Now on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, you can now find me at:
http://twitter.com/beantowncupcake

Be sure to follow me if you’d like updates on my baking adventure.

I’m on Fire

My sister-in-law asked “have you ever make a lemon meringue cupcake?”…. Challenge accepted!

I’ve never made meringue before and to be honest, raw eggs make me nervous.  After doing some research online, my confidence was high and I was ready to get started. However, to make a proper meringue I would need to buy a kitchen torch. Off I went to Bed Bath & Beyond with my 20% off coupon in hand.

An hour later I was ON FIRE! I constructed my lemon cupcake and added a nice lemon curd filling.  Now it was on to my meringue. Happily I found that it was easier to make than a standard buttercream frosting.  I piped it on to my almost thoroughly cooked cupcakes and baked it for about 5 more minutes.

Once I took them out of the oven, the meringue had just started to brown.  Now it was time to LIGHT IT UP!  I set up my kitchen torch and got to it. I quickly learned that not only does meringue burn quickly but so doesn’t the paper cupcake cup!!!

Who knew making cupcakes could be so dangerous?

The key is to keep the torch a good distance away from the meringue and slowly move all the way around the cupcake. Move the torch a little closer and again move your way around the cupcake.  Keep moving around evenly until it reaches the desired color.

Enjoy!

It’s a Sign

A Sweet Little Grouch

My friend’s daughter LOVES Sesame Street. I mean straight up obsessed!!!  Her birthday is quickly approaching so I thought I would try my hand at creating the characters on cupcakes. I started with Oscar (because she reminds me of him sometimes, a sweet little grouch!).

The biggest challenge of making this cupcake was his fur.  The key is to start on the outside and work your way in. Make long strands and lift the tip (I used a Wilton #234) up off the cupcake and let the strands fall. I found if the strands were too short they would smoosh together.  After doing the first one I got the hang of it. I think he came out pretty good for a first attempt.  Now lets see about creating Big Bird with all those crazy feathers….

My Biggest Fan

This weekend I did some baking for my little friend’s birthday.   She’s been one of the biggest fans of Beantown Cupcake Company since the beginning. Since turning 2 is a big deal, we had to have all of her favorites available… Chocolate, Vanilla, Red Velvet…

I made my first chocolate butter cream frosting this weekend and really hit it out of the park.  My testers all gave me the thumbs up on the recipe.  I think the key is to use whipping cream at the end to make it nice and fluffy.

Sweet Success

I’m so excited …. I recently learned that I will be providing samples of my cupcakes at the CELEBRATE YOUR SWEET(S) SUCCESS event at this year’s Spark and Hustle conference in Boston (Hilton Boston/Woburn).  Spark and Hustle is a three-day intensive conference made up of over 200 current and aspiring small business owners.  As the event grows closer I’ll post more information.

A great big “thanks” to my friend Michelle who let me know about this opportunity.

Let them Fly

I was asked to make some cupcakes for Chloe and Camryn 6th birthday party. After a little looking around for inspiration, I found adorable butterfly cupcakes on AnniesEats.net http://annies-eats.net/2009/05/26/butterfly-cupcakes with detailed instructions on how to make them. 

I gave it shot and they came out great. I used a yellow cake with a traditional vanilla butter cream frosting with blue food coloring. They were a big hit at the party.

Here are couple of pictures.