really wanted to forgo the food coloring and make the cake naturally red, but I tried several recipes out beforehand and failed miserably each time (more details here). So I decided to try out a boxed cake mix just to see what they were like.

Turns out they were moist, a little chocolatey, and super red. I am not ready to give up on RV just yet, but I am still not sure what the hype is about. Honestly, I’ve come to the conclusion that red velvet is basically just an excuse to eat cream cheese frosting! Which, I think is generally way too heavy, so I beat mine for a ridiculously long time so that it had an almost whipped consistency to it.

Overall, I think these cupcakes actually tasted great, but I had the most fun decorating them! I am learning so much about working with fondant and gum paste, but I am still so far from being any good at it! I can’t wait to look back at my photos and recipes to see all the progress I’ve made days/weeks/months/years from now— it’s going to be so rewarding!

I used this video tutorial for the roses (mine just have less petals). Do you have any experience with either red velvet or fondant? It seems I picked two pretty tricky things to combine all at once!

My Sweet Secret

I’m happy to finally share that I have made some more progress on my goals list! It all happened really fast but I am now officially working at a bakery!I got a call from a local cupcake shop on a Monday about three weeks ago and set up an interview for the next morning. It went swimmingly well and I spent the rest of the day at work dreaming about what life would be like if I got the job. Then on that Thursday I was offered a position, by Friday night I had put in my two weeks notice, and on Saturday morning I started to train as a frosting & filling maker + decorator!

I have spent the last two weeks working two jobs and being in complete disbelief that I am now getting paid to do something I love. By no means was my job [fashion consultant at a jewelry boutique] terrible, but it just wasn’t something I could see myself doing longterm.

This is only my first week working solely at the bakery and things are already looking up. I am going to train this week to fill-in for one of the bakers going on maternity leave, which not only means I get to bake but I will also get to decorate even more (which is great since that is where my interests are right now!).

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how incredibly fast the last month has gone by and how many wonderful things are happening in my life! I get paid to do what I normally just do for fun! THERE IS A CUPCAKE ON MY PAYCHECK.

Not only am I happier than I have been in a long time, but I have a feeling things are only going to get even better from here on out. As cheesy as it sounds, I honestly feel like this is the closest I have ever come to starting a career. So now that there’s no place to go but up, cheers to new beginnings!

“The Best You Ever Made”

I don’t mean to brag, but these Banana Maple Cupcakes with Spun Sugar Hearts were deemed “the best you ever made” by my partner. I mean, he does have a thing for banana flavored foods, and I have been told that several of my other desserts were “the best I’ve ever had” by friends, but these cupcakes really might actually be the best. I think my favorite food conversation comment  of all time came from my Cherry Cheesecake Cupcakes and went like this:

These are vegan?
Yes.
But they’re so good! Sooo goooood! They’re even moist!

You guys, I’m changing the world! Okay, so maybe just the opinions of those that get to try my vegan baking. But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right? And what better place to start spreading compassion than your own kitchen?
For the hearts, I used the caramel sauce from this croquembouche recipe. I promise they aren’t difficult, just messy. Put down lots of parchment and experiment. And remember to watch the sugar mixture closely so it doesn’t burn!

So here’s the breakdown: Banana cupcakes, topped with lightly flavored maple frosting + a pool of maple syrup in the center. I got the idea from this photo and decided to try it since I have had trouble with making the maple flavor strong enough in the past (and I didn’t feel like buying maple extract to remedy it).
Look how the syrup drips down the side of that front cupcake! Yum! These are definitely for those that like to indulge in dessert, not the kind of person that appreciates cupcakes because they feel they are “less messy” than cake. Pile on the syrup and top with your sugar creations, I made mine into hearts: 

Vegan! Banana Maple Cupcakes
adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup ripe banana, mashed well
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup milk alternative (I used vanilla soymilk)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Prepare your muffin pan with liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the banana (mashed well with a fork, a few small lumps are okay), sugar, canola oil, vegan milk, vanilla, and almond extracts.

4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients, folding everything together until just combined.

5. Fill each cupcake liner about two-thirds of the way up. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick or knife comes out clean when testing. Cool completely before frosting.

Vegan Maple Frosting

• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup vegan margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup*

1. With a mixer, beat together the shortening, margarine, and vanilla extract. Alternate adding powdered sugar one cup at a time and maple syrup one tablespoon at at time, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat for 5-7 minutes until fluffy. Create a well in the center of your cupcakes and fill with additional syrup. Note: If you are going to pipe this frosting, try refrigerating it for about 30-45 minutes first because it is not very stiff.

*It’s okay if you only have breakfast syrup that is not technically Pure Maple Syrup. At least for me it is. . . I am not picky.

If you celebrate Valentine’s Day then these Banana Maple Cupcakes would be a great gift for someone special OR something fun to make together. They would also be sweet for an anniversary gift .Or just because you like hearts. Or bananas. Or trying new things. Or if you just need a go-to banana cupcake recipe. Now what are you waiting for?! Go forth and use those bananas you are never going to eat!

Update: These are best served same day. The spun sugar kind of dissolves and melts into the cupcakes. Also, my sugar hearts kind of tasted like coffe, but that could just be because of how long I cooked it for. (so I am saying if you don’t like that idea then be careful how long you leave them in the cupcakes or how long you cook the sugar for!) I am trying the spun sugar again this weekend so I might do another post/update about it!

A Very Colorful Birthday

When I was in Gatlinburg this summer, I met a lot of wonderful people. Luckily, one of my roommates while I was there happened to be from the same town as me, so even though we have both left, we still get to hangout.

Kayla is one of the few people I have met that not only has similar interests as me, but just as much energy as I do. We even got to to take a pop-up bookmaking class together (you can see her awesome book here).

We also don’t take ourselves too seriously:

I knew I had to make something special for her 21st birthday, so I decided on these Rainbow Nerds Cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. After all, what’s more grown up than Kool-Aid and nerds baked into sweets?

I am not a fan of grape, so I tweaked this recipe a bit. I used this vanilla cupcake recipe and this frosting recipe and I didn’t put any nerds in the batter. Besides that I tried to stick to the original but I failed and used regular Kool-Aid instead of the instant kind, and let me tell you, these babies are sour! They taste exactly like nerds: TANGY!

Even though I technically made these wrong, they were still a lot of fun (and I learned a great deal). I mean, each one looks like a little party!

I really recommend branching out and trying this recipe. I can’t even imagine how much more awesome they would be if had done them correctly so make sure you get the right stuff! I just feel like the regular ‘ole vanilla/chocolate cupcakes can get a little boring; it’s nice to try something that’s more of a novelty treat.

What do you do when you botch a new recipe? Start over? Serve it anyway? Compost it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

ConGRADulations: Hats Off Cupcakes!

On Saturday, I became the first person in my family to graduate college. I made these adorable cupcakes for the post-ceremony snack party. They are very simple, and extremely charming when lined up in little rows. These are strawberry cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting, but you can use whatever flavors and coordinating school colors you like.

Ingredients:  

• 18 strawberry cupcakes
• 9 graham crackers
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (+ additional water)
• 2 strawberry fruit roll ups
• 1/2 batch lemon frosting

1. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice. The mixture will be thick. Add one tablespoon of warm water at a time to create a smooth lemon glaze. Add food coloring until desired look is achieved. Break the graham cracker in half, creating 18 squares. Dip one side of  the cracker in the glaze and then place on a cooling rack to set.

2. Unwrap a cupcake, turn it upside down, and place it back in the wrapper. Repeat 17 times. Spread a small amount of lemon frosting on each one. I piped this frosting using a Wilton #23 tip because I wanted to put little buttons on the top of each hat later.

3. Place one lemon glazed graham cracker on each cupcake. Cut the fruit roll up into approximately 3 inch lengths for the tassels. Cut the end of each piece into strips before rolling it to create fringed tassels.

4.  Place one tassel on each cupcake. If the tassel is too long, just eat some of it! Then pipe a round little button in the center of each.

5. If your glaze has not set, allow them to chill in the fridge over night. They are best served within a day.