A Month of Summertime Fun and Baking!

Where has the time gone?? I can't believe it has been a month since I have posted on here! This past month has been crazy with double my usual work hours, but in turn I have saved a lot for my upcoming trip to Italy in January!

During the week of my last post, my boyfriend and I celebrated both of our birthdays.  For my birthday, I got so many great new baking things! My best friend, Anna, bought my a pretty floral apron and some silicone baking cups.  My boyfriend bought me a Better Homes and Garden's Stand Mixer.  I used both right in time to bake some yummy Chocolate Oreo Cheesecakes for my boyfriend's birthday!

These worked perfectly!! The cheesecakes popped right out after they cooled.

I used half of an Oreo as a base for the Chocolate Oreo Cheesecakes.  I can't seem to find the site where I found the recipe... but those Chocolate Oreo Cheesecakes were SO delicious, and everyone loved them! I don't even usually like cheesecake.

July is the perfect time for berry picking, and you can bet that I obviously had to take advantage of that!  My boyfriend and I went berry picking for raspberries and blueberries.  I made some fresh blueberry pancakes, then baked a pie with the rest of them.  I'm not really sure what to do with the raspberries yet, but for now they are just waiting in the freezer.

Mmm sugar and butter deliciousness haha.

I had quite a difficult time making this Blueberry Pie.  I used a recipe found in a 1978 copy of Reader's Digest Creative Cooking given to me by my grandmother.  I realized as I started that it only had one crust on top.  I personally love the crust, so I made the last minute decision to make a classic crust for the bottom.  The recipe found on Betty Crocker here.  Baking in a hurry never works out that well, but I always find myself rushing  within a limited time frame.  Neither of the crusts were working out properly! Finally I managed to get one into the pie pan, and I barely got the Reader's Digest one on top.  It looked like a mess, but it still ended up tasting ohhh sooo goooood. 

Recently we have gotten TONS of blackberries out of the field behind our house.  So far, I have made two pies for my mom.  I worked 40 hours each of the past two weeks, so I have not had much time for baking.  I ended up using two pre-made pie crusts for the first one, and only one for the second.  I decided to try out a crumb topping with oats for the second one.  Both were very yummy!

It was all I could do not to eat JUST the topping.

In other fun updates --- I went to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 midnight showing! IT WAS SOO GOOD. I just love the books and the movies. I have learned to separate them from each other, because movies always end up being different than the original books.

Of course my best friend and I had to get the 3D Harry Potter-shaped glasses :)

For my boyfriend's birthday, I bought him tickets to see Stephen Marley.  He ended up taking me, and it was so awesome.  I love live concerts.  I had also heard that his brother, Damian Jr. Gong Marley would be in town performing with Nas for their Distant Relatives album.  I was back and forth, but I finally decided to buy tickets for my boyfriend and I to see them too.  We just went to the Nas & Damian Marley show last Friday and it was by far one of the best concerts (after Paramore!) that I have been too.  I am not as familiar with Nas as I am with Damian, but both were extraordinary.  They performed Road to Zion and multiple songs off of their album including: Nah Mean, Land of Promise (love it!), As We Enter, and Dispear.  They both performed some of their own songs, and of course they ended with Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley.

Nas & Jr. Gong

Can we just talk about how long his dreds are?? Down to his ankles!

All in all, I would say this last month has been absolutely fantastic! Now, I am going to go try to recover from getting my wisdom teeth out yesterday (and eat some mashed potatoes and ice cream --- my fave!) and enjoy what I have left of my summer in Vermont!

White Cupcakes with Sprinkles Cupcake's Strawberry Frosting!

So last week, I told my boyfriend that I would bake dessert for dinner with his family.  I was dreaming up different cupcake/frosting combinations, and I finally decided I would use white cake batter and strawberry frosting (white cake batter is my favourite, and I just LOVE strawberry anything!). I went with my semi-newish book, The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, again for the cake recipe.  However, I had to search around on Google for a good Strawberry Frosting recipe.

Google brought me to Oprah's website, where there was an article on Sprinkles Cupcakes, the "world's first cupcake bakery" located in Beverly Hills.  Lucky for me, the owner shared a recipe AND video  for strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting.  I figured this MUST be trustworthy, so I went for it!

Again, I have made a few cakes using the recipes in Tish Boyle's book, so I am used to the process and consistency of the cake batter.  Her directions are quite simple to follow, and there are multiple chapters in the beginning explaining everything including accessories, different types of ingredients, methods for frosting and decorating, and even a troubleshooting guide.

As I looked for inspiration for my cupcake and frosting flavor combination, I knew I had to check out Danelle's blog.  She writes about her personal baking and graphic design experiences.  In one post, I read that she put white chocolate chips in vanilla cupcakes.  I was sold --- I knew it would be the perfect addition to the white cake batter.

I totally forgot to mix them IN the batter for the first dozen...

But I did remember to sprinkle them on top for both at least!

They settled in nicely after baking, they were such a tasty addition.

 Now strawberry frosting obviously requires pureed strawberries.  This was a perfect opportunity for me to try out the food processor my best friend's mom found for me at a yardsale!  The food processor worked perfectly, looks like someone just needed to clean out and make more room in their kitchen! 

The flecks of strawberry look pretty!

The strawberry puree gave the frosting a lovely pink color, but I would have loved to add a tiny drop of red food dye for some more color. However, I forgot since I didn't give myself enough time.   Piping the frosting on was pretty simple.  After my first attempt, I had gotten used to using the Wilton frosting bags and 1M star tip.

Not kidding --- I could eat probably about 4 in one sitting, because they are so delicious.

The recipe for the frosting is listed below, but the whole article on Oprah's website can be found here.  It DOES say that the frosting "makes enough for 1 dozen", but I found that I had plenty for two dozen the way I frosted them.  You should consider visiting the site, because the recipe for the strawberry cake batter and another cake batter can be found there, yum! 

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Strawberry Frosting
 .5 C frozen whole strawberries
1 C unsalted butter, firm and somewhat cold
Pinch of salt
3.5 C confectioners' sugar, sifted
.5 tsp. vanilla extract

"Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix, or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream."

All done!

My First Made-From-Scratch Cupcakes!

I would like to say that my very first attempt at cupcakes from scratch went very well.  It was a fun experience, and I finally got to use some baking gifts I was given for my last birthday and Christmas.

I used recipes from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle.  The book was a gift from my boyfriend for my last birthday, and so far I have only made the chocolate cake (yum!) out of it.  Since I am still new at baking from scratch, I kept it simple for these St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes: Yellow Cake and Fluffy White Frosting (some dyed green!).  It goes like this --- my mom buys all the ingredients, I do the baking, and she gets to be my taste tester (obviously the most important role).  So, I made her buy me some Cake Flour.

Making the batter for the cake was fairly simple, since I had previously done a chocolate cake from the same recipe book.  The recipe was detailed and easy to understand.

I really need a new electric mixer.  I swear there is no difference between Speed 1 and 5...

 I filled a ziploc bag with the batter, cut the bottom corner slightly, and used this to fill my cupcake liners.  Much easier and cleaner than using a spoon, like I have been guilty of doing in the past...  Since it was a first attempt and I did not know how many the batter would make, the baking cups were not all filled equally (but now I know for next time!).
 

Mmm smelled delicious!

I think I let them “cool” for too long (wasn’t even that long, maybe an hour and a half?) but they tasted wonderful anyway.

Check out my sweet hot pink timer!

 Making the frosting was definitely the difficult part.  I purchased an Instant Read Thermometer especially for the frosting.  All the ingredients mixed well in the first stage, but I had a hard time heating them to the right temperature.  Directions said to put the bowl with all the ingredients (except the extract) in a pan of simmering water.  First, the bubbles were gathering underneath the bottom rim under the bowl, so it was moving around.  I decided to scrape the mixture into a pot and then returned it to the the pan of simmering water.  It still never reached the right temperature, but it is possible that I did not calibrate the new thermometer correctly.

With all that being said, my frosting ended up perfectly fine :)  I loved it and it looked very pretty when I used the green dye.  Another gift I got for Christmas... all kinds of cupcake/cake decorating kits.  I used the Wilton 1M frosting tip to frost my cupcakes.  This is also my first time using frosting bags/tips.  I really am new at this whole thing.  I can't wait to teach myself or take a class to learn more about cupcake/cake decorating!

Check out  Tish Boyle's blog: http://www.tishboyle.blogspot.com/