Katie's Cupcakes: Gingerbread Cupcake

Today I took a chilly walk down to Katie's Cupcakes.

 I walked into her shop greeted by a warm heater and a lovely display of cupcakes. I was going to do my tips/ review on the very vanilla cupcake, but the gingerbread one looked so good. I couldn't pass up the experience to eat it.

This cupcake had a gingerbread cake, whipped frosting, and a gingerbread cookie one top. The cookie and frosting, by themselves, where delicious. The cake by itself was not as moist as I expected and I wish it had more of a ginger or molasses flavor. However, when you take a bite with the frosting and the cake, the cake becomes moist. The frosting was perfect; not heavy or too sweet. I then tried the cookie with the frosting and cake to see if it had that ginger element that I wanted. It did, but I could have used more. I know some of my friends don't enjoy a heavy taste of molasses/ ginger, so for the general public it was probably a wise choice of not enhancing the flavor too much. The cookie also gave the cupcake and interesting crunchy texture.

 

All in all I was very pleased. Katie, you did your wonderful work again.

Kirsten

Katie's Cupcakes: Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Katie does this really awesome idea. At the end of her children's books she gives a recipe for one of her cupcakes. I love that she is willing to share her passion with the public, especially children. In the first book she wrote she shares her very vanilla cupcake recipe and here it is:

Veronica Vanilla 

One of the characters from the Katie's Cupcake books

Very Vanilla Cupcakes 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• 9 egg whites
• 2 egg yolks

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar in until light and fluffy; about 10 minutes. 
2. Add egg yolks one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
4. Alternately add dry mixture and milk starting and ending with the dry mixture. 
5. Whip egg whites until stiff and gently fold into batter until no big clumps remain. 
6. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees. 

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients

• 2 cups of butter
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Cream butter until light and fluffy; about 10 minutes.
2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. Mix until desired consistency.

The book from which you can find this recipe in the back of, and one of Katie's Cupcake t-shirts.

This recipe is brought to you by Katie Swanson of Katie's Cupcakes located in Bellingham, WA. She is a great inspiration to me and my fellow bakers. Check out her website at http://www.katiescupcake.com. 

Kirsten

Katie's Cupcakes

Katie's Cupcakes is a cupcake shop in Bellingham, WA. I remember the first time I visited Katie's Cupcakes and saying to myself that one day I will work there. Though that hasn't happened, I have always had this interesting relationship with Katie. On the one hand, I look up to her and I find her and her story so inspiring. On the other hand, I want to own my own bakery too, meaning that she is my competition. 

In October 2012, the episode of Cupcake Wars: Big Time Rush aired on television. Katie's Cupcakes was one of the four bakeries competing. No surprise, Katie won! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJtZGrIufKQ) It was such a great victory for her and her business. Instead of expanding her business to other locations with her winnings, Katie and her husband started to do merchandise. She writes and sells children book about her cupcakes, she sells kids t-shirts with the cupcake characters from the books on them, and she sells cupcake kits. Her characters are unique and the books adorable (after all, I have read them to my school-agers), but her products for me sometime vary. One day I could have a cupcake moist and delicious, the next time the cupcake is dry and not what I expected. I know not every single cupcake comes out perfect, and I should not be so harsh. 

So this week I am going to do something different. I am going to review one of Katie's Cupcakes, give tips on what she or her baker did well, and one of her recipes. I think that it is important to learn form the people you look up to. I hope you will be looking forward to seeing my week of Katie's Cupcakes. 

Kirsten

Pok-A-Dot Mixed Berry Pie

This week I made a mixed berry pie, homemade from crust to filling. 

My husband and I went to a local farm to pick the raspberries and blackberries that I used for this creation.

I decorated it using a small fondant cutter to make it have that pot-a-dot look. I saw this decoration online, and thought it would be an interesting design option for a pie. It had the ability to create air flow for the mixture to cook. while making the pie look more sophisticated then how pies are traditionally seen. 

The mixture did bubble over a little, because I wanted a soft brown color on the crust. Over all it look rustic and tasted great.

I made this pie for a dinner my husband and I had with our new friends, the Wastons. They said it was the best pie they have had, and I have to agree, even if is was my own pie. Freshly picked berries are the way to go. Needless to say, this Pok-A-Dot pie was gone within 24 hours of it being cut into. 

If you have any advice for me, or would like to comment please feel free to. 

Stay Sweet,

Kirsten