Money and Babies. What Does That Have to Do With Cupcakes?

(^_____^) I like blogging! It's like a journal for the world to see....hmm....maybe not so much then....

Well I've been cooking some more, as usual. I just made some cupcakes for my cousin's friend's baby shower. Red velvet and chocolate aren't very baby color friendly so I just did the usual and gave them some chick pops along with it. I was debating with myself over how much to charge people when they ask me how much it is. I use really good quality liners and ingredients so it is a bit costly, along with the containers, eekk. I'm pretty cheap so I wouldn't charge what I wouldn't consider buying myself, so I figured $1/cupcake would be ok, but after all the labor I put in making the cupcakes, I feel maybe too little?

I don't know, but all in all I just really want people to enjoy what they are eating. When money starts getting involved, some how it all makes it so much less fun....agree?

It's PIZZA TIME!!!!!

So after years and years I finally understand why the ninja turtles and just normal people love pizza so much....it is sooooo gooood~! I saw this recipe from America's Test Kitchen for Chicago style pizza and it looked super awesome. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose and topped it was oyster mushrooms, cheese, lean pork, and green onion. Yummy! The mushrooms produced a lot of water so one side of the pizza wasn't very crispy but all and all, pretty tasty....

1 Box of Cake Mix Makes a LOT of Cakepops....

ok so I've been into cake pops for about 2 weeks now and the only ones I've been doing are chickens and of course that 1 pikachu. First I made some with my friends and they were so weird but we ate them all anyways and split the pops between 4 people. Here is the before and after shot, even though the pictures are switched around I think you can tell which one had a more experienced hand working on it.

When I got home and tried making them myself I was stuck with 50 something cakepops!!! That's crazy! Who was I supposed to give all of these to?

So 1st batch went to my friends and my brother's coworkers.....

2nd batch went to my students....

 3rd batch to my art teacher's daughters...ran out of yellow candy melts so used white ones to make ducky pops....ok I have no idea why this picture loaded in sideways.....

4th batch? still in my fridge......gaaahhhhhhh

Pikachu Cupcakes

So I was asked to make some cupcakes for my friend's brother's birthday and he loves pikachu. I decided to make some white chocolate drawings of pikachu with red sprinkles for his cheeks and use them as a topper for the cupcakes.  I didn't know that his ears were so long....those big ears would not fit into the cupcake container I was using so I broke 3 of the 5 pikachu drawings I had made!(for that exactly reason, I knew it would happen....) I ended up with ok looking cupcakes but I wish they would have been able to see the whole body....

I was also thinking of making some pikachu cakepops so I looked online to see if any other blogs or if bakerella had any good ideas on how to fashion a pikachu pop, but they we either marshmallows or a little strange looking. I just went with it and made 1 really fat pikachu pop that hopefully looked decent enough for consumption. It was fun and maybe with some more practice I'll be able create a more acceptable pikachu cakepop. 1st try = fat pikachu with long ears

The other task was making peanut butter chocolate cupcakes, which I have never done before. I started out with my usual ingredients but when I added that peanut butter....omg it was heavenly....so good. I remembered why peanut butter was so delicious all over again. I made another layer of cocoa and nutella for the chocolate portion, added a chocolate swirl, sprinkled the top with roasted peanuts for some crunch, and a graham cracker goldfish for cuteness... I think I added a little too much sugar, but it was really tasty....I will definitely be making peanut butter cupcakes again!

WELL that's all for the baking adventure today! See you another cake away.

Cupcakes Gallore.......

OK! Time to spam this thing with every photo I have of cupcakes. I think it started around 2 years ago when I saw a Women's Day magazine with these amazing cakes with little teddy grams.....gosh, I just fell in love. I began decorating my own little cupcakes using cake mix, canned frosting and of course teddy grams. It was so fun. I've always enjoyed baking, but that moment was the beginning of all future creations. I successfully made the cake I saw in the magazine for a friend's birthday and I just had to keep going....From then on, I think I've made many improvements. I looked for every kind of cake recipe until I found one that turned out moist and delicious every time. I dislike buttercream frosting to the max....the idea of eating half a stick of butter each cupcake grosses me out so I went searching for alternatives, but there were so few! I came up with my own version inspired by chinese cakes with their light not-too-sweet frostings and ran with it. With a lot of practice and all the encouraging words from my friends, I think I've done come a long way.

Making Lunch!

Hey Hey

YAY!  1st blog ever!

Since watching one of my favorite movies, "Julie & Julia," I've been  meaning to start a blog about cooking.
Food is just so universal: it brings people together, it makes us happy, and everyone can relate to it. I won't be pursuing cooking as a career so I want to be able to at least let a little part go to be free and have fun; that's where baking comes in.

I'm also an artist at heart so I just want to combine my passions to create something beautiful for the senses both visually and gastronomically pleasing and hopefully with that, I can put a smile on peoples' faces.