Cupgaykes for all!

Today (October 11th) is National Coming Out Day!

So, I think it's time I share something with you.

This cupcake...

And this one...

All of these...

And even these unbaked cupcakes... are gay.

And it would make about as much sense to turn down one of these cupgaykes for being different as it would to do the same to a person.

Dear cupgaykes,

I love you just the way you are.

Love,

Amanda

Oh, and for a touch of irony... these cupgaykes came from a box. :)

A Stately Graduation Cake

Doesn't my friend Danny look like an angel?


Well, he is. But this post isn't about him. So go ahead and forget about that note.

What this post is about is the cake in Danny's hands, so let's get on with it. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Alicia asked me to help her make a graduation cake for our friend Paul. He's the one in the middle there. His girlfriend, Ashley (on right), told us he liked fruit flavors and LOVED the margarita cupcakes he got as a reward for playing designated driver for Girls Night.


Well, I'm not one to mess with a good thing. (If you know me at all, you know how completely untrue that is. I mess with good things like it's my job. Hmm... and in a month or so it may be... but let's not get into that. Anyway... it was exam week and I had to make two cakes. For Friday night parties. So this one time, I didn't mess with a good thing.)


I made one - extremely level - 9x13 layer margarita cake, cut it in two halves, and layered them to make one 6.5x9 cake.


And remember when Alicia asked me to "help" her with the cake? Well... what we very quickly decided that meant was that I would bake the cake and she would decorate it. It seemed like the perfect arrangement. I got to do the fun part, and she'd do the pesky fondant, finishing stuffs.

Alicia has a different idea about what should classify as "the fun part," which is exactly why this arrangement worked like a charm.


So I got to play prep baker. I dirty iced, I chilled, and then I did a thicker layer of icing to cushion the fondant. And I chilled again until Alicia picked the cake up Friday morning. And what did the fondant fairy put together for the graduate?


The California flag. Yep. And a darn good one at that. And it only took her 40 minutes, start to finish. That's pretty dang impressive.


And... the celebrants agreed. Some of them may have even taken forks to the thing. But I can assure you that I was not one of those people. I am much classier. Related: That's also not my bedazzled flask in the background there, giving me away. I swear.

Alright, alright, it's in my closet!*

Anyways... collaborating with Alicia on this cake was too much fun. Baking and icing was a breeze since I didn't have to worry about the visual aesthetics. I just paid attention to baking and icing a delicious little cake. And I loved it. I foresee future collaborations...

*Family inside joke. Basically, me and Danny were the biggest offenders when it came to treating the cake as our own personal portion. Sorry, Danny, but I'm totally taking you down with me!

A Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.


Seriously. Try to tell me that isn't one sexy cake.

It's fine. Don't hurt yourself trying. I know you can't, in good conscience, act like that cake is just okay. (Am I getting a bit puffed up? You are more than welcome to smack me.)

Anyways...


This three layered chocolate peanut butter cake is not a first run cake for me. I made it last summer and carved it into a hot tub. But... this occasion called for a more traditional presentation. So I layered the rich chocolate cake with creamy peanut butter buttercream.


And coated the whole thing with that very same icing, reserving just a bit for later. And then... ooooh... and then... I made up a thick semi-sweet chocolate ganache with a healthy dose of peanut butter melted in.


I let it cool a bit so it wouldn't completely get away from me, and then I poured it over the top and encouraged a little over the sides. Just enough to look tempting and rich, but not enough to cover all of that gorgeous buttercream.


Finally, I fit a piping bag with a star tip and filled it with the leftover buttercream. Next time I'll add more sugar to this decorative buttercream so I can have big, poofy pillows of buttercream on top. These stars are a bit retiring.

Despite the retiring stars, no one complained about this festive bit of decadence. The birthday boy, who requested something rich and chocolate on par with this blast from the past, was beyond pleased. Just today I received a text in which he proclaimed me a "miracle baker." Well... I don't know about all that... but I sure can follow a recipe. ; )


By the way, how do you like the birthday boy's cake slicer?

Dessert-on-Dessert Action

Today I made a pie.


A sweet, traditional, unassuming pie.

Or did I?

Of course I didn't. You know me better than that by now, don't you?

What I actually made was... well... this.


A cookie cake pie. Or, as I've begun to call it, The Peter, Paul, and Mary.

(Yeah, yeah, just hear me out. I also wanted to call this the Britney, the Circus, or the Threesome, but Peter, Paul, and Mary just seemed classier.)

I'll explain this open-minded, party all-the-time dessert from the ground up. You can make this entire dessert from frozen bits and box mixes if you want. I believe Cakespy was the original poster, but Kitchen Koala has also made it and I followed her confetti cake recipe for my pie.


It's fairly simple. Start with a pie crust (I used a frozen one... because I had it) and add a layer of cookie dough to the bottom (I used a mix... because I had it). Cover the cookie dough with cake batter and bake the whole thing at 350 degrees for 35 minutes to an hour. I've seen different times recommended, but I've also seen squidgier versions of this pie. I baked mine for between 50 and 55 minutes, until the cake tester came out clean. This way, my cake was fully cooked and it didn't fall when it cooled. Perfection.

Where I diverged from my cookie cake pie predecessors was in the topping. Cakespy used vanilla buttercream and Kitchen Koala used a cream cheese icing. How-ev-er, this was far too sweet a prospect for me. I love sweet, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.



So I topped my pie with Julia Child's Italian Meringue and popped it under the broiler for a minute or so. The meringue is light as air and allows the pie crust, chocolate chip cookie, and vanilla almond confetti cake flavors to shine. You got all that, right?

I hope so. Because having all these fantastic flavors all in one bite is an amazing experience.


If the word "mouthgasm" doesn't mean anything to you, then make this pie, eat a slice, and call me later.

World Nutella Day!

Decadence, thy name is Nutella.



Per the World Nutella Day website:

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (and Shelley from At Home in Rome, in spirit) solemnly declare Friday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2010″ – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

Because I like to do what I'm told...


Disclaimer: (Is it still a disclaimer if it comes after the thing it's disclaiming? Or does it technically have to come before and warn you of the badness ahead? Anyways...) Video is 7 and a half minutes of Amanda time, largely uncut, until the ending at which point there is a large, abrupt, dramatic cut that is jarring at best. I understand but I'm too tired to do any better. Remember that the time between when I learned of Nutella Day and the time of posting was about three hours.

For the readers among you, here's the recipe:

gather...
Two slices of pound cake
Smathering of Nutella (As much as you can handle... It's a holiday after all.)
Banana slices (six fit on my slices)

do...
Make the sandwich, kids. I really should have to explain it, right?
Panini that thing on the middle setting for 2 minutes.
Eat and enjoy.

Video Post: Paula's Gooey Butter Cake

My shiny new Mac and I spent some quality time together today and made this little vid for you, my loves.

Though the Mac has many new bells and whistles, I am just the same, bizarre girl. So... the video is just as awkward as ever.

Enjoy, kids!



Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you a few things.

1. The cake was dark on some of the bottom bits. I'd probably only cook it between 40 and 45 minutes next time. I went for the full 50 this time and it was too much.

2. The sides stuck and my sous chef did some serious prying to free the thing. I sprayed, of course, but next time I'll douse. Or maybe butter and flour. I don't know... I'll do more.

3. The gooey butter cake tastes amazing, but it should be cut into really small pieces. The gooey part is redonkulously rich and even big fans of the thing can only handle so much. So... make it... but make it for a large crowd of sweet tooths. (Teeth? The tooths are in separate heads... which is why I think it might... hmm... I'll stop.)

And here are links for some of the things I mentioned in the video.

Amber (giver of super cool magnetic spoons) at Newly Domesticated.

And here's the Gooey Butter Cake recipe.

So... give it to me straight... should I ever step in front of the camera again?

Happy Birthday, Cupcake Rehab!

I'll be honest. I'm pretty excited about this post. Yes, it my first cupcake post in over a month. But. BUT! More importantly, this post details my Cupcake Rehab tribute cupcake!

Many of you will remember my blogmother, Marilla of Cupcake Rehab. She's known for her fierceness, both general and cupcaked. Well, this September marks the second birthday of Cupcake Rehab and Marilla is offering a giveaway for the occasion.

The rules are simple. Build a Cupcake Rehab themed cupcake and tell her about it by October 12th. (There is clearly still pleeenty of time, so check it out HERE and build a cupcake yourself!)

So... drumroll...


TA DA! This is my humble submission to the Cupcake Rehab 2nd Birthday giveaway extravaganza. What makes this cupcake so Cupcake Rehab?

Ah... thank you for asking. Most esoterically (is that a word?!), this cupcake is Cupcake Rehab inspired because both Marilla and I have had epic failures with Paula Deen cupcake recipes (hers Red Velvet, mine Arnold Palmers). This cupcake involved the hybridization of two Paula Deen recipes. Yes, children, two. I went there.

In a more obvious, on the nose way, this cupcake looks kinda like the one she created for this Undead Logo:



Orrr... at least that's what I was going for. :) Don't flip back and forth between the two pics... then it's just silly.

But wait! There's more!

If you think this undead cupcake couldn't possibly get any cooler or more twisted, then you've got another thing coming. And that thing is...


liqui-freakin-faction. That's right, my sweets. The rotting corpse of the undead, bones (or walnuts) and all, is lurking just below the surface of these cupcakes.

I really wish I could upload a picture of the sick smirk on my face as I type out the grotesque details. It's just too good. The cupcake, that is. The smirk is probably ridiculous and very unflattering. So I'll leave it at that.

Back to the cupcake: It's delish! The putrid body of the undead is actually a chocolate caramel turtle baked inside the chocolate cake in a two-layered baking process.

The icing is nothing to brag about, so I'll leave that out, but here is the hybridized Paula Deen recipe for Undead Cupcakes, or what she might call "Chocolate Sybil Turtle Cake" if someone forced her to.

Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 16 oz. can Hershey's chocolate syrup

Turtle:
1 14 oz. package caramel candies
1/2 cup butter
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 6 oz. pkg semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts


Process:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Ready cupcake tins.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture, beat. Add vanilla and chocolate syrup to batter and mix well. Pour about 1/8 cup batter into bottom of cupcake liners. Bake for 7 minutes. (I got 24 cupcakes from the batter. Because of pan concerns though, I had to do these 12 at a time.) Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Yes... really.

Meanwhile, prepare turtles. Melt caramel candies with butter in a saucepan. When completely melted, remove from heat and stir in condensed milk until smooth. Let mixture cool completely (we might have rushed this). Add chocolate chips and nuts.


When cupcakes are cool, dollup turtle mixture on top of cooled cake. I'd say a scant tablespoon.

Cover turtle with batter until cupcakes are 3/4 full. This cake doesn't spread much, so it's okay to get it close to the top. Return to oven for about 12 minutes. Check for doneness and re-evaluate.

A lot of work? Perhaps.

Worth it in the end? Without a doubt.

I'll be singing the praises of this undead cupcake for a loooong time.

So Happy 2nd Blog Birthday, Marilla!

And, in closing... I'll extend the same warm wishes that my brother recently extended to me: I love you, but if you were a zombie, I'd blow you apart so stinkin fast...

Wilton Course II Finale

After many pounds of icing and probably more complaining than was necessary, I finished Wilton Course II and built this graduation cake.


Today, I learned how to do the basketweave and the rope border that goes around the top and bottom there.

That bird was made early in Course II with color flow icing; he's not my favorite, but he was a large part of the course so I had to include him to graduate legitimately. You'll not see him in the following pics. :)


Course II's main focus is flowers and borders. Each class we learned a few new flowers and a couple of borders. We used royal icing for these flowers, so they are nonperishable and they set up hard. (That's what... never mind.)


I used all the flowers I learned to do in the class on this cake. You can hopefully recognize Victorian roses, pansies, violets, apple blossoms, daisies, and primroses. The only flower I didn't include (only because I forgot) was the chrysanthemum.


Even though I complained about the homework (each class requires a different amount of icings in various colors and consistencies, some classes require cakes), the Wilton courses have both been fun and super helpful. I couldn't have done any of this when I started... so that should tell you a lot.

In conclusion, if you are thinking about taking a Wilton cake decorating class, stop thinking and just do.

[Incidentally, this is pretty much exactly what my classmate told me when I was nervous about starting the basketweave on my cake. So... I just started... and immediately did it wrong and had to have my instructor straighten me out. :)]

Day at the Beach: Cake Edition

Today I finished and dropped off my most complicated and nerve-wracking cake to date.

The client (please notice the badassery of my use of that word) was throwing a beach-themed staff appreciation party complete with mocktails, leis, and many inflatable beach... thingys. After much consideration and conversation, the client decided that the cake shouldn't have an inscription.

Hmm... Being quite new to cake decorating, I had to think long and hard about a cake that would look interestingly beachy without a written focal point.

And those of you who were curious about the 3D Wilton cake pans that I messed up yesterday will now have all your questions answered.


Ta Da!

It's a beach ball cake. A beach ball. On a beach. Or the ocean connected to that beach. Whatever.


I decided to get a little abstract with the swirly bits around the ball and the edge of the water. I like the whimsy they bring to the otherwise straightforward cake.

The clients were thrilled with the result. They thought the cake was adorable and that I should make a living out of such cakes. And they just about lost it when I told them that though the sheet cake is a basic yellow pound cake, the beach ball is made of a three-layer pina colada cake with crushed pineapple filling.

Everyone's happy.

Except for my family who got to watch the whole process without getting to eat the final product. :)


Anyone wanna go to the beach?

Trial Runs and Why I'll Stop Doing Them

Trial Run:



Reality:



hmph. (-_-)

Reality TV Shows and the Cakes that Love Them

Let's just start this post with a little bit of honesty. Reality TV is fun to watch. It's easy to make fun of and it's pretty addicting. My family watches a fair amount of television, most of it of the reality persuasion.


One of my family's favorite reality TV shows is Big Brother. For us, it means summer and pizza and friends coming over. It also means trashy young people fighting to stay in a living arrangement that requires extrememly awkward physical challenges, weeks of restricted food allowances, hours of painful small talk, and scores of conspiracy theories.

Clearly, Thursday night's Big Brother 11 premiere demanded a cake.


I used the Big Brother occasion to try a recipe from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. I haven't bought the book yet (I am working on it!), so I followed the recipe for Chocolate Sour Cream Cake and Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing according to Smitten Kitchen.


**Alert: it's a wonderfully simple one-bowl chocolate cake with a creamy rich peanut butter icing.**


These two make a really cute couple. They really bring out the best in each other.


But what's this? A ring o' cake?

Hahahaha... here begins my awkward first attempt at a carved cake. :) I wanted the Big Brother cake to be a hot tub since so much of the houseguests' time is spent either cannoodling or at least scheming in the hot tub out back.


I used cinnamon graham crackers to signal the wood paneling on the outside of the tub. And I frosted the ring o' cake so I would have room inside the cake for water.


I used Wilton recipe icing for the water, writing, and other decorative elements. I filled the hot tub with blue water, a dark blue Big Brother logo, and white hot tub bubbles. That done, I piped the houseguests names around the edge of the tub and finished her off with a reverse shell border.


So is it ridiculous? Is it a bit much? Sure. And probably.

But it was tasty! (And it made watching Big Brother mostly bearable.)

Traveling Cupcakes

For the first time since last summer, I made cupcakes on the road.


It's always weird baking in someone else's kitchen. The stuff is different and it's in different places. The ingredients may or may not be there, and timing is always a little bit tricky. And slower.


But despite all of that, this particular group of friends needed cupcakes. And when my friends need cupcakes, I really just can't refuse them.


So around 11pm after about 4 hours on the road, we started to pull our ingredients and kitchenwares together. We ended up being one egg short but we did find Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla; those things definitely even each other out in my mind.

What kind of cupcakes did we make?


That's an interesting question. Flavorwise, these cupcakes were the rich chocolate cake of the Hot Fudge Cake cupcakes paired with a raspberry buttercream and topped with a raspberry puree. We called them...


Sexual Chocolate cupcakes. If you are as lost as I was when it comes to that phrase, then Wikipedia it. Apparently it is the name of a band in Coming to America. Beyond that reference there are 11 other explanations for the phrase "Sexual Chocolate", some of my favorites being a weightlifter's nickname, Alanis Morissette's backing band, and an actual brand of chocolate produced in Berlin.


Makes sense now, right?

Well... whether it does or not, these cupcakes were pretty good. Since it was quite late by the time we finished baking them and making the icing, they didn't all get iced. And even fewer of them ended up with the puree. So they were half-assed but still tasty. The raspberry buttercream was really sweet because we didn't have any milk but that actually worked because the puree was so tart. All things considered, I'd say the cupcakes were good for on-the-road cupcakes.


See how highly my tired self recommends them?