Equation for a perfect cupcake.

Before we begin, LOOK!

I painted that last night. Grand, eh? It started out as a blue and yellow mess but I turned it into a grand picture. I'm quite proud of it.

Okay.

Moving on!

Good morning, friends! The sun is shining, people are scurrying about the streets, and it's definitely time to bake some sweets.

A few days ago, I made some chocolate cupcakes with a mild peanut butter frosting and topped off with a reese's peanut butter cup. They sure were a hit! The cupcake as a whole as darling and tasted exceptionally great. The peanut butter frosting complemented the dark chocolate cupcake but didn't overpower it. And of course...who doesn't love the reese's pb cup on top?!

Making this cupcake got me thinking about other possibilities. The basic mathematical for a darling cupcake is X+Y+Z = AMAZING cupcake, with quantity X>Y+Z (where X = cupcake, Y = frosting, and Z = topping).

I simply made my basic chocolate cake recipe, filled cupcake liners halfway full, and then let them cool after about 10 minutes of baking. I then assembled my most delicious and not so nutritious peanut butter frosting and piped it on top in a swirly motion. Finally, I plopped a mini reese's pb cup on top of a little mound of frosting in the center.

One could easily replace chocolate cake with funfetti cake, carrot cake, or what not! Same with the frostings and toppings. Why not try a carrot cake cupcake, mild cream cheese frosting with a candied nut sticking up out of the top? How about a german chocolate cake cupcake with a sweet buttercream frosting (coconut mixed in) and a cherry on top?

* long, drawn out pause inserted here *

Whoa.

I pulled 24 cupcakes out of the oven and man do they look good! I switch between chocolate cake recipes and I must say that these little mini cakes taste better than the ones I made a few days ago! It's all in the wrist...

I hope you find yourself busy with cupcakery and having a great time! Don't forget to share your plunder! A little bit of love, thoughtfulness, and a cupcake can go a long way.

Turning Gluten Free?

I've had a bit of interest in the natural/healthy eating lifestyle. I've researched juice fasting, fruit and veggie diets, raw food diets, and the like. I'm not too familiar with gluten-free, however.

I've recently gained interest in adapting a few of my cake recipes to suit the gluten free life. I have a few friends who go GF so it's perfect for me to have them taste test!

I did a trial run last night with a GF cupcake recipe and found the taste to be buttery (though no butter is in it) and reminds me of cornbread (no corn flour, but rice flour...Odd!). I'll keep working through them this weekend and hopefully be able to give you some great gluten free recipes! That is...unless I'm busy conquering Spain or flying a kite.

Have a great weekend, friend!

Versatile White Frosting

Kansas has a face only a mother could love.

Sam and I (and Pax and Ash) traveled across land and sea to be home in Kansas for Christmas. We tackled the rough terrain of wind turbines and open plains, we swam through a sea of nothingness, and we made it back home in one piece.

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was good to see family and be back where we grew up. I always miss Kansas, however, Colorado is becoming my home.

I had a request while home to make my famous Christmastime peppermint meringues. Boy howdy are those great! They are airy and chocolately with a hint of peppermint. They crunch in your mouth while the smoothness of the chocolate evens out the texture.

I'm on a baking spree! Chocolate cakes today...who knows what tomorrow. I spent most of my evening researching cake decorating methods and got inspired to make a few cakes.

Here's a simple white frosting recipe. It would remind you of a whipped cream frosting without the richness or even marshmallow fluff without the stickiness or heavy flavor. It's smooth and light and would take to any flavoring you have in mind. I didn't have any vanilla in the house so the frosting tastes pretty simple. It's delicious! Very bright white!

White Cake Frosting

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar (I didn't have tartar, so I used baking powder as a sub)

a dash of salt

2 egg whites

Place egg whites in a mixer/mixing bowl

Mix first four ingredients in a saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved and boiling.

Slowly add sugar syrup to egg whites and beat hard for a long time (until stiff like frosting).

Add Vanilla (or other flavor) and enjoy.

Happy Baking!

Time to bake!

Sam and I are finally out of our home on base. We feel such a sense of freedom living off base! It's nice to finally own our first home! We have our military inspection in a few hours. I hope it goes well!

All my bakeware has been packed away for the past week or so. I feel a baking withdrawl. I need to see some sugar and eggs whipped! I must melt butter and stir in cocoa! If I don't, I think I shall perish in the fires of a sweetless world.

Thanksgiving is just a few days away! Do you have all your food bought? Sam and I will be doing a simple at home meal. I hadn't planned on going to anyone's home. I just want to have a simple non-turkey meal at home and enjoy the company of my husband. Usually we go back to Kansas or we spend time with friends. This year, however, I'd really like to just spend time with Sam.

We haven't been alone for any holidays. I'd like to establish some traditions for just Sam and I, my little family!

Please tell me you've heard of turducken? The best Thanksgiving meal I've had was a turducken meal with a friend of Sam's. A chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. It's divine.

Though I doubt we'll be having turducken this year, I'd like to take a stab at it next year.

What shall I make in lieu of the traditional Thanksgiving meal? I'm thinking pizza or nachos. All the same, I'd like to bake something sweet in my new home! Perhaps a pumpkin cheesecake? Maybe a chocolate peanutbutter cake?

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Apple Cider!

As I was sitting around a firepit, wind licking my face with it's cold breath, I realized how much I wanted a nice big mug of hot apple cider. Autumn and winter bring about the desire within me to curl up on the couch with a quilt, pop in a favorite movie (Pride and Prejudice, thank you so much!), and drink some hot apple cider.

It's this time of year that I want to just relax and take it easy. I enjoy thinking about the past and all the good memories that come with it. I also remember how things aren't exactly as I remembered them to be and that things change. So goes life. My delight gained from drinking hot apple cider doesn't change!

I've found the ratio of cinnamon to apple varies greatly with mood. More cinnamon equals a more feisty attitude and more apple constitutes an easy going attitude. At this point, I'd love more apple and a tad bit of cinnamon.

I've been searching for the perfect recipe for apple cider, as I am having a small get-together on friday night to celebrate us moving into our new home! I've yet to find the perfect recipe but I have found a good one!

Check this out:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hot Apple Cider

6 Cups Apple Juice (cheating! I know...I know...)
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
Pinch of Nutmeg
Pinch of Allspice
5 whole cloves (more or less upon desire)
3 cinnamon sticks (more or less upon desire)
1 apple, cored and sliced.

Mix all in a large saucepan to a quiet boil. Strain out all floating spices. Serve hot!




Here's my thought: Why not add a caramel to the cup of cider? A cinnamon stick to give it some edge? Or even float an apple slice in the cup or on the side? There are so many ways to make this delicious! I'm even thinking about coming up with a creamy cider recipe, equipped with cinnamon whipped cream and caramel drizzled over the top. Yum!

Merry Cidering!

Non-Food Thoughts

What amazing creatures we are! Humans are capable of great feats and great atrocities. When one makes up his mind to achieve a goal, the task is a failure or a success based on the person's will. This will is what defines one human from another, the weak from the strong, the big from the small.

For those struggling with their place in the world, the will can be a hindrance. The indecisive person eagerly weighs options for the future but cannot decide. One person from infancy knows their place in life and acomplishes it with not a second thought. How is one to decide their own fate? Or is it just a matter of reading the signs correctly and being in touch with oneself?

I'm not feeling good right now. My stomach is ill from dinner and my eyes are throbbing from the smoke of the firepit's fire. My headache is growing rapidly into a migraine and I do not like it. I try to focus on things far away with my eyes but soon get too tired to remain staring far. I watch the ottoman in the lobby of my work and wait for it to move. It doesn't.

I look even more close at the ottoman and decide that I could design one of those as easily as the next person. In fact, I think I could create, build, and do things better than most people. Am I being arrogant? I don't think so. I feel like I can do things to a greater quality than what already exists. I have yet to muster the strength or will within me to actually try. Perhaps this is the solice I have in stating such an opinion about my abilities. Comfort in being untested.

I have grown tired of what I do. I have grown even more tired of not doing what I want to do.

What chance do I have to achieve my destiny--me, an aging woman from small town Kansas? My dreams?

What will it take for me to test my limits and weaknesses? I have never felt as bad as I do right now, guilty and ashamed of who I am. In my own complacency and weakness my future is being formed into an unwelcome guest. A pain. A rock in my shoe.

I don't ask for simplicity but merely a mind to esteem it.

Questions

A good friend of mine asked me yesterday why I don't open up my own bakery. She claims people would love my goods and that it'd be a success.



I was recently a baker for a restaurant that opened and my bosses friends said the same to him---that they'd come support him every night and that people would just flock to his restaurant. Turns out, after a few months, he went out of business.



It's frustrating. How do you know when to open a business? When you have the right location, financial backing, and client base.



As of right now, I have none of those three. That, and I don't even know if it is something I'd like to do for a living. I'm a casual baker but can step it up when I want. I can easily come up with ideas for new treats, for logo designs and for packaging. I have an idea of what I'd like a bakery to be but can't quite get there.



Life as I know it has been pretty bland lately---work, sleep. We're getting ready to move and therefore I will have to pack up my mixer and bowls. Whatever will I do?! Baking is my stress relief partly because I bake for other people. I don't bake for me to eat it later but instead to give it away. It brings me joy to be able to make something that someone else will devour with a smile on their face!

I'm still interested in hooking up with a local baker or bakery to learn the ins and outs of owning a food business. Why don't I just jump in? Because I'm a bit more cautious than that!

Lately, I've been too broke to bake, which is kinda depressing! I suppose life has it's ups and downs, sometimes you have a little extra money one month and the next you are scrounging for pennies in the couch or washing machine.

In result of working so many jobs that don't challenge me or fulfil my need for creativity, I'm trying to divine my life's purpose. What mark do I want to leave on the world for the future? It isn't hard to achieve your dreams as long as you are willing to give up a few things and step up to the challenge.

I hope you are well, friend. I've recently made cream filled strawberries dipped in chocolate and also my own hybrid monkey bread/cinnamon roll recipe. After the move and once we get settled, I hope to pick up updating and sharing recipes and photos with you. Thanks for hanging in there!