Anyways, after much discussion and wine, my husband and I have decided to move back to the Buffalo area. It was a tough decision, but we ultimately know that that’s where we want to be and we want to settle our life there. I foresee a bakery in the near future….

SO: the blog may be a bit boring for the next few weeks as I will be A)packing things up and using up the groceries we have without buying more  and B)actually moving across state.

I have a lot a lot a lot of new ideas to try out and blog about so please stay tuned!!! I just know it will be crazy for the next few weeks, but I’ll try to sneak in a few pictures if I can.

Thank you for your continued support and following!!!!

PS. the gluten free cookies were a bust. I made them twice and both times they were crumbly but chewy at the same time? If that is possible?? Once I’m back home and can secure my demand for various GF flours I will be baking GF things often!!!!

PPS. my vanilla is doing awesome! Have you made yours yet?????

(nice photos, Adam!)

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

adapted from thetolerantvegan.com

Cake:

• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 c orange juice–I used freshly squeezed and store bought combo–but use whatever is on hand!
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla extract–have you tried to make it yet????
• 1 T orange zest

Bourbon-Orange Glaze:

• 1 c confectioner’s sugar
• 1 T bourbon (or whiskey–we used Jameson)
• 2 T fresh squeezed orange juice (we also tried it with just orange zest and not juice)

OR IF YOU DON’T WANT TO USE BOOZE: just use a little milk–but use soymilk for vegans!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange juice, oil, vanilla, and orange zest.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined .
5. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 of the way and bake for 18 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack .
7. To make the glaze: whisk together all the ingredients and drizzle over the cupcakes. It helps if you poke some holes in them like with a fork. And to make clean easier, put down some foil over a cookie sheet, put the cooling rack on top with the cupcakes, and drizzle. Then all the glaze that has been drizzled down over the cupcake will all land on the foil and you can just throw it out! Or lick it clean!

Gorgeous. And they were really so so chocolately and orangey and refreshingly scrumptious!!! Like even the batter was finger-lickin good! And there’s no egg….. yea you may want to watch yourself with that one!

***PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME DAILY IN THE CELEBRATIONS.COM CUPCAKE CROWN CONTEST!!! SEE THE HOMEPAGE FOR DETAILS!!!!THANK YOU TO THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY VOTED!!! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!**************

UP NEXT: gluten free chocolate cookies!!! finally something gluten free!!! hooorrrayyyyyy

So now I’ve entered myself in another cupcake contest!! It’s put on by celebrations.com and you can VOTE HERE!!! VOTING STARTS TOMORROW!!!

This is the cupcake photo I entered:

These were from a friend’s son’s birthday party a few years ago and I’ve always always always loved them and I was so proud of them!!!!

The voting begins on January 30th at 12:00 AM EST and ends on February 12th.

You can vote 1 time per day– so please vote everyday!!!!

Thanks everybody!!!

The book is about a woman who loses her job and contemplates the idea of making things instead of just buying them already prepared, as she had done before when she was working. The experiment includes making her own cheese, raising chickens and goats, curing her own bacon/fish, and raising her own turkey for Thanksgiving. Sounds interesting right?

Now, I love cookbooks and baking books and I’ll gladly read them over and doggy-leaf pages with recipes and all that dooda.

Let me just tell you that I wanted to doggy ear every page of this book!!! Not only does she have recipes for homemade cheese-its, mayo, and pop tarts….the stories are hilarious! And educational. After reading this book I have decided that I want to have chickens one day. But no goats. Maybe honey bees.

And she has a blog!!! www.tipsybaker.com.. amazing.

SO what I made from the book were OREOS and VANILLA EXTRACT. Yup.

Let’s start with the oreos.

Before we begin, let me apologize, because once again I have eaten everything without taking a picture… once again. I have some prep pictures of the cookies but that’s it…. I have failed you. Again. Sorry!!!

BUTTTTTTTTTTT I’m posting the recipe because these came out amazing. If you want to make them, take a pic and send it to me and I’ll put them up here!Ha!

Homemade Oreos

from Jennifer Reese

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract (you just wait and see how easy this is)
• 1 c semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c cocoa powder
• 1 t kosher salt (I used table)
• 1/2 t baking soda

filling:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 2/3 c confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 T milk
• pinch of salt

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the vanilla and chocolate and beat well.
3. Add the egg and beat some more.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda and pour anything that remains in the sifter into the bowl and whisk to combine. Stir this into the chocolate mixture. It will look like a fudgy, sticky mess. Let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature to firm up.
5. Transfer the dough to a piece of waxed paper. Try to ease the log dough into a long log–about 22 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. The dough is sticky but if you briskly and lightly roll it back and forth on the waxed paper, you will end up with a log. If the dough starts to stick to the paper, transfer it to a new piece of paper. Once you have a log of dough, try to make it as smooth and even as you can. Refrigerate the waxed paper covered log of dough for a few hours, or overnight, until very firm.
6. Heat the oven to 325. Butter a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper (or use your Silipat mat!!). Cut the dough into scant 1/4 inch slices. Place them on the cookie sheet. They can be as close together as 1/4 inch– but don’t let them touch.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they’re cakey but firm when you press with the tip of your finger. Cool completely on a rack.
8. To make the filling, beat all the ingredients together until perfectly smooth. Spread onto cooled cookies to make them look like oreos.

This is all I got: (lame)

lined up on my Silipat mat

me with the chocolate log. (I know it’s gross looking–but the dough was yum!)

don’t put them too close together…..

Well people, although I have no pictures of the finished project to actually show you how good they came out–you’re just going to have to trust me or bake them yourself!!! Sorry again. eh.

Here’s something I made that I actually took pictures of:

VANILLA EXTRACT!!!!

Literally all you need is booze and vanilla beans. And a bottle. And time.

Vanilla Extract

from Jennifer Reese

Take 9 plump vanilla beans and slit them and scrape out the seeds.

beans.

get all that goo out.

Put the seeds and the pods in a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Pour 1 1/2 cups of vodka or rum (dark or light) over the beans.

it can be cheap booze!

Cover and shake. Put the jar in the cupboard and let macerate for 3 months, agitating the jar occasionally.

It’s that simple.

I will give updates on the status of my vanilla extract periodically throughout this 3 month period— I can’t wait to see how it comes out!

Looking for vanilla beans?? Check out amazon.com and buy them in bulk. If you go the grocery store you are most likely paying WAYYY too much for individual beans. Like $8 for 2 beans vs. $20 for like 30?? check it out

UP NEXT: vegan chocolate orange cupcakes

***AND LOOK FOR INFO ON THE HOMEPAGE ABOUT ANOTHER CONTEST I’M ENTERED IN!!! MORE DETAILS TO COME!!!****

and a close up of the cake topper

penguins!!!

we also had a gluten-free/vegan grooms cake to accommodate food allergies

It was awesome. And the cake was awesome!!!

Check out my posts as part of the “Winter Wedding Cupcakes series” on cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com……

I’ll be back soon with homemade oreos, how to make your own vanilla extract, and vegan chocolate orange cupcakes!

I was very sad.

You may be saying to yourself… “what’s Carlo’s Bakery?” Are they famous? What’s the big deal about them?

Does Buddy Valastro ring a bell?

Does THE CAKE BOSS ring a bell??

This is the bakery where the famous CAKE BOSS show on TLC is filmed!! Buddy is the loud and proud, very animated, Italian American baker whose family runs the shop. (Tell me you know who I’m talking about!!!)

Anyways.. my sister and I decided to give it a try last week and see if we could get in there! And we did!!!

success!!!

I feel that my experience at Carlo’s Bakery would best be expressed through the art of Iphone photography…………..

We got there at 11:30 am on a Thursday afternoon, and the line wasn’t too bad. The guy at the door said about 20 minutes to wait? Totally doable. We just took pictures of the store front and of ourselves. Everybody was waiting for their turn to get inside!!!

Finally the guy waved to us to come on in. There were a lot of people inside:

We got our ticket and waited in line.. again…

On the walls of the bakery, there are cakes at the top and a whole bunch of family pictures and awards or recognition that the bakery has gotten over its career– 100 years!!!

There were soooooooooooooooo many desserts they offered!!!

cookies:

doughnuts:

fruit tarts:

cupcakes:

and CAKES!! CAKES !!! CAKES!!!

so scrumptious looking. it was amazing how many things they offered.

we made our choices and they packed it up for us!

a napoleon, a cookie, a carrot cake cupcake, and a red velvet cupcake.

They were all very good–the carrot cake was moist with cream cheese filling, the red velvet was a bit dry (sorry, Buddy!) but the buttercream frosting was lovely. The napoleon I must say was one of the best I’ve ever had. Napoleons are pretty much my go-to choice for desserts at any and all bakeries/restaurants. I love me some napoleon!!!

After we got our things packaged, we headed out and made it all the way back to our apt before eating them! Well, we did go for pizza before we went home but we wanted to save our treats for dessert!

All in all, the trip was good! We didn’t get to see Buddy, but we did hear that Grace and Madeline (2 sisters) were upstairs–but we didn’t see them either. Boo! But it was an awesome experience that I’m sooooooooooo glad I finally achieved!!!

“HOBOKEN, BABY!!”– Buddy

UP NEXT: homemade oreos. oh yea.  you just wait…………

]]> http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/i-finally-made-it-to-carlos-bakery/feed/ 2 lcan1222 me in front IMG_1744 IMG_1757 IMG_1745 IMG_1756 IMG_1749 IMG_1747 IMG_1746 IMG_1748 IMG_1750 IMG_1752 IMG_1763 IMG_1762 IMG_1761 IMG_1758 IMG_1768 IMG_1767 IMG_1766 IMG_1765 IMG_1774 IMG_1775 IMG_1771 http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/honey-cakes-from-mr-winnie-the-pooh-himself/ http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/honey-cakes-from-mr-winnie-the-pooh-himself/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:56:49 +0000 Lena http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/?p=461 ]]> For my birthday, my grandparents (Mema and Gramps) gave me this card:

Pretty precious I thought. This was the inside:

What’s that inside you say?? A RECIPE FOR HONEY CAKE!!!!

I had never heard of honey cake. I don’t really eat that much honey, actually. Hmmm what could a honey cake really be like? What would it taste like? Why does it have coffee and orange rind in it?????

Let me tell you: it was amazing.

SOO amazingly good good good. Love the wrappers, don’t you??

this is my fave pic btw. so simple.

It tastes very much like honey, and orange, with just a hint of coffee. To top them, Adam made a “hard sauce” which is basically 1 c melted butter, 1 c powdered sugar, 1 t vanilla, and 1/2 t nutmeg whisked together and poured over. This gave them a light buttery taste as well.

They may look very plain–aside from those crazy wrappers–but they are FULL of flavor. I will definitely be making these again, maybe in the fall.. with some Winnie the Pooh decorations… hmmmm.

Thanks Mems!!! xoxoxox

PS. Am I the only person who didn’t know that shortening is flammable?

whaaattttt??!?!?!

UP NEXT: I FINALLY make it to Carlo’s Bakery!!!! Hoboken baby!!

I’m looking forward to 2012 for many reasons… you’ll see…… : )

Ok so let me catch you up on the past few weeks. I know I haven’t blogged a lot–I had a crazy work schedule (boo!) and that didn’t leave me a lot of time to bake, which upsets me because I hardly baked anything for the holidays : (

However, my husband, Adam made some awesome VEGAN gingerbread cake pops!!  One of my resolutions for the new year is to get healthier (and thinner!) so I’m going to try to make more vegan and gluten free recipes. Recommendations appreciated!!!

For my birthday (12-22) and Christmas, my family really showed their support for me and my baking career. This is what I got:

spot on.

I was actually a bit shocked by the amount of cutesy cupcakes!! But in a good way!

Let me break it down for you:

1. A super cute cupcake apron from Flirty Aprons

2. a candle

3. lip gloss

4. a kitchen timer

5. a glass cutting board

6. a necklace (pretty sure it’s from the little girls section….)

7. a knit cupcake thingamabobber

8. cupcake paperclips. i have never seen these before and i’m really excited to have them!!

PHEW!!! THANKS TO MY AMAZING FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!

UP NEXT IN 2012: honey cakes (inspired by Pooh bear), more vegan, more gluten free, apple bette’s, more cake pops, ELVIS, more NYC bakery reviews, and maybe a pie or 2.

]]> http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/welcome-to-2012/feed/ 2 lcan1222 IMG_1003 DSC01190 IMG_0986 IMG_0985 DSC01196 DSC01194 DSC01197 DSC01200 IMG_0996 http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/merry-christmas/ http://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/merry-christmas/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:53:40 +0000 Lena https://frostedbakery.wordpress.com/?p=446 ]]>

Merry Christmas! Enjoy your time with friends and family today! I’ll be back in the new year with some great new recipes!!!

Cake pops are really a combination of cake, frosting, and melting chocolates. Should be easy right? Not so much….

I tried to make cake pops twice so far and both times were a little iffy. Ha! I’m getting better though! First I started with Pumpkin Cake Pops and then made Nutella Cake Pops.. yummmmmm.

Ok the basic steps for cake pops are:

you bake a cake.

you crumble it up and mix with frosting.

you roll the mixture into balls.

you melt chocolate and dip the balls into chocolate using candy making sticks.

that’s it!

Here’s my first try making them into Pumpkin Cake Pops: (recipes to follow)

step 1: bake the cake (or cupcakes in this case–but then you waste the wrappers –duh!–so I don’t reccommend it unless you’re making cupcakes at the same time)

step 2: crumble it and mix with frosting

step 3: roll into balls (then refridgerate them for like 30 min before you dip them)

step 4: melt your chocolate

step 5: dip the balls. BUT dip the stick first, then dip into the balls and let them sit for a few minutes so that it hardens inside the ball and then they won’t fall off (in theory…)

The trick is to have some kind of stand apparatus for them to stay upright. I did not have one of these handy so we did the best we could.

It didn’t work out. We put them into coffee mugs with pie beads in the bottom to anchor them down but……

an escapee…

man down!

Now, I just realized that I really didn’t take any pictures of the finished product–except the FAIL ones. Which are pretty funny don’t you think??I was very unhappy that these didn’t come out as perfectly planned! I apologize. I have better Nutella ones to follow!

Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

adapted from About.com

you need:

• 2 1/4 c all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1 1/3 c granulated sugar
• 2 eggs–beaten until frothy
• 1 c mashed cooked or canned pumpkin
• 3/4 c milk
• 3/4 chopped walnuts or pecans–optional.

ready, set, go:

Preheat to 375. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs.

Blend in mashed pumpkin.

Stir in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, blending until batter is smooth after each addition.

Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for about 25 minutes.

**to make a cake just pour into a well greased and floured pan** increase baking time to around 30.. but keep checking it!

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting (pretty sure I’ve posted this here before)

from allrecipes.com

Combine an 8 oz package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in bowl of stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still mixing, slowly pour in 2 cups of heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bowl and couple times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak. This stuff is amazing just out of the bowl!!!

OK so I DID make some cupcakes out of these before I made the cake pops and they came out sssssuuuupppppeeeerrrrr good!

They look like they’re getting abducted, right?

NOW FOR NUTELLA CAKE POPS!!!!!

bowwwmm chicka bowwmm bowwww

Same steps–different cake pop.

step 1: bake a cake (chocolate)

step 2: crumble it and add nutella–almost a whole jar!

step 3: make into balls–remember to refrigerate for at least 30 minutes!

step 4: melt your chocolate–in this case Wilton Melting Discs–they are perfect

step 5: dip balls–but dip the stick first!

These came out much better! But the apparatus thing still stumped me. Then Adam said “wait, I have an idea”……………..

ladies and gentlemen… ahem…. yes…. this is what he came up with!

As crazy as it looks, it actually worked!

yes that is an asian strainer (martha stewart) over a mason jar filled with pie beads.

in my fridge.

This time I decided to just stick them onto the paper, too, so that they would have a flat bottom. That worked much better, but they weren’t as pretty as the nice perfect round ones. But I was much happier with these ones than the pumpkin ones.Overall they were very very yummy. I could taste the nutella and they were very rich! For next time though I’m thinking of making a buttercream-nutella frosting to mix with the cake crumbs because it was a bit dry–but scrumptious with milk!

So– my next challenge is to make VEGAN CAKE POPS!!! what what!?!?

UP NEXT: Christmas Holiday yum yums.