Red Velvet Cupcakes

In my last post I had told you that a dear friend's birthday was coming up and she wanted red velvet for her cake.  This weekend was the first trial run of a recipe.  I thought I would start with a recipe from someone whom I believe is the epitome of Southern cooking.... Paula Deen.  I did not have to look very far on her website to find a recipe.  This is the one I used..... http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/red_velvet_cupcakes_with_cream_cheese_frosting/ .  I found it to be a very easy recipe.  I would honestly recommend it to anyone who is an amateur baker.  There is a few more things about it, but I will get to them in a minute because I know all of you want to see the cupcakes.  I know it is the only reason anyone reads my blog is to look at all the pretty pictures.  It's ok.  I don't blame you.  I love looking at things I wish I could eat too.  So, no more stalling.....

YUMMY!

Well, what do you think?  I know looks great and it was good too.

Ok, now onto some of the other stuff about the cake.  I will be honest I have no idea what a red velvet cake should taste like.  I have had it before, but I will admit I thought it was a bit dry.  These cupcakes to me just tasted like any cake.  It did not have any real distinct flavor to it.  The birthday girl tried and thought they were ok.  They were good, but not what she was looking for.  After some discussion, this version is not exactly what she is looking for in the cake.  So, it is back to oven for me.  I have a recipe from one of my favorite websites... AllRecipes.com.  There is a few tweaks that I will need to make, but I think it will work.  Of course, I will let you know all about it when I make them.

Until next time...... Happy Baking!!!

A New Year.... A New Beginning

It is a new year and I finally have an idea what other posts I want to make besides letting you know about my baking adventures.  I am planning on writing about different baking topics.  This topics could be about recipes, baking techniques, baking tools, or just fun ideas I come across.

This one is going to be a little mix of both.  

A very good friend of mine is turning 40 this May.  She is already starting to make plans for it.  She wants a red velvet cake for the party and of course she thought of me.  Why wouldn't she?  Well, we talked about it and she has a few requests about the cake.  They are simple things, but for me they could be a challenge.  Even though I have had made red velvet before, it is still a little foreign to me since I didn't grow up in the South.  So, for the next step I need to start looking for recipes and try them out.  My first try-out will be this weekend.  After a suggestion from B, I found a Paula Deen cupcake recipe.  The picture makes it look so good.....

Can't wait to try it!

Don't worry my faithfully readers..... I'll will let you all know about how they turned out and how they look.

But, this whole thing got me thinking.  I never heard of a red velvet cake before I moved to Texas.  I had no idea what it was.  A cake that was red?  I know I know you could make a cake any color with the magic of food coloring, but this wasn't a colored white cake.  It was its own thing.  Then it made me think.... 

What other desserts, sweets, and pastries that are out there that I never heard of because they are a regional thing?  

I need to find out.  I am truly curious about this.  One way to solve this problem will be to travel around the country or maybe even the world going from bakery to bakery.  Ummmm, no.  Not really a feasible idea.  (Very nice thought, though!)  Ok, I guess I can go with option 2.... surfing the web.  This will be my next step.  I going to do some research and let you know what I find.  This is going to be fun!

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

Graduation Cakes

I was lucky enough in the last two weeks to be able to make two graduation cakes for a wonderful person. The first one I told you a little about before.  It was the newspaper design that I came up with.  The graduation girl loved it and even asked if I was making the cake for her party that was on a later date.  So, that is where Cake #2 comes in.  First here is the Newspaper Cake:

It is a red velvet cake with buttercream icing.

This cake was actually very fun to make, except for the red food coloring.  (Anyone who has worked with red food coloring in anything should know what I mean.)  It was very exciting to see what I had sketched on paper come to life.  All the decorations on the cake are done in icing except for the graduation cap which was done in yellow chocolate.

The second cake was much simpler.  It only needed to half the size of the first one and didn't need to red velvet.... (thank god!)  Did I mention, red food coloring and I are not getting along at the moment?  Anyway here is the second cake....

This is a Vanilla White Cake with buttercream icing.

As you can see this is a much simpler cake then the first.  Just like the first one, I made the cap and diploma of out white chocolate.  To make the cap black while the chocolate was still melted I covered it in black sugar crystals.  I also got play a new toy that I bought.  It was the letters.  I know my writing is not the greatest, so I knew I needed some help in that department.  I bought a letter press.  I am able to create any word with the letters and then just press them into the icing.  Then use the impressions as a guide to your writing.  I think I did pretty well, if I say so myself.  I can't wait to try it out again.

My next big project will be for my daughter's 4th birthday.  I still have several ideas running around in my head, so I can't really tell you much yet. But, I promise I will tell and show you all.

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

Things are looking good!

I recently had many good things happen to me in just last few days.  About 3 months ago some of you may remember I made a Transformer birthday for someone I worked with.  At the time I was hoping for some big things to happen, but not much did.  Little did I know that  the proverbial ball did start rolling it just took to now to catch me.

I had another co-worker ask me to make her daughter's graduation cake.  This time it is completely my own design.  She needed a relativity large cake.  So, I came up with the idea of making in look like the front page of a newspaper.  It will have headlines and pictures.  Don't worry I will post the pictures after it is made.  So, you will just have to wait until then.  The downside in this whole thing was I had never baked a cake that big before.  I had a pan that was perfect.  I would just need to bake two and then put them together.  No big deal right?  Wrong!  Your standard one batch of cake mix is not enough.  Lucky for me I have a husband whom always thinks of the smallest details before doing anything says to me, "Well sweetie, why don't just make a trial run just to see what you need?"  D'oh!  Why didn't I think of that.  Silly me.  I guess that is why I am the talent and he runs the business side.  So, any way last weekend I made the trial run of the red velvet cake.  I found out exactly what I needed and how long to bake it.  It came out great.  But now..... I have this 9 x 15 x 2 size cake with no where to really take it.  Then the light bulb went off. (Yes, I actually do see light bulbs and yes I know I am crazy.)  Cake Pops!  I ended up making 25 red velvet cake pops dipped in white chocolate.

I took the pops to work on Sunday.  Everyone who had one LOVED them.  But, this is the best part....... the co-worker whom I had to do this for looks at them as says, "Hey, do you think you could 50 of this for me for another party I am having?"  In the back of my head I am jumping up and done going "YES! YES! YES!", but I calmly say, "Of course I can.  When do you need them?" So, I will be making Cake Pops again in about 3 weeks.  Can't wait it is going to be so much fun.

But, wait there is more.....

I will be making a cake in the shape of Snoopy for this weekend coming up.  I asked to do this by another co-worker who had one of my pops.  I am really looking forward to making this cake since Snoopy is one of my favorite characters.  I also have the potential for two more cake orders and another order of the Cake Pops.  I'll let you know how those go.

So, as you can see it may not be a very big ball, but it seems to be getting bigger and moving a faster.  Let's keep our fingers cross that it just doesn't run me over.

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

Updates

I have recently had a few things happen in my life that has kept we away from doing two of my favorite things..... baking and blogging.  I THINK my life has settled down a bit...well as much as it can being the mother of a three year old, a wife, and a part-time employee at major retailer.  I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I did let it get the better of me for a bit.

I did have two things happen in my baking world since last time.  I made cupcakes for a teenagers birthday this past weekend and I have an order for a graduation cake in June.

The cupcakes were a big hit.  The only down side was there wasn't enough.  The mom didn't expect as many as she did, so 2 dozen cupcakes went really fast.  Here is the final result:

They were half and half..yellow and chocolate with buttercream icing.

The graduation cake will be a red velvet cake and will be shaped like the front page of a newspaper.  I am going to decorated it with a graduation cap and the school mascot.  I plan on making them out of chocolate, so they will be edible.  I will post pictures of the completed product.

I will also have my daughter's birthday cake to do at the end of the month.  This year I need to be a little more creative.  She picked Clubhouse Mickey as her theme.  There is only one Mickey Mouse shaped cake pan that I could find and as cute as it is I want more for her.  So, I will need to brainstorm and out sketch out a few things.  I am a little worried I won't come up with something, but I can just here my friends all saying...."You know will think of something and it will be great."  I just hope so.  I am open to suggestions.

Last thing is this.  I was thinking of doing a little more with the blog itself.  It of course will still be baking and my baking adventures, but I was thinking of expanding it and possibly talking other things too.  Such as tips and links to other things I find on the web.  What do you think?  Please be honest with me and tell me I am insane.  Don't worry I can handle it.... I think.

Well, until next time....... Happy Baking!

Weekend Update

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  Mine was ok.  I was unable to take my little trick or treating because she was ill, maybe next year will better.

Even though I was unable to enjoy the holiday festival that our HOA holds every year, I did submit two cakes for their cake walk.  I decided to bake a Cinnamon Apple Angel Food Cake and a Red Velvet Cake.  I like to think they both turned out rather well.  See for yourself.....

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

(I did end up covering the whole cake, but I wanted to show you the cake too)

Cinnamon Apple Angel Food Cake

(It is a Angel Food Cake with a Cinnamon Apple Glaze)

I have not heard any feedback on how they tasted.  I think I am going to try and find out from the organizers by the end of the week.

One other exciting thing happened this weekend also.  I got an email from a  potential customer.  She is looking to have cookies as her wedding favors.  Of course, I already have a million ideas for running through my head.  I hope I hear back from her soon.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I have a few other things in the works.  I will let you know as they come up.

Until next time....... Happy Baking!

A little bit of a slow time

Not much has happened for me since my last posting.  I have been spending most of my time surfing the internet looking for the right Red Velvet Cake recipe for the cakewalk next weekend.  I finally found one with a cream cheese frosting.  I was actually surprised most of the recipes called for a cooked frosting similar to butter cream.  But, I have been told by many the a red velvet should have a cream cheese so that is what I went with.  I can't wait to make a whole cake this time.  Up until now I have only made cupcakes.

Yesterday, I did make another carmel apple trifle, but this time I made a few adjustments to fit my family's personal taste.  I used a smaller box of vanilla pudding, used 2 cans of apples instead one, and used a homemade angel food cake instead of ladyfingers.  It was a bigger hit than the last one.  But, the one thing it did do was leave me with a bunch of egg yolks.  I had no idea what to do with them.  I know it isn't that big of a deal to throw them away, but since I know I will be making another angel food for next weekend, I figured I need to find something to with at least some of those egg yolks.  The only thing I came up with so far was Creme Brulee.  If any of you have any suggestions and it doesn't have to be a baked good either, please let me know.  I am willing to try anything.  I am almost positive that I will try my hand at the creme brulee.  That should be fun.

Lastly, I would like to thank a very dear dear friend of mine, S.  She designed two business cards for me and I think they look absolutely fabulous.  I am hoping this weekend to get to a office supply store and get some business card paper and get some printed up.  Once I get them printed up I will show all of you.  Again S, thank you so much.  I think you deserve some chocolate meringue cookies as payment.

Until next time..... Happy Baking!

A few good things happened

I had few things happen today that I think could lead to some things.

First, I stopped by my HOA office to find out about the cakewalk they were having at our Halloween festival in two weeks.  I will be truthful I had never heard one before today.  After I heard what it was and someone would be getting one of my cakes, I said, "Sign me up."  I have already decided what I am making.  I will be making two cakes.  Right away I knew I should make my Cinnamon Apple Angel Food Cake and it didn't take me that long to decided on the second one.  I was thinking to go a little Halloweenish (if that is a word), so  I decided on a Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting.  I know this will drive a good friend on mine crazy knowing that he can't have any, but oh well he will just have to deal it.

Second, while I was talking with the woman at the HOA about the cakewalk, I mentioned how I was trying to start my own business.  She said that was great and asked if knew about the craft type show they were having in December.  I didn't.  She then told me about it.  I could have a booth for $15 or $20 depending on the size I wanted and I could sell anything I wanted.  I thought to my OMG, I could sell so many things.  So, this is something I will need to keep in mind.  And who knows, I could end up with many on the spot returning customers with Christmas only being 3 weeks later.

Lastly, I will have my ad run in my HOA monthly newsletter next month.  This I am hoping will generate some business very soon, since it will come out in time for Thanksgiving.

Please keep your fingers crossed!

Until next time...... Happy Baking!