It's Been So Long - So, Very Long...

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile! I was out of town and then my schedule changed a bit, etc. BUT, I'm back with a very important post - especially for those in the Chicago area.

I'm participating in my very first Iron Cupcake Chicago challenge this Monday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m.! Detes are below.

It's totally FREE though, so if you are in the area and love FREE CUPCAKES I'd love to see you there. Also, the theme is CANDY - so there should be some interesting entries. More on my entries later...

Thanks!

********
WHAT: Iron Cupcake Chicago

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 14, 6 p.m.

WHERE: Veranda Restaurant
5700 W. Irving Park (at Major) - sorry, kinda randy locale

WHY: FREE stuff and to support me! :)

Junk Cookies & Junk TV

OK, normally I hate posts, items, write-ups (what have you) that are written in the following manner. DailyCandy LOVES to do it, and every time, I'm like really? Is this funny? Can't you just tell us about the new store?

However, I need to recount a conversation that I had with Brad and this is the best way to do it. So, here goes...

Me: "I made cookies, do you want one?"

Brad: "Sure." (munch, munch, munch)

Brad: "These are good hon. What are they?"

Me: "Martha calls them kitchen sink cookies. But, I'm calling mine "junk cookies."

Brad: "Are they from a kit?"

Me: "What do you mean, "a kit?""

Brad: "Like a kit? A box or mix?"

Me: (Looking incredulous) "Do you know who you are talking to?" (thinking, WTF - where have you been the last 6 months?)

Brad: "Well, you've made other things from a box before, like brownies."

Me: "Those are fat free brownies. Did you even look at the giant, jam-packed with ingredients cookie in your hand? "Stuff like that doesn't come from a box!!!"

(note, the fat free brownies are good and I do not by any means only bake from scratch or with real butter...)

But, I mean, seriously, look at the pics below.

Would YOU ask if those came from a box? Cookies with semi-sweet chocolate, butterscotch and white chocolate chips; pistachios, almonds and peanuts; raisins; and a few reese's pieces and chocolate-covered coffee beans?!

I proceeded to re-tell this story to numerous people throughout the weekend. People we knew, of course - with Brad present so I could make him feel like an idiot. Nice wife, eh? :)

I hope you can tell why I'm calling them junk cookies though. I had a bunch of bags of ingredients that were almost gone and I wanted to use them up. You can pretty much throw in anything you want.

On to junk TV. I'm pretty much an addict. If its "bad," I'll watch it. But, if its actually bad - I know where to draw the line. Like I haven't indulged in "More to Love" - but, I also kinda have a problem with that whole concept...

Anyway, I bring up junk TV in conjunction with junk cookies because I was watching "Addicted to Beauty" while I was making them. Seriously people, this show is ridiculous. Maybe not the show per se, but the people on the show.

I doubt this will make it into my regular rotation. But, I encourage you to watch it just once (or for five minutes) as a reminder why you shouldn't get too much botox or too much boob injected into you. Just look at Dianne and Shannyn and you'll know what I mean.

Speaking of regular rotation though, when will "The Pick Up Artist" come back?!? Now, that's good, bad TV!

Julie & Julia & Katie

It's probably no surprise, but I'm reading Julie & Julia. I'm probably late on this, I guess it was published awhile ago...oh, well. But, where was I when all the hype was going around? Oh, I was probably trying to work my way up the corporate ladder.

While reading today, it got me hungry. Well, some parts of it got me hungry - the description of eggs ensconced in jelly - did not. So...I made something to eat. This is the part that I find hilarious, which inspired this short post.

In the book, huge, timely, rich and decadent recipes (requiring multiple sticks of butter) are written about in detail (hence the making me hungry part). But, what did I eat??

-100 calorie english muffin
-fat free cheese
-frozen mixed vegetables

A far cry from boeuf bourguignon - right?! But, to me it was a light lunch that I actually like - for reals.

BTW, I finished the book in between writing this. I thought it was "meh." I'll probably still go see the movie though.

Oh, I did prepare dinner for me and Brad (love my slow cooker) that we'll enjoy after I get my ass kicked in bootcamp tonight.

Two Cakes and a Cooler

Last week was busy. I had two cakes to make, a trip to Indy, a kickball game, classes at my new gym (in which the "warm up" consisted of 64 push ups, WTF?!), etc.

Cake #1 was actually for the trip to Indy. I was surprising my mother-in-law for an early birthday celebration and thought it would be easier to take a cake from Chicago to Indy, than Chicago to Charleston, SC.

Yellow Smiley Face Cake with

Chocolate Ganache Filling and Frosting

We're going to SC in a few weeks for MIL's actual birthday - and supposedly 90+ degree weather. Maybe I should buy that personal-sized Skittles fan that I saw at Blockbuster...

Anyway, the trip was fun, she was so surprised and LOVED the cake - yay! (PS, she used to like those smiley face cookies, hence the cake...get it?) I have some tips below on how I made the three-hour car trip in the middle of summer with a chocolate-covered cake - it is possible!

Cake #2 was actually my first "paid" cake! I know, right? Thanks to my awesome friends that like the stuff I make and refer me to their family and friends.

Bridal Shower Cake - Chocolate Cake with Raspberry and

Chocolate Ganache Filling and Mousseline Buttercream Frosting

The bride's colors were "Tiffany" blue and red wine - and I have to say I think I got the colors spot on. That's why I included the Tiff's box in the pic. :P

From what I've heard the cake was a success - sweet!

Now, what you've been waiting for...my magical cake-transporting tips. Like I said with my sister's graduation cake - in my head it made complete sense to me that I should be able to drive a cake from Chicago to Indianapolis in the middle of summer.

Well, of course I was right. The cake arrived in perfect condition, thanks to the following:

• ice
• cooler
• air conditioned car

Here's what I did:

• Made and frosted the cake a day ahead of time
• Put cake in a cake cover and froze the entire thing overnight
• Bought a deep, square cooler and filled with bags of ice
• Wedged cake in cooler with ice packs
• Kept car air conditioning on high
• Checked cake a few times to make sure ice wasn't melting completely
• Voila!
  

If you ever do this, just remember to put the cake in a fridge upon arrival at location. You don't want to thaw from frozen at room temp, or else something funky will happen with the condensation.

Go cake!

Iron Cupcake: July 2009, Entry 2

Second entry for Iron Cupcake July is.....drum roll.....a Sage-Poached Pear filled Pumpkin Cupcake with Sage Whipped Cream frosting. If there was a section in Iron Cupcake for "longest names" I think I'd win.

But, I'm telling you - if you like all things fall, like me, you will LOVE this cupcake. It's going to be a must-have (just like shoulder pads and neon pink - they're back baby!), at least in my household.

I wanted to do something with sage and pear because its a unique combo. I swear I read about this somewhere and of course now I can't find the article, otherwise I would have linked to it. Pumpkin and sage are often paired together, so I thought the spicy and moist cupcake base would be great with the herb-poached pears. With all the flavors, spices and herbs going on I just did a light and sweet "real" whipped cream frosting.

Even though it might sound like there's a lot of sage going on (I mean, the challenge ingredient is herbs) - it's not overpowering and the whole cupcake, filling and frosting combo is delish.

If you are a nerd like me and are interested in food and flavor trends, check out the following links. The food pubs and trades always send out trend info right before and right after the new year.

Flavor pairings

Food and ingredient trends


Iron Cupcake info:

I'm competing to win the following prizes. July ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

•A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
•A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
•Asweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
•PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382

Corporate prize providers:

•HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com/
•HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/
•JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com/
•TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com/
•A t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/
•Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com/

Iron Cupcake: July 2009, Entry 1

I'm not, nor have I ever been pregnant (not that there's anything wrong with that) - but I happen to like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I haven't had one in a long time - probably not since I ate real peanut butter, not Better 'n Peanut Butter (it's really good tho, I promise!).

Well, I found myself with a lot of leftover peanut butter frosting from the birthday cake craziness and the next baking project I had coming up was the July Iron Cupcake challenge. HERBS.



Hmm...you can probably see where I'm going with this. It might seem out there, but I wanted to do a take on the old peanut butter and DILL pickle sandwich. Hence, the Sweet Buttermilk-Dill Cupcake with Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting was born.


The buttermilk and dill aren't overpowering, so the cupcake is still sweet - and the frosting is just damn good (add cinnamon if you're feeling a little crazy!). I even made it with reduced fat pb, but I'm sure the heavy cream made up for it.

I'm going to work on another entry, maybe something with sage...

In the meantime, here are a few tips, since I love tips. I'll post this recipe separately.

• When working with herbs, start with a little bit and slowly increase to taste - you can always add, but it's hard to pick little bits out of a batter or frosting
• When working with brown frosting, do not use a large round open decorating tip - unless you want your cupcake to look like you know what! (or, do you think mine still looks like you know what?)
  

Iron Cupcake info:

I'm competing to win the following prizes. July ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
• Asweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382
  

Corporate prize providers:

• HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com/
• HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/
• JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com/
• TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com/
• A t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/
• Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com/

Finished Birthday Cakes

I apologize for my lack of photography skills in these pics. But, I was extremely busy with my deadline (OK, so it was self-inflicted, but whatever!) of multiple cakes due on the same day for the big 30th B-day Bash. Check 'em out below!

Giant Corn Dog Cake!

Chocolate butter cake with homemade raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting

Christian Louboutin High Heel Shoe Cake

Golden luxury butter cake with whipped chocolate ganache frosting;

shoe is molded out of gum paste

Classic Layered Birthday Cake

Banana cake with cinnamon peanut butter fudge filling and
white chocolate cream cheese frosting

Bachelorette Cake

Vanilla-apricot pound cake with apricot syrup and vanilla buttercream frosting

(oh, and a special twinkie surprise underneath the purple thong)

I'm not going to go into detail on every cake - that would take too long and you would get bored. So, I'll just try to touch on some highlights and give some tips if you are ever planning on making multiple cakes.

First off, I have to give props to my guest star "creative director" - my awesome sister - on the bachelorette cake. (she's the one who just got her MFA in costume design from UCLA) While we were sitting in traffic I had her draw up some designs and then she ended up decorating the cake, since I kinda had a few other things going on. Anyway, this cake is hilarious and AMAZING! I mean, look at the attention to detail! So...I guess I can add "exotic" cakes to my repertoire?

Feedback on the other cakes is as follows...

• Banana cake = best tasting. Everyone raved about this cake flavor combo.
  
• Shoe cake = prettiest. If you don't think this is pretty, there's something wrong with you!
  
• Corn dog cake = most impressive. Not too shabby for my first carved cake.

Cake tips:

Plan ahead - obvi. Everything had to be done on Saturday, July 4. I started baking/prepping on Sunday, June 28. However, I started on the gum paste shoe about a week before that - it takes a few days to dry and I had never done a shoe before so wanted plenty of time.

• Back out from your due date and plan to bake/make something every day - so you don't drive yourself crazy (well, it could still happen...).

Don't be afraid to freeze. Cake is usually best the day its baked. But, there's no way to make and decorate four cakes in one day. Well, unless you have a large staff and a commercial kitchen. I don't. So, bake the cakes ahead of time; when completely cool cover in plastic wrap and foil; put in freezer.

• Let cakes thaw in their wrappings in the fridge.
• Don't thaw on counter because the condensation with make your cake soggy.

Be prepared for mistakes - if its your first time trying something. I'm somewhat of a crazy perfectionist (when it comes to certain things) so its hard for me when a frosting doesn't turn out, or a cake falls (both of these happened to me last week).

• Mistakes will happen - even to the best bakers. So, take a breath and take a step back. You can usually find a way to fix most problems.
• Brad had to remind me of this a few times...