Batty Bday

My friend Jen's son Ryan just turned six, so I wanted to make his favorite cupcakes--yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
But I wanted to do some "boy" decoration, and got inspiration from the bat they recently found in their house.
It was my first sight of a bat, and I had no idea they were so small and so freakin' cute!
The little guy was captured in a bucket (per a bat rescue website) and released at dusk.

I cruised Google Images for inspiration, and found a simple design using a cookie and a Hershey's kiss.
But there were variations.
I like to compare and contrast before I embark on any project, artistic or cooking-related.
Yep, I'm one of those detailed types who analyze all the options.

Initially I saw designs with the kiss turned with the base forward, but I can't seem to find an example now.
Most examples place the point to the front.
Here's one from Purple Kitty

Sometimes the kiss is close to the wings, and other times there's a big gap, like this one by Mommy's World

Usually the wings are chocolate cookies (like Thin Mints) but Finger Food Recipes used Shortbread

A photo on All Recipes used two kisses


Sometimes the wings were flat
From Chocolate Candy Mall

Or the wings were arcing down, which looks good
These from Creative Cupcakes

I really like the design on Gummibunny, though the wings are arcing opposite the previous example.
The red gel eyes (or orange) look best.

The Baking Pan had some gorgeous ones

Okay, now that I'd gotten a design figured out, I needed to choose a cake and frosting recipe.
When in doubt, I always go with something from The America's Test Kitchen, because they've done all the hits and misses and their recipes are excellent.

They have several versions of yellow cake though, so again I had to sort between several options.

One recipe was posted on Throwing Spoons, along with a frosting recipe by Hershey's.

I decided instead to go with a the Foolproof Chocolate Frosting on the Test Kitchen's site (note: this recipe is free to view, you just have to submit your email address. Other recipes on the Test Kitchen's and Cook's Country's sites are only available to paid members. I wouldn't mind that so much except they have more than one level of paid memberships. I mean, if I'm already paying for the magazine and access to the first level of recipes, um, isn't that enough? It turned me off so much I canceled everything with them. Honestly, I'd rather see ads. That's my opinion anyway).
Unfortunately, I thought the frosting was horrendous, so I dumped the whole lot.
What a waste of perfectly good chocolate.
But 3/4 cup of corn syrup? Really?

The Cookbook Junkie has a recipe for "the best yellow cake I ever made" that is supposedly based on a Test Kitchen recipe.
That one looked really good, but I had buttermilk on hand, so I thought I may as well use it.

The Test Kitchen site has one recipe for Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake, that is different from examples I was finding on blogs, so I was getting confused.
The recipe incorporates buttermilk, but I didn't want to bother with separating eggs (even though the dogs would have appreciated the leftover yolks).

I decided to go with the Classic Yellow Cake recipe on Gastronomer (she posted some great tutorial photos too).
I also used her frosting recipe, which oozed on smoothly like ganache.
The cake part was okay.
Next time I'll try Cookbook Junkie's recipe.

I ended up taking the cupcakes over to Jen's house late, when her son was already in bed.
We left the cupcakes on the kitchen counter so he got this fun surprise when he woke up.
She said her kids had cupcakes for breakfast!
I hope it was a little bit magical.

Birthday Whimsy

My gosh, so long since I've posted!
Well, thanks to Ben, I have my laptop back and repaired.
Actually, it's better than that--he replaced the laptop he gave me with a newer model.
I feel like I've been reunited with a fond friend, and it's true.
Initially I was a bit disappointed that my first laptop was gone, because I'm just not good with change.
I never will be good with change.
I was just laughing with a co-worker today about how she initially returned the coin counter we were given, insisting we were just fine with counting by hand, thank you very much.
Geez, what were we thinking?!
But I'm glad I'm not the only one who accepts change kicking and screaming.
(lol, change and coins...pun not intended)

But I digress.
I have a lot of catching up to do here!
Let's start with a belated birthday gift that I received over the weekend.
Three of my friends and I got together on Sunday for the first time all year (how did the time zoom by?).
My friend Tracie handed me a gift bag which held a rectangle wrapped in tissue.
I opened it to find a Willy Wonka chocolate bar, its label saying it may possibly hold a golden ticket.

Tracie sort-of nonchalantly said, "see if you won".
I opened up the candy (yummy, by the way), and look what Tracie had done:
Eek! $50 gift card!
(she sliced the back open, inserted the card, and carefully re-sealed)
I absolutely LOVE whimsical, creative ideas like this.
How fun!

To add fun to my friend Jen's 7-year-old daughter's birthday, I decided to make some cupcakes that looked like her.

The recipe made a dozen, but, um, one disappeared for a quality control check ;).

The blonde hair is made with vanilla chocolate wafers, just like the cupcakes I made for my friend debs last year, only these were less sophisticated.
I think they're fine for a little girl though, and Callie seemed to like them.

I pride myself in baking from scratch.
This time I chose a recipe from Cooks Illustrated Magazine for Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting.
Very good.

Piggy Cupcakes

Every year for my friend Tracie's birthday, I bake a cake.
Usually I make German Chocolate (her favorite), but sometimes I try new things.
This year, I made Pig Cupcakes in Power Puff Girl cupcake liners.
You see, Tracie is a black belt, and she teaches
self-defense for women and children.
In fact, she just appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil, showing kids what to do in case someone tries to grab them.
I couldn't be more proud.

Anyway, I found the recipe for these on an episode of The Neely's on The Food Network.

The cupcakes are red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

I used sour watermelon candies for the ears.
The recipe says to use licorice for the eyes, but I just used black decorating gel.
The snout is a half marshmallow topped with two brown M&Ms.

Girly Cupcakes

For debs' party, I knew right away that I was going to bake cupcakes instead of a cake.
I bought a Wilton cupcake tower (I have to say I am disappointed in it. It's so...small. Costco has a different type that I may try for the future).

Anyway, to go along with the theme of the party and everyone looking like debs, I decided the cupcakes should look like debs too.

There were a few options, like using a cake decorating tip to do frosting hair (the tip where the frosting comes out like spaghetti),
or I could snip some pieces of fruit roll-up or something.
Instead, I decided to use the idea of piping chocolate onto waxed paper, as seen in the book Hello, Cupcake!, by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson (a great book for decorating ideas).
Debs has dark hair underneath, and very light blonde on top, so (using a ziploc bag) I first piped milk chocolate on the area that would be close to the face, then I used white chocolate for the majority of the rest.

I let the hair chill a few minutes, until it was firm enough to peel off the waxed paper, then the hair was placed atop the frosted cupcakes.
I used a cream cheese frosting that was tinted a very pale pink for skin color, made by adding a small amount of Wilton red paste color.

For the cupcakes themselves, I decided on chocolate banana (debs favorite coffee flavor).
I was going to make the devil's food cupcake recipe by America's Test Kitchen, and I so wish now that I had followed through on that.
A day before the party, I was running so short of cash and time, I (and I'm mortified to say this) ended up using a boxed mix and adding mashed banana to it.
It was horrible.
I always bake from scratch, but I was really down to the wire on the last few dollars, so I tried to save a few bucks.
I won't do that again.
But I digress.

I used piping gel for the eyes, nose, and mouth.
I also mounded up frosting to give the noses heighth.
The plan was to roll fondant balls in iridescent powder and make pearl necklaces, but I ran out of time.
Later, I saw that King Arthur Flour sells sugar pearls, so I may use those for something in the future.
So, I was at a client's house the day of the party, and it was the last day of a week long dog-sitting job.
I baked the cupcakes the night before, in some amazing black and white polka dot liners that I bought through the A Cupcakery.

Debs likes black and white polka dots, so that was also a theme that was going on: I ordered both 11 and 16-inch balloons on eBay (some black with white dots, some white with black dots), and had them filled with helium the day of the party at a local party store.
Most of my gifts were placed in polka dot gift bags, and/or tied with polka dot ribbons.
It was perfect that debs showed to the party dressed in a black and white dress.
Not polka dots, but black and white.
Two of the gifts she was given were $50 gift certificates to the Black and White Store.

But back to the baking.
The night before the party, I also made the cookie dough, and left it to chill in the refrig.
I finished at 2am, then set my alarm for 7.
I had to wash the sheets, pack my car, sweep the floor, clean the counters...AND finish all the decorating before my client's came home at 3pm.
I was expected at the restaurant at 6:15pm.
Busy day.

In the morning, I started cutting out the cookie dough in star shapes, and baking the cookies on lollipop sticks.
I needed to make more dough (I made 20 magic wands).
They turned out great.
As I was baking cookies, I was also decorating cupcakes.
At 2pm (seven hours later), I was STILL decorating cupcakes, and had to make a mad dash to sweep and pack up my bags.

When my clients arrived at 3pm, all my clothing and all of debs' boxes filled with gifts were sitting on the livingroom floor.
Cake batter was on the handle of the refrigerator door.
Cookies were now cooled, but were all along the kitchen counter on paper towels.
The sheets were washed, but the bed was not made.
The dishwasher hadn't yet been emptied.
Where did all the time go?

Sadly, my client was not amused.
Most clients would have been understanding with my not being finished (shoot, most house-sitters don't wash the sheets, or any of that).
This client, however, is a bit OCD with the cleaning.
I offered to finish up, but she said she'd do it, then gave me a cold silent treatment.
Lovely.

In the tense environment, I hurriedly packed up my car, but I had so much stuff that it took an hour.
And it was soooo incredibly hot that day!
I was miserable.
I finally threw off my heels and opted for sandals until I got to the restaurant later that night.

The cupcake faces were all slightly different, and really quite adorable.
All were chilling nicely in the refrigerator, so I took them out and placed them in an awesome Snapware three-tier carrier that my friend Jen loaned to me for the occasion.I have got to get one of those.
Their website only shows two-tier carriers now, so I don't know if the product has been discontinued.
I hope not.

I wish I could go back in time and take a photo of the decorating, but I was so rushed and stressed and needing to escape that tension, that I didn't get one.

Um, remember how I said it was hot?
Well, at the same time the A/C in my car is going out.
During the drive from my client's house to Tracie's (so I could frost the magic wand cookies) all the decorated faces that took me so many hours to create...
they melted.
Melted off.

Sigh...

What to do?
All we could do was make jokes about aging.

Here's one that is partially complete, so you can get the idea of what they looked like originally

(flickr sizes these poorly, so you have to click on the images to enlarge)

Debs in the middle, with several of the guests holding their debs fans.
It was later in the evening, so some people had left, and most had removed their costumes.


Tracie has more photos to send me, so I'll post more later.

Ha Ha Hee Hee to the funny farm...

I pretty much abhor cooking out of a box, especially when it comes to baking.
I really respect baking from scratch, and appreciate keeping the traditions and old recipes alive.

That being said, I love weird novelty food projects.
Especially whimsical cake decorating.
So whimsical + scratch = pretty damn great.
Jumping around finding ideas and recipes is my own sort of super quest, pilgrimage, shangrila.
Whatever.

Yeah, I know it's past Halloween, but this is just too too good not to share.

Oh my, check out the creepy cakes over at
(what a fun name) They're coming to get you, Barbara.
Not only are these amazing to look at, they also show you how-to photos (a visual tutorial, if you will), assembly, etc.

And not only that, these are fricking anatomically correct, yo.

Dude! That arm has a radius and ulna visible.
Sorry, but that so freakin' rocks.

These sisters also make more 'normal' cakes, including gingerbread houses (extremely elaborate gingerbread houses), available for your viewing pleasure over at their other site.

I found these sites via the most incredible Baking Bites, who has made some creepy stuff of her own.
I just can't stop thinking about her vampire cupcakes --
white cake and marshmallow frosting, with a center of cherry pie filling that gushed out after Mr. Dracula evidently took a bite.
She has the recipe posted.
(note her inspiration was the Vampire Bites over at Zombirella's)

Honestly I could spend hours just following yummy links around.
Let's jump from the creepy above, to a traditional treat.
Like homemade Mallomars from Cookie Baker Lynn.
If your mouth isn't watering, there's something wrong with you.

More cake charms

Remember when I posted recently about the Fortune Telling Cake Set?

Well, Amy had a great idea that I should frame it.
I thought it might be fun to surround it with even more charms, so I bought another set.

This set is from Canada, and does not include the fortunes or symbolism.
But look how fun!



(click on image to enlarge)


(note the Canadian charms)

Fortune Telling Cake Set, 1957

(as always, you can click on the image to go to my Flickr page. "All sizes" over the image will allow you to zoom and read the details)

These are charms that were baked into a cake, then the recipient would discover his or her prediction of luck for the coming year.

This idea of finding fortune in a slice of cake is still a feature in many traditions around the world.
During Mardi Gras, for example, The King's Cake includes a bean (representing the baby Jesus). Whoever is fortunate enough to receive the slice with the bean (or coin, or plastic Jesus, etc) is said to have good luck for the rest of the year.

The Victorians added ribbons to the ends of the charms.
The ribbons extended outside the cake slices, and the charms were pulled out (they are called cake pulls).
You can buy modern examples of these charms, usually for wedding cakes.

Baking Fun

How freakin' cute are these Knit Night cupcakes by Vegan Yum Yum.

She even has a tutorial on how to knit marizipan.

Rubik's Cake, by Nicole of Baking Bites.

Cupcake Class

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jen and I took a
3D Cupcake Animals class at
Amy Malone's School of Cake Decorating.
The class was Jen's gift to me for Christmas--an incredibly creative idea that combined fun and doing something together.

We all brought our own unfrosted cupcakes, then using dowels and skewers we anchored two or three together onto foil-covered syrofoam...and started decorating.
It was a blast.
We made a bunny, an owl, and a lion.
Here are examples of the classwork:

The bunny was embellished with jelly beans in frosting grass. The owl got a plastic cap and a paper diploma. Those bunny ears are just frosting piped over drinking straws!

One student was particularly creative--the candy flower in the mane, the three-dimensional eyes...


Amy Malone also demonstrated a shaggy dog.
The dog is placed atop a sheet cake. She later piped bone-shapes around the edge, and added a water dish. Too cute.

Fun Food

You thought I could stay away from Bloglines? Please.
My strong points never had anything to do with self-discipline.
So here we go...a little diversion, if you will.

Despite the fact that I'm not a mom, much less the Kool-aid mom, I love novelty print (read: juvenile) fabrics, and I adore fun food.
One of my favorite magazines is Family Fun. Go figure.

I guess I just never really grew up. And that's okay.

Then again, I guess these recipes have a bit of an adult twist.
All the better.
I seem to be gravitating to cooking more and more these days.
Considering the magazine article I need to be working on is about recipe cards, that's a good thing. At least I have that going for me.
Regardless, there are hungry guys at work who count on me, for God's sake.
At least someone does.

I mean how can you not love these cookies that Finny made? (yes, I could say 'Jessica', but I love saying 'Finny')


Or this adorable photo of my client's adorable daughter with her birthday piggie cupcakes.


A recipe for Margarita Cupcakes from Baking Sheet.

And while we're in the liquor cabinet, (and still at Baking Sheet) how about Bailey's cheesecake? Oh my.

All right, I'll stop procrastinating and start crafting...

Springerle

Check out the amazing idea from the December 2006 issue of Country Living Magazine!

Cookies that have been decorated using rubber stamps to cookie dough.
Rubber stamps!
The impression is then painted by dipping the brush into lemon extract, then luster dust (used for cake decorating). Springerle are usually an anise cookie, but you could do standard sugar too. I like Martha Stewart's sugar cookie recipe with royal icing.

I can envision this in a clay also, and shellacked, then strung on a garland. I absolutely love this idea.

I love it so much that I took this magazine to my favorite stamping store to share it with the employees.
I then turned to a customer to show her--look, look how cool!
She stared at me like I was loose from the mental ward, then without saying a word, turned and continued shopping. Alrighty then.