Cookie related cuteness

OMG you guys, it's a widdle iddy biddy cutie cookie kitty! *dies*

So, it's totally hard to bake when it's hot out. I've been making a lot of ice cream lately though!

Yikes.

Between my vacation, and the big BBQ on the long weekend, and now my friend Jaclyn coming to visit, May--as always--has been a whirlwind!

I've baked some goodies, but haven't gotten around to posting them yet...but they're coming! I promise!

May Flours: Cake Flour

I know I'm starting out with a commonly-used flour, but I HAD to for my entry into CupCakeCamp Toronto!

From the Wheat flour Wikipedia entry:

Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour.

I heard of an amazing recipe in the BakeBakeBake Livejournal community called "Woody's Luxury Lemon Cake". Adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes, this amazing cake combined white chocolate and lemon to make what sounded like a mind-blowing taste experience. I picked this monster cookbook up from the library and set to work on converting this recipe into mini-cupcakes for CupCakeCamp.

I won't post this copyrighted recipe in my blog, but let me assure you that based on this recipe alone, I will be spending the $50 to buy this book. It was a white chocolate cake with lemon zest, filled with homemade lemon curd, and topped with a buttercream made out of a white chocolate vanilla bean custard base mixed with some of the lemon curd OMG YUM.

I'm not going to lie, this was a complicated recipe. It wasn't difficult, but it was process-heavy and thus time-consuming. When it came time to decorate, I was far too tired to cut out, paint and hand-detail 4-dozen tiny fondant lemons like I'd intended, so I tossed a few gold dragees on each and sprinkled them with edible/non-toxic 24 karat gold dust. They sure looked luxurious after that!

I was a planner and volunteer for the event, so I spent most of my time in the back room at CupCakeCamp plating cupcakes, separating out and labeling samples of each to be judged, and helping to organize people and tasks. However, I was able to take a few breaks from the back room and come out and serve cupcakes, as well as present the ones that I made. I was happy to say that mine flew off the trays pretty quickly; not only were they rather fetching looking, but people were super impressed that these cupcakes were covered in real gold!

I was quite surprised and pleased to win the award of "Most Impressive Amateur", and accepted my prize with a giddy combination of jumping and spinning. I never win ANYTHING, so it was kind of awesome. In the prize bag I got a copy of Hello Cupcake!, some Wall-E cupcake liners, a 4-section shaker of Wilton sprinkles in different colours and shapes, and a necklace with a cupcake pendant! I'm wearing it right now, and it's totally cute.

Check out this slideshow of other people's photos. Other than the first two I took during and after the decorating process, I wasn't able to take any pics of my own at the event because I was in the back, but other attendees and bakers took some photos of my cupcakes so I yoinked them and compiled them below:

Sweet success!

April Showers Bring May Flours

Luckily, we haven't had *too* many showers this April, and other than a few cold spurts it's been LOVELY weather. That means it's hard to want to stay inside and bake, so I'll give myself another task to keep me focused:

April Showers Bring May Flours

I do love a good pun.

So! In May I intend to bake several recipes using different kinds of flours, mostly ones that I've never used before. This means I'll end up with some gluten-free baked goods--which, again--I've not really done.

How exciting!

I will be away on vacation to Puerto Plata from May 7-14, so that will knock a week out of the running. Don't worry; the manfella and I will be eating and drinking our faces off and having a grand old time, but before I leave and when I come back there will be baked goods a-plenty, starting with...

CUPCAKECAMP TORONTO 2010!

Stay tuned, kittens.

News!

March may be over, but this blog has just gotten started!

In Food Bank news: the current total raised so far is $500! That's double the original goal. While I am so very pleased with the generous donations from my personal network, the Food Bank is still in desperate need right now. They've fallen 3% short of their fundraising goal, even after extending their Spring Challenge until today. Unfortunately, during and since the recent market tumble, people have been donating less but needing the Food Bank more. I urge you to reach deep into your pockets or, failing that, your cupboards and make an effort give something to this very worthy organization. I still have cookies available if you want to give to the Food Bank and get something back!

In other news: I have had a very excellent April so far. I've gotten past a major work deadline, I've been healthy as a horse, I've been getting in fabulous shape by working out every day and seeing my trainer twice a week, I've reconnected with friends I didn't see in March, and in 3 weeks I'm off on a week-long vacation to Puerto Plata with my manfella. I've even baked a little! I've been cutting back immensely on my sugar intake (3:00pm jitters + bikini season = eat less sugar!) so when I had to bring dessert to a board games party in Aurora last weekend, I made No Added Sugar Piña Colada Mini Cheesecakes. Blog post with recipe and photos forthcoming!

In the meantime, I've got so many ideas for my next "project" that I can barely decide! I may launch something in May (despite being absent for a week) and continue to blog whatever I bake in the meantime. It's hard though, because both the manfella and I are trying to lose weight, but I want to keep baking! Guess what friends in real life, random goodies may be forthcoming.

One of the next things I'll be baking is iambaker's awesome sugar cookies for my Big Bunch. I got to meet my new Little last weekend, and she is a terrific kid. I figure I'll bake up a bunch (har!) of cookies, make up icing and pre-bag it, then we can all ice cookies as a group.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that there are still many Ms. Adventures in Baking to be had, so keep coming back for more!

March 31: Whoopie Pies

Finally...the last post of March! I've been sitting on this badboy for a while, not having the opportunity to blog it until now. Well here it is! Can I get a 'whoop whoop'?

No? Anybody?

Well how about some WHOOPIE PIES?

I'd never heard of these crazy little cookies, let alone tasted one, but the name pretty much grabbed me the moment I read it. Apparently they're a Pennsylvania Amish treat, but I gotta say...it's hard to imagine the Amish making something so DECADENT. Yurm! (that's "yum" as said with a mouthful of Whoopie Pie.)

Essentially white icing sandwiched between to rich mini chocolate cakes, the Whoopie Pie is reminiscent of an Oreo (specifically, and Oreo "Cakester"), yet nothing in the Oreo history I have found mentions the Whoopie Pie. Perhaps it wasn't the inspiration for the Oreo like I imagined it would be. In any case, if given an opportunity to fight, the Whoopie Pie would beat the Oreo, hands down. You might say the Whoopie Pie would "whoop" Oreo's butt!

*groan* Okay I'm done.

Seriously though, I couldn't believe how tasty these are. The strong coffee used in the recipe deepens the flavour of the chocolate; you won't believe these are made with cocoa instead of real chocolate!

Also, they're surprisingly easy to make. I had these made, baked and sandwiched in an hour!

My only complaint: the use of shortening. The filling is half butter and half shortening, but I would change the ratio to 2:1 in favour of butter next time, because the filling didn't WOW me with its flavour. However, I suspect that it's not supposed to; the filling adds sweetness to a very chocolatey cookie and the whole thing just works. That's why, despite my not being a fan of shortening, these babies get a Final Grade of A+. The manfella also gives them his thumbs up seal of approval.

I almost don't want to give these away (more for me, haha!), but you can purchase your own Whoopie Pies for a good cause by sponsoring me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Make your donation, then email me your order!

You can find the recipe for Whoopie Pies on my Recipes Page.

March 30: Hello Dollys/Magic Bars

Hello Dolly's are most likely the easiest thing I have ever made. There is no mixing whatsoever! All you have to do is layer butter, graham crackers, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips (optional), nuts, and sweetened condensed milk. Then bake! That's it!

Ooey gooey goodness!

Hello Dollys are traditionally made with chopped walnuts, but I'm not a big fan of walnuts so I used sliced almonds instead. It was still really delicious, but I must say that--despite me using unsweetened coconut and omitting the butterscotch chips--these are very sweet. Best served with a glass of skim milk!

Final Grade: B+. Just a bit too sweet for me (personal preference!), although these get an A+ for ease. If you need to make a dessert fast, this is your go to recipe! You can find the recipe for Hello Dollys/Magic Bars on my Recipes Page. To purchase your own Hello Dollys for a good cause, sponsor me for the Daily Bread Food Bank's Spring Challenge! Make your donation, then email me your order!