Carnival Inspiration...Not So Inspiring

The tale of one girls first and last cruise.

I will NEVER go on another cruise. I’ve been home since Thanksgiving morning and I think I’m still recovering. I've been planning to type a whole synopsis of the occasion since before we even left Mexico but I have not been able to convince myself to do so...I think I've been afraid of having flashbacks of the hairy chest contest (insert puking smiley here).

I knew when I booked the trip months ago that it most likely wasn't going to be my favorite thing. I’m not a fan of confined places in which I cannot escape and while some may think of a cruise ship as wide open space you CANNOT escape unless you’re a really good swimmer or fish. But the cruise had been arranged as a part of some old friends who were having their wedding on board. It came with a nice price and the idea of having a group of friends to hang with helped to lessen the uneasy feeling brewing in my belly. So a cruising we shall go…

The morning of our embarkation Shawn realized that he, along with another groomsman, purchased the wrong color pants (even though I questioned the color at least 100 times and was told “no, it’s Khaki”), no biggie, we’ll just swing by the mall on our way to the terminal we’re ahead of schedule anyway. As we got off the expressway onto Boy scout I suddenly realized that when Shawn chose to put on his boots that morning instead of the flip flops I had laid out I didn’t pick up the flip flops and pack them….these are the shoes he is to wear for the wedding (insert panicking smiley here). When I tell Shawn he of course FTFO and proceeds to drive all the way back home (about 15 miles I guesstimate) at about 100 MPH while I pray that I do not die. Needless to say, we made it home got the shoes, swung by the mall (where we had to wait 2 minutes for them to open the damn door…in this economy if there is a customer standing outside your door waiting to spend money you let them in…not stand there and organize your new floor schematic for the sweater section) and managed to make it to the terminal with plenty of time.

Getting on the boat was easy, the wedding was short but lovely and the reception that followed was simple but fun. After that all ended we were able to get into our room. The room was small but had everything I needed and the bed and pillows were surprisingly comfortable. And at night they would turn down your bed and leave the cutest little towel animals. I couldn't resist the photo op!

That evening we headed to our first dinner where we met the people we would be eating dinner with for the next four nights, they were also guests of the wedding and we were grouped with the rest of the wedding people so it worked out well. Dinner was okay.

The next day we were at sea all day…this is when the “I cannot escape” voice starts to chirp in my head. Shawn headed to the casino to play poker (imagine that) and I wandered around for a little while until I decided it was warm enough to brave laying out (after all I should at least get a tan). I found a portion of the deck that was not totally crowded and even found a chair on the end of a row with no people around it …YAY (have I mentioned I don’t like sitting next to strangers especially when half necked, I prefer to sunbath in private but I’m determined to have a good time). After about 30 minutes Shawn appeared. He had quit the game because “it was dumb”, “not enough people showed up” etc. etc... We laid together for maybe 1 hour before the hairy chest contest began. This is a contest where 3 women sit on stage while 6 dudes dance their way to the stage where they strip there shirt off, dirty dance their way across the stage allowing each lucky lady a chance to rub his hairy chest. I believe at the end one of the men is awarded the “hairiest chest award” but I was only able to stomach the first 2 dancing dill holes and abandoned my chair immediately.

That night was “Captains night” where they host a complimentary happy hour before dinner and you have to dress up. (Let me tell you if you do ever brave a cruise of your own you must take advantage of any free cocktail hour as the cost of a drink on board is practically the price of a whole bottle at the duty free!!). Cocktail hour was nice and dinner was again okay, it’s the after party where things start to go awry. First we go the casino, where while playing a game one of the guys curses and is told he must watch his language (insert sound of crickets here). Here’s my thought: I can drink, smoke and gamble but I can’t say shit if I lose? Are you Fucking kidding me…it’s a casino…not a temple!?#%&! So after everyone had had there share of that we headed to the “rock and roll club” (how cheesy) where I proceeded as did Shawn to drink to much, but whatever, your only young once and what are they going to do kick me off the boat! (Snicker) The next morning we arrived in Grand Cayman, where hangover and all we got off and walked around the unimpressive port. Here’s my thought on the Cayman’s: There’s a whole lot of money in the Cayman’s it’s just not spent on the port. It’s one of those places where if you can’t afford to stay at the really nice resort don’t bother going…there’s nothing there and everything is overpriced.

The next day we got to Mexico where you can see from the photo I made it a whole 10 paces off the dock before succumbing to the calls from the Corona’s. I really enjoyed Cozumel…it’s much more “my kind of place”. We again opted out of any cruise sponsored excursions; I’d had my fair share of being herded like cattle whilst on board and wanted to enjoy my few hours of freedom my way! So we sat and drank a few while we collected our little group, then we caught a cab “downtown” where we drank more as we walked along and looked at the shops. They have this wonderful little tactic at the jewelry stores. They see you drinking a beer and they say “oh you like Tequila” or “you drink Corona?” and then they lead you to the back of the store where they give you free drinks! What a great way to make friends and to get them to buy your stuff!! Through one of these jewelry store portholes we found this fantastic little bar that sat in the middle of a courtyard. Bar stools with saddles, $1.00 Coronas, awesome chips and salsa and a live Mariachi band... I’m in a happy place here. We decided to take advantage of the fantastic beer price and proceeded to set up a game of beer pong.

Here's me (and my liquid courage) holding a ginormous diaper wearing iguana

WooooHOOOO were having fun now!! We decided it best to only play one game and left to find our next destination…”The No Name Bar”. No, really that’s what it was called. This bar was also hidden behind a building and it happened to be where the cruise crew people hang out when not on the boat. We drank many more beers here, then walked what seemed like an eternity back to our ship where we ate, then retired to our room for the evening. The next day we were at sea and it was very windy and too cold for me to layout so we wandered around, watched TV and ate and that’s pretty much it.

Thursday morning we arrived back in Tampa where we couldn't get off the boat quick enough. We choose the Self-assist debarkation option which means you carry all your own stuff but you get off first. Can I just tell you getting back into this country from a cruise has to be the least secure, easiest thing ever. My passport is in my maiden name, but my travel documents were in my married name so I traveled with my marriage certificate and my birth certificate so I could prove who I was. When getting on the boat at the start of the cruise, they verified my marriage certificate. Getting off the boat, going through customs, I walked up to the man at the podium where he the took our customs paper said “hello Mr. and Mrs. Daniels", then looked at our passports and said “Shawn Daniels and Nicole Aynes…welcome home” and along we went. They didn’t check our bags, pat us down, make us walk through the little scanner thing we had to walk through to get on the boat, didn’t ask for my marriage certificate…nothing! I was SHOCKED, especially since we had just watched the whole Mumbai thing unfold while we were on the boat and hadn’t they gained access to India through their waterways????????

A similar thing happened in Mexico. When we were getting off the boat there was a police officer with a sniffing dog…he sniffed out a ham sandwich (which they confiscated) but getting back on the boat after a day in Mexico no security anywhere? I’m no expert but don’t you think there is a greater possibility of people bringing stuff back from Mexico rather than dropping it off there??

Overall, the boat itself was unimpressive. It had a sort of cheap strip club feel with thes giant stripper pole looking poles all over ( I assumed they were some sort of support beam holding the boat together but they were silver and shiny and in one room they were purple?) and the food was average at best. I can also confirm after 5 days of people watching we ARE an obese country…push away from the table people, push away. Just because there is a self-serve ice-cream machine available 24 hours a day doesn’t mean you need to eat ice-cream 24 hours a day. I’m serious. It’s no wonder diabetes in children is shooting through the roof…I watched one chunky kid eat a cheeseburger, hotdog, cookies and ice-cream in one-sitting while his mother sat across from him eating a bowl of fruit….ummm hello! And you could tell this was not the first time this child’s food wants had been indulged. And another thing, people are just RUDE! While waiting in the buffet line for lunch one day there was a women 3 people ahead of us SMOKING IN THE FOOD LINE. Please tell me you see the problem with this…but wait it gets better. This was a nacho bar, at the chip bowl they had these pathetic little tongs that only allowed you to get one chip at a time, the smoking lady (who had finished her cig at this point) I kid you not reached into the bowl with not one but both of her hands and as she did it she says to those of us behind her “I just sanitized my hands” (on cruise ships they have Purell stations at the beginning of every food line in an effort to stop the transfer of germs). At this point Shawn had had it and I could no longer convince him to be quite…he proceeds to say “was that before or after you smoked your cigarette and blew the smoke on the food and our faces”! AHHH SNAP! He is a former smoker and never would have done what she had done and I never would have allowed it. This woman was appalling and lived up to every trailer park, white trash stereotype out there.

The next rude thing, and something which should be completely not allowed was how people would come into the dining room barefoot and wearing only their bathing suits. Ewww! There was a buffet available outside; if people want to eat in their bathing suits they should have to stay outside by the pool. Whatever happened to the “shirt and shoes required” rule? Hundreds of bare-foot, sweaty people walking around the carpeted room daily...it just makes me shudder typing it. And every time someone would walk by me shoeless and shirtless I would think “and I can’t curse in the casino?”

I suppose cruising would be fun if I was one of those people who likes to lay out by the pool on lounge chairs lined up like sardines in a can...so close together that you can barely get out of your chair without bumping the guy next to you. Or if I liked meeting at 2:30 in the Paris Lounge for random movie trivia, but I’m not one of those people. It is my opinion that cruises are for cattle, if you can only have a good time with scheduled, senseless group activities and you enjoy waiting in line and eating hoards of greasy, slop style food then perhaps this is the vacation for you…I’d rather stay home. I’ve heard other people’s stories of fantastic food, and luxury…perhaps on another cruise line or a different destination but I will have to rely on other’s people’s stories as I will never cruise again. I would like to return to Cozumel but will opt to fly next time.

Errands Make Me Batty

So in my effort to watch my spending I choose to shop at Wal-Mart today rather than Target. I know Wal-Mart has better prices on some of the household staples I use and I don't caught up in all the "cuteness" like I do when I shop at Target. However, every flippin' time I go (okay maybe 7 out of 10) I manage to come home without at least one of the items I purchased. So regardless of what I saved by shopping there (and supporting China) and using coupons I've been screwed because now I either have to just cut my losses (a bag of snickers) or I have to waste my time and gas and energy to go back up there to get my stuff. This just pisses me off. I don't know how ya'lls Wal-Marts work but in less I stand there and bag my own stuff something always gets left behind. I blame it on the dumb turnstile bagging mechanism they use. They just bag then turn, bag then turn and one of my bags always gets stuck on the backside next to the cashier who is never paying attention. Let me give you an example...I was purchasing a big ass bag of cat food today that I loaded into the cart rather then on the bottom so that the cashier would see it and would be able to reach her little scanner thing over the counter and ring it up, rather than one of us having to lug the thing onto the counter to be scanned...do you think she noticed it in my cart? NOPE, I could have walked right out with it, but I'm not that lady so I was honest and told her she forgot to ring it...how do they thank me for my honesty...by keeping my bag of snickers...which happened to be the best bag of Halloween candy I bought and due to my angered state could really be helpful at this moment.

Wait it gets better. After leaving Wal-Mart I went across the street to get a shirt I saw in their Sunday flyer. I made it past the dollar spot (should be called the $20 spot) easily found the shirt, grabbed it in two sizes so my hubby could decide which one fit best (it's for him, I don't depend on him to tell me if my cloths fit...). I quickly headed to the checkouts managing to divert my daughter's attention away from the toy aisle (I told her our cart didn't have any breaks!) checked out and headed home. I pulled the shirts out of the bag to show my husband and not one but both of the white button down shirts have black grease stains on them! AHHHHH, I so do not have time for this. I've been trying to buy all three of us white button down shirts to wear for our upcoming family pics. You'd think that was an easy task...and for some of you perhaps it would be, but not for me, not this time. I tried Old Navy...apparently to fit into a small you must be invisible...I'm 5'3", 112 lbs. and I couldn't even button the shirt...not to mention that it was barely long enough to cover the top of my jeans and we all know the style for shirts these days is to the hips. So now, I have to go back to Target, which I was gonna have to do regardless of the stains since I bought two shirts, but now I have to hope they have an un-stained one in the correct size, I'm calling it a lose on the snickers, I have to take everything I bought from Old Navy back, and I also have a bag of stuff to go back to Steinmart because the white shirt I bought for my hubby there wasn't one he liked...sigh...I ran all these errands and in the process created a whole new list of them to run. I suppose I should just be thankful that I don't work outside the home and am able to run these errands during the week when the stores are a little less crowded...and maybe if I had a snickers bar to eat I wouldn't be so bent out of shape...you just don't mess with sugar addicts candy I tell you. I'm going to lay in bed and watch Oprah..ohhh, or maybe Maury...his pathetic guests always make me feel like I'm livin' a dream (LOL)!


NOTE: After I sat here and typed this rant I got up to go watch Oprah, I headed to the kitchen to get a snack...I opened the freezer and there was the missing bag of snickers. Now I happen to think this is hilarious...my 3 year old put them there because in her words "snickers need to be cold". Ahhh, my crazy life...you still should not mess with my candy! But apologies to the cashier I blamed my lost bag of snickers on...today my cashier actually did her job correctly. If only I could go look at my white shirts and see that the grease stains were just spots I was seeing from low blood sugar brought on by my "missing" bag of snickers...I desearve a snickers so I'm off to get one before they go missing again. Is it a full moon?? I'm batty I tell you...batty

Friday Fun

On Friday I hosted a play date at my house for my daughter and 10 of her friends. Since she didn't get to help me with the cookies I did for the baby shower I decided to host her very own cookie decorating party. I made the cookies and had the icing in little zip locks for the kids to use. I'm not sure what I did wrong but my cookies didn't come out quite right. They spread (just a little) which is not supposed to happen. I'm thinking it was caused by one of three things...

1. I didn't let the eggs come to room temp.
2. I beat to much air into the dough.
3. I didn't let the dough chill enough.



Whatever the reason, it didn't really matter, the cookies were fine for a party for 3 year olds! I also decided to try out a different icing recipe (Wilton's poured cookie icing) that didn't call for meringue powder so I used the kids cookies as Ginny pigs so to say. I did not like the icing as much as the recipe I generally use. It was fine for piping edges and filling in but you could not do any detail work with it. Here are the cookies I decorated after the kids were gone. I like the shininess of the icing but like I said you can't do any detail work with it.





Since play dates are as much about the mama's as they are about the kids I wanted to make something for us to enjoy. Being fall (even if it was like 85 degrees today with 200% humidity) I choose a cranberry-pumpkin bread with a cranberry-pecan streusel on top. The recipe calls for you to drizzle a simple icing on top after they've baked but I never got around to doing it and IMO they didn't need it. I decided to make the recipe as muffins rather than as a loaf..easier to serve and prettier presentation wise (again IMO).



Cranberry-Pumpkin Mini Loaves
By Publix (my local grocery store)


2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. finely shredded orange peel
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 recipe Cranberry Streusel Topping
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp. milk



Cranberry-Pecan Streusel


3/4 cup coarsely chopped cranberries
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger



Stir well to combine.

Prepare your muffin pan (or 6 mini loaf pans as the recipe calls for) and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, orange peel, salt and ginger. make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine pumpkin, oil, milk and eggs. Add all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Fold in the cranberries and pecans. Using an ice-cream scoop, spoon the batter into the muffin pan (or spoon evenly into loaf pans). Sprinkle streusel over batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (35-40 minutes for loaf pans) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Just before serving combine the 1 cup of powdered sugar and milk, then drizzle over the tops.

Notes: As you can probably see in the picture I didn't use very many cranberries in the streusel. I didn't measure what I did use but it was probably only about 1/4 - 1/3 cup. And I used Sun Maid Cranberries (the kind you find by the raisins) NOT fresh or frozen cranberries. And as mentioned before I didn't put the icing on top.

No Fail Sugar Cookies

By Fancy Flours

6 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups butter

2 eggs

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, and flavoring (you can also use almond). Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix well.

Put a handful of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper (or wax paper) and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the remaining dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Your dough will be ready to cut and bake with no added flour! Repeat with scraps after cutting cookies.

NOTES: If you have not yet discovered Fancy Flours, I highly recommend you check them out. They have the most wonderful products, they even have a catalog you can receive for FREE, that is filled with ideas. I just love it!

Poured Cookie Icing

By Wilton

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp. milk

2 tsp. light corn syrup

Place sugar and milk in bowl. Stir until mixed thoroughly. Add corn syrup and mix well. For filling in areas use thinned icing (add small amounts of corn syrup until desired consistency is reached).

How to Build a Cupcake Tower

I promised I would explain how I built the cupcake tower I did for my step-dad's 50th suprise party (just in case the 4 of you read this blog are curious :)) As I've previously disclosed, I don't do math, so building this thing to accommodate the correct number of cupcakes was a bit of a challenge. I actually never figured it out, my lovely husband stepped in and rescued me and thank goodness or I'd probably still be sitting around trying to draw it out on graph paper (that or I'd be sitting in the corner beating my head against the wall). So here it goes.

1) I started with 4 inch thick floral foam, found at Michael's or JoAnn's or whatever craft store you have in your neck of the woods. I bought two 36x12x4 inch pieces. Each of those was cut to be 24 inches long (save the extra pieces for the next two levels).

2) Next, the two 24 inch long pieces were tapped together, both down the middle and around the edges so that when I picked it up it didn't fold in half.

3) One of the extra pieces from step-one was used as the second tier, which was 12x12. And the last extra piece was cut down to be 7x7. We cut it as small as we could leaving it big enough to accommodate a 6 inch cake.

4) Next, we wrapped each tier. I used Wilton's Fanci Foil wrap. I was going for a black and silver look so this worked perfectly. I wrapped each tier just like I would a present.

5) After they were wrapped, we glued the black ribbon all the way around.

6) Stack the tiers and TaDa you now have a cupcake tower.

I needed it to accommodate 60 cupcakes and the little cake on top. Since the tower was placed up against a wall I wasn't able to place many cupcakes on the backside so I simply placed them on the table, essentially creating a 4 tier tower. If your building a tower that is to accommodate a cake on the top then I would start with how big the top tier must be and then work down ( I first tried to do it the other way and it wasn't working out)

Cookies, Cookies and more Cookies

This past weekend I had my first paying baking job!! I was enlisted to make sugar cookies for a baby shower; 100 cookies to be placed in bags as favors and another 30 in the baby's name to be displayed on a tray. The shower was on Sunday, I started baking on Thursday morning and in true Nicole fashion there were some speed bumps along the way...

First Speed Bump: On Wednesday night I decided I would measure out my flour and other ingredients to save me a few steps in the morning. Upon pulling out my bucket of flour I came to the realization that I had been so excited about the fantastic sale on butter at Publix that I totally forgot to check how much flour I had (it was $2 per lb!!!) and from the looks of it I didn't think I'd have enough. This time I lucked out and had almost exactly the 18 cups I needed. Breathing a sigh of relief I headed to bed to get a good nights sleep since the next day was to be a busy baking day!

Second Speed Bump - So much for that good night's sleep. I woke up at 3 AM not because I was anxious to get started but because I had to puke! Great I'm thinking, now I have the flu and I'm supposed to make 12 dozen cookies AND hand decorate them. Thankfully I was only sick once, however, after that one time I lay in bed for the remainder of the night panicking about whether I would feel well enough in the morning to bake and worried about contaminating the cookies.

Third Speed Bump - Thursday morning comes quicker then I wanted. Tired and starving but to afraid to eat in case I really do have the flu I help my little one get ready for pre-school and get her dropped off. I race back home, sterilize my kitchen (in case of the flu) and get baking. I started by preparing the dough, rolling it and then placing it in the fridge to chill. At 11:45 I raced back to pick the little one up and then made a quick stop at Publix for more flour and sugar just in case I needed it ( I also got Sprite to help settle my tummy). As soon as I get home I start baking the cookies...it is at this point I realize I'm in for a really looooooong day. You see I only have 2 cookie pans and these are big cookies I'm making so I could only fit 8 on a pan. Do the math 12 dozen divided by 8 is 18...18 times 10 minutes of baking is 3 hours. Now three hours doesn't sound so bad except I had to wait for the pans to cool before I could place the next batch on them and then there was the cutting of the dough, re-rolling the scraps, re-chilling and cutting again, and again, and again. This combined with the constant interruptions from my 3 1/2 year old made for a very inefficient day. Thankfully my mom stopped by and offered to take the nugget home for the evening. At 10 pm I had all the cookies baked, cooled and put away for the night. I headed to bed and crashed as soon as I my head hit the pillow. Here are most of the cookies waiting to be put away (they're stacked so you can't see all 144)

Friday morning, I popped out of bed, headed straight for the coffee pot and got right down to making icing for the cookies. And here is the next dumb thing I did. I knew I was going to need several batches of icing and I also knew I was going to need 4 colors. Now, you'd think I'd just make a batch of each color...yeah, so not what I did. Instead, I made one batch, separated it into 4 bowls and then made my three colors (the 4th color was white). So once that was gone, I had to make another batch and then make the colors again. Well anyone, whose colored icing knows it's damned near impossible to match the colors (unless your super anal and count how much food coloring you use in each batch...which I don't do). So I caused myself some considerable delays by doing it this way. I did manage to get all of the cookies outlined and filled by the end of the day. So on Saturday I would just have the final decorating and bagging to do. (here's a pic of getting ready to outline)

Saturday morning I get up and again get right down to business. I get the cookies out of the fridge and discover I've made another error. I was up so late the night before icing the cookies, some didn't have enough time to dry completely and when I covered them, the foil stuck to the icing and ruined the lovely smooth finish you want in this sort of cookie. GREAT! It was only about 10 that needed to be fixed, so I simply smoothed the icing as best I could using my handy paintbrush ( a must have when doing decorated cookies of this nature) and then re-iced them to cover the flaws. Those few still didn't look as good as I would have liked but they were still nice enough to present and hey out of 12 dozen if only 10 got screwed up that's pretty good! I worked on the cookies until almost midnight; I had to get done by then so I could watch Sarah Palin on SNL!!

Sunday morning all I had left to do was bag them and put them in the basket for the party, which I was also attending. Me and the cookies were all ready to go by 12:30 leaving me just enough time to snap a few photos..

All in all this project was a success. I completed it on time, the customer was very happy with the finished product and I got paid!! There are of course things I would do differently (like perhaps trying to be a bit more organized) but there is always next time. And my hope is that the more I do this the less my nerves will get all twisted up. I felt such a huge weight lifted off me once I had finished; I put a lot of pressure on myself and worry constantly about whether what I do is good enough. I suppose this sort of pressure is good...it ensures that I always strive to do better than the last time.

My First Cupcake Tower

Like I mentioned in a previous post I have been busy preparing for my step-father's surprise 50th birthday celebration. It was held over the weekend at Iavarone's Steakhouse here in Tampa. This is the biggest event I have ever done cupcakes for. I was so incredibly nervous about the prospect of making the cupcakes for this party that I made myself sick. As soon as I woke up on Thursday I knew I was in trouble, my sinuses were so full of pressure it was making my teeth hurt (ouch!). Well many sinus and cold remedies later I successfully completed this project I took on and I was thrilled with how it all came together. Here's a timeline of how it went followed by recipes.

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Friday - I baked 120 cupcakes and one 6 in layer cake (5 batches of cake in all) as well as a double batch of chocolate ganache. I did the ganache today to ensure it had enough to time to cool itself and thicken up so I could whip it and pipe it on the cupcakes on Saturday. I used a scale to measure my ingredients for the first time today and let me tell you, if you don't do this I would highly recommend giving it a shot. Aside from the accuracy of it, it really does save you time in the measuring department. It's so much easier to just dump flour into a bowl until it weighs enough than to spoon it into a cup and level it...I promise. Rather than make the white chocolate raspberry cupcakes I had planned on I opted to leave the raspberry's out and just do a white chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate buttercream ( I wanted to simplify things a little) and I paired those with devil's food cupcakes with a whipped chocolate ganache. The six inch cake on top was a 3 level devil's food cake layered with fresh sweetened whipped cream and iced with the same chocolate ganache as the cupcakes.

9:30 AM Saturday morning - I took more meds and then made the white chocolate buttercream and whipped the ganache. Again my wonderful husband had to come to my rescue more than once on this particular day. First it was too feed me, I was sick, starving and up to my eyeballs in cupcakes and icing and I desperately wanted some good soup and a sandwich. I really wanted McAlister's Deli but that's in Gainesville and while he's a nice guy he's not driving 2 hours to get me soup; so I settled for Panera Bread which hit the spot. Rejuvenated by my lunch I got back to work and iced 72 of the 120. You see I only needed 72 cupcakes but one of the batches (24 cupcakes) of white chocolate cupcakes I rushed through and overfilled the cups and I didn't like their appearance (they will be in my freezer for any late night cravings that may arise!) that combined with my funny math ( I didn't think to cut a batch in half to only get 36 per flavor rather than 48) resulted in a few extra cupcakes but that's okay because I got to pick the prettiest one's for the party and wasn't stuck with any that needed to hidden in the back! I then leveled my 6 inch cakes and cut one into 2 layers to make a total of 3 layers (one cake was made with more batter and making it into a 3-layer cake was the easiest way to solve the uneven layer problem). I whipped some whipped cream layered in with the cakes and iced with the ganache. I then used a warm icing spatula to smooth the icing.

3:00 PM Saturday ( 2 hours before I am to arrive at the party to set up) - With all the cupcakes and the cake iced and packed to go I decided to start wrapping the cupcake tower. Enter hubby for the second rescue of the day. He stepped in and duck tapped the bottom level together since it was made of two pieces and needed to be tapped together for stability ( I will add another post with tower instructions)and then helped me wrap it. Then he glued all the ribbon on it for me and thank goodness because once I saw how he was doing it I realized my plan for doing it NEVER would have worked right!

3:35 PM Saturday - I finally get into the shower and start getting ready. I called my sister right before getting into the shower realizing I could really use some help at the restaurant carrying all the stuff inside and putting the pieces of this cupcake puzzle together. She agrees to meet me at 5 (not sure what made me think I could do all this by myself, but thank goodness for a good family)

4:46 PM Saturday - I glance at the clock and think oh-shit I'm to be there in 15 minutes and I haven't started loading my car. I'm ready and putzing around totally oblivious to the time, I blame this on the cold medicine. Hubby, again rescues me, and quickly loads everything into my car, starting it to get the AC running so that it wasn't so hot inside that the icing started melting. Isn't he a smart guy.

5:01 PM - In route to restaurant, one minute late and suddenly realize I'm not positive where the restaurant is. I can picture it and I think I know where it is but again the cold medicine gets the best of me and I have a total brain fart. I quickly call my sister who gives me directions and she informs me she will be there 20 minutes later than expected.

~5:10 PM - yes, I was that close to it and couldn't remember where the damn restaurant was. I arrive at the restaurant where a very kind valet boy helped me carry up my many boxes of cupcakes and supplies. And I felt so bad, I had no cash and therefore didn't tip him, but I did say thank-you! I jump right into putting all the pieces together. I had to put the cupcakes into the foil wrappers, add the pics to the tops of them, add the cake topper and candles and pipe the whipped cream around the little cake. My sister, the one who was coming to help, arrived just as I finished, but that was okay because it all came together really easy and my mom's friend who planned the party was there with her sister and they helped with the foil wrappers.

5:30 PM Saturday - Cupcake tower complete, I am sitting in a chair sipping water, no alcohol for me tonight, I feel to crappy. Guests start to arrive around 5:45, most notice the tower immediately and I was thrilled with their comments. They loved the concept of the photo pics. I used pictures from throughout my step-dads life to make the pics. I cut just his head from the pictures for the cupcake pics and then the pictures in their entirety were placed in frames and spread throughout the room for everyone to enjoy. Great conversation pieces! Well here it is...not the best picture, I wish I had taken more but I received many compliments. I'm glad that it was well received and I watched as people at the cupcakes and they were finishing them so that's a good sign! I even had someone approach me about doing a cake for the Steeplechase!!

Now I can breath a huge sigh of relief and take some more cold medicine and go to bed...

Oh but first the recipes... I must actually in some sick way thrive under stressful situations because I choose to use a recipe I had never tried before for these cupcakes and thankfully they were fantastic (I would have been so screwed if they turned out crappy). The white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes I posted about previously even without the raspberry jam in the middle I still found a little heavy, good - just a little heavier then I wanted since I was pairing it with such a rich icing.

White Chocolate Whisper Cake
By Rose Levy Beranbaum found in The Cake Bible (if you like to bake and don't have this book, you should).

6 oz. White Chocolate Fine Quality (I used Ghiradelli)
4 1/2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 cup + 3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
9 tbsp. unsalted butter - must be softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a double-broiler melt the white chocolate over hot (not simmering) water, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. In a medium bowl, lightly combine the egg whites, 1/4 cup of milk and the vanilla. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and min on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add the butter and remaining 3/4 cups milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Scrap down the sides. Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrap down the sides. Add the white chocolate and beat to incorporate. Scoop the batter into your prepared pans. I baked the cupcakes for ~18 minutes, removing them once a toothpick inserted came out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan to cool completely.

White Chocolate Buttercream
By Betty Crocker

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. white chocolate melted and cooled
2 to 3 tbsp. milk

Mix all ingredients except milk in medium bowl. Add milk and whip until creamy.

NOTES: For the cake, The Cake Bible also lists weights for ingredients, which for the eggs was 4 oz. It only took me 4 eggs rather than 4 1/2 to get 4 liquid oz. Proving one, that not all eggs are equal and two, that weighing is more accurate. On the icing, 1/3 cup is a strange butter measurement, it works out 5 1/3 tbsp. Have you tried to cut 5 1/3 tbsp. from a stick of butter...hard to know if you got it right. Next time I would probably just stick with my usual 1/2 cup butter to ~4 cups powdered sugar and then just add maybe another 1/2 oz of chocolate or to taste. I'm not sure why I didn't do it like that to begin with, perhaps because I was freaking out about the whole thing and I was hopped up on cold meds. but it worked and that's all that matters in the end.


Devil's Food Cupcakes

2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups + 2 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cocoa powder ( I use Hershey's)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cups water
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. With a standing mixer, beat your butter at medium speed until smooth. Increase the speed to medium high and add the sugar, beating until it is light and smooth. Add the cocoa and the vanilla and beat for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the eggs one at a time beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl.

Combine the water and milk in a pan and heat until just boiling. Remove from heat and cover so liquid doesn't evaporate. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixing until just combined. Carefully pour the hot liquid into the bowl mixing until just combines. Remove bowl from mixture, scrape down sides and the bottom of the bowl and using a spatula finish combining the batter until smooth. Scoop into prepared cupcake pans. Bake for ~18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to cool completely.

Milk Chocolate Ganache
By: Rose Levy Beranbaum found in The Cake Bible

12 oz. milk chocolate (34% chocolate mass such as Lindt)
9 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
3/4 tsp. vanilla

In the bowl of a food processor with metal blades, break chocolate into pieces . Process until the chocolate is very finely ground. In a small pan, bring the cream to a boil. With the motor running, immediately poor it through the feed tube onto the chocolate mixture. Process until smooth, about 15 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the vanilla and pulse a few more times to incorporate it. All the mixture to cool for several hours until it reaches frosting consistency.

NOTES: On the cake, again because I must like stress, I tried something different with one of the batches. Rather than add the cocoa powder to the butter and sugar mixture I added it to the hot liquid. I found no noticeable difference between the two batches and neither was easier than the other so whatever your preference I guess? On the icing, because I was originally planning on making a dark ganache using semi-sweet chocolate I didn't have as much bittersweet chocolate as I needed to make the double-batch necessary for all the cake. So I used 24 oz. milk chocolate (Lindt), 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate and 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate. I allowed the ganache to chill overnight in the refrigerator and then in the morning I brought it to room temperature and whipped it with my mixer. It lightened it both in color and texture but it was still a little thick to pipe so I added whipping cream a little at a time until of the consistency I was looking for (sorry no measurements, just eyed it).

Another political rant

so when I started this blog it was not meant to be of a political nature...but in light of all the ridiculousness occurring in the political world today I can't help myself....(deep breath)

I'm so sick and tired of the all the freakin' bickering. Obama thinks by continuing on with the debate on Friday it's going to show the people he can multitask....great! We already know Palin's got that down, with 5 kids and a husband she could probably teach a masters class in multi-tasking. And then Obama says the American people want to hear what the future President would do....ummm I'm one of those America citizens and IMO standing on stage and bickering about what you'd do differently than your opponent is going to solve nothing. If you REALLY want to show the people what you'd do then get your ass to Washington and help fix the problem instead of spending the next few days preparing for the debate all the while chillin in Clearwater enjoying the beautiful fall weather that just rolled in. I don't care who solves it I just want it fixed...and fixed right, not given a little neosporin and a cute scooby-doo band-aid to make us all feel better but really fixed. If it takes more time then you have left in your current session...TOO BAD. Call the wife boys and tell her to put your dinner in the microwave cause you're going to be working late tonight (better yet, just have her freeze it, it'll keep for 3 months, maybe that'll be enough time for ya'll to fix what you've allowed to get all screwed up)

(taking 10 deep breaths...ahh now I can move on to my laundry :)!)

After a much needed weekend away with the girls (and the 4 days needed to recover) it's time to get back to baking. I've taken on the task of making cupcakes for my step-dad's upcoming surprise birthday party to be held at a local steakhouse. It's gonna be 72 cupcakes and a 6 inch cutting cake. I'm also building a cupcake tower which I've never done. It became immediately apparent that I'm a much better baker than I am a builder. After searching through pictures on Flickr to decide on the style of the stand, trying to map it out on graph paper, and then making 4 trips to Jo Ann's to purchase supplies I still couldn't figure out how big each level had to be. So with only a week left until the big event my hubby finally came to my rescue; in one hour late Friday night he did what I hadn't been able to accomplish in 3 weeks (and I think 15 of those minutes were spent laughing at me and explaining my layout options...yeah he even gave me options...I can't come up with one complete design and he has options???!!!)


With the cupcake tower ready to be wrapped and ribboned (I will post pics & instructions on how I did it when it's finished so that perhaps I can save another math challenged soul from the frustrations I experienced) I moved on to finally decide what combo. of cupcakes to place on the tower. I know, I know...nothing like waiting until the last minute. I've been thinking about this project non-stop but somehow have been unable to make any real decisions. I'm a procrastinator by nature and seem to operate a little more efficiently under the wire?? Any who, I've known I want to do black and white cupcakes but what flavor????? Well I've settled on a white chocolate and raspberry cupcake for the white and a chocolate hazelnut cupcake for the black. Each cupcake will also be topped with a photo pic (depicting one of 5 images of the birthday boy from throughout his life). The cake on top will probably be a chocolate raspberry combining flavors from both versions of cupcake (this way I can cover all my bases and my brain can settle down over whether I've made the best choice).


Yesterday, rather than do laundry and iron my man's work shirts I choose to make some sample cupcakes so that I could place them on the unfinished cupcake stand to be sure it would look like I pictured (yep, I still can't fully visualize it, I need to physically see it). I decided to try out the white chocolate raspberry version. I made a white chocolate and raspberry cupcake and then iced it with a white chocolate butter cream. I first made a white chocolate ganache but I must have done something wrong as when I was adding the melted chocolate to the slightly beaten whipped cream it curdled...the more I beat the more it curdled and it never would have been thick enough to pipe onto cupcakes like a whipped chocolate ganache so I dumped that and started over. I started with a basic butter cream recipe and then added the melted white chocolate. The end result was visually what I was looking for. Taste wise....it's very sweet and IMO needed more raspberry flavor to balance out the white chocolate, I'm partial to chocolate chocolate so I always find myself saying "it's good but not as good as devil's food". But they were pretty, displayed nicely and did taste good so I'm sticking with them short of a few minor changes I will make. So here's the recipes I used...my changes are listed in pink



White Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes
by Shelly Kaldunski in Cupcakes


yields 12 cupcakes



1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbls. unsalted butter - room temp
1 large egg - room temp
1/2 cup whole milk ( I used 2%)
3 oz. white chocolate chopped

1 cup raspberries (I used raspberry jam pushed through a strainer to remove seeds- read below)

White Chocolate Butter cream adapted from Betty Crocker



1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 oz. white baking chips, melted and cooled
2-3 tbls. milk




Beat butter and sugar until combined. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add melted chocolate and mix to incorporate.



Sift flour, baking powder and salt into bowl and set aside. On medium-high speed of electric mixer beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the white chocolate and beat on low speed until combined. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Remove from pan. (cooled cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temp before finishing). Place Raspberry's in a bowl and use a fork to crush them lightly. Spoon the crushed berry's on top of the cooled cupcakes, dividing them evenly. Frost the cupcakes with butter cream, garnish with white chocolate curls. Serve right away.


Here's what I did differently...


Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into prepared muffin cups, add a rounded teaspoon of raspberry jam to each cup and then top with remaining batter. Bake as directed, cool completely and then ice with white chocolate butter cream.


What I'd do differently next time...


Rather than use a prepared jam that contains sugar I'd like to make my own raspberry puree. I felt like the white chocolate and the sweetened jam was just too sweet for my tastes. I think I'll melt the chocolate before adding it to the cupcake batter to be sure it's spread equally through out rather than one cupcake have a few more pieces than the next. And, I also think I'll use a little more chocolate and cut back on the sugar in the icing...add a little more whipped cream to lighten it.

Please do something...

I just had to write a letter...it is an opinion piece.

Senator Martinez

While I appreciated your reply to my earlier email regarding Bill 1738 – The Protect our Children Act (Mr. Nelson didn’t even respond) I found the template letter response insufficient. I’m not too sure what "referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary" means but my good friend who has participated in this country’s political process more than I have explained it to me like this “basically means it will spin around "in committee" forever until someone decides it’s ready to be made into a "bill". Basically, do nothing until someone makes us do it!!!” I realize sir that in this economy funding is sparse. I also, however, realize that our children are our future and if we do not do something to stop this growing trend of peddling child pornography via the internet the problem will continue to fester much like an infected wound until it has infected every city and small town across this great nation. Just over $2000.00 per American citizen is what is being proposed to bail us (I use the term “us” loosely because it seems like the only ones being helped are the company’s who made poor business choices) out of this financial crisis. It would only cost roughly $1.00 per American citizen ($320 million over 5 years) to pass this bill in its financial entirety. How about half that, can we get that…aren’t our children worth it? It seems that we feel the future of Iraqi and Afghani children are worth fighting for; how about our own children. The war on terror is not just one that needs to be fought over seas in other countries. Per the definition of terror (use of terror, especially as a means of coercion), a person who prays on children so that they can commit horrible crimes against them is one of the worst forms of terrorist and it’s happening right now, in our country as I type this. I know your session will be coming to an end soon, but I urge you…no I beg you to do something, anything. Can you not mention it, open it for discussion, bring it up over coffee with some of your peers???? Again I know ya’ll have a lot on your plate but I also know that being tired is not an excuse to call it a day and not finish an important job(such as protecting our children). After my husband has worked a 14 hour shift (putting in OT to make up for the increased cost of food and fuel) when he drags himself in the door tired and hungry, he puts all that aside so that he can spend a few before bed-time minutes with our daughter. To give her a hug and a kiss and to let her know she is safe and loved. Please sir, I beg you to help us keep our children safe and to push through the appropriate funding to fight off the monster that is lurking and waiting to strike again, and again, and again.

I do hope this letter reaches you and doesn’t find it’s way to file 13 (AKA:the trash) or left to some staffer to decide it’s importance.

Thank you,

Nicole Daniels

p.s. It’s my understanding the white, female vote is being considered the “swing vote” in this election. I am a registered independent, please help me swing towards your party.

Rock My World Rocky Road Cookies

The last time I made cookies the hubby made a request for the next batch. He is lactose intolerant and can't enjoy ice cream so he asked for a rocky road cookie! I've made rocky road cupcakes but never cookies and I thought it would be easy enough so I made him some as a thank you for all his hard work tearing apart the kitchen to give me my beloved shelf. I started with my chocolate chip cookie recipe and then decided to substitute roasted and salted almonds for the walnuts. I cut back on the amount of chocolate chips and then added marshmallows. I was a little afraid that the marshmallows would just melt causing the cookies to spread into one big mess on the pan. To try and avoid this I cut the marshmallows into little chip sized pieces. The result was wonderful. The marshmallows didn't melt causing a big mess, they actually held their shape. They were roasted on the outside but maintained the soft, chewy goodness on the inside that makes smores so delicious. Both hubby and I agreed that they needed more almonds. When you'd get a bite with all three (chocolate, marshmallow and almond) it was like heaven but without that added crunch from the almond something was missing so next time I will add another 1/2 cups almonds.

Recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar (50 % dark, 50% light)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs at room temp.

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp.

1 cup roasted and salted almonds (chopped)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup cut up marshmallow pieces

Mix dry ingredients in bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until well incorporated but don't cream as much as you would for a cake or your cookies will flatten to much. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg and scraping down sides of bowl if necessary. Add dry ingredients a little at a time mixing just until incorporated. Add chocolate chips, almonds and marshmallows and mix to combine.

Using a small cookie scoop drop dough onto cookie sheets. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes until just starting to brown. Marshmallows on top will look roasted. Cool on wire rack or newspaper. Store in air-tight container in the fridge.

The loss of a mentor

Minnafay Reynolds, my grandmother, passed this morning. As a little girl I spent several summers with her standing on a chair in the kitchen learning to make cookies. She instilled in me a love of baking and the memories I have of our time spent together in the kitchen will be treasured. Of the many things she shared with me one of my favorites is her recipe for a happy home. Shortly after I was married she shared this with me and I have had it hanging in my kitchen since. It served her well, as it has me and I hope that in my sharing it you too will find it of use in your own homes...

Faye Reynold's Recipe for a Happy Home

1 Husband
1 Wife
Children
1 Bible for each child
1 Home
Generous portions of prayer
3 Cups love firmly packed
1 package work
1 package playing together
1 Portion patience
1 Portion understanding
1 Portion forgiveness
1 Cup kisses
1 Small paddle

Mix together thoroughly and sprinkle with awareness. Bake in a moderate oven of everyday life, using as fuel all the grudges and past unpleasantness. Cool, turn the platter of cheerfulness. Garnish with tears and laughter in large helpings. Serve God, Country and Community.

Faye will be greatly missed by all those who knew her...

A Sweet Score

So my kitchen is pretty much finished, short of a little touch up paint and a trip to Homegoods to look for some accessories for my new shelf. I still do not care for my cabinets, but they are what came with the house and I'd rather have them then the job it would require to afford new ones. I do however love having a place to keep my collection of cookbooks (26 at last count, not all pictured).

Well after what seemed like days of cleaning and dusting the house I was in need of a little retail therapy. Plus my cats really appreciated it that I went out to get them some food (if only they would eat cupcakes). So I headed to Target; upon entering I was drawn the the "dollar spot" in the same way I can only imagine a crackhead is drawn to crack. I'm serious, my pulse started to quicken, I shushed my child so that I could concentrate and "take it all in". The separate bins all full of cheap non-essential items, in their cute packaging were just screaming out "BUY ME, BUY ME". If you're a teacher picture a classroom full of kids all waving their hand in the air bouncing in their chairs practically screaming at you "oh, oh, pick me, pick me" that's what's it was like for me. On this particular day I hit the jackpot. As I walked through I caught a glimpse of a cupcake and it was over (I'm now like a crackhead with a stash)! Foot lotions and scrubs, glittery body lotion, body butter, sleeping masks, manicure sets and magnetic notepads and all with the cutest little cupcake label. I HAD to buy some, there was no option, but I was very reasonable and only purchased the body butter, foot scrub glittery body lotion, magnetic notepad and the eye mask. Riding on my high from my $5 splurge I headed to Borders (cranky toddler and all) for my next treat...The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

While the lotions are nothing special (the body butter and the body lotion are the same thing and both are watered down) I am in love with my eye mask. I do not wear it to sleep as it has these little scented beads inside that press into your head but I do however, use it as a sort of headband/sweatband which I'm sure looks totally ridiculous, but I don't care, I LOVE it! I'm also in love with The Cake Bible. It has been keeping me up nights since I bought it 2 days ago. I can't get enough of it...page after page of recipes, complete with explanations of why and how it all works...it's fabulous and will be a treasured part of my collection.

My Guilty Pleasure

Well aside from cookies and cake that is...

I just love this show, it is smart and freaking hysterical (something I think is totally lacking in the majority of network TV shows these days). Not something you want to watch in the presence of your kiddos (for obvious reasons) and no I do not condone the smoking and/or selling of illegal drugs. I do however, suggest that if you have Showtime you do yourself a favor and watch an episode or two. It is highly addictive! And aside form the fact that Mary Louise Parker is smokin' hot she's also good at her job (not the pot selling one the acting one people) She's up for an 2008 Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. You can read more about the show here. Now run along people, set your TIVO and get addicted!

Semi-Homemade = Semi-Annoying

Okay, I'm sorry to any Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee fans if this offends you but she annoys the pants off me. I can't get passed the fact that every freaking episode her kitchen matches her outfit. Give me an effin break, matching your kitchen....daily...too much for me. Now, I know it's most likely a studio kitchen and there is a staff who changes the background but still is this necessary, matching the kitchen?/@! I do own one of her books (it was given to me as a gift) and I can appreciate the idea of adding to already made products to make something special or to cut down on prep time, but the matchy, matchy thing is ANNOYING and IMO just plain wrong. Therefore I can not be a fan...sorry Sandra.

Closed kitchens and cupcake logos

What is this you ask? Why, that's my kitchen in the early stages of a minor remodel. We took down some cabinets and a soffit and now we're removing the soffit on the other side and then texturing the walls and painting. I'm super excited to be finally getting this done; however, I have some buttermilk in the fridge about to expire and I can't bake so I'm totally stir crazy!! So what does a baking addict do when she can't bake....yep, that's right I browse all the other wonderful baking blogs out there. On Cupcakes take the cake, they featured "10 Cupcake Bakery Logos We Love" (check them out super cute, and wonderful blog for those addicted to cupcakes like myself). Well, I too have a cupcake logo. One of my many dreams is to own my own bakery, and with latest craze being cupcakes, I took the plunge and had a logo created...

I know, pretty fabulous huh. A found a wonderful artist, LaFoi on DeviantArt, who created this for me. I just love it, I can picture it in the front window of a bakery with pretty cake plates staked up with delicious cupcakes, cookies and cakes behind it to make the mouths of passers-by water, convincing them they must step inside and try one of my tasty treats. Upon trying a single bite they would become helplessly addicted therefor forced to swing by daily for their "sugar fix" continuing to be seduced by the sweet smell of sugar wafting in from the open kitchen....oh, I'm sorry, got a little carried away there for a minute ( I told you it was a dream didn't I). Anyway, I love my logo and hopefully, one day, I will be able to put her to good use!

Week in Review

Fay Schmaye

Ahhh, yes, another false alarm!! Lexi's first day of school was postponed on Tuesday due to the small possibility of the wind blowing and the chance of rain only for the day to turn out to be a beauty. Roll to Thursday her actual first day...rained....and still freakin raining. But nothings canceled today, I still have to go out in the rain to head to the dentist (can you feel the excitement people) so annoying. It's been windier and rained more in the last 10 hours then it did during all 72 hours the local meteorologists stood around in a state of euphoria watching and waiting to see which way the wind blew. Even with all their fancy equipment and years of education they still can't accurately predict the direction of a storm, instead displaying the "cone of uncertainty" that generally encompasses most if not all of the state. To me that's the equivalent of a Dr. sending you for an MRI and a Cat scan only to tell you that you have a mass located somewhere in your body between the right ear and your left pinkie toe, then sending you home to "wait and see" what happens. And then there's "the preparers". Who are these people you ask. These are the individuals who run out to the grocery star as soon as they hear it's going to get windy and rainy and stock up on SPAM, water, peanut butter and bread, they board up their windows or even worse tape them (which is useless), and sit glued to their TV's or their weather radio's just "waiting to see what happens". Puhhhleeeease, I'll tell you what's gonna happen, it's gonna rain and the wind is going to blow...deal with it. Get out some board games, pop some popcorn and freaking relax! I've lived in FL since the late 80's, prior to that I lived on a cornfield in Illinois so I've weathered my fair share of hurricanes, tropical storms AND tornado's. I'd much rather sit through a hurricane than a tornado...

So what do you do when it's supposed to rain, everything is closed and your kid is home from school.....why you bake (that way IF the power does go out you'll have cookies to eat!). This is exactly what Lexi and I did on Tuesday, we made both chocolate chip toffee cookies, and peanut butter cookies.

Here's my little helper...

Balls of delicious dough...

Our sweet reward...

Jen's Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies (adapted from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe)

What I do different is I use a combination of dark and light brown sugar, my grandma says that back in the day they didn't have light and dark brown sugar they just had brown sugar, so one summer my cousin Jenny was on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie and she mixed the two together added, toffee and it's perfect. Then instead of one cup of chopped nuts I add ~ 1/2 cup heath toffee bits (just the Bits o' Brickle not crushed up Heath bar) and then a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Bake and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from the Jif irresistible peanut butter cookies recipe)

What I do different...I use butter flavored Crisco ( I prefer to bake with all butter but have found that all butter in a peanut butter cookie makes them to dry and I prefer my cookies a little soft) rather than the regular Crisco, I cut back on the vanilla using only abt. 1/2 tbsp., then I add about 1/2 cup salted peanuts. Finally I use a fork dipped in sugar to criss-cross the cookies and sprinkle a little extra sugar on top. Again bake and enjoy

Bittersweet

Yesterday was "Meet the Teacher" day at my daughter's pre-school. Her new classroom is lovely as are her two new teachers, but I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'm excited for her to be going back, to get to watch her grow as a person and to learn new things (and to have more time to bake, I mean do laundry) but I think it's all the "newness" that overwhelms me ( a personal trait I'm trying desperately to not project onto my daughter). All but one of her classmates are new this year...new kids means new parents to meet and interact with. As I sat in the middle of the room in one of those little school chairs looking around at all the unfamiliar parental faces, I kept telling myself "I'm sure they're all very nice people" what I was actually thinking was "I wonder which one of you will annoy me first". I mean really can you get lucky every year and not only like your kids teachers but also her classmates AND they're parents, because this was the case last year. I'm sure in a few weeks I will have settled into the new school year and all will be fine, in the meantime I will obsess with all the possible things that could happen, I will read the parent handbook at least 15 times, I'm sure I'll even have one of those dreams where you show up to school without your pants or your backpack. In the end it will all be good.

On the brighter side of this whole back to school thing her teacher has an obsession with frogs! The whole classroom was decorated with various lily pads and frogs. My mind immediately started buzzing with all the cute froggy creations I could bake this year for class parties, and teacher appreciation. So stay tuned for some froggy fun in the kitchen!

On a baking note...

I recently made some chocolate cherry cupcakes with a fudge frosting. I used an old recipe my grandmother gave me. She has alway made a sheet cake with the recipe but since latley I've been obsessed with cupcakes I decided to try cupcakes instead. The results were...lets just say not what I remember them like as a kid. Perhaps the non discerning tastebuds of my youth could never get passed the sweet seduction that is the fudge frosting to actually taste the cupcake itself but now that I'm all grown up...

Upon coming out of the oven I was displeased with their appearance. Because of the heavy moisture from the cherry's they didn't rise. I tasted one warm from the oven and wasn't impressed with the flavor...I'm not sure if it's because I used a boxed cake mix (something I'm usually against doing, however I had an itch to try this recipe, but didn't have what I needed to bake a German chocolate cake from scratch), or because I expected a stronger cherry flavor. I didn't bother to ice them since I had already decided I didn't like them, but because I just hate to waste cake I put them into the fridge. A day and a half later, I went to throw them out to make room for the tiramisu cupcakes I made for my grandfathers birthday and I couldn't do it. They suddenly looked more appealing after having chilled in the fridge. So I finished them. The end result was good, but still not what I wanted flavor wise. The icing was the best part, rich and fudge like. My grandma liked them, I however, will continue my quest for a chocolate cherry cupcake.

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

1 box German Chocolate cake mix (or one from scratch)
3 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling

Mix all ingredients together (following directions on box but using 3 eggs) and bake in standard size cupcake pan for 18-20 minutes at 350.

Fudge Frosting

1 cup sugar
5 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil, remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Allow icing to cool down (it will thicken as it cools). Spoon over cupcakes.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

In honor of my Grandfather's 85th birthday we took him to dinner at the Olive Garden and what goes better with an Italian dinner than tiramisu? I'd been wanting to try this recipe and this was the perfect opportunity. I used the recipe from Shelly Kaldunski's book Cupcakes but used the presentation found in Pamela Clark's book also entitled Cupcakes. First let me tell you these are by far the most expensive cupcakes I've ever made. After a trip to the liquor store to purchase Kahlua and Amaretto I then headed to Publix for the mascarpone and whipping cream needed for the icing. The icing alone breaks down to ~$1.00 a cupcake! But they were so worth it! I'm glad that I took the time to layer the icing and the cupcakes rather then to just ice them, it made it more like traditional tiramisu rather than a cupcake. They were delish!





Tiramisu Cupcakes from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski:

Yellow Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp. u.s butter (room temp.)
2 large eggs (room temp.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup whole milk

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temp (I used Chock full o' nuts, brewed twice as strong as I would for regular coffee).
1/4 cup dark rum ( I only used half as I don't care for rum)
1/2 cup Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur
2 tbsp. Amaretto or other almond-flavored liqueur
1 lb. mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. semisweet chocolate grated ( I used a Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar)

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with papers. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt ( I sifted mine together). In another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium-high speed just until no traces on flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not overbeat.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 mintues. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and cool completly, 1 hour.

While cupcakes cool...In a small bowl, stir together the coffe, rum, 1/4 cup of the Kahlua, and the Amaretto. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the mascarpone, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and the remaining 1/4 cup Kahlua until just combined; do not overmix ( I beat mine a little more as I wanted it to thicken up a little more...).

Here's where Pamela Clark's recipe comes into play...

Remove the papers from the cooled cupcakes. Cut each cake horizontally into four ( I only cut mine in thirds). Brush both sides of cake slices with coffee mixture. Join cake slices with mascarpone cream. Spread tops of cakes with mascarpone cream ( I piped the icing on the top using Wilton tip 2D); sprinkle with grated chocolate. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.