Pardon the radio silence....

Hi!  I'm not dead, just working too hard or too often...  I'm hoping to get into a groove with the New Year.  

In the mean time, best wishes for a a very Merry New Year and a Happy Christmas!!!

Fall and ouch!

It appears that fall is finally here.  Since we live in a "seasonal" rain forest, our trees tend to stay green year round.  They get a bit wilty around September, but they stay green.  Then, last week, I saw our signal tree - it's a sweet gum and it is always the first to turn - so I guess that autumn has arrived.  It also means, that rainy season is here.  That's the "seasonal" part - we usually only get rain from October to about the end of April.  And usually, nothing but a trace between May and September.

So when the rains come down for the first time, as they did this week, things can get a bit dicey on the road. It feels like everyone has forgotten how to drive in the wet.  If you are smart, you are careful, especially of other drivers, and maybe you take things a bit slower than you normally would.  Because if you don't - this can happen:

That's the front end of my car.  First of all - Mark & I are fine - a bit bruised and a bit stiff, but no cuts, no breaks.  We were heading home on Wednesday night up the mountain road towards the house.  As I knew my car wanted to get squirrely on the roads, I was driving a bit slower than I usually would up the hill.  I took a turn, and looked up the roadway and a van was making a turn around a blind corner.  As soon as I saw his rear wheel come over the yellow line, I pulled my car to a complete stop.  There's really no where to go - a redwood tree was holding up the road and the shoulder, well, that looks like a gully.  I was hoping against hope that he would either get it under control or go ahead and do a180 and miss us completely, but alas, that was not to happen. Somehow he got airborne and the rear wheel ended up bouncing on the engine compartment.  Black smoke was billowing from the engine. But the air bags didn't go off - evidently the sensor is in the bumper, which he missed. 

So three hours, two cops, one tow truck, a taxi ride and a car rental and we were finally home sweet home. 

Love to all!

Finally, tomatoes...

Thanks to the cold summer we are experiencing up here in the hills and the thieving squirrels (Lorili 4!), I haven't picked very many tomatoes from my potted deck garden.  This week, I received an email from a local organic farm, Yellow Wall Farm, that they had tomatoes in abundance and would have them at the farm stand in Santa Cruz on Saturday.  Hoo-ray!!!! 

A quick drive into town, and I had twenty pounds of some of the ripest, best looking tomatoes I have seen in a while.  First off, I had to pop one in my mouth, warm from the sunshine, rinsed in cold clean water. Oh, so sweet!  And I wasn't even home yet.  Once I got home, I immediately made one of my Mom's favorite summer "salads" - slice a tomato, sprinkle some salt and pepper, dollop of mayo on the side.  Who needs bacon and lettuce or even bread?

Sunday morning found me roasting tomatoes in the oven.  A long slow roast, at 275, a slide of olive oil across the tops, and again, a grind of salt and pepper.  Two and half hours later, and a quick mash and I have four cups of the freshest, sweetest tomato sauce/paste.  I put two cups in the fridge for later - we'll add them to some fresh sage & oregano and make a beautiful meat sauce for pasta.  The other two cups I turned into some cream of tomato soup, inspired by Smitten Kitchen's recent recipe for "Roasted Tomato Soup w/ Cheddar Cheese Lids".   Since I already had the kitchen in a state of major mess, I sliced up some more tomatoes, along with some peaches, onion, and jalapeno for a fresh peach and tomato salsa.  They will come into play sometime this week for a quick dinner of chicken and rice. 

I still have tomatoes for a nice caprese salad, as well some rocket for a spicy lunch add-on.  The roasted tomatoes are so very yummy, that I just know I will have to go back next weekend and see if I can't find some more.

It's about time.

A family (and friends) affair!

The reception was held at a picnic site just outside of the park.  It was all dressed up with paper lanterns, hanging flower baskets, candles in colored jars and towers of cupcakes.

(photo courtesy of StO - Thank you!)

Just to point out all the DIY (that I know of!)....

Groom - ingenious hanging of paper lanterns with lights that came on in the dark....
Bride - gorgeous hanging plant center piece, as well as plants and flowers scattered around
Father of the Bride - sturdy, huge, cupcake towers
Mother of the Bride - hundreds of napkins and table runners for all of the tables
??? - painted jars, filled with sand and candles
Aunt and sisters of the Bride - cupcakes
Many hands - cupcake wrappers
StO of the Bride - coconut cake for cutting
Many many hands - clean and set up of site

I'm pretty sure that someone on the groom's side of the family designed the invitations and did much more that I just don't know about....

Congratulations and Best Wishes!!!

Teary-eyed and tired...

We're back.  And they are married.  We had a great time visiting with everyone.  I even managed to beat Dad in a game of Cribbage the first evening we were there, but it was a very close call and really came down to the last two hands. 

Thanks to my sister and aunt, all the cupcakes were done and frosted and looked and tasted fabulous.  I did help (baked three batches of the S'mores and frosted two more), but it seemed short to me.  Since I wasn't in charge of the camera this trip (too much else to do in too short a time), I don't have any pictures of the reception and the mountains of cupcakes to share with you.

What I do have, are the pictures of the Canyon that Mark took on his excursion with the boys.

That white tip is where the bride & groom hiked to on their first date...

(photo snapped right as they were pronounced "man & wife")

And this was the wedding ceremony site

 

Me & Mark, all dressed up

Ooooo Shiney....

The wedding is coming up soon.  It will be nice to visit with the family again this year.  Most times, I don't see everyone every year.  As the bridesmaid's dresses we have chosen have a nice v-neckline, they call for a nice necklace to go with it.  I've heard that the bride has chosen some earrings for us, but since I haven't seen them, I'm creating on the blind side here.  All I know is hot pink rhinestones in a silver setting, with a vintage feel.

My first inclination was to go with the wedding colors - yellow, pink, and orange.  Here we have three strands, one of each color, with a mixture of pearls, crystal, glass, and metal.  It's bright and cheerful and makes me happy.  The strands are each a little different in length, so they drape quite nicely.

Then, as I was putting away my supplies, the next necklace came together.  It has a more vintage feel to it, to me anyway.  Again, three strands, one with fuchsia pearls wound with ribbon and filigree beads, the second with glass beads in pink and black (maybe those should have been grey?), and the last a gunmetal twisted chain.  These are all brought together with a filigree and opal rhinestone "buckle".

So Bride2B, which do you think is going to be more appropriate?

Cupcake Test 014, S'More S'mores....

Last one for me....  Since the bride and groom both work at the Grand Canyon, it only seems appropriate that we finish with a S'mores cupcake.  This one is essentially from Annie's Eats.  It starts out with a base of graham cracker crumbs, then some chocolate cake (and some added ganache) and topped with marshmallow fluff frosting. 

Process Notes:  I used the dark chocolate cake mix by Betty Crocker and added in some mini-mallows to the cake batter before baking.  Don't bother, they just dissolve and add not a whit of texture or flavor to the cupcake.  Once they were baked, I scooped out a hollow with my melon baller and added a bit of chocolate ganache.  I tried to caramelize the frosting with my new torch (Whee!), but it just slid off the cupcake.  Instead, I toasted some marshmallows to add that extra something.

Tasting Notes:  These were much better than the first round of S'mores.  There was a distinct crumby graham cracker crust, the milk chocolate ganache echoed the Hershey bar, and the toasted marshmallows finished it off.  I think these are a winner!

Something to remember

How to bake 300 cupcakes  (includes link to cupcake boxes)

Cars are sexy too....

Earlier this week, Mark & I were on an errand heading home and came across this serendipitous car show.  I suspect that they gather once a month, maybe once a quarter, in the parking lot.  Dad, if you can, let me know what kind/year these sexy beasts are:

We can't decide if this is a Chrysler or an Alfa Romeo...

Purple & Flames = AWESOME!

I think this is close to the color you want your car painted....

There were a slew of trucks, along with some newer cars as well.  All were sparkling and their owners were sparkling too, and rightfully so.  The rumble of big V-8's were heard easily a couple blocks away.

The next day, I was headed to work, and there on 880N in San Jose was this car (blocking traffic!):

For those of you, like me, who recognize EXPENSIVE when you see it - this is a Buggati Veyron.  Only 300 were pre-ordered, and they aren't finished building those yet.  Volkswagen is building them, and according to Top Gear, it costs $5M  to build.  Volkswagen is selling them for $2M - talk about a loss leader.  They have about 1000 horsepower, and top speed is estimated to be 400 Kph (about 250ish mph).  This poor soul was stuck at 50 mph in traffic. 

Le Sigh.

Flea Market Fancies

I found these goodies at the Santa Cruz Flea Market.  I think some of them may turn into some fancy-pants necklaces.  I was a good buyer and checked all of the pieces for missing stones (nothing worse!).  The only one missing anything is the enameled flower on the bottom, but it was too precious to leave behind.

Cupcake Test 14, "Cherry Almond Cupcakes"

Cherries and almonds just seem to go together.  If you take a google across the web, there are cupcakes, biscotti, scones, cakes, tarts, slumps, clafouties, pies, cookies, and just about any other type of baked goodie you can think of made with a combination of cherries and almonds.  And that just scratches the surface. 

These particular cupcakes are from Better Homes & Gardens, a link provided by the BtB.  It's a buttermilk cupcake with maraschino cherries and almond goodness.

Dark, Okay, Slumpy

Process notes:  I made the cupcake recipe (almost) straight up.  The only change I made was instead of putting a half cherry in the top of each cupcake, I roughly chopped 2 dozen cherries and stirred them into the batter before baking.  This is the first time I have had troubles with my oven baking unevenly.  One side of the trays of cupcakes were darker brown, and the other end of the tray slumped terribly due to raw batter when it was removed from the oven.  I'll be sure to turn my trays half-way through baking from now on.

I made both the almond frosting and the cherry frosting, straight from the recipe.  I put both frostings into one piping bag, hoping for a random striping when I frosted the cupcakes.  Evidently, I didn't do too well at that either, however, I do like the delicate shading when both frostings are present.

I had the extra large Costco sized jar of maraschino cherries, and it was less than half full by the time I had decorated the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - Almond = Yum.  Cherry = Yum.  Almond + Cherry = Yummy!  I liked the cherries folded into the batter.  I think the cupcakes were delicately flavored with almond, and if it weren't for the bits of cherry in them, you wouldn't taste the cherry at all.  The cherry juice made for a lovely colored cupcake, but I don't know that it added much flavor to either the cupcake or the frosting.  The almond frosting was mmmmm wonderful.  If there is such a thing as cherry extract, it might be a good thing to add a smidge of that to both the frosting and the cupcake batter to boost the cherry flavor. No more than 1/2 a teaspoon in each though.  All in all, lovely, festive, and tasty too.

Mark - Although maraschino cherries are not his favorite, they were a nice counterpoint to the almond flavor found in the cupcakes and in the frosting.  Again with the "Yum!"

How I spent my weekend

In pictures....

As much time as possible...

From our very own trees

Making Cupcakes (not from our trees)

And maybe a few words...

We have never picked as many cherries from our two trees as we did this year.  We ended up making 23 jars of jam, as well as having enough to eat in our lunch and freeze some for future tasties. 

You may know I have a critter problem.  Comes with living in the woods.  Most of the time, I can live with it, however, when the ding dang squirrels start eating rose buds, tomatoes, and anything else I plant on the deck, I start trapping.  We've also got a resident 'coon family who wanders around the neighborhood tipping trash cans and generally being a nuisance.  Mark actually played tag with a raccoon who was adamant about being on the deck Friday night.

This weekend, before we managed to get out and pick the cherries, I noticed a fat squirrel hanging out in the tops of the trees enjoying the fruit.  I have no problem with the animals getting the high hanging fruit, but I get upset when they strip a tree in a little under 24 hours.  So I set up the squirrel trap and headed up to the roof line (their highway) to put it in place.  I noticed the branches of the cherry tree were wobbling pretty good and there was a patch of grey fur.  Come here, little squirrel...You know you want some tasty peanut butter... And then I see the mask of a raccoon!  I know raccoons can climb trees (knock him out john!), but this is a delicate cherry tree and the branches will break under his weight.  Now, there's a 'coon sized trap waiting...

Cupcake Test 13, "Cookie Dough Cupcakes"

Alternatively titled, "That's the way the Cookie (Dough) Crumbles".   Is there anyone (over the age of 20 anyway) who doesn't remember licking the beater after making a batch of chocolate chip cookies?  There's just something about the taste and texture of raw cookie dough that brings a smile to our hearts.  But, with the scares of "bad things" that raw eggs have brought in the years, seldom do we actually enjoy that childhood experience any longer.  Fear not, the cookie dough portion of the cupcakes (and the truffles too) are free of raw eggs.

The BtB pulled together a couple of links for cookie dough cupcakes.  The first from Love & Olive Oil, and another from Annies-Eats.  Love & Olive Oil is a non-dairy version, however, the egg-free cookie dough is the important part here.  I used the cupcake recipe from Annies-Eats, the cookie dough from Love & Olive Oil, and the frosting from both of them.

Process Notes:  I made enough of the cookie dough to make the truffles (also from Love & Olive Oil), and reserved 24 of them for the cupcakes, along with 3/4 cup of cookie dough for the frosting.  The cupcake batter made 29 regular size cupcakes, as well as 24 mini cupcakes.  The cookie dough made enough additional to roll about 4 dozen more small sized truffles.  Since I had only reserved 24 of the truffles, I did 2 dozen cupcakes with the cookie dough baked in them (L&O).  The remaining cupcakes were scooped with a melon baller after baking, and then a truffle was placed in the indentation (AE).  The cupcakes came out sunken in the centers where the cold cookie dough was.  These cupcakes also overflowed the baking cups quite a bit.  After sitting a while, the "ring" that was above the cupcake liner, well, it kinda fell down. 

No cupcakes were touched during this disaster.

I made the cookie dough frosting from L&O first, and it was just enough to cover about 15 cupcakes, as well as the 24 minis.  Then the brown sugar frosting from AE, which finished the rest of the cupcakes, with not much left over. 

The truffles were coated with melted milk-chocolate chips and placed on a rack to harden.  Note - don't do this.  When I pulled them off the rack, they cracked and left part of the chocolate behind, so they all looked like they had a bite taken out of them.  Use a silpat, wax or parchment paper instead.

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcakes were moist and tasty in spite of their tendency to fall apart.  They had the memory of chocolate chip cookies baked into them, most notably in the brown sugar and chocolate that were the main flavor ingredients.  I liked the taste of both the cookie dough and brown sugar frostings, however, I think there should be more cookie dough in the frosting than what the recipe calls for.  Either one would be appropriate with the cupcakes.  The truffles, well, they are the epitome of cookie-dough-ness.  A bit grainy, a bit raw, with chocolate chips inside.

Love the truffles and will definitely make them again.  The cupcakes, although they tasted fine, probably won't be making a repeat appearance.  I did like the scooped cupcake better than the baked cupcake.  The baked cupcake lost the "raw" flavor/texture, which only makes sense.  I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I didn't like.  Maybe the cupcake batter was too raw around the cookie dough center. 

Mark - Thought the cupcakes were "yummy" and he preferred the brown sugar frosting to the cookie dough frosting.  The truffles, were OMG! good and he refused to share them with his co-workers.

Up next, Cherry Almond Cupcakes...

Ohio, Part Two

Let's see, where was I?  Ah, yes, Sunday.

Sunday we had a quiet breakfast under the honeysuckle vines and then headed to the Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark to view an recent installation.  It's a nest of sorts, of woven willow branches, called "A Wiggle in Its Walk".  It's big enough to walk through, filled with windows and doors that frame the views.  The Wegerzyn Gardens is free to the public (sweet!) and not only has a formal garden, but there is also a wetlands, a children's garden, and a vegetable garden.  If this garden were in Dallas or in the Bay Area, I'm sure that it would be mobbed on a Sunday afternoon.  As it was, I think we encountered three or four family groups?  At least, until the Playhouse let out - they were putting on The Producers.

 
 

The Irises and Peonies were just starting to show bloom, but the hostas were out in full force.  There are more pictures at my Photo Blog.  After dinner and a thunderstorm (I miss those - occasionally!) at my Brother's house, we headed back to the folks' place for the night.

Monday found us shopping for most of the mid-day.  Gotta find some wedding finery for Mom too, doncha know?  I believe, fingers crossed, that we found a couple of outfits that Mom will be happy to wear to the event.  That night I met up with one of my nephews and his wife for dinner at a local steak joint.  We managed to stay and close the place down.  About mid-meal, we noticed the lights flickering, but didn't think much of it.  Found out later, there was a tornado in the area and most of the locality was without power. 


Tuesday was crafty day - Mom finished her sock, and we spent some time making jewelry.  I got to use memory wire for the first time and made some bangles, as well as some earrings and some stitch markers for yarn play.

I flew home on Wednesday, again through Las Vegas.  There were huge thunderstorms in the Chicago area, so the airport in Las Vegas was full of stranded travelers.  Normally, the flight from Ohio to Las Vegas wouldn't necessarily fly over the Grand Canyon (shout out!), but to avoid the thunderheads, we headed directly south and then across the panhandle of Texas and south of the Grand Canyon.  Of course, I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane to get a picture of that, but I did get a good view of the Hoover Dam and the new bridge they've built to go beside it.

Pending....

I just started a new gig last Tuesday - Yippee!!!

But, that means that posting is going to be sporadic at best, at least until I settle in.  I've got to finish my review of the Ohio trip, and then there's the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes to review.

Be back soon!

Back from Ohio

Leaving Las Vegas

It's been a while.  I just got back from visiting the folks in Ohio.  Mom has had some health issues recently and I am (as of this moment) unemployed, so it was time to make the trip out to visit them.  I left a week ago Wednesday and the flight to Ohio was uneventful, except for the departure at OMG:thirty AM.  I sat next to the window on the Las Vegas-Columbus leg thinking I would see desert followed by mountains followed by corn fields, the Mississippi, more corn fields and finally the skyline of Columbus.  But oh no, it was clouds and more clouds all the way.

Serging on the deck

Thursday had us out on the deck, sergers humming, making napkins for the BtB's reception.  The ladies were quite a hoot and the fabric was flowing.  It's gonna be a fun reception I do believe.

Friday was a pot luck party - a couple of Mom & Dad's friends were celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary and another was celebrating a birthday.  I re-made the Ding Dong Cupcakes for the party and they were quite the hit.  (Note to self - use the larger tip for filling the cupcakes.)  There was lasagna (courtesy of Mom) a couple of salads (fruit & green), bread, delicious cheesecake, mimosas and coffee with liquor. 

Flea Market Finds (and Yarn)

A round of Mexican Train and Saturday found us bright and early heading for the Springfield Antique Extravaganza.  Acres and acres of vendors with antiques and vintage goodies of every shape and size.  I do believe that I could furnish a girly retreat cottage, just by shopping at this flea market.  I did manage to find a few things that I thought would survive the TSA and baggage handlers - a quilt, some table cloths, a pressed glass cake plate, a dancing lady in purple and an empty crate of Santa Clara Prunes.  (The yarn is additional purchases from Fiberworks in Beavercreek.)  In case I ever do get my dream cottage, here are some things that might grace it.

To be continued.....

Cupcake Test 12, "Lemon Strawberry Cupcakes"

Mini Cupcakes

Bonus Cupcake this week!!!!  Mark called me from work yesterday and one of their vendors had brought in a bunch of strawberries that were this > < close to being too far gone - and did I need any of them for cupcakes?  Bring it!  Between that and the lemon trees on my deck still drooping with fruit from last fall I was set for a Strawberry-Lemon cupcake.  Or Lemon-Strawberry.  Because they share billing pretty much equally.

I made the Strawberry Lemonade cupcake from Annie's Eats, scooped out a hollow with a melon baller which was then filled with either lemon curd or strawberry jam, and then topped with a fresh strawberry buttercream or lemon buttercream frosting, respectively.

Process Notes the curd:  Since I have all those lemons, just waiting for me to make something, I chose to make a lemon curd from scratch.  I took a look at the recipes from Nigella in How to Eat, and the recipe on Epicurious and decided that a combination of the two was probably the way to go.  I think you could use curd from a jar, but the homemade version does taste much fresher. So:

• 1/2 c fresh lemon juice
• 2 t lemon zest
• 1/2 c superfine sugar*
• 3 large eggs (whole)
• 1 large egg yolk
• 6 T butter, diced (added later)

Curd Filled Cupcake

Whisk together everything but the butter until the sugar dissolves in a heavy bottomed pot.  It should look like a clear pale yellow syrup.  Then, over a medium-low heat , whisk constantly until the curd thickens and turns a more solid lemon yellow.  It goes from not to done in the barest of a blink of an eye.  You'll be whisking and whisking and thinking this is never going to get there, turn your back for a mere second and then you are done.  Once the curd has thickened, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter for a silky texture.  Pour the curd through a strainer (to remove the zest and any eggy bits) and into a bowl to cool.  This needs to cool for several hours to thicken up so make sure you do it first.  (YUMMMMMMMM!)

Process Notes the Cupcake:  I followed the recipe for the cupcake pretty much straight as written.  I do wish I actually had put in more than the two cups of strawberry pieces and/or that I had cut them smaller.  The batter was thicker than the normal box mix, so I splashed in a bit more milk than the recipe called for to ease the folding of the strawberries.  I ended up with 24 regular sized cupcakes and 8 mini-me's.

Process Notes the Frostings:  I used the buttercream frosting recipe from Betty Crocker as a starting point.  I eliminated the milk and vanilla and went with straight up lemon juice in the lemon frosting.  For the strawberry frosting, again, no milk or vanilla, but with a cup of processed strawberries and a t of strawberry extract.   The strawberry frosting was a bit of a slump and required extra sugar (no surprise).  The lemon frosting was super stiff when I went to pipe, so I put it in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften it up. 

A bit slumpy, but YUMMM!

Tasting Notes:  Me - So so so so good.  The cupcake is full of lemon and strawberry flavor.  It's a bit more dense than the regular cupcake from a box.  I didn't try the one with the strawberry jam as I really love the lemon curd.  And the fresh strawberry buttercream.  Serious drool worthiness.  Dare I say it - better than Stein's.  No questions asked, this is going to be one of my favorites of all time.  There are cake balls, curd, and frosting leftover.  But not for long :-)  I probably wouldn't do the strawberry filling for the wedding, just the lemon curd.

Mark - Didn't want to try the curd.  I think it's the word - curd.  curd = crud in some minds.  But once he dipped a cake ball into the curd, he just didn't want to stop. Loved the strawberry frosting, not so much on the lemon. 

Others - do I really care what they think?   But I'll add commentary once it is gathered.

 *Superfine sugar dissolves faster and more thoroughly than granulated sugar. You could use the granulated sugar and either process it in a food processor for a few pulses, or stir longer until it dissolves. Superfine sugar is usually sold in what looks like a milk carton in the baking aisle.

Cupcake Test 11, "Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl"

This week's test cupcake is the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Swirl.  Unlike most of the other recipes in the book, this one is a made from scratch cupcake and not just a modified cake from a box.  Not that there's anything wrong with cake from a box, as the reviews will tell you.  I actually looked online for errata and hints though, as the chocolate cake part has no eggs in it, and vinegar?  Seems the book was right though and this turned into one of the most appreciated cupcakes of the near dozen so far.

Process Notes:  I used Nestle baking coco for the chocolate, and my unfrosted cupcakes came out of the oven looking, well, a bit on the anemic side.  They were light brown and the sugar in the recipe gave the crust a nice crunch.  The vinegar acts with the baking soda to help the cupcakes rise and disappears in baking.  I used regular sized semi-sweet baking chips in the cheesecake portion of the "swirl".  I had more than enough of the cheesecake mixture to put in the cupcakes, but ran a bit light on the chocolate.  Also, I wish I had swirled the cupcakes with a knife pre-baking.  Since "without frosting, it's a muffin and not a cupcake" in the words of my hubster, I made a batch of the cream cheese frosting to swirl on top.  Even with the hugs & kisses, I wasn't able to frost 4 of the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - I think the texture of these was more brownie than cake, more cake than brownie.  The flavor was actually quite chocolate, in spite of the anemic looking cupcakes and the cheese cake was a nice hit.  The cream cheese frosting enhanced the cheesecake swirl and made it really pop. 

Mark - loved these.  But I'm not getting real commentary from him besides "Yummy" these days.  His work place devoured them and a couple of them thought they were at least in the top two of those they remember.

Cupcake Test 10, Cinnamon Chocolate with Caramel Buttercream

Boy howdy, did I ever make a mess Monday afternoon.  This particular combination of flavors is not one that was requested by the Bride/Groom, however, I just couldn't get it out of my head.  I've long had a love of Mexican Hot Chocolate, with the brown sugar and cinnamon notes.  Add to that some caramel sauce, and I will be in a sugar coma for days.  As well, the BtB had difficulties working a caramel frosting earlier and I wanted to see if I could figure out what had gone wrong for her and make it work. 

Process Notes:  Specifically, I used the Betty Crocker Triple Fudge cake mix, and added two teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon to it. Mix and bake as usual.

Then, I made this caramel sauce from Ina Gartner.  Here's the trick, BtB, yes, it re-crystallized when I poured in the cream, however, I turned the heat back on and kept stirring and stirring.  Eventually, it smoothed back out into a rather thin sauce.  I put that in a bowl and into the fridge to cool and thicken.

Next, I went looking for a caramel buttercream and found one via Southern Living.  I reserved a cup of my caramel sauce for the frosting (just in case I needed to do more than one batch), and then I attempted to fill my cupcakes with the caramel sauce.

I think maybe I needed to wait until it had either thickened some more, or I should have used a smidge less cream to start with - hence the mess.  If I had a tray under the rack when I was "filling" them, I wouldn't have had caramel sauce all over the counter, the bread wrapper, the floor and anything else that might be standing still. Well, maybe not anyway.

Piped the caramel buttercream using one of my new big round piping tips and then drizzled more caramel on top of that.  Topped with a piped "flower" of Rich Chocolate Buttercream (half recipe only) from the Betty Crocker book, to which I added a teaspoon of cinnamon for that Mexican chocolate hint.  Wish I had some gold dust to put on the chocolate flower for a bit of bling.

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cinnamon smelled great when the cupcakes were baking, but I don't think it shines through after the cupcakes have cooled and are frosted and drowning in caramel.  Not that I would change the caramel though, because that is just sin in a spoon.  The caramel flavored buttercream is delish (lightly caramel) and I couldn't stop licking my fingers as I piped the chocolate flowers on top.  Together, it's yummy, but the cinnamon notes are subtle at best.  Either skip the cinnamon, or add another teaspoon to the batter I think.  I've seen where folks have added a pinch of cayenne to their Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes, if you are feeling frisky.

Mark - Low blood sugar upon arriving home, and he devoured one and half cupcakes.  Later in the week, the leftover chocolate buttercream was requested along with the caramel sauce.  Poured on some store bought cookies, and even those tasted better.  Loved it.  Though he could taste the cinnamon, it wasn't the first thing he noticed.

Other Folks - The deck dudes thought they were the best of all - rich and sticky and in need of a good glass of milk.  Mark's work place went back for seconds before they even finished the firsts.  Only one person surveyed even tasted the cinnamon. 

Cupcake Test 9, Strawberry & Cream

The Strawberry & Cream cupcake had been previewed by StO and her crew found it tasty and delish and maybe even their favorite.  It's a bit different in that you use Strawberry Soda to flavor a white cake mix.  I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't just use a strawberry cake mix, but hey, we're testing wedding cupcakes here!

I can't believe that I ordered some piping tips off of the Wilton's site.  I've been checking my local sources and let me just say, they are lacking.  I ordered some of the extra large tips so that I can get quick and full coverage - some rounds, some stars...  I don't remember what all now.

And yesterday, I picked up another cupcake book called Cupcake Heaven, by Susannah Blake.  Apple & Cinnamon, Carrot & Cardamom, Lavender, Rosewater - and those are the "Simple" cupcakes.   My taste buds are tingling just thinking about it.

So back to the regularly scheduled programming:

Process Notes:  Not much to note here.  The cupcakes were well behaved.  I used one batch of the cream cheese frosting recipe in the back of the book to frost the cupcakes.  Instead of topping them with sliced strawberries (since I didn't have any!) I sprinkled some pretty pink sugar on instead.

Tasting Notes:  Me - the cream cheese frosting is near perfect, especially when paired with the strawberry cupcake.  I wish I had thought to stir in some frozen strawberry puree into the cake mix, like my favorite bakery in Dallas - Stein's - but I was too late.  The cupcakes were lightly flavored with strawberry and were a delight to eat.

Mark - had a taste when he got home, and his comment was "I wish I hadn't done that - now I want some more!"  He delivered nearly the full batch to work and when he wandered through the kitchen at lunch time, there were two left.  At least three folks went back for seconds.  I think you can count these as a hit!