Capitol Cupcakes

On Friday, I took off from the Orlando airport and arrived in Washington D.C. for five days with my sister. Holly had a great trip planned for me.The first night I was here, we had dinner in Georgetown. Of course, we had to see the legendary Georgetown Cupcake. We waited in a line that went out the door and up the street but fortunately, the late night crowd is less than the morning crowd. I ordered a pumpkin spice cupcake and bit into a beautiful piece of cupcake bliss. The maple frosting was piled high with a beautiful chocolate maple leaf placed on top. The pumpkin spice cake was a perfect pairing with this tasty frosting. I had thought that I had just about the best cupcake recipe ever. Turns out there is competition. Those California cupcake shops pale in comparison (with the exception of Violet's in Pasadena which still has unmatched flavor selection and amazing frosting skills). 

Anyway, I determined to sample as many DC cupcakes as I could (not just at Georgetown Cupcake but various shops around the city. Yesterday we came across Red Velvet. We went in to see if they had hot chocolate but while we were there we figured we may as well try a cupcake. So Holly and I split a lemon cupcake with coconut cream cheese frosting. This was a surprising and delicious flavor combination. The cake was amazing too. It had that satisfying crunch on top that comes from using a little extra sugar. 

We had planned on going to a little cafe called CakeLove in the afternoon but after delicious lunch at Busboys and Poets (gorgonzola and fuji apple sandwich with fig spread on cinnamon raisin bread accompanied by sweet potato fries), we were just too full. Maybe we will make it there later. 

I have come to the conclusion that what Cutecakes needs is a city and a truck/cart to sell cupcakes from. This leads to my poll - "Which US city is right for Cutecakes?" This is your chance to say where Cutecakes Cupcakery would flourish in a world where I could move anywhere and had money to get a cart/truck and start a business. Choose wisely. Also, feel free to submit your own options as comments on this post. 

Break from the Ordinary

For awhile now, I have been wanting to make an actual cake. I love cupcakes and they can be made to look pretty amazing but nothing really compares to the look of a beautiful homemade cake sitting on a cake stand. I took out the trusty Southern Cakes book and with some internal debate and a bit of outside help decided on a lovely fall flavor combination - pumpkin raisin cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. It sounded like a carrot cake but with pumpkin instead of carrot. But it didn't taste a whole lot like carrot cake once it was done.
After the cakes were baked and cooled and the frosting made, I got to play with some of my new cake-decorating toys from IKEA. I used the wire cake cutter to make a beautiful four-layer cake rather than just a boring two-layer. Stacking the layers was a bit of a challenge but with the help of Ben and a couple spatulas, I managed to stack each layer on top of the one beneath it. I then covered the whole cake with frosting and put chopped pecans around the side and a couple candied lemon slices on top. It looked beautiful (hopefully I can put a picture up here soon).
The only thing left to do was to eat it. We had to wait until after dinner for that, but it was well worth the wait. The lemon n the cream cheese frosting brought out the pumpkin so well. A great way to experience the tastes of fall.

SHOWing off

Today I made cupcakes for the Reflect show tonight. It was an all day ordeal but definitely worth it. I started making a basic yellow cupcake with a vanilla bean buttercream. Sounds simple, right? The catch is that I made 20 cupcakes into depiction of the shows banner - a twitter bird with hills in the background. I wasn't completely satisfied since spaces were still left between the cupcakes. To cover those I probably would have needed a thicker buttercream and more of it. However, it was still recognizable and received a good reception. I was able to break in the cake decorating kit I got from Ikea which made me happy.
While the first set of cupcakes were in the oven, Ben and I worked on the next batch - chocolate and heath bar. I hadn't tried a chocolate before and normally don't like chocolate cake so I knew this was risky. To top those off, we tried a new frosting recipe from Cooks magazine (the same place I got my cupcake recipe from) and rolled the edges in Heath bits. We were in a hurry so we quickly picked up the kitchen, loaded the cupcakes in the box and hopped in the car. Transport was a little tricky, but we managed.

I set up a little table complete with business cards at the show and prepared to sell cupcakes that I'd never tried before which was a little risky. Unfortunately, less people were showing up than expected. Halfway through the first performance, Ben and I decided to try a bit of our work... and it was AMAZING. I don't want to toot my own horn too much, but those chocolate heath cupcakes were incredible. In the end, most of the cupcakes got eaten. Although many were given away for free,  I consider Cutecakes Cupcakery's first event a success!
Be sure to check out the new poll on the left side of the page. In the spirit of the show, I want to know how many of my readers have a Twitter.

show flyer and my rendition of it

Opening Cupcakes

Yesterday was the San Jose Sharks season opener - the beginning of a hockey season which will hopefully last to the end of May or June. To celebrate this important occasion, I made Sharks cupcakes. When I say Sharks cupcakes I really mean there were sharks on the cupcakes. No half-hearted aqua and black sprinkles here, we went all out.
Unfortunately this meant I was still making cupcakes when the game started so I moved my work-station to the table where I could watch and frost. The sharkheads had a little more difficulty than the penguins staying on the cupcakes, but they came out looking just as great. I finished them just as the third period started and we ate them while cheering for the Sharks as they battled the Blue Jackets in Stockholm, Sweden. In the end, my amazing cupcakes carried the Sharks to a 3-2 victory and a great start to the season. Go Sharks!

And the Results are In...

Readers' favorite cupcake is... CARROT!!! With 36% of the vote, the carrot cupcake barely stole the lead from vanilla and red velvet which both had 27%. Chocolate came in a surprising last place with just one vote. So to that lone chocolate cake lover - stay strong. Red velvet is almost chocolate so maybe it stole some of those votes. So it seems the next cupcake I need to perfect is a delicious carrot cake. This will make Ben happy as its his favorite. Now I just need some piping accessories so I can frost cute carrots on top of the cupcakes.
There are two batches of cupcakes to make before this, however. On Friday, I am making shark cupcakes for the beginning of hockey season. Next Wednesday, I'm hoping to make chocolate heath bar ones for the guys in Ben's youth group who loved and still remember the chocolate-heath cookies I made when they came up to Toccoa for Homecoming last year. If anyone in the Melbourne, FL area wants to be the test subject for the carrot cupcakes, let me know.  Ben, his family and I have been eating a lot of cupcakes lately...

Apple Festival

Coming back from Toccoa this week, we stopped at Jaemor farms to pick up a peck of apples. We also got a jar of blackberry honey and an apple fritter (both very delicious). In honor of the Cornelia apple festival back in Georgia today, I made apple cupcakes yesterday. I decided to try making a spice cake base and add chopped apples. I mixed the yellow cupcake recipe with the recipe for one of my favorite coffee cakes. They turned out beautifully - the perfect recipe for the beginning of fall. To top the delicious flavor off, I made a honey cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It was a delightful and successful day of baking.


Although this is a cupcake blog, I have to say a word about the dinner since it went so perfectly with the cupcakes. Ben and I made a pork tenderloin we saw Alton Brown make on Good Eats - delicious. I also finally managed to make great potatoes with help from a few spices and Ben's idea to cook them in a bit of chicken broth. Both the dinner and the apple-spice cupcakes were a great start to October and fall (even if the Florida weather still feels like summer).

Poll Time!

I am very impressed with the attention my little cupcake poll has already received so thanks to all those who have voted and if you haven't - vote now. My intent with the polls is to give a special prize or gift to one lucky voter each week (possibly bi-weekly). By voting, you help me out by letting me know which cupcakes I should perfect or create. It is only fair that I reward my readers for their help. However, so far, CuteCakes Cupcakery is not an official cupcake business and has made no revenue. So for now I am testing out the polls and hope to be able to offer prizes in the future. But just because there aren't prizes yet doesn't mean you shouldn't vote. You want me to perfect your favorite flavor, right? Thanks for your help and for reading.

A Penguin Parade

I love birthdays because they are the perfect excuse to spend all day making cupcakes. This morning, I got out of bed ready and excited for the events of the day - making the long-awaited penguin cupcakes. So Ben and I set out to the store to purchase a long list of ingredients that included mini donuts, starbursts and marshmallows among other things. When we got home, I first started on the cupcakes. Now making a cupcake as light and fluffy as the boxed mix variety is tricky but I had a new yellow cake recipe from Cooks magazine. I followed the recipe to the T... (the expression to a T evidently comes from to a to a tittle in which tittle is a small mark in writing). Once the cupcakes were baked, I let them cool but then decided I better try one to make sure they were good before frosting them. Oh my Goodness! Those were some of the most amazing cupcakes ever. They were light and fluffy and the extra sugar had caramelized slightly on top for a delightful texture and sweet flavor.

two penguins and an iceberg

Next, the difficult task of creating the penguin shape. so we cut the donuts and assembled penguins. While I assembled, Ben made the ganache (and he did an amazing job). Lots of black food coloring yielded the perfect shade for cupcake penguins. After cooling the penguin skeletons in the freezer, we dipped them in the ganache and a penguin began to take shape. once all the elements were on, I got so excited. This was the first cupcake that had come out absolutely perfectly from batter to icing. They were a huge hit and yielded what Johnny dubbed "the most delicious birthday ever."

in the shoebox, ready for transport

Stepping Out of the Box

So I made German Chocolate Cupcakes today. I love German chocolate even though I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake. I made them from the box mix (cheating, I know but they were buy one get one free the last time I bought a box). But I have decided this is the last batch of box-mix cupcakes I will make. I will figure out how to make better than the box cupcakes and I will never go back! I suppose if I'm really in a hurry... Anyway, my plan is to try making my own cupcakes from scratch now. I think I made up for using boxed cupcakes with the effort I put into the frosting. I stirred that thing forever and Ben stirred it for almost forever. Despite all our best efforts at stirring the frosting to death, it ended up goopy. So it is now in the fridge and I plan to frost the cupcakes soon. I think I learned that German chocolate cake frosting is going to be messy no matter what you do and that is the reason why it is so delicious. The messiest parts of life always end up being the best, right?

The Beginning

So I have had a lot of time on my hands lately. This time is used finding a job and catching up on reading, but I also have plenty of time to devote myself to creating the most delicious cupcake. There is no room for store-bought cake mix here. I need to discover how to make a perfect cupcake from scratch. I have decided to document my journeys so the world (or maybe just a few family members and friends) can read about my struggles to make my dream a reality. If you are lucky, you may even get to taste these "struggles." So enjoy!