Baby Got Back...aka I'm Back!

I know way back when that I had said I'd keep up with my blogging once the school year started, but I've been back at school for just about a month and this is my first post...oops! I promise to keep them coming more frequently, and I feel like as my workload picks up so will my blogging due to my crazy proneness to procrastination.

I'll probably be doing more witty commentary on life than anything else, but for tonight's post I decided to dig into my archives (ahem photos on my camera from this summer) and pull up a picture of the last cupcake I baked over the summer. Unfortunately I have lost track of the recipe that I used (which isn't that unfortunate since the cupcakes turned out nothing like I would have expected or ever wanted), but I have a picture and some thoughts! I had really wanted to make and master a yellow cake recipe. I did the first part of that statement and am definitely still working on the second. I also wanted more of a fudge icing (which as you can tell by the picture I didn't necessarily produce). Long story short -- I ended up with cupcakes that were slightly crumbly and tasted oddly similar to corn muffins (I didn't hate it, but it definitely wasn't a highlight for me). You can see the photo below!

I really hope y'all enjoy the scenic shot as much as I enjoyed setting it up (totally sarcastic...but it does look pretty...at least I think so!)!

Lastly for a brief life update: Gus is now six months old and already a whopping 58 pounds...he's definitely going to be a big boy! He's taken to following my mom around the house and has risen to the title of full-fledged spoiled brat in that he gets to sleep out of his crate now and basically gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. I'm loving life lately with my roommates, and you can be sure that you'll be hearing about many of our late night pow wows, great movies that we watch (might I recommend "Phat Girlz" starring Mo'nique...it's definitely one for the ages), and general fun that we all have together!

Wednesday OBSESSEDday

Now if you've ever received an email from me, there's a good chance that it has been in a list format. I don't know if it's going back to my days of debate (get your laughs out now, everyone) or my OCD type A personality taking over, but I love things to be in orderly lists. When I'm bored in class you'll see my planning out my day through in depth to-do LISTS. I recently starting sending one of my friends (here's a shout out to you Elizabeth!) random listed emails about things I currently love, and I decided to carry those lists over to my blog! So here goes my first Wednesday OBSESSEDday entry!

Things I'm obsessing over currently:

1. Blazers! When I received my Fall J Crew catalog last week the first thing I noticed was all of the amazing new blazers that can be seen here. I love the school boy blazer, and I mean what can be better to help add a bit of pizzazz to an outfit than a blazer...not to mention it's the perfect way to transition some summer dresses into the fall!
2. Eyeshadow! Anyone who has ever gotten ready with me for a night out knows that I'm fairly low maintenance (yes, low maintenance...but only when it comes to my make-up). Lately, however, I've taken a liking to neutral/shimmery smokey eyes and purchased this Stila palette (got it in the mail the other day, and I LOVE it!).
3. White Collar and Covert Affairs! My friend Whitney turned me on to USA last summer while we were suffering through physics together, and we watched the first season of Covert Affairs. Now in its second season I still love Covert Affairs, and I've picked up a new love that is White Collar. Plus who can say no to the eye candy that is Matt Bomer.

Exciting Things to Come!

I hope everyone had a great weekend (yes, I know I'm a day late). I'm going to try and start  keeping up with my blog a bit more so comment with anything you'd like to see me cover! Once I'm back in Charlottesville, I'll be reviewing restaurants, fashion, every day life, and of course baking and Gus. I'm excited to be more invested in this and to try and bring some daily happiness to everyone! As far as today goes, here are two of my favorite pictures from my impromptu Gus photo shoot this past weekend!

 Gus in my mom's favorite prim and proper pose

Here's lookin' at you, kid

The Puppy Prince

I don't know if it's just me getting older (yea 21...crazy old) or even less patient than I used to be (and trust me there was very little patience to begin with), but this summer has seemingly flown by. I'm wrapping up my time at my internship this week and have two and a half weeks of summer left after this to enjoy before heading back up to Charlottesville and my lack of remaining summer has me frantically looking back. As I mentioned in my last post, Gus has started his intermediate training classes and is finally starting to really catch on to everything he's been learning. While all of this is incredibly exciting, it's getting sad for me as I watch him grow up (yea I'm a sentimental person...the little guy is my baby I can't help it). The summer has indeed flown by and with it Gus's puppyhood. I figured today we'd take a trip down memory lane as I lament over the growth of my favorite little guy.

Gus at 7 weeks old...the last time I saw him in Virginia before he headed off to Florida!

Gus at 10 weeks old...right after I got home from school for summer!

Gus chilling in his favorite spot...our coffee table. Still lies up there to this day despite how much he's grown.

Gus this past weekend...I can still hold him but not for long (sad face)!

A Bit of Chocolate

One of my main goals when I set out on this cupcake journey was to become really comfortable with the basics. I let myself get slightly sidetracked by the more glamorous sounding cupcakes (I mean butterbeer cupcakes...come on now people who could pass that up?), but this past weekend I was determined to go back to my original goal. I set out to make the perfect chocolate cupcake. The recipe (another which was suggested to me by my wonderful great grand big, Christina) is Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake which had rave reviews on the Food Network site. I was a little apprehensive at first because the recipe called for coffee to be used in both the cake and icing and while I'm a coffee lover and had heard that it brings out the flavor of chocolate I was nervous as to how potent it would end up being and if it would in reality overwhelm the chocolate flavor.

I was house/pet sitting for a family friend this past weekend and Chris was hanging out with me so we decided what better way to pass time (in addition to watching several DVDs...side note: Chris had me watch The A-Team, and I really enjoyed it) than to bake! Thankfully this batter did not curdle (although have you ever seen buttermilk measured out in the same measuring cup as oil? NOT a pretty sight); however, it was pure liquid.which terrified me as I ladled it into the cupcake liners. I gleefully watched (Chris mocked me for enjoying watching cupcakes bake...but let me tell you it was actually pretty cool) as the cupcakes rose in the oven quashing my fears of a screw up (Chris accidentally turned one of the ovens on to convection bake instead of normal bake so one patch baked on convection the other normally...I have heard that baking cupcakes on convection can be better because it circulates the air in the oven more resulting in more even baking...so I guess he did well by pressing the wrong button). The cupcakes baked up perfectly and looked moist and delicious so it was time to tackle the frosting.

The frosting actually turned out really well although my biggest fear came into reality when the coffee flavor seemed to grow stronger every day that the frosting sat (...not the biggest fan of that). All in all I'd say it was a pretty successful chocolate venture that received especially high praises from my mom who thought that the frosting was the best yet! As you can see below, I'm starting to get artsy with my cupcake shots too...several cupcakes did not make the icing cut to be photographed so I decided to go with the star of the pack. Hope you enjoy! Also there's a Gus update coming your way tomorrow so check back for that (he's becoming huge and is the rising star of his intermediate training class!)

Accio Cupcakes!

For those of you who just rolled your eyes after reading the title...sorry I'm not sorry. Several things first:

A. The credit goes to the older brother (now known by the endearingly annoying nickname O. Bro Bro...you're smart figure it out) for the witty title. 

B. Yes, I saw HP7 part 2. No, I did not go at midnight. Yes, I was very upset by the fact that I did not go at midnight. 

C. Yes, I have been to Wizarding World of Harry Potter (twice), and yes, you should be jealous.

D. Yes, I hated Harry Potter when the first book was first published.

AND last but certainly not least

E. Yes, I skipped the first 50 pages or so of the first book in order to tolerate it.

Now that all of that is out of the way, I can begin. Unless you've been living under a rock for a very long time, I'm sure that you're aware that the Harry Potter franchise (by franchise I'm only referring to the books and movies), has finally come to an end. When I say finally I don't mean it in a grateful way I mean it in a "I never wanted it to end, but unfortunately JK Rowling decided she was content with her multibillion dollars and breaking the hearts of multibillion people" (yes, the second multibillion is incorrectly used, but I thought it was quite witty). I have read all of the books several times and have seen the movies just as many (although as most die-hard book fans will attest: the books are WAY better), and I truly felt like I was growing up with these characters. I'm saddened yes, but life will move on. In honor of the finale, however, I made butterbeer cupcakes as a tribute (and because one of my favorite people in the world Katie posted the recipe on my facebook wall, and I'm not one to say no to a challenge/request). Unfortunately the cupcakes were not ready for the day that I finally saw the movie (Saturday at 7pm...I was trying to be a responsible working adult), and my mom ended up buying dessert for Sunday which left yesterday for cupcake making.

I won't bore you with the baking details, but since I'm in the list making mood, I'll charm you with a few anecdotes.

i. Chris (the little bro) "helped" me make the cupcakes. More importantly he was my photographer (the kid is pretty talented).

ii. Adding extra cream soda and deciding to put some of your own flavoring in batter is never a bad idea.

iii. This is the third cupcake recipe that I've made where the batter has appeared to curdle and scared the living crap out of me.

iv. I am seriously talented at making frostings. Really though...

v. This was the first batch of cupcakes that baked PERFECTLY!

vi. Most importantly...my biggest critic (Chris) said that these were the best yet!

Check out how they turned out below (they're Gryffindor themed...duh)! I also threw in a picture of the butterbeer cart at Wizarding World...photo credit to the one and only JGlide.

Made in America

My family has always been moderately fanatic about the fourth of July. We don't really decorate much for it, but ever since I can remember every fourth (or some years the fifth) we've partaken in some sort of firework spectacular. Back in the day when we still had annual passes to Disney, we'd go to Epcot for the fourth, and I'd stand absolutely in awe of the artificial daylight that was created by the massive amount of explosions. I think I was a glorified pyromaniac by the time I was 8 years old. My family started our Independence Day tradition when I was probably 12 or 13, and I always got a kick out of getting to light off the mortars and see the pretty colors that would stretch across the sky as a result of the small fuse that I had lit. My older brother would always have friends over who would light the fireworks with us, and my little brother soon followed in our pyro ways. Below you can see a video of the sparkler bomb that Chris made. I recorded it, and Chris has since proudly displayed it on his facebook with the caption "Sparklers+Fire Crackers + water bottle+ a roll of electrical tape + 3 guys with nothing to do = KABOOM!" I unfortunately am not included in the 3 guy count but still greatly enjoyed watching it explode.

Obviously, such an amazing holiday with such great family participation would require a tremendous dessert. Last year I baked a watermelon cake (no, it was not watermelon flavored, BUT it was shaped like a watermelon...you can see a picture of it below), but this year cupcakes were the way to go. I had purchased mini cupcake liners in red and blue over a month back in preparation for making some patriotically themed cupcake for the fourth and was very excited to use them. ALSO Chris and I had gone to the outlets to meet up with our relatives who were visiting from Australia, and I was absolutely ecstatic to see that Calphalon (only my favorite store for all things cooking) was having a sale on their bake ware! I purchased a new mini muffin tin AND a jumbo muffin tin (the guy in the store said that you didn't need to use liners for any of them since they're non-stick, but I was definitely a non-believer until I baked the jumbo ones!).  I had picked out the type of cupcake I was going to make well in advance deciding on an Arnold Palmer Cupcake recipe that I found on the Food Network website (it was Paula Deen's recipe...I mean how can you say no to that??). Seeing as I very readily associate Arnold Palmers (named for the golfing great as it was his favorite type of drink...half iced tea half lemonade) with relaxing in the summer, I figured what better type of cupcake to make for the fourth.

Long story short, I had a scare in the process after adding the milk to the batter (you steep tea in warm milk to get the tea flavor which translates as more of a spiced flavor int he actual cupcake) when it appeared that the tea milk made the batter curdle, but it was all for naught when everything smoothed out with the addition of the flour (I had bought more all purpose flour so no need to substitute cake flour this time around). I put them in the oven and watched them closely. The last obstacle was definitely the icing. A typical butter cream icing consists primarily of butter (who woulda thunk haha) and confectioner's sugar. This recipe called for some added lemon juice AND the remained of the tea milk concoction. The added liquid resulted in my having to do some serious damage control (in the form of an extreme amount of additional powdered sugar) and some heavy improvising. In the end the icing turned out to be a delightful lemony flavored icing with just a hint of spice from the tea. My eight year old Australian cousin helped me ice some of them, but being the perfectionist that I am, I'm only showing you a select few that I thought I iced pretty well :) Below you can see the pictures of my watermelon cake from last year and this year's cupcakes!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the cupcakes (including my two young cousins...one of whom tried to conquer a jumbo cupcake on her own). I don't know how much justice, however, was done to the Arnold Palmer, but it definitely produced a yummy cupcake regardless. We ended up capping off our week of patriotism with me taking the day off from work and heading down to Cocoa Beach with Chris and the Australian relatives to watch the last shuttle launch. My family has always made a great effort to go to as many launches as we can since they're only an hour or so of a drive away from home so it only seemed fitting to be there for the last one. It was great even though the clouds prevented us from seeing the boosters fall off and from getting very many good pictures, but at least the memories will always be there! I promise there will be another post in the very near future so just keep checking back!!

You Put the Lime in the Coconut...

Ok well that's not the most accurate title, but I wanted something witty that involved coconuts. My other option was Raspberry Beret (which you'll understand more after seeing the pictures of the cupcakes), but I figured that wouldn't be quite as well received seeing as I might be the only person who thoroughly enjoys singing along to Prince songs whenever I hear them on the radio. Anyway as you can gather from the title or this post, I decided to pick up my baking and made coconut cupcakes! For those of you in the Orlando area, there is an absolutely phenomenal barbecue place that opened up called Four Rivers (check out the link to the website, it's legitimately phenomenal).  In addition to their amazing bbq, my mom and I always indulge in a slice of their heavenly (and HUGE) coconut cake. Now I never was much of a coconut fan (it was something about the texture of shredded coconut that turned me off), but this cake converted me. It set the bar high for what I was expecting out of a coconut cupcake, and I was nervous to see if I was able to accomplish my task. I found a Barefoot Contessa recipe on the Food Network website that seemed decent enough (I never used to be too fond of Ina Garten...she always seemed too pretentious for me to enjoy watching her show, but this recipe had a five star rating from over 250 users so I figured I'd give it a shot).
I made the batter following my own rules on how much shredded coconut, vanilla, and almond extract to add (lighter on the shredded coconut (texture remember) and heavier on the extracts), and went to fill my tins. I was using these really cute cupcakes liners that I got at Michaels (since the cupcakes themselves weren't going to have much color), and I guess I got distracted by their bright colors because I once again over-filled the liners with batter. After ten minutes in the oven I checked on the cupcakes only to be greeted by mutant muffin tops. As I lamented my lack of skill, my mom told me that she likes the cupcakes having muffin tops which made me feel slightly (only slightly...I still needed pretty ones to photograph) better. I took the cupcakes out of the oven while we were eating dinner (stuffed porkchops...yay mom!) and proceeded to let them cool. The icing was up next, and the recipe that went along with the cake recipe was for a coconut cream cheese icing. I made it once again being heavy handed on the vanilla and almond extracts for some added flavor. I iced a few with the regular icing and then for my coconut crazed older brother and mom, mixed the remaining shredded coconut in with the leftover icing and gave the rest of the cupcakes the royal coconut treatment. For a splash of color (look how fancy I am...a splash!), I decided to top the photo worthy cupcakes with some toasted coconut and a raspberry (hence raspberry beret...SO witty!). The finished result can be seen below!

The cupcakes were well received by my family, but I really don't think they were quite up to snuff. I still have the taste of Four River's coconut cake on my taste buds, so I'll be trying this one another time. Some improvements that I'm thinking of making: using a more moist yellow cake with slight flavoring as opposed to the dryer cake that this recipe produced (which could have been a result of adding cake flour due to a lack of enough all purpose flour to fulfill the recipe) and  making more of a straight up whipped frosting with flavoring instead of the cream cheese icing (the cream cheese was definitely an over powering flavor compared to the coconut taste). Over all it was a success for a coconut cupcake it just wasn't quite THE coconut cupcake that I was looking for.
Lastly, an update on Gus: My mom took him to the vet yesterday for one of his standard puppy check ups, and he now weighs a whopping (drum roll please) 35 pounds!! Well actually it's 35.something according to my mom, but she couldn't remember the other number. He's going to be quite the big boy which saddens me because the day is fast approaching when I can no longer carry him around like my little baby :( That's all from me for now! Stay tuned as I hopefully attempt to conquer Arnold Palmer (yes you read that right!) mini cupcakes for the fourth of July! Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!!

The Sailing Scholarly Pup

Hi everyone! Sorry for my negligence in posting over the past week. Between my dad having surgery last Tuesday (all is well!) and my little brother turning 15 (getting his permit AND almost killing me driving the same day...) I've had quite the hectic week with no time for baking. There was, however, time for Gus! My family had signed Gus up for a six week puppy training class just to make sure we were doing things right with him --nothing too fancy just Petsmart. Last Friday marked Gus's sixth week and thus his graduation (if he passed his test). My mom and I had grand plans to prepare Gus for his test by thoroughly wearing him out prior to taking him to class, but it appeared that the atmosphere had different plans. The good old Florida summer thunderstorms are in full force, and we were restricted to staying in the house prior to Gus's test due to one of them paying us a not so friendly visit. Usually before class all of the puppies get to play with one another so we arrived extra early (a record setting 15 minutes!) to make sure Gus was able to get some of his pent up energy out. Well a new training class had started that week and was still in progress when we arrived which saddened Gus immensely. Long story short: we were left with a VERY ADD pup who was not too keen on listening or obeying any of our commands. Thankfully (no idea how it happened...ok he didn't do too badly but still...) Gus passed with a 98%! It definitely helped that he gained extra credit points for being able to shake and roll over (he's such a smart little boy!). At the end of the class, all of the puppies receive diplomas, goodie bags, and get to have a picture wearing their graduation cap (which is an entirely new story of Gus disliking things on his head, chin straps, and sitting still). Below you can see Gus's before and after pictures. The first is him on his first day of school (lunch box included...) and the other three are my failing attempts to capture Gus in his graduation cap.

We get two weeks off and then Gus starts his intermediate level classes (which will finish right before I go back to school) so in the mean time Gus decided to have some fun. My mom gave him a boat as his graduation gift (ok it was a pool raft, but I just wanted to not what a pampered pooch he is), and Chris and I were excited to get him in! Gus seemed to enjoy it greatly and looked incredibly adorable sailing around. We're planning on getting him an eye patch to go along with his pirate ship!! Check out some of the highlights of Captain Augustus's first sea voyage!

By the way, all of you Chi O's out there please take note of the fact that the boat is red and yellow AND there's a skull and cross bones on the sail! How cute is that? I have a little Chi O pup! Stay tuned for some baking entries coming soon (and stories about my second job: tutoring my absolute FAVORITE little kid EVER)!!

Pup in Pool

As promised here are some Gus updates. On Friday Gus went to his second to last puppy training class. There are four other dogs in his class, and if we were to give out puppy superlatives Gus would most likely get class clown. At the beginning of the class all of the puppies get to play with each other, and Gus is quite the comical little pup. He tends to be moderately submissive rolling over on his back for even the smallest of dogs (a few times even sprinkling them in the face with an excited tinkle...oopsies!). We had finished covering new material in the class and practiced the test that the dogs will have to take next week in order to graduate. Gus was incredibly ADD and ended up with 3 minuses (2 of which were in categories he always performs) out of 9 categories. Needless to say my mom is now questioning if he'll even graduate (which he will). Stay tuned for graduation updates (and pictures!!) next week! Class and the horrible thunderstorm that we had on Friday night tuckered Gus out, but that didn't stop him from wanting to play on Saturday!
On Saturday Chris and I went in the pool. Before I go into much more detail a little background on the history of my family's dogs and pools is required: prior to welcoming Gus into our family, we had a yellow lab named Valentine. She was a sweet dog and quirky to say the least especially because she hated the pool. If you have any familiarity with labs they LOVE the pool. I think I traumatized her at a young age by trying to carry her in (something I have since learned you should never do with a dog...oopsies again!). With that small tidbit of history now understood, Chris and I were very excited at the prospect of Gus liking the pool. Unlike most 'water' dogs that will just jump in the pool (especially if people are already in the water or a ball is thrown in), Gus would just hang out on the edge of the pool when Chris and I were in seemingly expressing a slight desire to be in there with us but not enough of one to actually make the jump. A few weeks ago we had enticed him to get in the pool by putting treats on a cushion that we held up to the edge of pool, but this time that didn't seem to be doing the trick. We finally got him using ice as a lure and getting him to hop on a float that I was already seated in. He freaked out at first and then loosened up as he realized he enjoyed floating around and not getting all too wet. We eventually got him to actually swim which he still seems to be warming up to. Right now we all like to say he has a healthy fear of the water where he won't get in on his own but enjoys it when we're there. Below are some of the pictures of Gus's pool adventure!

After Gus's eventful Saturday, it was time for a low key Father's Day. If there's one thing to learn about my family it's that we do holidays right...especially in the food department. My mom made a great strata for after Mass (it has egg, bacon, sausage, and bread all cooked as an egg casserole of sorts...if you couldn't guess, I got my love of cooking/baking from my mom). She then prepared a phenomenal and very time intensive dinner that seemed to very much please both my dad and grandpa. She also had the idea to 'bake' a peanut butter pie. Some background on this pie: back in the day when Food Network was still new and Emeril Lagasse (yea the guy who trademarked the term BAM) was one of the reigning stars, we saw a recipe for Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pie. My mom used to make it quite frequently considering how time intensive it is and it was always a big hit with whatever crowd she brought it to. My dad is a HUGE peanut butter nut (which stinks for Chris since he's allergic, but it's ok last night he made amazing brownies...it's one of his favorite things to make and he even tweaks the box mix...impressive for a 14 year old boy) so this pie is perfect for him. Since I was the one who went to Publix yesterday to get the supplies I was also the one who took on the task of making the pie after only having made it once before for my friend Olivia's birthday our second year at UVa. The pie itself is pretty easy to make but takes a decent amount of time as it has to set for two hours two separate times. I also (as you are getting used to I'm sure) enhanced the recipe quite a bit making my own decisions about how much peanut butter and other ingredients should actually go into the pie. While this blog is about my summer cupcake challenge,  I figured I'd share a picture of the pie since it was such a huge hit...enjoy!

Coming next: I will hopefully take on making high hat cupcakes for Chris's birthday, but my baking might be interrupted this week as my dad should be having surgery tomorrow...keep checking back for more!

First Succesful Venture

Well hello again! Due to the nastiness that is brewing outside of my office window I've decided to brighten up my day (and yours obviously) with another post! At work on Monday I had cupcakes on the brain and decided that it was time to bake a classic vanilla cupcake. Now when I think vanilla cupcakes I instantly think back to my first year at UVa and my absolutely wonderful and amazing great grandbig Christina. Christina is phenomenal at just about everything, but what will always be ingrained in my mind is her uncanny ability to always produce AMAZING vanilla cupcakes. Not only did they always taste superb, but they also were always iced so perfectly that I knew she was the person to go to for advice. I sent her a facebook message last week and boy did she deliver! I now have two new blogs to follow and countless suggestions from her for different cake recipes to try (including her vanilla cake recipe that she uses)!!

My only obstacle to overcome was coming up with an icing that would do the cakes justice. So I started thinking, and the idea almost instantly dawned on me. My friend Sabrina had visited me way back when the summer before my senior year of high school, and we had decided to have a crafty day where we designed our own aprons and baked cupcakes. We both decided that we would try out the vanilla cupcake recipe from Magnolia Bakery (New York bakery famous for their cupcakes...check out their website by clicking on the name if you want to make your mouth water). The products of our day are below and needless to say the cupcakes were yummy BUT the ICING was FANTASTIC. So it was settled...I would use Christina's cake recipe and Magnolia's icing (with a few tweaks).

I stopped by Publix (the grocery store that I miss terribly while at school) on my way home from work to get a few extra ingredients (I am starting to hoard bags of confectioner's sugar...), and then rushed home ready to bake. Since my little brother (ok younger brother...the kid is a beast who is just about 15 and already taller than me so it's just something I'll have to come to terms with) had a baseball game that night we were supposed to eat dinner early. Unfortunately that did not mesh well with my baking plans so while the rest of my family sat down to eat (minus my older brother who wasn't home from work yet), I was rushing to bust out the batter and get the cupcakes in the oven (plus I was SO excited to use the gingham print cupcake liners that I had bought the week before). This time around I was probably too cautious with the amount of batter I put in for each cupcake because while none of them overflowed there were several that fell below the lining (which can be fixed with icing but still wasn't perfect).

It's also important to mention that the entire time I was baking the UVa baseball team was playing their third super regional game in a 3 game series against UC Irvine to determine which team would advance to the College World Series. In a nail biter finish with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning short stop Chris Taylor hit the single that drove in the tying and winning runs for UVa! Stay tuned for updates from Omaha as the Cavaliers take on the CWS (they'll be playing Cal first). After celebrating the win with Gus (he was fairly confused but enjoyed the playtime), I started on the icing. The nice thing about the Magnolia Vanilla Buttercream is that it's a simple icing and is easy to tweak to your liking. I mainly eyeballed the ingredients and took it from there. After adding some food coloring (I figured purple was the best color because it complemented the three colors of cupcakes liners), the cupcakes were ready to be iced! See below for how they turned out!

While I thought the snickerdoodle cupcakes had been a success (my mom LOVED them), the vanilla cupcakes were definitely a big hit with everyone. Chris (my little bro) said that they were the best cupcakes he had ever had...eep how can I top myself now?!? Stay tuned for a Gus themed post in the near future (probably after obedience class on Friday), and be on the lookout for my post detailing my attempts to make Chris High Hats for his 15th birthday! Oh and look...the sun just came out!

Getting started...

Hi! So a little bit of background on this blog before I start charming you all with my witty stories and commentaries on life. I'm home for the summer from school and needed some extra ways to entertain myself when I'm not at work. I decided that since I love baking and to me it's one of the greatest ways to relieve stress I'd bake! I decided to make it somewhat of a challenge for myself and bake a new type of cupcake every week. Talking with my little from my sorority and telling her about my cupcake plan, she convinced me to keep track of all of my trials with a blog and thus the birth of what you are reading now.

This blog entry should actually be dated back to last Thursday, but I had quite a bit of trouble coming up with a name so pretend that the date stamp is June 9, 2011. Anyway I have quite a bit of downtime at work and decided to put it to good use and develop my own compilation of recipes from different places. I stumbled upon Martha Stewart's website and started taking some of the cupcake recipes from there. The first recipe which caught my eye was for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. I mean who doesn't love Snickerdoodles? They're such great simple cookies, and I figured they'd make for some great cinnamony cupcakes!

After a trip to Michael's with a hefty coupon and a heftier amount of money spent to purchase what I deemed to be necessary baking supplies (pastry bags, tips, and REALLY cute cupcakes liners), I headed home to get to baking. Several reading errors later...note in the recipe where it instructs you to cream the butter and sugar...yea I added cream, butter, and sugar and mixed them together only to be greeted by a curdled mess of nastiness which reminded me to slow down and actually read the recipe instead of skim it...I had plump cupcakes full of cinnamon that tasted great. Unfortunately none of them were picture perfect...I was a bit overzealous with the ice cream scoop that I was using to put the batter into the cupcake tins and the majority of them overflowed. So there are no pictures...bummer. I did make one change and made a cinnamon cream cheese frosting instead of the frosting that is in the original recipe. It was really tasty. Next time I make them though, I'll probably tweak the cake recipe a bit to get some more flavor.

Since I wouldn't want to deprive you of a picture in my first post, let me introduce you to my dishwasher.


His name is Augustus(we call him Gus/Gus Gus/Gussy), and he's 14 weeks old. He's a Golden Retriever, and the majority of my summer thus far has been spent loving him. As you can tell from the name of my blog...I'll also be recording the adventures of Gus so stay tuned for lots of puppy love this summer!