a little birthday party pinteractivity

i'd decided to make cupcakes for the bean's birthday party because it's just easier all the way around.  easy to make, easy to transport, easy to distribute, easy to clean up.  i debated making her a small round cake for blowing out candles, but ran out of time (shocker, huh?) and figured she'd be okay with making her wish from the top of a cupcake rack instead.

after going back and forth (red velvet! chocolate! marble!), she finally settled on the simplest of flavors: vanilla cake, vanilla frosting.  ho-hum.  vanilla isn't MY favorite, but then again, it wasn't my birthday.  and so i busted out an old tried-and-true favorite recipe for the cake - the one i'd used for her rainbow party a couple of years ago.  i used a little food coloring in an effort to carry the color scheme through.

yeah, that second batch didn't really come out as i'd hoped.  i guess purple cake needs to be much more vibrant than that.  oh well.  based on previous experience, the kids wouldn't even notice it anyway.

seven-minute frosting was the perfect choice - fluffy, light, marshmallow-y.  i decided to try a little trick i found via pinterest ages and ages ago using a paint brush and more food coloring:

the first couple of cupcakes came out really bright.

as i continued piping the frosting, the swirly colors got lighter and lighter.

no worries. the teen plopped a my little pony-themed ring on top, and voila:

we put something special on the bean's special cupcake, although she was slightly horrified when she saw it.  "there's frosting on my pony!"  ack.  she got over it, though.

what do you do with leftover frosting?  well, duh.

a little sugar in the morning never hurt anybody.  and hey, the party was going to be at one of those jumpy places.  worked out perfectly.

me want cookie!

because i am either a giving person or a glutton for punishment, i'd volunteered to bring some homemade cupcakes for a bake sale fundraiser at the bean's school.  i'm always willing to help, especially if it's something i can easily accomplish, and i earned a "free dress" day for her in the process.  win-win, right?

although the drop-off day came right on the heels of a monstrous, super complicated batch of cookies that i still need to share with you.  so i was rather baked out at that point, but i made a commitment and i was sticking to it, dang it.

so after perusing my pinterest boards for something fun/easy/eyecatching, i stumbled across this adorable idea.  using this recipe for delicious chocolate cupcakes, i finally got to use a set of super cute cupcake liners that have been in my kitchen, just waiting for the right opportunity.

with some leftover royal icing, i "glued" some chocolate chips onto white candy melts.

i busted out my wilton #233 tip for the first time and mixed up some blue frosting.

because i wanted to package the cupcakes individually (easier for me to transport, and i'm hoping easier for them to sell), i dropped the cupcakes into a plastic tumbler after cutting out a little section from the top.  i dropped squirts (that sounds GROSS) of blue frosting onto each cupcake to make it look like hair:

then i wedged two of the "eyes" i'd made and stuffed a famous amos cookie into the hole i'd cut out.

although it definitely wasn't my idea, i think these are just so cute.

see, they present well, right?

the ladies at the drop-off were so sweet when i took them in.  i'm really curious about how they did at the sale, but i feel like it would be weird to ask.  oh, well.  i'm just gonna assume they sold like hotcakes and brought in a crapload of cash for the fundraiser.

i'm an optimist, you know.

best ATM ever

mother's day brought me some sweet cards, flowers, nail polish, and a fun day at 3rd street promenade in santa monica with my little family.  we strolled, we lunched, we shopped, and had a fabulous time.

on the way home, the teen and i talked the hub into making a quick pitstop.  okay, it wasn't exactly ON the way...but it was way fun.

you've heard of sprinkles cupcakes, right?  their first shop is in beverly hills, and a couple of months ago they announced that they were expanding into the space next door with sprinkles-branded ice cream and...a 24-hour cupcake ATM.  it even sings a cute little sprinkles theme song as you begin your transaction.

it was a little past 8:00, and the line for the machine was about six deep.  crazy, right?  although not as nutty as visits we've made to the bakery in previous years, when we'd have to stand in a line that went out the door and down the street for a tasty treat.  now mind you, i'm not even a huge sprinkles fan, and haven't been ever since my beloved dots cupcakes opened over five years ago.  honestly, out of all the cupcake joints i've tried (and that's a lot, folks), dots is still my very favorite.  but you know how i can't resist a novelty, which is a trait i've passed on to the teen.  i'm pretty sure the bean'll have it too.  time will tell.  but of course, i've gotten off-track.  back to the real story.

look at me, buying our dessert from the ATM!

after you make your selection from the available flavor list, you insert your credit card to pay - a whopping four bucks per cupcake, by the way.  novelty always comes at a price.  geez.  although i found it slightly annoying having to make separate purchases for each cupcake.

next, you watch a live-action shot of your boxed cupcake being plucked from its shelf by a robotic arm.  ooh, so futuristic.

in a dark cavern below the screen, a rotating door slowly opens, revealing your prize.

and then you're one happy camper.  or two.

despite not being a sprinkles lover, i have to admit that their salty caramel flavor is pretty tasty.  the cake is still more dense and dry than i'd like, but the flavor is pretty phenomenal.

i wonder if i can figure out a way to duplicate that at home.  hmmmm.

iPhone dump: cupcakes

i had over a thousand photos on my old iPhone.  yikes.  and as i went through them, i found a whole bunch of stuff i'd meant to blog but forgot about.  and so i present to you iPhone dump '11 - the cupcake version.

my friend AMP and i met up at a local cupcakery a couple of months ago.  it's known for a couple of signature flavors - the breakfast cake, a buttermilk-based cake with bacon and a maple frosting, topped with more bacon. and there's a "late night" cupcake.  chicken & waffles.  that's all i gotta say.

the shop is located in a good-sized strip mall-ish kinda place, with lots of parking.  we pulled up and found a spot right in front.

i was happy to see that there wasn't a line, and we headed inside to find AMP and baby j.  the bean was immediately drawn to the baby, as she always is.

we chatted for a few minutes while we perused the cupcake selections.

i ended up picking out...oh, a few.

they pack their individual mini cupcakes in this cute little upside-down cup.

it was nice to chat with AMP and meet baby j, and finally sample some of the cupcakes i'd heard so much about.  except that when we were done and the bean and i headed out to the car, we found this:

mothereff.  AMP kindly volunteered to stick around and wait for AAA with us, but i didn't want her to have to kick it with newborn j.  we sent them home while we waited - and luckily, the dude came in less than half an hour.

 

yay for non-flat tire!  the bean thought it was a "funny looking little tire."

i was so glad we'd gone when we did, because by the time we left, there was a crazy line out the door.

i've been back once since then - to try that chicken & waffles concoction.

the verdict?  well, it was a'ight.  i wouldn't make the drive out for it again.  and that shit was pricey!  dang.

oh, well.  it was worth a try, and now i won't wonder.  because, of course, i couldn't stop thinking about it until i got one.  i'm obsessive like that.

dr. cupcake. paging dr. cupcake

a couple of months ago, one of the girls i met back in my knot days contacted me to do invitations for her husband's graduation party.  it was fun working with her again (i'd done place cards and stuff for their wedding, plus other party invitations since then), and she's always so sweet.

last week, after perusing my post about those dodger cupcakes, she contacted me to see if i could maybe squeeze in a few (or six) dozen cupcakes for the party.  feeling saucy and confident after my success with dodger blue, i happily accepted the order and threw out the idea of making little graduation caps in USC colors (don't kill me, amber.  you too, trish.) as that's where her hubby earned his degree.  i thought, dude.  those are just little squares with a dot in the middle and some sort of tassel-looking thingy.  easy, right?  and she asked to spell out "congratulations dr. lastname" as well.  that i knew was a snap.

and then i promptly forgot about it until the very day before i was to deliver the cupcakes.  oops.  so after i dropped the bean off at school, i got to work.  i busted out my gel food colors (maroon, burgundy, red red) and pulled out my ready-made fondant to knead the color in.  it'd been a while since i'd done it, and i forgot what a total pain in the ass it is.  my hands ended up looking like i'd just cleaned up a crime scene.

hmmm.  you can't really tell in that picture.  probably because my right hand was much worse off, but i wasn't about to risk the life of my camera by trying to take a picture of it with my less-than-dominant hand.  you'll just have to picture my other hand with big ass nasty splotches of red dye all over it.  or not.  whatever.

but it was worth it - after working with that fondant and adding a little dab of this, a tiny blob of that, it was finally the color i wanted. 

once i had all 51ish squares cut out, plus another 21 circles for the lettering, i mixed up a batch of my now-favorite corn syrup glaze and used a bit of gold and lemon yellow gel to get it the right shade.

i was eyeing my bag of decorating tips and the lightbulb went on above my head as i spied the one for making "grass."  it would totally work for making a tassel, right?

wrong.

and then i thought i'd use a really small tip and just pipe out a few little lines connected at the top.  and that's a negative again, ghostrider.

shit.  i'd already wasted half a dozen of my carefully tinted and cut out caps on this business.  as you can see, in my frustration, i skipped the others in favor of getting the lettering done.  i was so irritated.

and then i figured i'd just make one fat ass line and hope for the best.

not too bad, i suppose.  as i often do, i posted a picture on twitter to see if people could tell what they were supposed to be and was pleased to find that it was easily recognizable.  whew.

and so next, i turned my attention to the red velvet cupcakes.  i used a tried-and-true recipe, making 1.5 batches of it to get the 3 dozen cupcakes i needed.  my kitchenaid bowl has never been this full before.

the batter was pretty stinking thick.  i was curious as to how it would turn out, but they baked up beautifully.  thank god.

and now, for the predictable failure that always occurs - the other 3 dozen were supposed to be the lemonade-flavored ones i did for ashley.  of course, with the honoree being a guy, i skipped the "pink" part.  but because the recipe calls for egg whites - and i needed six - i decided to use the egg whites you can buy in a carton.  it said that 1/4 cup = 1 egg.  so i happily poured in 1.5 cups of the stuff, mixed the batter up, and poured it into my pretty yellow cupcake liners i'd bought.

did you catch my error there?  yeah, so did i - far too late.  i only needed the equivalent of an egg white - not a whole effing egg.  and so as i baked up the cupcakes and tried one, it was freaking nasty.  it was super eggy, with just a hint of the lemon flavor, and the texture was all wrong.  ugh!  i was so upset.  and it was late - i could get the lemonade concentrate and more egg whites at the grocery store, but the cake supply store was locked up tight and i couldn't replace those cupcake liners.  shit.

with only liners in silver foil and white with balloons available at the grocery store, at 9:00 at night, i had one last-resort place to turn to:

wal-mart.  dun dun dunnnnnnnn.  y'all know how much i despise wally world.  and yet i had no choice.

i was rewarded with a full aisle of wilton products to choose from, and only $1.50 for a pack of 75 liners.  they came in all white (which i bought just in case) and a pack of pastels - blue, yellow, and pink.  to be sure i'd have enough yellow, i bought 5 packs.

and so at nearly 10:00 that night, i was in the kitchen with this:

angrily cursing at this:

but rewarded with perfect lemonade cupcakes within the hour.

i also had extra red velvet cupcakes, so i decided to try freezing them.  i put them in a ziploc bag and sucked all the air out to keep them as airtight as possible.

the next day, i whipped up some vanilla cream cheese frosting and a lemon-vanilla bean buttercream, zipped through all six dozen cupcakes, and carefully placed the toppers.

yeah, i ended up having to use those first six weirdly-tasseled toppers.  but whatevs - they looked pretty good, right?

i haven't heard back, but i sure hope they were well-received.