Buy Me a Pony

Oh my Godzilla, was that Cupcake Day?  More like Cupcake Two-Hours!  Yeesh!  If I'd have known what a ravenous pack of... ravens... was going to descend on our wee cupcake stand, I'd have baked more!

No, that is a horrible lie.  I would not have baked more.  I baked twenty four cupcakes on Sunday, in two different flavours, and with all the icing them and sticking them into cute little cellophane bags (which seemed like an awesome idea at the time, but turned out to be a truly unholy nightmare by the time I was actually doing it), I was SO over it.  But on some small level, it was worth it when I saw the flock of people who rocked up to support us and the SPCA.  We made $64 in donations alone, which was super, so our grand total for the two hours was $303, which is pretty darn awesome in anyones book.

Notes for next year would be to sell the cupcakes for more - maybe two dollars was too cheap?  Next year we might do three dollars or two for five.  And we'll bake other stuff too, turn it into a bakesale type thing.  But, Dang!  It was kind of exhausting organising it, but it was worth it!

Oh yeah, I didn't say which flavours I went with!  After much panicky reading of the ingredients lists of all the margarines in the supermarket (so many of them have milky type things in them!  Gah!)  I went to Commonsense Organics, as you do when you're looking for veganriffic things.  After much prowling of the aisles looking confused, I spoke to a charming assistant who assured me that Olivani has no milk badness in it, and is totally fine to use in baking.  Which it was.  Phew.  So... it was chocolate cupcakes with caramel frosting (with blue sugar crystal topping) and white chocolate and cherry flavours.  I really think the white chocolate and cherry has major potential for the White Stripes cupcake, and since now I have about seven thousand red cupcake papers with white spots, I'll have to think up a few more uses for them!  But for now, I don't think I even want to think about cupcakes for at least three days.  Maybe make that two.

Super Furry Animals

Okay, in a bit of shameless promotion, it's CUPCAKE DAY next week (er, not next week... the week after next... the 31st of August, anyway)

All the proceeds from cupcakes sold on Cupcake Day will go direct to the SPCA.  Pretty awesome, eh?

So my cupcakes will be up at Massey, but I'm sending some along to my husband's work too.  So far, I've been figuring out some flavours that should go down well - Chocolate Rain which is a vegan double chocolate cupcake (which actually tastes AMAZING, even though I've been utterly rigorous about the complete lack of animal product in it... heehee, even tofu chocolate frosting... I know it sounds revolting, but tofu takes flavour incredibly well, so you can't even taste it) and Pretty in Pink, which are pink lemonade flavour (lemon cupcake, raspberry in the middle and raspberry frosting with yellow sherbert topping).  Fun, huh?  The cupcakes are going to be sold (mine are at least) for $2 each, which is waaay less than they're really worth, but I want to encourage the poor students to buy up large... for a good cause, and all that!  I'll report back once its all over... looking forward to it though!

Sugar Never Tasted So Good

So... after seeing 'It Might Get Loud' a few weeks ago as part of the New Zealand Film Festival, I've been a tad... not obsessed, strictly, but it would be close, with the imagery of the White Stripes.  I'll tell you a wee bit about the film - it's... er... stars?  Subjects is probably a better word, are Jack White (of the White Stripes), The Edge (from U2), and *gasp* JIMMY PAGE.  Yes.  He deserves all caps for being a rock god of the highest order.  He also comes across during the film as a rather charming individual.  They talk about guitars a bit, but they also talk about what made them love music... I was worried that this movie was going to be all guitar geekery, and although I can read guitar mags with the best of them, I wouldn't know a Humbucker from a wah pedal.  But it's really not - its a bit music geek in parts (especially The Edge's bits, that man is a technical genius) but that what makes it so fun! Anywho, I digress.

I have to say that I've always been interested in the way that rock (and I guess, musicians in general, but rock happens to be the main bulk of the music that I like) musicians surround themselves with images.  Oooh, actually, there is a fantastic book called Band ID   which is incredibly interesting, well, mostly it's pictures of band logos, but it's really fascinating to compare the logos of bands of the same musical type kind of look the same (even those from supposedly 'alternative' bands... we're all the same in our individuality, it seems).  That was a total digression again, but since it's my blog, y'all are just gonna have to put up with it. 

 

What does all of this have to do with baking?  Well, I'll tell you (you deserve it after persevering through all those digressions!) - since we here at the BCB are entirely motivated by external influence, I feel in my innermost soul that it may be time for a White Stripes cupcake.  Well, I'll start with the White Stripes anyway, because they have the most distinctive palate (har har) of colours, of pretty much any band I know.  Simple and delicious (hopefully) white cake, red-and-white peppermint frosting ... ooh, just had another idea... a Stairway to Heaven cupcake (jumbo size, Guinness and chocolate cupcake, cream cheese frosting, gold leaf sprinkles)...  I don't think poor U2 will make the cupcake grade - they need a proper big cake, maybe a layer cake?  Hmn, I might have to think about this, but it gives me something to ponder....  and I do love a good ponder.

In the Very Early Morning Kitchen

Sorry, Maurice Sendack fans, I couldn't resist it.  

Unfortunately, these little beauties don't have that much in common with Mickey and his adventures in the milk of the night kitchen... Um, I suppose you do make batter when you're making cupcakes, but that's about where the similarity ends.  By the by, did you know that 'In the Night Kitchen' has been a banned book in some public libraries in the US, because of the *gasp* drawing of a penis!?  I know... but I digress. 

I couldn't sleep this morning... my husband is off to Germany on Sunday morning, and I confess to being a tad worried about him.  Not that he is at all incapable of looking after his fine self, but you know.  I sometimes think that I wouldn't be happy if I didn't have something to worry about, but (sheesh!) I digress again.  If I don't start talking about these cupcakes now, I guess I never will.

It's funny, with cupcakes, once you start talking to people about them, everyone has a fantasy flavour.  One of

 my workmates was telling me how much she lurves coconut ice, and wouldn't it be perfect if there was a coconut ice cupcake?  Well, now there is.  Again, I just used a basic scratch white cake recipe, but like the Peggy Bundy cupcakes, these had a slight deviation in the milk - I used a wee bit of coconut cream for a coconut flavour (what other flavour were you expecting?).  There was also meant to be a secret marshmallow inside the cupcakes, but I'd forgotten what commercial marshmallow does when you heat it... it froths, and it just doesn't stop 'til it reaches the top.  Or something.  *sigh* Now I'm all tired... Dang you, crazy brain!!  So as you can see from the photo, they kind of burst out.  But that's not something that a bit of frosting can't disguise...

Aah, perfection!  

And with a little toasted coconut too, just for kicks.  The frosting is usual buttercream with not so much butter, and a lot more coconut cream.  So its a wee bit more runny than usual, but that doesn't matter... at least not in my opinion.  These are just the right size to ram in your gob once you get all the wrapping off (easier said than done with that big hunk of sticky marshmallow inside).  Next time, no marshmallow.  In fact, next time, I'll just roll over and go back to sleep.... which is what I'm going to do now.

The Heart and Stomach of a King

Well, now that I'm thinking of famous women to pay homage to in baked goods form, I can't seem to get past the idea of Queen Elizabeth I.  She is one of my favourite historical figures, just because she comes off as such a hardass, when really she seems to me to just have a big front so no-one would know how petrified she was of losing power.  I mean, you can hardly blame her, it was a psycho time to be a ruler of anywhere, but especially scary for Elizabeth when you consider how her claim to the throne was put under such scrutiny before her reign had even begun, and to be dogged her whole life with the ghost of her mother (not literally of course, but it must have left a pretty big psychological scare once she found out why Mumsie wasn't around) plus that crafty Mary, Queen of Scots lurking perpetually in the wings, and the Spanish and French always trying to do her in.  Tough times to be a queen.... Jeez, PLUS all the pressure to get married and start pushing out the babies.  Give a girl a break already!

The great thing about Elizabeth I from a stylistic point of view is that she has these very defined 'looks' that identify her... for one thing her famous red hair.  Elizabeth was apparently very vain about her hair, and was always interested in setting it off just so.  So she wears a lot of strong colours, mostly black and white combos, which I can totally dig (my wardrobe being heavy on the self-same colours).  She also loved pearls, as you can see from the above picture - girl is literally covered in them... pearls in her hair, on her dress, around her neck (you can't see her shoes, but I bet she would have had them attached to them too... hey, if less is more, then more is enough, right?!)

So, how does this sound: red velvet cupcake, a chocolatey flavoured one, not a vanilla.  A spicy (cinnamonny, nutmeggy, maybe a wee bit of ginger) cream cheese icing.  And pearl cachous to decorate.  Huh?  Huh?  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Or maybe it's just time for dinner... heehee.

Hey, Al!

Okay, so who comes to mind as soon as you see leopard print cupcake cases?  Tarzan?  Ivana Trump?  Maybe for you, but for me, it's Peggy Bundy.

 I remember watching Married With Children with my Dad when I was a kid (I didn't get any of the jokes, I just laughed because of the studio audience)  and ever since then two thinks have been constant.  One, always trust that Dad has cool taste.  Two, my admiration for Peggy Bundy's dress sense.  

So anyway, it's not really enough to merely make plain boring cupcakes in leopard print cases and call them Peggy Bundy cupcakes, is it?  No, it is not.  So that got me thinking.... I'd recently tried out a white cake cupcake recipe that I got from Epicurious.  (For New Zealanders, white cake seems to be the American version of butter cake, but not as hard-0ut buttery as we would know it... Any Americans or other knowledgable parties got a better description?  Anyway, all you need to know is that it's awesome and well simple to make).  This recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups milk to go into the batter, but instead of all milk, this time, it was 1 cup of milk, and the 1/4 cup was half Kahlua and half made up instant coffee.  You could use proper coffee, but I'd rather drink that myself.  So that was the flavour of the cupcake... I thought Peggy would appreciate the declasse nature of the Kahlua, and since coffee seems to be the only thing that she can cook, it was appropriate!