Night 2: Results

Night 2 was a success!

1. The salted caramel buttercreme on the banana cupcakes with salted caramel drizzle was so good.

2. I made banana cupcakes with chocolate chunks and banana icing. The recipe called for cream cheese in the icing which I think competes with the peanut butter flavor. Separate from the cupcakes, it tastes fine but together, I think it's a little off. For the next recipe, I will try a pure buttercreme with peanut butter.

3. I also decorated the white cupcakes and 10" round cake layer from last night with royal icing flowers from my friend, they're lovely!

Roasted Cod Dinner & Night 2 of Baking

Yum yum yum! I made a roasted cod recipe tonight for dinner and it was delish and super easy. Aka = winning combination!

I did omit the garlic bread crouton and the anchovies and it still tasted refreshingly great and it also was filling. Cod was the type of fish I used. Here is the link to the recipe.

I also roasted slices of zucchini and boiled green beans. All vegetables were supplied from our Harvest Share basket from the Farm, by the Cobblestone Project: http://www.cobblestoneproject.org/.

On a different note: BAKING! I took my confetti cupcakes to work for a few of my friends (with trusted pallets) to try. I also sent a few home with a coworker who has three children at home, their opinions mean a lot! So far the feedback has been that the icing is delicious and everyone liked the cake too. I still may try a few cake recipes but it's good to know one is OK to use and to continue to perfect.

Tonight...I plan to:
1) bake banana cupcakes and ice with a salted caramel icing
2) ice the 10" round cake I baked
3) relax...my back is killing me!

I'll post results back later!

Night 1: Results

Here is the verdict:

1) icing - AHmazing!

2) cake - not quite right. I will continue to adapt/search

I'm going to take them to work tomorrow to poll a few additional people for their opinions.

Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes and Icing

I have an addiction to the ease of using cake box mix. In my bakery, I can't use it! I want to ensure that every item is made from scratch.

Therefore, I had to google some recipe ideas to see if I could find the perfect solution to my problem.

Tonight I am trying my interpretation of Sweetapolita's fluffy vanilla cake with whipped vanilla bean frosting: http://sweetapolita.com.

I am looking to accomplish the following tonight:

1. delicious mini cupcakes
2. a perfect layer cake 
3. delicious cake squares that can be used for petit fours and icing that can melt onto the petit fours
4. determine if this cake and icing freezes well 

I've Missed Blogging!

Believe it or not, absence has made my heart grow fonder! I have missed blogging and can't believe it has been as long as it has.

I guess I can't technically tell people I have a blog, if I don't keep it up!

I'm sure all of you understand with a full time job, how it can suck the energy out of you from wanting to turn on your own computer and connect. That's what has been going on with me, yet, that's neither here nor there today. I'm back and so excited because drum roll please...dah dah dah (makes me think of Christmas Vacation doing that!)...I've decided to start working on opening my own bakery! Now, this will be a long (thorough) process but I can't get it out of my mind. I've been thinking about and dreaming of this almost every day lately.

What I will be working on:
1) refining my key recipes
2) securing the name of my bakery (I will share that once it's mine) :)
3) selling baked goods out of my house (after I get a license) to develop a clientele
4) once a clientele is established and I am making $, I will look into finding a physical location locally
5) I will also need investors to help get me started, that will be fun!
6) once I secure a location and investors, we will start the process of opening a bakery in Northwest Arkansas! I'm hoping to find a location off of the downtown Bentonville square

I'll continue to post my progress as I go! Please post your ideas and suggestions too, I would love to hear them. Happy Baking!