Vacation, Cakes, Love, and FOOD!

Since I've been away from the blog for such a long time, I thought it would be a good idea for me to update you guys on everything I've been doing. I've really taken a hiatus from cake decorating since the beginning of December.  I made a really awesome Marbled Pumpkin Spiced cake for Halloween. I hand painted the fondant, which was superrr fun! I used candy corn an candy pumpkins for decorations, along with some modeling chocolate decorations and buttercream decorations. I had a blast decorating this cake! I'm still not happy with my fondant. I can never seem to get the edges straight without having to pinch something in the back. I'll have to practice more, especially now that I have a square cake pan set to work with!

In November I had a giveaway on my Big Awesome Cake's Facebook page. The two winners would receive one mini cake each, and would get to choose one of my two most popular Fall flavors: Apple Pie Cake or Spiced Pumpkin. One winner requested a fall themed Spiced Pumpkin cake. The other winner wasn't able to collect her prize until December, so she received a Winter themed Apple Pie cake!

Sometime around the end of November I got my first 21st birthday cake request. I was really scared because I've only ever done traditional type decorating. This birthday cake had to be fun and flirty and a little bit boozy. I finally came up with the perfect recipe: Bushwacker Cake! I made a coconut rum soaked cake with creme de cacao mousse filling and a Kahlua buttercream. After a few test rounds and some finite changes, the results were phenomenal. I really wanna get wasted eating that cake. *ahem* Naturally I had to give that barbie some sprinkle vomit. I got the bottle decorations that are on the cake from Etsy.

In December I started selling my annual Christmas cookie and treat tins. They were a huge hit. Unfortunately, the divinity was a big problem due to all of the rain we just happened to have those few weeks, but everything else went swimmingly (just imagine I said that in a British butler's voice.) I came up with a new cookie and a new candy to sell in the tins: Peanut Butter Swirl Old Fashioned Fudge (none of that "can of condensed milk" BS - no offense, it's just not nearly as good as the original) and Pecan Pie cookies (with a sugar cookie crust!)

My boyfriend and I took a vacation for our anniversary at the end of December. (I can't believe he's put up with me for so long. Muahahahaha I've got him hooked!)  We're usually pretty tight on funds, so I saved up just enough Money to surprise him with a trip to Louisiana. I planned it all out, paid for the hotels, which I got extreme discounts for, planned some things for us to do on our trip, and printed it all out for him to read. He was so happy he nearly cried, but if you tell anyone that I'll kill you with my icing spatula. Our first night we stayed in a lovely, beautiful, and romantic B&B in Covington, LA. We also went to the Abita brewery nearby. Beer is poison. That is all. Then we traveled to the magical land of New Orleans where we ate pork belly and king cake, among various other cajun delights. We also went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.

Probably my favorite picture from the Audubon Aquarium

The B&B we stayed at before reaching New Orleans.

Savory Cheesecake at Annadele's

Audubon Aquarium

Audubon Aquarium

Big Sexy's new hat from a shop in NOLA

Caramalized Apple Stuffed French Toast from

Surrey's Juice Bar

Pork Belly Banh Mi from Booty's

It was absolutely delicious.

Our room at the Whitney Wyndham!

The view from The Riverwalk.

The bar at Booty's. 

They have local artists do installment in the bathrooms!

Our room at Annadele's B&B. 

The dog we got at 'Dat Dog. YUM.

Salu had very delicious Spanish influenced food.

(not to be confused with Mexican or Tex-Mex.)

Our dessert at Salu; Churros!

Voodoo Juice is goooood

Menu at Booty's Streetfood

Menu at Annadele's Plantation

We had a blast. We came home with empty wallets and full bellies.

Love,

~A

St. Patrick's Day- Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!! These boozy cupcakes are the BOMB! Get it?! Yeah, I went there. 

BrownEyed Baker posted a really delicious recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes but naturally with me being a very picky and experimental baker, I adapted it to my own liking (more liqueur and chocolate). I still used her idea of a Guinness Chocolate cake, Irish Whiskey chocolate ganache filling, and Bailey’s buttercream but changed a few things here and there. I don’t really like dark chocolate and if you use unsweet chocolate for the ganache it will taste very, VERY strongly of dark chocolate. Mostly because it is dark chocolate… and whiskey greatly enhances the chocolate flavor. Yayyyy whiskey!!!

If you have any doubts about this recipe please reconsider. This was absolutely in the top three of my customer fave’s list. That’s a pretty tough list to get into as a cake/cupcake because I make so many different flavors, fillings, and icings to mix and match. I can’t say I’m surprised though, I mean COME ON, it’s booz and chocolate.

Let me just cut to the chase and give you the recipe. Sound good? Bueno.

For the Guinness Chocolate Cake (makes about 30):

Ingredients:

 2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Guinness Draught  (let it get some air in the measuring cup before mixing)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour or line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk and oil; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Slowly stir in Guinness (batter will be thin). Use a spatula to clean around the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl to ensure that none of the ingredients are settled at the bottom or stuck to the side. Slowly mix again until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

**Note: Usually I add vanilla to everything, seriously, everything I bake has some semblance of vanilla in it, be it vanilla bean, Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, Mexican vanilla, etc. If you add vanilla to this recipe it will take away from the strong Guinness flavor in this cake. How do I know? I did it! My loyal taste testers agreed, it’s much better without vanilla.

Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache Filling:

 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

·         2/3 heavy cream

·         2 tbsp butter, room temperature

·         4-6 tsp Irish Whiskey, preferably Jameson (taste it before you add more than 4tsp!)

Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let it sit for one minute and slowly stir it until combined. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool in the fridge until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

Bailey’s Buttercream Icing

·         2 sticks of butter, room temperature

·         4-6 cups powdered sugar

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

·         3 tbsp Baileys

Cream butter in stand mixer. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, and mix on low speed until combined. Add Bailey’s and vanilla extract and combine. Slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time. You want to add just enough of the sugar to make the icing firm enough to hold it’s shape, but not so hard that it’s difficult to pipe.

This whole process may seem difficult to a beginner baker or bakestress. Just slow down, read everything before you start and have your ingredients out and as ready to use as possible.

ONWARD FAITHFUL STEED!!

Assembly:

Core the cooled cupcakes. I use a paring knife to cut out a cone shape in the center of the cupcake. Some people use cupcake corers, Brown Eyed Baker uses an icing tip, whatever works best for you. Once I have my decadent little cupcake cone cut out, I cut the top of it off to place over the filling in the cupcake before icing.  You can use a pastry bag and tip to fill the cupcakes or a freezer bag (they’re more sturdy) by cutting a small amount of the corner off. Once you’ve filled the cupcakes with the cooled ganache, put the little cone hat over the filling and start piping the buttercream icing. 

You can add stripes of food coloring to your icing by using a toothpick with coloring on it to stripe the sides of your piping bag before filling the bag with your icing. It’s a pretty cool trick!

For a super awesome tutorial, please check out Brown Eyed Baker’s page for Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.