Football Sundays are for Beer

It's Sunday and we all know what that means - FOOTBALL.  Or for those of us on the East Coast, it means batten down the hatches and get ready for Hurricane Sandy.  Either way, you should have a stockpile of beer on hand.

If you don't have the beer on hand, or prefer a non-alcoholic way to celebrate your favorite team this Sunday, perhaps a beer inspired cake will do the trick (or treat)!

(In full disclosure, I am way more excited about the food at football watching parties than I am about the game!)

For Josh's birthday earlier this year, his only birthday cake request was for Funfetti.  So I begrudgingly bought a box of Funfetti cake mix and did what I could to make the outside more unique than the box would suggest.  What better than a giant mug of beer in the midst of being poured?

We baked the cake in circular pans and stacked it up, layered with simple vanilla cream filling, to create the mug.  Next the cake was wrapped around with chocolate fondant to make the outside of the mug.  Whipped and frothy buttercream topped the cake for a great beer foam.  We even ran some "condensation drops" down the side to make it look as though the cold beer was sweating in the mug.

But the best part is clearly the pouring beer in mid air.  For this part we took chopsticks and wrapped them with fondant to create the flowing beer and perched an empty can (with a personalized label!) on top of the "beer."

Ta-da!

A fresh, still pouring beer for the birthday boy!

After the candle is blown out, the cake must be inspected to make sure it's not real!

Perhaps next Sunday, instead of your usual football shaped and inspired treats, you should treat your guests to that extra special, fancy pants beer...cake that is!

Read More

America's Favorite Pastime

Today kicks off day two of the 2012 World Series!  Now none of my teams made it (Mariners/Nationals), but that is certainly nothing new unfortunately.  Just coming back home from LA, I didn't have time to whip up Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants cupcakes, but instead we'll take a look at a Boston Red Sox lover's birthday in honor of the very first World Series Champions!

Every path to the World Series is fraught with twists and turns, and these cupcakes are no different.  They may look like simple chocolate cakes, but they have their very own October surprise inside - jalapenos baked into the batter!

Here's the recipe to spice up your evenings watching the fall classic...

Jalapeno Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 12-15 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
-1 cup chocolate chips, melted and cooled
-1 ¼ cups sugar
-3/4 cup butter, softened
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3 eggs
-2 cups all purpose flour
-1 tbsp ground cinnamon
-2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup milk
-1 or 2 tbsp canned jalapenos, finely chopped
 

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line cupcake pan.

Beat sugar, butter and vanilla in large mixer bowl.  Add eggs, beat for a minute.  Beat in the melted chocolate. 

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Beat into chocolate mixture, alternating with milk.  Stir in jalapenos.

Bake for 30 min, begin checking halfway through. 

Top with your favorite buttercream or chocolate frosting.  We used simple white buttercream since we were making baseballs, but you can mix it up however you like!

Hands, touchin' hands

Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' you

Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

I've been inclined

To believe they never would

But now I, look at the night

And it don't seem so lonely

We fill it up with only two

Play ball! :)

Read More

Riding the Rails

While we're on the topic of all things nerdy, I thought I might as well throw this one out there too.  Some of you may remember Andrew's birthday cake from last year, which as of July 2011 was the nerdiest cake I'd made.  Well I'm slightly ashamed to say that cake has been retooled and version 2.0 is out of the mixer - just as nerdy as the first time around.

This cake was made for the annual Futurewise dinner and auction in Seattle back in March 2012, as a part of the dinner auction.  The cake was Devils food with a pecan coconut filling, covered in a dark chocolate ganache before being smoothed over with fondant.

The best part about this cake redesign was not only being able to use fondant, but the nifty little aerosol can of edible silver spray paint.  Game changer right there.  So not only did the cake taste delicious and look real, but it was nabbed second in the desert dash portion of the evening!

To all you transit nerds camped out in LA this week for Rail-Volution - take a break from the festivities and grab a slice.  Just make sure to finish before boarding the bus, they really frown on chocolate crumbs on the seats.

Read More

Chilly Evenings Made for Board Games

The leaves have started to fall, the air is a little crisper, and the clouds a little thicker.  Seems like perfect weather to fish out the boots, the sweaters and scarves, and curl up with a cup of tea.  But wait, does the chillier weather really mean we're relegated to spending the next six months on the couch under piles of blankets?  Seems to me the cold weather is perfect for breaking out the board games, the cider, and even a platter of sweets to snack on.

Sure you could stick to the basics of Monopoly, Clue, Apples to Apples or Boggle.  Or you could wear your nerd badge with honor and step it up to Settlers of Catan.  (I'm willing to bet that I lost at least half you with that sentence.  Until about a year ago, I hadn't heard of it either.)  

Settlers of Catan game board

The favorite game in our house is definitely Settlers of Catan - complicated, strategic, and fun, everyone gets into it (perhaps some too much?).  So when Andrew's birthday rolled around this year, what better way to surprise him?

We baked up the usual chocolate chip cake that is always had on birthday's, then layered, and cut it into a hexagon.  Since Andrew DESPISES fondant, I thought simple circles would be easier than constructing mini hexagons out of icing.  (See the above board depiction for reference.)

Red for brick, yellow for wheat, black for rock, dark green for wood, and pale green for sheep pastures.

Details made from red and black licorice, mini marshmallows, gumdrops and sprinkles!  The finished product certainly surprised the birthday boy.

 Happy birthday Andrew!

Regardless of what you end up doing with your fall evenings, I'm sure you'll want to grab a slice of this game themed cake.  But in case you get the urge to try your hand at Settlers of Catan, here's a handy YouTube video that will get you started.

Read More

Bottomless Mimosa Brunch

One thing I've learned in my short time in Washington DC - this is a city that loves its mimosa brunches. Everywhere you turn on a Sunday morning (or afternoon, let's be honest), you'll see a sign for yet another screaming deal on bottomless mimosas with at least an hour wait to get a seat.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining.  I love brunch and I definitely love some bubbly in my orange juice.

All this furor over mimosa brunches did get me thinking about how to translate this into cupcakes.  I'm still working out the just right formula for the french toast and eggs benedict ones, but I can attest that mimosas in cupcake wrappers might just be more delicious than those in the glass.

Earlier this year, the family threw my Grandma a surprise party for her 80th birthday.  The setting was brunch  at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle.  Naturally the cupcakes were mimosa!

 All the splendor and sparkle an 80th birthday deserves!

 Taste test - better in the wrapper or in the glass?

Below you'll find the simplified version of the recipe for all you beltway movers and shakers that would rather sleep a little later on a Saturday, than slave over the KitchenAid and oven that much longer.  Recipe is courtesy of The Sweet Bliss Bakery.

Quick and Easy Mimosa Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together cake mix, eggs, butter, and orange juice until the mixture is smooth.  Fill your cupcake tins 2/3 full and bake for 22-24 minutes.  Once cooled, frost with champagne buttercream (see below).

Champagne Buttercream
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp champagne

Cream butter, champagne, and vanilla together.  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.


There's only one person who wasn't a fan of the orange bubbly cupcakes...but he's five so we'll forgive him till he's older :)

Read More