Half Caked

This fall marks the death of two fashion fads: the "It" bag and the cupcake. Oh, there will still be beautiful satchels that cost the same as a Vespa and winding lines outside Magnolia. But the frenzy and the passion for both trends are gone. Maybe that's why we like these cupcake charms from designer Jamie Ferrai. They commemorate a beloved dessert and can give an old handbag a jolt of new energy—just call it a sugar rush for your style.

$8.95 each at Etsy.com.

Buy it online. At the moment it is sold out =/

Orginaly posted on NY Mag Bests Bets

Rainy Sunday.

After my poor attempt of baking pineapple upside down cupcakes from the best bake sale ever cookbook that I purchased from fred flare I decided to take a break from cupcakes and take a shot at something else. Mind you, I followed the recipe as instructed and they were just way too moist to even resemble a cupcake. I will give the recipe at the end if anyone is interested. My dad gave me some pointers but this is the same man when giving a recipe leaves one ingredient out which I have called the "secret ingredient" The man will leave me with no recipes I tell you!




We were suppose to go out to breakfast but woke up way to late after hiking through the mosquito infested abandon tracks in NJ which was tons of fun because I got to rock 5746546587 fillins. So I decided to cook breakfast. I made whole wheat pancakes with my heart shaped pancake/egg mold that I purchased from Blue Tulip for like $2 a piece.





Later that night I decided I wanted to bake oatmeal cookies. Again, when my Dad bakes these they come out so chewy so I asked him what he does exactly. He gave me some half ass story that he uses Golden raisins instead of the regular raisins. I gave him a the I know you're holding out on me look and he gave me the sinister You know I am smile. Well of course I took his word for it and of course they didn't come out chewy but still delicious I did some researching online and found out that honey makes them chewy and to use dark brown sugar. My hunny told me about the honey before I started baking but who knew he knew? pff.

Ingredients.

Cookie Mix.

Cookies.

MMmMmmm.

Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Ingredients....

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins

Instruction...

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

About 4 dozen.

Notes....

After writing out the instructions I realized AGAIN I do not follow directions and read the bake time for the wrong item which may be why they weren't chewy. BUT I did read that honey makes them moist. I really don't know how much you should or would want to put in.



Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Ingredients...

Fruit Topping..
1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks
1/3 cup backed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cupcake batter..
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice or milk
1 egg

Instructions...

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a nonstick muffin pan.
   
2. Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 1/2 cup juice for batter, if desired. Place the pineapple on a double layer of paper towels to drain completely.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Divide evenly among the muffin pan cups. Arrange the pineapple chunks decoratively on top of the sugar mixture. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. With an electric mixer, mix in the butter and pineapple juice, beating for 2 minutes to make a smooth batter. Beat in the egg.
5. Spoon the batter over the fruit in the muffin pan, filling each cup three quarters full. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 mins., or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes clean.
6. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 mins. then place a wire rack on top of the muffin pan and invert the cupcakes onto the rack so the pineapple is on top. Let cool completely.

If you try this recipe let me know how it went! =)

Table tops are always fun..

This cupcake tabletop is made by
Jellio for $750. I LOVE it but for that much is INSANE. I should have known it was going to be that expensive chilling next to a Herman Miller chair.

As for Etsy's Lab

OK, now picture being in kindergarten all over again. With cubbies filled with goodies and different stations in the classroom to do different activities. Yup, you guessed it thats EXACTLY what etsy's lab is like. They have cubbies filled with yarn, patterned fabric and spray paint (my personal favorite). You were able to make buttons, cupcake bags, clay modeling and anything else your little heart desired. I spent most of my time at the button machine since I cant sew for shit and there were like 2386436 people making clay cupcakes in what reminded me of an easy bake oven which I never had as a child. so sad. They had a live web cam going on in the lab with tons of people in the chat room asking questions and really loving it. I'm happy to live in NY and be able to participate in what seems to be the biggest thing right now.

This was the sign on the door.

Designs on wall plus cubbies.

The sewing station.

The button station. She made that shirt.

The pins I made minus the JHeart pin (just a plug in)
What cupcake is angry?!?! My boyfriend drew that cupcake.




The Clay Station.

The web came and chat. Look at the 5th row from the bottom.
I put my jheart pin in the web cam haha




Silk screen and design by Diana.
The bag is mine, the rest are other people's stuff. They had panties but I didnt want to seem like a perv flicking it lol.

Fo Sho.......

This is Michele From Etsy's Lab wearing my pin =)

The End!!!

Kookie Dough Kupkakes

I just would like to say I baked these cupcakes on Sunday for the Cupcakes Takes The Cake meet up at Etsy's Lab. As you can see I'm a procrastinator but in my defense against myself if I had the pictures at my job I def would have posted them instead of refreshing flickr 20 million times. I got this recipe from How to eat a cupcake's blog aka i laff alot. Thanks!!



I thought I would start this out by showing you the kitchen I bake in. I have a studio apartment with a 2x3 kitchen counter. I use my coffee table to fill the cupcakes (not shown). Its quite difficult to bake/cook in this kitchen but I deal. Im in the process of figuring out how to utilize the space I have. That rack was an ex-mas gift and probably the best thing I could have asked for (Thanks Dad!) I'll be asking for a Kitchen Aid this year. Where am I going to fit it you're wondering? yeah me too, if you have any tips holla and moving is not an option. haha.

As usual, I dont know how to follow directions correctly and didnt freeze the cookie dough. The chucks are type big but it all worked out in the long run.




MMmmmMm, Fresh out the oven. My cupcakes ALSO come out HUGE but I'm not mad at them!




OF COURSE I pick a whipped frosting on the HOTTEST day so far, plus I dont think I whipped it enough (as usual). My boyfriend showed my how to fold the cream in.




Finish Product.




MMmMm The inside. As big and as unfrozen the cookie dough was it dropped beautifully.

4th of July

Soooooooo I tried again but this time I used Billy's Vanilla Vanilla recipe. Billy's bakery is run by a former Magnolia worker or it might be an ex-part owner? Anyway, the recipe is slightly different. What made the most improvement was the frosting. This time I sift the powered sugar. Who would have known?? hehe. The baking has just begun!!! I must say The Urban House Wife and Bake & Destroy have inspired me to bake. Much props!!

Here they are straight out of the oven. I'm still trying to figure out how much batter to fill the cups with. It is def not the same as cake box batter.

Here is the frosting. I was much happier with this frosting.





These are my beautiful 4th of July kupkakes!!!

It's never too late.

I must admit I am not domestic at all but I love to eat. haha. I have a love for Kupkakes but have only used cake mix. Sunday I decided it was time to put my Magnolia Cookbook to work that I have had since ex-mas. I have to admit it was a struggle.

I love hearts.

And colors.

Here they are straight out of the oven.

This is my frosting.. doesn't look much like frosting to me =/. I thought that it might have been too harm in the house but I'm pretty sure I didn't add enough powered sugar.






These are my finished cupcakes. I was not happy AT ALL on how they looked BUT it was my first time and practice makes perfect, right?

I must say they didnt taste half bad but they didnt look to nice. The icing wasn't thick enough and the batter kind of reminded me of pancake batter. I will not give up!