To Design for Cupcakes

Hello All!
As you may know I have recently started back into school and that means the projects begin.  Don't worry though!  My first project is not going to be so bad!  Yes, I am doing a project about cupcakes!  More importantly about how I can find a solution to ship cupcakes through the mail without them getting destroyed (by melting, shaken up, etc.) and at a lower cost.  I found someone who tried to send their cupcakes through the mail, it worked, but cost them $150! Just for shipping, not for the supplies to actually ship them!   That is not right, I will fix this... I have decided, shipping food will change after I am done with this project... i hope :P

We don't want this anymore!!

Now it comes to my lovely readers, do any of you have any ideas on how to make this possible?  Do you know anyone who tries to send them, and have found something that works for them?  It doesn't have to be about shipping cupcakes either, how do you send food so that it does not get ruined in the process?

Well I must be off to do some more research elsewhere, yes part of this research will have me baking cupcakes and sending them (as long as funds can afford it)!

Away from my Loves

Me and Justin on his graduation day! 

I have been asked to post once again...  This one will be different, because it is not about baking.  I am forced to be away from that love at the moment, because of some housing arrangements, not going the way I have planned...   Sadly I have no idea when I will be baking again, and I even got some new awesome cookbooks to use Thanks to my Aunt Denise!! :D

Guess I will catch you up on the past few weeks.  I ventured out to San Diego California to see Justin graduate from Marine Bootcamp!! It was wonderful and I am so proud of all that he is doing right now!  His ten days of leave have come and gone.  That was the best ten days of my Summer vacation though!  Now I'm back in class, learning some things and getting for life after college!

So as you can see I am away from my loves and hope to be rejoined with them soon!  Hope all is well with everyone else as well! :D   At least I know I will be baking in about a month for my Katie's baby shower!! :D

Happy Birthday Butterfly!

Here are the butterfly cupcakes finally finished for Dawn's Birthday!   I think they turned out alright, would have been easier if some things weren't packed up.   It also took a little bit to get them to stand up and they aren't quite right yet.. but this was the first try! They will be better next time!!

So more good news! I got the Hello, Cupcake cookbook today at work!  It was the last day to get our employee discount, so I took advantage and got the book before it was too late!  I'm excited to see what I can make out of it!  

Happy Birthday Dawn! :)  Excited to spend the weekend wiith you!

Make Your Own Happiness

Today for me did't start off on the best foot.  Nothing is wrong, I was just incredibly tired, felt bad, because I didn't feel like covering a shift for my sick friend (thankfully she found someone else to cover for her)  I was also hungry, but I have no real food in apartment because of the move.

I went to work to take the cupcakes to them, which they were happy about, found out that the computers were being shut off.  This means people will be even more upset that we will not be able to find the books they are looking for.. I'm not really looking forward to work tomorrow!   So I walked around and called some people to just chat.   Then I decided, I wanted some real food, but I couldn't afford to go eat, or buy groceries for an apartment I will be leaving soon.  So I called my dad and he saved my stomach!! Once before he had ordered me pizza and had it sent to my apartment, so I asked him if he could possibly do it again for me... and he did! :)  That is the best pizza I have seen in forever! :P   I also have enough for meals for the next few days!

So after having some good conversations and a full belly, I decided to make cookies that I had agreed to take to work :).   I wasn't feeling like it earlier in the day, but it was a great time!   It also got rid some of the ingredients out of boxes that would possibly get ruined by the time I moved into my new apartment in more than 3 weeks!   It also helped me procrastinate packing and cleaning the apartment!   I hope you all find a way to make your day happier, even if it is finally asking for some help to have a real meal!

Love in the End...

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Cream Cheese Frosting
Dark Chocolate Mint Hearts

..So a couple of days ago, I found out that my place of work is getting liquidated.  That is not very good news to anyone, especially some of my coworkers who depend on this job for everything.    So Today was the first day the public started to find out about what was happening and constantly came in asking question about their beloved books being taken away from them.   I mean, I understand how they fell, I will also miss my books, but they don't seem to realize the workers will be losing a lot more...

During this first lovely day of questions with unknown answers, I worked 14.5 hours, quite a shift.   During my first break my co-worker came in the the break room and said, "You know what we need to make this better, Emily?"  "No, what's that?"  "We need some of your cupcakes and cookies, I know I told you to not bring them in (because he ate too many), but I don't know what that man was thinking."

So here I am baking at the wee hours of 3 o'clock in the morning.  At first I had no idea what to make, just thinking store bought, because everything is packed up, but I asked my co-worker what his favorite cupcake was, and he saws Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting.     One cupcake I have never made in my life, so I took advantage and here it is!  My first try at Red Velvet Cupcakes, cream cheese frosting, and added a dark-chocolate mint heart.    I think they turned out very well actually!   I'm even thinking next time to add mint into the batter or frosting.  I was unsure if the flavors would blend at first, but it worked beautifully!    The real judging will happen tomorrow when I take them to my coworkers to cheer them up!

Chocolate Art

So today is the first day of trying to use chocolate to make my own decorations for cupcakes. I am learning that it is going to be tough teaching myself how to do all of these baking things, especially since I am in the  middle of a move.  Luckily I enjoy baking and cooking so it is not very stressful!  Quite the opposite and very exciting to see how things will come out!

As you can see I started my learning of chocolate art with butterflies, which will be put onto cupcakes on Thursday for Dawn's Birthday!  It took a while to figure out what was the best way to use the chocolate  and how to keep the chocolate melted long enough for everything to work!

Can find candy melts in all colors!

To save you trouble,  here is how I did it that worked the best:   Put the candy melts into decorating bags (or sandwich bags).   Then fill a pot will water and place it on the stove at the lowest setting.  Place your bags of candy melts into the pot.  Every once in a while pick up the bags and squeeze them to mix up the chocolate and get it all melted.   When the chocolate is all melted, cut a whole at the bottom of the decorating bag (or corner of sandwich bag) and decorate away!

Places like Michael's or Hobby Lobby have little squeeze bottles that you can put the candy melts into and place those bottles into the hot water.   These are nice, because you can continue to keep the chocolate melted easier in between colors you are using.   I did not talk about them before, because while using the orange candy melts, the bottle didn't work as well.  I did use a bottles for the dark chocolate  the whole time and it worked wonderfully.  I also suggest the plastic bags, because they are much easier to clean up in the end.

Explorations To Come

Although I do not have any new cupcakes to show, I am excited for the possibilities coming in the future!  This coming week has a few very important birthdays!  First my Mom, Karen's, birthday is tomorrow!! Happy Birthday!! Sadly I am not there to make you any awesome cupcakes :( ... 6 days later is Justin's mom, Dawn's, birthday!  She is coming to visit that weekend, to hang out and to help me move my stuff out of my apartment.  So it is the PERFECT time to try some new cupcakes!! I should have some made and ready to show Wednesday or Thursday! :D

The cupcakes this week are going to be about the decoration, since my apartment is pretty empty and can't make them from scratch, expect the ones in the future to be from scratch and new exciting tastes!  I invested in a cookbook that will help me create the flavors that I am wanting in the cake and frosting!! I am really excited to try them out! :)    More exciting is that Michael's had a 50% off a baking item, so I got to get a very important item to help create the cupcakes for my sister's baby shower! :)  So expect great things soon! I am really excited about these new explorations! :)