The Wonder of a Cake Mix

So, recently, my mom bought a book called "Cake Mix Recipes" from Taste of Home.  My mom knows my dirty caking secret lies in cake mixes.  i do not bake from scratch very often.  She also pretty much fell in love with one of the pictures in the book.  And everything in the book has one ingredient in common.  You guessed it, the cake mix.

Now, I'm not so plebian as to use just any cake mix.  I have standards, people.  Paula Dean.  And the Decadent line of Duncan Hines.  And anything that says Moist, but nothing with pudding.  I hate pudding cakes, they taste raw to me.

So, I have, on hand, 15 cake mixes.  A few boxes of lemon bars and some Cranberry orange muffins.

So, we pulled them out along with the book and I discovered something great.  Every cake mix cookie is basically a cake mix, 1/2 cup of oil or butter and 2 eggs.  You can then add in what you want.  Peanut Butter Chips, Toffee Bits, Lemon peel, almond extract, whatever your heart desires.

I share this information, because I'm not a scratch baker.  And I want everyone to know the joy that is 15 minute deliciously good cookies.

And, sure, a good number of you "Domestic goddesses" probably already know this, but I'm chronicling my own journey into the world of confections.  So, bear with me.

We've made peanut butter chocolate cookies, lemon crisps, almond sandies, brickle cookies, peppermint candy cookies, chocolate chunk cookies... I even made my first batch of rice krispie treats with those jet-puffed pumpkin pie flavored marshmellows.  I made cake balls and peppermint bark...

And we're not done.

this year things have been slim.  lots of reasons why we're looking at a skimpy Christmas.  So, we're baking our hearts into gifts to give to people.  Which is pretty awesome.  I mean, I'm all about homemade gifts.

And also, my mother was telling me at work, they got a Christmas card from a Vendor that said "In honor of our customers this Christmas, we've granted a Make-A-Wish."  Which to me is the best present ever.  Toys and things wax and wane, but changing someone's life?  Much cooler.

So, I'm off to do more cooking.  I'll try to get photos taken today, too.


-robyn

The most powerful phrase I've ever seen

This is one of those blog posts that has very little to do with cake and a lot to do with life. 

My Awesome Tip of the Day

Because I talk mistakes, too...

I have the perfect way to extract those sticky cakes, the ones that defy any baker's secret or butter to cling tightly to the pan.  This won't work for Bundts, sorry.

WAY NUMBER ONE,
using a small, flexible cake spatula (I use a Wilton), carefully slip the spatula between the pan and the cake around the side, then, slowly insert it under the cake and EVER SO SLOWLY work clockwise, loosening the cake.

WAY NUMBER TWO:
use the spatula or a flat knife to separate the sides from the pan.  Then get a VERY long piece of waxed dental floss.  put it around the diameter of the cake, then press it down to the bottom of the pan with the knife/spatula.  cross the ends where they meet, then, EVER SO SLOWLY, begin to draw the ends together.  I like to think I am garroting the cake for being so stubborn, but in less violent terms, there are similar ways of cutting clay blocks.  If you're lucky, you'll get the cake out with minimal damage than can be cosmetically
 repaired with crumb coating!

You are welcome!

On another note, I've noticed FireFox automatically disables the ads on my site.  The ads enable me to spend time in the kitchen.  If you wouldn't mind, just allow my site to show you some only very mildly irritating text ads that are supposed to be related to my content.  That would be awesome.  Thank you.  (And if you click them once in a while, that would be EVEN BETTER.)

After Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Today's menu:

Chocolate Fudge cupcake topped with peanut butter ganache, drizzled with milk chocolate and garnished with peanuts. 


Super tasty, too.  Instead of posting recipes here, since I get all my recipes from AllRecipes.com or Epicuroius.com, I'm just going to post photos.

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Ganache

I used 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1 cup reese's peanut butter baking chips.

Milk Chocolate Candy Drizzle

I let my sister take the pictures, and it shows, right?  Anyway, Happy Eats!

Damn, that was easy...

Seriously.  Thse cupcakes were cute and easy, and I highly recommend them.  If you are at all so inclined, just look at the photo and copy it, that's what I did.  I just wish I'd been able to find black decorating sugar so I could put salt and pepper on there...

These are already loaded into my fancy schmancy new cupcake holder. the brown Cupcake Carousel, that I love.

Anyway, here's the image that started it all:

the clipping that was left for me.  Also, look at my super white skin and the awesome circa 1950s tile.  This blog has something for EVERY fetishist.

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.