Cutesy Cakes!

The Adventures of Emily's Cupcake Ministry

I believe that one aspect of ministering to the people around you is to share your God-given talents with them. And one of my strongest talents is baking. Not that I'm incredibly good at it - but I love spending my time baking, and I do know my way around a mixer! I'm oh so happy when I am able to share my baked goods with those around me!

Tonight I had the privilege of baking cupcakes for an event hosted by The Restoration House. I baked up several different flavors of mini cupcakes! I've never done mini's before! I have to say, that I prefer mini cupcakes considerably more than regular cupcakes.

I think that:

A. Mini cupcakes have a better frosting to cake ratio. You get a little bit of frosting with every bite of cake. With regular size cupcakes, your first couple of bites are either all frosting or all cake (at least with my experience) because you can't get your mouth around the frosting AND the cake. yeesh!

B. You can try more flavors! If you're looking to taste test, big cupcakes are just such a waste...a coupla bites, then it goes in the trash :( Cupcakes in the trash are never a happy thing. Since mini cupcakes are only a couple of bites anyways, there's no waste! yay!

In conclusion...mini cupcakes are my new obsession! (at least baking them!)

Here are some pictures of the flavors I baked tonight :)

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Mini Chocolate Chips





The whole box! (I love packaging - weird, I know)




Strawberry Cake topped with Strawberry Jam and then Vanilla Buttercream and sprinkles (the jam is hidden underneath the buttercream! It's like hidden treasure!!)









And last, but definitely not least...
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting, one of my personal faves. I tried to frost them in the same style as The Kumquat Cupcakery in NYC - and I almost succeeded! I think they're pretty cute, even if I didn't capture the exact look I was going for...








yay for mini cupcakes! I hope they enjoy these cupcakes - I sure did love making them!

Back from the Capitol

Chase and I visited Washington DC this past week! It was our three year anniversary! Instead of buying each other presents, we prefer to embark on awesome road trips. We had intended to stay in DC for just one night, but with the generosity of our friends Alex and Emily, and some extra Christmas money, we were able to stay for three nights! I'll do a more detailed post about our trip later, as I don't have my digital camera with me right now - but suffice to say, I think this was one of our best trips to date.

So I was sitting here, reading through some of my favorite sites, and I found an amazing recipe for Paneer. I tried to make Paneer once before, but it never came together...I was using a good recipe, but I just didn't know the technique. Anyhow, I am thinking that is it very important for my future Paneer-making attempts that I remember this website. The question was how? Do I just have a document of websites I like (only accessible on one computer)....or do I create a list, accessible on the internet somewhere?

I have obviously gone with the latter, and though I'm sure there are other solutions to my dilemma, I like the prospect of posting interesting sites/blog entries I read here - more for my personal recollection than for anything else. So without further ado:

- http://fromwhencethesweetbirdsang.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-make-paneer.html

Now I've got the recipe AND the technique! Thanks to this blog entry by Sweet Bird, I now know how to successfully procure yummy yummy paneer! I'll try it again soon

More fun stuff:

- http://foodgawker.com/?s=daring+bakers

Using my favorite food photo hub, foodgawker.com, you can search for "Daring Bakers" and find various blog entries for the December challenge, a French Yule Log! I'm now a part of Daring Bakers, so I'll be participating in their January Challenge! Keep an eye open for that entry.

- http://www.hlchina.com/fiestaretail.htm

Chase got me Fiestaware for Christmas!!!! I can't believe it! I've always loved the bright colors and simple construction of Fiestaware. And now it's in my kitchen! I have navy, orange, yellow, and red place settings, and I hope to invest in more throughout my lifetime. yay for fun dinnerware!

- http://www.mercotte.fr/2008/03/20/desperatly-seeking-macarons/

I have a new obsession. Macarons. Not to be confused with Macaroons, the coconut cookies that I've never really had an affinity for. Macarons are french pastries that are oh so visually pleasing to look at and not so easy to make (so I've heard). The pastry is a kind of almond meringue and between two pastries, you will find various fillings like buttercream, jams, jellies, caramel...etc. You can dye them different colors and you can flavor them with fruit and extracts. The possibilities are endless! I really want to make THESE. http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/06/snickers-macarons.html yummmm snickers.


oh. and you MUST. must must must. go see Slumdog Millionaire.