Almond Raspberry Cupcakes

adapted from Smitten Kitten, but suggested by my dear cake friend Cece

Friday AM via phone
Auntie: Morning Baby--
Noeybakes: Morning Auntie!
Auntie: Can you make a birthday cake?
Noeybakes: Sure, how come my mom didn't tell me?
Auntie: She must be really busy.
Noeybakes: Oh Ok! No problem!

Friday PM via text
Mamacita: Pik up cake frm snflr aldry pd 4
Noeybakes: ummm what? Auntie already asked me to make a cake and I've already gone shopping for the ingredients.
Mamacita: Oh well it's alrdy pd 4. Don't bake anymore.

SHEESH. And btw i love how my mom texts. It's like she's tweeting sorta with all the abbreviations. It's quite hilarious. My cousins can relate hehe.

ANYWHO, I was suppose to make my cousin Jeremy cupcakes as form of payment for always picking me up from the airport. I intended to make chocolate or something simple but I figured why let the ingredients go to waste. So I made the almond cake into almond cupcakes.

I halved all the ingredients in the recipe because I only wanted to make about a dozen and it would have made about 2+ dozen cupcakes.

Well except the almond paste because I wasn't paying attention and put the entire tube in. Ok well I was a little excited because I've never baked with almond paste before. Oh and the whipped frosting too because it was 3am and I was ready to sleep.

Almond Rasberry Cupcakes
Makes about 1-2 dozen cupcakes depending on the size

2.25 4 1/2 cups cake flour
2.25 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup prepared almond paste (7 ounces)
1 1/3 2 2/3 cups sugar
1.25 2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
0.5 1 tablespoon almond extract
5 10 egg whites
0.75 1 1/2 cups whole milk

For assembly:
0.5 1 cup seedless raspberry preserves

Frosting ideas: Whipped Bittersweet Frosting (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside.

3. Place the almond paste and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in another large bowl if using a handheld mixer. Begin to cream the mixture on low speed to break up the almond paste, then increase the speed to medium for about 2 minutes, or until the paste is broken into fine particles.

4. Add the butter and almond extract and beat it well, then the egg whites, two or three at a time, beating just long enough to incoperate after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to make sure it is evenly mixed.

5. Dust about a third of the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in with a large rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in about half the milk. Fold in half the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk. Finally, fold in the last of the dry ingredients just until no streaks of white remain. Use a light hand and do not overmix. Divide the batter among the three prepared cake pans.

6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool on wire racks. Meanwhile proceed to step 7.

7. Making whipped frosting because it has to cool while cupcakes cool.

8. Use a any piping tip, fill bag with raspberry preserve. Stab cupcakes to fill centers.

9. Once cupcakes cooled and frosting is made, frost cupcakes.

Whipped Bittersweet Frosting

Makes about 3 cups, or enough to coat a three layer 8- or 9-inch cake. You’ll want 1 1/2 this amount if you’re using it for filling as well.

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler or metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk to blend well. Remove from heat and let stand, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. (No doubt, exactly what you want to think about when making chocolate frosting).

2. Place the butter in a large mixer bowl and with an electric mixer on medium speed, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate cream and whip until lighter in color and somewhat stiff, about three minutes. Do not whip too long or the frosting may begin to separate.

Enjoy!
Noeybakes

Grapefruit Cupcakes

pretty. right?















1/2C yogurt
1/2C cold unsalted butter
1/4tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
2T honey
1/4C granulated sugar
2 1/2C APF
1 grapefruit, zest and all

1. preheat oven 425degrees F.
2. whisk dry ingredients together.
3. cube butter and work into dry ingredients until mealy texture shows
4. zest and dice grapefruit.
5. mix zest and sugar together. whisk in 2 tablespoons of grapefruit sugar. eat some too ;)
6. add honey, yogurt and diced grapefruit.
7. toss everything together until well mixed.
8. scoop dough into cups, sprinkle left over grapefruit sugar on top
9. bake 15-17 minutes
makes 1 dozen
adapated from Joy the Baker's scone recipe





short and sweet.
just like these cupcakes.
Have a nice week :)







<3 -- noey

Bridal Shower & a Tea Party

Hello. Enjoy the eye candy....



The end. Thanks for coming :)

Cupcakes and Crutches

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did! As you know one of my friends had her wedding the day after Christmas and she asked me to make her cupcakes/cake. 230 cupcakes and 1 baby cake. Everything was a hit! But boy was it a journey to the finish line. Without further adieu:



I think the stand came out beautifully! Thanks Dad for the help :) The flavors the bride chose:

cupcakes:

white cake filled with mascarpone kahlua whipped cream frosted with kahlua cream cheese
mocha frosted with frangelico (hazeulnut) buttercream
red velvet cake frosted with vanilla cream cheese frosting

cake:

6" red velvet cake frosted with vanilla bean buttercream

The bf also made a little video on the day of the wedding. It's cute. There's music so turn up your speakers! Check it out:



So as I was saying, it was a huge journey to this finish line. Let me explain. The bf, my cousin and I went snowboarding the day before Christmas Eve. It was the most BEAUTIFUL DAY.



it was sunny, the snow was powdery, my runs were perfect. I'm not a beginner and not really a professional so ya. I know how to carve small and big. I just don't know how I ended up like this:



and how the binding that ripped out of my board ended up like this:



SO, the diagnosis is that my left knee is sprained. I have an appointment with a specialist on Wednesday but YES I did bake, frost, setup and goto the wedding with the bummmed knee. Insane. I know. Tell that to my poor knee. I seriously wouldn't have made it without the help of my mom's ginormous, cupcake making oven, my brother who diligently helped me with everything during the baking process, my dad for the stand/driving me around town while it rained cats and dogs bc someone *ahem*the bf*ahem* forgot all the butter at our house, and my loving bf for pretty much being my legs/purse holder(for him this is a huge thing. he totally detests holding purses)/driver/cook/my everything during this whole fiasco! OH OH, and big thank you to Lucky's grocery store for being the only store open on Christmas Day that actually had UNSALTED BUTTER. I wouldn't have made it through all this crazy baking madness. Thank you. I love u all.

With all that said I think if I had a dollar for every time I wanted to cry during the cupcake madness I would be filthy rich. But when everything was assembled and I saw the bride & groom's face, it was all worth it. I felt very touched to be included in their special day and wish them the best!!

If I had a choice to do it all over again, I think I wouldn't. haha Just kidding. I would if it weren't the day after a major holiday. With every experience I learn a lot about my techniques, recipes, what works and what doesn't. I've taken away a lot from this experience and wouldn't change any of it. Well like I said earlier maybe just not after a major holiday ;)

x O X o,
Noey

Yo Gabba Gabba cupcakes

Happy 4th Birthday Sal!! Hope you enjoyed the cupcakes!

These are basic chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting decorated with fondant pieces Yo Gabba Gabba style.

The chocolate chip cookie craze will have to hold on until next week because I'm off to the great city of Los Angeles this weekend to visit some friends ;) Be sure to check back for cupcakery/bakery visits because I have a long list that I want to try!

Until then :)

x O X o,
Noey

Happy Halloween :)

Carved my first pumpkin today. Although it's not baked it's still baking related :)

The bf's nephew let me use his pumpkin since mine was all moldy. He's happy with it, don't you think? I think it was a pretty sucessfull first carving :)

Have a fun and safe halloween!

Until next time..

Noey