Darth Birthday

Hello Sweets,

Today was the big day, the big unveiling of my first paying job :)  Since I didn't have a very long post yesterday I was hoping to get a decent one out tonight, but we will see how my pain tolerance goes.  I had to whip up a dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (yes, us Canadians do it in October), and now my feet are killing me :/  But I'm going to do my best to push through to bring you some fun decorations!

So I've been building up to this post all week, cupcakes were baked for little Jacob's birthday all that was left to do was to decorate them.  Nathan is my go to guy for anything Star Wars so I had him help with the brainstorming process, and he was indeed helpful :)  Since the cupcakes for the kids were going to be decadent chocolate I decided to make the icing with a dark cocoa to get it as close to black as possible.  If you have ever had cake with black icing you'd know why I wasn't making it black to begin with, it turns your whole mouth black and that just doesn't look good on anyone lol.  That of course was the easy part, that hard part was the decor and I of course put lots of pressure on myself lol.  I chose to use the marshmallow fondant in three colors and silver balls for accents.  I looked at all sorts of different pictures from the Star Wars series for inspiration and continued with the Darth theme, specifically Vader and Maul :)  Of course there had to be light sabers, but the rest was left up to mine and Nathans imagination.  Take a look at the fun cupcakes made for the special birthday boy, and a fun pictures of my nephew Miguel :p

 

started with a delicious deep chocolate icing

 

I used a smooth, slanted icing tip

 

First cupcake design was the imperial logo

 

 Light sabers, dark vs. light

 

 Vader's respirator box

 

 another Imperial logo, not as pretty as the first one

 

 A dark side light saber for Jacob

 

 outline of Darth Vader

 

 Darth surrounded by stars

 

 Darth Maul's "tattoos"

 

 Star Wars, 8th addition for Jacob

 

 big birthday boy turns 8!!

 

 Star Wars :)

 

 dark vs. light

 

 New sticker labels!!

 

 2 dozen delicious treats!

 

Miguel and his "top hat"

 

 party time!!

 

 

 

 

you know cupcakes are good when they're all over his face!

I am also happy to report that Christina (Jacob's mother) just emailed me to let me know that everyone enjoyed them, and there wasn't a single one left lol.  That is the best thing I could hear from one of my customers, and I look forward to many more!

Tomorrow is going to be a day full of family and food so it will be a post of deliciousness, also known as "I will be so full there won't be much energy left to think" lol.  Until next time....


Stay sweet,




Jennifer xoxoxoxo

Canuckette's Exhausted

Hello Sweets,

I know I promised y'all a decorating post tonight, but I literally just finished the cupcakes.  Needless to say I'm tired and sore :(  So it will have to be tomorrow, good side of that is I'll have pictures from the party and of the birthday boy :)  What I will say is I'm not completely happy with how they turned out, but that's only because I'm my most critique lol.  Nathan likes them a lot and considering his passion for all things Star Wars I'll trust him ;)

Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo

23 Flavors of Deliciousness

Hello Sweets,

So its been a few days since I've posted anything, and even longer since I posted something with substance to it :/  Do you know that I actually get more down the more time between my creations, well it's true :(  My health doesn't allow me to do much of anything, so when I don't do what is within my means I get purdy down.  Needless to say if I'm posting now I obviously have had a break in my insanity, but oddly enough I still feel fairly blah-zay.  This frustrates me, and I'm not sure why I can't shake this damn funk >_<  Either way, here I am with a tasty treat to share with y'all :)  I will try and keep this post upbeat and fun, but I'm struggling with this right now.

I know many people are going to read this post and see the soda and will say it's full of sugars and processed blah blah blah.  I agree that soda is not the healthy choice, but I also subscribe to the everything in moderation philosophy.  But Dr. Pepper boasts a soda with 23 flavors, and while in Texas we prefer to get the real sugar version (btw soooooo much better).  Naturally as a Texan, Nathan LOVES Dr.Pepper, especially the cherry version.  So when I came across a version of cherry Dr.Pepper cupcakes, I couldn't pass up the chance.

Cherry Dr.Pepper Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2C butter, softened

3 large eggs

1/2C milk

2 1/2Tsp baking soda

2 1/2C flour

2 1/2C brown sugar

3 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate, melted

1/2Tbs lemon juice

1/2Tsp salt

2Tsp vanilla

1C Cherry Dr.Pepper, cooled

 

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven 375F.  In a small saucepan bring the Dr. Pepper to boil.  Set aside so it can cool before you add it to the batter.

 

2)  In a small bowl add the lemon juice (yes I squeezed it lol) to the milk and let sit.  You can use buttermilk in replace of the lemon juice/milk concoction.  After allowing it to sit for 5 or so minutes, add the baking soda to it.

 

3)  Cream together the butter and sugar, mixing until light and fluffy (not your typical light and fluffy because the butter to sugar ratio is very unbalanced).

 

4)  Add the melted chocolate, thats been slightly cooled.  Then beat the eggs in thoroughly.

 

5)  Mix the remaining dry ingredients in another bowl.  Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk mixture to the chocolatey sugar mix.

 

6)  Mix in the vanilla and lastly the cooled cherry Dr. Pepper.

 

7)  Pour into cupcake liners, bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

 

Of course these bad boys aren't finished, there is a deliciously and light frosting to finish them off, but as per my torturous ways, that will be tomorrows post!  Again, like with the cola cupcakes, they're light and airy and not overly sweet.  They're not over-powered with the taste of cherry Dr. Pepper, but it has a lovely under tone of cherry.  As you know I'm a cherry junkie, so needless to say you can let your imagination run wild with how these bad boys will be finished.

So I think I managed to keep this post fairly upbeat, but frankly I am still feeling blahhhhhhhhhhh lol true story.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be in much better state of mind and can delivery something fun, exciting, and ENERGETIC!!!!  Okay maybe that was a little forced, but I'm trying lol.  Until next time..............................................................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo 

Come Together Right Now, Over Food!

Hello Sweets,

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  Are you staying in, or do you have all sorts of plans?  What have I been doing?  Well today was a write off (so glad I finished my creation last night), so I've been sleeping or resting, so that means I've done nothing lol but hey if that's what my body needs, I'm not going to argue.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get out to visit my grandparents and then I am hoping to make a chili from scratch (or close to it) for the first time, so wish me luck.  With the way the weather is here in the winter, warm comfort food is absolutely amazing!

Well tonight is the night that I finally reveal my original one of a kind creation :)  Did you guess what it could be?  So far the only clues I've given you is that there is candied bacon and a maple butter icing, so I think you've probably already got a pretty good idea what it could be.  If you guessed a "Canadian" inspired cupcake you would be dead on!  Now I will give fair warning that this cake recipe came out a little drier than I would have liked and it is dense (which could be part of it), but I think if I had pulled it out a couple minutes before it was completely set or used the cream that was called for (I used a kitchen trick with regular and butter), things may have worked out differently.  But that is all part of the process, now I know when I make this recipe again to try changing the measurements or ingredients to achieve what I am looking for :)  Let's get to the final part of the mini series!

Vanilla Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients

1C plus 2Tbs butter, softened

1 2/3C sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1Tsp vanilla

3C all-purpose flour

2 1/2Tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

2Tsp cinnamon

1 Tsp allspice

1C half and half cream

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 375F.  Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake papers (or you can make it into a cake as well).

2)  In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl to combine everything.

3)  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth and well blended.

4)  In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. 

5)  Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture with the cream until blended.  Beat for 2 minutes.

6)  Fill the cupcake papers about 2/3 full.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (although I would pull out slightly sooner).  Cool in the pan for about 2 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

So there is the third and final recipe :)  I then decorated the cupcakes with the icing and candied bacon, and low and behold we have a Canuckette Canadian cupcake!

The flavors are a fantastic blend of salty and sweet up top, then the cupcake base is a play on french toast with the vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice.  

I can say that I am very proud of myself for taking my passion and not just tweaking someones recipe but taking an idea from my big ol' brain and creating it in the kitchen :)  I am definitely going to try and do this more often, because it gives me a great feeling of creativity and I take pride in everything I make, but knowing it's my very own is even better.

I encourage all of my readers, whether your passion is in the kitchen or somewhere else to push yourselves to do something original.  Of course there will be times where we don't succeed the exact way we intend, but as I always say it's a learning curve and you can only learn from the mistakes that are made.  Let me know what you think of my original recipe, and if you try let me know if you like it too!  Until next time.............

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Straight From Granny's Kitchen

Hello Sweets,

How are you all doing post holiday?  Are you all baked out?  Are you turkeyed out?  Or are you just finally getting to put your feet up?  Nathan and I are just finally getting to put our feet up, and I think we both forgot how much running around there is to do with Christmas.  Wrapping presents was pretty hard for me because of my shoulders, so I listened to my body and wrapped in stages lol.  Overall it was a great Christmas and everyone was happy as they could be :)

 How cute is Berries the reindeer?!?

I have a recipe today that comes from Nathans granny, Dora.  She is a sweet lady, born and raised in Texas, and is full of all sorts of kitchen knowledge (aka other uses for cream of tartar) :).  So when she stopped in with a recipe from Nathans late grandfather for me to recreate, I was flattered and honored to carry the torch in the family.  The only thing I didn't use from the original recipe was the icing, which I was making later at night so opted for the icing I used for Nathans birthday cake (you can find it here), with another Canuckette twist of course.  So let me share this gem of a family recipe with you now :)

Dede's Chocolate Sheet Cake

Ingredients

2C all-purpose flour

2C sugar

1/2C shortening

1C water

4Tbs cocoa

2 beaten eggs

1 Tsp baking soda

1 Tsp vanilla

1 Tsp cinnamon

 

I will apologize in advanced for the lack of pictures, Nathans uncle was over my shoulder the ENTIRE time

Directions:

1)  In a large bowl; sift together sugar and flour.

2)  Mix shortening, water, and cocoa in a sauce pan, bringing to rapid boil.  

3)  Pour over the flour and sugar mixture and stir until well mixed.

4)  Add the remaining ingredients; eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well.  Pour into a greased pan (large cake pan), I ended up using a cupcake tin instead and lined them with cupcake papers.

5)  Bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Icing them once they are completely cooled.

*Side Note:  for the icing I added peppermint extract to give it a festive touch (use your taste buds for this part)*

 I ended up adding little candy cane sugar decals to make them even more festive :)

So there you have it, another family recipe passed down to the next generation.  What makes it even better is that I am getting them from both sides to create my own family recipes to share with my children :)

So now that the Christmas hoopla is finally over I can share with you the super fun gifts that I made for the ladies in the Texas family.  As you guys know I have a pretty kick ass pecan pie muffin recipe (click here). Well every time I make them, the family rants and raves about how tasty they are.  So I decided to make jars with all the dry, non perishable ingredients and completed it with the recipe written on a cute gingerbread man (add full recipe on the back).  I then finished it off with some festive ribbons, a silver bell, some fun Christmas stickers, and sticky tags to label for all the special someones.  I snapped a few pictures of the completed jar so you guys could see it for yourselves :)

   

The only road block I ran into was that the recipe calls for pecans to be added at the very end before placing into the oven, but thanks to Michael's, I got some festive zip lock bags that I placed on top and it filled the jars perfectly.  Now all the special family ladies in my life have the fabulous recipe for themselves always on hand, and they have a super cute recipe card now too!  I even had one extra left over so I decided to label it for Nathan, for when he misses me it'll be like I'm already there :)

So there you have it, all my Christmas recipes and super cute gifts, I hope you all enjoyed them as much as I did.  Tomorrow I will have a southern recipe to share with you and I will show you some of the super amazingly awesome kitchen gadgets I got from Nathans family, so don't forget to come back and check it out!  Until next time..........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo