Corn.

I walked into my classroom last Thursday and set my stuff on the cabinet I use as a desk.  I began setting my lunch stuff on the shelf, sorting the items I brought for the kids to use and then began reorganizing the cabinet, as is my daily ritual.  And then, I see it.  A picture cut from a magazine of corn-on-the-cob.  So, I pick it up and carry it to my recycle and then, I notice.  It's not corn on the cob.  It's freaking cupcakes.

I check around with coworkers to figure out which one left it there.  My love of cupcaking isn't a secret.  And instead of an admission, I got a ton of coworkers who wanted to eat those cupcakes.

So today, I'm going to make them.  Here's a picture similar to the one cut out:

Watch this space for more info.

Dr. Pepper And Amaretto.

So, I'm a teacher.  To be specific, I am a Kindergarten teacher in a private school.  Kindergarten is not a requirement in Texas, and some people prefer their child to go private.  In most situations, though, I exist to teach kids whose parents want them to skip a grade.  My kids will test out of standard Kindergarten next year, into first grade.  Despite the fact that, in 80 percent of the cases, their birthdays fall short of the September 1 deadline by a few weeks to a month.  Apparently, instead of their child being the oldest in their class, and therefore the first to drive to school (Which gives cool points), They prefer youngest in the class and of to college earlier.  So they can be 40 year old child-frees.


Anyway, enough about me.

Or, more about me.  This is my job.  My sister works in the same school in the Early Education wing.  She has toddlers.  (Our school goes from 6 weeks to 1st grade currently)

The thing about working with kids is that there is a completely different kind of stress from working with kids than there is working, say as a CSR in healthcare.  Which is a stress, but different.  i would go into a rant of why children's behavior has gotten completely out of hand in the last 10 years, but I'll allow more eloquent people to take up that issue (Mandi.)

Instead I will simply state that as Friday drew to an end, all I could think about was a solid stiff drink.

Thanks to a friend of ours, My sister and I were introduced to the delicious mixture of Amaretto and Dr. Pepper.  And last night, we hit the drink.  Our brother came over and joined in, too.  He doesn't work with kids, but he fancies himself an liquor expert.

We found that Amaretto and Dr. Pepper work so well, you can even do 60% amaretto in the mix and have it still be deliciously smooth.

However, too many glasses lead to a ridiculous amount of laughter and an inability to say "The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

So today, inspired as I was by the flavors, I decided to attempt to try them in cake.

While I wouldn't consider them a roaring success, since I am pretty lazy today, I do think they turned out pretty good.


I cheated, surprise, surprise.  I used a Paula Dean Chocolate Cake recipe.  Instead of water, I used Amaretto.  And instead of oil, I used melted butter.

While those baked, I tried my hand at a Doctor Pepper Reduction.

I saw a few recipes online for Dr. Pepper frosting.  But, I'm limited right now, with mixers.  I do not own a Kitchenaide (though I plan to fix this on Black Friday)

So, instead, I made up my glaze.  I reduced the DP into a syrupy consistency, then I made a ghetto buttercream, (5 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup Crisco ) mixing it all in the pan until smooth and then I took it away from the heat and tried to apply it to the cooled cupcakes...

Oh, and I topped it with Red Cherries.  Per My Sister's request.

The verdict?  They're suprisingly moist, but with a strong flavor.  The Dr. Pepper flavor is mild.  But, my sister, the self-proclaimed DP and Amaretto expert, likes them.

Also, i had to go back and drop bigger clumps of glaze on all the cupcakes.  So, Glaze big, if you try it.

A subtle shift in direction. Or Streampunk.

So, Hello glorious viewers!  I like to think of my Blog as the late, late, late, late, late, late show and me as a really awesome girl version of Conan O'Brien melded with Andy Richter.  And topped with Awesome Sauce.  That makes my readers a very discerning group of excellent people.

I was contemplating my life yesterday.  Also known as, I was driving alone in my car.  Three things happen when I drive alone in my car:

• I Sing.  Loudly.  Sometimes with the windows down.  In fact, one day I was belting out "Someone like you" from Jeckyll and Hyde, and I got applause and woots from the car next to me at the stop light.  I'd totally forgotten that I had the back windows cracked.  
• I talk to myself.  I contemplated, once, buying a fake blue tooth device from the dollar store so I'd look less insane, but the crazy eyes are a dead giveaway, so I spent the dollar on something useful.  Like a Mountain Dew or something.  And when I say talk to myself, I mean I run through hypothetical conversations I might be having with people when I see them next.  Or in most cases, I talk out trouble bits of dialogue from the novel I'm currently revising (again).
• I get scary quiet and contemplative.  Are you familiar with the Beuaty and the Beast song about Gaston?  The part where he says he'd been thinking?  And Bafou says "A dangerous pastime."  So true for me.  

So, I was thinking.  I have 3 blogs.  And none of them get the love they deserve, because I have trouble splitting my attention in three different ways.  So, I'm streamlining.  And because I think cupcakes are more adorable than kindergarteners, Saturday Cupcakes is becoming my primary blog.  And I'm retiring Live Journal, for the most part.

I'll be posting about baking and treat making more than anything else right now, because it has become what i do to find my chi.  But I'll also be tossing in bits about my students or even my life in general.  AKA, I'll be streamlining into one blog.  I shall refer to this as Streampunking.

On to the meat of the post.

I didn't make cupcakes on October 29.  Because I had a birthday party, at Chuck E. Cheese.  One of my students was having a birthday ans he was so excited at the idea I would come, so I couldn't say no.  I also couldn't go without a gift.  So I made him a ninja.  You have to understand, this kid is obsessed with ninjas.  Everything he does is "like a ninja" or "ninja style."  And I made it a thing this year to make my kids their birthday presents, because it was expensive as hell buying them last year.  So, I made this:

Who Dat Ninja??

I posed it in the garden.  Because it amused me.  Yes, I did Amigurimi.  And I loved it, so now, I've set aside polymer clay for amigurimi.  I'm currently working on a dragon for the little girl whose birthday is tomorrow.

But the birthday at Chuck E. Cheese (by the way, what an insane place to go), wasn't the end of my Saturday awesomeness on October 29.  No, indeed.  I went to a concert.  Not just any concert, but the concert by which I shall now judge ALL other concerts.

David Cook.

Some people (::cough:: mike ::cough::) might not recognize David Cook for the amazing artist that he is.  I get that people don't love him like I do, but, people, the kid has the most incredible raw power behind his voice.  He has the kind of gravelly but still brilliantly tonal sound that most pop rock stares aspire to and toss in some auto-tune to achieve.  David Cook is AWESOME, okay?  And here is where I sat:

Eight rows back.  Eight rows back from the only worthy thing to ever come from American Idol, imnsho.

The setting was amazing.  And then, David Cook and I became Sexually Involved.  It's true.  TOTAL TRUTH!  I even have a photo of it, which is suprisingly SAFE FOR WORK:

That's his shoulder.  And his guitar.

David Cook, whist walking around the audience, grazed my boob with his shoulder.  Well, okay, his sleeve.  But according to Terry Jo, That's a sexually involved relationship.  And since, at 35, it's the closest I've come to one of those, I'll take the point.

This saturday wasn't really about cupcakes either!

I did spend more money than should be legally allowed at Hobby Lobby.  And I made homemade Kolaches.

  But nothing of any real consequence occurred in my kitchen.

HOWEVER, on Thursday, I spent a day walking the mean streets of the George R. Brown convention center at the International Quilt Festival. 

From the perspective of a non-quilter, I am floored by the amount of crap you can buy there.  And also be the display of talent in the exhibits.  I can't even go into the stuff I saw, because I'm still trying to mentally file it away.  And upload a few photos.  But I did pick up a few projects I'm going to attempt that are likely to find their way into this blog.  At some point.

And now, I really must sign off, since it's Sunday.  And that means I need to prepare for the Sunday Night Beer Tasting Soiree.  But stay tuned for more frequent updates.  And stuff.

Thank You.

This week, I got a flat tire.  It was pretty great.  It happens about once every two weeks or so.  Because my car hates me.  Seriously.  I woke up the other night, and it was standing over me with a pillow in it's hands.  I was like "Penny!  What's this all about?"  She dropped the pillow and zoomed back down to the driveway like nothing happened.  I keep a boot on her front tire at night now.  It was the rear one that went flat.

And one of my extended family members came to help me.  Because the lug nuts were stripped.

And so, I had this brilliant plan.  I was going to make cupcakes, using modelling chocolate, I was going to create a flat tire and one of those "x" shaped tie wrenches, and various other flat tire related chocolate pieces to top a cupcake.


But, the modeling chocolate was a failure.  I believe in documenting my failure.  The end product is a non-newtonian substance.  It's a total disaster.

So, I only had the candy molds on hand, all Halloween.  So I whipped up some ganache.  Which, by the way, turned out fantastic.

And I cored the cupcakes, and filled them, topped them with milk chocolate frosting and candy pumpkins.  Then I sprinkled with purple and orange sugar.

Aren't they lovely?  Here's another set:

Those are chocolate Pumpkins, bats and a chocolate/peanut butter guitar.

Overall, The failure of the modeling chocolate totally messed up my day and threw me off.   So, I never even completed the stuff I was going to complete.  Le Sigh.  Le Sigh.

But someone is eating well tomorrow!  And hopefully they will enjoy.

Curse you, internet!

So, I looked up how to make modeling chocolate online.  I found a place extolling the awesomeness of candymelts and corn syrup blended in.  So... I make this substance.  And instead of modeling chocolate, I ended up with a non-Newtonian substance.

I shoved it into the freezer after no good came from my efforts with it and will now focus my afternoons energies on Molding candy melts for the tops of my cupcakes and leave the molding chocolate for another day.

Meanwhile, check out my molded candies...

Works in progress:

Those little things are spider bodies and bats.

My return to the world of exhibition baking...

Well... Things were hectic for a while.  As in, the Blue Screen Of Death put me out of the online blogging world for a few months.  But, the computer is back, and the baking continues.  I'll post a little of what you missed while I was offline:

Most notably, I took a foray into fondant.  I'm not a fan of fondant.  I think it tastes like crappy stale marshmallows.  And I think it lacks a sort of artisan skill that spectacularly smooth butter cream demonstrates.  not that I'm at that level of awesome yet, but I''ve got goals.

Anyway, it was my sister's birthday.  And there are three things my sister adores.  The color Blue, cuddly bunny rabbits and fondant (of all weird things).  Well, there are more than three things she adores.  But I wasn't about to undertake a Stargate cake on limited resources.

So, I made her a choclate fudge cake with milk chocolate icing and Fondant dots.  And a fondant bnny rabbit.  Who almost instantly began to sink into the icing and drown.  So Megan (The sister) ate it first.

It was a good death.

Anyway, that's what I did.  And now, I'm about to undertake modeling chocolate.  Because I've had to rely on the generosity of some family the past two weeks and nothing says "Thank you" like homemade baked goodies.   Also, did you know it was Clergy appreciation week?  I might also be whipping up something for our ministry team.  Maybe.

Anyway, my mom warmed up the kitchen this morning with her famous (Seriously) pumpkin bread.  And I tested out my brand new 20 dollar digital camera capturing a shot of it:





Curse the grainy image and crappy quality.  How is my cellphone a better camera??

Corporal Punishment.

It's Sunday. Not Saturday, but I made cupcakes today instead of yesterday because of Vacation Bible School. I'm trying to stage it. So I spent yesterday painting backdrops for the water park theme.

So Today! CUPCAKES!

Here's a Before Picture:

Penzey's figures heavily in almost everything I do

I gathered all the tools of my trade.  This time around, I planned on making full sized cupcakes.  I didn't want to spend forever monitoring the mini-cupcakes.  Or frosting them, to be quite honest.  So I was taking the easy way out.

I used Almond instead of vanilla this time out, because I'm anti-vanilla.  And extremely anti-imitation vanilla, and that's all we had.

The almond extract is wicked sweet.  Use less than the vanilla amount recommended.


I have a confession to make.  I sometimes use unnecessary force when combining my ingredients.  Maybe I just don't know my own strength.  No matter what it is, I tend to over-beat the eggs.  I try to not do this, and then all of the sudden, the batter is about 4 times too fluffy.

It's not my fault.  the damn eggs never listen to me.  They whine.  They yell inside.  They fight with each other.  If I have to hear one more tiny eggy demand, I'm just gonna... And then they're all meringue.

This can be a problem during cooking:

I had to watch the oven carefully, to make sure I didn't have another repeat of the family-famous red velvet incident.

When they came out, they were stuck together.  I used my cake spatula to seperate them while they were still warm.

They may not have looked pretty but the choco-holic of the family came in a few times while they were cooling to eat one.  I finally slapped some chocolate frosting on top and handed him one so he'd stay out of my kitchen while I was working.

"Eat this and get the hell out of my kitchen, Grandpa."

I had the parchment bag all set up with the tip and the frosting in the plastic wrap bundles, but in the end, I gave up decorating them and just slapped the frosting on.  I did, by the way, make a second smaller batch, but they ended up a little mangled looking, too.  The papers were slightly folded in.  I did swirl them with a star tip, but they're going up to work, and preschool teachers on a Monday aren't the least bit picky about what the chocolate looks like.

They look stupid.

The truth is, I've reached that "7th inning stretch" part of my job.  It's the whole month of July.  It's around July when all year-round, all-day preschool teachers start to question their sanity and chosen profession.  I'm not going to lie, as I get closer to 35, I feel less and less like spending my day on the hard floor, playing with kids who don't appreciate me.  I'm sure as the new school year rolls around, the excitement of new possibilities will kick in and I'll feel refreshed.  Renewed.  Revitalized.  My cupcakes will probably be much better then. 

Until then, I'll keep baking, because there is peace in the process.  And sometimes that will be enough.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

Look at me, being all prolific blogger this weekend.  Yay, me!

Today, I undertook an interesting idea from a PBS show I saw a while back (about a year ago.)

Today, I made meatloaf cupcakes.  The idea is to make individual serving meatloafs cupcake sized and top with mash potatoes.  Some people then toast the top of the cakes for a fancy dark swirl.  Me?  I sprinkle with carrots.

Enjoy my photo journey.  But first, I totally was decked in my awesome Johnny Cupcakes shirt.

This is not me.

I made the meatloaf from 1/2 lb. ground sirloin and 1/2 lb ground turkey.  I combined this with spices.  Indiscriminately.  I would open the spice, sniff it and dump some in if I liked the smell.  I put in a lot of Shallot Pepper. And Hangary Half Sharp Paprika.  Which I buy from Penzey's, the best spice shop ever.

I don't like to touch raw meat, so i used latex gloves.

mound them then smash them into the greased pan, pressing them to conform.

CONFORM!

 Pop them into the oven at 350.  You now have 40 minutes to finish the day.  My grandmother had been talking about carrot cake, so I decided to make her one.

I only had 35 minutes, so there was no scratch.

There was adding shredded carrots.

This mix smelled heavily of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon.  Or, as I like to call it, Awesomeness.

These are Frito Flavor Twists.  I needed a little snack.  Honey Barbeque flavor.  It's like crack, so only put a handful on your plate then hide the rest.

After preparing cake per box, placed to the side to let all the air bubbles rise.

Mash Potato time.  In retrospect, these are super salty, not so great.

Meatloaf is done, pull it out, put the cake in for 45 minutes.

Put Potatoes in pastry bag with a large star tip.

I had to hold it with paper towels because it was very warm.

"Sprinkle" with carrot shreds.

Serve.

 

Once the cake was ready, i pulled it out.  And promptly burned my finger.  2nd degree is the yucky blister, right?

When it cooled, I was ready to pop it out and frost it.

Only it didn't pop out right.

I did state i would document failures

It was frosting time.

I wanted it to be pretty, but to hide the crumbly bits, i went with "homestyle."

Nom, nom, nom