Things I've Tried from Pinterest: Chocolate Frosting Shots

This idea intrigued me; Chocolate Frosting Shots. Basically, the concept is dairy free, gluten free chocolate icing using coconut milk. The pin comes from ChocolateCoveredKatie.com. I've tried it twice and plan to try it again.

What I used:

• Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
• Vanilla
• Powdered Sugar
• A Touch of Thai Coconut Milk

What I like about it:

• The obvious. It's a dairy free alternative. 
• It's easy, with simple ingredients I usually have in the house.
• It's yummy and rich.

Concerns:

• My results with it have not been consistent. I don't know if it relates to the temperature of the coconut milk or what, but it has turned out differently both times.
• It's almost too sweet and rich. In order to get a good consistency, I have to add a ton of sugar and cocoa.
• The consistency is not the same as regular frosting. It really is more like a mousse.
• You have to prepare ahead by keeping the coconut milk in the fridge. 

Like I said, I plan to try this again, but unless I am specifically making cupcakes for, say, my cousin who is lactose and gluten intolerant. I would possibly use it as an actual mousse with a ton of whip cream on top. I definitely would have a glass of milk with it!

Things I've Tried from Pinterest: "Mind Blowing Cake Decorating Tip"

I have used this amazing Pinterest find often. It's a great video explaining a tip for using cake decorating icing bags. The original pin leads you back to this site, but the original video comes from karenscookies.net.

What I used:

• Wilton decorator bags
• Wilton decorating tips
• Homemade butter cream
• Generic plastic wrap

What I like about it:

• No need to deal with cleaning out those stupid decorating bags. They are a pain in the neck to was by hand, and in the dishwasher they always move around and often have residue left behind on the inside.
• It's easy.
• It's always difficult and messy to add more icing to a decorator bag. This eliminates that problem.
• It's really easy to switch tips in the middle of decorating. I really like that.
• I can just throw the mess away.

Concerns:

• You can only put a small amount of frosting in the bag using this method which means you end up having to do this several times. Inevitably, I run out of icing half way through a cupcake.
• When I do run out of icing, and know I don't have enough to finish a whole cupcake, I have to squeeze out the excess back into the bowl. Because it's in the plastic wrap, a lot of the icing gets wasted in the process. This annoys me.
• Sometimes this whole process doesn't work as well as it's supposed to. I've spent a lot of time trying to get the little plastic wrap tail through the tip or having the plastic wrap burst open or not fit as far down into the bag as I want it to and getting the bag dirty anyway.

Overall, I like this tutorial and use it often.

Key Lime Colada Cupcakes

Last night I made cupcakes for a bake sale. My plan was to...actually, I didn't have a plan. I found a box of lemon cake mix in the pantry and decided to try making berry pink lemonade cupcakes. I was pretty sure I had some frozen berries in the freezer. I thought I'd put a berry in the middle of each cupcake, then cook down some berries and use the juice to color and flavor some homemade butter cream.

I made the batter then searched for the berries. Couldn't find them. I'm pretty sure I used them the last time I made berry cupcakes; I must have, because they're gone. So I changed plans. *Note: after I was fully engaged in the new plan, I realized that their was a pint of fresh strawberries in my fridge. Where they came from, I don't know, but I totally could have used those.*

New Plan: Key Lime Colada Cupcakes. I took my lemon cake batter and added a bit of coconut rum, the juice of a lime, and some flaked coconut. I also added a bit of flour and a teaspoon of sugar because I wanted the cupcakes to be a bit firm and not too sweet. . I tasted one when they came out, and it worked fine. Oh, and some green food coloring, just a couple drops; I like to use the "neon" green you buy at the grocery store instead of the regular green.

For the frosting, I wanted to make a butter cream and swirl it nicely on the top of the cupcakes. I decided to use that Pinterest tip of chilling coconut milk then using the thickened part that separates from the coconut water. I've done that before, and it didn't turn out very firm, so I mixed that with some butter. I also added lime juice, a few drops of food coloring, and a few drops of coconut extract. I forgot, however, that I didn't have a whole bag of powdered sugar. So when I mixed it all, it came out like more of a glaze. AND...the acidic lime juice made it hard for everything to blend well. I ended up putting it in a double boiler in order to get it to blend more smoothly.

It worked really nicely as a glaze. I put it on the cupcakes twice, the second time after the first application had firmed up a bit; it gave it a better look. As garnish, I added some lime zest and pieces of organic, unsweetened flaked coconut (I thought it looked pretty).

I hope they sell well!

Stress Baking

Tuesday was a bad day for me. I had a stressful day at work, a mix of normal stress and some yearbook drama, and I came home tired and frustrated and ready to crash. I decided to bake some cupcakes out of my new cookbook What's New, Cupcake? in an attempt to relax. Just after I got everything mixing nicely in the Kitchen Aid, my husband walks out of the bedroom (he had worked overnight the night before) and says "They'll be here in twenty minutes," then went downstairs to get ready.

"They" is our friend Anthony and his girlfriend. I knew they were coming, but thought they were coming the following evening. But of course, I was wrong. I left the mixer running, ran downstairs, threw clothes in the hamper, straightened the bathroom, and just generally scrambled. Steve walked out of the bathroom, and I promptly burst into tears.

I got over that quickly enough, enjoyed our time with Anthony and his girlfriend (even though she trounced us all at Crazy Game), and finished my cupcakes. What do you think of them?

The roses are made out of Laffy Taffy and were super easy to make. I majorly needed a touch of spring in my life, and these were just the trick! I love baking.