Bake All The Things
That phrase became my life last Friday and Saturday when I finally made two boxes stuffed with noms for my friends. Boxes that should have been completed back in December, or if I'm honest with myself for the one friend, way the hell in the early part of 2013. Yeah, I know. I fail hard at times. In my defense though, I wasn't expecting my sciatic nerve to render me utterly useless for over a month. Then life kept happening, coupled with my habit to procrastinate...either way, the shit finally got done. As much as I love baking, I'm quickly reminded why I try not to bake all the things; lack. of. fucking. kitchen. space. I had cupcakes and crumb cake stacked in front of the TV on the entertainment stand, cupcakes stacked on the back of the couch (in a container of course), cupcakes sitting on mom's cooler...and that was just the first day! By Saturday, the deep freezer in mom's bedroom was covered with cookies. My feet, lower back, and right wrist were killing me. Matter of fact, my wrist still hurts, and I'm definitely having to rely on my wrist wrap and watching how I sleep. But the pain was worth seeing my best friend and niece happily walking out the door with their box of yums, and delivering the other box to my friend, where I unexpectedly made some money. Twenty-five to be exact. I even told her in the beginning that it was on the house because she had never tried any of my stuff before, and I was so late getting it to her. I was a bit floored. Paula came over and snagged some of the leftovers I had, especially the crumb cake, and my friend Heather came over Sunday and collected the rest of the cupcakes, and paid me $8. So for someone that wasn't looking to collect any money, I picked up $33. I'll be seeing Heather again this weekend, as she has commissioned me for not one, but two cheesecakes. I'm making a lemon-white chocolate blueberry cheesecake for her coworker's birthday, and a carrot cake cheesecake for her husband. And yes, she pays me. This will make the third time she has commissioned me for cheesecake, and these two will make four altogether that I have prepared for her. I find Heather to be hell of annoying at times, overly needy for a married woman her age, and a total busybody, but she's one of the few that truly appreciates what I do in the kitchen (she's a baker herself), pushes my creative side, and is actively working to drum up more business for me by showing my photo album on Facebook to her friends. For that reason alone, I will continue to tolerate her. For the record, this will be my first go around with both flavors, but I'm feeling confident, especially with the lemon-white chocolate blueberry. It's just a matter of how I'm going to spin the finished product. The carrot cake one has me a teensy bit nervous, but I still believe that I will nail it. Anyway, here are a couple of photos I took. I apologize in advance about the red velvet cupcake not showing up properly. When I took the photos, it was late afternoon, and I'm still mastering the art of my swanky, upscale point-and-shoot camera. In time.
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Chocolate Chunk cookies, my attempt at the Hostess cupcake (complete with my own busted swirls because fuck exact replicas!), crumb cake, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and vanilla with American-Style buttercream. Technically, it was supposed to be Swiss buttercream, but I was running out of steam and was like, fuck it, I don't feel like standing over the stove cooking egg whites. However, after sifting 3 cupcakes of powdered sugar, I should have just cooked the goddamn egg whites. With that said, originally said buttercream was supposed to be Italian, but since I knew young kiddos were going to be noshing on the cupcakes, I didn't want to risk it with the egg whites, even though I know how to handle them properly to ensure they are cooked properly to kill any bad stuff. My American buttercream is damn good business, isn't ridonkulously sweet, and has been given the stamp of approval by many. Like you guys really wanted that lenghty ass explanation. Oh well...be glad I didn't go all baking nerd science on you. xD
*So clearly it has been a minute since I've uploaded any photos fro Flickr onto here. I was totally about to wig the hell out for a moment, then realized I was fine. Derpness.
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Chocolate Chunk cookies, my attempt at the Hostess cupcake (complete with my own busted swirls because fuck exact replicas!), crumb cake, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and vanilla with American-Style buttercream. Technically, it was supposed to be Swiss buttercream, but I was running out of steam and was like, fuck it, I don't feel like standing over the stove cooking egg whites. However, after sifting 3 cupcakes of powdered sugar, I should have just cooked the goddamn egg whites. With that said, originally said buttercream was supposed to be Italian, but since I knew young kiddos were going to be noshing on the cupcakes, I didn't want to risk it with the egg whites, even though I know how to handle them properly to ensure they are cooked properly to kill any bad stuff. My American buttercream is damn good business, isn't ridonkulously sweet, and has been given the stamp of approval by many. Like you guys really wanted that lenghty ass explanation. Oh well...be glad I didn't go all baking nerd science on you. xD
*So clearly it has been a minute since I've uploaded any photos fro Flickr onto here. I was totally about to wig the hell out for a moment, then realized I was fine. Derpness.