UFM Menu

Menu for the Underground Farmers Market:

• Chocolate Peanutbutter Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache (Vegan)
  
• French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Candied Bacon
• Orange Creme Cupcakes (Vegan, Gluten Free)
  
• Red Velvet Cupcakes with Ginger Buttercream and Candied Ginger
• Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free)
  
• Vanilla Cupcakes with Traditional Vanilla Buttercream

Something for everyone.

Underground Farmers Market!

That's it. I'm in. It's legit. I've been mentioned on another person's blog. WOAH! Watch out fame and fortune, here I come.

Long and excited story short, I'll be vending normal, vegan and gluten-free cupcakes at the Underground Farmers Market this Friday. For the full vendor list, click here.

See you there!

Go Go Go!

Please excuse my lack of posting.
I have been a baking frenzy, so much so, that I have had no time to post!
I am catering my first event this weekend!
And will hear tomorrow if I will be able to vend at the next Underground Farmers Market!

I have so much to write about. I will be catching up soon with recipies!

In the mean time, cupcakes on the go! (Pina Colada and Vegan Margarita)

Vegan Margarita Cupcakes

As a test recipe for my first event (yay!) I made vegan Margarita cupcakes. I was a little concerned as I had never baked vegan before. I've heard, and tasted, horror stories from first vegan adventures. These, on the other hand, were so great. The recipe was taken originally from the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which is on my 'soon to buy' list.

I ended up bringing a few of these cupcakes as half of my application to vend at the Underground Farmers Market. The other half was pina colada, post forthcoming.

I would highly recommend the recipe. They taste just as good as they look. ^_^

Margarita Cupcakes
(originally from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I got it from The Bakingsheet)

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
• 1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp tequila
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.

In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, soy milk, oil , tequila, vanilla and sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to lime mixture and stir until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


Tequila and Lime Frosting

• 1/4 cup nonhydrogenated shortening, softened
• 1 tbsp soymilk
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp tequila
• 2+ cups confectioners' sugar

Cream together shortening, soymilk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.

First Event Application

I got a bite!

I'm supplying cakes, cupcakes and cookies for a party of 80! My first non-family-and-friends event!
I'm working for dirt cheap, the woman is getting a deal of a lifetime for custom crafted, from scratch baked goods. I'm personally hoping for referrals. It's a little overwhelming, but mostly in terms of organization and time management. I know I can do it, it just might take some serious caffeine and stimulants to get through it.

To apply to this job, I made a cake. A specific request modeled after her favorite cake: a moist full-bodied pound cake generously scented with fresh lemon zest and layered with tart lemon mousse and fresh strawberries. She had tasted the cake at a super fancy baker in the Bay Area named Katrina Rozelle. Awe inspiring cakes but a tacky website.

Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Adapted from Staff Meals from Chanterelle via Smitten Kitchen (I got it from Stickey, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy)

Makes two 5 x 9 loaf cakes or one 12-cup bundt cake (I used 2 7in round cake pans to make a 4 layered cake.)

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• Zest from 2 lemons
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Cut partchment paper for the bottom and grease your pan.

Mix the sugar and the lemon zest in a small bowl and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers. The warmth from your fingers will release the oils from the zest and flavor the sugar. Set aside.

Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, about five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the vanilla and lemon extracts. Then, add the flour and salt all at once. Mix just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours.

Cool the cake(s) on a rack for 20 minutes. Remove the cake(s) from the pan(s) and let cool completely.

Lemon Mousse
Originally published in Bon Appétit, August 1999. (I got it from Epicurious.com)

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• 11/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel

• 2 cups chilled whipping cream

Combine 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, 6 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs and grated lemon peel in large metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bowl to touch water). Whisk until mixture thickens and thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F. Transfer lemon curd to another large bowl. Chill until cool, whisking occasionally.

Using electric mixer, beat 11/2 cups cream in medium bowl until medium-firm peaks form. Fold 1/3 of whipped cream into lemon curd to lighten, then fold in remaining whipped cream.

Vanilla Buttercream

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat the butter until fluffy and holds peaks. Beat in the vanilla. Slowly add in the sugar until light, spreadable, and tastes like frosting.

To Assemble your Cake
Cut each layer in half so that you have 4 layers. Layer it: cake, mousse, fresh sliced strawberries. Cover the outside with vanilla buttercream.

Good luck!

Day 33: Alice in Wonderland

This is off topic, it's not about baking, it's about a movie.

*Spoiler Alert*  I will be talking about things that happen in the movie, without reserve, so consider yourself warned.

Last weekend, I went to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie.  As I take the name of this blog from the book, I feel as if I have to make a comment about it.  I was really disappointing in it.  I thought it was terrible.  It took a story that focused so much on nonsense and the creativity of life and forced it into a formulaic box of blockbuster:
Girl is unsure
Girl finds herself on a quest to find herself
Girl finds unlikely but devoted friends to help her on her quest
Girl meets and must overcome an enemy (symbolically overcoming her fears)
Girl finds her courage
Girl overcomes her enemy and finds herself

I was fine with this formula until the last few scenes of the movie.  At that point, it went from entertainingly predictable, to corny, brain-numbingly predictable.  I mean really, to kill the Jabberwocky, Alice gets launched 50 feet in the air and calmly says "Off with your head!" before cleanly slicing off the dragon's head with one swipe, neatly winning the day.  I almost groaned aloud in the theater when I saw that.

It was a very pretty movie with interesting visuals, as Burton is famous for.  The acting was pretty good as well.  Helena Bonham Carter was so good as the Red Queen.  Johnny Depp usually holds his own and doesn't disappoint here.   I'm not saying it was a complete waste of time, it entertaining.  I was just so disappointed in the way that the story got manipulated.  I'm going to give it another try, probably on DVD.  Maybe it will be better after I let it settle in for a while.

Day 30: Chocolate Chocolate, again

Also, for that birthday I went to I made chocolate chocolate cupcakes with the same Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting that I've used a few times recently.  I made so much of that damn frosting.  Triple recipe is way too much.  I'm going to be eating that damn frosting for a very long time.

Chocolate Cupcakes (I omitted the chocolate chips)
Go read the rest of that blog post.  The better than sex chocolate cupcakes noms noms.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 2/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine. Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 1/2 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting Recipe