Triple threat

Whew! I stressed myself out a bit last night. It's Get Coffee's Grand Opening this weekend and I am going camping! So when she asked for three different kinds of cupcakes for her big day, I was under the gun to get them knocked out before I leave this afternoon. On Wednesday, I made orange cupcakes using Amy Sedaris' vanilla cupcake recipe but substituting one teaspoon of orange extract for vanilla and adding a package of vanilla pudding and a drained can of mandarine oranges. It was late at night when I made them so my only reviewers were myself and I think they are amazing and Chuck who said "I don't like Dreamcicles but if I did, I would like these because they taste just like them." So basically, mission accomplished! Put those bad boys in the freezer to stay fresh for Ms. Durenda.

Last night we met up with my wonderful MIL who was in town from Texas and had a bunch of stuff to lend us for our camping trip! So we didn't get home until 9pm and I still had two types of cupcakes left to bake! I made the lemon cupcakes since I still had some Swiss Meringue icing left from the last batch and then whipped up some chocolate malted cupcakes, again using Amy's vanilla recipe but adding a package of chocolate pudding and a cup of sour cream just for fun!

While those baked, I did a batch of Swiss Meringe Buttercream and split it in half. It was kind of goopy - I don't think I whipped the eggs & sugar long enough or my butter was too soft or a combination of bost. But it was tolerable and it was too late at night to try again. To one half I added vanilla extract and to the other half, some vanilla and some orange extract and food coloring. Then I realized I had only small pastry bags left so struggled to keep the two separated to make some cool Dreamcicle-like icing on top. I didn't do too badly really and after some time in the fridge, they set nicely.

Got up way early this morning to make my chocolate malted buttercream and iced the chocolate and the lemon cupcakes before getting the girls up and ready for the day. WHEW! I am exhausted and we're supposed to leave for the campsite at 5:00 today! Did I mention that we haven't packed yet? Pray for me.

Worth it! Lemon Meringue cupcakes

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMBC) is the scariest frosting I have ever made in my life. I had nightmares about it all last night knowing I had to get up early to make it this morning. It's the only icing recipe I've seen that comes w/ a warning that says "it will look like crap, but it'll come together eventually. You ARE doing it right." Really? Am I? Because I'm not sure. I watched two videos on the subject before tackling it just to be 100% certain I could handle it. Let me tell you, it was worth every ounce of stress. It is delicious and light, perfect on a hot summer day.

About a month ago I bought several Frey chocolate bars at my local Super Target. In that bunch was a bar called White Lemon & Lime.

I've been dying to make a lemon lime cupcake but my DH is not a fan of the citrus flavored desserts. So now that I have this Get Coffee gig, I can make whatever I want and he won't get upset b/c he's not eating them anyway. So there.


It's hot as hell outside so I wanted a light and fluffy cake and icing. I decided to try the SMBC even though I was scared. I went to myfavorite cupcake site for inspiration, guidance, and most importantly, the recipe. She did not let me down and I managed to make a perfect bowl of Lemon & Lime SMBC! I followed the recipe for Chocolate SMBC, used my White Lemon & Lime bar instead of chocolate, and left out the vanilla.

For my light lemon cake, I used this fabulous recipe. It only made a dozen cupcakes and the icing recipe makes a lot of icing so you'll definitely want to double this:

1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbl butter
2 eggs
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbl buttermilk
1/4 cup lemon juice

Beat butter & sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Alternately stir in dry ingredients (I sifted them all together first) with the milk. Mix until combined. Stir in lemon juice. Bake at 350 for 15-18 min.
Viola!

My labor of love

Emphasis on labor. I've been baking like a mad woman and I'm sorry to say, don't have a lot of photographs to show for it b/c I get them out the door just about as soon as I'm done. Today's photos were taken in my car on the way to Get Coffee. Yep, that's how good a time manager I am!


The Taste of Chamblee was awesome! We had thousands of people there and I heard nothing but rave reviews of the event. I never had time to check but I was told that my cupcakes were a hit. I decided on 2 kinds of mini cakes for samples - Banana Muffins w/ Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting and Bailey's cupcakes with Mint Chocolate Buttercream frosting. Earlier this week I made some Strawberry & Cream cupcakes w/ Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting.


Yesterday I made these babies:

A reprise of the Chocolate Malted Cupcakes. I modified the icing a bit from the original recipe and it came out much tastier I think. Recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes:

1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 3oz package instant chocolate pudding

Blend butter until smooth, add sugar and mix well. Add all other ingredients and mix until smooth (it helps to sift the flour & pudding mix together, otherwise the pudding forms lumps.) I've found the best way to fill the cupcake pans is w/ an icecream scoop - the kind w/ the flip handle to push out the batter. It's awesome! (thank you http://howtoeatacupcake.blogspot.com/)

For the icing - blend one stick of room temperatur butter with 3 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 5 Tbl malted milk powder and I added 2 Tbl cocoa powder to cut back on the sweetness. Mix well and ice your cakes!

If you want to sample any of my delicious cupcakes, remember you can find them at Get Coffee on 5336 Peachtree Rd. in Chamblee!