Valentine's Day Cupcakes!

Vanilla Bean Strawberries and Cream

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I don't know why I make these beauties more often. Vanilla bean kissed cake, topped with the creamiest strawberry butter-cream and adorned with a precious little white chocolate heart.

D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S 

To those lucky customers who have ordered theirs, you won't be disappointed.

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day. Do something sweet for your sweetie!

xoxox

Heidi

Candy Cane Crush

Candy Cane Crush

I am sooooo extremely embarrassed that the last time I posted was.....last December! What the heck!!! And if that wasn't bad enough, I'm adding a post about Christmas cupcakes in February. This is not what we do people! Not-what-we-do!

One of my mid February New Year's resolutions is to add a new cupcake post at LEAST once every month. Cupcake of the month yes? Blogs need nurturing and I need to be a better caretaker. 

My new Candy Cane Crush cupcake was such a big hit for Christmas. It is definitely a keeper. I got a ton of orders for these babies. Vanilla bean cake with a whole candy cane Oreo baked inside! Vanilla peppermint kissed frosting sprinkled with crushed Oreo crumbs and a piece of peppermint bark crowned on top. It worked out to be a wonderful combination.

Peppermint always frightens me. It can easily be on the overbearing side so you have to be very careful not to go overboard with it. Especially working with any kind of extract. A little dab will do ya, I always say. When used gingerly it can be delicious and lovely. Even people who aren't fans of mint/peppermint really take well to these cupcakes because it they are well balanced.

I can't wait to post my February cupcake. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...and I guess since I haven't been on here for over 12 months, you had an amazing 2012!

With love,

Heidi

Snowflake Cupcakes

I made these yesterday for my friend Korri (thanks for the order miss!).

They were for the Bremerton Christmas tree lighting after party...I think. So I decided to make some cool snowflake toppers out of white chocolate.

Dusting them with white sanding sugar made them sparkle.

Sparkle=purdy

I'm hoping to add more Christmas cupcakes soon!

xoxox

Heidi

Coconut Dream

I have a motherly role when it comes to my cupcakes. I love all of them, but they each have little personalities and differences that make them unique. Just like my own children.

It's hard to say which ones are the best or even my favorites because they are all good but in different ways.

Sometimes it's easy to look at a cupcake..coconut for example, and pass it over for say a chocolate cupcake...not wanting to be disappointed. But rest assured that I make all of my cupcakes the best they can be. And you will be surprised at how a coconut cupcakes can blow your socks off.

When you are working with something like coconut, it can easily be overbearing. That's why it is so important to make sure everything has a balance. Your cake, frosting, and even the toppings should all dance together insuring that each bite is a perfect one.

So this is what we've got:

Moist white coconut cake frosted with a silky coconut cream

cheese frosting and topped with a little crown of shredded coconut.

Looks good right?

Kill Me with Chocolate

Rich chocolate cake topped with a velvety smooth chocolate butter-cream and

sprinkled with shaved chocolate.

Chocolate lovers beware! These are Heaven and highly addictive!

Red Velvets and some fizacts

It's funny talking to people about red velvet cake. They either simply adore it or seriously cannot figure it out. Is it vanilla cake with red food coloring? Is it a weird chocolate cake? What they heck is it?

I had an epic conversation with a woman once who professed that red velvet was crap because it didn't taste like anything. She kept going on about how stupid it was. I said..um excuse me...no, it tastes like red velvet, you are hoping that it will taste like chocolate....pretty sure you're stupid. She didn't like that answer very much! (I don't think I really called her stupid, but I wanted to for reals). I did however let her know she was being crazy ridiculous.

This cake does contain cocoa powder but not much in relativity to the rest of the ingredients. I don't think it makes the cake taste chocolaty by any means but if you omitted it you would for sure know something was not right! Buttermilk and vinegar make a prevalent appearance lending it to be a little tangy.

This is where I'm going to get all nerdy on you. Hold on...I'm putting my nerd glasses on before I type this. Okay..go! The reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to enhance and reveal the red anthocyanin (anthocyanin are water soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue according to ph) in the cocoa powder. Back in the day before Dutch Processed cocoa was readily available, the red color would have been way more pronounced. Which could in fact be why it's named "red" velvet. :) Dutch processed cocoa has been treated with alkali to neutralize its natural acidity. Which means we now need to use A LOT of food coloring because there isn't much of a chemical reaction going on. Too much for you? Well at least you know a little more about the food you eat or may eat and that maybe I'm not as dumb as I look. Haha

So now when you see red velvet cakes, cupcakes, whoopie pies, whatever....you can be a super annoying smarty pants and know all of the scientific things about a random dessert and tell whoever you are with and they can stare at you uncomfortably. Your welcome!

I honesty think these are one of my favorite cupcakes. Lovely :)

P.s. Emily thanks for the order. I hope they met TJ's standards!!

XOX

Heidi

Pharmacy Grad Cupcakes

A big thanks to Richele Strong for giving me a new challenge. Her husband just graduated from pharmacy school and needed some cool cupcakes for his party. I fashioned gum paste pill packets, RX cookies and white chocolate W's being that he is a graduate of Washington University.

Here's just a peek at some of her order.....

Together Forever

Oreo Supreme

Raspberry Bliss

I hope these made a awesome addition to your celebration!

XOXO

Heidi