Valentine’s Day

Posted at 2:22am | 2 comments

Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching, I decided to see what I could come up with in the way of cupcakes and make them available for people to purchase for…whoever. If its their mother, sister, boyfriend, brother, father, girlfriend, wife, husband, or friend. WHOEVER ( even yourself, I don’t judge)

SO, We put together this little handy pdf file for people to see what I have available. Flowers are over-rated. Let Sweet Remedy play Cupid this year

For the box of 4 cupcakes you can choose from 3 different flavors: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting, Chocolate Strawberry which is Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Preserve Filling and Strawberry Frosting topped with a Strawberry, or Maple Bacon which is Cinnamon Cake with Maple Bacon Frosting Topped with a Thick Cut of Candied Bacon.

maple bacon & strawberry cupcakes. including a decorative box.

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

Now, with the box of cupcakes let me just make it clean that you can choose what flavors go into the box. If you want 2 maple bacon and 2 red velvet. cool.  if you want them all chocolate & strawberry…okay! and vise versa. oh the options!!!

now, the flavor choices…I think two of them are obvious. but some people are probably going “eww” about the maple bacon option. I originally said to myself, this is all very girly. what about the guys?! Then it hit me: Maple Bacon is a VERY popular cupcake flavor. Seriously. Google it if you don’t believe me! Even Chocolate covered bacon is pretty popular, it’s like…the ultimate sweet & salty combo. Really, TRY IT if you haven’t.

I also for some strange reason associate bacon as a pretty manly food. So I thought, okay! Maple Bacon as a third flavor.  But of course if you think your mother, sister, girlfriend, wife, friend person would like maple bacon, by all means…

So the prices are all on the .pdf CHECK IT OUT

Also, available are Red Velvet Cake Truffles in a qty of 12 or 24. 12 comes in a decorated bag with nice ribbons and all cute. 24 is in a box. The boxes are either red with pink or just plain pink. These are a pretty big deal apparently, I have Three orders for BOXES already! (and 1 order a box of red velvet cupcakes.)

Sugar Cookies are also an option as you will see on the pdf. Unfortunatley I do not have any pictures of my pretty decorated heart shaped cookies but they will be great I can assure you as I am mastering my cookie decorating skillz.

And, Finally. HUGE, GIANT, BIG Chocolate Bars!! Yes my friends, they are wonderful & Heart Shaped! The Flavors are :

Chocolate & M&M’s – Self-Explanitory?

Cookies & Cream – White Chocolate with Oreo pieces.

Chocolate & Crushed Almonds

And I can probably do something special if you’d like something not listed. Shoot an email over to SweetRemedy.Bakes@gmail.com to place an order or ask any questions

***Orders Must be Placed by FEB 10th. Arrangements for pick up or delivery will be made after order is placed. All Deliveries are designated to Middletown and its Surrounding Areas! No Shipping! Sorry! ***

Christmas Mini’s

Posted at 12:02am | 0 comments

wow, this post is SO LATE. It would have been acceptable to post it a few days after xmas, maybe even into the new year a few days but we are now 14 days into January!

So these are the 60+ mini cupcakes I made for my Christmas Festivities. They were all Chocolate or Vanilla cake and had 3 kinds of frostings. 1. Peppermint. 2. Eggnog. 3. Gingerbread. I do believe that the Gingerbread/Vanilla combination were the biggest HIT. (they were really really good..)

The peppermint have candy cane pieces sticking out, the gingerbread has crushed gingerbread cookies I made as topping, and the eggnog has a dash of nutmeg. they were beautiful if you ask me. When people eat something you worked really hard on and say “mmm” its pretty much….well, awesome. I really enjoy that people enjoy my baked goods.

Now, Just a little bit about my new layout. You will notice that the side bar isn’t completed. I’m waiting for the designer to make it “widget ready.” She doesn’t have internet at the moment, so it will probably be AWHILE before I get that completed. I’ll just have to be patient.

& I found a cupcake blogger who is using the same cupcake brushes I found, JavaCupcake. I’m hoping to find an artist/designer to make me a cupcake logo that is more original and so no other blogs will start using the same cupcake brushes because they are VERY EASY to find. you just google cupcake brushes, lol. ALSO, Check out JavaCupcake, very cool stuff & enter to win her give-away!

I am currently trying to take Sweet Remedy to the next level. I’m looking into trademarking the name & getting things more professional looking instead of just a blog where I write some stuff down. I want to be taken seriously & I want this to become my business. I don’t see myself doing anything else. I’m dying at my office desk.  I am also working on getting all the certifications I need to be able to conduct food business out of my home kitchen, getting business cards made and working on stickers and other packaging ideas  (once i get a logo i am happy with 100%)

I’m working on my menu that you will find up top with the other links. I’m not completely done writing it out and tweaking it. And, I am also basically baking down that list, and as I bake down it I will add the picture of each cupcake and keep the recipe nice and safe in a book I bought specifically for my recipes.  Hopefully, it will get done rather quick and I will be able to offer every flavor to everyone!

Above is an example of what the images on the menu will look like, that is the first cupcake I made off the “menu” (its banana) And it was DAMN good. I’m trying to find someone who has some knowledge in html who can code the menu page for me so that when you mouse over the name of a cupcake, this picture will change. Anyone ???

For Valentine’s Day :

I’m going to be offering some pre-set goodies available for purchase for Valentine’s Day. I’ve had some good results when I questioned who would be interested. Right now, It looks like I’ll be offering 4 cupcakes in a very nice presentation/bakery box. and other candy, cookies and cake truffles. I’m working out the prices at the moment and this weekend I will be baking and putting them together so I can advertise it all before Feb 14th.

This is whats going on in my brian, trying to get the ball rolling here. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life when it comes to this kind of thing. (you know, the big question a lot of people my age have : what do I want to do with my life? )  Well, I’ve answered that. It’s really time to stop being IDLE and DO SOMETHING.  There are so many things I should have done with myself that I didn’t because it was just easier not to. Examples : Not going away to college, not finishing anything. So many opportunities have come and gone and I’ve just watched them pass by.

Holiday Cupcakes in Jars!

Posted at 2:28am | 0 comments

So, I’ve been wanting to send my family in FL my cupcakes & I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do so. Then Beantown Baker’s blog about cupcakes in jars and needless to say I figured out a way to get them some cupcakes. I decided on doing this when I first saw the post which was a while ago but I figured I’d save it for christmas.

First I made up some labels, which were a PAIN. Firstly, I’m no photoshop wiz. and second, my printer would only print blank pages, and the new printer we had in our garage kept jamming when I put the sticker labels in it. SO, I had to print them from work on regular paper and kind of tape them on.

I got some xmas paper from the scrapbooking section in AC MOORE and a cute paper punch and I started to make my labels. Some say “Happy Holidays” other say “Baked with Love”  I made some Gingerbread men as well & they have cute labels that say “can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man” ( mainly for my niece and nephews benefit. ) I grabbed some ribbon from AC Moore too, its this cute red lacy ribbon. I dig it.

Now, the flavors. I originally gave my family a choice. Between 3 flavors of frosting & 2 flavors of cake. They were eggnog, gingerbread, peppermint for the frosting. Then chocolate & vanilla for the cake. So far, no one asked for vanilla or gingerbread so I decided to scratch that. The majority of the votes were for chocolate and peppermint. SO, thats what I made the most of. My dear brother was the first to say eggnog, SO I had to run to the store and grab some because mine that I bought a week or so ago had expired! THANKS BRO. Then his wife decided she wanted VANILLA & GINGERBREAD, well sorry Jenn, You got Chocolate & Peppermint.

I decided to make these a test run. If they make it to FL from NY and still taste delicious and moist I may start making Cupcakes in Jars available on Etsy. I just need a logo an what not so I can put them on every jar & a working printer that will print circle labels that are 2 and 1/2 inches around.

Chocolate Cupcakes: (martha stewart)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a
time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add
flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending
with flour. Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted
in centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Let cupcakes cool, Arrange in  jars if you so choose or just frost with your choice of frosting. I basically took my cupcakes, unwrapped them, then I layered the cake and frosting in the jars.

Eggnog Buttercream:

1 cup butter

6-8 C. powdered sugar

2 t. vanilla

1/2 C. eggnog ( I used a bit more eggnog than that, I just kept adding it till it tasted good to me)

Directions: Cream the butter and add in 1 cup powdered sugar. Add eggnog and vanilla then add powdered sugar until 6 cups are mixed well. Add more until you come to the consistency you like.

Cupcake Hero Prizes

Posted at 4:04pm | 1 comment

I know  I know, I’m seriously late with this post. I got these prizes very quickly sent to me from CB. But, I never uploaded them after I took all these pictures.

SO pictured above you will see my keys. I love the keychain, it might be my favorite thing. It is from the Leather Prince on Etsy. There are a lot of cute little keychains there.

Next, hand embroidered cupcake hero hand towels by StitchesAPlenty I haven’t even used these yet, I don’t want to get them messed up or stained so they sit on my oven

Then,  There are the cupcake Pot Holders from Sygnet Creations. SO CUTE. I love this fabric. I used them once, they aren’t that thick so I could feel the heat through them and almost dropped my cupcakes, BUT STILL CUTE nonetheless. Check out the Etsy store they have some adorable stuff.

And Ah, the Iphone case from Gadget Gear on Etsy. REALLY CUTE. I dislike yellow quite a bit but it is STILL adorable.

I love this little note pad. its too cute. I write pretty much everything on it. It comes from Liz Sage on Etsy. Check out her Store its kind of inspired me to start making my own gift tags and maybe branching out into other things. I’ve always been obsessed with stationary.

A group shot of every prize.  see the tiny cupcakes? those are magnets from Three Rabbits, and you know they are on my fridge! And to the left is cupcake lipbalm from Kupcake Naturals on Etsy but the Etsy Store no longer is active

Also, I seem to have not taken a picture of TWO prizes, 1. These lovely little cupcake earings from Tiny Tokens. and 2. Askinoise Chocolate Cocoa Powder & Bar. I will be using the cocoa tomorrow So I’ll be sure to let everyone know what I think of it ASAP.

I just wanted to make this post to let everyone who participates in Cupcake Hero see how AWESOME these prizes really are and to Thank the Sponsors & CB for putting on this contest for everyone each month.

Pina Colada Cupcakes

Posted at 1:34am | 0 comments

So, December’s Cupcake Hero Ingredient is COCONUT. So I decided to replicate a pina colada and came up with a Vanilla Cake filled with a Pineapple Filling and topped Coconut Buttercream.

Even though my lips get tingly when I eat coconut I decided to try these cupcakes after I was finished and oh man I am glad I did because…SO GOOD.

Vanilla Cake:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup milk

Pineapple Filling:
½ cup white sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup diced fresh pineapple
¾ cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon butter

Coconut Buttercream Frosting:
1-½ sticks butter, room temperature
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ½-4 cups powdered sugar
1-½ cups coconut, sweetened flaked

Cake:

In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk in three additions. Beating until smooth.
Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20–25 minutes until golden and brown.let cool in pan or rack for 10 min. Remove from pan and cool comepletely on rack.

Filling:

In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in egg, pineapple and pineapple juice. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has thickened. Stir in butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Frosting:

Beat butter briefly, scrape bowl.
Add the sifted powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth.
Add coconut and mix until combined.

top with dried pineapple and more shredded coconut

I obviously gave these away because I can’t eat more than one of them or else I’d gain back the weight I’ve lost in like a day because I would eat the entire batch. I was told I’ve outdone myself because they were THAT GOOD.

Good Luck to everyone this month and don’t forget that Jamieanne is hosting December’s cupcake hero so be sure to send her your e-mails.

The Insides are Filled with Pineapple Filling and were Delicious. Its kind of hard to see the filling because the colors are similar but YUM

Dear Santa,

Posted at 2:22am | 0 comments

Just a quick Holiday Gift Guide for Cupcake Freaks!

1.  A Cupcake Courier, Seriously. I for one, NEED this (and most of the items on this list) I’ve been in the position to deliver cupcakes for people and I’ve been using horrible ways to transport said cupcakes. (things like boxes & other containers with no lids that just don’t do the trick) It is SO upsetting to see your hard work in the kitchen of frosting and decorating cupcakes when they FALL on top of one another.  Literally, heartbreaking.

2.  Large, Medium and Small Glass Containers! These would be perfect to put Flour, Sugar & Any other ingredients in for EASY USAGE. I have a hard time getting flour & sugar out of their bags and IMO, it takes WAY too much time. If I got these for Christmas I’d be one happy girl. I’d totally hand paint the words “Flour” or “Sugar” on them. MAN, I am cute.

3. Ceramic Cupcakes, duh! What kitchen would be complete without these?! NONE I say! I found them by searching the world wide interweb and there are a lot of different kinds. The one I linked is a Christmas-y version of the two pictured. Sadly, I couldn’t find the two pictured ANYWHERE I also Found a Halloween Version Here and another CUTE one Here!

4.  Tea Cups!! How cute? I drink A LOT of tea so these would be so USEFUL to me, but also, I would totally sneak them in my cupcake photography because they are just that awesome. I looked everywhere for them, I wanted them to be SPECIFIC! with the WIDE opening and the cute handle and very round.

5. Glass Kitchen Aid Bowl! Now, I don’t even have a kitchen aid & I want this for when I finally get one! You can Microwave it and all kinds of neat stuff, and personally, I like being able to SEE through and look at what I’m mixing

6. Wilton Tool Caddy! I spotted this when I was shopping for some holiday baking supplies recently. I am a neat freak & All my stuff is Organized in a TINY bin, This would just make my organization and cleaning up a whole lot smoother. I might need more than one for all the supplies I’ve accumulated during the passed few months..

7. Victoria’s Secret Cupcake Undies! FOR Serious, get these for your cupcake loving girlfriend. I bought them for myself and they are the COOLEST. They also had ones that said “hello cupcake” on the butt that I grabbed, and a rhinestone cupcake t shirt that I would never wear out in public but wear to bed

8. Johnny Cupcakes Apparel. Pretty much anything from The Johnny Cupcakes Brand will do. This company is extremely amazing, I love the story behind it and ALL of the merchandise they sell. I really would like to visit the Boston store some day (and then stop into Lush and Sweet for some soap & cupcakes) I love this blue hoodie but its SOLD OUT at the moment and this Yosemite Sam/Bugs Bunny T-shirt is great, it would be my favorite shirt because my dad had a Yosemite Sam Tattoo on his right arm.

9. Digital Measuring Cup. I need this. No ifs and or buts about it. I can’t do math. I am horrid at it. Even simple math like fractions and measurements, yeah go ahead, LAUGH. but I HATE when a recipe says it needs some crazy measurement that I have no idea how many are in a cup or teaspoon. Honestly, the DEMY that I won for the Iron Cupcake contest is AWESOME and has a converter but I just want to measure my stuff and be done with it, SO THIS is needed.

10. Cupcake Art, In specific WALL DECOR. yes. I want this in my kitchen when “I grow up” and have my own kitchen/house to go insane with. I’m obsessed with..Bookshelves. There will be a lot of books/shelves for them. But this cupcake art  is sooo adorable. If I ever get a logo for this blog/future business I would love to get a wall art decal thingy of it and plaster it EVERYWHERE. or this one is cute enough

& this concludes my list of things to buy your cupcake lover friend/gf/mom/cousin/sister/brother/aunt/ etc. (or yourself,which is what I will be doing)

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Posted at 3:24am | 1 comment

So, I know I’m late on posting these seeing as its already the 6th of December. But, I’ve been Lazy, Stressed, and Crazy as always.

I wanted to go all out  & get nuts with these Holiday Flavors. But, It didnt happen like that. I guess I was too “busy” to do everything I wanted. I think I’ve lost some steam.. But what I did come up with was:

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting! (They are also VEGAN & my life long friend Jenna LOVED them even more because of said fact)

Notice the Baking Cups? I won them from October’s Iron Cupcake Pretty right?

Sweet Potato Cupcakes:  makes about 12 cupcakes (maybe 14ish)

1 cup sweet potato puree

or two large sweet potatoes

1/4 cup flax seed meal

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup soymilk

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Marshmallow Frosting:

2 sticks margarine (no whey)

1 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8-ounces of marshmallow cream (vegan brand)

Directions:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Place cupcake liners in pan

In a large bowl, mix the sweet potato puree, soymilk, vegetable oil, sugars, and vanilla together.

Sift the flour, flax seed meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together in a second bowl (medium size) Then, combine the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until mixed well.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool & Frost with Marshmallow frosting.

Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the margarine until creamy.

Beat in half of the sugar until fluffy, continue until sugar is completely mixed.

Beat in the vanilla, then stir in the marshmallow cream until well blended.

Aren’t my plates awesome? Yes, I know they are. I wish i had better lighting & what not. /sigh

I also made PECAN CUPCAKES with BROWN SUGAR FROSTING note: these cupcakes are NOT vegan

I was rather upset with these cupcakes. the cake was good, the frosting was awesome But, I had big plans for these babies. I wanted to fill them with pecan pie filling BUT, I just didn’t have the time unfortunately. VERY SAD.

Pecan Cake:

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup butter

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

DIrections:

Preheat ovan to 350 Degrees then In 2-quart saucepan over medium low heat, brown pecans in butter until butter is lightly browned; stir constantly. Drain browned butter into a measuring cup; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder, salt, milk, vanilla, eggs, and 1/2 cup of the browned butter. Beat and Stir in 3/4 cup of the chopped pecans. Line Muffins Tins with Liners &  Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool & Frost with Brown Sugar Frosting.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

1 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cups milk

Cream together Light-Brown Sugar and Butter, add salt and milk. Frosting should be very stiff and pipe-able.

My mother actually LIKED these cupcakes, SO, it wasn’t a total failure. They were very good I just wanted to add a Pecan Pie filling in them. The rest of my family said they were pretty awesome as well. My family gatherings get smaller and smaller every year, It makes me so completely sad that this christmas its just going to be my mother & I.

But, That won’t stop me from making a ridiculous amount of cupcakes for two people. 1 who will not even cupcakes or anything really, and the other who loves cupcakes but is on weight watchers now!! hahah.

Coconut Cupcakes with PB frosting & Apple Pie Filling

Posted at 4:06pm | 6 comments

Holy Long TITLE/Cupcake name. I’m really sad about these cupcakes. When the Cupcake Hero ingredient was announced  I kept thinking: Coconut.  I don’t know where I got this crazy idea to use coconut with peanut butter, but it came to me, maybe in a dream, who knows. But I couldn’t get it out of my head.  So I pretty much HAD to use it so it would stop haunting me. But it is STILL haunting me because these cupcakes were a BUST. I don’t think you are suppose to say that when you are promoting yourself/entering cupcake contests but

I think its okay since I already won both Iron Cupcake & Cupcake Hero ( I swear thats the last time I’ll mention it, yeah right..) But so Now I just plan to do the contests for fun, So I can say if something I made wasn’t the best idea.

THEN, the Iron Cupcake ingredient was announced & lately I’ve been obsessed with making my Apple Pie Filling for EVERYTHING since I STILL have the bushel of Apples I got from SOON’s Orchard

So Since I had my apple pie filling already made & in the fridge & Coconut wouldn’t get out of my head, The “Coconut Cupcakes & Peanut Butter Frosting with Apple Pie Filling” were born. Any Ideas for a shorter name? Not like it matters, I’ll probably never make these again!

Now, let me say a few more things before I got and post the recipes & some pretty pictures.

1. I am pretty sure I am allergic to Coconut! I ate one and my lips went numb & kind of fat! Maybe thats why I didn’t enjoy these?

2. Everything tasted GREAT but I think for me anyway, It was the combo that wasn’t the greatest.

3. I’ve also had some stuff going on with my family, I could rant about how much I hate cancer right now, But I won’t. SO between al that, some other stuff that stresses me out constantly, my job, etc etc etc I haven’t had all the time in the world to bake, So I did both contests in one cupcake, oops.

So This is my Entry for BOTH Cupcake Hero & Iron Cupcake. Everyone else competing are in the running for some AWESOME prizes *They are seriously awesome, trust me*

Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:

The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

Coconut Cake: 24 cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees:  Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended.

Beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Apple Pie Filling:

5 apples, peeled/cored & cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup light brown sugar
3tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

Peel Apples, remove core & seeds. Cut into halves, then quarters. (for filling cupcakes or other things cut into smaller pieces) Place Apples in a sauce pan, Add water & stir. Add Brown Sugar, Corn Starch,  Cinnamon & Nutmeg, Stir & Bring to Medium/Low heat for 20-25 minutes. If water evaporates too quickly, add more.  Stir Occasionally. After about 25 minutes remove from heat & let cool.

Prizes!

Posted at 6:02pm | 0 comments

So far, I’ve gotten the  Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac and The Cake Mix Doctor Returns by Anne Byrn

The book is VERY interesting. Upon receiving it in the mail I ripped it open & looked through almost every page. You can do SO MUCH with a regular plain old cake mix! There are so many recipes in this book that make me feel OKAY about using the cake mixes that are in my kitchen that have been rotting there & it shows how creative you can get with just a cake mix. So although I am normally Baked From Scratch —>

I’d still use some of these recipes to spice up the cake mix that would otherwise go bad in my kitchen

I didn’t realize I’d be getting 5 sets of cupcake stackers, when I got these I was pretty excited. I sat there arranging them over and over again in different ways. They are TOO MUCH FUN. ALSO, you can use them for other things:

for ingredients, for putting out food items at parties, its pretty much endless.

& actually now that I am sitting here typing this out, I think that would be a perfect size for a bowl of cereal.

You know how a serving size of cereal is always like 1/3 cup or something stupid, and the bowls we are using can hold like 3 servings of cereal & then you think to yourself as you pour out this giant bowl of cereal. SELF: you are only eating 110-130 calories in this bowl of cereal, oh and plus the milk. look at you go! BUT in reality you just ate probably 300-400 calories. That really…dare I say, Grinds my Gears.

Anyway, I get so super excited every time I see a package on my doorstep. Just waiting on that DEMY…anxiously…

Boston Cream Cupcakes!

Posted at 10:25pm | 3 comments

I made these cupcakes a while back & I guess I’ve been slacking with putting them up here. I stated blogging when I lost my job and got really really bored. I guess I started baking because of that same reason. I became obsessed with cupcake pictures and art & never set foot in the kitchen for anything except microwave usage or grabbing something quick. Now, I have a new job (finally) & my blogging and cupcake making has been less & less

but anyway, BOSTON CREAM CUPCAKES!

BOSTON CREAM CUPCAKES

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt

2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk in three additions. Beating until smooth.

3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and brown.let cool in pan or rack for 10 min. Remove from pan and cool.

Filling:

3 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

pinch salt

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup whipping cream, plus 3 tbsp divided

2 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla

1. In a heavy saucepan, mix together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in egg yolks, milk and 1/4 cup of cream until smooth. Bring mixture to simmer over medium heat. Whisking continously.

2. Once mixture is at a simmer and begins to thicken, remove from heat but continue whisking until very thick. Whisk in butter and a vanilla paste until butter is melted and custard is smooth.

3. Spoon custard into a small bowl. Fill a slightly larger bowl with ice. Place small bowl of custard on top of ice. Whisk custard until cool. Remove small pan, dry bottom and sides with a towel so that no moisture gets inside the bowl.

4. Whisk in remaining 3 tsbp whipping cream. Place a piece of plastic wrap on surface of custard and refrigerate for 40 min or untill chilled or for up to 2 days.

Glaze:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup whipping cream

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and cream. Microwave uncovered on High for 40 sec. or until cream is hot and chocolate is soft and almost melted. Stir until smooth. Let chocolate mixture sit for 5 min. or until slightly cooled but still spreadable.

I used the Cone Method on these & spooned in the custard. you could use a pastry bag but I didn’t want to waste my disposable ones.

for the chocolate glaze, I just took each cupcake after they were filled & placed the tops of the cupcake into the bowl & moved it around a bit.

In all honestly, I don’t know where I found this recipe anymore, it was just on my computer when I went to make them with no other notes!  So if its yours and you stumble upon this, I apologize

I’m not a big boston cream donut fan, I think there is TOO MUCH custard in them, but these cupcakes were pretty awesome, I guess I put just enough custard inside. Also, The chocolate glaze was alittle too bitter for me, I  hate dark chocolate and what not, So if I were going to make these again I’d prob use milk chocolate! or sweeter chocolate. I’m not really sure which kind of chocolate are on actual boston cream donuts since I don’t eat them.

regardless, they were pretty awesome!