Experiments

Don't know if any of you out there ever experiment with things - cooking, hairstyles, accents, etc. For me, obviously, it's cupcakes. If you do experiment, you probably know the pride of a successful venture on the first try, the annoyance of having to try something two or three times to get it just right, or the feeling of utter failure at having to give up on it entirely (had to do this with a chili mango lime cupcake). This is my process as I play with cupcake flavors.

I recently tried out a pink grapefruit and honey cupcake that I've been thinking about for some time. I am about to start on my third test run. In the first attempt I used a vanilla cake base and added fresh grapefruit flavor to it. The flavor was delicious. The texture? Not horrible, but not my fav. In the second trial I used a honey cake base with the same fresh grapefruit flavor. The texture was great. The flavor? Too much honey. For the third attempt I am bringing the two together in a "mostly sugar with a little honey" cake. Hoping for a perfect balance of honey and grapefruit flavors brought together with the texture that I love.

P.S. Most of you probably already know this, but I've opened up my very own cupcake bakery in Orange County. Visit my website: http://loverbeesbakeshoppe.com/

Lightening Up

I'm lightening up - and by that I don't mean losing weight (I wish) or being more laid back. I'm lightening up my frostings a bit. You may remember my mentioning that I love thick, dense frostings (which I do), but as my husband (and the grand majority of people in this world) do not, I've been practicing making my frostings creamier and fluffier.

Here are the two tricks I have been satisfied with the most:

Tip #1: Use more milk/cream. I've added about 2 Tbsp. of milk/cream to my normal frosting recipes. The frosting ends up a little looser but far more pipable. (In the past I've often busted open my frosting bag trying to pipe too thick a frosting)

Tip #2: Add more butter. This type of adjustment actually changes a frosting recipe all together. You'll probably need to omit any milk/cream called for in the recipe. I usually double the butter and use my whipping attachment instead of my beater. A lot of air gets whipped into the butter creating a lighter and fluffier texture that amazingly enough usually requires less powdered sugar. More butter or more sugar? You pick your poison. :)