This one's for you, Grandaddy!

One of the blogs that I keep up with on a regular basis posted something extraordinarily good today.

Apparently someone tried to recreate a well-known basketball logo on a cupcake cake.

It didn't work.



Sure the thing doesn't have a nose and one back paw mysteriously merged with a front one, but what really gets me is the fact that they couldn't even straighten out the UK. What's up with that?!

I guess... the colors are nice?

Anyway, if you're still lost and not yet laughing, here's the logo in real life:



Oh goodness. Does it make anyone else want to try to make this Wildcat cake the right way?

Anyway, go on over to CakeWrecks if you want to see more really bad cakes. :) They do a new post every day, and on Sundays they post cakes that are actually aesthetically pleasing.

Oh, and Cake Wrecks only shows professional cakes, so someone got paid to make that disaster of a cake.

Yeah. I know.

spring break smathering.

SPRING BREAK 2009
woohoo!!!!
katie and i did a bunch of things but i didn't take too many pictures. anyways, here are a few to whet your appetite.

dad let me and katie climb up with the muffler man. i'm not a huge fan of heights.

my costume after josh's show at Buddha's Place. i look a little too happy... but it's probably just because i was at home :-D
some random pirate/muffler man on our way down to VA. i think this was somewhere in delaware. i had to jump a fence to get to him, but it was so worth it.
matt gerdin took some pictures of me and katie on wednesday. here's one of them. there were about 100 more, but i figured i'd just give you all a little taste. hopefully i'll post some more later.
<3 j

Zebra Cake!

I'm pleased to report that I did make it to VA yesterday.

I started my journey at 5am and I ended it at 11pm when I got off the plane. I don't count the hour+ that I spent in the car with my mom and aunt, but technically that was an added leg. Ugh.

Anyway...

Today my mom and I experimented with cake. (Surprise!) I've been wanting to try my hand at making a Zebra cake, and my mom was all too happy to help me out with the dicey batter dropping technique. I'll blog the after pics once we cut the cake, but here is a video for the diehard Amandafans. In this seven minute video, my mother (on the right) and I (on the left) drop strawberry and chocolate batter while we engage in normal - for us - banter. It might actually explain a lot about me.



So my question is this: YouTube worthy?

My family seems to think the answer to this is yes. My dad thinks that if we post it tonight he can expect to see the clip on GMA tomorrow.

Spring Break Woohoo!

Hello, all,

I'm on Spring Break here in Maine, so I just wanted to let you guys know what I am filling my Spring Break with.

Now, in Maine, we get two weeks for Spring Break. Since it is Friday now, I've had almost a week of relaxation and goodness and I can now look forward to another one. Let me just say that this I will miss.

What am I doing?

1. Reconnecting with daytime television: I don't just mean Martha Stewart here, either. She was my target, of course. I plan to watch Martha at 10am every weekday of my break. I missed her today, but life goes on.

I've also been very happy to reconnect with Roseanne, Frasier, Friends, and the occasional Sienfeld. Until yesterday, I had been unsuccessful at trying to find Rachael Ray, but I've gotten that sorted out too.

2. Cooking: I know, I know, you'd expect baking. But, if you'll remember, I did a lot of baking last Sunday and had to pitch a lot of cupcakes. Now I'm cooking. I'm engineering a completely homemade lasagne right now, noodles and all, for a little get together I'm having tomorrow night. I'll let you know how that works out when I know. :)

3. Drinking Coffee: I just can't stop. These days, I am in love with Dunkin Donuts coffee and I've made the harrowing trip (I kid) pretty close to daily. I'm brewing a pot right now. Decaf, sadly.

4. Wheel of Fortune Prep: I'm determined to pay off my student loans by winning large amounts of money on Wheel of Fortune. I'm pretty good at solving the puzzles, but I can always improve. I've been trying to do just that every night at 7:00. And... Jeopardy! happens at 7:30 and I won't lie and say that I don't watch or get excited and shout answers at the television.

5. Short Bursts of Spring Cleaning: I think that about explains it. I get excited and clean one thing/area really well and ignore all others. Maybe I'll do some livingroom cleaning while I watch Jeopardy!

And with that... I'm going to get to it!

My Very Poorly Timed Snow Day

My class was canceled. This is how I responded in an email to my instructor and classmates.

Greetings, 53Sixers!

I am particularly disappointed about our class cancelation tonight, and I just wanted to tell you all why. : )

Yesterday I spent about 8 hours in the kitchen baking cupcakes. Now, don't feel too sorry for me; baking is my hobby, so it was part fun part endurance test. As a result of what I've been calling my cupcake-a-thon, I have 66 mini cupcakes sitting on my kitchen table with your names on them. I even have a little survey written up for you guys to complete when you taste these cupcakes. Sadly, Maine winter intervened.

Since you can't taste the cupcakes, please enjoy the pictures I attached to this email.

And... I guess I'll go ahead and tell you what you might have tasted.

The blue iced cupcake is a Blueberry Almond Ricotta cake with a basic Cream Cheese Icing. I made an almond paste and then filled out the batter with ricotta cheese and a small amount of flour, fresh blueberries, and the regulars.

The tall cupcake is a Maple Bacon cupcake with a Maple Icing and peice of bacon thrown on as garnish. That cupcake is... interesting, as you might expect. The maple and bacon flavors are nice in a breakfast biscuit way, but just knowing that I had to use bacon drippings in the cupcake batter somewhat turns me off.

The squatty chocolate character is a Fauxstess Cake. There is a crazy interest in the cupcake baking world to recreate the Hostess Cake in homemade form. I decided that, for you guys, I would take up this challenge and make my own Fauxstess Cake. I started with a basic "old fashioned" chocolate cake. After the cupcakes baked and cooled, I made a vanilla whipped cream to inject into the cupcakes. That done, I dipped the filled cupcakes (not once, but twice) in a gorgeous chocolate ganache. For the grand finale, I used decorator's icing to pipe the Hostess swirl.

So... even though I'm disappointed that we won't have class tonight, I guess I'm getting my revenge by teasing you with the cupcakes that you can't have. : )

Enjoy the day off and stay safe. One snow day, one of my students gave me this warning and now I'll pass it on to you: Like they say in the music world, C sharp or B flat!

A

Here are some of the responses I've gotten since I sent that email 20 minutes ago:


I'm sitting here with two teenagers, and we're drooling over your cupcakes. We only have one question: Do you deliver?
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Oh My Freaking GOD! Those look and sound amazing. I can drive in snow :).
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Sounds delish, A. I just made chocolate chip cookies for teenagers here, but your culinary work tops that by a mile. Enjoy the wintery weather; not much else we can do!
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I really do feel your pain on this one. It's so nice to have our work appreciated...and we would have appreciated these delicacies. In fact, I kind of did just by looking at them!
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Thanks (I think) for your email--like Rich, my teenage son and I are sitting here considering the feasibility of a road trip to your place.  You have a real talent, there....I sure wish we were having class!