Joy the Baker

Hey there friendlies!  

I have a few spots open for this weekend’s grand bash!  Have nothing to do this Sunday?  Want to hang out with me on a rooftop downtown.. picnic style?  Did I mention there will be cupcakes…?

If you want a last minute invite, email me at: 

joythebakerpicnic (at) gmail (dot) com

Yes?  Yes.  This is happening.

Back to our regularly scheduled recipes and stories soon… promise.

These are pretty, right?  Hot diggity dang, I think they’re precious.  

In the middle of frosting these cupcakes I looked down at my hands.  No big deal.  I was simply looking down at the cupcake in one hand, and frosting covered knife in the other.  I had to see what I was doing, right?  When I looked down at this particular moment, I saw… my grandmother’s hands.  There they were, the worn and wrinkled hands that had absolutely fascinated me as a child… only now spotted with powdered sugar and tinted with food coloring.  

When I was a kid I would hold my grandmother’s hand in my lap and study it like it like I might study my favorite picture book.  Somehow her hands weren’t at all different from reading an intricate a story.  

So there I was, frosting a cupcake with my grandmother’s hands.  The image was so strong that I even put down the cupcake and knife and bent my left index finger with my right hand.  It ached a little.  I don’t know why.  And just like that… those hands were gone from me.  

That was simultaneously perplexing and so comforting.  I had to share that with you…  I now only hope that I live long enough for my hands to be read like a story book.  

Now let’s talk cupcakes!

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Me in a tree.  Wanna join me?

The truth is… I think we should totally hang out.  You and me, and you, and you and me.  Can we get together!?

I mean it.  It’s just about summer, it’s beautiful outside, the parks are just begging us to visit, and we’re still wading our way through this financial mess.  In other words… we’re kinda broke and it’s sunny out, right?

What say we all get together for a picnic?  No joke.  We’ll have lemonade and cupcakes, we’ll throw around a Frisbee (don’t worry, I suck), I’ll bring some cookies to decorate,  loads of them… we can talk about baking and blogging and anything else we’re equally obsessed with.  It’s on me.  Are you in?

Think of it as one of those fancy blogging conventions except with cupcakes and waaaay more fun.

I haven’t planned this whole shin dig yet.  It’s still just a thought bubble floating above my head.  What I need to know is… well…  if you’re in the Los Angeles area, would you come?  For real.  Be honest.  Don’t let me throw a party and buy balloons and then not show up.

If you think you’d like to come to a Joy the Baker Bit Fat Picnic Party where I bake things and you come eat them… if you think you’d bring your friends and family and dogs and birds… then leave a comment in this post expressing interest.  Be real.  I need to know if I’m an absolute maniac for dreaming something like this up or not.  Your thoughts, I need ‘em.

Picnic?  Discuss.

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Oh!  What if I promise to bring some of these!?

This morning I stood under a blossoming orange tree that hummed with honey bees.  I found my way under this tree after a walk through my neighborhood on one of those mornings that couldn’t decide if it wanted to laugh or cry.

The sidewalk showed evidence of midnight rain.  The smell of rain on asphault… ooh so perfectly dreamy.  The sky, bright blue with clusters of pure white and angry grey clouds.

The air was just cold enough to chill me through my sweater and carried the scent of orange blossoms nearly a block.  That’s the scene that lead me, arms hugging my chest, to the bee humming orange tree, live with blossoms and heavy with fruit.

The scene screamed of Spring.

Standing there under that tree, it felt like life was just bursting out into the world.  What a pure expression of life and beauty that tree was this morning.

Happy Spring.

Have some life… enjoy it!

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I feel like I’ve had cupcakes coming out of my ears lately.  I probably have.  But there are worse things, right?

Friends… we need to talk.  It’s about me, and how I need a vacation.  And how I’m actually taking a small vacation, making my July 4th weekend extra long and glorious.  There will be a pool, a bikini, sunglasses and… mojitos.  I’ll take pictures and share, promise.    

Please allow me to leave you with these double chocolate and bright red velvet cupcakes.  Take good care of them while I’m gone.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!  Don’t eat anything I wouldn’t eat… 

Please allow me this last party post. You won’t have to hear a word about it after this. Promise. But what’s a party without cupcakes? And what’s a chocolate cupcake without The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting? Tragedy, I suppose.

It should go without saying that these super soft chocolate cupcakes were a hit at the party. But there is one mystery. Around about 2 in the morning, as I was somehow making my way around the room collecting dirty plates, I ran across a plate with a discarded cupcake on it. The cupcake had one bite taken out of it, and then the remainder of the cupcake was smashed upside down onto the dirty paper plate. WHAT!? Who would do that!? Seriously… not cool.

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I haven’t been baking much this week because I’m getting ready for a party I’m throwing this weekend.  Yes!  Joy the Baker is throwing a summer party!  I’m beside myself with excitement!  And it’s not just any party-  I feel like I’m in full Martha Stewart mode.  To kick off summer, I’m throwing a margarita and cupcake party.  It’s the only civilized thing to do. 

To tell you the truth,  I’ve been a nearly consumed with the decorations for this weekend’s gathering.  Crazy.. I know.  But I’ve spent several hours for the past few nights with glue stick in hand making handmade drink umbrellas and colorful paper flowers.  I made drink umbrellas!  What kind of madness is that!?   

When this craft kick slows to a halt, I’ll get cooking.  Get ready for beef empanadas, chunky guacamole and  red velvet buttermilk cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Like the ones up top but with rich, dark chocolate frosting.  They’re on the to-do list, right after I finish these paper flowers.  I’ll be back in the kitchen cooking for you soon.  But don’t let me keep you from playing in the kitchen-  how about you randomly make some delicious oatmeal sandwich cookies!  They’re winners.

I remember first making  these flowers for Cinco de Mayo in grade school.  There was something about how fun and colorful they were, I just never forgot how to make them.  I’m revisiting the old tissue paper into flower trick as an economical but ultra hip way to decorate my margarita party. And keep in mind- in my world,  where there are margaritas, there is at least one stuffed pinata.   I’ll leave you with that pretty thought.  

I absolutely LOVE Memorial Day weekend. It’s like all the good things in the world come together in one weekend. I look forward to this three day weekend at the start of May. Not only is it my birthday weekend, but it’s also the unofficial start of summer, the start of outdoor grilling and parties with friends, and just all around good times.

If I had a lake anywhere near me, I’d be down at the lake all the time, just so I could say, “I’m going down to the lake!” That feels like an ultra summer thing to say. Lake or no lake, I feel a beautiful summer coming on.

And as if I couldn’t get more excited, I’ve discovered I can make ice cream cupcakes! These little gems are really easy to throw together and you can make them with any flavor combination you can imagine. The only slight downside is that they melt (as ice cream tends to do) when they’re not in the freezer. Melting won’t be too much of an issue because these don’t tend to stick around long. I’ve already eaten 5, and the party isn’t until Sunday.

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Kids between the ages of 3 and 7 are pretty amazing.  They’re little screaming, snotting, jumping, and crashing balls of honesty.  If they don’t like you, you know it.  If they recognize you for the poopoo head that you are, they’re not afraid to tell you- to your face, in ear piercing tones.  They haven’t yet developed the ability to filter their opinion of you.  It’s simultaniously refreshing and completely unsettling.

That’s why, whenever I meet new kids, I come with cupcakes.  Not just cupcakes, but cupcakes with sprinkles.  It works every time.  It’s irresistable.  It’s my dirty little trick.  Walk into their house with cupcakes and a smile on your face, and you’ve got an instant friend.  And when they come and thank you for the cupcake with chocolate all over their face- well, there’s nothing better.

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This morning I started the day thinking about Easter as a child.  It was the holiday as exciting as Christmas.  There were personalized Easter baskets filled with candies and chocolates on a bed of fake plastic grass.  There was always some sort of delicious ham and potato meal  And the Easter egg hunt.  Oh… the hunt!  The hunt is the sole reason I could sit through church is my Easter dress, itchy tights and Sunday shoes.  It was my little sister and I tearing through the house and backyard trying to find as many plastic eggs as we could.  It was brutal, and there was no mercy.  Flower beds were trampled, the house cat was scared from its house, tears were shed… it was the hunt, and it was serious.  The coveted Easter eggs to find of the hunt were the silent one.  Silent?  Yes!  Without the rattle of little chocolate candies, we knew  those particular eggs were filled with cash.  Oh how my sister and I would fight for those eggs.  Thinking about it now,  I have to shake my head at what greedy little children we must have been. Read more »

I took a day away from the kitchen yesterday, yet still found myself with a cupcake in hand.  It figures-I’m never too far away from a sweet treat, whether it’s baked by me or one of my favorite Los Angeles bakeries.  

This mini chocolate raspberry cupcake is from Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica.  It’s a chocolate cupcake with raspberry jam filling and a dark chocolate ganache frosting.  There seemed to be more jam than cake in this cupcake, but the frosting was thick, rich and incredibly delicious.  

Vanilla Bake Shop has the most darling array of mini cupcakes.  This is called Mom’s Birthday Cake.  It’s delicious, with golden cake and buttery chocolate frosting. All in flavors remind me of  something that would come out of my Dad’s oven- banana cake, red velvet cake, spiced carrot cake.  All the options are apporachable, and elevated with a clean and hip design.    Good things are happening at Vanilla, and at $5 for 3 mini cupcakes, these treats feel like a pretty sweet deal.

Besides cupcakes, I found the most delicious (oh how I wish they were edible) bath confections.

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These are simple Lemon Scented Buttermilk Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, decorated with fondant flowers and edible pearls.

Cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite toppings for cakes and cupcakes!  From citrus scented cakes, to rich chocolate cupcakes, cream cheese frosting is a decadent and versatile cake topping.

Cream cheese frosting is also fairly easy to make.  But what happens when cream cheese frosting goes wrong?

Have you ever found yourself with a mixing bowl full of curdled cream cheese frosting?  Ugh! How frustrating!  It’s more than frustrating… it’s an outrage, and I’m here to get to the bottom of it.

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How do I describe the taste of Red Velvet cake?  Well, it’s not vanilla cake,  but it’s certainly not all chocolate.  Red Velvet cake, for lack of a more creative vocabulary, tastes like sweet red cake.  Without rich and decadent frosting, this cake is light, moist, quite tasty and yes, red.  My favorite Red Velvet cake is relentlessly smothered in brown sugar cream cheese frosting.  The recipe for both just a jump away.

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 These little beauties are the answer to any of life’s little hiccups.  Really.  Say, for example, you fall asleep with a candle burning in the  bedroom of the apartment you share with four other people.  Say, you wake up with the blankets on top of you up in flames… serious flames.  Say, in fear and shock and sleep, you flee your room and  run to your roommate’s room.  You knock furiously.  You knock like your bedroom is on fire, because it is.  You knock, wondering why you’re knocking when your bedroom is on fire. Say, your roommate answers the door is just her underwear, hears your plight through sleepy ears, and follows you in disbelief to your bedroom, which is as you left it, on fire.  Say, your brave roommate tries to help you put out the flames with the  smother technique, using all of your clothes and pillows as fire extinguishers.  It works, no thanks to you.  You were fanning the flames, not smothering them.  Say you and your roommate open your bedroom window and shove the charred remains of your blankets, clothes and pillows out, and watch them drop the three floors to the ground.  How would you thank your brave, kind, talented roommate?  How would you ensure your continued friendship help in future life threatening events?  Red Velvet  Cupcakes.  They work.  I have the friend and the blackened ceiling to prove it.  

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Say you’re a 17 year old girl, and it’s your birthday.  If you can’t have a new car, a cute new boyfriend, or a hassle free day from your parents, what would be next on your list?  Probably, Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes. No?  You’d want one of those super skinny Macbook Airs?  Well let’s say, for the sake of… me, that you’d want Banana Cupcakes.  Let’s just pretend.  These little gems are far better than anything Steve Jobs could design.  Last time I checked, Steve Jobs didn’t make anything that tasted like both banana and chocolate. So… I rest my case.

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