Maybe Cupcakes

V-Day Cupcakes Recap, Part II

2010-02-21T19:02:00.001-08:00

So the rest of my Valentine's Day cupcake roundup. I spent the actual holiday with Dani, my fake valentine. We started the day with a brunch at Frank because we had a Groupon, and it was awesome. I got a soy latte made with Intelligentsia coffee, see how pretty the latte art was, and a biscuit with jackalope gravy. What is jackalope you ask? A sausage made of rabbit and antelope. Not normally my thing, but as a gravy over a biscuit it was pretty damn tasty.

After Frank we wandered over to HOPE Market (which I'm now in love with and might post about soon) and then Sugar Mama's to check out their Valentine's Day decorated cupcakes. Dani and I split a chocolate-covered strawberry cupcake. It was a rich chocolate cake, stopped with a strawberry cream that was covered in ganache and decorated with a little heart.
They also had other cupcakes decorated with roses and hearts.

Lastly, that night Dani and I went to House Wine for the monthly Cupcake Bar event there. As usual, The Cupcake Bar offered 3 mini cupcakes to be paired with one of three wines. I actually didn't got for one of the paired wines this time, but instead got a Verdejo wine that I enjoyed. The cupcakes offered were delicious, here's the description straight from The Cupcake Bar:

*Luscious Red Velvet with Pink Cream Cheese Icing filled with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream. Topped with red hearts and a cherry on top!
*Dark Chocolate Cupcake filled with raspberry and a raspberry chocolate buttercream. Topped with sprinkles and a fresh raspberry.
*Oh so Innocent Vanilla with Strawberry Icing and filled with whipped cream. Topped with conversation hearts.

I enjoyed them all, but I think that the Dark Chocolate was my favorite. The cake was rich and moist, and the chocolate went perfectly with the raspberry. I really like chocolate/berry combos, I think that bakeries should do them more often. I don't have any photos because I didn't have my camera that day. If Dani took any I'll update this with her photos.

Last but not least, I picked up a Valentine's Day Cupcake Kit from the The Cupcake Bar, which I will write about in my next post.

V- Day Cupcakes Recap, Part I

2010-02-16T06:21:00.000-08:00

So many things to say about Valentine's Day- the stuff I baked myself, and the bakeries and events I went to. I'm starting with the homemade stuff. I celebrated Valentine's Day a weekend early with my Valentine, Ryan, because he lives in New York, and that's what his work schedule allowed. In preparation for his visit, I baked for the entire week before, so I could send him home with a ton of home-made baked goods. I made baked fudge, vegan chocolate chip cookies, vegan oatmeal mocha cookies, and of course cupcakes- vegan thin mint cupcakes!

The cupcakes were super fun to make and easy, despite the fact that they were vegan. I used a recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for chocolate-mint cupcakes, and it produced a moist, chocolately and minty cupcake. Also, because I made them so far in advance, I froze them for a few days, and once thawed they were exactly the same as the day I baked them them. I topped it with a vegan mint frosting and crushed Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, for texture and an extra oomph on presentation. I have to say, I'm not a fan of vegan frosting. I tried using Earth Balance shortening, and did what the recipe called for and twice I got separated frosting. Most people didn't notice, but I think a trained eye would have. If you look closely here, you can see the tiny butter pieces, and how the frosting didn't cream properly.

Still, the cupcakes were totally tasty. Ryan loved them, my friends loved them, and maybe even Sondre Lerche loved them. Yeah, that's right. A famous Norwegian singer might have eaten my cupcakes. My friend Mai works at the Parish, and when I went to go see Sondre Lerche with her there earlier this month, I brought her some cupcakes and she ended up sharing them with the band and touring crew. They seemed pretty grateful for something sweet and homemade but I have no idea if they were actually eaten. I hope they were, and they enjoyed them.

Next Austin Cupcake Meetup

2010-02-10T21:11:00.001-08:00

For the next Austin Cupcake Meetup event, I'm hosting a cupcake & wine pairing at Cru, featuring cupcakes from Delish. Here are the details for the event, which you can also find on the meetup event page:

The wine director at Cru will be speaking briefly about the wines, and tasting notes will be provided. For the flight we will be trying the following three wines:

* Loosen Bros. "Dr. L," Riesling `08, Mosel Germany: Sleek and tangy, showing apricot, lime and mango flavors matched to a lively structure. There's good harmony and persistence through the finish. Wine Spectator: #62 Top 100, 91pts
*The Velvet Devil By Charles Smith, Merlot `08, Washington: Lean and spicy, with an herbal edge to the modest cherry and lime flavors. Drink now through 2012.
*Lamarca, Prosecco, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene N.V., Veneto, Italy: This sparkling wine is a pale, golden straw in color. Bubbles are full textured and persistent. On the nose the wine brings fresh citrus with hints of honey and white flowers. The flavor is fresh and clean, with ripe citrus, lemon, green apple, and touches of grapefruit, minerality, and some toast. The finish is light, refreshing, and crisp.

The cupcake flavors from Delish have yet to be determined, but this invite will be updated once they are chosen.

There is a $5 fee upon entry for the cupcakes, and the wine flight will be $10 plus tax and gratuity, payable to Cru.

I'm super excited about this event, because I love cupcakes and I really like pairing them with wine. Also, I'm a big fan of Riesling, and Loosen Bros. is great so I was really excited when I saw the wine director had put that one on the list. I hope y'all can make it!

I have an award-winning blog

2010-02-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day! Crazypants!

Anyhow, I have won my first blogging award. It's the Beautiful Blogger award, presented to me by Grant from Austin Carnivore, a blogger friend I met at the Austin Bleet-up in November. I also blogged about our cupcake adventure at Delish. He's a cool guy that posts random stories about his life and also short fiction. Definitely check him out, he cracks me up.

The award is kind of like a chain letter- you post the award badge and 7 random facts about yourself, and then pass it to someone else. So 7 random facts about me:

1. I grew up in West Los Angeles, and attended Venice High School, where Grease, American History X and the Britney Spears "Baby One More Time" video were all filmed.
2. Despite growing up in the driving capital of the country, I'm not a good driver. Or really a driver at all. I didn't learn how until I was 20, and have about 5 months of driving experience total.
3. I went to NYU because I wanted to live in New York and study Journalism. I ended up majoring in Sociology and minoring in Art History, and now work in marketing. What else do you do with a Liberal Arts degree?
4. I moved every year I lived in New York, sometimes twice in a year. At 25 I'm on my 10th residence since I turned 18, and I've had 45 roommates. I now live alone.
5. Every time I fly somewhere, I have to buy a magazine to read on the plane at the airport. Even if I already have a book or other magazines with me. I can't explain, it just is.
6. I reread The Catcher in the Rye every single summer. It feels as relevant to my life now as it did the first time I read it at 14.
7. I currently collect travel and art postcards. At various times in my life I've also collected stationery, stickers, ribbons, band buttons, magnets, bookmarks, shot glasses and guitar pics.

Maybe these aren't all so random. Anyhow, I hope that entertained you. I've now written my first non-cupcake or baking post- I hope to throw in a few others soon.

I'm now passing the award to Dani from Texas Hearts because she's a fun friend to hang out with, and was my first friend in Austin. Because of her I went to the Bleet-up and met tons of cool people and was inspired to finally start writing a blog myself. Yay me and yay Dani!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes!

2010-02-08T09:59:00.001-08:00

Look out Austin, there are tons of Valentine's Day cupcake options! I've already done an early V-Day celebration with my valentine because he lives in New York and couldn't visit that weekend, but if he were around we'd definitely try all of these different cupcake options:

Delish:
Delish has the "Be My Cupcake" gift basket, which includes a half dozen Valentine's cupcakes, a bottle of Cupcake wine, and a box of chocolate covered strawberries. It's regularly $42, but if you order before Wednesday, it's 10% off and will be only $37.50.

madCakes:
madCakes is offering Valentine's Day decorated cupcakes, iced/decorated cookie hearts, raspberry filled shortbread heart cookies, strawberry cheesecake hearts and brownies, and their signature bundt cakes. They will also adorn any cake with their handmade bows or package bars, cookies, and/or cupcakes with a festive look for the holiday.

Polkadots:
Polkadots will be open on Valentine's Day from 12pm-4pm, and will have the following flavors decorated with hearts sprinkles: Red Velvet, Strawberry Shortcake, Blackbottom cake, Honey and Chai,Triple Chocolate,Vanilla Chocolate Chip, Vanilla Vanilla, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Vanilla, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Strawberry, and Chocolate Mint. For an extra $.50 per cupcake, you can get a fondant heart topper. They will also have special V-Day cookies- here's the menu.

Sugar Mama's Bakeshop:
Sugar Mama's will be featuring V-Day themed cupcakes on Valentine's Day and they'll have extended hours from 11 am-9 pm. In addition to their daily flavors, they will be featuring 3 additional Valentine's Day flavors: Frida, Chocolate Covered Strawberry (chocolate cake, strawberry frosting, dipped in chocolate ganache), and Vegan Strawberry Lemonade. They will all be decorated with V-Day decor at no extra charge.

The Cupcake Bar:
The Cupcake Bar is doing a few different things for Valentine's Day. First, they are having an event with Ceramics Bayou on 2/14 from 6pm to 10pm. The How I Love You package includes two wine goblets or mugs for painting, Cupcake Bar cupcakes and drinks. Also on Valentine's Day, there will be a Cupcake and Wine pairing event at House Wine from 7:30-9:30pm. I'll be there with Dani, Austin Cupcake Meetup's co-organizer, who promised to be my V-Day date.

In addition to these events, The Cupcake Bar has made Valentine's Day cupcake kits, so you can make your own cupcake bar at home! The kits are available at House Wine and Sassy Pea Market this weekend. They retail for $25 and each kit includes:

6 "naked" cupcakes: 2 chocolate, 2 vanilla & 2 red velvet

3 icings: vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream & pink cream cheese

3 toppings: conversation hearts, chocolate sprinkles & Valentine's sprinkles

There will be a limited number of kits, and The Cupcake Bar strongly recommends that you pre-order by calling (512.903.0187) or emailing info@thecupcakebaraustin.com.

If I left out any bakeries, let me know, and I'll be happy to add them in.

The Cupcake Bar & The Wonder Craft - Photos!

2010-02-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

More photos from Sunday's Meetup, courtesy of Dani, my awesome Assistant Organizer. I've put clickable thumbnails to some of my faves, but you can see the whole set here.

Red velvet with vanilla buttercream, topped with silver sprinkles, Pop Rocks and cotton candy. Def wins my vote for prettiest cupcake.

Tres leches with strawberry frosting, topped with goldfish pretzels. I love how the fish are swimming into the frosting.

Members busy crafting at the work table inside The WonderCraft.

Our awesome cupcake bartender Rachel, serving up a cute cupcake despite the cold that day.

The cupcake menu

Lastly, my cupcake- tres leches with strawberry frosting, chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. So pretty and so yummy.

The Cupcake Bar & The Wonder Craft

2010-02-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's Austin Cupcake Meetup event with The WonderCraft and The CupcakeBar was tons of fun! Members came out to make cute sponge-stamp tote bags and create customizable cupcakes despite the freezing cold weather.

In case you're not familiar with The WonderCraft, it's a collective of women that teach crafting classes and run a boutique from a tricked out Airstream trailer. They are located behind The Art Pad on Burnet, but I believe the trailer sometimes travels for certain events. The lovely Beth A. and Beth H. were on hand to teach us how to cut out sponge stamps, paint them and then decorate mini tote bags. Members also had the opportunity to decorate any other items they brought in- I made a greeting card, and I know someone else printed a t-shirt.

The CupcakeBar provided the cupcakes for the meetup, and I loved how everyone's cupcake turned out completely different. I really liked the idea of pairing a create-your-own cupcake with a crafting event, because it gave everyone the chance to be creative. The menu included vanilla, red velvet and tres leches cupcakes, with whipped cream or caramel fillings and strawberry, fudge and vanilla buttercream frostings. We had so many toppings I can't recall all of them, but i know that silver sprinkles were a big hit because they were so pretty. One cool looking combo used the silver sprinkes, Pop Rocks, and cotton candy.

I personally went with a tres leches cupcake, strawberry frosting, white chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips. Sadly I don't have a photo of it because I didn't bring my camera, but Dani, my awesome assistant organizer brought one with her. I'll post her photos when I receive them. The photo above is one of the leftover cupcakes I got to take home- red velvet with vanilla frosting, peanut butter M&Ms, white chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips. I asked our cupcake bartender, Rachel, to decorate the leftovers however she thought they would look and taste best. I have to say she did an amazing job.

I have many other bakeries I'd like to work with, and other types of events I'd like to plan, but this was such a fun combo that I might just try it again in the future!

Happiness is Warm Fudge

2010-01-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

I realize that warm fudge might seem strange to some of you, since fudge is usually served room temperature. Last year I was introduced to a healthy, baked "fudge" recipe that I've fallen in love with, and because it's baked, you get to eat the fudge warm if you want to. I had a bad day on Wednesday when I was going through my tax info, so I decided to bake myself some fudge to cheer up.

So what is this baked fake fudge recipe you ask? Couldn't be more simple. It's from Hungry Girl, who I'm a fan of because she offers recipes that are healthier versions of things that are bad for you. I adapted her recipe for peanut butter fudge, which calls for a box of cake mix, 2 cups of canned pure pumpkin and 2 tbsps of low-fat peanut butter for a topping. All you do is combine the chocolate cake mix and the pumpkin, add your topping, pour it into a baking pan and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. That's it. You can add on whatever topping you want. This one calls for peanut butter, but I didn't have any, so I threw on some mini chocolate chips after 20 minutes. I probably should have put them in from the beginning so they would have incorporated better, but they still add a nice texture.

The "fudge" batter is really thick, and the fudge has a slightly cakey texture, but it's dense and chocolaty like fudge is. I've made it with the peanut butter topping, and also with raspberry jelly swirled on top. Hungry Girl also has a rocky road version. I can't really taste the pumpkin in it, but some of my friends have said they can. I like using pumpkin as a secret ingredient, because as Hungry Girl always points out, it adds fiber, and will be less calories than regular fudge. To make my fudge even more fun, I cut some of the pieces into heart shapes using one of my new heart-shaped cookie cutters. I'll probably be using those again soon since Valentine's Day is coming up.

Delish!

2010-01-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I won a pair of tickets to Avatar that Austin Carnivore had raffled on Twitter. We agreed to meet in person to hand off the tickets, and since Mr. Carnivore is always talking about eating cupcakes, but doesn't often eat them I figured we should meet up at Delish.

I had been to Delish before, but not since starting the blog. I have tried many of their flavors- Mexican Chocolate, Mexican Vanilla, Carrot Ginger, Peppermint and Chocolate w/Peanut Butter. This time I decided to try something new and went with another constant, the Banana Chocolate, pictured above. The banana cake was moist yet dense, a little similar to banana bread. It wasn't too sweet, but I liked that, because it really tasted like banana. It was also good that it wasn't so sweet, because the chocolate buttercream frosting was extremely sugary. I usually don't like my frosting to be that sweet but in this combo it worked well, as the frosting and cake complimented each other nicely.

In fact, the frosting was so good that I continued to eat it with a fork once I had finished the banana cupcake. I don't usually do that if there is leftover frosting, so I commend Delish for that. Also, I have to comment on how pretty the frosting is- at Delish they use edible glitter on nearly all of their cupcakes. I took the close up shot so you could see it. It's a really nice effect that's perhaps a little girly, but I think it makes Delish's cupcakes stand out. In all the cupcakes I've tried in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, I've yet to see someone that uses edible glitter as regularly. It makes the cupcake fun. I liked the banana chip at the top too, but really for me this cupcake was all about the less sweet banana cupcake + sugary chocolate buttercream combo.

Austin Carnivore ordered the Mexican Vanilla, which he enjoyed and gave a thumb up. I now wish I could recall his exact words (I think I need to start writing these things down), but I do know that he liked it. I have tried that cupcake myself and it's a nice light vanilla, with a vanilla buttercream, topped with a small wafer. We had a hilarious conversation about the Carnivore's dubious past that seemed even more ridiculous than it really was, mainly because we were discussing it at 11am in a cupcakery, while a potential employee was being interviewed. I hope our laughter didn't upset her interview.

Anyhow, the cupcakes were delicious, and a good time was had by the two of us. Delish does a daily special almost every day, so I'm looking forward to trying more of their flavors.

New Year's Cupcakes!

2010-01-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! It's only the 3rd, and no one has gone back to work yet, so I think it's still ok to wish people Happy New Year. I'm going to a brunch today and I'm going to greet my friends with the 2010 cupcakes pictured above.

I used a Hungry Girl recipe from the 200 Under 200 cookbook. It's supposed to be Chocolate Marshmallow Madness, but I didn't have marshmallows and had to change a few things up. First of all, Hungry Girl's philosophy is to provide recipes and diet tips that let you eat healthier versions of junk food and comfort food. So this recipe calls for 1/2 chocolate cake mix, a packet of diet cocoa dissolved in 1 1/4 cups water, 1 tbsp Splenda, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/2 cup egg replacer. I decided to nix the Splenda because I don't have that stuff, and I figured the cupcakes would be sweet enough. Real eggs are cheaper than egg replacer, so I used two real eggs, because that equaled half a cup (I realize this adds to the calories and negates the point of a healthier cupcake, but I'm ok with that).

The batter came out really liquidy and you can see from above that the cupcakes didn't rise much. I know that egg replacer is thicker than real eggs and I'm wondering if that makes the difference. Then again, I've made Hungy Girl cupcakes before and they usually don't rise much.

Onto the frosting. I forgot to pick up Fluff from the supermarket and thus had no marshmallow spread to work with for the topping. I went to my local food mart down the street (which is pretty much just a liquor store) and they had two packages of mini marshmallows that expired 3/09. Thoroughly grossed out and disappointed, I didn't know what to do until I saw a package of vanilla pudding and had a brilliant idea- why not try a pudding-based frosting?

I made a buttercream frosting using the vanilla pudding mix, and a little bit of confectioner's sugar to get the right ratio. It ended up really thick (not surprised), so I added more soy milk than usual. I think if I try this again I'll add even more soy milk. After mixing the frosting, I split it into three bowls so I could add food coloring for some pizazz. I chose yellow, red and green. I didn't realize these were traffic light colors until I put them all together. To not get that effect I mixed up the order for the photo at the top. Lastly, I decorated them with mini chocolate chips to write out 2010.

I did a taste test of one cupcake, so I'll actually be bringing 11 to my brunch instead of a full dozen (sorry girls!). I'm glad I tried it before giving them to friends. They came out really moist, chocolately and not too sweet. I can see why the recipe calls for the extra sugar, but I don't mind that it's not there. The frosting is sweet and goes well with the chocolate, but is really thick. Next time I'll make it a little thinner and thus easier to spread. All in all, I think they came out ok, but again I've learned that it pays to follow a recipe exactly.

I hope everyone has a great 2010, and that it's filled with cupcakes!

Cupcake Wars - a reality show review

2009-12-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ok so Cupcake Wars, a new cupcake reality/competition show aired last night on Food Network. I had been looking forward to it, because I love the Food Network and Cupcakes Take the Cake has been mentioning it for some time now. I wanted to like the show, but the whole thing was a disappointment. According to Natalie Slater of Bake & Destroy, one of the judges, the concept started out as a docu-drama series and was turned into a competition. The docu-drama might have been more interesting.

First of all, since not that much information was available online prior to the premiere, I thought it was going to be a new series, but I think perhaps it was a one-off. (This is also why I have no photos). Secondly, they used lesser-known bakers and caterers- Two Parts Sugar, Whodidly Cupcakes, Sweet E’s Bake Shop and Hotcakes Bakes. I understand that the premise of the show was to give unknown bakers a chance to get on the map, by presenting a cupcake display at the Alma awards, but I wanted to see famous bakers compete against each other, Iron Chef-style, like Sprinkles v Magnolia, or Crumbs v Bleeding Heart Bakery. Lastly, I thought the show was way too ambitious in trying to combine elimination style-competition, like Next Iron Chef or Chopped with head-to-head competition, like Challenge or Iron Chef.

Each round was completely predictable in what the judges were going to decide based on their comments. The first test was a taste challenge and they complained about Two Parts Sugar’s frosting. It was the only real complaint about any of the cupcakes, and like that Two Parts Sugar is off the show. (I’m referring to all of the bakers by their bakery and not by name because I didn’t catch them all). The thing that surprised me this round was that the challenge was to create a spicy and sweet cupcake, because spicy and sweet flavors are often combined in Latin cooking, and Two Parts Sugar didn’t use any pepper or heat, just cinnamon. I don’t think any of the judges commented on that.

The next challenge was a display/concept challenge, to come up with the display for 1000 cupcakes at the ALMA awards, and also bake sample flavors. All three remaining bakers had basically the same concept, to create a display that plays on the Alma award itself, a Latina woman wearing a dress. Everyone thought it would be a good idea to create a tier made of an entire dress, and two of the bakeries, Whodidly Cupcakes and Hotcakes Bakes, thought to put a live woman in the middle. I can’t say I would have thought of anything different, and I liked the idea. Again though, it was easy to tell who the loser was going to be when the judges pointed out that Whodidly’s display went all the way to the floor, and no one was going to bend over to pick a cupcake, much less a celebrity in a fancy dress and heels.

The final challenge was to actually bake 1000 cupcakes and present them on a display created by Food Network carpenters, based on the sketches from the previous round. At this point, only Sweet E’s and Hotcakes Bakes were left. The bakers were only given 4 hours to bake and decorate the 1000 cupcakes and get them on the display. Each baker was given a team of “baking interns” to assist them in churning out so many. Sweet E’s concept was to use fondant decorations that celebrate things about Latin culture on top of the cupcakes, and put the cupcakes on these giant tiers with billowy fabric, while Hotcakes Bakes decided to go with a two-tier low table with a woman dressed like Carmen Miranda in the middle and no fondant. While I’m impressed that Sweet E’s knocked out that many detailed fondant pieces in 4 hours, what was she thinking? Fondant often looks cartoony and would no way be elegant enough for a fancy awards show. To top it off, her tiers were so widely spaced on her display, which as the judges mentioned, put more focus on the fabrics than the cupcakes. There’s a reason why traditional cupcake tiers don’t have that much space between each tier- the point is to show off the cupcakes and not much else.

Even though the judges liked Sweet E’s cupcakes just a little more, for a big awards show presentation counts just as much as if not more than flavor. Kind of sad but true, you learn these things growing up in West L.A., the celebrities in general are more often about looks and prestige than flavor. I mean Magnolia is the most popular bakery in New York, and perhaps the country because Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) ate one, and yet there are tons of bakeries out there with superior cupcakes. Anyways, Hotcakes Bakes cupcakes looked a lot more glamorous and the woman inside gave it that extra touch that makes it perfect for a celebrity event. Sure, she wasn’t Latina, but celebrities and rich people like the novelty of a live person hired as entertainment at parties. Why were living statues created? Of course Hotcakes was going to win.

Lastly, I’d like to say that I think Hotcakes Bakes made a really smart move in wearing their logo t-shirts on the show. It made them easy to remember so I didn’t have to keep consulting my notes to check who was who, plus it subtly reinforced the brand the entire time. I’m surprised the other bakers didn’t make t-shirts just for this show. I liked that the guy from Whodidly cupcakes wore a Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt because I love Johnny Cupcakes, but people that aren’t familiar with that logo might have thought it was Whodidly’s logo. I wonder if he said anything about it, and if so if that was edited out because it would have sounded like a promotion.

All in all, I thought this show could have been much better. It looked really chaotic, was edited in such a way to make the results really predictable and I think tried to pack too much into one hour with all of the rounds. I’m not sure if this is going to be a new series or the first of a few specials, but if so I hope that Food Network ups the production values on this. Also, the ALMA awards were in September. It took 4 months to edit this and find a spot in which to air it, the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s? Food Network, I love you. You can treat cupcakes better than this.

Holiday Cupcake Madness

2009-12-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

The Austin Cupcake Meetup held our first annual Holiday Party yesterday at The Ghost Room. It was entirely awesome and there were tons and tons of cupcakes there. We had the best turn out of any of our events, and everyone's cupcake creations were amazing. I had asked that everyone try to bring holiday-themed cupcakes. I made olive oil & lemon cupcakes to celebrate Hanukkah. I think they turned out ok (thanks to everyone that complimented them), but I learned the hard way that you should leave yourself plenty of time to decorate. You can see below that on some of them I piped the vanilla buttercream, and on others I spread it.

Ok, before I get to all of the amazing and delicious cupcakes everyone brought, let me say The Ghost Room was entirely awesome and gave us both napkins and plastic knives, which I meant to bring myself. They also wrote "Hooray for Cupcakes" on their chalk sign outside the bar. It was a great venue for an event, and I think everyone enjoyed having a glass of wine or champagne with the cupcakes. I tried an excellent Malbec, and also a glass of the Prosecco that Hattie from The Pink Chair so generously bought for the group. Also, I announced to the group that the Austin Cupcake Meetup now has an assistant organizer- my friend, the lovely Dani of Texas Hearts.

And now the cupcakes. My friend Rose of Pink Sundrops brought along her entirely family, including her husband Brandon Burkhardt, who is an awesome photographer. I'm mentioning this because he took the following three photos, which are much better than the ones I took. If you'd like to see his whole set from the event you can find it here.

I took some pictures as well, which I've put on Austin Cupcake Meetup's new Flickr group. They're not nearly as pretty, but I'm going to try to add some captions on the cupcake flavors. If any participants have exact info they'd like me to include, post a comment or contact me through the meetup group. Also, I set the account up as a Flickr group, so meetup members can upload their own photos to add to the stream.

Lastly, here's a photo Rose took of Dani and me holding the sign I decorated for the party. All in all it was a great holiday cupcake party.

Cupcakes + Wine = good idea

2009-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

One thing I'm realizing about blogging is that I don't always have the time to write as quickly as I would like to. Like I went to The Cupcake Bar's Cupcake and Wine Pairing event at House Wine on Wednesday, and I'm only writing about it now. At 10:26 on a Friday. (I'm not lame, I went out last night and Wednesday and I'm going out tomorrow- I needed a chill night).

Anyhow, the pairing event was a blast. First I need to say that House Wine is super cute, and actually is a converted little house. I didn't think to take a picture of the outside, but if I get a chance to go to next month's event I will. I met up with my friend Ariel there and her friend Alex (who I ran into the next night at the White Elephant party) and Mai joined us as well.

After paying for the pairing, I first received my wine. They had the following three choices:

Louis Perdrier Rose, Sparkling Wine, France

2006 White, Hedges, Columbia Valley

2005 Merlot, Bin 36, Central Coast

I went with the rose, because I thought that would be fun for cupcakes, but not too sweet. It ended up being a good choice. I don't know enough about wine to say what any of the notes were, but I know enough to say that it was sweet but not overly so, and a bit refreshing.

Onto the cupcakes! I spoke with Lori, the owner, for a little bit and we ended up discussing cupcake places in Boston and a possible collaboration for Austin Cupcake Meetup. (If anything happens, I'll post it here). I had a nice picture of the table set up, but managed to delete while transferring it to my computer. Instead, here's a pretty shot of the three cupcakes:

I love how they come on mini hors d'oeuvres trays!

The flavors were as follows:

Our Famous Red Velvet filled with Caramel and Topped with Egg Nog Cream Cheese and Topped with Gingerbread Man Sprinkles.

Dried Cranberry & Walnut Cupcake with Orange Buttercream Icing and filled with Caramel. Topped with Crushed Ginger Snaps and Dried Cranberries

Frosty Chocolate Mint Cupcake filled with Chocolate Whipped Cream and Topped with Milk Chocolate Icing and Crushed Candy Cane

I think the Chocolate Mint was my favorite. The cupcake was moist, minty but not overly so, and the crushed candy cane bits added a really nice texture. I also thought that the tree sprinkles added a nice bit of color to the presentation. Next I liked the Red Velvet. Again the cake was moist (I will probably always comment on this, because that's just so important), and the texture had a nice bounce to it. The caramel fill was a nice surprise, adding to the moistness and it worked well with the egg nog frosting. I thought that the egg nog flavor was a little delicate, but it worked by not overpowering the red velvet taste. I couldn't really taste gingerbread on the sprinkles, but they looked super cute, like mini gingerbread men! Lastly, I liked the cranberry and walnut cupcake too, but not as much as the other flavors. It was tasty, but the other two won out for me. However, again it was a very moist cupcake and I like the cranberry and orange flavors together. I'm not sure I've had that flavor combo in baked goods before, but they always really work on a salad and I thought they paired nicely together.

On the whole, I really like the idea of a cupcake and wine pairing. I know that there are other bars out there that pair cupcakes with alcohol and I'm totally curious about what other flavor combinations are being paired. I know there are places in New York that do this but if there are others in Austin I'm totally going to find them.

Hanukkah Cupcakes

2009-12-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Hanukkah began on Friday, December 11th and I went home to Los Angeles to celebrate with my family. Usually I don't contribute much to cooking for family parties, but since I've gotten into baking lately I like to bake cupcakes for everyone when I can. Hanukkah is the miracle of lights, specifically we remember that oil to light a menorah lasted for 8 days when it was supposed to last for just 1. Because of this it is traditional to eat foods fried in oil- usually latkes, or donuts. I decided to try something different and made olive oil cupcakes.

I used this olive oil cupcake recipe from Cupcake Project, but slightly modified it. Instead of using lemon, I used a combination of lime and sweet lime, because that's what we had at my house. I also nixed the thyme because we didn't have any. The cupcakes were tasty but definitely tasted more lemony than of olive oil. The texture was dense and slightly off. I'm wondering if I accidentally used too much flour because I had a difficult time measuring it. I did use a balsamic vinegar frosting as recommended, but instead of using heavy cream I used cream cheese. I'm lactose intolerant and find cream cheese easier to digest than heavy cream. The cream cheese ended up being more dominant than the balsamic flavor (which I think is supposed to be light anyway), and it made for an interesting mix of flavors. I think perhaps I need to find a vegan alternative for heavy cream because the cupcake would have tasted very different had I used heavy cream instead of cream cheese. Maybe a buttercream frosting would have worked, I'm not sure. Regardless, everyone seemed to enjoy them and a few sprinkles on top brightened them up. I think I'll try to find a different recipe for Sunday's Austin Cupcake Meetup Holiday Party, or try to follow the recipe more exactly.

P.S. Here's a bonus shot of a cute mini cupcake tower that I saw at a local performance of the Nutcracker at the Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles.

P.P.S. In addition to the Cupcake & Wine pairing at House Wine on 12/16, this week MisoHungry will have cupcakes at the Austin Post/White Elephant party at Lanai on 12/17. I'll be there too!

The Cupcake Bar at Dress Shop

2009-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

Today is National Cupcake Day! I wish I ate a cupcake today, but today needed to be a detox day as I've had cupcakes every day for the past three days, and I think will have cupcakes every day for the rest of the week. So instead of eating a cupcake, I'm celebrating with MaybeCupcakes posts!

First up, a mini review of The Cupcake Bar. The Cupcake Bar is a cupcake catering service with a twist- instead of just dropping off cupcakes, they provide a bar with a cupcake bartender that assists you in decorating a custom cupcake for yourself. I've had The Cupcake Bar's wares before, at a wine and cupcake pairing event at House Wine, where the menu was pre-set. The mini cupcakes were delicious, but alas it was months ago and so I can't really recall the flavors. However, I was impressed enough with the concept of building your own cupcakes, that I knew I'd be looking up The Cupcake Bar's future events.

Last Wednesday I went to a party at Dress Shop with my friends Mai and Rose, where The Cupcake Bar had set up a table. First of all, I need to give a shout out to Dress Shop- their dresses and accessories are adorable and it's one of the first places I want to hit up when I find a permanent job. Anyhow, The Cupcake Bar was pretty awesome. I hadn't experienced the make-your-own cupcakes before, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. First you pick a cupcake flavor- I went with vanilla. Next you pick a frosting, that's piped right before you. I went with a vanilla frosting. You can also pick a filling, but I wasn't feeling it just then. Afterward you pick toppings, and the options are seemingly endless. There are different kinds of sprinkles, fruity candies, chocolate toppings, nut toppings, crushed cookie toppings- it goes on and on. From what I remember from algebra, I think it ends up in thousands of possible combinations.

I went with the above- crushed graham crackers, praline crunch and red and green m&ms. On the first bite, I noticed that the cupcake was a really interesting texture- very light and fluffy, more like an angel food cake than any other cupcake I've had. The cupcakes at the House Wine pairing were more of a traditional cake texture, but this was a nice surprise. Rose and Mai liked it as well, but more on their cupcakes in a second. I think that my topping choices went well together. At least the graham cracker and praline did. The chocolate didn't exactly jell with the rest of the flavors, but I wanted to add color. On the whole, I really liked- it's very fun to pick your own toppings, even if you pick things that don't totally make sense together.

Mai and Rose, pictured above, went for entirely different combinations. They both chose vanilla cupcakes, but Mai went with a vanilla frosting, Pop Rocks (!) and and gum drops (I think) and Rose went with a strawberry frosting and multi-colored sprinkles. They seemed to like theirs, and Mai was rather excited by the Pop Rocks. What I love about this is that we all came up with something entirely different. Mine was sort of holiday themed and a bit eclectic, Mai's was a throwback to childhood candies and Rose's was an elegant take on a traditional cupcake.

I'm looking forward to writing about more cupcake possibilities offered by The Cupcake Bar. I'll be at their next cupcake & wine pairing at House Wine tomorrow, December 16th. Hope to see you there!

Sugarstar at Zilker Tree

2009-12-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night I went to check out the Zilker Tree Festival with my friend Dani and we tried cupcakes from Sugarstar. In retrospect I'm not sure that Wednesday was the best night to go because it was oh, 27 degrees that night and our hands were literally freezing, but it was still fun to see the tree and have a cupcake.

Anyhow, we both tried the blue star cupcake, which was a chocolate cupcake with green and blue frosting shaped like a star. The cake was what I would call a middle texture- not dry (thankfully) but not moist either. It wasn't too sweet, but I liked the chocolate flavor coming through. Usually for chocolate cupcakes I prefer the cake to be more chocolate-flavored and less sugar-flavored. The frosting was quite dense- it reminded me of the frosting you get from supermarket bakeries, but it was a lot better tasting than supermarket frosting. Usually that stuff can be slightly bitter, why I don't know. All in all I liked the cupcake, and I'm excited to try other flavors from Sugarstar, but maybe when it's less cold and I can feel my hands as I eat the cupcake.

Oh and one more thing, Sugarstar is very smart to sell hot cocoa and hot cider. The hot cider was excellent and what kept us from freezing entirely.

How I Became Obsessed With Cupcakes

2009-12-07T15:22:00.001-08:00

So here's my story- I grew up in Los Angeles, moved to New York to attend NYU, stayed in New York for a few years and then two months ago moved to Austin to change things up. Along the way I became kind of obsessed with cupcakes.

I think it all started when a good friend of mine brought me a half-dozen cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine for my 22nd birthday. I was packing up for one of my many moves and totally needed help so I called her. Not only did she come over to help me pack all night, but she brought the cupcakes that changed my life. Before that I was more of a cookie person (chocolate chip specifically), but one bite of those cupcakes and I was hooked. I don't remember which flavors I had that night but I knew I'd be going back to that bakery. A lot.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine cupcakes tend to be slightly smaller than the average bakery cupcake, and they're really moist, sugary and not overly frosted. Plus as I later found out they are a bargain at $1.50 each. Over the next three years in New York I went to that Lower East Side bakery many times, and also converted most of my friends into SSS fans. One of my many apartments was two blocks from there and I'm not gonna lie there were weeks that I went there 4 or 5 times. To this day, their Pumpkin flavor is my favorite cupcake ever.

So that's how the cupcake obsession began in New York, but I've taken it with me to Austin. In Austin it all started with Sugar Mama's Bakeshop. Rachel from the Cupcakes Take the Cake blog, who I met at the CTTC Meetup group, suggested that I start with that bakery in Austin. I was excited to check them out and it just so happened that the weekend in August that I came to find an apartment was Sugar Mama's first birthday party. My boyfriend Ryan had gone with me and the party was fun and we tried a few flavors that we really liked but sadly that was long enough ago that I can't recall which ones.

However, I met the owner, Olivia, and decided that Sugar Mama's should be the site of the first Austin Cupcake Meetup event. So sure enough we had our first event there on October 24th and I have to say it was pretty awesome. I had a nice turnout and Sugar Mama's was generous enough to provide us with a sampling of their dessert bars and some Sweet Leaf Tea, which went well with the cupcakes. I've yet to try all of Sugar Mama's flavors but last weekend I tried the Peanut Butter Cup(cake), pictured below, and it was pretty good. The cake was very moist and chocolately and the frosting tasted more of peanut butter than buttercream, which was a big plus. The cake also had peanut butter chips in it, which was a fun surprise. I like it when cupcakes have a surprise inside.

I hope to continue writing about cupcakes, whether it's Austin Cupcake Meetup write-ups, bakery reviews, or my adventures baking them in the kitchen. However, I did call this Maybe Cupcakes, because I won't always be writing about cupcakes. I've yet to figure out what else I'll post about, but likely topics are music, food and things that make me laugh.