Sweet Treats for the Tree!

So Amanda over at Bake it Pretty had the best little holiday how-to over making Christmas ornaments. I just thought it was too cute to pass up, and figured I would share on this awesome Christmas Eve!

Supply Goodness:

Styrofoam Balls: 2.5″ size
Heavy-Duty foil cupcake liners
Artificial Snowflakes
Artificial floral berry sprigs
Ribbon if you want it to be an ornament
Wooden skewers, chop-stix work nicely
Elmer's Glue
Foam brush
Hot Glue
Scissors

What to do:

Stick one Styrofoam ball onto a chop-stick for easy handling. Use a foam brush to paint the upper 2/3 of the ball with a good coating of white craft glue.

Roll the ball into the pretty shiny stuff and gently press to cover the ball nicely. It should look like a frosty, snowball.

Place the stick and ball into a mug and allow to dry completely. It sucks waiting for them to dry, but they do look so nice on your desk that you forget that 2 hours have just flown by and you're still staring...or maybe that is just me.

When your cupcake's top is dry, remove the wooden skewers and you are ready to glue them into their liners. Hot glue works the best..stupid Elemer's... Run a circle of glue around the top inside of the liner and place your cupcake ball inside, frosty side up. Cup your hands and press gently around the edges to glue the liner on snugly. Do not push the ball down too far or the bottom will curve and your cupcake will not sit flat, (this is not really a big deal if you’re planning on hanging them.)

Now, for the cherry. Cut one floral berry from the bunch, leaving about 1″ or less of wire stem. Add a small dot of hot glue to the top center of your cupcake. If you are planning to hang your ornament, set a small loop of ribbon or twine into the glue first, then press your cherry firmly on top. You can push the wire right into the Styrofoam ball, or flip it around to make a cherry “stem.” Both styles are super cute!

For a little extra touch, I cut out ribbons and placed people's names on them to make them more individualized (Sorry, Brad yours looked like a sad Buffy "B") And voila! An amazingly super easy way to make personal little gifts all those special someones on your Christmas shopping list. Our tree is already decorated with these, of course only after Jazz Hands made some her own and buried them...jerk face.

Hopefully you guys like em! They are quite addicting to make, and thanks again to Amanda's site. One must check it out!

Bake it Pretty.

Dirty Bingo Time!

Ok, so this is my first Christmas as part of the Luxe family, and I was super stoked to head out to the "office" party, now, there aren't any Michael Scotts, or Dwights, but I think those characters could still come out at some point..and our Christmas card experience was better...

Any hoo.. I was most excited to play me some "dirty bingo" and bake up some eggnoggy infused cupcakes for the affair. After my mini-Martha told me what to do, I decided that again, another Bake and Destroy recipe was going to be put to the test..just with some veganized details.
Ok so whip out your apron and and hair net, and let's get to work!

The goods:

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar (I'm trying a no sugar diet so this kinda sucks, Truvia is good too though!)
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Earth Balance
  
• 4 Tbsp of Flax Seeds, ground and 12 tbsp of water (mix these two before anything else and let it sit..gets all egg-y like)
  
• 1 cup Soynog
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the nitty-gritty:

Oven set to 325 and two cupcake pans lined with the pretties, start the mixing! With a hand mixer, or stand mixer, mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix the Earth Balance in until it's coated with the flour mixture.

Now the flax seed concoction, Soynog and vanilla need to be swirled together in a large glass measuring cup. Add to dry ingredients gradually until mixed. Don’t over mix!

Fill cups 2/3 full and bake 17-22 minutes. The tops should spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Frosting:

• 2 sticks "butter", room temperature
• 4-6 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup Soynog
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch salt

Mix butter and sugar on medium speed. Add nutmeg and salt. Pour in Soynog gradually until frosting is spreadable. Add Soynog and sugar to taste and to desired texture.

Now make pretty!

Cupcake Crawl!

And yet another reason why NOT living in NYC can sometimes suck....

This Sunday at 11am, there is going to be a "Cupcake Crawl" located at Little Cupcake Bakeshop (30 Prince St.New York, New York) This is a crawl across the city to eat the best cupcakes on the Lower East Side, NoLita and Chinatown.

With the tour is starting at Little Cupcake, it will then head to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, one of the highest rated according to Zagat. Next stop is Baby Cakes! The best little vegan friendly joint out there! And last, but not least a new shop called Everything Frosted in Chinatown.

According to the site, this crawl is to help support the good work of the Food Bank For New York City, a non-profit helping to feed the hungry, they are only asking for a $5.00 donation per person. 100% of donations go to charity.

(info from http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/ and picture from www.babycakesnyc.com/the_bakery.html)

"Is there sugar in syrup?"

Oh sweet snowflakes that cover the ground, how I love thee...it is that time of year again, time to hop into the kitchen and whip out more vegan treats while watching Elf. I don't know how many times I have seen it, but it just gets better every year some how...
So tomorrow the whole store is heading down to the glorious hills of North Carolina to check out some cool furniture and get our inspiration on. For the ride to the airport, I was asked if I would make cupcakes. Always eager to oblige, I said yes and then, wait, what kind of cupcakes would I make that are befitting for a breakfast meal and accompanying a nice OJ beverage? Well, I knew I wouldn't be let down if I checked out to see if Bake and Destroy had anything that I could sink my teeth into. Banana Bread French Toast Cupcakes. Um, hell yeah.
After work I headed back home, ate a tempeh sandwich (thank you Mellow Mushroom) and began the process.



For the cakey goodness:

• 1/2 cup mashed over ripe banana
• 1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled & chopped

Sift all the dry goods together, and then the liquids and combine...slowly fold in those toasted nuts and bake em! Pour each cupcake liner about 2/3 full, and if you're feeling uber fancy check out Fancy Flours amazing liners. I am a fan of the reindeer. Now, over at 350* for about 20-22 minutes and finally top those suckers off with a good serving of maple frosting and enjoy with that sweet mimosa!

GiGi's Headed North

Okay, so this little bakery has been in town since this summer, but hey, it is better late than never to talk about this sweet shop!

I first learned about it when I saw that there was a posting for "cupcake bakers needed" for a new bakery near the Fashion Mall. I was all about that! Even though I do not have any real baking skills, I still applied and they did give me the time of day! The owners are two couples that are here in town and just thought it would be an awesome little adventure to embark on. I am not sure if they knew what they were really getting in to, but so far their shop and offerings are superb. I first headed over there when they had their grand opening last summer. Figured I would grab a few delicatessens and bring them back to have some of my co-workers try them out. I ended up getting a Miss Princess (for the sweetest girl in the office), a white cake baked with strawberries and topped with a cream cheesy frosting, featuring pink sugar crystals and fondant crown! Any little girls dream!I also got the Lemon Dream Supreme, cause in the summer time, I am all about the citrus. Lemon cake with a lemon filling topped with lemon buttercream frosting and a candied lemon slice. It was also fantastico, however, I didn't get a crown on mine.GiGi's is always having some sort of event or give away it seems if you check them out on Facebook: GiGi's

Just looking at their Fall/Winter Menu Lineup is making me dream at my desk! Listen to this, these are just today's offering (remember they switch it up everyday:
Candied Sweet Potato
Hunka Chunka Banana Love
Midnight Magic
Grasshopper
Top Hats
Peanut Butter Cup
Southern Comfort
Texas Milk Chocolate
Wedding Cake
White Chocolate Macadamia
White Midnight Magic

These things can be evil when one is on a diet. Also, always bring a friend with you to these things, cause unless you are planning to go into hibernation this year and you need to stock up, these babies are intense! but oh so good...