A Red Velvet Present

It's been a hectic last couple of weeks - hence the silence from the resident bakeaholic.

I had one of those weeks where nothing I did went right. I attempted to make lemon cupcakes but it turned out to be rockcakes. So, to right the wrong I made a batch of red velvet cupcakes as a present to console myself that the week can't get any worse.

We went to the Food Show today and it was foodie heaven! I thought I'd be there for maybe 2 hours - I ended up spending 5 hours there and it almost cleared my piggy bank out BUT I did get to watch 2 demonstrations which made me really hungry and left with bags of goodies.

Before I forget - Do you like the new look of my blog?! I certainly do and it is all thanks to Myla - the Blog design whiz from Design Me Pretty. She did an awesome job and if I could send her some cupcakes I would!

Caramel Macarons

Caramel Macarons

Macaron Tower

I spent the weekend trying out a couple of different macaron recipes, I never knew macarons originally came from Italy! Did you?

The first method I experimented with was without 'cooking' the sugar and the second experiment I had used an Italian meringue recipe to make the macarons. The first method was easier but the end result was not so aesthetically pleasing and the method where I had used the Italian meringue turned out much nicer.

With the Italian Meringue method, it was a little more fiddly and time consuming but it was well worth the extra effort. The batter was smoother and not as runny so trying to get 'uniform' sized macarons were easier.

I can't wait to sink my teeth into some of these yummy macarons tomorrow when they are ready.

Italian Meringue on your left versus Uncooked Sugar on your right

Christine's Birthday!

We celebrated Christine's birthday today singing songs for a good 3 hours! I pity the souls who may have heard us sing, especially since I still have a horrible voice from the flu.

I haven't baked in 2 weeks!!! Can you believe it?! 2 weeks of no baking because I was sick with the dreaded flu!!

And since we were celebrating Christine's birthday I decided I'd get off my lazy behind and take the effort to bake her a cake.

This cake is a honey & pear cake with honey cream cheese icing.

Chocolate Vegan Cupcake

Choccy Vegan Cupcakes

My new toys

I borrowed a book from the local library and found a chocolate vegan cupcake recipe. The recipe was quick and easy to make plus the icing was...let's just say finger licking good. My next mission is to make it look a wee bit nicer than the quickie job I've done tonight.

My new butterfly plunger cutters arrived this morning so I ripped open the packaging and tested my new toy out.

So much for my list of cupcakes to bake from my previous post. I have all these recipes I would like to try out but there is only so many hours in a day and so many my guinea pigs can take before they have a cupcake burnout.

Thank You Cupcakes

  

The weekend went by too quickly and I was definitely suffering from Mondayitis at work today, the only cure for it is to create something pretty & delicious but a BIG pile of laundry awaits so no baking tonight.

I did however, manage to go along to a cake decorating event on Saturday. The ladies doing the demonstrations were amazing! Next to these whizzes I'm a baby who's just learning to crawl. I had my wallet cleared of all cash too - I simply couldn't resist buying more little 'helpers'.

I made some some "Thank You" cupcakes for a friend's work mate and used my new 'helpers' to create the flowers for these cupcakes.

The cupcakes are caramel with caramel icing and honey & pear with honey cream cheese icing.

What shall I make next?

1. Black Forest Cupcakes
2. Green Tea Cupcakes

3. Chocolate Mud Cake with a Chocolate Mousse Filling covered in Chocolate Ganache