Green with Envy!

I decided while examining my red velvet recipe that red velvet could be any color velvet! Purple velvet, orange velvet, pink velvet... You get the idea! When I looked in my pantry at my food coloring selection, I had red and green. Green it was!! Green velvet! Jill was not enthusiastic about my color choice. I am thinking green could work really well in a lot of situations. A child's favorite color, St. Patrick's Day, school colors... There are a lot of reasons we should know how to make a fabulous green cupcake. I am thinking that my next batch of green will probably have a little less food coloring! I was really aiming for a nice lime shade. Oh well! That is was experimentation is for anyway! Anytime I make an experimental batch of cupcakes, I like to practice my decorating skills. It is really easy to just pipe on some icing and it look nice and clean. But fabulous involves more then just nice and clean! There are about a million different types of sprinkles and piping tips, why not use them all! This batch is a little simple, but I think they are pretty enough to make all those other cupcakes green with envy! :)

Tragedy, Triumph and the Almighty Dollar!

I have been baking cupcakes for awhile now! I was beginning to think that I was infallible and then White Velvet Coconut White chocolate chip said "Don't get cocky now! Here comes a reality check!" I concocted the white velvet batter the same way I always do. I folded in coconut and white chocolate chips. This sounded like a nice tropical summer flavor! I placed them in the oven and 10 minutes passed. When I flipped on the light they looked fine to me! At 20 minutes, apparently, all heck broke loose! They oozed over the edges, baked to a hard cookie texture and fell right through the middle when they cooled! I am not going to lie to you... my ego was so crushed, I almost threw in the towel all together! Then, a light shone down on me, I pulled myself together and vowed that I would bake again! No cupcake would defeat me! I let a few days go by and I get my first time real cake baking gig!! A cupCAKE! What?! For money?! This is getting real! I preheated the oven and put on my apron. My first customer wanted white velvet with cream cheese icing. I was allowed to put my personal touch on the designs because her only stipulation was that it had some pink in it. I brainstormed for a bit and got to work! The baking part is when I am the most nervous. It is 9pm (I know it is my fault that I waited until then to start! I know!) and I send the pans into the oven. Thankfully everything baked up nicely! I went with my original flower and leaf motif for this cake. I added some pearls here and there. I really think my first for money order turned out pretty alright! Jon will get some feedback on Monday. This did give me a chance to work on packaging. It is one thing to get some fabulous baked goods, but it is a whole other thing to get those baked good in a fabulous box with bows and ribbons! Every little extra touch makes that much better of an impression! After I got my confidence bake with the cupCAKE, I decided to get back on the flavor train and bake up come cupcake magic for my family! Jill suggested chocolate chips in the dark chocolate batter. I must say, that was a really good idea! My secret is to not fold them into the batter, but to add them to the top of the batter before I put them in the oven. They don't fall to the bottom this way. I topped them with a raspberry butter cream icing. My ego has been totally restored!