Is the cupcake dead?

Yesterday I read an article from the Seaway News claiming the cupcakes are death.
And I quote:
"I can't say I'm astonished. The cupcake craze had 'passing fad a la Hula Hoop' written all over it from the time the first shops opened back in the early years of the millennium. Imagine: a phenomenon that owed its existence to a single episode of the TV soap opera Sex and the City which happened to feature a cupcake shop. Talk about a flimsy foundation. "

It made me think a little of the cupcake status here in Mexico, (as I cant speak for other cities) yes, once upon a time there were cupcake shops as starbucks... In other words, we had a lot of cupcake shops!
But then, one by one began closing their doors, now I only know of two shops that survived... But, is the cupcake dead?
I dont think so.

In my experience and opinion, making cupakes is not economic, in fact, is very expensive, if you add the cost of renting a place, and the cost of helpers for the shop the prices skyrocketed... The average cupcake cost in a store went as hi as 4$ ( without any embelisments)
In mexico, 4 dollars the cupcake is pretty hi , so the people only ate them at special ocations, forcing the shops to low the cuality of their profuct to keep making a profit, that lead to insatisfied costumers
That lead to closed shops.

But closed cupcake shops does not mean the cupcake is dying! I keep seeing them everywhere! At showers, children parties , and other events. It just changed the way people buy cupcakes. In order to make a delicious cupcake made with hi quality products , the cupcake has to be home made.

The cupcake is not death, and all the people on this communities are living proof!
They are delicious , the perfect size, and make the perfect decoration for events.
Versatile and cute as they are I hope they never die!!

I leave you the link to the article here if you want to read it too and share your opinion.

Seaway News

Birthday Cake

Today is a very special day... Today my little helper turns 3!
I am very excited and grateful to life for having such a beautiful inteligent and loving daughter. 3 years of challenges , sleepless nights and constant worries.
3 years of putting up with everyones advice and opinion, even the advice of random people on the supermarket!
Many days of second guessing myself as a mom, not knowing what I am doing, but doing it from a place of love, even the yelling ( thats what I say to myself). Being a mom of two has not being easy, no one prepares you for what is yet to come, but no one prepares you either for the love.
3 years ago my heart grew in many ways, I can now find joy in my childs eyes, smile, laughter. I opened to a hole new sistem of believes, where old fashioned values have their place, where my mom is my superhero and all the other moms out there giving the best they have.
Now when I see a kid making a tantrum at the mall I smile, and pray to not be the next one.
3 wonderfull years!
Ok I will stop for now, and start with the cake bussines...

Next week my little helper is having her party, and of course I am making cupcakes and cake pops for her Dora Themed bash! ( expect photos, many of them)
I needed purple frosting for Doras backpack cupcakes, and not being a fan of colorant I thought blackberry icing would be perfect and delicious.
Of course I had to try it first, so I made this chocolate nutella cake and frosted with my new recipe. I know the design is not the most original but it is beautiful and I like it! And because I am allways doing cupcakes this is the perfect excuse to try it myself . So here it is: my daughters bithday cake!

I didn't had any fondant for the butterflies so I used candy melts . I ran out of frosting before I could finish. Also turns out that the wilton 2C tip dont make roses as the wilton 2D .... But who cares! the taste with the blackberry frosting and the nutella was out of this world!

Soccer Cupcakes

  Ok. so, in my country, Mexico, soccer is a big deal. Every little boy dream of becoming a professional soccer player. Sundays are sacred for those who love this sport.
Thinking of them , and in my husband, who loves soccer too, I made these cupcakes.
Father´s day is comming soon and I want to make many for my father in law.

They are vanilla cupcakes, with vanilla buttercream. The down side is that I had to use many food colorant to make the grass so green, and I am not a fan of food colorant.
With many patience I did the grass. The ball is fondant.  Even my little helpers liked them!

I think they are perfect for a little boys birthday. What do you think?

Congrats to Simply Sweet Cupcakes. Cupcake Wars winners

I dont know if you ever watched Cupcake Wars on t.v . I have. And I love that show!
Not only for the great recipes or ideas I can get from the top cupcake bakers on the US. But I also love the people that participate on it. I think they are brave, creative and have nerves of steel!

I especially loved Gina and Jaqueline Ciaburri from Simply Sweet Cupcakes
For their fantastic and outside the box recipes. This two wonderful bakers proved that cupcakes can be as versatile as our imagination.

I take my hat of for every contestant.
Congratulations Simply Sweet Cupcakes!!
you deserved the big prize!
And if I ever visit Jersey, your shop will be a must!!

Michelle Obama hates Cupcakes

Have you heard? Ms. Obama have recently planned to ban cupcakes ( and other sugar goodies) from being used as reference on U.S schools. Inviting Publishers to change textbooks on the Lets Move! blog .
This means math teachers will have to replace cupcakes for vegetables on their problem teaching.
No more hypothetical sugar for kids! God forbid they run home to stuf their little noses on cupcakes or cakes!

I still dont know if I have to laugh or cry .
I am just glad I dont live in the US and no one is planning to take my daughters right to count pastries.
What is the next move of the Lets Move ! Program?

What is the line between helping kids and being an autocrat? Whats next? A horse working for the white house?

I know this is a baking blog, not a political blog, but I am a baker and a mom and I feel like I have to stand for all the cupcakes out there who have done nothing to us but bring joy to our lifes!

Ariel and Flounder Cake Pops

   
       Hello!  Today I am super excited to show you my cake pops...
I made them for the birthday party of my friend's daughter.
The little birthay girl choose an Ariel themed party to celebrate.
So there I was, looking everywhere on line for inspiration for my cake pops, I found this great tutorial for princess cake pops made by My Cupcake Addiction. I just love her tutorials! She explains everything so you can follow her excactly!  Princess Cake Pop Tutorial.

here is a picture of my Ariel Cake Pops:

Ok. So I had my Little Mermaids, but how about her loyal friend? I looked and looked to find that there are no cute cake pops of Flounder. So I made my own, and they were beautifull!!!

Sorry I have no pictures of the process, but I think it's quite easy, promise to have some photos next time! If you need some tips and tricks to make the perfect character cake pops click here

You will need: a pintch of fondant, just for the eyes.

Some tylose
Yellow candy melts
Blue candy melts
Your cake balls
Your lolly pop sticks
An edible black marker

Process:
A day before making your cake pops do the eyes, mix the white fondant with 1/8 teaspoon of tylose, roll it and use a little piping tip to cut out the shape of the eyes. I used a wilton 10. Wait for them to dry and using the black marker paint the eye balls, making sure to leave a white dot and being careful not to make your cake pop crossed eye! Having this you are ready to start the good stuff..
This cake pops have to be small, so start by making a smaller ball than normal..
Now make the flaunder shape like this "mold" I made from clay to guide me . I photographed it with the tape so you can figure out the size..

To make the dent where the eyes go, I used my finger.
Put them in the fridge. While they are in there , melt some blue candy melt and put it on a small ziploc bag, cut the tip to leave a very small hole, SMALL! Spread a waxed paper sheet and draw the fins , tail and the upper fins. Leave aside.
Take out your cake pops and let them template a little while you melt the yellow candy melt.
Dip and as fast as you can start putting the fins and tail, starting with the tail and upper fin! Which are the hardest to "glue" after the candy melt cool. You can paste everything using a toothpick and yellow candy melt if you have to.
Let them dry completely before you draw the eyebrows , the line for the nose and the smile.
Now melt a small amount of blue candy melts, and with a toothpick draw the tree lines from the upper fin to the body, not to long!
Enjoy!
Here are some pictures of the finished product:

 The best flounder cake pops on the web!
What do you think?

Goth Cupcakes

Today is the International Goth Day!!
And what better way to celebrate than with cupcakes!

I am not Goth, ( the look is not for me) but back in my teen days , ohh memories!, I had a few friends who were. I even like Marilyn Manson music. Watching the two little helpers dance to his music is hilarious!

So, in remembrance of those friends , and because today is their day and many others I created these cupcakes.

All decorations are made of fondant, and the blood is corn syrup.

I had a blast creating them! Hope you enjoy!

Sunflower Cupcake

Tried, just tried to make a sunflower cupcake. A delicious vanilla cupcake dipped in melted chocolate frosting and decorated as a Sunflower, at least I tried to make a sunflower.

I filled a ziploc bag with yellow frosting and cut the tip, then made the petals just by pushing. I think that if I had used a piping bag it would have looked a little better, what do you think?

In my opinion , the look was not the best but the taste was delicious!

How to paint your chocolate black

       Painting your chocolate has a trick, I think every thing has a tick in cupcake world.
Changing the color of chocolate is no exception, the only thing I knew when I put some black colorant in my melted chocolate was that I needed a good colorant , a gel one. I thought that would made the job. Mistake.

By the time I achieved a blackish tone my chocolate was no longer chocolate, it became this thing with a life of its own, sticky, muddy, just like pitch ( now "pitch black" adquired a whole other meaning !)  I wasted perfect white chocolate, I hate to waste , but to waste chocolate hurts me.
Besides, good bye design I had in mind...

So... When you read that you can paint your chocolate black, dont believe a word they say. And if you had already paint your chocolate black please, please let me know how to do it.

Too bad I was too ashamed to take a picture abd share it with you...

I am not joking! If you know how to paint melted chocolate black please share!

Wedding Cupcakes

Today was the day... Everything I know about fondant was put to test...

I made this beautifull cupcakes for my friend. I know , I know, the design is not mine, I know, but the client knows what he wants right?

The brides are vanilla cupcakes and the grooms are chocolate, they both have cream cheese frosting... Sound delicious? They are!!!!

5 Tips for perfect chocolate cupcakes for beginers

Free at last!!! I did it! I finally did it!

Perfect , light, moist and not to crumbly for fondant chocolate cupcakes...

They say you can allways learn from your mistakes , and with these chocolate babies, believe me! I have learned a lot!!! To some of you it can come across as obvious, to beginers like me it can mean the difference between cocoa yummines and a cocoa mess, so here they are... all the lessons learned from my previous dissasters put into 5 tips:

1) Look for the right recipe:  The one that don´t ask anything you can´t find ... ( for example, in Mexico there is no buttermilk, we are supposed to mix lemon and milk for 10 minutes... it is never the same) the one that has good reviews. A good recipe for begginers, easy to understand and easy to follow. Hey! if it has pictures the better!!! Thanks to a blogg with pictures I found out I was doing my buttermilk wrong!! I was not waiting enough and my milk didnt resemble the one in the picture, another lesson learned... 10 minutes to home made buttermilk is nothing!!!. Find that one recipe you can follow easily.

2)Prepare everything beforehand:  You are beating your eggs, they have reached the perfect texture and then you noticed you didnt sieve the flour, or sugar , or anything...
Try organizing everything you will need before you start your cooking, before even to heat your oven!.
Make time before hand to take out your butter (if needed) to be room temperature, in cases like mine, make your "buttermilk" mix first , keep in hand every other ingredient you know you will use. When your cupcakes are in the oven take out your cooling rack so you dont have a panic attack if you cant find it.

3) Sieve everything: Sift your flour, your cocoa, your baking powder, even your sugar... sieve everything you could possibly sieve. The more the better, so your cupcakes can rise and shine, and be fluffy, and make you happy... sieve! . If you don´t have a good sieve use the strainer. but do it.

4) Use a hand mixer:  Like the beginer I am , I dont bake, I experiment, and I dont like to experiment with a 30 cupcake batch, I go for the 6 or 12 batch instead... so the proportions are not the same, I learned that with smaller portions a hand mixer works best for me, the eggs beat better and faster, my butter blends better with the sugar, and the workout never hurt anyone!.. So, if you are baking in smaller amounts my advice is to use the hand mixer , not the stand mixer.

5) Get to know your tools: My mixer has the standar whisk , that is what I used in all these years, but it also came with other tool, two hooks. Today , tired of all my chocolate disasters , and curious as I am , I decided to give them a try... guess what.. they worked!, they mixed the butter with the sugar with no problem , and they were so easy to clean! . Later reading about hooks and mixers I learned their funtion is that... help bakers do batter. And they were in a box for a year!. So dont be scared to try new appliances... Even if they are not for what you are using them , you cuould allways find new ways to make your life easier.

Here they are... 5 dummie proof tips to improve your first cupcake experience...

In case you need a good and easy recipe for chocolate cupcakes, look no further, here it is, if I could do it you can too! It is from Alma Obregón while looking for star wars cupcakes to share may 4th!... this is the link : http://www.objetivocupcake.com/2011/03/el-post-que-contiene-una-foto-que-hara.html
If you are looking for great recipes it may worth your time to check her page...

And for all of you that dont want to make the effort of reading and translate here is the recipe in english:
( you will have to convert to onz. and Fº)

Ingredients:

- 115 gr. All purpose flour
- 120 gr. butter at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 2  1/2 tablespoons cocoa ( unsweetened) ( She said she used Hershey´s)
- 140 gr. sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 60 or 70 ml. milk

Method:

Preheat the oven at 160 ºC  and prepare your tray with your cupcake liners.
In a bowl mix the milk with the vanilla.
In another bowl sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powde.
In the mixer, mix  the sugar with the butter untill creamy.
Add the eggs one by one.
Add half of the flour mixture, then all the milk-vanilla mixture, then the rest of the flour mixture

fill the liners 2/3 and bake for 22 , 24 min. ( this time is real!, mine took 24 min. to bake)
Take them out until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

What I did was this: When I took them out and had them in the tray, I cut with my knife a line almost all the way through the cupcake and inserted a little piece of semi sweet chocolate for extra yummines!

They were perfect ( for my standars ) and delicious to everyone I gave them to : my husband, my mom, my two little helpers, and my friends

If you are having trouble making chocolate cupcakes or just want to try a new and easy breezy recipe, this is the one...

Here are my cupcakes done:

Not To Shabby ... What do you think?

5 de Mayo Chocolate Cupcakes

5 de Mayo. An important date in the history of Mexico... The french forces were defeated by General Zaragoza in an epic battle... And what a better way to commemorate this date that fighting my own battle, against chocolate, against every flat or gooish chocolate cupcake I have ever made. This time I went prepared for this battle of mine with the perfect recipe, the best ingredients, the girls were sleeping and the time was right, ... As I aproached de mixer I prayed for fluffines, moisture and hight... When I finished with my batter I was confident, it looked great, smelled great and It had no butter! Everything was perfect what possibly could go wrong???

I have no answer, I am a desgrace for my ancestors and a shame for the cupcake world... Chocolate won again!

I swear I am not trying to make this blog like Pintester ( I love it!!! , if you want to laught I highly recommend it) where this lady messes things up just for the fun of it .
I have made Bannana cupcakes with no problem at all, vanilla, and even carrot cupcakes , but chocolate cupcakes are my nemesis, my big obstacle , they just wont come out for me!!!

Do you have a great and easy recipe to help me in my quest? What am I doing with my chocolate that allways goes wrong?

This time the problem is overflow... I swear I just filled them 1/3 2/3 like Im supposed to, like I allways fill my liners ... This is what happened:

In case you are wondering what wonderful recipe did I follow was the recipe from The Alchemist , great blogger and excellent baker and teacher. This is the link to read it : The best moisture chocolate cupcakes

Redeeming myself

After dealing with my two little helpers and feeding them I decided to give my chocolate cupcakes a second chance ...

At the end they looked ok. But tasted awfull! The "pastish" "glueish" consistency was not what I was aiming for! What happened!!??? Was the recipe a bad recipe? ( yeah... Don't think so either!)
Did I took them out before their time? Were 2 eggs too much? Please tell me what am I doing wrong!!

But that's all right, I will give my chocolate cupcakes one more try tomorrow, in the mean while I used them to practice my fondant decorating

Forgive me flour for I have sinned

Today I committed every crime in cupcake world : I didn't have a good recipe, I didn't sieve my flour, I didn't even use the mixer! . The result?

       The worst chocolate cupcakes ever made!!! I feel so guilty I will be doing another batch (as soon as I stop sharing ) just to prove myself I can. 

Lesson 1 in cupcake world: Allways use a mixer is now learned!

What do you think I could have done better? Was a bad recipe the reason for this failure? The lack of  mixer? Or is it just me?