The Cupcake Thread!

[diane5006]

OMG I just started looking at this thread...I am going to spend some quality time going through it...

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/26/2008 9:34:50 PM
Author: Jas12
Everyone must be busy baking up a storm for the US Thanksgiving (i am a canadian but i can smell the googies from here

I forgot i promised a pic of my chocolate butter cream filled linzers. They turned out pretty good, but a little too time consuming for a bake exchange (i made 4 dozen)

Beautiful!

 

[akw94]

Hi everyone,
Jas, those cookies look wonderful!
I''m attaching a few pics of my Thanksgiving cupcakes. I wasn''t thrilled w/the pb cup ones, not sure where I went wrong but the kids seem to like them and liked the extra-chocolaty frosting. The pecan brown sugar w/caramel filling and caramel frosting turned out great. The frosting wasn''t the caramel swirl that I planned since I mixed it in too much but it did taste good! It was fun experimenting and trying to decide what to make next. I have a PTO mtg next week so I will try something fun, especially since it can be a little different since I''m making for adults. I was thinking Mara''s jam filled ones but haven''t decided.
This 1st pic is the brown sugar ones.

 

[akw94]

Next are the pb cup cupcakes, sorry I don''t know how to post 2 pics in one posting.

 

[akw94]

And finally, the inside of the pb cup cupcake. As you can see, the cupcake didn''t rise too much and I wonder if that was b/c of the pb cups inside. Don''t know, may have to experiment with this one another time.

 

[akw94]

Date: 11/26/2008 9:12:23 PM
Author: FrekeChild
I don''t have much time to respond (in class), I''ll try to write more later, but the difference between icing and frosting is that icing is the stuff you see on danish--more of a glaze, and frosting is something that''s piped on, and used for decoration. Icing has a looser consistency, and has specific uses. There are actually multiple types of fondant, one being the stuff that goes onto danish, and another being the rubbery stuff that usually is on wedding cakes. I know that the first one is icing, but I believe that the other is frosting--although I wouldn''t really qualify it as either.

So:

Glaze = icing

Buttercream = frosting

Does that make sense? I think the two of them are basically interchangeable to the general public though.

Freke, yes, that did make sense. Thanks!

 

[akw94]

Date: 11/26/2008 10:37:13 PM
Author: Mara


The funny thing now that I make cupcakes so much is that I really don''t like them. The idea of a pumpkin or pecan pie cupcake or having cupcakes for Thxgiving is so not appealing to me! I made 12 dozen cupcakes today (I have pictures on my camera!)...yes it was crazy...!! I am SO looking fwd to our Pumpkin Pie and the Pumpkin Cheesecake we are having tomorrow....no cupcakes for me!!! But people love them, yep.... so I keep making them.

Mara, wow, 12 dozen cupcakes!! I would love to see pictures when you have time and hear about what you made.

 

[Mara]

HA omg dixie...i have sooo many pictures. not only did i make 12 dozen the other day but 2 weekends ago i made 11 dozen. i have so many pictures on my camera! here are just a few of them...!

Chai with maple leaves, I loved how the frosting turned out!

 

[Mara]

Choco mint.

 

[Mara]

dupe post.

 

[Mara]

Gingerbread! I love these little gingerbread sprinkles we found at a local shop...soooo cute.

 

[Mara]

''Strawberry Fields!''

 

[Mara]

one of my favorites!! Banana w Caramel.

 

[Mara]

and a vanity shot, cupcakes love to pose like diamonds! Red Velvet.

 

[iwannaprettyone]

Mara,

I am D-ROOLING over here! It is 4:30 and I am tired and hungry sitting in cubicle land. Your gorgeous cupcukes make me smile!

 

[Jas12]

Mara--those are BEYOND gorgeous cuppies. You are so talented. I wish i could do icing/piping like you and the flavors you come up with are delish.

Just out of curiosity, how much time do you spend on your creations each week? Are you always working on new recipes or is it something you do in spurts? (forgive me if you''ve answered this before, i haven''t read thru this whole thread)

 

[Skippy123]

Mara, those are works of art

 

[Mara]

oh and btw, fleur you are right about caramel hardening after cooling when baked into something like cupcakes. it''s just best to either fill it after the fact or drizzle it on unfortunately.

jas...well each week is different. this week i haven''t had much to do with baking thank goodness, too much else going on. but this wkd i will be making about 6-7 dozen cupcakes for 2 events. when i made the 11 dozen cupcakes 3 weeks ago it took me 9 hours from start to finish with baking and decorating and packaging (over span of 1.5 days). the 12 dozen cupcakes from last week took me about 6 hours because there were less flavors and i was not ''as creative'' with decorating meaning i just did more basics than time consuming items because i was more time constrained.

i make toppers as stress release while watching TV on weekday nights so that i always have them around or know in advance what i will need for an event (aka i need to make footballs tonite for one of the events this wkd). and i tend to experiment only on weeks or days when i know i don''t have any events going on, so that it''s for pleasure and not a requirement!

 

[lili]

Mara
I just love how your cuppies look -- they are little masterpieces.

Jas12
Your linzers look so pretty and yummy.

 

[Jas12]

Thanks Mara--really interesting. You must get so much business just by word of mouth. You''ll need to hire out extra help soon

There are some really talented bakers on PS! Keep posting pics, i luv looking at them

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Mara, you are SO talented! They are beautiful (as is your photos). I am so proud of you!

 

[Dreamgirl]

OMG I can't believe I never came into this thread!!! I've always seen it but I don't spend much time at all over here in FHH so I never looked. All of your treats here looks so gorgeous and very very yummy!!!!

I wanna play! May I?

This thread is AWESOME!!!!! So if it's ok to show some cake?

I always do crazy cakes for my boyfriend's birthday. This year, I made him his very own pizza cake.

I baked the cake mix in a round pan and cut off the top to make it flat....For the frosting, I tried food coloring but that didn't work. So I ran out to Michaels and bought some frosting coloring it worked out ok.........for the cheese, I grated white chocolate. But here is the trick! If you grate the white chocolate out of the package then it grates too small and it crumbles very easily. So if you put it in the microwave for a while to soften it and then slowly grate it, you get longer strips of cheese! Lastly for pepperoni, I cut fruit roll ups into circles. My boyfriend LOVED it!! Although, he told me he thought it was a real pizza, only frozen..
These aren't fancy angled photos though:

 

[Dreamgirl]

And of course, it came fully equipt with it''s very own pizza box...

 

[Nocturnius]

OH MY GOD. Cupcakes are so cute!

I can''t believe I''m sitting at work reading about cupcakes.

I love the site Bakerella.

Gorgeous cupcakes and delicious, too! I must come back and read more pages of this lovely thread!

 

[neatfreak]

Dreamgirl that is an adorable cake!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/5/2008 4:25:01 PM
Author: Dreamgirl
And of course, it came fully equipt with it's very own pizza box...

That is adorable Dreamgirl, you did a fantastic job

Very creative!!!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Dreamgirl! So freaking cute! What other cakes have you done in the past?

 

[Dreamgirl]

Thank you ladies! You are too kind!

Tacori- The other cakes were actually store bought but we always did something funny for him. One year we had a cake made with clouds and some...well...turds

with a halo above it saying "Holy S*** it''s S''s Birthday!" Another year we spelt Happy Birthday S backwards, another year (no offense to anyone) a spanish birthday cake (everything was written in spanish) as a joke. There are so many.....I really like how this year''s cake turned out. I just might have to make next years cake myself as well!

I do however enjoy making Christmas cookies. I will be off from work the week of Christmas so I will make sure to take photos to share with you!

 

[akw94]

Mara, WOW! Your cupcakes look great. I''d love to see more pictures. If you don''t mind sharing, what tip did you use for the Chai and Strawberry cupcakes? They all really look great!

Here''s some more I''ve made recently. First is Peppermint:

 

[akw94]

Next is Raspberry - White Chocolate. There was raspberry jam (couldn''t find fresh raspberries here) in the cake batter, then a layer of jam on top of the finished cake and white chocolate, raspberry frosting. I wish you could see the layer of jam for the picture but the frosting was a bit liquidy from all the jam so it spread fast!