Congratulations to Krista Trentham who was chosen by random.org to be the lucky cupcake goodies give-away winner.
Krista, please email me with your info.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the fun!
I’ll be hosting another Sur la Table give-away before Valentine’s Day with a French theme. “Ooh la la!”
Three words…
Begin with the cutest mini cupcakes wrappers ever by Meri Meri.
They are part of the give-away I’m hosting that ends on Friday.
Fill them with your favorite vanilla cupcake batter. My recipe is at the end of this post, hot stuff.
While the cupcakes baked I made Julia Child’s recipe for pastry cream. And just like Julia, I made it thicker and added a little cream after it completely cooled to thin it out. As Julia said, you can always make it thinner, but not thicker once it’s made. The pastry cream can also be frozen.
Julia also said, “If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” What a wonderful philosophy to live by. No wonder I love this woman.
There are so many gadgets on the market to core out cupcakes. I used a large star tip by inserting it into the top of the cupcake, twisting and pulling it up. This worked perfectly.
Something as simple as a grapefruit knife or a small paring knife or a strawberry corer would work equally well. The trick is to go deep enough so you have a good cavity to hold the pastry cream.
Chocolate ganache is nothing more than chopped dark chocolate with hot cream poured over the chocolate to melt it. Bam! You’ve got chocolate ganache. Couldn’t be easier, really.
Finish with a swirl of sweetened whipped cream and decorate with the candy heart sprinkles (also in the give-away).
Plate.
Yummy.
Scrumptious.
Indulge.
Enjoy!
To enter the Cupcake Goodies Give-Away enter HERE.
Crème Patissiere (pastry cream custard filling) Recipe found in, From Julia’s Child’s Kitchen, page 504
Vanilla-Almond Cupcake Recipe (see below)
Chocolate Ganache Recip (see below)
‘Hot Stuff’ and ‘Love’ Spatulas, glass prep bowls, glass cake stand – Sur la Table
Meri-Meri Cupcake Papers –Sur la Table
Serving Pieces – my own collection
Vanilla –Almond Cupcakes
1cup butter, softened
2 cups superfine sugar
3 cups pastry flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans with papers. In a mixing bowl cream the butter gradually adding the sugar and creaming until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift dry ingredients and add to the mixture alternating with milk, beating well after each addition until smooth.
Pour or scoop the batter into the cupcake papers. Bake for 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes or 25-30 for regular sized cupcakes. Cool briefly in pans and remove to finish cooling on a rack.
Chocolate Ganache
1 cup heavy cream
6 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweat chocolate, chopped
In a small saucepan, heat cream over medium-high heat to where the cream bubbles along the sides of the pan. Do not boil the cream. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let the mixture stand as is for 3 minutes without stirring.
After a few minutes, mix the chocolate gently to a smooth consistency. Let it sit for another few minutes to thicken. If it stands too long and becomes too thick to dip the tops of the cupcakes in, reheat in the microwave. Can be refrigerated.
Featured on …
Cupcakes Take the Cake. Thank you! 
Recently, I took a cupcake class at Sur la Table in Newport Beach.
One can always learn something new. For example, did you know there is a higher level of whipping cream other than heavy whipping cream? It’s called manufacturer’s cream. Restaurants use it. It’s 48% butter fat compared to heavy whipping cream’s 38%.
When I saw the nice helper pour some into my coffee I didn’t stop her. I actually told her to keep on going! That one cup of coffee alone was worth the cost of the class.
I love Sur la Table at Valentine’s Day.
I found so many new pink friends to keep me company in the kitchen while baking my own version of Boston Cream Cupcakes (pictured above - recipe to follow next week). A few goodies followed me home to make their way into my kitchen and some are for you too!
One perfectly pink spatula with sparkles!
A set of perfectly pink measuring spoons ~
A set of perfectly pink measuring cups ~
And the perfect finishing touches ~
(I used these for my cupcakes so you could see how pretty your cupcakes will look but these are yours.)
The whole perfectly pink cupcake kit in caboodle ~
To Enter ~
1. Leave a comment! :)
You must be a follower of my blog or let me know you are a new follower and leave a comment.
I'm grateful and appreciative of my followers and I feel they deserve the best chance to win! :)
For Extra Entry Chances To Win ~
Extra Entry #2 ~ Post about this Give-Away on your blog with a link back to this post.
Extra Entry #3 ~ Add a photo from this post on the sidebar of your blog with a link back to the Give-Away.
Extra Entry #4 ~ Tweet or Face Book about this Give-Away with a link back to this post.
*All entries must be left on separate comments.
Give-Away ends Friday, January 27th at midnight Pacific time.
Good luck and happy baking!
The give-away has ended. Thank you for joining in the fun.. The lucky cupcake lover will be announced on Monday. :)
Whew! Made it to the end of the week!
Because you have been absolutely loves … this weekend I’ll be hosting a cupcake goodies give-away with pretty pink and red lovelies from Sur la Table so make sure you check back on Saturday!
In some fun news, my “Tushie Cookies” were featured yesterday in an article on Bridal Guide. com as one of 5 Fun Bachelorette Party Ideas. These little risque cookies always seem to give a giggle. The magazine called them “cheeky cookies.” Now why didn’t I think of that?
Have a fantastic Friday! I’ve missed you!!!
I wanted to check in to say thank you so much for your well wish comments for Mr. PM’s surgery. I had good intentions to comment in return to each of your kind thoughts but to tell the truth, I didn’t have it in me this week to be at the computer.
To give you a quick update, the surgery wasn’t as successful as we had wished and expected.
I think one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was explain to my husband during his recovery in post-op, was what we all took for granted as being a fairly straight forward cartilage anchor repair was in fact irreparable. When I walked into the room with the steady sound of beeping machines, the hopeful and slightly groggy face that greeted me suddenly turned quiet and expressionless upon hearing my words. The quickening tone on the heart monitor was the only outward sign of his anxiety and disappointment. There were other things done during surgery so we are hopeful this will in fact help the situation.
We’ll know in six weeks when he’s off the crutches. In the meantime, I’m a constant companion, water fetcher, ice pack changer, meal maker, trash taker outer, washer of all things usable and wearable, market runner, scooper of ice cream and cat box (although not together), and personal valet – the slipping on of socks being my specialty. When I’m not tending I’m shifting, cleaning, folding, picking up, answering calls of phone and of nature.
My blog and camera are calling too. So far they’ve reached a busy signal. Next week I should be able to answer.
Have a wonderfully relaxing three-day weekend and thank you for your kind and thoughtful words of encouragement.
You are the best cheerleaders!
xoxo
I totally dropped the proverbially New Year’s ball this year 3,000 miles west of Times Square. I didn’t realize New Year’s Eve was in fact New Year’s Eve until about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday when son2 informed me his ride was going back up to school and he would be leaving “tomorrow”. I instantly perked up and said, “You’re leaving on New Year’s Eve!?!” He informed me that in less than twelve hours it would be a new year.
I have never lost a day before and this one was important. I was spooked the rest of the day knowing I was a day late in food preparations for what I had envisioned to be our family’s night in to ring in the year and which, of course, meant I had to mentally prepare in record time for the inevitable void a child leaves after filling the house with joy for almost three weeks. While standing over the kitchen sink I quickly worked on thawing 2 pounds of frozen shrimp for what was now to be for an impromptu holiday dinner. It was my hope the thaw would also take effect on my brain.
To make my deep freeze more concerning, over the last week I misplaced the users manual to my beautiful new Canon 5D Mark ll and a package I bought in haste from Nordstrom right before Christmas. Where they are both hiding is a complete mystery and the conspiracy eats at me.
Granted, I’ve had a lot on my mind – which includes my new found love of coffee due to my husband accidentally putting heavy cream into my cup one very fine morning. I tell you, there is no going back to non-fat milk. If there is a more addictive substance out there, I don’t know what that could possibly be. Ever since this seemingly innocent mistake occurred I’ve been looking forward to that morning cup starting the night before – at about 6 p.m. Tomorrow morning I go cold turkey. Wish me luck.
My most generous husband with the dairy products will go under the knife for outpatient surgery this week, on his birthday no less. Not because of some sorted retribution for the cream incident but due to a torn cartilage from the accident we were in in June. You know how it is, you wait to see if something will get better, deny it and then you’re forced to acknowledge it and do something about it. He’ll be on crutches for 6 weeks and cannot drive for at least a week, which his job demands. It’s amazing how one can be allowed to move immediately after such surgery but how immobilized the movement is and for such a long period of time. So at least for the next week until I see how much I’m needed, I’m going to focus on being nurse, chauffer, supportive office worker, and cheerleader as well as being a recovering heavy cream-aholic.
Alas, the recipe I promised for the most delicious espresso martinis when I thought December 30th was the 29th (oh well) will be forthcoming and believe me it is worth the wait but if I need a high fat hit among my extra wifely duties (which I’m certainly in anticipation of) I’m going straight to this cocktail, take photos with my old camera, sit down to sip and share with you.
In the meantime, I want to thank Cathy at Stitchfork Designs who designed and embroidered the apron for son2 for Christmas. I gave Cathy a brief explanation of what took place this summer and that I wished to commemorate son2’s LA and OC county fair wins for his chocolate cake and she came up with this incredible design. You should have seen the other designs she also came up with. Wow! She is one very talented artist and embroiderer and I consider her a sweet blogging friend. I know if she lived 2,500 miles closer we would be sitting in Starbucks talking “design and sons”. Cathy, certainly with a healthy drink, and me with my 38% non-fat, decaf misto. Her blog is full of her beautiful and creative work. I encourage you to visit her. You will be in awe - every stitch of the way.
Wishing you all a most happy and most healthy New Year!
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