A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Cakes

Update: Voting for Cupcake Hero is now open until October 21st at midnight. Check out the competition and vote here.

Complete credit for that winning title goes to my bff and former college roommate, Kira. This weekend Kira had the honor of being my first houseguest in Smalltown, Georgia. And... since Kira loves to bake as much as I do, we quickly decided to make some sort of complicated dessert happen while she was here.

And, in a perfect storm of blog contest deadlines and amazing thrift store finds, Kira and I decided to make A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Cakes.



In plain English, pumpkin and vanilla swirled cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing. As you might imagine, it takes a lot of ingredients to make that cake happen:

And there is just one more ingredient to pull the whole thing together...

Yes, indeed. A $7 Goodwill Cinderella costume.


Kira and I took turns wearing it while we made the cupcakes. Try not to be too jealous of our merriment. You could probably have just as much fun if you lightened up a bit.

Anyway... back to the cakes. We each tackled a batter. Kira made Billy's Vanilla halved by How to Eat a Cupcake and I was in charge of halving the Pumpkin Spice Cake by Joy of Baking.


Once the batters were ready, we got really fancy. I'd dropped and marbled and twirled and tie-dyed batters before, but I wanted these pumpkin swirl cakes to be more deliberately and artfully swirled. So... we filled two piping bags with our two batters, cut the tips, then dropped those two bags into a third bag with a large round tip.


And voila! A fairly labor intensive batter delivery method not for the faint of heart.

We made exactly 12 cupcakes and 24 minis.


In my opinion, it was all worth it. Look at that great loopy swirl! The swirl runs all the way down, around, and in the cupcakes. Ex-act-ly what I wanted. (yay!)

Once the cupcakes cooled, I made a quick cinnamon cream cheese buttercream. I used a brick of cold cream cheese, 5 tablespoons of softened butter, a splash of vanilla, and cinnamon to taste. Easy and delicious.


In keeping with our Cinderella theme, Cupcake Hero ingredient (pumpkin), Booo-tiful Cupcake Contest, we decorated 6 of the cupcakes with magical pumpkins just waiting to be turned into crystal carriages.


We topped the other 6 cupcakes with colored sugar, stars, and hearts and the next thing you know, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Cakes.


And just take a look at the cross-section shot. Adorable. I just can't say enough about this swirl and how pleased I am with it.

And while we're at it, the flavor and texture of these two cakes works together extremely well. The batters were similar in consistency, so they piped well side-by-side. The combination of pumpkin and vanilla is a wonderful one, I think. I love pumpkin, but I do like to temper it with something creamy - think whipped cream on pie - so the vanilla addition made me very happy.

I would very highly recommend making these for any sort of fall festivus. They are light, moist, soft, and so delicately pumpkin and spiced. Mmmm...

I just might have to go downstairs for a minute... and... ya know... have a cupcake.

F.A.Q.s on the New Header (II)

1. Is that you?

Heck to the yes. There I am looking at you, dear reader, from behind a monstrous, uniced, 2 layer chocolate cake.

2. What's on that shelf behind you on the right?

Cookbooks! Among them Pat's Failure of the Week, Yankee's Main Dish Church Supper Cookbook, Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls, and Feeding the Flock: DBC Family Favorites.

And supplies! (cup)Cake decorating, (cup)cake carrying, fondant rolling, pan-lining supplies.

And two hospitality pineapples.

3. Do you always bake in that off-white tank top?

Ugh. No, but it happens more often than I'd like to admit. I believe there are two options when it comes to safeguarding against messy baking: add an apron or remove the top layer of clothing. I make this decision based on the weather, the company, and my mood.

4. Your eyebrows are fantastic.

Aw... Don't make me blush! (I think so too.)

5. Why is the lettering on your header so wonky? It's pixelly and unclear on my computer.

Do not adjust your screen. This header snafoo is all my fault. I am not what some would call a techie. For the time being, I edit my pictures in Paint. So all the fabulousness you see before you comes straight to you from that nonsense program that lives on your computer, no matter the make model, whether you like it or not. Yep... I'm that kid that still uses it.

6. Why the new header? I liked the old one.

Well, the old header showed a picture of my baking space... two kitchens ago. And though it was colorful and well lit, it just isn't mine anymore.


But... you're right... that was one good lookin' header.

Goodbye, old header. Thanks for the memories.

Any other questions?

Too _____ to Live

My short stature is the big joke in my family. At a diminutive 5'1", I get all the Liliputian humor I can handle from just about everyone. Never mind the fact that they are no tall drinks of water themselves, my family just likes to remind me that I am, in fact, the shortest person around.

I really don't mind being short. I think it makes the overall package just a little bit cuter. But... when trying on clothes that are too long or trying to retrieve things from grocery store shelves, a particular Golden Girls clip quite often comes to mind.

Thanks to the almighty powers of YouTube, you don't have to suffer through my explanation of the thing. You can just watch it.



That's right. I'm too short to live.

My understanding of this fact was solidified recently when I decided that I need new tennis shoes.

Ugh.

I knew it wasn't going to be easy. You see... in keeping with my miniature condition, I have laughably small feet. And, though I wear "big girl" shoes every day, I wear youth-sized tennis shoes because adult tennis shoes just don't fit right.

So finding a pair of tennis shoes without sparkles, flowers, or lights on the back is tricky. And, sadly, I've fully given up on finding tennis shoes that are not pink.

Maybe it's something about Georgia, but on this most recent excursion, I found some real gems that I feel the need to share with you.

Exhibit A:


Elmo. ELMO. On my foot. I wish the picture weren't so horrible, but I think you can get the idea. EL-MO, people.

You want to know the saddest part? These shoes were ridiculously comfortable. So comfortable and supportive that I actually stood there and thought about whether I was gangster enough to pull off an Elmo New Balance. (I'm not.)

Exhibit B:


Cupcake Couture hightops. Again... not enough of a badass. But how h.o.t. are these kicks?!

Exhibit C:


Multi-colored Sperrys. Now... here we might have found the silver lining in all this. These shoes were real Sperrys, not those off-brands that look close, but they were half the price of legit Sperrys because they are youth sized.

These I also contemplated. And walked away from. I already feel like a prepenstein when I wear my tan Sperrys, I was worried I would feel like even more of a poser in the multi-colored ones.

So what do you think? Should I embrace my child-sized foot and wear some of these bossy sneaks with my head held high? Or... should I continue to try them on, laugh, take a picture, and walk away?

Oh, and for those interested, I didn't find new tennis shoes yet. The best fit was a girls Nike Shox pair in silver (ew) with hot pink shox (oy). Couldn't do it.

Name That Food!: The Big Reveal

Let me start by saying how much I love you guys. Some of my favorite guesses: Chick-fil-A nuggets (literally my first thought and I knew what it was), homemade pork rinds (that's possible?!), squid (you guys really overestimate my bravery), and breaded cauliflower (mmm... but no).


I think that the people who came closest were Kate ("It could also be some kind of dough") and Ash ("Perhaps something sweet?"). Close, ladies, but no cigar.

The bowl of mystery food is actually a mid-process shot of...

SUGAR/GINGER SNAP MASH-UP COOKIES


Right? Right? Look at this stack. Now look back at the bowl. See it?

For those of you who don't, follow me.

I originally named these "mash-ups" in the musical sense. As in taking two fab songs and mixing them together.



(Fun, isn't it? There are some pretty great mash ups out there. This one is only okay... but YouTube is tough.)

But... now that I am sitting down to blog the recipe, I can see that these cookies only really have one step.


And that step involves mashing up these two things.


I had a leftover half-log of sugar cookie dough that was begging for a bit of a spruce up. And since I first made Oreo Chocolate Chip cookies way back when, I've been dying to try a Ginger Snap infused something-else cookie.

*Light bulb.*

Literally just smash some ginger snaps in a plastic bag and dump them down over the sugar cookie dough. I probably used 1/2 cup of crumbs, I'd guess.

I broke up the cookie dough with a spoon and gave the dough a toss in the crumbs.


Voila! Mystery food. After taking several pictures of the mystery food, I mixed the dough and crumbs by hand. I then reformed the dough into two smaller logs and put it in the freezer for a few minutes for easy slicing.


Counter-clockwise from logs: Sugar/Ginger Snap Mash-Up Logs, 2-Layer Paula Dean Chocolate Sybil Turtle Cake (yes, friends), pizza crust, chicken breasts that will likely never be thawed and eaten, lemon sorbet, Tart with Honey frozen yogurt, Jack D.


After a quick slice and bake according to package directions, these cookies were done and fantastic.


He floats through the air with the greatest of ease...

(No? Just me? Okay...)

These cookies are tasty and really quite rewarding for the amount of work (not) involved. The ginger flavor is still strong even though it's dispersed throughout the sugar cookie dough. I like ginger snaps, so I'm not surprised that this sweeter version is okay by me too.

So what's the word? Are you disappointed with the reveal? Would you have rather seen me really jump out of the box and tackle squid? Or pork rinds?

Name That Food!

You get the idea, kids. What is it?!

Guess away. I'll let you know what it is... when I'm good and ready. :D

Oh, and if you look closely, you'll see that my sad lack of cropping/framing skill has left you a bit of a hint. Or a dinner spoon. For scale.

P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Pancakes

I've not fed myself well this week.

I started off on the wrong foot by eating 5 or 6 of those skullikin cupcakes on Monday. After two more on Tuesday, I threw the rest away. I did it as a self-preservation move, my local friends saw it as an attack.

About mid-week, I ran out of staples like bread, milk, and ground turkey. By Friday, things were getting desperate: Fiber One poptarts for breakfast, pickles and a granola bar for lunch, and a hastily purchased frozen pizza for dinner.

Yesterday (Saturday) I started with toast (from defrosted bread) and yogurt. I think that technically my lunch was a bottle of Fat Tire at Oktoberfest in Savannah. Lupper was fried shrimp and fries. And... if you follow my Twitter (@afiercehair), you'll know that I finished my day (or began this one...?) with a Big Mac around 2:30am.

Needless to say (but I will anyway... does anyone else hate that expression?), I woke up this morning feeling the need for something decidedly wholesome and breakfast-like. Never mind the fact that I woke up after normal breakfast hours. That's not important.

Without staples like milk or bread, I've been eating a lot of eggs, so I knew those weren't an option. In a moment of bravery, I decided to make pancakes. After trolling the interwebs for a bit, I found the perfect pancake recipe. Search no longer, friends. The recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes at Food Plus Politics made the most perfect pancakes I've ever made... possibly ever eaten. I'll explain...

These pancakes are light and fluffy and perfectly cooked. The flavor is spot on and pancake-y. No added flavorings or frou frous. And these are not greasy pancakes. I know some would disagree with me, but I don't like my pancakes to be greasy with crispy edges. A good pancake should taste great on its own at any temperature and without butter or syrup. And these pancakes definitely do.

(It might not hurt that some of them have dark chocolate chips in them.)

I learned a couple of things about pancake cooking today, so I'll share those as well.

First, the skillet or griddle should be on Medium heat. Not high and loud and sizzly like I'd always thought. Pancakes are gentle creatures and they don't need to be rough-handled and flashed into a crazy pan. Patience and a gentle, slow cooking works beautifully.

Second, instead of butter (careful!) or a non-stick spray (ew), pancakes should cook in vegetable oil but just a light brushing of it on the griddle. I don't have a brush, so I awkwardly used a paper towel. This small, small bit of oil kept the pancakes perfectly brown and unstuck.

And that, boys and girls, is all I know about pancakes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some grocery shopping to do.

Not Yo' Momma's Grilled Cheese

Would you like a grilled cheese?

Who is going to say no to that? Honestly. (The answer is "no one".)


For this super fab grilled cheese, I started with two slices of the homemade Honey Wheat Bread and several slices of provolone cheese.


I buttered it, grilled it, and heated up some tasty V8 Sweet Red Pepper Soup to go with. Easy, tasty, and such a satisfying rainy day lunch.

Oh, but wait, what is this business?


Ladies and gentlemen... the interlopers in this sandwich are jalapeno slices. The addition of jalapeno brings a bite to this otherwise understated grilled cheese. The honey wheat bread is sweet, the provolone is waxy (or at least I think so), and the jalapenos tie them together with a bit of sass.


Dipped in the red pepper soup, this sandwich begs to be bitten.


And I certainly did not keep it waiting long.