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December 31, 2009 by mrs.shuck

My project for 2010:  Working my way through the alphabet of cupcakes.

I plan to (attempt to) transform other desserts, candies, cocktails and etc. into unique cupcake flavors.  If you have any suggestions for upcoming flavors, please leave a comment.  January will be A, B and C.

The poll results:

Work my way through the alphabet of cupcakes, but decide myself.  46%
Mr Shuck’s suggestion: As an homage to Julie/Julia, work my way through Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook.  31%
Other (see below)  23%
Other Answer Votes
Start your own cupcake company and show us your steps along the way. 1 vote from my biggest fan
learn to bake gluten free for your seester so she can try your cupcakes. 1 vote from my sister
make nothing but peanut butter cupcakes! 1 vote from a peanut butter cup addict.

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Champagne Truffle from Yellow Leaf

December 30, 2009 by mrs.shuck

I have the most wonderful husband.  He called before leaving downtown to see if I needed a cupcake.  A quick glance at my cell phone revealed the flavors of the day Tweeted out from Yellow Leaf:  Champagne Truffle, Coconut Lime, and Black and White.

Photo to come later…..

I was very happy with this cupcake overall.  The icing was fine: maybe slight wine-y flavor, but I could have imagined it.  The sparkly sprinkles made it festive and gave texture.  The chocolate cupcake was richly chocolate-y and there was what I think was intended to be a truffle in the center.   It was tasty, but a little hard for a truffle.   The chocolate icing layer on top of the cupcake underneath the Italian meringue butter cream gave a pleasant crunch for added texture.  Rating: ❤❤❤ 1/2

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Cupcake Ornaments

December 29, 2009 by mrs.shuck

There are two cupcake ornaments gracing my Christmas tree.  The first I got at the Cakespy.com booth at a craft show.

Cuppie the Cupcake Ornament: Click to enlarge

The other one is Polish glass and came from Sur la Table.

Cupcake ornament from Sur La Table: Click to enlarge

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Bakery Nouveau’s Mini Snowball cake

December 27, 2009 by mrs.shuck

So this isn’t REALLY a cupcake, but what is a cupcake, really?  Isn’t it just a little cake.

I absolutely LOVE Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle.   Mr Shuck, his parents and I stopped by for a little treat after stopping by the West Seattle Farmers’ Market.   The in-laws got scones and Danish (boring).  I got this amazing little Snowball cake, described on their website as follows:  “Our rich vanilla cake, layered with coconut cream and milk chocolate crémeux.”

Mini Snowball Cake from Bakery Nouveau: Click to enlarge

This is an amazing cake: extremely moist and soft cake layers (probably explains why it’s a little wonkey), sweet and rich chocolate filling in the middle, nice coconut flavor.   Mr Shuck and I both loved it.  Rating: ❤❤❤❤

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Happy Boxing Day!

December 26, 2009 by mrs.shuck

Last night, I made Carrot Ginger Cupcakes.  I was making the flour/gravy base cream cheese icing as usual, but just before I was to put the flour mixture it, I realized it was still warm.  It would have melted the butter and cream cheese that I had already creamed, so I decided to leave it out.  The icing was just butter (2 sticks),  8 ounces of cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 cups of superfine sugar.  Creamy and delicious and not too sweet.

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Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2009 by mrs.shuck

It was a cupcake Christmas at the Shuck house.  I have a few “thank you’s” to send out.  I will post photos eventually.

To The Shucks, my in-laws:  Thank you for the Tiffany Cupcake charm.  It’s beautiful!

Tiffany and Co. Cupcake Charm- Click to enlarge

To Mr Shuck, my beloved:  Thank you for my Baker’s Manual so I can learn to bake.  Thank you for my custom “TheCupcakeAddict.com” T-shirt, and my Cupcake Addict recycled art.  I’m sorry that I did not buy you the electric motorcycle of your dreams.  Maybe when we move someplace that isn’t as wet and that has cushioned roadways….

Cupcake Addict art from Recycled Art Co: Click to enlarge

To Hadas, my friend:  Thank you for a new fancy (Martha Stewart) cupcake carrier.   I love it!  It’s customizable and smaller than the one that broke.

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Cupcake disappointment

December 20, 2009 by mrs.shuck

So, after 2 weeks of having a horrible cold and sinus infection and having no cupcakes because my sense of taste was off, I am finally back to cupcake work.  Mr. Shuck was downtown and stopped by Yellow Leaf for me.  I don’t recall the other selections, but Chocolate Covered Cherry and Italian Eggnog appealed to me.  (Actually the eggnog didn’t appeal to me, but it was seasonal, so I gave it a shot.)

YL's Chocolate Covered Cherry: Click to enlarge

This cupcake wasn’t what I was expecting when i heard the name “chocolate covered cherry”.  I was expecting something very chocolatey with some cherry in the middle.  I was hoping and praying that there was no maraschino cherry hiding inside the cupcake somewhere.  At least I got that wish.  What I ended up with was a cherry flavored cupcake with a thin layer of chocolate on top topped with pink Italian meringue butter cream and a chocolate drizzle.  The cake was nice: firm and moist with a fine crumb, but it didn’t really have much flavor.  If I didn’t know it was supposed to be cherry, I couldn’t have identified it as being cherry.  The only chocolate was the layer between the icing and the cake and it did not have a very rich flavor.  The icing was okay, perhaps because the chocolate drizzle gave it a little extra texture.  I ate it.  That says something.  Rating:  ❤❤

YL's Eggnog: Click to enlarge

Italian Eggnog:  I’m not sure why it’s Italian Eggnog.  Maybe because of the Italian meringue butter cream on top?  You could probably go back and read my comments about the chocolate covered cherry because this will sound pretty familiar.  The cake was moist and firm with a fine crumb.  That’s probably true of all Yellow Leaf cupcakes.  I LOVE THEIR CAKE!  I have never had a dry crumbly cupcake from there.  It tasted like regular yellow cake to me, nothing to write home about, but no cake left in the container when I threw it away.  ON THE OTHER HAND….

Eggnog icing headed to the trash

I really liked Yellow Leaf’s Italian meringue butter cream icing at first.  It was not too sweet and had a texture similar to ice cream.  Lately, I guess my choices have had icing that isn’t strongly flavored, so I feel like I’m licking a stick of butter.   The mouth feel is slick and without strong flavoring, it just tastes like butter.  Rating for the cake:❤❤, Icing: ❤ so ❤ 1/2 overall.

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Tender crumb

December 18, 2009 by mrs.shuck

So, I’ll admit that I don’t know a lot about baking.  I’m learning.

When I read that a recipe produces a cake with a moist, tender crumb, I have no idea what is meant.  I understand moist, but I don’t understand “tender crumb”.  I know what I like in a cake, but I don’t always know how to describe it to others with words more complicated than “yummy”, “good”, “dry”, or “I threw the rest in the trash.”

These things I know:

Have ingredients at the appropriate temperature:

  • Eggs should be around 80 degrees to provide maximum volume.  In the winter I’m going to be doing well to keep them above 65 degrees since that’s room temperature in my house
  • Butter should be between 60 and 70 degrees to best incorporate air when creamed with sugar.
  • Ideal batter temperature is 90 degrees for sponge cakes and 70 degrees for butter-type cakes.

Cakes made with butter should be served at room temperature or they will be too firm.  Cakes made with oil can be served directly from the refrigerator.  So, if the icing needs refrigeration, the cake should be made with oil, not butter.

You can use almost anything to flavor butter cream, but the flavoring should not exceed 1/2 the total weight of butter.

If you are using Dutch process cocoa, which has been treated to decrease the acidity, you have to use baking powder instead of baking soda or your cake will not rise appropriately.  Baking soda can be used if there is another acidic ingredient in the recipe, like buttermilk.

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Help me decide….

December 7, 2009 by mrs.shuck

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HoneyMoon Bakery, Rome, GA

November 30, 2009 by mrs.shuck

While we were home for Thanksgiving, we visited the Honeymoon Bakery in Rome, GA.  (Twice!)

Our selections:

Chocolate Velvet Mini from Honeymoon Bakery: Click to enlarge

The Chocolate Velvet was described as Red Velvet cake (without the red dye) with chocolate icing.   The icing was very creamy and had a rich chocolate flavor, but was a little too sweet.  The cake was moist, but didn’t have a definite chocolate flavor and was a bit crumbly.   I typically taste the icing and cake separately, then have a bite with both.   This one was definitely better all at once.   Rating: Cake ♡♡   Icing ♡♡♡.  Overall: ♡♡½

Spice Mini from Honeymoon Bakery: click to enlarge

Spice Cake Mini:  The cake was nice: moist and not crumbly, with light cinnamon/nutmeg(?) flavor.  The icing seemed to have the same flavoring as the cake.  The colored sugar added to the cupcake aesthetically, but added a grainy texture and more sweetness, which definitely wasn’t needed.   The icing to cake ratio seemed a little high also: when tasted together, the icing overpowered the cake.  I’m not sure what flavor icing would have been better (maybe cream cheese), but a contrasting flavor icing would have made it more interesting.  Rating:  Cake ♡♡♡, Icing ♡, Overall ♡♡

Caramel Mini from Honeymoon Bakery: Click to enlarge

Caramel Mini Cupcake:  Like the spice cake, this cupcake seemed to have the same flavor cake and icing.   I tasted the icing first, so I may not have had a clean palate when I tasted the cake.  The cake was moist and not crumbly.  The icing had nice flavor, not the “burnt” sugar caramel taste that I don’t like.  Overall it just tasted sweet, though.  Not very interesting.  Rating:  ♡♡

Italian Cream cupcake from Honeymoon Bakery: Click to enlarge.

Italian Cream: coconut and walnut studded white cake topped with cream cheese icing, coated with more nuts and coconut.  Mr Shuck and I both really liked this cupcake.  We ended up going back another day for second one.  The first cupcake was really moist and had a nice texture from the walnuts.  The second one, however, was a little dry and crumbly.  The icing was tangy from the cream cheese and there was just the right amount of it.  The coconut and walnuts on the icing added interest.   If we hadn’t gotten the second cupcake, the rating probably would have been a bit higher, but the dry cake the 2nd time around lowered the rating a bit.  Cake: ♡♡♡, Icing ♡♡♡♡; Overall ♡♡♡½.

Carrot Cupcake from Honeymoon Bakery: click to enlarge

The carrot cake was very moist and had large shreds of carrot visible, but without an abundance of carrot flavor.   However, it was a bit underdone in the center and a bit wet.  The icing was smooth and creamy and had the right balance of sweet and tangy.  It was also very cute.  I assume the brown crumbs were chocolate cookie crumbs, but they didn’t add chocolate flavor, just a bit of texture.  Overall rating: ♡♡♡.

All in all, I was impressed with the cupcakes at Honeymoon Bakery.   The staff was very friendly and cheerfully answered my questions about ingredients.  I would definitely go back if we are in the area.

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