The Cupcake Thread!

[Mara]

sloppy layers!!! this is the funny part.

 

[Mara]

all frosted and smoothed (kinda)...wish i''d smoothed more but it was okay. it was rustic!

 

[Mara]

my friend caught this picture of me during decoration...it''s a little blurry but cute.

i did the light blue border first then the yellow flowers.

 

[Mara]

and all done!!!

 

[Mara]

a slice !! it was SO YUMMY.

for anyone who wants to try it, it''s the Dorie''s Perfect Party Cake recipe, it''s on hundreds of blogs out there, just google it...!!! I made the buttercream as well, it''s the italian buttercream and it was SO GOOD. and i tried it last week but it didn''t come out right so this time it was PERFECT. i just loved it....and this cake got RAVE reviews. honestly it seems like it was even better last nite after sitting for a full 24 hours. yummmmmm!!!

 

[Lorelei]

Mara that cake looks gorgeous and so yum, got me seriously drooling!

 

[Mara]

ha ha thanks gals. i honestly am REALLY critical about my stuff and most of the time i eat a cupcake or something and think ''that could be way better if i did XYZ next time'' etc etc. i rarely super enjoy something that i made. BUT this cake? I LOVE IT. i ate it with a fork standing by the counter last nite....just a few bites, YUM. hahaha. huge success.

SDL...what do you mean by cuppie threads? sorry i''m confused. this is the only cuppie thread i started?

 

[Skippy123]

Holy Moly Mara, I am coming over w/a giant fork to dig in!!!

Wow, your flowers look great!!! My dad did a cake decorating class and loved it!!! It was cute because the whole family always requested him to do a cake for graduation or bday. You will be getting lots of requests w/your talents; cute pic of you and yay for your diamond making an apperance!hehe


Delster, your cupcakes look delicious, great job!!!

 

[Mara]

hee hee thanks skip!

SDL...i just read all the cupcake blogs online to get ideas...i don''t have any other cupcake threads hehee.

my fave cupcake blogs/websites about cupcakes or baking!

www.cupcakeblog.com
howtoeatacupcake.blogspot.com
gigicakes.blogspot.com
cupcakefetish.com

 

[onvacation]

Hi ladies,
Your cupcakes, recipes, and energy are amazing! They look soooo yummy!!
I was trying to do some wedding prep today and came across something rather funny for me that made me think of you guys here. I hope you don''t mind my posting this? I really suck at baking, so this is probably the best contribution I can make to this thread; a good laugh!

The added bonus is that it''s zero calories! Tehee

http://weddingshop.theknot.com/weddingwarehouse/ProductPage.aspx?scId=OnSaleKWS(KnotShop)&pId=P1008(KnotShop)&cId=OnSaleKWS(KnotShop)&cTypF=OS

Here''s the description :

"Cleavage Cupcakes: Well here¡¯s some delicious news for brides whose cups don¡¯t exactly runneth over: These ingenious gel inserts give even the most challenged chests a totally natural-looking lift. Simply slide them into your bra on your wedding day to give a noticeable (but not too noticeable) boost to your assets. Set of two; one size fits all."

Enjoy!

 

[bebe]

Mara, for your two favorite interests, bling and cupcakes!!

 

[Mara]

lol bebe that is so cute!!!

laughing at the cleavage cupcakes!! wow what will they think of next!

SDL...it's a slippery slope you slide hehe...i love cupcake goodie shopping. the Hello Cupcake book is SO cute...I have it on my counter right now. the other one i just bought is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World because SO many bloggers recommend it, even non-vegans. And I'm not vegan but I find the idea of making cupcakes that people RAVE about totally vegan really interesting! And it has some beautiful looking stuff. Mostly soy milk and coconut oil based ... interesting for sure.

my cupcakes last nite came out SO CUTE....we just got home from our event and they were a huge hit...there were only about 7 minis left when we left and I am sure they were all devoured. i made all vanilla cakes with diff types of frosting, interestingly enough everyone loved the strawbery, Peanut butter and chocolate but the vanilla didn't really get a mention. making mental note for next time!!

i have a ton of pictures too, have to go through them. cake is almost gone! freke, hope you enjoyed those 12 cuppies darlin...and are feeling okay.

 

[flutterby]

mara- everything you make looks so good! seriously, off to google that cake. and as soon as i can eat sweets again (going to mexico in 3 weeks!) I am making it!

Keep taking food pics!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 4/9/2008 10:43:25 AM
Author: Delster
After the sad day yesterday I needed to bake something nice, so I busted out the red velvet cupcake recipe again. Only BF and his pals object to the red food colouring. I believe the phrases 'they're scary!', 'looks like a bloodbath happened while you were baking', and 'all that colouring will make me hyper!' were used. So they requested no colouring.

Ladies, I present to you... naked velvet cupcakes (with vanilla glacé icing)!

Del, your wee cakies look great, even without the red!

I am going to do some plain vanilla sponge this weekend, with plain water icing and various decorations, now I have my coloured icing gels....

 

[FrekeChild]

Mara...There are still I think 4 or five left. I talked BF into eating one, but I''ve done the damage.

Ok, there are only four left, and there are about to be only 3. Because I''m about to hit the coconut.

Apparently a school in New Zealand has banned cupcakes from their elementary school link

 

[Lorelei]

Ok, I have my vanilla sponge cakies in the oven now....I made ''em a day early as I had the bakesies!

 

[Mara]

here are the peanut buttercream vanilla buttermilk cuppies...these were a top fave.

i made italian merengue buttercream and then whipped natural peanut butter into it.

 

[Mara]

and the chocolate buttercream ones...i used the italian merengue base again and whipped cocoa powder in...and i also put a tiny bit of coffee extract, it was so yummy.

 

[ladypirate]

Mara, those look DELICIOUS! The chocolate ones especially--I told myself I wouldn''t bake until this weekend, but I may have to do some cuppies today to satisfy the craving...err...practice my decorating for class. Yes, that''s it...

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 4/10/2008 3:32:21 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 4/10/2008 12:29:34 AM

Author: Mara

lol bebe that is so cute!!!


laughing at the cleavage cupcakes!! wow what will they think of next!


SDL...it''s a slippery slope you slide hehe...i love cupcake goodie shopping. the Hello Cupcake book is SO cute...I have it on my counter right now. the other one i just bought is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World because SO many bloggers recommend it, even non-vegans. And I''m not vegan but I find the idea of making cupcakes that people RAVE about totally vegan really interesting! And it has some beautiful looking stuff. Mostly soy milk and coconut oil based ... interesting for sure.


my cupcakes last nite came out SO CUTE....we just got home from our event and they were a huge hit...there were only about 7 minis left when we left and I am sure they were all devoured. i made all vanilla cakes with diff types of frosting, interestingly enough everyone loved the strawbery, Peanut butter and chocolate but the vanilla didn''t really get a mention. making mental note for next time!!


i have a ton of pictures too, have to go through them. cake is almost gone! freke, hope you enjoyed those 12 cuppies darlin...and are feeling okay.

Where else is a great place to get cupcake stuff shopping?

Sur La Table has a pretty good baking section--also, the internet (esp. ebay) is great for this stuff!

 

[Mara]

my faves are sur la table, michaels, domus (a specialty cooking shop out here). also target actually has some cute stuff sometimes for holidays and their baking area is good. bed bath and beyond again for baking items.

i also have found some great online shops, like the baker''s kitchen carries a ton of specialty items like sparkling sugars and stuff like that. we have two cake specialty shops here as well, locally, i bet you have one too SDL. google ''cake decorating shop'' for SD.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

cupcakefetish.com. now that''s funny!

I wonder if there is a nakedcupcakefetish.com out there somewhere. That''d be freaky.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 4/10/2008 8:26:10 PM
Author: fisherofmengirly
cupcakefetish.com. now that''s funny!

I wonder if there is a nakedcupcakefetish.com out there somewhere. That''d be freaky.

Nope. I googled it.

 

[Mara]

hee hee you guys are silly. SDL michaels will be a fab mecca for you.

i am making a tiramisu layer cake for our neighbor/friend''s bday...we''re going to dinner tomorrow night and then coming home for dessert. the cake is in the oven, i did a very tall 6" so it''s a super deep pan. interesting baking with it because it takes like 2x as long as a wide flatter pan. i hope that the bottom doesn''t get burned, i just turned the heat down slightly. we shall see. top is still pale.

the cake itself is like a regular vanilla cake, from dorie''s book where the perfect party cake was from. the tiramisu recipe called for soaking layers of the cake and then layering with a marscapone buttercream but i am going to make a marscapone filling and use my chocolate mocha swiss merengue buttercream as the frosting and inside layer as well. i thought about putting coffee in the cake itself but that might be too much. i MAY soak the layers in some espresso, not sure...we''ll see. but i figure with the marscapone layer and then on top choco mocha buttercream...just need maybe a little bit more coffee in it.

anyhow, i had rave reviews on my cuppies last nite, don''t remember if i said that already but everyone seemed to like them, which was super cool! they loved the strawberry, PB and chocolate the best. funny because it always seems like vanilla is people''s ''go to'' cupcake but those were the last ones to go (though they got eaten too!) ... maybe too boring for people!

freke how many cuppies left ?you enjoy those lady.

 

[ladypirate]

So I couldn''t get over the baking urge yesterday, but I made brownies rather than cupcakes. I''d take pictures, but I think Kris has already eaten most of them.

I''m trying that "Perfect Party Cake" this weekend in my 8" pans, Mara. I''ll definitely let you know how it comes out!

 

[Mara]

okay so i was worried about the tiramisu cake because it took FOREVER and a day to bake in the 6" deep pan but it came out DIVINE!! i let it cool and then split it into 4 layers and the inside looks so perfect. i also flattened the crown a bit so i ate the crumbs from that and YUMMMMMM. i am going to try to make this into a cupcake...it uses a lot of buttermilk and you can TASTE that in the cake, and i love vanilla and buttermilk. so i will fill it and frost it this afternoon for eating tonite after dinner!!! i can''t wait to see how it comes out. it will be 6" 4 layers with cream in between each. decadent!

 

[FrekeChild]

Mara if you have a pastry brush I would try to "paint" the cake layers just a little bit with espresso/liqueur, so that you get a bit of the flavor in there. I think what you have planned sounds fab. I want to come over and sample!!

No more cuppies left. Key lime was the last to go.

I think that one and the red velvet are my faves. I really didn't like the coconut-which SUCKS because it's my favorite flavor. Perhaps once things settle down (mom gets out of the hospital, my birthday is over, school is over, etc.) I'll make up some of my own coconut cuppies. They didn't taste like coconut at all, in fact they were dryish because the cake just had the dry coconut flakes in it.

I met the owner of Cupcakeology, she was there when I went in, and I just kept thinking, "I should work for you and improve your product, but I don't want to in case I become competition one day..." Little does she know that I buy a dozen of her cupcakes and then go home a rip them apart, taste/texture/consistency etc. I wonder if when you google Cupcakeology if PS comes up...Just did it, and not on the first two pages at least.

What's funny is that in my search, I found out that they are hiring a cashier(Craigslist)-You guys think I should apply?

 

[Skippy123]

Mara, did you give the recipe to the Tiramisu cake?? If not could you tell us where you found it please or the link? Also, does it taste like tiramisu? You are quite the baker. hehe

 

[jas]

I just wanted to add that I made the red velvet cuppies that were posted here -- and they were outstanding. Not too sweet but oh-so-yummy. I decided to go against "color" and make some heavenly chocolate frosting. They look amateurish, but holy cow are they delish. Now I have to work on my decorating skills.

 

[asscher_girl]

"asscher, yep still in SJ.....we talk about moving but greg just got a new fab job that he is so excited about so we won''t be leaving in the next 1-2 years. funny because he was looking in other states too but this is the one that happened and it''s exactly in the industry he wants to be so he''s jazzed. so now we might move to a house or someting, we have to figure out our timelines.

funny, greg first lived in FC when he moved here and both he and i worked there for a few years too. it''s def chillier there and a little windy for my taste but it was fun! and there are a ton of fab places in SM for dinner for sure. you are close to bgame too right? some great jewelry stores and cute little cafe''s there (check out Alana''s for breakfast and eat their oatmeal pancakes!! also Crepevine is yummy!)...!"


Hi Mara, I forgot to reply... that''s so great that Greg got a new job, congrats!! Yeah Foster City is a little windy but it''s beautiful today

It will be interesting to see what the weather is like this summer. Yep, close to Burlingame. Haven''t checked it out yet but hope too soon. Thanks for the restauant rec''s, we''ll have to check those out.