*It's A New Day*

*Inaugural Cupcakes* White cake mix tinted with blue gel food coloring and Red Velvet cake mix, topped with store bought vanilla frosting mixed with red and blue food coloring and red, white and blue sprinkles and candy decorations.

It's official, my boredom has sunk to a new low. No news on a "normal" job, just the occasional substituting job at the local elementary school and no orders for cakes or birthday festivities to keep me busy with everyone lacking in fundage for all things frosted.  So, what's a girl to do? BAKE CUPCAKES!

I can think of no better reason to celebrate with cake than the inauguration of our 44th President (whom personally helped get into office...Hey! I have the "I Voted" sticker to prove it!) So a couple days before The Day, I set out gathering as many red, white and blue decorative food stuffs for what I imagined would be the most patriotic and inspired cupcakes in my baking history. Well, at least in effort and color.

I picked red velvet cake mix because I could skip the endless dropping of red food coloring just to get a deep pink. Ugh! Little did I know that it's just as annoying to turn white cake mix blue.

In the interest of bi-partisanship, I thought, why not make them half-and-half? What fun to bite into the cupcake and see such vivid colors! I figured if I just poured from my wonderful pour bowl set from Williams-Sonoma, this would be a cinch! 

And then the phone rang....

20 minutes later, mom and I stopped chatting because I told her the batter was going to start crawling out of the bowl if I didn't get them sorted into paper lines, like now! This added an element of suspense as I struggled to get the white(blue) cake mix to flow as well as the red velvet, because it was now more like pancake batter and full of air. There was more batter on the tins and on my counters than there was  in the paper liners! At least my kitchen was looking patriotic...

The first batch came out a little more well done than necessary (as evidenced by the dark tops here) 

but I didn't stress, they were going to be gloriously topped with frosting and edible confetti fit for such an occasion!

Well, my heart was in the right place, but my decorative inspiration was more 123 Sesame Street than 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  If you ask me, the world would be a friendlier place if everyone would just share a handful of M&Ms with someone, so why not let them star atop the cupcakes I created because, thankfully, "It's A New Day"

Best Wishes To You in 2009!

*Ho-Ho-OH!*

*Build-A-Bear Santa*Vanilla cake (mix) with vanilla frosting, decorated with cocoa powder glaze and brown sugar and fondant "outfit" trimmed with vanilla frosting.

Ah, Williams-Sonoma, if I could, I would set up residence inside their hallowed halls! Don't be surprised if someday you come to this site and an "Ode to Williams-Sonoma" is there to greet you on the first page. From cooking classes (permit me a shout out to the chef at my local store-Hi Jonathan!) to their multitude of whimsical baking pans (many courtesy of NordicWare)...there is nothing I love more than receiving a "Golden Ticket", or more of a bronze-ish one, to shop in this culinary wonderland.

My family is fully aware of my, a-hem, addiction, to this store, and let's just say, it's good times had by me at Christmas! Now it should be noted that I had a small stint at the Downtown Disney Build-A-Bear store after deciding it was time for a break from teaching. I wish I could say it was all that I hoped it would be, I guess it was the teacher in me that expected more from a child-centric store. So it's understandable that when W-S came out with their Build-A-Bear cake pan (there would be a link here, but alas the pan has gone by the way of the collectible-check ebay!), it wasn't one I would have run out to buy, but would more than likely ended up in my arsenal sooner or later. Sooner was an understatement!

Arriving by train this year to my parents house for the holidays, my mom could barely stand it when gifts from my cousin arrived, with the ominous words "OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS" pasted on one bearing my name. After an entire day of traveling, and desperately hoping for a blissful night's sleep, I promised I would open it first thing the next day.  Unwrapping the small box while my mom was out, I was bewildered by the decorating kit for a Build-A-Bear baking pan I did not own. 

So when my mom returned I asked her if my cousin assumed that I already owned the pan, she said she didn't think so and then we both pondered for a while.  I asked her if there were any other gifts in the bag for me and she said yes, but that it didn't say "OPEN BEFORE CHRISTMAS"-we're sticklers for rules at Christmas.  Knowing how well my well-meaning mother sees, I asked her to double check, and sure enough, the other package was similarly labeled. Instantly, I knew what it was.

I was touched that they would bring my past employment history and love of W-S together for an endearing gift, but was concerned over the timing. You see, I spend each Christmas season baking up a storm, dozens and dozens of cookies for family and friends, I was worried a Build-A-Bear Santa was expected to be on display for our Christmas dinner. So everything went into 5th gear and I sped toward the finish line in the hopes of getting around to this cake. 

Additional pressure lurked because I knew that his little girl, who had received her first Build-A-Bear (courtesy of moi) within days of her birth, would now be old enough to notice if it wasn't there adorning our "Kids Table". Never mind the fact that she was the true reason we could continue calling it the "Kids Table" being that it was now filled with 30-year olds-I had to represent for the toddler set.

In my haste, I wrongly assumed that the decorating kit was full of pre-cut fondant "clothing" ready to be assembled on the completed cake like a puzzle. Note to by beloved Williams-Sonoma....you might want to think about that for next time! Not being at my own place with all my fantastic fondant and decorating tools I was forced to use the same rolling pin that mom uses to bash enormous bags of ice from the supermarket and store bought icing tips. YIKES! Let's just say, thank goodness our family wasn't expected at the house until 3 p.m. Christmas day because I finished the cake at around 1:30.  With no major limbs lost in the assembly (not counting the separating legs and a cracked tail), I'd say this was a successful cake!

Even after all that stress and strain....he sure was cute...don't ya think? 

Man, they're good, Build-A-Bear got me again! 

Perhaps I'll make him a leprechaun for St. Patty's Day?

Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Baking!

*Farewell to the Felt*

*Pool Table Farewell Cake* 

Pool Table: Vanilla cake, with chocolate buttercream icing covered with chocolate fondant around the edges and green-blue tinted fondant (as the felt) and little black fondant pockets. 

Billiard Balls: Sugar-glazed doughnut holes covered in white fondant, painted with gel food coloring and vanilla-flavored vodka.

Pool Cue & Chalk: White fondant tinted and rolled with ivory and brown gel food coloring (for a "wood" look) and chocolate fondant at the end and the tip-dusted with blue Luster Dust for "chalk". White fondant tinted black and turquoise for the chalk cube.

It seems just yesterday that we were putting her baby shower together (see June 2008 *Bouncin' Baby Shower*) and now that little bundle of joy is becoming mobile!  In order for her parents to chase her down as she revs up to chase the dogs, the pool table was being evicted to the garage, so a farewell party was planned.  And you can't have a farewell party without CAKE!

Miraculously, I whipped up this cake in about 6 hours, split between the night before and the day of the party. (I'm sure someone out there is saying, "yeah, it looks like this was thrown together in 6 hours....but I don't care, the cake wasn't for you!)

The doughnut holes were the best part (and most time consuming), I thought it was such a coup to have the whole cake completely edible-even if the billiard balls were a tad disproportionate to the pool table.  Just in case anyone is wondering...yes, I know there are more than 10 in a complete set, I did make all 16, but only 10 (plus cue ball) fit on the cake, so there.

Sure, if I had thought to bring a cake to this party sooner, I would have added little extra touches (like pockets with fringe and those diamond markers that go around the edge of the table), but I thought this cake was really cute! On a cuteness scale of 10 being the Bow-Wow Birthday cake (first post) and 1 being the Eye Scream Cupcakes (see December 2009), I'd have to say that this cake is up there with Little Orphan Annie & Sandy cupcakes (see August 2008) and the Build-A-Bear Santa cake (future post!)

Farewells are never easy, even if it's only geographic, so to soften the blow, why not immortalize it in cake! My next farewell tribute might have to be for my own party, as I have a super cute pair of Steve Madden peek-a-boo flats that need to be put out of their misery...

Rack 'em Up!

*Gift of the Baking Magi-Eggnog, Pumpkin & Zucchini*

*Christmas Bread Brownie Activity-December 2008*

Vanilla Eggnog Bread, Spiced Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Zucchini Bread (mini-loaves)

Activities: Bagging up mini-loaves in decorative cello bags and labeled, assembling recipe cards, and foam Christmas tree ornaments

Tis the season to bake with the Brownie Troop...Fa-la-la-la-la...La-la-la-la!  This activity is quickly becoming a yearly event, and a great way for me to keep up with how things are with the kids in the last class I taught at my old school.  The noise level is usually at a fever pitch from the moment they walk in to the moment they leave with their goodies because we're all so busy finding out what's new.  

Feeling the pinch from the recent economic down-turn, I thought it was important to incorporate a lesson in sharing with this year's activity.  So I planned to bake simple bread recipes with them, allowing for 1 loaf to take home to their family and one to share with another family. Due to time (and kitchen) restraints, I baked off one whole batch of each loaf prior to the day's events, leaving each group of girls to bake the second batch that afternoon. 

Since most of the time spent together would be waiting for the breads to bake, we planned activities such as bagging and tagging the already baked breads, gluing recipes to holiday cardstock and an ornament craft for their tree at home.

Given how busy the girls were, I'm actually amazed we only had one hiccup-an unfortunate sacrifice of one batch of chocolate zucchini breads to the Saint Elizabeth, the patron saint of bakers.  I think that I will have to be a little firmer about the noise level and express a need for focusing on the task in front of them rather than arguing over who gets to do what. But all in all, things went very well and we finished the day only 6 loaves short (which were going to be gifts for the Brownie Troop leaders & helpers). More unfortunate was how quickly the troop leader's house went from smelling of Christmas to swirling with smoke as the offending batch was mixed with little, if any flour, and so bubbled and burned with the fury of melted sugar.

As fast as the prep time went before they arrived at the house, we were already saying goodbye as each girl was loaded up with 1 finished loaf, bagged and tagged, a recipe card and their ornament with the promise that they would receive the second loaf the next day as they were just out of the oven and too hot to handle.  It was fast and furious, but, as always-FUN!

Hmmm...I wonder what next year will bring?

*Happy Holiday Baking!*

*You Scream, Eye Scream!*

*Eye Scream Cupcakes* Dark chocolate cupcake filled

 with raspberry jam and a gummy eyeball topped with dark chocolate frosting and Halloween sprinkles (ghosts, bats, pumpkins, purple, orange, green, black and white "Jimmies" and Halloween sugar decorations.

*Lil' Devil Cupcakes* Devil's Food cupcakes with red Holiday Oreo in the middle, topped with red vanilla frosting and sprinkled with crushed Holiday Oreos and red sugar sprinkles. 

These cupcakes were specifically ordered with the intent of creeping out the group of 10-year old girls they were ordered for during their Halloween Sleepover.  The ones with the gummy eyeballs in raspberry jam tucked into the center were pretty scary too (ha ha!).  

For the "Lil' Devil' cupcakes, I had fun with the frosting, for my own entertainment mostly. It's what I imagine a Troll doll version of the horned red fellow who drags around a pitchfork might look like. 

In case not all in attendance enjoyed their cupcakes looking back at them, I also whipped up a batch containing a hidden jem-a ragin' red "holiday" Oreo cookie. They used to make the cream orange for Halloween, but with the economy in a downward spiral, I guess they figured to skip Halloween and go right to the red Christmas version. Luckily for me, America being so eager to get Christmas merchandise into the stores, Christmas Oreos were available mid October...

I have to admit the inspiration for the eyeball cupcakes came after my millionth trip to the local Target (a.k.a. Home Away From Home) for Halloween accessories for the apartment. While perusing the Halloween "food" isle, I came across ice cube trays that came with gummy eyeballs, which in my humble opinion is a Heimlich Maneuver waiting to happen. Needing ice cube trays, I figured I could find a better use for the ocular gummies, and "Eye Scream" cupcakes were born. I think next time around, I'll up the amount of raspberry jam, poor eyes were a little dry!

Eye'll Be Seeing You Next Halloween!