Home, Sweet Home

I apologize again for a lack of posts, I am making it my goal to be adamant about posting as I am taking a year off from school. I have moved from the beautiful Southern California to the much warmer state of Arizona. Pending everything works out as planned, I will be here for the next few years, so my cupcake adventures are going to be taking me to a few different locations. I look forward to searching for any and all cupcakeries within the area and may even travel a little more to find different places. I look forward to going back home on occasion to find other places that might have popped up while I've been living here. I applied for a job at Sprinkles Cupcakes, but unfortunately was not hired. At least I won't feel guilty eating other cupcakes now. Fortunately, Sprinkles is still within driving distance when I need a cupcake fix. 

But enough about me, back to the cupcakes! I decided I'd make a welcome home cupcake for my roommates the first week that I was here. I asked what they would like, and they picked a S'Mores cupcake. I had made one from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book before, so I decided to try something a little different. I found a recipe on Bakerella that looked devine. I blame the heat for my lack of photographs during the baking process, but I feel that Bakerella does a pretty accurate job. I decided that rather than topping them with a plain marshmallow, I'd make my own marshmallow fluff instead for a frosting and that I'd use more of the chocolate ganache glaze. You can't say no to more chocolate. I'll include the marshmallow fluff recipe below. I'm pretty sure my roommates and their friends enjoyed them because they were gone within the next two days. At least I know I'll have welcome recipients of my cupcakes to try out new recipes!

Marshmallow Fluff:

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Allow gelatin to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Heat remaining 1/4 cup water and the sugar in a saucepan over medium-high, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; clip a candy thermometer onto side of pan. Boil syrup until temperature reaches the soft ball stage [238 degrees Fahrenheit], brushing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Remove from heat; add syrup to softened gelatin. Whisk mixture by hand to cool, about 1 minute, then use an electric mixer to whisk on medium-high speed until soft, glossy peaks [but not dry] form 8 to 10 minutes. Use immediately.

Review: Sweet Embellishments

During the end of my travels down to Long Beach for school, I discovered a little cupcake shop down the road from campus. I thought I'd give it a try since I'd never heard of it before. The shop is Sweet Embellishments. They had quite a large selection of cupcake flavors to choose from as well as brownies and cheesecakes. The shop was cute with lots of tables to sit and eat the desserts and a decorative display. I was surprised that the prices were as low as they were as well. Being a college student on a budget, I was thrilled and decided to get a box of four cupcakes. I decided to try the chocolate peanut butter, nutella, s'mores, and the french roast coffee. They looked fantastic. I decided to try the s'mores cupcake first because I am a huge fan of the actual dessert s'mores. Unfortunately, I was highly disappointed. The chocolate cake was a bit dry for my taste and the frosting had no remnants of a marshmallow frosting. I believe it was a whipped cream frosting that was part of the filling as well. [I read later on their website that they are the "buttercream alternative". I should have done more research before going here as buttercream happens to be one of my absolute favorite frostings.] I didn't eat the rest of the cupcakes as I'm not a big fan personally of whipped cream frosting and when I tasted the others, I could tell they all were whipped cream. The frosting was not as sweet as I like, so I didn't want to continue eating them. My family however, loved them and ate the remaining three before I could get a comment on them. So although I wasn't happy with the cupcakes, those who prefer a less-sweet whipped cream frosting, these might be the perfect cupcakes for you. I'd love to try their cheesecakes to see if those are better.

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Twitter: @_sweets

Creepcakes!

Now that I've been home from Italy for a few months, life can go back to normal in the American lifestyle. I was able to have a reunion with one of my roommates, Sabrina, who lives in Orange County. We decided to make cupcakes together, since all of my roommates loved baking, but we didn't really have the equipment to do so in Italy. We decided to make Halloween cupcakes since it was the week before Halloween.

Together, we made a list of recipes and decided on this one. We did end up tweaking it a little bit, since we couldn't find boiled cider in the store nor could we successfully make the boiled cider without burning the house down. We just ended up using maple syrup. It ended up working out exceptionally well.

This was one of the few cupcakes that I've eaten that I have made. We also topped them with a simple cream cheese frosting. You can try the recipe that I used before here. I loved that the cream cheese filling was a surprise. We had a lot of fun decorating the cupcake too.

We just used a variety of sprinkles and marshmallows to work with. Happy Halloween!

Exciting News

I know this isn't my story, but I'm excited to find out that one of the cupcakeries I reviewed last summer is going to be opening a new shop! Congratulations New York Cupcakes! I'm including a link below to Cupcakes Take the Cake (one of my favorite blogs) who talk about the grand opening in a little over a week!

Click here to find out more.

In personal news, I know I have a lot to update and I'm sorry for the lack of updates. Senior year is kicking my butt in college. I will be having some more down time starting next week, so I promise to back track and update everything that's been missing for the past few weeks.

Review: Sugar & Spice, Italia

First off, I have to start by saying that Italy was absolutely amazing. I could not have asked for a more amazing trip. I cannot wait to go back and visit more cities and all the wonderful friends that I made there. I tried to go to a cupcake shop in Rome, but since I was so limited on time while I was there, I never actually found it. I think if I remember what one of my roommates said who did find it said that they had changed the name which would explain why no one could tell me where it was located when I was asking. I decided to try asking my Italian language teacher if he knew of any cupcake shops since he said he really liked American desserts. He recommended one place, so I went on a hunt to find it, since he had given me the name of a few places. I decided to go with Sugar & Spice Bakery. Things are a little different in Italy, so when I went to the location I found on their website it was closed. I was so disappointed because I was really looking forward to a cupcake that day. I decided to try their other location on a different day.

It turns out that it was only about 5 minutes walking distance from my apartment. The shop was super cute and had little decorated cakes and cupcakes in the window.

I went pretty late in the day so they were really limited on the selection of what they had. They also didn't actually have cupcakes. They had individual cake slices.

Since it was my last day in Italy and I had yet to find a cupcake, I decided this would have to do until I returned home.

I decided to let my roommate pick the flavor, so we got carrot cake.

The cake was really moist. I'm usually not a fan of carrot cake personally because I don't like recipes that put nuts into the cake. I think it takes away from the flavor. The frosting on top was more of an icing than it was a frosting, which was different. The filling was sort of a cream cheese mousse. It was so different than what I would consider a carrot cake, but it was still really good. I think if I was going to eat carrot cake, this would be how I would eat it.

I'm hoping that my travels take me back to Italy so I can continue a search for more amazing cupcakes.

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I Solemnly Swear That I am up to No Good

So in honor of the last Harry Potter movie coming out this summer, I decided it was time to try making Butterbeer cupcakes. Seeing as I was going to be in Italy while the movie was released, I had to make them a bit early. I was able to find a great recipe here. I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, since I was trying to make them quickly. These are one of the few cupcakes that I have eaten of mine and I have to say they are super tasty.

I took these to work to share with my coworkers and customers. I really wanted to make them here in Italy, but clearly, that isn't as easily done as I would have liked. I am hoping to do a movie marathon with friends when I get home and I'll make them along with some real butterbeer!

Mischief Managed.

Italia!

I apologize for the lack of updating. I have lots that I need to add, but I am currently in Italy. I'm going to Rome next weekend, which claims to have a few cupcakeries, which I am dying to try. I have been trying many other Italian sweet treats while I have been here and cannot wait to add. Florence, unfortunately does not have any cupcakes as far as I can tell. When I get back, I'll also be vacationing in Morro Bay, so I'm hoping to find some cupcakes there too. I miss updating, so I promise I'll be adding more soon.