After taking in last week’s S’mores Cupcakes to my coworkers, one of them, Colleen, requested something with caramel. So I came home and started doing some research to find a good caramel-y dessert. I didn’t want to just make the Salted Caramel cupcakes again, so I found a recipe for these Caramel Apple cupcakes and it looks awesome.

The recipe used applesauce rather than chopped apples. If I ever make these again, I might consider using applesauce and some chopped apples just to amp up the apple flavor:

The wet ingredients were added to a flour mixture that included a heavenly mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Mmm mmm!

The batter was scooped into cupcake tins:

Once the cupcakes had cooled, I melted down some caramel candy cubes in a saucepan. Once they were melting, I added in some heavy cream to get a smooth, buttery caramel sauce, which was spread over the tops of my cooled cupcakes:

As soon as the caramel went down, I dipped the tops of several of them in chopped Reese’s Pieces or M&Ms, to mimic the chopped peanuts or chocolate that you might find on a fair-style caramel apple:

They were so beautiful! I was so proud of myself:

And then the next day happened. The recipe instructs the baker to store the cupcakes at room temperature. Which I did. The next morning when I got up and checked on them, the caramel had melted and oozed down the cupcakes. The toppings went with them. They weren’t ruined; there was still caramel on the cupcakes, but it was melty and no longer that shiny veneer of caramel. I was so disappointed.

My coworkers, however, loved them. Colleen was thrilled that I’d brought in something caramel, as she much prefers it over chocolate.

This past Friday, I baked Pink Lemonade cupcakes, which I will be posting about sometime mid-next week. Tomorrow I will be baking some more cupcakes and on Monday we are finally (finally!) moving into our new apartment in Brooklyn. That will take up some of my time, but I promise to post before I bake my birthday cupcakes on Friday!

Twenty-one weeks! Now that I think about it, I should have baked something with alcohol in it, seeing as how my blog is now legally allowed to drink. Instead, I went with Cinnamon Rolls.

I love cinnamon something fierce. A friend of ours got us the Baker’s Assortment gift box from Penzey’s Spices for our wedding, and it contains a jar of Chinese Cassia Cinnamon, which has a nice bite to it. I understand that it’s a little stronger than your typical McCormick’s Cinnamon, so I was all for it.

My day started off with a drive to Penzey’s to redeem a gift card a friend had given me for Christmas. The Baker’s Assortment box had contained a bottle of strong vanilla extract that I LOVED and had used up, so I wanted to go and buy another bottle. What should have been a fifteen minute trip because about an hour trip, as the main road I needed to use was closed. As someone on Facebook said, “Henderson Road Fail”.

I finally managed to procure my bottle of vanilla and start baking.

The Cinnamon Rolls started with a dough made with warm buttermilk. I made sure the buttermilk wasn’t too hot so I wouldn’t kill the yeast this time around, like I did with the Chocolate Marbled Brioche Bread. Once the dough was kneaded for about ten minutes, it was turned out onto a floured surface and kneaded by hand into a smooth ball. That ball of dough went into a lightly greased bowl to double in size, which took just about two hours:

Once the dough had doubled in size, it was once again turned out onto a floured surface and pressed into a 16″ by 12″ rectangle:

I brushed some melted butter on top of this, and then sprinkled on a heavenly mixture of cinnamon, brown sugar and cloves. Mmmm mmmm:

Then, starting at the bottom, this rectangle was rolled up into a log. Then seam was pinched together and the log was rolled seam side down. It was then stretched into an 18″ log and cut into 12 equal pieces. These pieces were placed into a greased 9″ by 13″ baking dish:

The rolls were then left to proof for a second time. Before they were to go into the oven to bake, they should double in size and touch each other. When I came back an hour later, this is what I found:

Oh, look at that! They’re touching each other! Scandalous!

They then went into the oven for about 30 minutes. When I checked on them at the 30 minute mark, they still seemed a little pale, so I let them go for about another five minutes. They came out looking a little like this:

I cut them apart and flipped them upside down on a rack to cool while I mixed up the glaze. Check out all that yummy brown sugar/cinnamon goo on the bottom of those rolls. Delicious:

The glaze was a very simple mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar and buttermilk that was mixed together until smooth:

The rolls were then flipped back over and the glaze was drizzled over the rolls:

I think I ended up baking these for about four minutes too long, as they are slightly dry. I threw them into an air tight container overnight, so I’m hoping that they may have softened up just a bit. They’re still fantastically delicious. Yum.

While I was waiting for the dough and the cut rolls to proof, I whipped up a batch of Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. These are the same ones that I made about two weeks ago. I loved them so much that I needed to make another batch. They came out quite yummy this time as well:

Yummmmmm.

I haven’t decided what I’m going to make next week just yet. I have a co-worker who has requested baklava, and that looks verrrrry interesting. It may be the winner.

It was a magical couple of hours, full of slight chaos, pink frosting and sugar highs. Everyone left happy and full and the event came together so well that we’re already in the planning phase of the next one. Right now, I’m trying to narrow down my favorite name. I like CupcakeCampColumbus: Part Deux, CupcakeCampColumbus 2: Electric Boogaloo and Revenge of CupcakeCampColumbus. Let me know your favorites!

I’ll let the photos do the talking for this event.

Our awesome welcome sign.

“Bacon is the New Black” T-shirt. This shirt went to our “Best Use of Bacon” winner.

My “Mini Chocolate Covered Hi Hats”.

My “O-H! Cup-cakes!”

Clint Reno, one of our judges. Clint nearly lapsed into a diabetic coma after eating this plate of cupcakes.

“Green Tea Lavender” cupcakes, our “Best Vegan” winner!
Our “Best Vegan” winner won a T-shirt from Bakery Gingham and a prize pack from MadebyAmyD.

“French Toast N’ Bacon” Cupcakes, our “Best Use of Bacon” winner!
Our “Best Use of Bacon” winner won the “Bacon is the New Black” T-shirt and a $50 gift certificate to Sassafras Bakery.

“The Homer”, our “Most Creatively Decorated” winner!
Our “Most Creatively Decorated” winner won a ginormous gift basket from Wholly Craft! filled with lots of cupcake-esque crafts.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, the winner of our “Best Use of Alcohol” contest!
Our “Best Use of Alcohol” winner won a three pack of posters by Clinton Reno, as well as the honor of having her cupcake featured at Surly Girl Saloon during the Parking Lot Blowout on July 11.

You can see all the photos from this event here.

You can read a first-hand report from our “Best Use of Bacon” winner Danae over at The Busty Baker.

Here’s another eyewitness account of the event by Jen.

This week, I’ll be trying my hand at Cinnamon Rolls, and baking up another batch of those Lemon Meringue Cupcakes that I so adore.

Lucky Week Thirteen brought another cupcake – the Mint Meltaway. This cupcake started with a sour cream chocolate cupcake, the same that were used in the Chocolate Covered Hi-Hats from a couple of weeks back:

After the cupcakes were baked and while they were cooling, I mixed up the mint chocolate filling that would go in the cupcakes. This was made up of heavy cream and butter that was heated over the stove. Once the butter melted, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peppermint extract and vanilla extract were added. This was refrigerated until it thickened up and reached a spreadable consistency. I refrigerated mine a little too long. It was tearing up the cupcakes, so I ended up heating it back up a little over a pot of boiling water until it thinned out a little bit:

At the same time, I made a double batch of chocolate glaze. This was made up of heavy cream, butter and light corn syrup heated over the stove. Once the butter melted, semi-sweet chocolate chips and vanilla extract were added, and the mixture was refrigerated until it thickened up.

Once the cupcakes were cooled, the papers were pulled off and the cupcakes were turned upside down. I used a paring knife to cut the cupcakes in half horizontally:

I then spread about a tablespoon of the filling on the bottom (former top) of the cupcake:

The cupcakes then received an initial ‘crumb coat’ of the chocolate glaze:

The crumb coat was allowed to firm up for 15 minutes, and then the second coat of chocolate glaze was applied. This was quite possibly the messiest thing I’ve ever made. I had to wash my hands after every cupcake because I was covered in chocolate. I finally figured out it was easier to suspend the cupcake over the bowl of chocolate glaze with my spatula, and use my offset spatula to cover the cupcake:

I packed the cupcakes up in my carrier on some wax paper and popped them into the fridge to firm up completely:

Rob and I devoured a few of them this evening during “Lost”. These are definitely a plate-and-fork kind of cupcake. Even with hours of chilling in the fridge, the fudge glaze is still a little sticky:

I should have just used the glaze I used for the Hi-Hats. That glaze firmed up like the chocolate dip they use at Dairy Queen.

Next week I’m breaking my rules a little and making something that I’ve previously made. We’re doing another cupcake decorating event at my work and I’m going to be making vanilla and chocolate cupcakes from “More from Magnolia”. I know I’ve made the vanilla cupcakes before, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever made the chocolate. So maybe I’m only half breaking my rules.

Piece of Cake
772 North High Street
Columbus Ohio, 43215
(614)421-0399
Hours: Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Sundays

Piece of Cake is a lovely little bakery hidden on a side street in the Short North. In their bakery cases you will find cookies, brownies, creme brulee, as well as a nice assortment of different slices of cake and cheesecake. I was nervous heading in, as some of the Yelp.com reviews had been less than stellar regarding the customer service. The cakes in the case were not labeled, so I sheepishly asked the employee if he could tell me what they were and he did with absolutely no hesitation. He was very helpful. I chose a slice of Red Velvet Cake (how could I not after having baked it as my first project?!) and a cup of coffee:

The cake was very yummy. My only complaint (which isn’t even really a complaint) is that the frosting was a touch too sweet for me. I worked the frosting off the last few bites of cake. I think their cake was definitely better than mine, but I liked my frosting better. The coffee was also excellent. And I got all this cake and coffee for an even $5! I will definitely be coming back to sample some other goodies. They even have ‘real food’ if you want to eat some lunch with your dessert.

Bakery Gingham
189 Thurman Ave
Columbus, Ohio 43206
(614) 449-CAKE
Hours: Monday through Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I was very excited to check out Bakery Gingham. It used to occupy a small space next door to the Brown Bag in German Village and just a week and a half ago the bakery moved into a new location between the Thurman Cafe and the German Village Coffee House, a highly desirable location, especially on the weekends.
Rob and I stopped in on a Saturday in the early afternoon, and the bakery was packed. It’s a very cute store, painted in bright blues and pinks with cupcake paintings on the walls. The customers in line in front of us bought multiple cupcakes, and all the cupcakes on display were quickly snatched up. The employees brought out some more from the back, and from those I selected a ‘birthday cake’ flavor – yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting – and Rob chose a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. We eagerly bit into them:

They were…okay. Average. We both found our cupcakes slightly too dry, and I thought the frosting was both a little too ‘crunchy’ and sickly sweet. They weren’t terrible, but I feel like I’ve become a bit of a bakery snob and these just weren’t outstanding. For $2.50 a cupcake, I want perfection.
I did, however, find their inclusion of 50-cent peanut butter ‘pupcakes’ to be quite charming, and we bought one for our dog Scout, who loved it.
Bakery Gingham will probably be an amazing neighborhood cupcake shop for German Village, but I wouldn’t recommend making a drive. There are many other shops that are much more exciting.

This weekend is Rob’s birthday, so I thought it would be a good chance for me to try out a vegan recipe. This one comes from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

This recipe was fairly easy to make, and didn’t require a trip to Whole Foods for some bizarre ingredient like agave nectar. It really only required me to buy soy milk, soy yogurt, cloves and cardamom. I already had everything else on hand.

You’ll notice that the cardamom isn’t there. That’s because a jar the size of that pepper container was $11.50. That tiny little jar of cloves was nearly $7! I wasn’t ready to part with almost $20 for two spices, so I skipped the cardamom. I’m sure it would have enhanced the cupcakes that much more, but yikes, with the economy this bad, who can spend that much on spices?

Step one in this recipe was to heat the soy milk and then add black tea bags and let them steep for ten minutes. Once that was over, I ended up with this:

That was added to the yogurt, as well as oil and sugar and whisked until the yogurt lumps were gone. Then I mixed in the dry ingredients, which included what amounted to an entire spice rack. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger and even pepper went into the mix! Once everything was combined, the batter (which was incredibly thin) went into the cupcake tins:

The recipe instructed me to fill the tins completely up. Once they baked for 20 minutes, I ended up with this:

I hate it when cupcakes have that little ridge around the edges, where they puff out and over the tops of the tins. My advice for this recipe would be to not fill them up all the way, but almost. The batter made eight cupcakes, but I really should have divided it out better and made nine. I think they would have come out without that little ridge if I had.

The recipe advised a simple powdered sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg/cocoa powder dusting, but I gave Rob the option of that or the vegan buttercream frosting. He went with the powdered sugar concoction, which I think was probably the best decision. I think a buttercream would have overpowered the spiciness of the cupcakes.

I decided to get a little fancy with the decoration, seeing as how these were part of Rob’s birthday present! So I made a little stencil out of tin foil for the cocoa powder/cinnamon/nutmeg part of the equation:

I think they came out pretty cute!

The cupcakes tasted really good, although they had almost more of a muffin consistency than that of a cupcake. I don’t mind. I like muffins, too!

I can’t believe I’ve already baked a month’s worth of stuff! I kind of threw off the schedule by baking something on Saturday instead of Wednesday. I plan to bake again on Saturday for my next two projects. Next week will be Peanut Butter Bombs, a favorite of a friend of mine who is a vegan chef. The week after that will be Vegan Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes, which will serve a dual purpose. But more on that in two weeks.