Coffee Cupcakes

I love baking so much that when I was looking for a job, one of the things I looked forward to most about being employed was baking cupcakes for my co-workers. Since I work later at the conservatory on Wednesday's I used this morning to whip up a batch of sumthin' sumthin' for the gardeners and administration staff. I was originally planning on making mocha cupcakes, but to my disappointment, I noticed that I didn't have any cocoa powder while in the middle of my recipe. I switched gears and decided to make some vanilla cupcakes even though I didn't have any vanilla extract (my baking staples are extremely lacking considering that I like to bake so much). I was thinking about just making a vanilla buttercream, but thanks to Gwen's persuasiveness, I decided to make a coffee buttercream.

This picture definitely emphasizes my kitchy canisters and spice jars instead of the cupcake...this was not an accident.

Ok, that's better.

I made up the coffee buttercream by mixing 1/4 c. each of vegetable shortening and ebal with a bunch of powdered sugar and some leftover coffee from this morning. I then added a lot of coffee grounds to intensify the flavor. They were a complete hit and I'm happy to say that my cupcake carrier survived the cta.

Bake a Bunch

Hello, stranger. It has been quite a while hasn't it? My life has been pretty crazy with trying to find employment and an apartment so I haven't been too focused on updating my blog. My life is kind of settling down...well not really because i'm going to be working all of the time and moving in a week or two...but at least I've made a life for myself in Chicago! I haven't ventured on too many cooking excursions, but I have made a few yummy fares for the 4th of July and a goodbye party for Heather and Jonathan.

These are some vanilla cupcakes with a mixed berry buttercream frosting. I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Jennifer McCann's blog and I whipped up a buttercream frosting from 1/2 c. each of ebal and veggie shortening, a bunch of powdered sugar, a little bit of vanilla, and a bunch of mixed frozen berries...wow how much more vague can i get? Just mess around with the proportions until you get the right consistency. I couldn't find hand mixers and I was in a hurry to get these to the dinner I was having with Aaron's family, so I used a food processor. I wouldn't recommend this usually, but it is a nice alternative when you're in a hurry and hand mixers are absent. I made a make shift pastry bag from a ziploc bag and cut the end with zig zag scissors to try and get a swirly affect - I can't wait to buy real pastry bags!

Mini's - so cute!

The frosting recipe made enough for another batch of cupcakes I was going to bake for Evan's 4th of July party. This time around I thought I would make an agave nectar cupcake to kind of offset the sweetness of the frosting. I think I liked it more with the agave because it was a nice contrast to the frosting and had a more dense consistency, but Aaron thought the vanilla worked better because it was fluffier. Who the hell knows!

For Heather and Jon's going away dinner, Suzanne made a monster vegan lasagna, while I baked basil garlic breadsticks from Sara Lewis' "The Bread Book." Check this book out if you're interested in learning more about baking bread and if you find the bread lingo a little confusing to you. The book includes a variety of sweet breads, rustic breads, breakfast breads, etc. to choose from and its a lot cheaper compared to those $40.00 bibles on bread they sell at Barnes & Noble.

these pictures suck - sorry!