Happy March! Testing’s Over!
I can’t believe that it’s only been a month since this crazy cupcake business began! In one month, I’ve tested around 30 cupcake recipes, picked a name (Tickled Pink Cupcakery, if you haven’t heard), applied for a vendor spot at Dayton’s 2nd Street Market (hoping to hear about it soon!), picked out my boxes and baking cups and scheduled a few special events. It’s been an exciting month, and there is plenty more excitement to come! I think I’ll be starting a separate blog for the business in the coming week.
Though there are tons of cupcakes in my future, these are the last little gems coming out of the test kitchen. I think they’ve improved visually since the beginning of the month, and hopefully my customers will enjoy the creations. But for now, my lovely readers get to enjoy the photos!
(Orange Cake. Orange and Marshmallow Frosting.)
The Good: Tastes just like a creamsicle, looks just like a Kohr Bros. cone!The Bad: I tried refrigerating the icing for future use, but it caused some problems. Piping needs to happen right after the icing is made.
The Verdict: So cute! Definitely a winner.
The Fluffernutter
(Peanut Butter Cake. Marshmallow Frosting. Toffee Peanuts.)
The Good: Peanut butter and marshmallow are such a tasty combo!The Bad: The cake is moist and dense, that could be good or bad, depending on your tastes.
The Verdict: Stick with the cake recipe for now, maybe work on it to make it a little fluffier.
The Banana Split
(Banana Cake. Marshmallow Frosting. Sundae Toppings.)
The Good: Tastes like a banana split! What more could I ask?The Bad: The banana cake doesn’t rise much.. great flavor, but could be a little lighter.
The Verdict: Great presentation- keeper!
The Granola Girl
(Almond Granola Cake. Cinnamon Frosting. Granola Sprinkles.)
The Good: Good almond flavor in the cake. You can taste the cake and the icing, neither overpowers the other.The Bad: I think granola scares some people, but it’s really the height of deliciousness, if you ask me!
The Verdict: I love this recipe! I loved it so much that I entered it into a contest!
Remember, today’s the last day you have to vote for the Cinnamon Granola Cupcake (Granola Girl) at the Mixing Bowl! Please vote: every little bit helps when you’re opening a new business! 🙂 Thanks to everyone who has voted so far!
Vote for my Cinnamon Granola Cupcake!
I just entered my Cinnamon Granola Cupcake (otherwise known as The Granola Girl) into a recipe contest at the Mixing Bowl! I have the chance to be featured in Mixing Bowl magazine and win $200! Now you know a girl needs some cash! 🙂 Please help by voting for me – I entered the contest a little late, so I need all the help I can get!!
(Voting’s on until March 2, and you can vote once a day.)
Another Test Round and.. I picked a Name!
I’m getting closer and closer to finishing testing! I’m really excited to announce that our name, after much deliberation (and Googling), is Tickled Pink Cupcakery! I’m can’t wait for things to take off- I’ve already got a few custom jobs lined up.
I promise that testing will be over soon.. I hope it’s not annoying that I haven’t been posting the recipes. I’m actually hoping to create a blog just for the business, so that I can bring the focus of this blog back to other recipes. Sound good?
(Vanilla Cake. Dulce de Leche Filling. Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting.)
The Good: tasty, moist. Very creamy icing and filling.The Bad: Nothing seemed to special about this. I had hoped for a better flavor, something sweeter.
The Verdict: It’s okay, but I don’t think I’ll use it for now. I might revisit the recipe later.
The Midnight Snack
(Vanilla Cake with Cookie Dough center. Cookie Dough Frosting. Homemade Cookie!)
The Good: It tastes exactly like cookie dough. I mean, it’s on point.
The Bad: The chips in the icing made it hard to pipe, so I think I’ll leave them out and sprinkle them on top. The cookie on top needs to be a bit chewier, and I think it could do for some more cookie dough inside.
The Verdict: Nick couldn’t stop talking about it. And that’s saying something, since a) he doesn’t like sweets that much, and b) he’s eaten like 50 cupcakes in the last two weeks. Definitely a winner!
The Boston Creme Pie
(Vanilla Cake. Creme Filling. Chocolate Ganache.)
The Good: Nice chocolatey taste, tasty creme inside.
The Bad: Like the Dulce, I felt like this wasn’t anything remarkable. It needs more creme inside, and it’s just not appealing visually.
The Verdict: Tabling this one until later. Don’t see it as a big seller, visually.
A special thanks to everyone who’s left comments, given advice, or helped me out in any way during this process so far. I’m so excited about Tickled Pink, and I hope you are, too!
Test Kitchen: More Cupcakes!
I’m getting closer and closer to finishing all of my testing. Looking at my list now, I only have about six or seven left to test (there are some in the oven now and some baked yesterday that aren’t included here, so more to come tomorrow!) These cupcakes don’t really have that much in common with one another, but they’ve gotten some good reviews!
(Coconut Cake. Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting. Sweet Coconut Topping.)
The Good: Ridiculously good coconut cake. I didn’t even think I liked coconut cake- I was very wrong. Fun pineapple frosting- a little break from the usual coconut cake.The Bad: The batter was a little odd, a little thin, and rose funny. Frosting was a little thin because of the extra pineapple juice, but I wanted stronger flavor.
The Verdict: Play with the batter a bit, thicken the icing. Otherwise- amazing flavor.
The Little Black Dress
(Chocolate Cake. Chocolate Frosting.)
The Good: Great match- frosting isn’t too overpowering.
The Bad: Couldn’t decide which way I liked the icing.. inner twist or outer twist?
The Verdict: Great classic recipe.
The Lemon Meringue Pie
(Lemon Cake. Lemon Curd. Toasted Meringue Topping.)
The Good: Great look – really makes you want to eat it! Delicious lemon curd.The Bad: Strong lemon flavor, but that didn’t seem to bother my tasters!
The Verdict: A good alternative to sweeter, heavier options.
The Buckeye
(Chocolate Cake. Peanut Butter Frosting. Mini Buckeye.)
The Good: I’m obsessed with this pairing, I love it. The mini buckeye just adds to the awesomeness.The Bad: I altered the PB frosting a bit, I think I might go back to the older version since this one didn’t stand up in room temperature like the other one.
The Verdict: Fantastic.
The Caffeine Addict
(Chocolate Mocha Cake. Coffee Buttercream. Chocolate Expresso Bean.)
The Good: This one was very popular with my testers. One of Nick’s friends said that it “reordered his Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.” (That’s a pretty great compliment from a physicist.)The Bad: Ugly presentation. I was messing around with new pastry bags and tips, and I didn’t want to waste an extra bag on this one.. sort of silly in hindsight. I’ll pipe the frosting next time.
The Verdict: A few adjustments visually, but otherwise, great.
The Sweet Strawberry
(Strawberry Cake. Strawberry Frosting.)
The Good: Tastes like a strawberry, has fresh strawberry puree in the batter.The Bad: The cake looked horrible and gray from cooking the puree.
The Verdict: I need to add food coloring to the cake and add fresh puree to the frosting.
The Lush Lemon
(Lemon Cake. Lemon Buttercream.)
The Good: A strong, sweet lemon flavor.The Bad: The lemon is a little too strong for me, but everyone else seemed to like it.
The Verdict: Still deciding which lemon cupcake I want to carry regularly.
Tuesdays With Dorie: Caramel (Cookie) Crunch Bars
Today’s TWD, Caramel Crunch Bars, was chosen by Whitney at What’s Left On the Table. The little treats consist of a brown sugar shortbread crust, a bittersweet chocolate layer, and a toffee topping. The recipe calls for Heath Bar bits to cover the top, but since I was at a loss for toffee, I decided to crumble some cookies on the top instead. Hence, my Caramel Cookie Crunch Bars!
I made half of the recipe and came out with 12-16 (can’t remember..) little bars. I used semi-sweet mini chips in the shortbread batter, and made the little cookie change I mentioned above. I couldn’t believe how good they were- I have to hide them!
*Find the recipe here. Thanks, Whitney!
**Tuesdays with Dorie is a group of bloggers baking through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.
New Addiction: Homemade Hummus and Pita
I’ve been meaning to make hummus and pita FOREVER. I mean, I’ve had the chickpeas and tahini in my pantry for weeks.. whatever the reason, I’m glad I finally did.
This was my first time making bread in a while, so I’m not sure that the yeast was so great, since my pitas didn’t rise much. They ended up more like naan, which was fine, because I’m obsessed with naan. The recipe I used called for all white flour (bread flour, actually), but I used 1 1/2 cups AP flour and 1 cup whole wheat. The whole process took less than two hours, most of which was spent waiting for it to rise, so you can definitely do other things while you wait.
The hummus was pretty easy, and tasty, too. I started out with less lemon juice than it called for, but then I added more, against my better judgment (I don’t like as much lemon in my hummus). I just added a little more garlic and tahini until it tasted right. I served it with salt, pepper, paprika and a little olive oil.
If you get some time and you’re a hummus lover like me, this stuff is ten times better than what you can get from the grocery store!
*Find the pita recipe here.
**Find the hummus recipe here.
(see my changes above)
Test Kitchen Preview!
Now that I’m almost done working part-time, I’ve been able to focus a lot more on the cupcakes. I did a round of testing yesterday that continued into today.. totaling around 7 or 8 variations. This is one of the little test boxes heading out for tasting! When I get some feedback (and taste some more of them for myself) I’ll post a full review.
Thanks for coming on this tasty journey with me. 🙂Pizza Party: Roasted Garlic and Spinach White Pizza
If you’ve never done it, now’s the time to make some homemade pizza. I’m talking about today, people. It’s insanely easy!
Its especially easy if you get frozen or refrigerated pizza dough- then you can make a pizza anytime and avoid the super-greasy take-out variety. Pizza, by nature, is a versatile meal, and you can choose whatever cheeses and toppings you like best. I really enjoyed this recipe though- delicious roasted garlic, savory bacon, and bubbling cheese.
Roasted Garlic and Spinach White Pizza
(adapted from Rachael Ray’s latest mag)
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves, but unpeeled
olive oil
salt and pepper
12-16oz refrigerated or frozen pizza dough, thawed (or make your own, I’m planning on it soon!)
1 bag of fresh spinach (big bag, small bag, as much as you want)
3-4 slices bacon (or more, if you want more protein!)
1 cup ricotta cheese (I used reduced fat, it worked well)
3/4-1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (I used part-skim, again, worked great)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place unpeeled garlic cloves in foil. Cover with olive oil, salt and pepper. Seal foil, and roast garlic for 30-35 minutes.
2. Remove pizza dough from packaging. Cover a baking sheet with cooking spray or olive oil. Stretch dough to fit the baking sheet, let stand. Stretch again before adding toppings.
3. While garlic is roasting, cook bacon until crisp. Drain on a paper towel, cool and crumble. Set aside. Remove the bacon fat from the pan, or use to wilt the spinach.
4. Place spinach in fry pan with bacon fat or olive oil. Cook until wilted. Remove from pan and drain of any excess water.
5. Remove garlic from oven. Let cool. Reduce oven heat to 350. Squeeze garlic from cloves into a small bowl. Mix with a few tablespoons of olive oil to form a paste. Spread paste on pizza dough. Top pizza with spinach, then dollops of ricotta, then bacon, then mozzarella cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake pizza at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Switch to the broiler for about 3 minutes to brown the cheese. Remove, cut into pieces, serve and enjoy!
Cheesy Goodness: Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower
(Oh, how I long for spring. Then i can take some quality dinner pictures again!)While browsing Kristi’s blog, I remembered that I wanted to try Real Simple’s recipe for Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower.
Now, normally, I wouldn’t dare try a mac&cheese recipe.. I sort of have this complex, since my grandmother’s recipe is the greatest recipe of all time.* Here’s my thing. My grandmother’s recipe (let me stress that this is insanely good) is baked, but without all of this breadcrumb nonsense. There is a cheese/milk mixture that is in the casserole, as with most mac&cheese recipes, but the amazing part is that it is then covered with MORE CHEESE, resulting in a deliciously cheesy, bubbly brown crust that my family could start a fist fight over.
So, come to think of it, I’m not really sure what possessed me to try this recipe in the first place. Probably the health angle.
But, I did, and it wasn’t half bad. To me, it seemed more like a cheesy pasta dish with bread crumbs than a real baked mac&cheese, but it was good. Certainly healthier than my grandmother’s recipe. I don’t think I’ll attempt it again, but if you’re a breadcrumb lover and are looking for a healthier version, give this one a try.
*If you want to try my grandma’s recipe, you’ll have to come to Dayton and have dinner at my house!
Something to Look Forward to: Savory Recipes!
It has been a sugar overload around here recently! Thanks for bearing with me, readers!
While the cupcake testing will continue (look forward to more test batches soon), I thought I might give you something savory to think about.
Upcoming Recipes:
- Baked Mac&Cheese with Cauliflower
- Roasted Garlic and Spinach White Pizza
- Sweet and Sour Pork Stir Fry
- Pulled Pork Tacos
- A Throw Together Pasta Dish, TBD!
Get ready to sink your teeth into some tasty weeknight dinners!
