Cupcake Dog Story
Jenni Israelsen
Once upon a time there lived a young woman. She was often insecure and often afraid and continually questioned her decisions and ideas and dreams. She was also chosen and loved and made beautiful by her King but she usually forgot that part.
So she made plans. Elaborate plans. She bought piping tools and store-bought icing. She searched Pinterest and studied cake decorating blog posts. She would create perfect cupcakes. How hard could it be?
She was not made to bring flawless cupcakes to parties. She was made to dance with dollies in her kitchen with icing dripping off noses and words whispering soft that God loved and created and made beauty, even with messy mismatched cupcakes.
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It was just another cold November evening in Vancouver. I was at the train station holding a tiny cupcake in my hand, as I was returning from a work related party. It was Canadian Media Producers' Association-BC Branch's 25th anniversary party. One of the party volunteers offered us these cute cupcakes, with a clapping board icing on it,just as me and my friend were stepping out. It was one of those too cute to be eaten cupcakes! I looked at it once again, and thought of taking it home for my husband.
She told me that this made her remember how her mother used to bring home a part of food that she ate outside, just to share it with everyone. And this rang a bell in my head too. I had never given it a thought as to why I have this habit of bringing food home. It took me back to the time when I was a little girl! I remember, as a little girl, when my father worked as an electrical repair and maintenance technician. He was pretty famous in the neighbourhood for his top quality work. The little girl in me used to think he was the best electrician in the whole world! He used to be flooded with calls, clients and jobs all the time. Some nearby establishments asked him to get into an annual maintenance contract. The most interesting of the contracts were the ones with restaurants. Since my dad always used to go that extra mile and help his clients with other (non-electrical) handy jobs, without charging them a dime; they used to insist on taking home a barter of freshly made bakery items, or some yummy new experiments from the kitchen. My dad being a foodie himself, he would graciously accept these offerings. But instead of eating it all by himself, he always used to bring it home. Not just this! Even when he visited someone and if they offered him a chocolate, brownie, laddoos, or anything; he would stuff it in the top left pocket of his bush-shirt and bring it home. I remember his pocket would always get those greasy stains from the oil or butter of the food he carried in it, but he obviously did not care. He loved bringing food home and sharing it with us. And I think that is what inspires me to bring food home to share.
I, for once, do not have a huge network in this country. But I have remained in touch with whoever I have met. However small, my network is rock solid when it comes to helping me out in certain situations. I thought of the girl I had met on the train. Maybe she could help, I wondered. But I just couldn't remember her name.
I don't know if this was about Networking or Connecting. I believe both are complementary to each other. She told me that she remembered me as the cupcake girl. To which I laughed! After the event I just wondered to myself, you just never know.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line mini muffin pans with cupcake liners. Sift together first three ingredients; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat egg, egg whites, zest, oil, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until pale and well blended (about 2 minutes). Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture gradually until fully incorporated. Finally, add the champagne and mix until the batter is just even in consistency. Pour into lined pan, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until batter has just stopped bubbling, a toothpick tests clean, and tops of cupcakes are firm and bounce back to the touch. Let cool completely before frosting.
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The buttercream recipe that I use is a swiss meringue buttercream recipe and it is on the white chocolate peppermint website.
-chocolate-peppermint-cupcakes.html
I add 1/4 cup melted dark chocolate to the buttercream at the very end of the mixing so make it chocolate instead of vanilla.
Happy Baking!
Cream the butter and sugar together with the paddle attachment of the mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. In a small bowl, mix cocoa, food coloring and water together until smooth. Add mixture to eggs/sugar, mix until incorporated, scraping down sides as necessary. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to butter/sugar/eggs, mix until incorporated. Add buttermilk and vanilla, and finish with remaining flour, again, scraping down sides and beater as necessary. In a small bowl, add vinegar to baking soda (it will bubble up) and add to batter, mix well.
These look great! We just had a little themed costume party last night and we had used bandages, charred flesh, pickled brains, slime soup, blood clots with pus, ladyfingers, brain cupcakes, swamp juice, and blood and guts potatoes. Cheers to gross food!
And lo behold, we were sold out in the next 2 hours! People who bought the cupcakes came back and bought more for their family and of course, people were asking if we could bake for them! It was an amazing experience and a truly wonderful ending to the year.
I have manifested many things in my life with regards to relationships, work, money and opportunities and I will be posting those success stories soon. Every day I read The Secret stories posted here and feel extremely happy and motivated about manifesting a wonderful life for me and everyone around me. The Secret has truly set me free.
The Secret Daily Teachings provides a simple, inspiring way to keep your thoughts and feelings positive every single day of the year.
The Secret Daily Teachings is available as an app and book in these formats:
Sprinkles makes real celebrations taste better with premium, baked-fresh daily cupcakes, cakes, chocolates, cookies and more. Since 2005, Sprinkles has innovated their way to an ever growing, loyal fan base for their unexpected flavors, on-demand Cupcake ATMs, convenient online ordering and steadily expanding footprint of design forward bakeries coast to coast.
The Sprinkles Mini Chocolate Bites include Red Velvet and Salted Caramel. Embossed with the Sprinkles logo and its signature modern dot, the chocolate bars and the minis make for easy snacking and sharing.
Elsa is finishing preschool this summer and her favourite teacher is also retiring, so last week she wanted to bake a dessert for all the children and teachers at the preschool. She started out with grand plans for a big cake shaped like a princess but (luckily for me) we landed on mini cupcakes with a raspberry frosting. We had just bought a mini muffin pan and it was the perfect opportunity to try it out as we got a lot of muffins from one batch so it was enough for all the children and teachers.
Since that first batch, we have made this recipe two more times. One time to check all the measurements and another time so we could try a vegan version. We are sharing both methods here below. You can of course also make normal size muffins and skip the frosting if you want to keep it simple.
On another note, today we celebrate Midsummer in Sweden. We are going to be enjoying the last of these cupcakes and then we are off to find a maypole covered with flowers so we can jump like frogs around it! You think I am kidding? I am not.
Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F. Grease a muffin tin (mini or regular size) or line it with paper or silicon cup liners. Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl, stir together and set aside. Add the dates to a food processor and blend on high speed. When smooth, add the banana and coconut oil and blend again. Finally add yogurt and eggs and blend until smooth and entirely mixed. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients and stir together. Drop the batter into the muffin tins, place 1-2 raspberries in the centre of each muffin and cover it with batter. Bake for 10 minutes (17-20 minutes if you are using normal size muffins) or until golden and just set. Prepare the frosting while the muffins are in the oven. Leave the muffins to cool before piping the frosting on top. Serve immediately or store in the fridge.
Mix raspberries and dates in a food processor or with a hand blender until completely smooth. Whisk the berry mixture together with the cream cheese in a medium size bowl until pink and smooth. Scoop the frosting into a piping bag. Place it in the fridge for 20 minutes (or longer) to firm up before piping the frosting on top of the cupcakes.
Our Story:
HI! I'm, Janice Hardgrove-Kollar, and I've been baking for a long time. And I love it! You could say that I'm a baking addict.
I was a jingle singer/music arranger by trade, singing national TV commercials for a living, as well as scoring national corporate videos. My baking addiction blossomed one day when I was building a recording studio which cost more and more money. Having run out of money for any "extras" like the occasional massage, a friend, Margabandhu, said "You bake, bring me something yummy to sell in my health food store." Well, I brought him a dozen packages of vegan cookies. He sold them in one day, and the rest is history.
That business, Kollar Cookies, turned into a 6000 cookie a week habit, with 4 distributors, covering all of Manhattan and the tristate area for over 12 years. I sold the company and moved on, but Kollar Cookies are still sold throughout the tristate area. Next was the Pillsbury Bake-off (almost won the whole the damn thing!), to the Food Network, a cookbook agent, and an actual cookbook with Wiley Press! I stepped away from the baking business to work on the book, and a few other things, but baking is in my blood, so right here in Woodstock, I'm back.
When I moved up here 3 years ago, I went on my perpetual quest for tasty baked goods. I noticed that there was not much going on up here, especially as far as cupcakes were concerned. Woodstock needs cupcakes!
And that's why Peace, Love and Cupcakes was created!