Baking...again

A crazy weekend awaits me.

A weekend of birthday parties, gym time, church picnics and hopefully a nap or two:)

Today?

Well, today I'm baking.

The girls are playing at friend's houses and it's just me and my Martha Stewart Kitchenaid Stand Mixer against the world.

We have 4 dozen cupcakes to make today in the flavors of White Chocolate Strawberry and Blueberry Vanilla.

Should be fun.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, full of cupcakes:)

Because well, who doesn't want a cupcake filled weekend?

I know I do ;)

Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes

I used to watch Alice in Wonderland all the time as a kid. It was the 1985 made for TV one with Sammy Davis Jr and Carol Channing. I loved it.

Being a total foodie from birth (thanks to my Gramino, God rest her soul), my favorite parts of the film had to do with the little tea cakes. You know, the ones that said "eat me." I thought they were just perfect! I think that's what started my love affair with petit fours and cupcakes. However, I remember watching Alice bite into the little cake and it didn't have your typical buttercream...it was covered with what seemed to be a candy shell. It intrigued me. It still does. Obviously...I'm blogging about it.

So anyway, I started thinking about how I could achieve this kind of crunchy on the outside, scrumptious on the inside confection. I think I may be almost there.

Butter creams are yummy and so pretty when they are piped on a cute little cupcake, but sometimes, you just want something different...easier even.

The solution? Candy Melts!

You just dip your cooled cupcakes right into some melted candy melts in one of the various colors they come in.

I, of course, chose the aqua blue.

Super easy.

And it almost gives you that "Alice in Wonderland" kind of texture.

Candy on the outside and moist, deliciousness on the inside!

I can't wait to try them with petit fours...way easier than poured fondant!

***UPDATE: You can view my New Year's cupcakes here as well! ***

And the Winner is...

KATIE!

Per Random.org

Min: 1
Max: 9

Result: 2
Timestamp: 2009-09-03 10:20:37 EST

Katie's suggestion was:

Let's see, idea #2. Pecan Pie! Caramel cake, buttercream icing, crushed pecan sprinkles. And even talk your talented sister-in-law to make some pecan jam. I've never had any, but I've heard about it.

Congratulations Katie! Shoot me your address and I'll get your cupcakes in the mail to you the beginning of next week for sure!

Thanks everyone for entering! Rest assured that there will be another Giveaway and the beginning of the Holiday season full of some of the yummy suggestions you all had!

Cupcake Giveaway

Okay guys...here's your chance. You can sample one of each kind of cupcake on my summer flavor list for FREE just by leaving me a comment with a cupcake flavor idea for my fall/winter selection! If you link my giveaway to your blog, you can enter twice!


Summer flavors include:

Pina Colada
Lava Flow
Key Lime
Strawberry Splash
Blueberry Lemon
Blackberry Vanilla
Dark Chocolate Raspberry
White Chocolate Strawberry

Winner will be announced Thursday night! Happy Entering!!!

Fresh Batch Cupcakes

My new website is up and running! I hope you'll come check it out!

Cupcakes in a Jar

This weekend, I traveled down to Richmond all by my lonesome to sell cupcakes at the 26th Annual Carytown Watermelon Festival with Kim and all of her delightful jams. As with every show thus far, I freaked out the entire week before trying to figure out how on earth I was going to transport 150+ cupcakes and keep them cool all day. I searched and searched for ideas and finally came across this unique idea...

Cupcakes in a jar. Takes care of the transporting problem and they're much easier to keep cool in a simple styrophome cooler. I'm guessing they're probably easier to ship too, so be patient my friends...I may have something in the works :)

I quickly ran to Wal-Mart and grabbed up all the 4 oz canning jars I could find (which is SO appropriate, I think, since I make my cupcakes with Kim's homemade jams and jellies) and got to work back at home making these adorable little cupcakes. For this particular show, I had 7 flavors.

Blackberry Vanilla

Dark Chocolate Raspberry

White Chocolate Strawberry (my favorite)

Pina Colada

Blueberry Lemon

Strawberry Splash
Watermelon Festival Special (which is actually just a vanilla cupcake died pink with chocolate chips as "seeds" and green icing as the rind)


What do you think?!? Aren't they cute?!? You eat them with a spoon...

Are you drooling? Good.

And I even had a few people who were interested in buying them as little favors for showers, weddings and birthday parties. I could easily create personalized labels to go on them depending on the event.


And look how sweet they look with a bit of ribbon tied around...in aqua ofcourse!

I did fairly well. It was SO hot out there (over 100 degrees with the humidity) and I think most people were interested in the fresh squeezed lemonade and free bowls of watermelon that were being handed out. But, I love them. And I'm hoping to add a page to the Fresh Bath Jams website where people can place catering orders and eventually, orders to be shipped. We'll see...

Pics from the Past

It's the not-to-distant past. I realized this morning that I did not have any pics up of our first show at the Ashland Strawberry Faire. I did really well at that show. I sold out of every cupcake except my corncake with hot pepper jelly. I really LOVE that cupcake, but I guess it's just a bit too different for fair goers to wrap their brains around. Perhaps I'll send it into Martha Stewart. She might would get a kick out of it!

Kim did really well too! People were all over her Aloha Jam (wich is pineapple jam with a bit coconut added to it) as well as her Strawberry Splash (strawberry jelly with a bit of pure orange extract added). If you're interested in trying a few of her new varieties, go to www.freshbatchjams.com and order a few!

Anyway, it ended up being a family affair. Masie and Yosie came and Yosie, Paul and Mitch and swapped out shifts for child care while Kim, Kay, Masie and I mostly manned the booth but stepped away for the mommy only emergencies. The kids had such a great time running around and we had a great spot in the shade. Paul and I walked away from our first cupcake experience with high hopes and a little change in our pockets. This was definitely motivation to continue with Fresh Batch Cupcakes, but to be honest, it was just plain fun spending time with family. I love that this business that is Kim's creation has become something that the whole family can participate in, in their own way! It's really fun.

Kim being silly and me in a daze with a big bowl of chocolate espresso buttercream in my hands....buttercream has that affect on me.


The women of Fresh Batch Jams and Cupcakes


Izzy and Yosie...or Yo Yo as he is also affectionately known.


Masie-Mas with a few of her grandbabies


Eva and her cousin whom she always enjoys playing with! This is a game of chase, I believe.

Fun with Fondant

Eva received an early birthday present this weekend from her Uncle Mitch and Aunt Kim. Knowing how much Eva enjoys helping me bake, they found a kids size Kenmore bake set that is just adorable! This morning, when Eva woke up and walked into the kitchen, she immediately spied her un-opened bake set and asked if she could play with it. I obliged but soon realized that I certainly had no plans to bake today as it's not the best thing to do when dieting. I began trying to think of something she could play with using her bake set and my mind went to play dough. I ran into the laundry room and looked on the top shelf where we keep the art supplies only to find that we were fresh out of play dough. Hmmm...

I walked over the pantry and gave it a quick once over when my eyes found the fondant that I colored last week wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and sealed in tupperwear. That could work. And it did!

Eva had so much fun rolling out the red fondant and using her star shaped cookie cutter to make perfect little red stars. She stood on her stool at the breakast bar for a good hour rolling it between her hands to form a ball and than squishing it down onto the counter and rolling it out flat with her little rolling pin. She used her wisk to wisk whatever it was that she was pretending was in her mini stainless steel mixing bowl and even pretended to chop things on her cutting board with the edge of her tiny spatula. It was adorable.


While Eva worked on her fondant creations, I took the time to sketch out some ideas for some new cupcake flavors and decorations for some festivals and fairs coming up in August. I have 8 flavors in the works. I'm really excited to start experimenting and perfecting these potential recipes!

Back for Sure

Well, it's been a long sabbatical but I feel I'm ready to continue on with the regularly scheduled programming of my life and blogging is a huge part of that for me. It's my outlet, my therapy and a way to communicate with all of the people that I love about my family.

I won't go into detail about why I needed this time off, but I will say that it has helped me put my life into perspective in a big way and I'll leave it at that.

So...what have we been up to, you ask. Well, I'll tell you...

Fresh Batch Cupcakes is off to a running start and after selling out at my first show, I sold a mere 15 and my last and only made $30. Phooey. But, it really wasn't my market. The show was on an island in Virginia that I like to refer to as St. Barths for rednecks. Many of the people in attendance were older and diabetic and therefore NOT in the market for cupcakes. Oh well, you live and learn I suppose. However I do plan on being at the Watermelon Festival in Richmond in August so hopefully, I'll do better there.


What are my flavors? Oh well that's a fun one. So far, I have a white chocolate strawberry, a dark chocolate raspberry espresso, pina colada, apple pie alamode and a strawberry orange cupcake. I'm working on a blackberry vanilla and a lemon blueberry for the next show to add to my list. I've also discovered that I should probably add some "plain" varieties for my more picky audience. So I'm thinking a chocolate with vanilla buttercream and a yellow with chocolate buttercream. All of my cupcakes are made in my home with my sister-in-laws jams and I even make my own buttercreams (which are my favorite part).


Can I ship them? Nope. Not at this time. Shipping cupcakes is much harder than it might seem. Flash freezing is required, overnight shipping, and some pretty technologically advanced packaging. As for now, I'm doing local fairs and festivals and hoping to do some local catering events too. I'll, of course be making them for the girl's birthday party at the end of the month and I've recieved an order for a baby shower recently as well. Fun stuff.


Other than that, we have been enjoying a hot Maryland summer. We've done ALOT of traveling in the last few months. Mostly heading down to Virginia to see family but also some fun day trips to DC. We've recently discovered Georgetown for ourselves and we're in love. I'm almost ready to abandon my farm dreams for a quaint townhome on 34th street. I love it. Hydrangeas in full bloom along the shady streets, adorable and unique shops and resturaunts and a crowd of locals that are diverse and trendy. Not that I fit into the "trendy" aspect of everything but it's still so much fun to admire.





And ofcourse, we found an adorable and trendy cupcakery called Georgetown Cupcakes. The sisters that started this tiny bakery last year have been on Martha Stewart as well as Good Morning America for their politically decorated cupcakes but man, beyond being cute, those cupcakes are DELISH! Paul and I have been twice in the last month. We just can't get enough. The Key Lime cupcake is my all time favorite! Although I do really like the White Chocolate Raspberry. Paul's in love with the Chocolate Mint.


The girls are great and we're about to celebrate their first and third birthdays! Eva is insistent on a "Little Mermaid Ariel" party as she calls it and literally screams out in excitement whenever we see anything Little Mermaid related. I'm afraid poor Izzy will have to endure it. I've lucked out this year as Izzy is not old enough to really have an opinion on the matter, or at least she's not old enough to express it. But next year, I could have some trouble on my hands. Let's just pray that they both love the same things at that time.

And as much as it still rubs me a little wrong to be in "Disney Princess Land" already in my home, it is the perfect summer theme when you stop to think about it. Water games in the back yard? Bubbles? Bathing suits? All very well suited for a Mermaid party I'd say.

So that's where we are now. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things for sure! I've missed you guys!!!

Update

It's been a while and I must say, I'm chomping at the bit to get back. I can't tell you how many times a day I blog in my head, my fingers longing to type out each word onto my keyboard. But, it's just not time yet. Still, I had to give my mind and fingers some sort of outlet to blow off some cooped up steam.

This sabbatical is not one that I'm taking much pleasure in. It's not for enjoyment purposes as much as it just trying iron some things out within myself. Sometimes I wish my life could look like this...

Wouldn't it be lovely if, at the end of every day, you could neatly fit all of the aspects of your life perfectly into a sweet little box, tie it up with a big bow and then just stand back and stare it at with a sense of satisfaction and say, "perfect!" Well, the truth is, life is seldom like that. If you're anything like me than much of the time, you're staring at the mess that surrounds you wondering where all of it is going to fit, or if it's even supposed to at all.

Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. I'm a very happy woman. I have a wonderful husband who supports me in all I do, two beautiful little girls that bring me joy unspeakable and most of all, I'm a daughter of the High King, Jesus Christ. My life may not fit into a dainty little aqua box, but somehow, it works and it works well. In fact, it's in the middle of a mess that you are usually faced with the task of sorting through the mess to find the really important parts...the parts that your box just can't do without.

And that's where I am. Sorting through the mess.

On a lighter note...do you remember my sister-in-law, Kim and her jam business? Well, in an effort to find new ways to highlight her super yummy jams, Fresh Batch Cupcakes was born! And guess who's business that is... yep...mine.

I've currently got 5 flavors and I'm working on a few more. I did my first show two weekends ago and I sold out! How cool is that?!?

So, there's your quick update. I'm really hoping to be back soon! Until then, I miss you guys!