Kids Kooking: Sunrise Cupcakes

I call these sunrise cupcakes because that's what they ended up as, though really the original intent was to be orange and yellow "striped" cupcakes for Halloween. Regardless, I wanted something fun and easy that my four year old could help with (along with a friend), so I adapted an idea I saw around YouTube for "rainbow cupcakes" (just do a search, you'll find plenty) and tried to do my own thing.

Overall, I wouldn't call this a failure by any means. First of all, it's a great project for young ones. You just take box cake mix and prepare it as usual. Of course, let the kids crack the eggs because all the fun is right there! Once mixed, divide the cake batter into equal portions in ziplock bags and add some coloring. Mix around til you get the desired hue, then cut the corner off the bag and pipe colors into the muffin cups as you like.

I think the reason these cupcakes didn't work out quite perfectly is because of the use of two colors. It makes sense that the colors "round out" in the final product, and when it's a rainbow you still see multiple shades. However, using just two colors, you get the sunburst effect you see above.

They still look great, and taste delicious. Try it with your kids in whatever colors you prefer.

Happy Halloween {Ghost Cake Pops}

I thought I would jump on the cake pop bandwagon. I mean, why not? It seemed super easy and kind of fun. I tried a first batch for the baby shower, but those didn't work out how I wanted. So rather than bore you all with the recipe (they can be found all over the internet, pretty much the same method everywhere), I thought I would share my tips for success.

1. Don't use too much frosting. The first time I made cake pops, I put the whole can of frosting in and they were just too wet. Cake pops, by nature, taste (to me) like not-fully-baked brownies. So they are going to be super sweet and gooey no matter what you do. No need to make the matter worse by putting in too much frosting. Start with about 1/2 a can and go until you feel you have a consistency just sticky enough to keep their shape.

2. Freeze the cake balls on the stick before coating. The first time I made these, I just refrigerated them and none of the pops would actually stay on their sticks. The second time, I put them in the freezer and they were much more successful. However, with this in mind ,I realized that to take all of the pops out at once, some of them were 'thawing' too much before we dipped them. So if possible, leave the pops in the freezer in batches until you are ready to dip. (The pops seem to stick just fine once you're all done.)

3. Make sure your candy coating is thin, thin, thin. The fact of the matter is, if the candy is too think, you are going to get clumpy, lumpy blobs. I added shortening to thin mine down and it worked great, but you can also just use liquid veggie (or some other flavorless) oil.

4. Do not overheat your candy coating. Yes, the stuff can burn, even by putting it in the mircowave for one minute at a time vs. the 30 seconds suggested. Perhaps I know from experience. It didn't taste terrible, but it did make some little lumps in the candy. (I didn't want to waste anything so in the pictures you can actually see a few ghosts with this "burnt candy" result).

5. Experiment with tools to decorate. My friend splurged and bought us the edible markers to draw faces, and that just plain didn't work. I'm not sure why, but it made it near impossible to see. Instead, we used tubes of gel frosting color.

6. Use this project to teach the love of food and baking early. This is a great and easy project for kids, and these two four-year-olds had a blast. It's hard to get it wrong when one of the directions is "crumble a giant cake."

So there you have it. All my tips from my failed and mildly successful attempt. If you want full instructions, I recommend watching this video by cakeb0t.

Happy Halloween and enjoy!

Shower Power

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for a friend, and I kind of went all out on the baking. I mean, what better gift exists than something homemade, and baking is currently what I feel I do best. Plus it gave me an excuse to try out some new cake decorating tools (i.e., teach myself how to actually pipe frosting).

So by the mom's request, I made a revised version of my original from-scratch cupcake creation, the lemon curd wonders. I used the same lemon curd recipe as before, just lots of egg yolk, butter, lemon, and sugar, but this time I used a scratch version of My Baking Addiction's lemon meringue cupcakes. I finally splurged and bought some cake flower, and I saw a huge difference in my cakes. Seriously, I may have been the last to figure this out but it is worth it to get the cake flower. It solves the problem of making the cupcakes feel heavy like muffins. The cupcakes were light and moist, and I was super pleased with the end result.

For the frosting, I just made some homemade cream cheese frosting (my favorite staple) and finally let me Kitchenaid run beyond speed two. This made a huge difference in how creamy the end product was, and I was very happy with it. Then some gel food dye and two different Wilton piping tips and you get a pretty decent beginner cupcake. Though I have to say, it's all in the presentation. The cupcakes wouldn't have looked half as nice if it wasn't for that amazing cupcake stand that a friend let me borrow. Note to self: purchase a cupcake stand.

I was feeling a bit off because there wasn't any chocolate on the menu (and how can you not have chocolate for a shower?) so I threw together some chocolate covered strawberries. Talk about simple, delicious fun. Using two colors makes all the difference, and it really doesn't add much more work. They were a hit, and I think everyone was very happy with the final results of this venture.

Marshmallow Fondant

So I was gifted this really awesome "Zombie Cupcakes" book as a gift and while flipping through the pages I saw a "Biohazard" cupcake that looked absolutely perfect for my tech-industrial sister. The book, of course, made it look so easy.

The cupcakes were straightforward, a key lime mix that actually was more like a muffin consistency (very heavy) in the end rather than a cupcake. But this was my first foray ever into fondant and I was intimidated, to say the least.

I had talked to a friend who once dated a baker, and he suggested I use marshmallow fondant. So after a search I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to give it a try.

Making the fondant was a challenge, not because it's actually tricky but because it is a sticky, sticky mess. I mean, let's think about it. Hundreds of melted marshmallow with nothing between you and them except for some powered sugar? It's a bit insane. But trust me from my lesson learned: When you feel like giving up just add and knead, add and knead. It will get there eventually.

So after all the work I got the color I wanted and some pretty tasty (surprisingly) fondant. I was patting myself on the back for this and thinking that I am a magnificent baker.

Then it came time to cut and mold.

Let me say this now and say this clearly. Do not do this without the right tools. Secondly, toothpicks and butter knives are not the right tools.

You can see my failed attempts at the biohazard sign here. I have since this time ordered Wilton's "fondant student kit" and will be going through the motions. Then we shall see who rules!

Til then, just know I found a good recipe and still have a lot to learn.

Super Easy Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This was by far one of the easiest creations I've ever made. You really just have to love the tasty simplicity of anything that goes into a bundt pan. Using a recipe that I found from MyBakingAddiction.com, I prepared this cake for my parents' summer picnic.

Creamy batter just all mixed together.
 It doesn't get easier!

There really wasn't a tough thing about this recipe, and a little truly goes a long way. One thing is for sure, they call it pound cake for a reason. I served this with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, though I think in the future I'd try to even make it lighter. I've been reading a lot about the mechanics of baking in my Alton Brown book lately too and this would probably be a great candidate for trying cake flour rather than all-purpose. Something just needs to lighten this puppy up!

That all being said, this was actually the first cake I've gotten a paid request to duplicate. So heavy to me, I must have been doing something right. Try it for yourself and hope you enjoy!

Homemade Lasagne Noodles

Once a long time ago I had successfully made lasagne noodles with help. I think I had done it quite a few times, and now that I'm trying on this "baking" hat I thought I would go for it again.

Unfortunately, it didn't work quite as I had hoped.

I started with the traditional well and mixed all of my ingredients together. I got my tight little ball in plastic wrap and I was feeling really good about myself. Rolled it out, and the noodles looked great.

But when it came time to eat, they were doughy. I just don't know a better way to explain it. They just tasted like they weren't quite cooked at all.

I'm not sure what I did wrong and I can't find any assistance on the Web. My best guess is one of two things:

1. I put too much sauce in my lasagne (I do like a lot of sauce) and this over-saturated the noodles.

2. I needed to boil/cook the noodles before I placed them into the casserole. I forget that not all noodles are now bake-ready like the spiffy new box kind.

 So I think I'll try again soon but with some cooked noodles before I bake. If anyone knows if this step is necessary, I'd appreciate the feedback. I baked for 30-45 minutes at 350 or so. So I'm not sure that they were underbaked, but I suppose that was a possibility too.

Crossing the Threshold

So I have begun trying to actually educate myself about this new hobby of mine, and to do this I picked up a few theory or almost textbook-like tomes. The one I have started with is by Alton Brown, that mad scientist of cooking that many of us love.  Thus far, I have only gotten so far as the introduction, but that has already been enough to get me thinking a bit differently about baking.

One of the biggest suggestions that Alton makes is to begin weighing your ingredients rather than measuring them. Particularly in baking, where formulas are so balanced and important, you need to get the proper ratio. And when you can delicately scoop or tightly pack a cup or flour to make your loaf of bread, if we all were to use digital scales to measure the same 5 ounces we know we'd be making the exact same pastry.

I see his point. My question is: Am I ready to commit?

This is a big step from casual baking to all-out geekery I think. From art to science perhaps? Maybe not, since in my own little world I sort of view all baking and cooking as art. But it's well beyond "a dash of this, a pinch of that."

$30 will change my baking world. Now to decide whether or not to do it.