Friday, August 17, 2012

"S" is for Stream


My mother-in-law's family was having a family reunion at Rosario Beach so I made "S" cupcakes because the family was the Streams.  It was also a sort of memorial for Grandma Stream so I chose pink because she always seemed so sweet and gentle and feminine to me.  



Excellent and super yummy orange, poppyseed cupcakes.  I can't remember where I got the recipe from but oh, my goodness!  I think I ate two!  They were topped with a vanilla/orange sauce that was heated to boiling.  



They look ridiculously moist!



I used a regular "S" shaped cookie cutter to cut these out of fondant.  



And just for fun, I added large sugar crystals.  The sugar is not the same as "sanding sugar."  These are larger crystals that I found at William's Sonoma at some point.  They're not online, just in the store.  



Because I'm a bit of an idiot and never seem to learn, I added the frosting and topped them the day before the event.  One would think that I would have learned my lesson after Maci's 1st birthday party cupcakes, but whatever.  



So, just like Maci's 1st b-day, the fondant S's all drooped because the frosting was so moist (7-minute frosting).  That would have been okay, except that the S's started running down the side of the cupcake leaving pink streaks in it's wake.  I really should have taken a picture of that but by then, we were all eating, not snapping photos.  



Luckily, though, the pink streaking didn't alter the flavor.  They were still very yummy.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Jolly Cakes

We had a huge Rummage Sale at school so I thought I'd make some fun cupcakes to sell to raise money for the school.  I didn't care what they were priced since all the money was going to the school, but let me just say that people don't go to garage sales to buy desserts.  It should be appropriately labeled "Rummage Sale & Bake Sale" otherwise it's weird to buy food before or after you've rummaged through junk. 



These smiley faces came on a roll.  Tons of them.  I bought them from Amazon.com one day for a couple bucks because I needed to add one more item to qualify for their free super saver shipping.  After having them around the house for years, I finally found a use for them.  I stuck two back to back with a toothpick in between.  Excellent toppers.  



The frosting was just a vanilla buttercream (Martha's recipe, I think).  I added color and sprinkles for fun.



I think they look yummy although I wouldn't know.  Can you imagine if I ate every cupcake design I made?



On display at the school.  


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Coconut Yum

Okay, if there was ever a cupcake I wished I could have tried, it was one of these.  I love, LOVE, Martha's recipe for coconut cake.  I have used it so many times.  The secret is not using that pre-sugared coconut found at most grocery stores.  That makes it unreasonably sweet.  
The topping was also the unsweetened version.  I found it in the natural food section at Fred Meyer by Bob's Red Mill.  Good stuff.

I made these last year to sell at a  school Rummage Sale.  I also made the Jolly Cakes for the same sale.


So pretty, lined up like soldiers.  I guess "pretty" and "soldiers" doesn't make much sense, though. 



I moistened the tops of each with a simple syrup so that they would stay moist.  I once made this cake and accidentally let it dry out a bit and practically ruined it.  I will never let that happen again.  



Using my candy thermometer to heat my corn syrup and sugar and water for the 7-minute frosting.  
7-minute frosting really is the most delicious frosting I've ever tasted.  I don't like buttery cream frostings.  This one is so light and fluffy (no butter or cream).  It's almost like eating meringues, except in a very soft form.



My mouth is watering and my stomach is growling when I look at these.  Oh, course, I also haven't eaten in a couple of days.  Flu bug hit the whole family this week.