Beautiful First Time Cupcakes

Hello blogworld!

I am so very proud of what I am about to show you, for my last two days of crafting business were totally botched. I am not sure, but I'm pretty sure that they can be salvaged by some greater power, and maybe that will be me soon. Anyway! I delved into something I'd always wanted to do, or at least do well. Cupcakes!! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that during my childhood, I've made cupcakes...at some point...maybe. The fact is, my mother has worked in a bakery my whole existence, so that kind of limited her wish of baking recreationally. So, I didn't get much homemade baking experience until I grew up and got married, or well, dating my husband, since that was, in fact, how I won him over. I proved the age old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! Now, behold the splendor!!

These, my dears, are Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting. (I also apologize in advance for the horrid pictures. I'm by no means a professional photographer, and I am limited to a camera phone for my capturing)

Now, I've made plenty of cakes, and I've made ganache as well, so I knew that I could most likely do this. But it was still my first cupcake venture, and they have turned out beautifully! I'm so very very excited. I literally did the whole flappy wrist girlish squeal dance when they came out of the oven, and was vigorously patting myself on the shoulder, vocally, echoing in my little kitchenette "OH DAMN! Have you ever SEEN such beautiful cupcakes?!" And yes, I realize I am quite lucky my husband loves me, because yes, I did look ridiculous.

Moving on, I found the recipe at foodnetwork, which I'm always halfway leery about, knowing that they are often quite difficult for a product that I don't find particularly impressive, but these sounded good! Especially since I'm a sucker for cream cheese, literally eating it out of the package, and these were filled with such. So I was sold. You can find the recipe here!

I followed the recipe as closely as I might, though some of the things I skirted the whole 'room temperature' bit, though that was mostly the milk, which I didn't feel like microwaving, and the egg, though I did microwave that for like ten seconds, and seemed to work well. The batter turned out really really silky, by feeling of my fingers, and I knew from there that I was going to be delighted with my results. Or at least so I hoped. At that point, my husband got home, so I got to have his phone, and got pictures!

My cupcake papers, adorably spring pastels, and my batter, and filling.
Close up of batter and filling

Before and after filling.

To be honest, to fill my papers, I just used two regular spoons, and my fingers. I found the need to spread the batter a bit at the bottom, and the top, kind of a touch and shape process since it was nice and thick and silky. Twenty minutes later and we have...

Beautiful cupcakes! I was so excited when they came out nice and professional looking with the pretty crackly tops and it was quite a moment for me! After popping them out of the tins three minutes later...

More beautiful! (Please forgive the mt. dew and such behind)

For my ganache, I cheated. I totally took a 'modern housewife' shortcut, and simply microwaved my cream, carefully avoiding bubbling it too much and causing unforseen problems. I think I microwaved about a minute, maybe a touch more.

Hot cream. Mm.

Adding my chips, I just stirred with a spoon, and the chips melted perfectly into a beautiful ganache. I was afraid I might have to microwave it again, but no, it turned into a lovely dark yummy euphoria.

Ganache and cupcakes ready for dunking!

Again, I was slightly worried this might be a bit difficult, but it was surprisingly easy just to dip it into the chocolatey wonder and spin it a bit and voila! Shiny decadence in a cupcake wrapper! I love how ganache makes things look so chic and upscale, and it is so easy, just cream and chocolate.

And there you have it folks! Beautiful and relatively simple cupcakes. I'm so excited to try them, and will report on how they turned out, if they were as tasty as they were pretty. I'm so happy for some success in my crafting business now, though this technically isn't crafting persay, but it was a success, and I will take it where I can get it!

Update! The cupcakes were very very nummy! Dense though, not sure if it was meant to be or not, but mine were, and it was good. Not overly sweet, or rich, but still very good. I actually kind of prefer it this way sometimes!

P.S. I was further reminded I hate cocoa powder. Sooo messy!! Anyone have some tips for me in how to work with it so it doesn't go everywhere?

SO! With successful love,

Keeping it like a Newlywed

For a long time I've thought about finding a place that I can write down things that I've found in my marriage that I absolutely delight in, that maybe other people might too. Tips as you would, perhaps? I know that my husband and I have hardly been out of the chute so to speak, but what better time to start than now? We've survived several things in our relatively short time together, including unemployment for nearly half a year and spending twenty four hours a day together that entire time. My mom is still amazed that we had no problem with this. So, I think maybe now would be a good time to indulge myself, and as such, I'll be posting little tid bits from time to time amongst my crafts.
So, for the infamous tip number one.
Three Hundred Sixty-Five Ways I Love You
In reality, that's just a superfluous name I've arbitrarily decided to assign to the fact that each and every day my husband goes to work, he sends me a long text message in the parking lot of his job. I honestly believe that he leaves early just to ensure he can. Even when he's running late, he makes sure to shoot something. In this day and age of technological...well..everything... there really is no excuse not to somehow show you care throughout the day, each and every day. In some small way. I'm not always awake when he sends them, because I'll be the first to tell you, I love to sleep. But he never fails. It truly makes me feel special, and always cherished. When I'm conscious enough upon receiving, I tend to send something back in kind, but even if I don't, he knows he makes me smile, and that gets him through the day, or so he says.
I've seen some other ways this could be accomplished, and most recently, a picture of a chalkboard with the message 'I love you because...' already printed on it. On your way out the door, why not scribble a quick sentiment for your loved one to wake up to when they're dealing with getting the kids off to school? I thought the idea was sweet, almost considered doing it myself, but then realized, shortly before writing this blog, that I already had such a thing set up and it worked for us.
I'm still thinking perhaps one day of starting a book, recording each day what he sends, and compiling it into a cute little coffee table read, perhaps only for personal benefit. But then again, there's little things like that out there everywhere. Surely someone might enjoy it. A few wonderful examples, snatched from here and there...

You are truly a wonderful woman and the light and love of my life. You make me myself, and a better version of it.

You lift me up and keep me strong against everything the world can throw at me, and I am eternally grateful for your love.

The day we came together is the day I started the rest, and the best part of my life.

I'm sure my husband will be a beautiful shade of crimson when he realizes I've posted those, but I just wanted to give y'all some shining examples. Wouldn't anyone love such a beautiful wake up call? Anyway, yes, take a moment out of your day, work it into your routine, to continue to assure your partner in life that you cherish and care for them. A simple sentence a day will make the world burn brighter.

Romantically Invested,

Getting Back on Track

AKA You Set Me Free

Recently, with the new year, I've taken the time (along with my devoted husband and mother), to reorganize our apartment. Notably, it's still in progress, but my new craft station is all the rage. I've already began several things, and have even already finished one! Isn't that exciting? Well, tonight I wanted to share with you my first project of the new year. It's from a blog I feel I will be visiting often, called Flamingo Toes, run by a refreshingly creative woman who has inspired me to pick up my creationally challenged blog once again. The project I finished was this wonderful little needlepoint/stitch art creation she titled You Set Me Free - Hoop Art.
I made a few changes, mainly I decided I'd simply take my finished project and mount it to a canvas and plan on putting it in a shadow box. This project came at a perfect time, when I was feeling especially grateful for my husband after a really hard night with my anxiety. It seemed as if it was sent from some kind of fateful place, and I knew I had to have it. My sister has recently dumped off most of her craft stuff on me, which I'm not complaining, as she's due to have her first child soon(ish), so she's looking to clean up and purge. I gladly volunteered, so I made this project out of scraps that she left with me. The background fabric was even from an old sheet I believe.
The project took me I believe about eight hours in total, I finished it in a day. It was mainly the learning of stitching without a presser foot on my sewing machine, as well as the complicated cutting out of the birdcage, of which I had no transfer iron paper, so I had to make due with a bit of a stretch fabric because it was the prettiest and I wanted it. Let me tell you, go for the iron on backing, so much easier I'd imagine, and far less hard to keep in place, as pins, predictably, aren't that useful in small details such as this. Also, I freehanded the 'pattern', as it wasn't too difficult to mimic, and I sadly, am without a printer. So that ate up some time too.
But in the end, I'm quite proud of it, as well as really emotionally attached to it already, and am happy with how it turned out. I am also halfway through the romantic ruffle bracelet on her site, and intend on finishing it just as soon as I have a hand needle in my grasp. (I know, shame on me, have all this delightful set up, and am missing basic tools).
I would highly suggest trying this project, or something with a similar process and perhaps a different pattern, for someone looking for a beautiful homey touch without the aching fingers of needlepoint. It's creative and fantastic, and I'm quite sure that I'll be visiting this website quite often!

Newly Renewed!

A successful pancake venture

So. These past couple weeks, my husband and I have both been very sick alternatively. I'm running a fever today, and he's still got a cough. But, I was feeling hungry, and a little better than I had been, so I decided to make pancakes! But, since we were both feeling not so up to par, I had to find a recipe that was from scratch, since I didn't have any pancake mix, and that didn't use eggs, since I was also out of those, and I didn't feel like going out.

Here is how they turned out, don't they look scrumptious?

Here is the recipe I found:

EGG LESS PANCAKES

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup full cream milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoon butter

Combine dry ingredients and mix, add milk, oil, water, and vanilla. Beat together. Set aside to rest for a ten minutes.
Heat a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Melt butter and add to batter.

1/4 cup of batter into the pan for each pancake.

Cook until bubbles form on the surface. Flip pancakes and cook until golden brown.

Because I am a sucker for editing and revising recipes I've found, I added a nice amount of honey, and butterscotch chips. They turned out soooo yummy! They do have a slightly denser texture to them, as they don't have the eggs. But they were still really good. And since we were missing syrup as well, I just topped them with more honey. I was delighted with this recipe and the yield too, since it's just me and my husband, and it made about 5 or 6. And that's all we needed.

Hope this brings someone else's tummy a happy feeling!

As always,

Polka Dot Pink Dress

So today was my little cousin's birthday party. I had made her present this year. It was the first time I'd ever given her a present because she is a relation on my husband's side. I made a little polka dot pink dress that matched my apron pretty nicely. I was really proud of myself, because I learned how to pleat and gather with this project, and I thought it turned out really nice. Here's my finished product.

Soon I promise to have a picture of my little cousin in the dress. It actually ended up fitting her pretty well, though it does leave a little room to grow into it. So I was quite pleased with the results, because I didn't have much of a size/measurements to go on.

Well, getting late. Start my newest project, the tunic shirt, tomorrow hopefully. I already have the patterns cut out, just not in the fabric quite yet. And I forgot to pick up some interfacing. Which, I have to find out just what that is. Wish me luck!

As always,

Quilted Lazy Days Tote

Hi again y'all. So far I've got some good feedback from my online community that I'm apart of, which really encourages me to keep going. So, this project I put together was my very first quilting project I've ever done. I thought it seemed fun, and I got it by googling "projects to use scrap fabrics". Since I had a few built up. though not nearly enough, since I ended up going out and buying fabric anyway. Oh well.

The instructions I followed were on the Better Homes and Gardens website, which, you should go visit since they are having a really good deal on a one year or two year subscription with a free cookbook, which I happily scooped right up.

To view the instructions, simply go here!

So, like I mentioned before, we were having trouble with our camera, so I didn't get pictures of the process, but here is my finished copy. I was quite quite proud of it, and intend to give it to my mother, since I don't really carry handbags.

It wasn't too terribly difficult of a project, though it did take some time to cut and sew all the little square and triangle pieces that made up the quilting pattern. But I enjoyed it, and it kept me busy. I hope it inspires someone, and someone else has a good time with it like I did.

Next project!

I just had fun with a killer sale at Joann's Fabrics, and bought ten simplicity patterns for ten dollars. Quite a savings. So I will have my hands full for a while, intermittently, since occasionally I do need to return my mother's sewing machine. So, my next project is a tunic style shirt with a wine colored stretch jersey knit material. I'm really looking forward to doing this one, since it's the first piece of clothing I've actually made for myself. So, we'll see how it turns out, and I promise to take lots of pictures!

Until next time.

Valentine's Day Pie

So. My whole inspiration for my blog was a friend of mine upon an online community showing me hers. So, this pie is directly taken from hers. I don't have pictures of my creating process, and she has excellent ones, so feel free to go visit hers!

 www.domestic-designs.blogspot.com

The original recipe is from Martha Stewart, and it is a pear and raspberry pie. Cute and pink for valentine's day. Unfortunately, raspberries aren't in season right now, and I didn't buy pears ahead of time to let them ripen. So, for my pie, I used canned pears and frozen raspberries. My pies turned out really yummy, I ended up making one for my mom and dad too since I went over and used their awesome big kitchen to bake at, something I do often. The crust also reminded me of those little fruit pies you can get at grocery stores and gas stations, little pocket pies. I found them incredibly yummy.

My hearts were hand crafted, since I didn't have cookie cutters, and this is the other version opposite of the one featured in sweetdreamer's blog, but I enjoyed it, and my husband found it really cute. Which, is the most important, yes?

For the original recipe, visit here!