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!

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!

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