Tag: cupcakes

Baking

I’m Finally All Caught Up

Emerald Thunder

This is the last post of things from the end of the semester, and it’s devoted to baked goods in cupcake/muffin form.

I tried my hand at homemade carrot cake with the Carrot Cake Cupcakes from Baking Bites. It was a completely spur of the moment baking decision, as I should have been packing and organizing my room to move rather than baking. They were totally worth the lost packing time, even though they were ever so slightly over-baked.

They ended up sinking and being flatter than I expected, but that just meant that I could put more cream cheese frosting on top in order to create domes. Good plan!

Overall they were very good and I would like to make them again, but this time I’ll pay closer attention to them while they’re in the oven.

To be honest, I can’t remember exactly which recipe I used to make these cinnamon sugar doughnut muffins, but I’m pretty sure I used this one from How To: Simplify.

I wish I could remember because they were so good and I want to be able to make them again.

Well, that about wraps it up for baking from the end of the semester, so now I can look forward to my summer baking, which I can assure you will be very fun!

Baking

*And Breathe*

Emerald Thunder

I have bad luck. Really, I do. Especially during last August, a little while ago, and now. What is up with this? Is this karma for my jokingly snarky and sarcastic comments? If so, I think I’m going to have bad luck for the rest of my life because I simply can’t give up the snark and sarcasm. It’s not like I really mean it when I say those things . . . and I can’t really help when I say them, it just kind of happens. Otherwise, I think I’m a pretty nice person. So why is it rain on Emerald Thunder Spring again? Have I been too happy lately and this is supposed to bring me back to equilibrium? If so, it can stop now, please, because I haven’t been *so* happy that it warrants all of this.

*end rant . . . I hope*

Nope, not over yet. I should have figured something else would happen. I started writing this before my cupcakes were out of the oven, and when I went to get them they were completely FLAT. No pretty little domes at all *sigh*. At least they still taste good. I was planning on covering them in buttercream anyway, but this just follows along with the string of seemingly small issues that have been building up over the last few weeks. I’m probably going to need to have a nice little panic attack/breakdown in a while if it keeps up, though. Then I’ll be good to go. I think that will probably occur around the time I get my final grades back for the semester, or rather, as I’m waiting for the first one to show up and everyone else here has already gotten them all back.

*15 minutes later*

Nope, the cupcakes not coming out right wasn’t bad luck. It was sheer STUPIDITY. The goals of my bonanzas REALLY aren’t working out well because evidently I can’t even read a measuring cup properly right now. The recipe called for 1 3/4 cups of flour and I only put 1 1/4 cups, and the same thing happened for the sugar, as it called for 1 1/2 cups and I only added 1 cup.

This really serves me right for BWCD, or Baking While Completely Distracted. I blame the gloomy weather. I’ve been really reflective today for some reason–listening to Backstreet Boys ballads, thinking about my life, what I really want, and why I am the way I am–and I spent a good chunk of time just listening and staring out my window at the city while pondering. For some reason this usually happens when the weather is bad, but at least today gave me  a chance to slowly figure it all out. I stress the SLOWLY part.

Just like I needed to figure out (but this time quickly) what to do with these cupcakes that completely stuck to the pan because I don’t like to use liners (I’m a huge fan of the outside layer of cakes/cupcakes/brownies. I love that contrasting texture. Yum!). I had crumbled cake in one hand and delicious chocolate buttercream in the other. That could only mean one thing: CAKE BALLS! I crumbled up the failed cupcakes (they still tasted okay, thank goodness) and mixed them in with the frosting.

Then I refrigerated the mixture for a while and formed them.

I coated some in melted peanut butter semi-sweet swirl chips.

And some in melted white chocolate chips.

Finally, something is going right, because they tasted wonderful. I only wish I had sprinkles or something to decorate the tops.

Baking, Celtic Thunder

Bonanza #3 — Oreo Cupcakes

Emerald Thunder

A little preface before I dive into the cupcakes:

I admit that my Bi-Weekly Baking Bonanzas have been failing. Even when I manage to make them, I either don’t take pictures or I’m trying to rush through them. That is NOT what I wanted when I first set out to do this. These are the points I wanted to accomplish, and it’s unfortunate that I’m not succeeding as I had wished.

GOALS OF THE BAKING BONANZAS:

1. Read through the ingredient list and physically check that I have EVERYTHING in the proper amounts.

* I’m doing okay at this, but honestly, I could do better — Half-Check.

2. Read through the instructions at least once before taking anything out.

* Okay, I’m definitely doing this — Check.

3. Pre-measure ingredients.

* NOPE — Check-Minus.

4. DON’T MAKE SUCH A HUGE MESS! (This one’s really important.)

* Who am I kidding, I’m making just as big a mess every time. BUT, I’m getting better about washing my dishes when I’m done, but I think that also has something to do with there never being any room in the sink to just let them sit. — I’ll give it a Check for that.

5. Take LOTS of photos of the ENTIRE process, from start to finish.

* Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I’d probably take more pictures if I had natural lighting in my kitchen, rather than the gross yellow overhead lighting — Nothing.

6. SLOW DOWN and ENJOY the baking process.

* I wish I could give myself a Check for this, but I’m just so rushed lately — Check-minus.

I honestly thought this whole process would be such a fun experience. I hate being wrong, but honestly, did I honestly expect to accomplish all this during the semester? I should have known that school and work would ultimately get in the way. Other things have gotten in the way too, and I should have known they would. I was SO optimistic at the start, but as the weeks go on and things don’t get done, that optimism wanes and that depresses me. It also doesn’t help that I don’t really have anyone to bake FOR.

Okay, enough with the depressing stuff. On to the cupcakes.

Unfortunately, this Bonanza truly embodied the rushed nature of my baking. On the spur of the moment late one Monday night I decided to bake these for a friend to either celebrate her becoming an RA or comfort her if she did not get the job. That’s one good thing about baking, it can be either for celebration or comfort, and you don’t have to change a thing in the recipe.

Let me just say that I was terrible at separating the mint Oreos. The cream was too squishy and so not many of the halves separated cleanly.

I did half mint-bottomed cupcakes and half double-stuffed bottoms. The purple and green are mint, and the red and blue are plain.

I ended up crunching up the Oreos rather than just cutting them into big chunks, but I liked the outcome of how I did it. I know, I didn’t “follow the recipe” as it said, but oh well. They were still very yummy.

They domed up and didn’t spread out over the tin, which really pleased me.

However, I should have known that the Oreos would stick to the liners because I didn’t spray them. I may have consumed some wrapper with my cupcakes.

They turned out to be comfort cupcakes during lunch the next day. They cheered her up a bit, but she was still disappointed.

Which would you rather eat? This gigantic apple or a cupcake? It was a hard decision, but I did eventually eat my apple. The cupcake may or may not have been consumed first. The point is that I DID eat my apple.

In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL BYROM, my beloved Swanky Tenor.

Baking, Celtic Thunder

Hello blog, I’m Emerald Thunder! It’s nice to meet you.

Emerald Thunder

Wow, now didn’t I fall of the face of the earth? It’s been SO long. It’s now the END of March, spring break has been over for a long time, the CT promo trips are over, and I’m gearing up for the end of the semester and all of my final papers. I’ve also made a few yummy things and just haven’t gotten around to/had time to blog about them.

Another thing, my baking bonanzas are failing miserably. I’ve only blogged about ONE of them so far. . . . Yeah. . . . I’ve done the pomegranate white chocolate chip cookies, the Oreo Cupcakes, and the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, but their photos are still waiting impatiently on my memory card. I really need to post them. Soon.

Here’s what else I’ve been up to in the past month:

MACARONI AND CHEESE!!!

It was so super cheesy before I baked it. I think I kept it in the oven a bit too long, and so it dried out. I added some extra milk to my bowl and it turned out okay. I made this again last week and decided against baking it (also because I was just so hungry, haha). Much better that way. Maybe next time I’ll put it in the oven for like 5 minutes. I don’t need a crispy crust on it, so 5 minutes should be sufficient.

This is what happens when you’re making mac and cheese and not paying attention to which way you’re flailing your arms.

Burnt to a black crisp pasta has such a wonderful and fragrant smell. From now on, the box will ALWAYS be closed unless I am pouring the pasta into the pot of water. But it’s okay, this story had a happy ending.

BROWNIES!!!

I absolutely love the Best Cocoa Brownies recipe on Une Gamine dans la Cuisine. It’s been my go-to recipes for a few months now, granted with a few alterations in the form of an extra egg and a bunch of chocolate chips melted into the batter. This time, however, I forgot to add the chips to the batter, and so I just sprinkled some on top. I think I might just stick with doing that, as they were still super amazing without the added chocolate.

And some yogurt-covered pretzels that worked okay, but I don’t think I’ll try to make them again. This version didn’t even come CLOSE to the terrible-for-you store-bought ones. I wanted that, but I failed in creating it. Oh well.

And a sneak peek for the Irish Car Bomb Cupcake Bonanza

I didn’t make all of the batter into cupcakes (there was SO MUCH BATTER), so I poured the leftover into a 9×13 pan and baked it into a cake. Then I topped it with green buttercream for St. Patrick’s Day.

I planned on using my shamrock cookie cutter on this cake, but it just didn’t work out well. The cookie cutter was just too small and the cake was just too thick. So I cut it into small squares instead.

And finally, POPCORN.

I admit, I had no part in making the popcorn besides watching and laughing at my jumpy friend’s expense.

 

Baking

A Forced “Little Miss Semi-Homemade” Holiday

Emerald Thunder

Those last few days of school nearly killed me. I can’t believe I survived, but I didn’t get through it entirely unscathed. I was dying with my lack of food supplies, and so I couldn’t relieve my building stress through baking. Note to self for next semester: NEVER run out of eggs or milk during finals–it only results in frustration and sadness. I couldn’t make ANYTHING I wanted to make, and so my stress levels just built up and I eventually just shut down and avoided the looming papers and exams for a while.

But now I’m back home and there’s a blizzard outside. . . . Oh yeah, snow just make everything better *sarcasm*. At least I got to avoid snow for the first few days back. One of the first things that greeted me when I stepped in the door was my list of desserts my father was *letting* me make for our Christmas parties. Yes, that’s right, the desserts he was *letting* me make. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with that. I was even less thrilled when my mother then said that I has to be “Little Miss Semi-Homemade” this year. I was even less happy with that restriction.

So on my list of “approved desserts” I had chocolate chip cookies, a Jell-o cake, and a chocolate pudding pie. I had nothing against the cookies, but the cake was from a box and the pie was with a store-bought graham cracker crust and instant pudding mix. Again, I have nothing against people who use these, but I don’t enjoy using them anymore. Now that I have the resources and ability to make things entirely from scratch, I want to keep exploring and seeing what else I’m capable of baking well. Doing it my way does not take much longer, nor is it much messier, than making things from a box, but my parents just don’t understand that. They’re fully content with suppressing my creativity and encouraging a manner of baking that no longer gives me any enjoyment whatsoever. If anything, being told what to make and how to make it just irritates me beyond belief and makes me not want to do it. Is this my teenage rebellion belatedly manifesting itself in my baking?

In any event, I made their desserts and still got yelled by my mother for making a mess. I just can’t win with her. I made her desserts as directed and still got yelled at.

For some reason no one even touched the pudding pie. Not even my mother, the person I made it FOR. I could have made it a mousse pie. Thanks a lot, mom.

At least I got to make whipped cream, even if no one but me enjoyed it. They were certainly missing out by not eating it, though.

While my parents were out at the store in the afternoon, I managed to sneak in one scratch yellow cupcake batch with chocolate buttercream frosting. I had to put my foot down on the frosting front, even though my parents got home before the cupcakes were done or frosted, and so I made the buttercream right under their noses. Look how well they went over. I started the events with twelve cupcakes and two bundts, and all that remained was one cupcake and one bundt. Homemade for the win!

Even as I was baking, my father didn’t think there would be enough, so he wanted to add a pecan pie and another chocolate pudding pie (which would have thankfully been from scratch). I was going to make the pecan pie during the break between our two family parties, but that never happened, and it wasn’t even needed. My father’s side of the family is large-ish, and so there were about 18 people here (and 4 people were actually missing), and my father expected there to not be nearly enough food or dessert, but he was definitely wrong about that. There were meatballs, kielbasa in this strange grape jelly/chili sauce sauce, Velveeta mac and cheese, a spiral ham, shrimp, chips and veggies and dip, my aunt’s beans, another aunt’s “crabbies” and her yummy mini chicken salad sandwiches, another aunt’s teryaki chicken wings and such, scallops wrapped in bacon, a quiche, and probably something else I’m forgetting. Then there were a few of my remaining cupcakes and cookies, my pudding pie, my Jell-o cake, and some store-bought cupcakes my cousin brought because he didn’t know what to bring.

There was just so much food on Christmas Eve because in the afternoon we had hosted my mother’s side of the family (just 9 of us total). So much food, so much sugar, way too much family, and entirely too many leftovers. A cupcake and a mini Bundt, more than half the Jell-o cake, the entire pudding pie and it’s accompanying whipped cream, and more than half my cousin’s cupcakes remained after everyone left. Needless to say, the eating will continue for a few more days than expected.

In other news, I think Fishy rather enjoyed his first Christmas and his first Christmas present.