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Archive for the ‘baking’ Category

Giant Cupcake Pan Dilemma

June 4th, 2008

Ok, so I just found out that Williams Sonoma has come out with a new item…The Great Cupcake Pan! Essentially it’s exactly them same as Wilton’s Giant Cupcake pan except for the cupcake top which is a little different in design and the price. Wilton’s pan has a more rounded top, while Williams Sonoma has a very swirly top and as for the price, Wilton beats Sonoma by just more than a few dollars. You can buy Wilton’s pan at Target for $27, but Sonoma has you paying a hefty price of $35! So, usually I would just go and buy the cheaper version, but this got me thinking…there must be a reason for the $35 price tag…the brand, the quality, but what else??? I need to know if I should buy the the expensive one over the cheap one. Can anyone tell me their reviews about the Wilton cupcake pan? Or if anyone has already bought the Williams Sonoma one, let me know your reviews too! Any help would be greatly appreciated to end this dilemma! Thanks!

Williams Sonoma – The Great Cupcake Pan

Wilton’s – Giant Cupcake Pan

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Long Time No Blog

June 3rd, 2008

My apologies for not blogging for an entire month…I’ve been away, well actually I was on vacation for 2 weeks. But, the week before I left, I was busy packing and getting ready and it took me another week to back into the swing of things. So, I guess that accounts for the whole month I’ve been absent here. So, this week I’ve decided to go on a baking frenzy. I’m planning to make a variety of things that I’ve been wanting to make for a while now such as scones, red velvet cupcakes, and creme brulee. Update about the torch: I have not bought a torch yet, but that’s on my to-do list this week, so keep an eye out for my post about that.

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Happy New Year!

January 4th, 2008

2008!?! Wow, time flies by so quickly! I hope your New Year is starting off nicely, sadly my first day this year didn’t go so smoothly. So, here’s a recap of my New Years Day: I fell down the stairs, but I managed to not injure myself severely (last time I fell down the stairs, I sprained my ankle). So far my whole body has been sore, especially my neck. Later on the same day, I almost got into a car accident because some kid was on his cell phone and tried to merge into my lane without looking. I can’t wait until July 1st…(for those of your who are out of state, July 1st is the official day when California drivers cannot use their cellphones while driving). I really do feel like the roads will be safer, without idiots on their phones all the time and not paying attention.

On to baking news, or well this is news to me. I just found out that dragees (those little edible metallic balls you decorate with) are illegal in California! This completely explains why I never saw them in stores the last few years. I remember looking for them at Sur la Table and a few big name craft stores, but I never bothered to ask. I just assumed you could only get them at specialty baking stores. Apparently they’ve been illegal since 2003, because someone filed a lawsuit claiming that dragees are considered toxic since they contain trace amounts of metal. But, seriously you would have to eat millions of them before anything happens…toxic or not I still want to use them…

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Merry Christmas!

December 24th, 2007

I don’t know what happened this year, but my Christmas baking didn’t go as plan, well actually it didn’t go at all. I guess I just got caught up with all the busyness the holidays bring, and before I knew it, it was almost Christmas. I was even really last minute with my Christmas shopping. My “plan” was to bake my Red Velvet Cupcakes and give them out to my friends, but I just ran out of time and energy. Haha oh well, better luck next year. At least I know what one of my New Years resolutions will be…”Stop procrastinating and do things ahead of time”. On another note, I got the best Secret Santa gift this year! Some goodies from my favorite store Williams-Sonoma. My Secret Santa bought me a lovely tin can of sugar cookie mix and also a nice variety of Christmas sprinkles. I’m a happy girl 🙂

Posted in baking, dessert, holidays | 1 Comment

Nutella Cake

October 22nd, 2007

So after hours of research for a Nutella Cake recipe, I finally settled with this recipe from Su Good Sweets. The recipe is a lightened adaptation of Nigella Lawson’s Nutella Cake recipe in her book How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I was happy that I got to use an entire jar of Nutella…the more the better! I also used this recipe for a Nutella Buttercream Frosting from The Urban Housewife. The process was pretty long, which started with the roasting of hazelnuts to whipping egg whites, but overall it was a success. The cake turned out to be more like a brownie, which is how it is suppose to turn out, but I’m still looking for a recipe for a Nutella cake which is moist and fluffy, like a “cake” should be. If you find one, let me know! Otherwise, I may have to do some experimentation.

Roasted hazelnuts – It took awhile to peel of the skin…

Folding in the beaten egg whites

The cake comes out with a hard crust on top due to the egg whites, but all you have to do is cut it off and it’s nice and moist underneath.

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Berry Creamy Cupcakes

September 24th, 2007

It’s rare when I bake something that has no chocolate in it, since I can’t imagine life without it, but I needed to branch out and try something new. I found this recipe for Raspberry Cream Cupcakes courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis from the Food Network. It was a big hit and so delicious! It’s a great light and airy cupcake, and it is definitely a different twist to your everyday cupcakes. The recipe calls for raspberries, but I also decided to make ones with strawberries instead (I noticed that a lot of my friends weren’t too fond of raspberries). I have to say that I like the strawberry version more, because it reminded me of a strawberry shortcake in a cupcake version. And the unique thing about this cupcake is that you cut the cupcake tops off and spoon the filling on top of the bottom to make it into a cupcake sandwich!

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Red Wine and Chocolate Cupcakes

August 20th, 2007

I made red wine cupcakes this past weekend. My friend found the recipe and thought it was interesting, so I decided to give it a shot. It was the first time I’ve ever baked with wine and it was a pretty interesting experience. The cupcakes were made with red wine and the frosting had red wine in it too as well as balsamic vinegar! They turned out lovely, but I wasn’t quite fond of the taste. Maybe its because I’m not a red wine fan…but despite that they everyone else said they were good. If you do decide to make these cupcakes be forewarned that they are pretty rich so make sure you have some milk in the fridge before you eat them.

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Dried Pineapple Flowers

July 29th, 2007

A cool way to decorate your cake and give it that summertime look! Dried pineapple flower instructions from Martha Stewart.

Bright & lovely!

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Supersized Cupcake!

July 27th, 2007

A fantasy turned into reality for cupcake lovers out there…now you can make your very own supersized cupcakes with the Wilton Giant Cupcake Cake Pan now available at Sur La Table. I can’t wait to get one of these! And to top off your creation you can get the jumbo sized sprinkles at Sur La Table too!

Jumbo sprinkles (on left)! They thought of everything!

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Charm City Cakes

July 19th, 2007

One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is Ace of Cakes. I love this show mainly because you get to see the inner workings of the Charm City Cakes bakery and see the crazy fun people who work and create these fantastic cakes. I was browsing the Charm City Cakes site, and found a few cakes that I really liked. My only wish is that one day I can be as artistic and creative enough to make my own awesome cakes.

I love how they were so detailed with the newspaper and the mallets!