Life Is Like A Box of Cupcakes

San Francisco

2008-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I'm going to invade San Francisco with my bare hands and forks!

I'll be taking the usual discounted $3.50 ride down with the bus (I'm not eighteen but you don't know that!) to get some cupcake hunting done. I'm going to see if I can get one of my friends to come, I don't really know anyone who adores cupcakes and would plan a whole day around them but I can hope!

My first stop or second, whatever, I'm stopping there!

Citizen Cupcake in the Virgin Megastore (yummm, shopping and cupcakes, two of my FAVORITEEEEEE deadly combinations)

I really want to try:

Persian Love cupcake: Chiffon cake with a rose buttercream filling, saffron punch, rose
confectioner’s glaze, pistachios and floral garnish.

Date, Toffee & Coconut: Moist date cake with a rich toffee injection, coconut frosting and
shag-style coconut flakes on top.

Lem-ania: A Citizen Cupcake favorite! Lemon buttermilk cake, lemon curd injection, lemon
zest frosting finished with vanilla bean meringue sticks.

Then, I want to try and hit Kara's Cupcakes

Trying: Chocolate Velvet chocolate cupcake with a velvety bittersweet chocolate buttercream

Then, it's Noe Valley Bakery and Co
at

OMG
I'd like to be zinged, please.

...

that's it?

umrpgh grump uncgh pugh!

2008-02-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Grumbling.

I've been face-flat in some cookie dough, so I haven't posted in a while.

I really miss my cupcakes but I know that I betrayed them...so easily.

Makes me sad that I gave up on you, my sweet little cup of fattening heaven.

But I went on a hiatus and lost 40 lbs.

I think I'm just a wannabe Cupcake Monster *wipes crumbs from face*

But I'll be back.

What one thing makes me sad about Cupcakes? the loyalty it needs...the time to read through the many theoretical philosophical blogs about cupcakes, the thousands of comments I have to read to make sure my cake isn't going to explode on me, and the hundreds of times I have to go to the store and debate whether I want to finally buy me that hand mixer or pay rent.

._.

But I'm hungry damn it!

Betrayal

2007-12-04T00:37:00.001-08:00

I betray cupcakes! I opted for petit fours en glace from Whole Foods (haha, yes, you must laugh!)

Anyhow.

These little tartlettes just tortured me...funny how I ended up eating just a little bit of it. Sad, and sorry end to these tarts.

:(

Did Anyone Say Buttercream?

2007-11-30T22:05:00.000-08:00

Now, I know that Beckham is totally overrated and that his hot body is claimed by a vapid, bloodsucking vampire who claims she's human (Posh Spice) I have to admit there's nothing I would not do with that cupcake.

Seriously.

Ok. Well, jokes on me and my wicked Photoshop skills.

This was inspired by the post from the lovely spy(s) at cakespy.

And as a side note:

What exactly is in the Ferry Building in the Fog City (San Francisco)? I have no clue...I just realized there exists a building that has tasty adventures awaiting my pillaging so I will have to take my trusty self and let you all know after my day-off on Thursday!

And, as another side note:

Will I ever be able to wrap my humbled brain around the concept of a petit four glace? I mean, I think I can understand the petit four sec (the preparation and the presentation is ideal) but petit four glace requires a hardy knife hand to get those tiny, perfect squares...especially if you're dealing with custards and soft fillings like fruits and mousse (ughhh). But I shall overcome. These elegant little treats seem so beautiful but small enough to satisfy. I can't stand buying what I can't eat. It's horrible and those corporate bums know it! Going into wholefoods is great (except for the price of things, and the fact that most of their bakery products are shot full of strange things I've never heard of) only for the petit fours in the counter.

I'll take pictures tomorrow.

--

Carpe dessert everyone!

Cupcakes

2007-11-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Made a new batch. I went for five different flavors and ingredients.

If any of you out there have your doubts, I would like to just remind you of one word you need to know, eat, breathe, make love to:

velvet

Red Velvet (two words, but whateva!)

Cupcake's Secrets

2007-10-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

My little Cupcake's Secrets (a play on Victoria's Secrets, but with cupcakes and no fake boobs!) hah.
So, these consist of:

dark chocolate batter for the cake, heavily whipped pink dyed frosting, dyed rock candy crushed into various small sizes (a little powder for shimmer and some larger pieces for the hell of it)

I got this set out but most of the cakes themselves came out wedge/square shaped...the paper I used was too thin and distorted my little babies *cries*

In effect, I got the pink frosting and the rock candy for my Cupcake's Secrets, but the other three looks are the tiny little pearls of candy on the rows of frosting mountains (for lack of a better terms to describe em) and then a licorice rope covered cupcake with the pearls of candy and that's all.

TIP:

Use a reusable ziploc bag (the sturdy kind) and push your decorator tip into one corner until it pops through the baggie but stays put and then fill with frosting, and VOILA you have a frosting bag...no need to buy expensive bags for small tips, large tips, round tips, etc...just use a ziploc and it'll work....

C&C

2007-10-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Where's the cupcake community?

I think it's time for a cupcake forum...I read at least a dozen blogs by and for bakers (cupcakes, muffins, cakes, cookies, and candies) but I'm just lost when it comes to dialogue with these bakerbloggers.

If I have a q, or a concern about a certain ingredient or some part of a recipe it takes LIGHTYEARS to get an answer bc i can imagine they are busy people...it just would make it so much easier if there was a forum for cupcake enthusiasts to post on and talk about and conjoin all ideas into one easy place to go to for help or just talk

*le sigh*

I'm going to develop a frosting if it kills me! I finally found my answer...my frosting smelt like eggs because i used too much egg white (it called for 5 egg whites, 8 egg whites was a cup, so i put in about .5cm below the 1 cup mark which appaently was too much and i didn't have an electric mixer

the first thing i'm going to do though, is pay off my credit card...then i'll get to buying everything i need for this adventure of mine

Cake Mix and Uber Healthy Store-Bought Frosting

2007-10-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this is evil store bought frosting (I feel guilty when I use this stuff) but the cake mix is fine by me...although, I think cake mix is a little too bland for me...you'd have to add either more pudding, spices, or fold in some syrups to give it a little zing

My First Batch of Cupcakes (so proud!)

Even the Terminally Pessimistic Love Cupcakes

2007-10-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

I can't lie, I'm the type of person right now that will look at a cup of water and if forced to choose between the traditional description I would call it half-empty...

But, cupcakes just do it for me. They excite me, enthrall me, give me orgasmic breaths of life that I never thought I'd see in food. I've made soups, stews, meat dishes, and they've made me smile and wonder and get a little excited but cupcakes give me full independence when it comes to creativity.

Yes, cupcakes have six essential ingredients and a billion gazillion creative spins on those. I would rather make cupcakes than watch a good movie, rather make cupcakes than eat real food ( a sure way to a heart attack but it's worth it!)

Here's an article I got from the Times...this guy obviously needs a cupcake session...or a girlfriend. It's sad that somethings that make life bearable are punned and obliterated by the "intellegentsia" that got us into the poverty, wars, and political strife we're in in the first place!

Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006

Cupcake Nation

By By Joel Stein

There's nothing inherently wrong with the cupcake. Just like there's nothing inherently wrong in the Koran. But our society's twisting of the cupcake's role has become a sickness. They've paved the local bakery and put up a $3 cupcake store. Not only has the cupcake specialty boutique spread like a contagion to nearly every major city in the country, but nearly a dozen cupcake-recipe books have come out in the past two years, which is particularly amazing when you consider that, not counting dye, there are only about seven ingredients in a cupcake.

Patient zero was Magnolia, a tiny, retro bakery in New York City's West Village, which, in 1996, had some extra batter and made a dozen cupcakes. Soon Magnolia had to institute a limit on cupcakes per customer. Then Sarah Jessica Parker, who lived nearby, put her local phenomenon on Sex and the City, leading tour buses to stop there. At the admittedly delicious Sprinkles in Los Angeles, which Oprah declared her favorite cupcake after getting a box from Barbra Streisand, the line on weekends is more than half an hour long. Which, yes, is longer than it takes to bake a cupcake.

I totally get it. As a kid, my heart pumped in anticipation of a classmate's birthday and the inevitable arrival of that wide, low pink box. I'd pick away at the frosted top, then collect the remaining pure cake in both hands, eating out of my palms like a crazed bird on a sugar high. And when no one was looking, I'd shove the paper in my mouth and chew it like cupcake gum. Even now I like an occasional chai latte--flavored Sprinkles cupcake, just as I appreciate a great burger or mac and cheese. The problem is that in the yuppie-under-40 set, there are no other desserts. Just a constant weighing and comparing and blogging about the nation's cupcakeries, as if they were the Goldberg Variations.

To my shock, Michelle Myers--who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, runs the patisserie Boule in Los Angeles and makes some of the best canelés and Parisian macaroons in the U.S.--approves of cupcake mania. "It crossed our minds that we put a lot of expensive ingredients and skilled technique into making canelés, and they're the same price as cupcakes," she says of what artisanal bakeries have discovered is the most profitable dessert not made by Hostess. But Myers also loves being transported to her childhood via the American madeleine. She not only buys cupcakes but also bakes them on weekends for her little sister.

Candace Nelson, who co-owns Sprinkles with her husband, opened a second Los Angeles location last week and plans to go national. "These are scary times. That's when people crave comfort food," says the former investment banker. "That's why I went into the cupcake business. I'm in this little cupcake bubble where everyone is smiling ear to ear."

That's what bugs me about cupcakes: they're fake happiness, wrought in Wonka unfood colors. They appeal to the same unadventurous instincts that drive adults to read Harry Potter and watch Finding Nemo without a kid in the room. They're small and safe, and so people convince themselves that they can't have that many calories. They are the dessert of a civilization in decline. The worst part is, I want a cupcake right now but bad.

A New Hope

2007-10-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well, if I can figure out what I did wrong...I'm going to do it again today, once I get home...or at least go by the bakery and ask them if they know why.

My frosting definitely did not look like this (from Chockylit's step-by-steps):

First Attempt at Frosting

2007-10-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

I tried to make my own frosting.

I took 1-1/2 cups sugar, and 5 egg whites (1 cup of egg whites? I'm not sure) to start it.

With a pot on the stove, filled with water, I let the water boil then took my Pyrex dish (oven friendly) and put it on top of the pot with the egg whites and sugar.

NOTE: I've read that putting more sugar in would make it more viscous and sticky, so I added a little more than 1-1/2 cups of sugar to the egg whites.

SO, I kept stirring but the sugar "sorta" dissolved, not really sure what it was supposed to look like? But the mixture was really watery and nothing really except a slight yellowy tinged liquid that I kept stirring on the pot.

Chockylit mentioned to stir the mix for a couple of minutes. I'm not sure exactly how many minutes that would be so I stirred until the sugar seemed completely dissolved, then as her instructions I took the mix off the pot, then kept stirring.
* eventually added the red hots, but since I don't have a processor I had to chop them up by hand...could that have been my problem?
Picture from Chockylit's post about this type of frosting:

I stir by hand, can't invest in an electric mixer yet.

But, after 15 minutes and pain in my arm the mix smelt like eggs and the frosting was PINK but watery.

._.

What does that mean?

Should I invest in a book or any website that would explain what to look for like when making frosting, or the cupcake, or any other "from scratch" part of the cupcake?

RIP to my horrible frosting!

Let the Cupcake Wars Begin!

2007-10-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Not really, but that title will have a point very soon.

I have an interview coming up tomorrow morning, and tonight, I'll get home at 9 and start baking so I can give her something to remember me by.

It's a good thing that I have lots of left-over arts and crafts from my fabric hobbies...that way I can decorate the little box I give her cupcakes in with them. Woooohoooo!

Ok, time to get prepped for the long bus ride home and then off to safeway.

I might use a ziploc bag to frost, because I can't afford to buy the pastry bag at this moment nor the time to wait for it to get here!

Wish me luck!