Lovin' From the Oven

Brooklyn Blackout Cupcakes

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So posts this week may have been a little slow– I apologize! This is my first full week back at work and I’m not used to this from having so much time off. I miss being able to lounge around, sleep in, and stay up late watching tv shows on DVD. This six day, 54 hour, work week is not something I want to do anymore– I’ve realized how much of a workaholic I’ve been and need to enjoy life while I’m still young!

With that said, I’m glad to say that I’m seriously debating going to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 2011 for the Baking and Pastry session. My mom asked me the other day if I even wanted to teach (since I’m going for my Masters in education and teaching credential right now) and I couldn’t give her a straight answer. She looked at me, being the great mom she is, and instantly knew what was going through my head. That’s when she told me, “Why don’t you do what you love? Go to Paris, go travel, go learn how to bake!” Ever since then, she’s been mentioning it every day and even told me that she already talked to my uncle who lives in Paris. He has an extra room that he would be more than willing to let me live in for however long. Tempting, right? If only I didn’t already put so much money and time into grad school. Do I finish that first? Uffffda. I need to figure out what I’m doing with my life… Again.

I’ve always been a fan of boxed mixes, especially doctored up. I think they have the most wonderful results for any cake that you can imagine, and it’s so versatile! I used one of my favorite cookbooks for the cake– Cupcakes From The Cake Doctor by Anne Byrn and the buttercream recipe comes from The Repressed Pastry Chef. The cupcakes rose beautifully and the extra kick of dutch processed cocoa takes it to a whole other level. The buttercream was definitely the best one that I’ve tried so far, but I’m not really a fan of buttercream’s taste. It’s just the best to work with and pipe. I’ll stick to this frosting recipe until I find another one that tastes even better.


  • 1 package (18.25 oz) plain devil’s cake mix
  • 3 tablespoons Dutch process unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Prepare the cupcake batter: Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
  3. Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium beat two minutes more.
  4. Spon or scoop a heaping 1/2 cup batter into each lined cup, filling it 2/3 of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.
  5. Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 17-20 minutes.
  6. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool.
Buttercream Dream Icing
  • 1 stick salted butter, room temp
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 2 pounds powdered sugar (about 3 1/2-4 cups)
  • 4-6 tbsp very cold milk
  1. Cream butter and shortening. Add vanilla extract and combine well.
  2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all the sugar has been added, begin adding the very cold milk.. one tablespoon at a time, combining very well after each addition with the mixer on medium-high to high speed until you reach the desired consistency.

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Baby Shower Cupcakes

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A friend of mine asked me to make some baby shower cupcakes, 60 to be exact. She gave me complete freedom with what to do and what flavors to make. The only things she told me were: 1. the colors were red and yellow with a splash of pink and 2. the theme was roses. Here’s what I came up with:




I molded some chocolate roses to add on top of the frosting. I made a couple different cupcakes, Brooklyn Blackout (pretty much a darker devil’s), tie-dye, Cookies n’ Cream, Cinnamon Toast, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The frostings I made were dark chocolate buttercream, vanilla buttercream, cookie dough, and cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I’ll be posting each one individually this week, so keep a lookout for them!

I packed all of the cupcakes into these boxes lined in wax paper and drove off to deliver them. They all traveled so well! What a relief!

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Honey & Crystallized Ginger Cookies

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Recently, I’ve been able to catch up with all of my friends because of my time off and it’s surely starting to feel like summer to me! This eighty degree+ weather makes me want to never work and just BBQ everyday. Well, that wouldn’t be too productive. I’d say the most productive things that I’ve been doing with my time off so far are finding a million additional food blogs to add to my reading list and gaining back the weight I lost from my surgery.

I’ve also been semi-obsessed with magic recently. I know what you’re thinking… “What is she.. in third grade or something?” Truth is, I’ve always been a magic fan. My parents used to buy me fun magician starter kits when I was little, but I can’t say that I ever became any good at it.
Bottom line is that I managed to find myself a person who was a magician AND a foodie! We emailed back and forth a couple times and I just had to share with you all how wonderful he is. His name is Los Angeles Magician Mike Jacobson and even has a blog where he rates french fries. Yes, you read that right.. french fries. Why didn’t I think of that? He has even been a guest on Ellen show before. You can see a bit of him here and here.
I was really inspired reading his story and talking to him because it made me realize that you really can do what you love. It’s refreshing to talk to people that are so happy with life because if you do what you love, you never have to work a day in your life. I will be a baker someday. I will have my own bakery– I will! I will! I will! Whew!
Now off to the cookies– these cookies are definitely different from the rest. They’re unique with their ginger flavor, but I think it’s quite tame, nothing too crazy. The taste might not appeal to all, but that’s just because it’s not your usual chocolate chip, peanut butter, or sugar cookie. I may have may have gone ahead of myself on this one and adapted the recipe from Eat Make Read when I really should have left it as is. By that, I mean subbing some of the white sugar for brown sugar without really thinking about the liquids that were already in it. I did also use honey instead of molasses, but that was something that I think I did right since I’m not a fan of the molasses flavor. Honey and ginger also go together quite naturally. Finally, I rolled some of the cookies in the sugar/cinnamon mix and others in turbinado sugar. Here are my adaptations, minus the subbing sugar part because I think the texture would be better as is:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 3/4 T cinnamon
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup candied ginger, roughly chopped
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • pinch of ground ginger

  1. Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg and honey.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine well. Fold in the ginger and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup sugar with a pinch of cinnamon and ground ginger in a small bowl. Preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  5. Once the dough has chilled, roll the dough into small Tablespoon sized balls and roll in the sugar mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

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