a picture is a worth a thousand words.

momma surprised me this year with an early christmas present. ive been speechless since i've recieved this and am kind of nervous to open this heavenly piece of baking equipment.

sigh. SO MANY BAKED BY SAUCE THINGS SOON!

baked by sauce + seester

my sister finally came to visit me last weekend and we had such a good 24 hours together. even though she complains about our hometown, its still hard for that girl to ever come to see her sister in Boston. she also has a very big sweet tooth and unfortunately my cupboards were super bare the day she arrived. we figured out that i had enough ingredients to make sugar cookies with frosting so we did!

heres a nice shot of us icing:

omg! my first cupcake delivery!

everyone loves surprises right? i was always the kid who discouraged her younger sister to stop looking under my moms bed for the christmas presents. recently greg of geekhouse bikes got in contact with me via twitter about surprising one of his coworkers (and friend) for his birthday with some bakedbysauce cupcakes. of course i accepted the invitation! 

i only have a few recipes mastered right at this point, but have been really craving some inspiration to create something new. greg suggested something with apple or chocolate and sparkly like his new bike is. i found sublime recipes for both - but went with the chocolate because i realized......GASP.....ive never made a chocolate cupcake from scratch ever. 

this afternoon, i ventured out to the geekhouse labratories in lower allston, and wished brad a very happy birthday.he turned 27 on the 27th -- which my mom always told me was a lucky year ahead. 

though my visit wasn't long, i got a shop tour, which was really amazing. they are running an incredible operation right in my city and was happy to supply them with some treats to keep them going. thankfully, they have an ill camera as well. 

here are some shots from the beginning to the end of this fun surprise!

getting started with lovely baking cocoa!

i made these little toppers with vintage bikes and the geekhouse logo!

geekhouse bikes headquarters!

greg asked if i could make a cupcake to match his new bike! mission accomplished!
photo cred: greg

photo cred: greg

brad, me and marty of geekhouse bikes!
photo cred: greg

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!
photo cred: greg

tye dye cupcakes

well, looking back through my blog - i realized that i never posted my tye dye cupcake photos! i made these back on labor day weekend - and probably was one of the most fun i've ever had baking and coloring at the same time!

make a vanilla cupcake recipe - divide into 5 bowls - and then chose your colors!

add a teaspoon of each color to each cupcake liner - no rules, layer how you like!

my taste-testers john and shannon

after the first bite, so happy at how bright they were!

 

(enlarged to show color) TA DA! definetly making these again!

buttermilk cupcakes and feeling like fall

as you can see in the previous post, i am really a fan of this buttermilk cupcake recipe! also, ive been waking up early enough these friday mornings to make a batch or two before work. it really puts me in a great mood for the rest of day (way better than exercise ever made me felt! ha!)

this morning, in the spirit of Boston finally feeling like fall, i decided to make two dozen vanilla buttermilk cupcakes, with homemade buttercream frosting and colored it a pale orange. i had some candy corn around too - so of course they found their way on top of these babies.

vanilla buttermilk with vanilla buttercream frosting

i ran out of candy corn, and had some "empty" frosted tops of a few more cupcakes. then, i remembered that my good friend Pat ordered edible fall leaves for her daughter weeding (which is already tomorrow!) and graciously gave me some. these edible leaves were from Sugar Robot etsy site and just melt in your mouth! they really made these early fall cupcakes authentic. Maybe the leaves will start changing colors in the city now!

yes, those are pirate skull wrappers!

busy -- but not forgotten.

i haven't posted nearly enough. need to step my game up with this if i want to get it anywhere, right? ive still been baking up a storm over here! promise more experimental recipes and photos soon. ive decided that thursday and sunday nights are my favorite nights to make cupcakes -- and boy am i in the mood to bake right now. i felt like i was neglecting my progress and stories here - so here i am with a little recipe i tried a week ago today.

something that i have always had a hard time dealing with, is wasting food. when baking, i feel that this happens unfortunately too often, since you are buying certain ingredients that are rarely used (especially with my adventurous style of baking) in supplies bigger that you need.

my girl risa and i decided that we wanted to make fall pumpkin spice cupcakes a few weeks ago and one of the ingredients was buttermilk. not only did i not find it in the grocery store after looking for 10 minutes in the milk isle - there were only 5 small cartons of it in the store. regardless, it made our cupcakes on point (and i unfortunately was too tipsy to get pictures of the wonderful teamwork process) but rest assured that they were delicious).

so i have this carton of buttermilk in my fridge thats good until october 15 and there is no way in these times that i was going to waste 4 cups of good ol buttermilk. my ever curious mind got on the interwebs and searched "buttermilk cupcakes". to my surprise, there were so many recipes to try! i went with the Vanilla Buttermilk cupcakes from Baking Bites for my first round. these baked perfectly and had a nice creamy color to them. I brought them into my job bright and early last Friday morning.

Here is the reaction I got:

 

yay!

for those who eat with no fear: maple bacon cupcakes!

my best friend kristie celebrated her 30th birthday this sunday - and if you are a good friend of mine, you know that will get BOMB cupcakes for your birthday! we went to seattle and portland together back in may of this year and one of our favorite parts of the trip was eating all of the west coast sweets - especially MAPLE BACON DONUTS! kristie is also a big fan of pigs (especially when it comes to eating them!) so when i came across this recipe from The Busty Baker - i knew that i had to whip these up for my special friend.

i was really nervous making these because 1. im not that great at making bacon and 2. it was my first time with the recipe. thankfully - they came out PERFECT. i was so impressed with these puppies, i cant wait to make them again.

 

AND KRISTIE LOVED THEM! happy birthday lovely lady!

new kitchen!

its safe to say that I am officially unpacked and settling into my new apartment home - which is located on the line of fort hill and jamaica plain in boston. i love this part of the city -- which makes me feel close yet tucked away. one of my favorite parts about my new place is that the kitchen is HUGE - and theres an outside porch desk thats right off of it. the only draw back is that i would just love more cabinet space. im looking for creative solutions for this -- but that didn't stop me from whipping up a batch of cupcakes to christen the new oven recently installed in the apartment as well.

my friend kevin has a sweet-tooth and has been very interested in a batch of my cupcakes for my new little side project here. besides working with me 9 to 5, kevin also works with the operating rooms of the old "boston city hospital". he happened to be working this friday evening and asked me if i could make him and his coworkers two dozen cupcakes to lift spirits for that start of the weekend shift . i asked him for his favorite recipe and he said "vanilla cupcake, vanilla frosting", so of course i turned to my favorite vanilla vanilla recipe from the lovely amy sedaris.

said they were delicious and that the nurse techs especially loved them. i wish i saved one for myself! i got to give credit the brand new kitchen ware that i got for amazing deals during macys home sale. i also again gotta give mad props to the brand new oven nestled in my favorite room in the house.

two more recipes on deck for this week! let me know if youd like a 6 pack or a batch!

from kitchen to kitchen

to all those who have been following my baking adventures, i apologize for the lack of posts lately. i have been moving from one kitchen to another (one home to another!) the past week and like everyone knows, the process is not easy - but its getting done.

promise to have a fresh and delicious post for this weekend! till then, dont fill up on too many cupcakes!

koolaid cupcakes on georges island

one of my best friends took  me out to georges island in boston harbor this past sunday. we had an awesome time - and of course i brought her a koolaid cupcake!

she approved! thanks kristie!

k00laid cupcakes!

inspired by bake and destroy's blog and recipes, i decided that this weeks baking adventure would be koolaid cupcakes! this was my first time trying the recipe and although i ran into a few kinks in my process - i was super happy with them overall. and so were some of my first costumers!

dry ingredients -- and adding the koolaid!

note to self: next time, do not fill the cups as much as this!

bright red tropical punch!

a batch of vanilla cupcakes (from Amy Sedaris' I Like You!) - for the non adventurous ones!

yes, i decided to take my dream to the streets and let the other good people know (outside my apartment and work walls) what this little baker has been up to. with an armful of cupcakes, i hit the orange line and made my first sale! thank you again to travis from city year who purchased my first cupcake for 50 cents. i spent a few hours in the Common - managed to bump into faces i haven't seen in a long time - and sold half my batch!

all in all - two lovely experiments and i believe a step closer to getting this business out of dream phase! thank you to all -- and if i can bake for you -- let me know :D

chocolate chip cupcakes

many, if not all of my recipes on here will be inspired or brought to you (via me) through tastespotting.com. i discovered this "visual potluck" over a year ago now and im honestly addicted to it. i feel like this collective of food blogs and foodies updates at least 5 times a day and have been tempted to cook so many of the recipes i have found on there. actually, tastespotting.com got me over my fear of cooking and baking for myself - and into the kitchen!

one of my favorite functions of this wonderful website is that there is a search button - as going through pages and pages of archives can be time consuming if you know exactly what you are craving. one of my favorite search terms is "cupcakes" and i am always amazed at what interesting confectionery concoctions i get to feast my eyes upon and even get a recipe too! as ive been more and more inspired to bake, ive been trying to bake at least one baked good a week. this week - i went for "chocolate chip cupcakes" that i found through the lovely "how sweet it is" blog.

although i prepared the cupcakes in my make shift fashion (aka i forgot to add butter to the recipe at first!) - they still came out INCREDIBLY delicious. this was also this first time that i ever used cake flour and beated egg-whites. leanne was right, these are definitely cupcakes and not muffins.

something that i experimented with this batch is Pillsbury Easy Frost. call me a cheater, or call me lazy, but i was honestly curious to see (1) how it compared with the "canned" variety of frosting and (2) if i could actually frost cupcakes prettier with this product. the verdict: very sweet frosting, nice decorative tip, but could only frost about 14 small cupcakes.

i will definetly be trying this recipe again - but with some variations. i cant wait for my next batch!

step 1:

welcome to my blog on my adventures in baking! im a 24 year old lady known as sauce - living the life ive always wanted in boston, ma. baking is one of my FAVORITE hobbies and in my attempts at following my passions - i decided to create this blog (and quite possibly a business) from my desire to bake! i am constantly inspired by foodies and bakers on the internet - and i finally am starting to feel confident in my own abilities to join this community. im also very inspired by local bakers and entrepreneurs in my city of boston - and really do think that i have the drive and determination to do what they are doing (or better!) with the businesses that they are running.

i have soooo many ideas -- but the first thing i have to do is take the first step. so here we go!