1st Place!!!!!!!!!!!

It finally happened! I won first place at Iron Cupcake! Challenge: Berries!

The win meant a lot to me because raspberry happens to be my favorite fruit, and the cupcake I made is my personal favorite cake/buttercream/filling combination. Okay, my favorite homemade cake.. I still love funfetti just as much :)
It's no secret that my favorite thing is chocolate and raspberry. I don't know when I discovered this, but I do know I fell in love with Brad our first Valentine's day together when he presented me with an entire pound of See's chocolate raspberry truffles and buttercreams. I ate the entire thing on my own. Suddenly I knew what people meant.. love hurts.
The cake I used for this challenge is a modified chocolate cake recipe I found deep in the interwebs, perfected after several fails in California, and one in the land of enchantment (high altitude). Willful, please do email me for what I believe is the final edition of that chocolate cake. The buttercream is your basic swiss meringue with my own special method of adding raspberry. First I need to add that, yes, swiss meringue is wonderful, but no, it's not always the best choice or more sophisticated. I find it to be a great topping for certain cupcakes but definitely not all. This cupcake, however, cries for it. I think the raspberry takes to it so well because the lack of sweetness in the buttercream allows that special tang we all know and love about raspberries to really shine through. The final component I used was a raspberry filling. The raspberry filling I use is just plain amazing, in my biased opinion. It's basic as can be, but also my secret weapon so I cannot share the recipe, just know it is the punchiest of all punches and will knock you out. Willful probably has the recipe though.. roomies share everything! Except lime green holey tongas...
Anyway, I never attempted this combo in a cupcake before, only in cakes. I tested out my plan on Deema's birthday and it came out so well, I decided not to change anything for Iron Cupcake. I think what really helped was my executive decision to use the raspberry filling in a way most people don't in this competition. Instead of coring out the already miniature cupcake and filling it, I skipped that. Why? Because these cupcakes are shared between four people (blasphemy!) and reducing the amount of cake by that much can really put you in a bad situation when it comes judging time. A lot of judges focus on the cake flavor and if it's not there.. good luck. So instead, I made a dam of buttercream around the edge of the cupcake and filled it with a pool of raspberry filling, then piped more buttercream on top to cover the pool. I toped each one with 1/2 of a raspberry and piped a little green leaf next to it.
At Leland, JoAnna and I had to come up with a name for my little squirts, and it was not easy.

Me: I wanted to name them "Devil's Lady" but they're too cute for that
JoAnna: Yeah they're so tea-cakey
Me: Yeah, I was thinking, "summer at grandma's"
JoAnna: that sounds like torture
Me: HAHA. Okay, "if the devil had a baby..."
JoAnna: What's your obsession with the devil!?! oh, god.. because it's devil's food..
Me: (defeated) oh.. yeah (hysterically laughing) that's embarrassing!
JoAnna: Tea with the Queen?
Me: What does that have to do with berries?
JoAnna: Oh! Queen of Hearts, because the middle is raspberry!
Me: Done.

There were 15 contestants and only a couple of stand outs. I liked one that was peanut butter and jelly; even though the use of berries was questionable, it was still pretty good. I also really liked a strawberry margarita cupcake that was super cute with big sugar crystals sprinkled on top to look like salt. Two people made mini cheesecakes, which I didn't really understand because I was under the impression we were making cupcakes. They were both delicious, but also a stretch. My friends and I joked that for the next competition (alcohol), whoever it is that likes to push the envelope would probably make a jello shot. HA!
Winner announcements came and 3rd place went to a cheesecake maker, second place & most creative to the fabooo strawberry margarita, and first place to me! The announcer got my first name out and suddenly I felt a breeze as loud guttural screams were flying in my direction from the mouths of Brooke, Nicole, and JoAnna. I was in such shock I didn't know what to do.. so I made my way up to the front and accepted my prize shyly. Amid the claps and continued screaming from my fan club, I heard a booming voice yell, "WHICH CUPCAKE!!!!!! WHICH CUPCAAAAAKKE!!" and I said, "#1, #1... number ONE!" As loud as I could, which apparently didn't translate well. It must have appeared I was cheering myself on, when I was really just shouting the actual number of my cupcake, which was the first of fifteen contestants. I get a good chuckle thinking about this. I'm the last person on the planet to toot my own horn, although I think I'm beginning to get a bit better at it in my old age ;)
So there you have it! I WON! So crazy!
Thanks for reading!!!!

Raspberry Pools:

Crazy Piper:

Queens of my Heart!

Babies Shower.. again!

Edith and Joe are having triplets. It makes sense for them to have multiple showers.. three babies, 3x the fun! This time around, I attended as a guest. When I got the invite, I asked if I could contribute anything and the hostess said, "sure! what can you bring?" And of course.. I said, "CAKE!" and of course, she said, "we have two cakes already! feel free to bring more though!" HA!!! So I settled on mini cupcakes, which everyone loves, especially kids, and there would be plenty of those little creatures at the shower ;)
Edith likes chocolate, and Joe likes vanilla. Easy! I made 24 of each variety in mini cupcake form. I wanted to decorate all baby-style but it just didn't happen for me due to time restrictions, so I went with sprinkles and m&ms. They came out pretty cute! And as suspected, the kids gobbled them up. I saw one in particular go back 3 times and run outside with them.

view of the chocolate:

view of the vanilla:

I had some left over cupcakes which I frosted up using the frosting I had just made and some others I had still fresh in the fridge. What to do with them? I had a few options:

-Eat them (yes, no, yes, no! help!)
-Save them for Brad (who loves eating them and then getting mad at me after the fact)
-Give them to friends (didn't want to leave anyone out)
-Bring them to work (see description for brad)
-Give them to my one dear referrer
-Give them to Brad's dad for father's day

I went with the last two options. The lady who has referred me all the business I've gotten this year deserved a thank you. So I packed up 11 extra in a cute box and brought them to her daughter to give to her. She was ecstatic. <3
I packed up the remaining and brought them to Brad's dad on my way to the shower. He loved them. I knew I made the right choices :)

some the "leftovers" I brought to lady and brad's dad:

Deema's Birfdaiz

Wow! I am so behind on my blogging. I bake so much I just don't have time to catch up here! Divide and conquer...

Last week was my coworker Deema's birthday. She's getting married later this year and like many brides, imagines she is suddenly going to pack it on. Hello.. it's called marriage, not pregnancy! So that left me with only one option for her birthday treat: mini cupcakes. She likes my light fruity cakes and buttercreams, so I knew it would be a berry occasion. But I just don't like making mini white cupcakes because it's a dry fest disaster unless you can make and serve the day of (and I'm done waking up at 5am to bake for the time being). But Deema is not only wonderful, she is also is so selfless, she let me use her birthday practice for the upcoming iron cupcake, for which I plan to make chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream and raspberry filling. It happens to be my specialty cake but I haven't had the opportunity to make it in mini form yet.

Everything went really well. I have a secret weapon for the filling which I will not publicly announce because I'm a narcissist and imagine some of my competition is watching me. ;) But chances are if you know me, you already know my plan. You also know that the raspberry filling I make is the bomb explosive! I will be making extras so please do let me know if you would like one on or before June 28.

Back to the birthday. I had a lot of frosting left over from the bridal shower order, so I was able to top my cupcakes with cream cheese and peanut butter as well. I also had some raspberry secret sauce left over and added it to some cream cheese.. yyyuuuuum! I put those frostings atop some regular cupcakes for the more daring coworkers I have. I happen to know one person went back for seconds and nearly thirds- if there had been any left. People really love the peanut butter frosting. It's almost scary. Email me if you would like a recipe :)

Thanks, friends, for reading!!

Cream Cheese & Peanut Butter w/ Decorations:

Raspberry/Choco (prelim decor, will change)

Bridal Shower Cupcake Order.. you want how many?!

Two weeks! It's been that long since I've blogged, shame shame. I have been having fun and keeping busy. First was JoAnna's bachelorette weekend in Guerneville, which was fabulous in so many ways. Then it was back to work.. boo.

Mid week I did a test run of lemon cupcakes for my upcoming order, and didn't have time to blog. They came out okay, but the frosting was questionable. I used a Berenbaum recipe that is naturally yellow due to the use of egg yolks. The process is a little involved, but not worse than swiss meringue buttercream. And the results are equally silky smooth and melt in your mouth delicious. But the butter ratio is so incredibly off. It tasted like lemon butter. Everyone seemed to like them but I did have a couple comments about them being super buttery. Which is what test runs are for! I made note to use 1/3 less butter next time.

So I felt super prepared for my upcoming cupcake order of 108 mini cupcakes for a bridal shower:
-2 dozen red velvet w/ cream cheese
-1.5 dozen chocolate w/ peanut butter frosting
-2 dozen chocolate w/ vanilla buttercream
-2 dozen vanilla w/ milk chocolate buttercream
-1.5 dozen lemon w/ lemon buttercream

THEN the week before the order was due, the lady came back to me saying her friend wanted a dozen of each flavor she ordered, adding 60 cupcakes to the order! 168 cupcakes! Whoah no!!!

I sucked it up.. it was all I could do. I told myself I can bake 48 at a time, no biggie. Saturday night I began the baking marathon that needed to be completed by noon the next day when the lady would come pick them up. I started with the chocolate and red velvet, because I know they keep longer. Mid baking, I had a slight kitchen catastrophe w/ my chocolate mixture I was cooling in the freezer. The bowl hit the edge of the freezer on the way out and it flew out of my hand, sending liquid chocolate everywhere. I was sad and frustrated, but of course, I am me, so I started to panic. Why? Oh, not because I had a huge mess to clean up, or because I had to remake the chocolate mixture. No.. I panicked because it looked like a scene out of Dexter, only with chocolate. I felt like a serial baker trying to get the chocolate out of every crevice and worried that Brad would find the evidence and analyze the spatter patterns when I got home. It was ridiculous. Colleen=spaz.

After the Dexter scene, I was super tired and decided only to make the cream cheese frosting. I made way too much so I had extra. I went to bed with 78/168 cupcakes baked, and only 36 out of those frosted. Bad plan.

Woke up at 6:30 the next morning and began baking again. Everything went to plan but time was running out, and fast. I scrambled to get all the frostings done, washed the same dishes about a million times, and at 11:27, I went into crackhead mode. Like those bakers on Food Network's Challenge show.. I just cranked it out. The decorations came out less than desirable, but still cute, I think. I only got a few shots of the cupcakes because there was literally no time. I threw all the dirty dishes in our god-sent second kitchen sink in the wash room, wiped down the counters, tidied up the living room, threw on a pair of jeans and a clean top, put eyeliner on, and combed my hair (had been wearing booty shorts, a tank, and an apron all morning). I was seriously running in my own house trying to get everything done. Oh yeah and it was 90 degrees out.

The lady showed up right on time at 12 noon, looking super polished and ready for the Bridal Shower she was hosting. She said the cupcakes were cute but she had a confession to make about her friend. I started to freak out inside... WHAT could it BE!!!!!!!! She told me her friend meant to only order 1 dozen, with a few of each flavor. Lady misinterpreted but didn't want to tell me last minute, so she let me bake the extra 48 and she would pay for them. I sighed in relief and actually thought it was kind of funny. That poor friend probably thought we were all going around thinking she was some kind of glutton who could down 60 cupcakes on her own.

Overall, I am really happy with how everything turned out. Next time I'll make the frostings ahead of time, because they keep for longer. I will still bake the morning of, especially for minis because they dry out super fast. I had some sitting in my cupboard and they were all dried up by last night. Might have helped if I covered them.. but still. Nobody wants a day old cupcake. We want moist!!! And moist we shall get.

red velvet and lemon:

vanilla w/ milk chocolate buttercream:

chocolate w/ peanut butter and chocolate w/ vanilla:

Salvateenie Shower

My former Spanish teacher and good friend Edith is expecting triplets with her husband Joe. They're calling the identical twin boys and girl the "Salvateenies," a cute nickname derived from their last names. They have real names picked out, of course :) I'm still in shock about the whole thing, but Edith and Joe are as cool as cucumbers.. which I'm sure bodes well for them and their soon to be exciting family life!

So, JoAnna and I decided to throw a "former students" shower at a tapas bar in SF. JoAnna took the lead on everything and came up with a wonderful "peas in a pod" theme. I wasn't sure what was left to do, so I offerred to make dessert. Yay! Fun!!!

I knew Edith likes chocolate. I knew the theme was peas in a pod. I knew I had a chocolate frosting recipe I had been wanting to try. I also had a craving for peanut butter m&ms. And it all came together.. chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting topped with three peas in a pod! Haha.

I used fondant for the pods, a medium I'm still not very good or patient with. The peas, aka m&ms, were a little large. I rolled and cut some green fondant and then shaped them into pods around three m&ms- two of the same color and one different, to signify the three little babays. Well, they came out looking like m&ms in canoes or m&ms in a green jacket. And they were huge! They took up the whole cupcake! Shame on me for craving peanut butter m&ms.. they're so large! But so delicious...

The good news is, nobody seemed to care. They were scarfed down, and three were left for my little Salvateenies to enjoy at home later, via mom, of course :)

Baby Cakes: