Monday, March 2, 2009

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!

3 comments:

Jecca Andrew said...

amazing.
i too had a snow day today.
9 inches of snow.
wind chill below zero tonight.
but i'm sure my snow day pales in comparison to yours.
i also heard that you are on spring break and that makes me wish you were here with me. or better yet, that i was there with you. i miss you, mamba. but i'm encouraged by the fact that we'll be together this summer. and that it's only about 9 weeks away <3

Anita said...

Ahhhh, I want them ALL but I would have to begin and end on a chocolate one of course. I'm sorry you did all that work...what will happen to them???? Tomorrow will you be able to share them with people??? That would be purely devastating if they went to waste!

Amanda said...

Update on the cupcakes: There are 36 of them in my freezer right now. I' pitched the rest.