The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection

eating cupcakes since the late 60's
    • Tag: pina colada

      • Um = Umbrella Drink

        Posted at 9:23 pm by MLea
        Sep 26th

        The next letter in Dr Seuss’ book, On Beyond Zebra is “UM”.

        The first flavor that came to my mind, was umeboshi plum, which I just used in “WUM”.  I decided on “Umbrella Drink” and my favorite umbrella drink…Pina Colada.

        pina-colada-290x290

        The above photo is how I’ve always seen a Pina Colada presented, so I thought the 3 garnishes (paper umbrella, pineapple and maraschino cherry) were important details.  There are only 3 ingredients, so it seemed a simple flavor to replicate.

        For my first attempt at this letter, I thought I’d try making this recipe PALEO.  The main reason is that my friend, Mrs Chen, is currently eating PALEO and her birthday was last week, so I thought I’d kill two birds and make a cake that she could eat.  While she did like the cake, Mr Shuck spit it out.  It tasted a lot like pineapple quiche: not a great taste.  It contained: pineapple, almond flour, coconut milk, eggs and baking soda.  It needed sugar.  Lots of sugar.  And less eggs.  I didn’t attempt an icing since it was so horrible.

        It took a week for me to get another chance to try again.  My first stop was to the party store to pick up the umbrellas…$5 for 175!  If anyone who knows me needs paper umbrellas…

        I followed a recipe for pineapple cake that I found at Tidymom.net.   I substituted a splash of rum instead of vanilla extract and ended up adding more pineapple because the batter didn’t have a lot of flavor.   I ended up with 48 mini cupcakes, (which I baked for about 14 minutes) and 6 regular size (which I baked for 22 minutes).  The cakes browned nicely, but rose a little “lumpily”…

        DSC_0091

         

        DSC_0092

        I guess the lumps add character.

        For the icing…I used whipped coconut cream.  I originally found the idea for this when I was searching for a PALEO friendly icing.   I used a conglomeration of suggestions from a couple of websites.   I started with 2 cans of coconut cream from Trader Joe’s.

        DSC_0090

         I put the coconut cream in the refrigerator overnight so the fats would solidify.  I turned the cans upside down before opening them and drained off the coconut water that was on top of the cream (really on the bottom of the cans).  I wanted to make sure that the icing stayed stable all day, so I added some WhipIt, which is essentially just corn starch and dextrose.

        DSC_0091

        I also added about 4 tablespoonfuls of evaporated cane juice (sugar) and 1-2 tablespoonfuls of vanilla bean paste (I didn’t measure, I just dumped some in.)  Then, I whipped the heck out of it until it was nice and fluffy.  It turned out to be thick enough to pipe.  I did end up with a couple of solid lumps of coconut, which clogged up the icing tip, but were easily picked out with a toothpick.

        I was a little hesitant to use maraschino cherries since they are usually artificially colored, but fortunately, I came across some at the grocery store that didn’t contain dye.

        cherries

        For the pineapple slices, I used dried pineapple rings from Trader Joes that I cut into sections with pointed ends and shoved into the cake.

        The end result…

        DSC_0096

        DSC_0099

        DSC_0103

        Now…what to do for “HUMPF”?!?!?!

        0.000000 0.000000
        Posted in Mrs Shuck's Creations | Tagged coconut, pina colada, pineapple
      • Katie’s Cupcakes, Bellingham, WA

        Posted at 5:36 pm by MLea
        Aug 16th

        This was my first trip to Bellingham and I would love to go back.  The downtown area is extremely cute and it would have been nice to walk around and look in the other shops.  However, we were in a hurry.  Mrs Chen, the little Chens, and I were enroute to Vancouver, BC to meet Mr Chen and Mr Shuck, who were riding their bicycles from Seattle to Vancouver, BC as part of Cascade Bicycle Club’s RSVP.

        We did take the time to visit Katie’s Cupcakes, one of 2 cupcake stops on this trip.

        I was very optimistic when walking up to the storefront and seeing such a cute window display.  Apparently their logo is by a fellow WordPress blogger, Frantic Pants.and then we walked in and the interior was happy and welcoming

        A place for the kiddies to play with lots of natural light...

        and colorful children's artwork on the walls...

        and cupcake related merchandise to buy...

        like T-shirts...

        even the bathroom walls were cute...

        There was a comfy chair in the bathroom so moms could nurse babies…or wait on their child to finish up….

        And, of course, there were cupcakes!

        Raspberry Truffle and Pina Colada

        Black Bottom and Red Velvet

        German Chocolate and Carrot Cake

        Also available that day:

        • Very Very Vanilla: white cake topped with vanilla butter cream
        • Classy Cupcake: white cake topped with chocolate butter cream
        • Black and White: chocolate cake topped with vanilla butter cream
        • Chocoholic: chocolate cake with dark chocolate butter cream

        All of the flavors were available in minis (called Maciecakes), so I chose 6

        MacieCake assortment

        All of the cakes were extremely moist and the icings were not overly sweet.  I didn’t even get to taste until late that evening and the cupcakes hadn’t suffered a bit.  I ate half of each of them that night and shared the other halves the next day.  All of the cupcake halves were still moist and delicious (although not very attractive as I dropped the box TWICE).

        • German chocolate (top left): This was a light chocolate cake topped with a coconut/nut frosting.  Excellent texture from the coconut and nuts.   I would definitely get this again.
        • Pina Colada (top right): Unfortunately the mini didn’t come with an umbrella!  This lack made it pretty unremarkable to look at.  Pineapple flavored cake topped with white coconut icing.  This bite of cake was just okay.  We had a much tastier Pina Colada cake at PinkaBella.
        • Black Bottom (middle left):  This was an amazing bite!  I must confess that I was unable to leave the other half until the next day.  I was unwilling to share this one!  Rich dark chocolate cake filled with a tiny dab of cheesecake filling, topped with a delicate chocolate butter cream, and garnished with a swirl of cream cheese icing.  Tangy chocolate goodness.  The best Black Bottom cupcake I’ve had.
        • Carrot Cake (middle right): Visible strips of carrot in a soft, lightly spiced cake.  The cream cheese icing was tart and lightly sweet.  No pineapple chunks or raisins!
        • Chocoholic (bottom left): The same dark chocolate cake as the Black Bottom, but topped with a bittersweet chocolate icing that was so dark it was almost black.  This one was also delightful.
        • Very Very Vanilla (bottom right):  I didn’t have a taste of this one, but was told that it was “very good” even the next day.

        If I lived in Bellingham, I’d have a hard time staying away from Katie’s.  I wish they weren’t almost 2 hours away!  I will definitely check them out again if ever I am nearby.

        Posted in Miscellaneous Bakeries | Tagged bellingham, black bottom, Carrot, chocolate, katie's, pina colada, vanilla
      • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

        Join 228 other subscribers
      • Looking for a specific cupcake?

      • Top Posts

        • More Wedding Cupcake photos
        • K is for Kit Kat
        • Z is for Zero
        • Cheesecake Factory Cupcake @ Barnes and Noble
      • Past Posts

      • Visitors

        • 150,803 cupcakes served.
      • The Cupcake Addict

        Promote Your Page Too
      • Meta

        • Register
        • Log in
        • Entries feed
        • Comments feed
        • WordPress.com
      • wordpress counter
    • (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-44433055-1', 'thecupcakeaddict.com'); ga('send', 'pageview');

    Blog at WordPress.com.

    • Follow Following
      • The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection
      • Join 67 other followers
      • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
      • The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection
      • Customize
      • Follow Following
      • Sign up
      • Log in
      • Report this content
      • View site in Reader
      • Manage subscriptions
      • Collapse this bar
     

    Loading Comments...