Heather Bakes

That’s What She Said…

Infestation! June 13, 2008

Filed under: June 2008 — heatherwlu @ 4:05 am
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So… THE BIG PROJECT. You’ve been dying of suspense, right?

I’m helping my mom throw a baby shower for my cousin tomorrow night and happily volunteered to make cupcakes. They’re having a little girl and registered for super cute ladybug print baby bedding. I planned on making just the regular old Magnolia vanilla cake/pink vanilla buttercream combo, but then had the brilliant idea to create LADYBUG CUPCAKES.

Fast forward to last night, with me hunched over the counter attaching tiny black fondant heads to equally tiny red fondant bodies. Thirty guests= 3 bugs per cupcake x 3 dozen cupcakes= A LOT OF FREAKING LADYBUGS. These old lady eyes are not my friends.

Safe in it’s natural habitat, the peaceful ladybug happily mingles with peers…

For the cupcakes I went ahead with the trusty Magnolia Bakery Cookbook Vanilla Birthday Cake recipe… and, of course, pink vanilla buttercream icing. It’s never failed me in the past so why mess with a good thing?? As a (sometimes) redhead, I recognize that pink and red is not always a good combo outside of Valentine’s Day- so I opted for half white frosted and half pink (the pink turned out waaaay cuter). I call this “Ladybugs in the Snow”:

With the pink:

And the infestation on my counter. Notice the wine at the top? I needed this.

I’m happy with how they turned out, even though they were a lot of work. And Katherine- any chance you’ll be heading south this weekend? I have about a gallon of buttercream left over.

It’s got your name on it… just sayin’

 

Hey, Sugar April 11, 2008

Filed under: April 2008 — heatherwlu @ 3:26 pm
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Anytime there’s a family gathering, I view it as an opportunity to exploit my relatives by using them as pastry guinea pigs.  Lucky for me, my brother’s birthday on Monday gave me the perfect excuse to try out a new recipe for my absolute FAVORITE dessert… cupcakes!

I usually stick with the classic: vanilla cake with buttercream frosting.  That recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. They’re pretty much a huge pain to make but so worth it.  The frosting involves obscene amounts of butter, vanilla and powdered sugar- but you end up with this glorious, light buttercream that tastes like it was made by little naked singing cherubs. Amazing.

Anyway, this time I went all crazy and decided to do a lemon buttermilk cupcake with lemon cream cheese frosting.  We had some unsweetened coconut flakes in the pantry so I threw some of that on top… you know, for pizazz.  OH- and I filled them with lemon curd (from the jar… I’m not THAT ambitious).  That was my first experience with the pastry bag and I’m happy to report that my kitchen survived!

And here it is:

From above:

So yeah, I guess white cupcake + white icing + white plate = not that exciting.  But trust me, they were good.  I should have done a cross-section shot so you could see the filling. Oh well.

Here’s the frosting recipe:

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used reduced-fat and it tasted fine!)
  • 1 stick butter, at room temperature
  • 4 C powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • juice from half a lemon (probably 2-3 Tbs)

Using stand or hand mixer, combine cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Gradually add powered sugar in parts, mixing well between additions.  Add vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Blend until desired consistency (adding more powdered sugar if needed).

Frosts about 24 cupcakes, even with me “tasting” approximately half of the final product.

And the best part? I got to use my new cupcake carrier!

Happy Friday!