Great Success!

This weekend we had a 4 dozen order to work on, so we were pretty busy. We also had the opportunity to stop in at a great local cake shop which really got us amped. We saw so many awesome things and we can't wait to go back! For the order we made Chai Latte, Bananas Foster, Mexican Hot Chocolate, and Twilight Delight. They turned out very well and the process went pretty smoothly. (I forgot to mention that everything went smoothly BECAAAUUUUSE 80% of the time we listened to the theme song from Mortal Kombat, totally not strange at all.)

First we started with the Chai. Angela had some great loose leaf Masala Chai that we steeped in milk. We did use two extra Tazo chai bags for additional flavor. We had a great big tea strainer basket that worked perfectly, as if it were made to fit in my cute little Japanese soup bowls.

 The finished product turned out perfectly. They were so cute packaged up all nice in the little pink boxes we got at the cake shop.

After we finished working on the chai cakes we began the bananas foster. Unfortunately the rum we used for the flambe didn't have a high enough alcohol content so we didn't get the flame going like we had hoped for this time. No big, there is always next time. These banana cupcakes are probably my new favorite (I say that every time) so I am sure we will try them again very soon.

During our visit to Cost Plus World Market last week we found actual Vanilla beans that were a lot cheaper than buying them at Safeway. So this time we decided to add them to the frosting for the Bananas Fosters.

They bean itself had a great fragrance and it was really interesting to work with. We sliced it open and scraped out all of its delicious guts :) Which didn't look like much but once we added it to the batter it was plenty and added great flavor.

Our next step was creating our dark chocolate cake batter which we would then divide in half. One part for the twilights and the other for the mexicans. I always like doing the dark chocolate cake because it just looks so amazing! So dark and rich.

Yummy! My favorite part is when we mix in the sour cream and it starts to swirl in an it just looks so magical!

 

After that was completed we added the cayenne to the mexican batter. And as requested by the customer we added peanut butter chips to the twilight batter instead of white chocolate chips. 

Once we baked those up we put the cinnamon chocolate ganache on the mexicans. Oh boy did they look good. We topped them with whipped cream right before we left so they wouldn't start to melt. The whipped cream held up fine for the delivery journey.

After frosting the twilights, much like the mexicans, we drizzled them with chocolate topping. Since it is fitting with the name, we drizzle these bad boys with Ghiradelli Twilight Delight chocolate. Both Angela and I whipped out our mad crosshatching skills and they turned out great!

The finished products turned out great. And from what I heard, the customer really enjoyed them. :)

The finished line up

Mardi Gras Madness!

In preparation for Fat Tuesday, I took inspiration from a couple of Nawlin's favorites. First up was the good old King's Cake you might see around this time of year. Baked inside this cake is a little plastic baby (meant to represent the baby Jesus) and if your slice of the cake has the baby inside it is said you get good luck and are King for the day!

I remember the first time I heard about this. I was about 8 or 9 years old. My  mother's boyfriend at the time, Damien, who was born and raised in New Orleans had one shipped over for us to try and it was awesome!

So the cupcakes aren't entirely true to actual cake, but I took my own little spin on it.

For the cake I started with my favorite vanilla recipe and added a little cinnamon and dark rum! After that I topped them with a rum sugar glaze and used purple and green vanilla buttercream for the frosting. I placed the little babies on top just for visual effect. Of course I did bake a baby inside one lucky cupcake. (I'll take a photo of the "king" when it's found)

After that cupcake was finished, I couldn't pass up the chance to do a bananas foster cupcake. Bananas foster is my favorite (non chocolate) dessert! I was also introduced to this by Damien on a different occasion. First things first I had to start with an actual bananas foster recipe. I sauteed those bananas in butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, banana liquor, a dark rum.

I did my best flambe it, but I was kinda scared I would set my house on fire! HAHAHA. I did alright though. After that was done it was more rum and vanilla batter, then I mixed in my bananas. Since this actual dessert is usually served over vanilla ice cream, I topped the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and adorned it with a brown sugar sprinkle and a banana chip. They were super delicious!

Another good weekend baking experiment!

<3 Ashley