Brand Spankin' New

Yay! I have finally revamped my blog. It's always nice to brush up on my old css/html skills. (Woo-hoo, 4 years of graphic design schooling did make a difference!) Anyways, a lot of new and exciting things have been going on with my life, so I thought a new look for this website was appropriate.

First off, I am starting my mini cupcake catering business!!
I am but a humble amateur baker at home, but I have a big heart for those delicious little treats. After many years of "free baking" and many many suggestions to start charging money for them, I have decided to dip my little feet in the grand world of cupcake catering. All I offer is lovingly hand-baked cupcakes with the best quality ingredients I can get my hands on-- all for a price WAY more reasonable than those expensive bakeries downtown. Mine taste just as good--if not better! Haha. Okay. Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I think this is an exciting new beginning for me. Who knows where this will take me? I'm just open to venturing into a new baking era. I still have much much much to prepare but I'm just letting the world know for now! :D

So, the catalyst to this decision? Redwood. :)
Redwood was the design company I was interning at for six weeks. And as it usually happens, I got the reputation as a baker in the office. During that time, I brought in some of my baked goods a few times. On the final day of my term, I baked my specialty: cupcakes! And were they well-received indeed!! People really really loved and raved about my cupcakes and I had to hand out business cards! I was considering this for a long time but was sort of hesitant about going official with this, but I guess I gained a lot of confidence now. So that's how it happened. And I am very excited for my new side baking career.

Sorry for that long intro! Let's get to the good part: the cupcakes. I baked vanilla vanilla cupcakes and Red Velvet Cupcakes. Obviously, the Red Velvet were a huge hit, especially with the Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting. After a very looooooooong search for a good recipe, I decided to just stick with the Magnolia Red Velvet Cake recipe and I think it turned out pretty nicely. One thing though...I am a HUGE over-beating paranoia freak. Haha. I really really make sure I don't overbeat. But this time, I sort of underbeated the color...so the cake looked more like Red Velvet Marble. The brown and red were a bit splotchy. The people didn't notice it, but next time for sure, I'll get the color right. ;) The rest of the cake was good: moist and fluffy.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes about three dozen cupcakes
from Magnolia Bakery

ingredients

3 ⅓ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons red food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line pans with cupcake liners.
3. In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
5. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.

6. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

7. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

8. When the cake has cooled, ice the cupcakes with frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Enough for about three dozen cupcakes

ingredients

1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

directions

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy. Cover and refrigerate icing for 2 to 3 hours, but no longer, to thicken before using.