Tsunami!

This project was for the Alaska region of the NOSB event.

Vanilla cupcakes

Chocolate

It looked neat all together.

Luau Party For the TYC Fundraiser

This fun project was for a fundraiser for the TYC in town. It was aboard the Renown Tours Glacier Express catamaran. Their helpful crew even cleared out a few rows of seats to make room for a dance area on board. My son goes to the TYC, Teen and Youth Center, afterschool. They also have camps for school inservice and vacation days, as well as summer camps. My son loves it and always has a great time!

Done plugging local businesses, now back to the cake :)

The cake was a chocolate devils food cake with chocolate buttercream between the layers. On top of that a layer of ganache and then the fondant.

Here is a close up of the button and stitching detail. The buttons were a fondant and gum paste mixture with fondant "threads".

Cupcakes to match. These were a simple vanilla butter cupcake with lemon cream cheese frosting. The flowers were fondant mixed with a bit of gum-tex to make them firm and more durable.

I have lots of cake scraps bagged up in the freezer. At the last minute I pulled some out and made boozy cake bon bons. It was a 21 and over party with a bar on board so boozy desserts were in order. This recipe is based off Bakerella's cake pop recipe. I used scraps of devils food cake and a brown sugar cream cheese frosting with coffee flavored Kaluha in it. Then dipped the frozen balls of cakey frosting goodness in a chocolate ganache and topped with fondant flowers left over from another luau project. As I mentioned, these were a last minute thought so please ignore the finger prints and drips. Thank goodness the lighting on the craft was dimmed!

Here is a shameless sign that Josie from the TYC made for me. Thanks Josie!!

Finally, here is a pic of the entire spread before everyone boards and I head off the boat.

Getting back into the swing of things.

OK, I have been seriously negligent about updating my blog. It is time to get back to it. My hard drive is fixed and my computer is working better than it did when it was new. So I have no excuse now :)

Just because my computer was down doesn't mean that I wasn't cooking. I have lots to catch up on. Here is a fun one. This was from our annual golf tourney on the mud flats this month. It is our way of staying sane during the sloppy time (break up) between winter and summer. This year it was brutally cold so we happily let the tide push us back towards the bonfire. Here is an ice tee just to prove my point!


And here are a couple of beautiful views!

Who can resist a pic of happy dogs?

Since xtra tufs are a way of life a good portion of the year and a requirement for the golf tourney, I was sure to include them on the cupcakes.

Real xtra tufs

My version. I regret that I didn't plan ahead. These were thrown together the day of. The event is annual, so it wasn't like I didn't know it was coming :)

The orange triangles that look like slices of cheese are replicas of the tourney flag. It is an orange pennant hung on a golf club. The material has a golf ball hanging from a short piece of chain. On windy days it can be down right dangerous to be near it! Each year the flag is embroidered with the current year. I had hoped to replicate something like that but alas... I didn't plan!

We had a fabulous time and the cupcakes (frozen from the cold day) were enjoyed....by the bonfire.

Now for the food part. These were chocolate stout cupcakes with silt colored Bailey's cream cheese frosting. All decorations were MMF.

To all my friends: Bug the heck out of me if I do not post again soon!!

Happy Halloween!

We have been busy preparing for Halloween over here and I haven't had a chance to post. Here are a few Halloween pics to hold you over. Stay tuned for the detail posts next week. I will have plenty of time to post while I am stuck on my butt after knee surgery. That is only if I am not too loopy to type :)

Key Lime Ghosts

Mummy Meatloaf

Body Part Cupcakes

Tombstone cupcakes

My last ditch effort to hold onto summer.. Key Lime Cupcakes with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

This weekend we went to a UFC fight night get together. I always enjoy trying to come up with something new to tantalize their taste buds. The only real requirement is that the goodies be something that they guys can pick up easily and take to the couch during the short commercials. The hosts are great about letting me know the main dish ahead of time.

The theme this Saturday was Mexican. My spicy pizza bierocks are always a hit so that was a given. Key Lime Cupcakes sounded like the perfect match to a spicy and heavy meal. I suppose I could have made them a bit lighter and not so rich. But what is the fun in that!

I chose to modify a coconut cupcake recipe from the Barefoot Contessa

Here is the recipe per Foodnetwork.com

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

Here is what I changed

I didn't have extra large eggs. 1 extra large egg is about 4 Tablespoons
No vanilla or almond extra. Instead I used about 4-5 Tablespoons key lime juice
3 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons cake flour instead of AP flour
No coconut
Added lime zest of 2 limes

Simple Key Lime filling recipe -
I don't know where I originally found this. But I have been using it for years.

5 egg yolks
1/2 cup key lime juice
1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
Whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Start by juicing the limes. I like to use a garlic press to juice them. It is fast and efficient.

My helper came away from his mp3 player for this... well sort of.


See? All squished.


Ignore the brown peels. Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to produce in this town.

Pour the sugar and lime zest into a small bowl. Using your fingers, mash around the zest and sugar just as you would crumb together butter and sugar. Continue until all the sugar is moist from the oils in the zest.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar/zest mixture until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time until well blended. As mentioned earlier, I didn't have any extra large eggs. To accommodate the recipe I whisked 6 large eggs together and then measured 20 Tablespoons of this mixture (1 extra large egg = 4 Tablespoons).

Mix in key lime juice

Alternate in the flour mixture and buttermilk. Adding only about a third of each and stirring until fully incorporated before adding another third.



Fill cupcake pan, with liners.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

While the cupcakes are baking make the filling.

Beat the egg yolks. Add lime juice and condensed milk. Cover and chill until slightly thickened. Mix in whipped cream. I normally make my own but was in a time pinch. So this time I used a carton of extra creamy whipped cream. Put mixture in fridge until you are ready to use.

Cool the baked cupcakes completely.

Prepare them for filling by using a paring knife to cut a cone out of the top. Slice off the majority of the cone, leaving a flat plug.

Spoon the filling into the hole in the cupcake and top at with the plug. Be careful not to over fill or the plug will lift.

There you go. Here is the cupcake looking like nothing happened!

Frost with your favorite icing. I had some left over Bailey's and cream cheese frosting in the freezer. Yes, I keep frosting in the freezer. All you have to do is thaw in the fridge and then whip for a few seconds to fluff it up again.All you have to do is thaw in the fridge and then whip for a few seconds to fluff it up again.

See!

Now here is what they look like inside.