Failure Is Not an Option

Not content with my abject failure at the animal-themed Moorestown Iron Cupcake Challenge last May, I just had to one up (or down?) myself at the next competition. When they announced that the theme for July's challenge would be "candy" I immediately started brainstorming possible flavors. Trouble was, nothing struck me as being creative, fun, and tasty enough to win. Sure, I could fall back on my tried and true Reese's cupcakes with chocolate cake, peanut butter filling, and rich ganache on top, which could probably win the taste test, but since the last contest seemed to come down to appearance I couldn't think of a way to make those eye-catching and colorful enough. Already I was off to a bad start. I should have taken that as a sign.

I considered and rejected at least ten ideas before tentatively settling on cotton candy cupcakes. I had a tiny jar of cotton candy flavoring that I'd bought on a whim at a spice store in Reading Terminal Market and figured it'd fit this theme perfectly. I made a few test batches using my go-to cupcake recipe and substituted the flavoring in the cake and the frosting and even added some cotton candy to the frosting. After finding them all to be bland and lacking any discernible flavor I had the brilliant idea of letting the colors of cotton candy rather than the flavor be my guide. My end product was a combination of blueberry and strawberry cake swirled together, topped with cotton candy buttercream with actual bits of cotton candy in the mix, and Cotton Candy Pop Rocks sprinkled on top. They were supposed to look just like the masterpieces pictured above with the addition of adorable cotton candy tufts on mini lollipop sticks.

Only trouble was I made the mistake of winging it at the last minute with a new (and, I hoped, improved) frosting recipe. I didn't have the time or enough cotton candy flavoring left to do a trial batch over the weekend, or several like I usually do in my methodical German way. Also, because the competition was on a weeknight I had to bake the cupcakes the night before and use what little available time I had that day both before work and immediately after to make the frosting and decorate the cupcakes. It wasn't until one hour before the competition that I realized my mistake in using an egg yolk-based frosting. Sure, it was tastier than most buttercreams I've made, but it also made dying the frosting to that perfect cotton candy pink and blue impossible since the base was starting off with a yellow tint. I wound up with salmon-colored and teal frosting instead. :( As a result I had to scrap my cutesy cotton candy pops because the blue of the cotton candy clashed with the blue of the frosting. In addition, the stupid frosting started to sweat on the car ride over and by the time we got there it looked downright unappetizing.

I didn't expect to win so that wasn't too much of a disappointment. What really bugs me is my lack of preparation and the fact that it just wasn't my best work. I was embarrassed to present the cupcakes, in fact. I wish I'd stuck with my plan to not even enter unless I could think of a good idea for what to make. I just wasn't inspired by this theme and wasn't confident at all in my choice. It's only because the organizer sent out a desperate email a few weeks before the competition worried because only three people had registered that I felt bad for her and entered even without knowing what I'd make. I know how frustrating and stressful that can be on a smaller scale when trying to wrangle enough people together for a book club meeting so I took pity on her. Turns out it was a dumb idea since this wound up being one of the busiest competitions ever with 31 bakers competing, most of them last-minute entries. And the worst part is the third place winner was, guess what, a Reese's peanut butter cupcake. Oy!

Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway Redux

I really don't want to turn this blog into just an opportunity for me to score extra entries in various online contests, but this one's such a great giveaway that I can't resist. It's yet another Silhouette craft cutter up for grabs, this one from Little Birdie Secrets. I hadn't even heard of this cutter until a few weeks ago but now I have a hankering for one. I'd like to make pretty much every project pictured above. Wish me luck!

Modern Bird Studios Giveaway at Grosgrain

Check out the latest giveaway I'm shilling:
Modern Bird Studios Guest Giveaway

Modern Bird Studios is a modern art company that takes photographs and creates paintings from them. Nifty, eh?

Oh, the things I could do with my very own painting made from any photograph I choose! Should I pick a photograph of Tony Blair looking especially fetching? A London landmark, perhaps? Or get a life-size painting of Professor Snape so I can cuddle with it every night? Decisions, decisions.

Iron Cupcake Competition Flashback

Since later today I'll be roasting away in the kitchen on one of the hottest days of the year preparing cupcakes for tomorrow's cupcake competition, I'm reflecting on my one previous failed attempt at competitive baking.

Earlier this year, my husband and I stumbled upon our local branch of the Iron Cupcake Challenge, a baking competition with a different theme each time where the proceeds go to a different deserving charity. We fortuitously made the discovery through an email newsletter from a local Mexican restaurant that we enjoy. When I saw the little blurb about all-you-can-eat Mexican food and cupcakes I thought my dreams had come true. We were only spectators/cupcake tasters that first time and I assumed there must be some tricky qualification process to be able to compete. But nope; just join the group, pay your entry fee, and you're in! It also probably helps if you show up looking more or less sane and aren't brandishing a bottle of arsenic.

For May's competition the theme was "animals" and we were given a little over a month to prepare. I decided on my flavor right away as I'd recently seen a blog post about baklava cupcakes and had already been tempted to try them. Once I figured out that honey could easily fit the animal theme I knew I had a contender. Working with what inspiration I could find online, and there wasn't much to work with there, I made numerous test batches and relied on my kind co-workers to give me their feedback. After weeks of tweaking my recipe I settled on Nutella Peanut Baklava Cupcakes with Whipped Honey Buttercream.


The cupcakes began with a crispy phyllo dough base, layered with melted honey and butter with a dusting of Nutella to give it a little bee-like stripe. I discarded the traditional baklava filling of pistachios for a peanut and almond combination, something I thought would appeal to a wider audience and would work well with the honey. Inside each cupcake I nestled a dollop of chopped nuts mixed with ooey, gooey honey. On top I piped some heavenly honey buttercream from my own recipe in the shape of a little beehive and adorned each with a marzipan bee made with almond slivers for the wings.

Obviously I spent a lot of time perfecting the taste of the cupcakes and thought the simplicity of the appearance and taste of my decorations would work in my favor since I abhor the taste of fondant. I was pretty disappointed when my cupcakes only got second place. While not a bad result for my first baking competition, since I couldn't think of a way to improve them it was disheartening. Even worse that the winning fondant-covered fish cupcakes weren't anything special flavor-wise (orange cake with plain vanilla frosting) but because they were so pretty and colorful I think that helped clinch it. Indeed, they were the first ones to catch my eye when I walked in.



The event itself was fun even though after a full morning of baking I wasn't in the mood for sweets, but it was interesting to see other people's interpretation of the theme. I especially enjoyed these:

Nutella Peanut Baklava Cupcakes With Whipped Honey Buttercream
Printable version here

For the Base:
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 Tablespoon Honey
6 teaspoons Nutella
1 package Phyllo Dough, Thawed (You Will Use 5 Sheets)

For the Honey Nut Mixture:
⅔ cups Chopped Salted Peanuts
⅓ cups Chopped Almonds (Blanched or Without Skins)
¼ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
3 Tablespoons Honey (Heaping Tablespoons)

For the Cake:
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1-⅔ cup All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Salt
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
⅔ cups Milk, At Room Temperature
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 whole Large Eggs
Additional Honey For Filling Cupcakes

For the Honey Buttercream:
½ cups Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
4 Tablespoons Honey
2-3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with 16 liners.

For crispy phyllo dough base:
In a small bowl, combine butter and honey. Microwave 30 seconds and stir. Continue to heat in the microwave in 10-second increments until butter is completely melted. Stir well to combine. In another small bowl, microwave Nutella for 35 seconds until it’s warm and spreadable.

Carefully unroll thawed phyllo dough onto a dry, smooth surface. Place one sheet of dough on a cutting board or baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, evenly coat dough with the honey butter mixture and cover with a second layer of phyllo dough. Again brush evenly with the honey mixture. Add a third sheet of phyllo dough and dab/spread Nutella as evenly as possible, trying to cover all areas. Repeat with a fourth sheet of phyllo dough and Nutella. Cover with a fifth sheet of phyllo dough. Using a sharp knife, cut phyllo dough into 2.25-inch squares. Discard any remnants. Place one square in the bottom of each liner and bake for 4 minutes until edges become crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.

For honey nut mixture:
Combine peanuts, almonds, and cinnamon and mix well. Add tablespoons of honey and stir to completely coat the nut mixture. Set aside.

For cake:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer at low speed, until the mixture looks sandy.

Combine the milk and vanilla and add, all at once. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl.

With the mixer running at low speed, add 1 egg. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Add the second egg, again beating for 30 seconds.

Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat briefly, just until smooth.

Add a small scoop of batter (about 1 ½ Tablespoons) to each cupcake liner. Top each with a heaping teaspoon of the honey nut mixture. Then add a final scoop of batter to fill liners ¾ full.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating once halfway through. Cupcakes are done when they’ve domed, are a light golden brown around the edges, and spring back when pressed gently on top. Let cool in pan approximately five minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Using the cone method for filling cupcakes, cut a small cone out of the top of each cupcake and set aside. Squeeze/spoon a dollop of honey into each well, filling it to the top. Let the cupcakes sit approximately five minutes so the honey can seep into the cake. Replace each cake cone.

For whipped honey buttercream:
In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together butter and honey for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Begin with mixer on low speed until sugar is incorporated, then increase speed to medium and beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Add another cup of powdered sugar, again mixing on low speed to incorporate.

Add heavy cream at low speed. Increase speed to medium and mix about 2 minutes until frosting is smooth.

You may need to add additional powdered sugar as needed for desired consistency.

Pipe or spread frosting onto cupcakes and enjoy!

A Wondrous Weekend

While there are many disadvantages to living hundreds of miles from the place I call "home," the place where most of my family and friends still live, one of the few advantages is that when it comes to long holiday weekends I don't have anyone demanding my time. No cookouts or family reunions to drag me from the cool confines of my house into 95+ degree weather. No slaving away in the kitchen preparing enough dishes to feed a houseful of guests. Instead I get three blissfully free days with no interruptions, no deadlines, and no responsibilities outside of remembering to feed the cats and my husband once in a while. Which means plenty of time to get some hard core baking and sewing done!

Now, I did fritter away some of my time glued to the telly watching the Wimbledon finals, catching up on Doctor Who episodes, reading, and cleaning the house (I know, I know, what an irresponsible use of my time) but the rest of the weekend was pretty much devoted to sewing and baking. I kicked the weekend off with the decadent buttery toffee bars from the previous post but before I could continue my destruction of the kitchen I needed to don some new protective gear. The apron I'd been wearing was covered in a week's accumulation of baking and cooking debris and desperately needed a wash. Since I'd been meaning to sew myself an apron for some time I took this as a sign and went to work cutting out the numerous pieces needed for Sew Liberated's Emmeline Apron. I've made two in the past as gifts and figured it was about time I treated myself to one too!

This is one of those patterns that I had to talk myself into splurging on but I'm so glad I did. It's hard to justify spending $13 on a pattern that's basically just two geometric shapes tacked together with straps and ties, but the flattering fit and reversibility won me over. It helps that the instructions are clearly written and easy to follow with nothing too tricky involved. Honestly, cutting out the pieces seems to be the most laborious part of the process. I usually cheat and don't bother cutting the bias strips on the bias since I use plain-colored fabric for those accents and am cheap enough to want to save on fabric. As a result I wind up using just a yard of that fabric instead of the 1 3/4 yards called for. I've also given up trying to keep the stitches hidden for the neck ties since I find it tricky enough lining up the bias binding without any added complications. I also don't have the patience when the end is in sight to sit down and hand stitch several feet of fabric. After all, a few visible stitches never hurt anyone.


With my new apron securely tied on, I returned to the kitchen to work on a bunch of trial batches for tomorrow's Iron Cupcake Challenge. This involved various arrangements of cotton candy and pink lemonade cake and frosting in an attempt to find the perfect recipe. Sadly, after all that work the winning combination still eluded me and I was stuck with 24 cupcakes and the knowledge that I'd have to do more baking before the weekend was out. In the process I did discover a new Swiss meringue buttercream recipe that was sweeter than my last attempt and much easier to make. I'm still leaning towards preferring traditional American buttercream both for sweetness and texture as Swiss meringue seems to harden into a butter-like blob in the refrigerator, but this is a good one to have in my arsenal.


So it was back to the drawing board for the competition cupcakes. I'll blog more about my final recipe once the competition's over and done with (can't have any of my competitors stealing my secrets) but suffice to say that last night I had a brainstorm and realized that just because my theme is cotton candy doesn't mean that I can't introduce other flavors into the mix. I usually put a lot more planning and testing into projects like this but since it was crunch time I made a batch last night and have decided to not tweak it any further. The result is a colorful, cotton candy-inspired cupcake that actually has flavor unlike my previous attempts. While it's not 100% perfect I can proudly present the results at the competition even if I don't think they have a chance of winning this time.

Guess I can't complain too much about a weekend that left me knee deep in cupcakes and with a pretty new apron to boot. Hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July!

How Much Butter Can One Person Use in a Weekend?

Off to a healthy start for the Fourth of July weekend already. As if I don't have enough baking scheduled for this long weekend what with the trial cupcake batches for the upcoming Iron Cupcake competition and the banana cupcakes I plan to make with the bananas rapidly ripening on my counter. I wasn't ready to take on either of those tasks yesterday but I did have a hankering for some tasty dessert. Delicious and decadent toffee bars to the rescue! How could I go wrong with a recipe that calls for over three sticks of butter?

Although have a fear of making my own candy since it seems too fussy, I always prefer to make as much as possible from scratch. I decided on this recipe for almond brickle because it seemed nice and simple. I omitted the chocolate since the toffee bars already include a thick layer of chocolate and I substituted peanuts and walnuts for the almonds because I prefer the taste and didn't feel like blanching the almonds in my cupboard. It turned out great and I had to stop my husband from eating it all straight from the pan. Sometimes laziness can lead to good things. I did have a little trouble with the butter separating from the mixture, most likely due to my changing the temperature while cooking (apparently a no-no when making toffee), but I managed to recover most of it and it didn't matter too much since I wound up crumbling it all into bits once cooled.

The toffee bar recipe from Positively Splendid was wonderfully easy to follow. Click the link for her handy step-by-step photos. I did, however, have a few issues with cooking times as the base only took 18 minutes to brown and the condensed milk took closer to seven minutes in the microwave to thicken. Also, a word of warning about that step. Make sure you use a deep bowl as the mixture will bubble up like crazy and might result in an ungodly, gooey mess to clean out of the microwave if yours boils over like mine. You live; you learn.

Peanut Brickle
Recipe from VeryBestBaking.com

1/2 cup peanuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Sprinkle nuts over bottom of well-greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Melt butter in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 7 minutes. Pour hot mixture over nuts; let cool for 5 minutes.

Refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Break into small pieces.

Utterly Decadent Toffee Squares
Recipe from Positively Splendid

1 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup almond or peanut brickle pieces

Preheat oven to 375˚. Grease 9x13-inch pan and set aside.

Beat 1 cup butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until combined. Add egg yolk; beat well. Stir in flour and salt, mixing well to combine. Spread dough evenly in prepared pan. Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until light brown. Reduce oven temperature to 350˚.

In a deep microwave-safe bowl, combine condensed milk and 2 tablespoons butter. Microwave in 1-minute intervals until thickened and bubbly, stirring after each interval, about 4 minutes total (may take longer). Mixture will part well with a spatula when it is ready. Stir in vanilla. Spread milk mixture evenly over baked cookie layer. Place in oven and bake about 12 minutes, or until top layer is golden.

Sprinkle baked layers evenly with chocolate chips. Place in oven for 1-2 minutes, or until chocolate is glossy and melted. Spread chocolate evenly over baked layer, and then top with an even layer of brickle chips. Place pan on a wire rack and allow to cool a bit before covering and placing in the fridge to chill until the chocolate is set. Cut into squares and store, covered, in the refrigerator.

The Owl and the Pussycat Went to Sea in a Beautiful Pea-Green Boat

I just about fell out of my chair when I saw this new fabric from Heather Ross. I'd skimmed blog posts over the past few months about her upcoming Far Far Away II collection and quite liked the sweet Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty fabrics (I have a thing for classic fairy tales) but somehow I'd completely missed the Owl and the Pussycat fabric. I'm not saying that such a thing exists but if there were, hypothetically speaking, an old home video of a lisping little girl in a cutesy pink dress proudly reciting "The Owl and the Pussycat" in its entirety, the star of that video would probably desperately want this fabric. I just might break down and spend a ridiculous amount of money ($17/yard, yikes!) to snag some for myself. Er, I mean for that silly little girl from the video. The only problem is deciding which color she would prefer.