OMG Where have I been? Well honestly I forgot I had a blog until a few moments ago when I was surging the net looking for Banana Nut Cupcakes and wahla, there was a picture from my blog. That said, I guess I need to post more often. Tomorrow I am making another batch of those wonderful cupcakes and I can't wait. Are you baking anything? If so, what?

Should you always follow directions?

Today I surfed the net for what I thought was a perfect lemon cream cupcake recipe. The recipe says to bake for 25-30 minutes and while that seemed strange, I followed the directions. These heavy lemon cream cakes only need to bake for 20 minutes no more than 25. They are rather heavy in texture, not light and fluffy like the usualy cupcake. They could also use a cup more of powdered sugar for the frosting but since I had already decided early on to add more than required, I was good to go on that note.

When people create recipes, it is my opinion that they do so based on their individual style. When following the directions given in any recipe, it is always good to know what does and does not work for you. There are somethings that can be tweeked, like the length of time required to bake these cupcakes. Then there are others that need to be left alone.

Have you had any recipe disasters lately? Changed the directions or quantities in a recipe? Tell me your secret, I've told you mine.

A Lesson Learned

1-The disaster cakes are the bright pink, white, and brown
2-The disaster cakes from another angle
3-The finished product, whew, glad thats over!

Poured fondant is one of those recipes with minimal ingrediants and fairly easy to do. Mastering the technique of making sure you have the right consistency is a whole other issue. Today I make what I like to call "over-sized" petit-fours in my Wilton 12-cavity bar pan. The cakes came out ok and it didn't take much to make them level. Coloring the poured fondant was easy but again consistency and temperature will ruin you every time. It only took a few tries to get it almost right. It would be nice if the YouTube video tutorials were a little more detailed. Watching and doing are clearly two different things!

Trial and Error

This yellow cake covered w/chocolate icing topped with a Steelers logo came to me as a special request for a groomsman cake in April. The groom didn't get a slice so I offered to make him another one at some point and time. Well the time has come, its his birthday so I made another attempt at the FBCT Steelers logo. For the non-bakers thats a frozen butter cream transfer where you print the logo in mirror image, trace it with icing, freeze for an hour and adhere it to the cake. Moving right along, while the process seems a bit easy mastering this little technique takes a little skill.

The first time I didn't pipe my icing close enough so you could see gaps. This time around I piped too hard and my red bled, ah ha that rhymed. Anyway, its also the second time I didn't check the consistency of my icing which is why my rope is not PERFECT as usual. It would happen in front of the cake too if you notice.

I guess the good thing is I got the practice I needed on the FBCT and I made a friend happy by making him another cake. Practice makes perfect through trial and error.

Practice Makes Perfect

Today I made a little assortment of decorated sugar cookies for my neice. She graduated from Kindergarten this week and she's having a birthday next week. To kill two birds with one stone, I used the same colors on all the cookies and mailed them to her in a complimentary cookie tin.

Since I had extra cookie dough and I had already made a batch of royal icing, I decided to make a few shapes and practice on my cookie decorating skills. The icing consistency was great for outlining but I struggled a little with the thinning at times. My other challenge was making sure I was using the right tips.

Long story short, I was able to practice without wasting. My niece got two presents in one, the baby shower themed cookies are for a friend, the spring cookies were taken by a neighbor, and the others will be displayed in a cookie boquet after frosting.

BANANA NUT CUPCAKES

Someone asked me what's the difference between a muffin and a cupcake, I said one has frosting one doesn't ha ha ha. I had a taste for banana nut cupcakes, or muffins if you prefer, so today I searched a recipe and I got lucky. I started with a recipe from the Neely's on Food Network and changed a few things to my liking along the way.

Yard Sale / Bake Sale

Today's bake sell went over great with the prospective buyers. The cupcake frosted sugar cookies were a hit. There was even a promise for a repeat order and free advertising from a very pleased customer who purchased 4 cookies.

The cookies sold for $.25 or 4/$1 and the brownie bites, with and without walnuts, and lemon cakes sold for $1 per bag. One lady thought she wanted one bag of lemon cakes and after her first bite, changed her mind and bought 3 bags LOL

It was definitely a fun experience that taught me that having snacks at a yard sale can be profitable not only in terms of money, but advertising too.

SUGAR COOKIES

I love chocolate chip cookies but everyone seems to be in love with my sugar cookies. Stay tuned for update pics of frosted cookies later this week. Tell me, what is your favorite type of cookie and maybe you'll see it posted too.

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

Today I made 2 dozen of these little pink frosted bows to support breast cancer awareness. My neighbor Deanna is participating in the 3-day breast cancer walk, (www.the3day.org), and this is my contribution to help her along the way.

Deanna will be hosting a bake sale at work and the funds raised selling these cookies will be used to support her in her efforts. Since money is not the only way you can help, what will you do to support breast cancer awareness?

Lemon Blossoms

7up Pound Cake

Brownie Bites