Time to Relax!

I hope this message finds you happy, feeling great and still a little full from all the food this past Christmas weekend.

Christmas is a time that I always feel especially lucky for the wonderful family, friends and partner that I have in my life.
Eating delicious food (and cupcakes) with them is like an extra little bonus!

Here are some sneak peaks at what I've been up to this weekend



Now it is time to relax and enjoy the rest of 2010!
Have a wonderful week and we'll talk in the New Year!!!

Jen

HO HO HO Merry Christmas!!!

WOW it's already December 21!?!?

This season has been so incredibly busy and wonderfully fun. 1.5 orders of 5 are done for Christmas. It's very exciting! There is going to be a lot of eating this week...
Here is a little sneak peek of what is happening in our kitchen.




PS take a look at our website... just don't mind the mess while we finish it up!
www.dolceamorecupcake.com


Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Ganache is the new black

With the Christmas season now upon us Nikita and I have been working tirelessly at putting together our website. With the creative expertise of Xplode Studios- we're almost there. I can't wait to announce when the site will be up. This has been a long process in the making, and I'm starting to get really excited!

In baking news I have tried my first butter cream fondant combo cake. It's a banana cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with vanilla butter cream for my brother's birthday. He's a leafs fan so I decided to go with a similar theme)


I also got to make cupcakes for a baby shower! It was a blue and yellow theme and the cucpakes were vanilla and filled with ganache and topped with buttercream frosting.



Everyone seems to love our ganache so I'm starting to try and come up with more ways to use it. Any suggestions? I have a couple but you'll have to stay tuned to see where it shows up :)

Jen

Christmas is COMING!

Hello All,

So with school becoming increasingly time consuming, and work being equally demanding Nikita and I had to schedule meticulously for a day to begin our Christmas Baking.

Last Saturday, we did just that.

I'd like to introduce to your the Winter Line-up of Christmas Cupcakes.

We have Gingerbread cupcakes with whipped butter cream




and we even tried to decorate with fondant. I have to admit it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I'm actually kind of glad we did it. We definitely have a lot to learn, but so far I'm excited about the adventure that is starting.
Have a look for yourself...



Christmas Ornament Cupcakes!




Have a great Sunday!

Happy Birthday(s)

So the past few weekends have been filled with birthdays galore!
First it was a lavender and pink birthday for a birthday surprise.



Then the next day it was my cousin's birthday. She loves beach vacations, and asked for sprinkles so I thought why not go with a beach themed cupcake!



This past weekend it was my mom's birthday. She loves the color green and just spent the summer with my dad landscaping our backyard so I thought a garden 'theme' cake might be in order.



Oh and Nikita has been busy baking away a new and IMPROVED Pumpkin Spice cupcake AND an A M A Z I N G vanilla cupcake. I can't wait to share those with you!

Happy Halloween!

Jen

what a wonderful weekend

This Thanksgiving weekend has been filled with many reasons to give thanks. First there was Marisa and Adrian's wedding; what a wonderful, romantic, love filled day!
I brought a few cupcakes to the pre-party. To stay with the thanksgiving theme I brought pumpkin pie cupcakes with whipped buttercream.


What a beautiful bride, and a wonderful day.

Next was a dear family friend's 90th birthday party. Congratulations Helen! Pictures from those cupcakes will be coming soon!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of love, laughter and good times.

Jen

Cold, Rainy Weather

Is it just me or is today the perfect day for some hot apple cider, a cozy blanket and a romcom movie?

(Feel free to replace apple cider for hot chocolate and marshmallows!)

Looking forward to this weekend. Stay tuned for pictures!

PS a great way to make homemade apple cider is below:
Using 1-2 cups of Tropicana Freshly Squeeze Apple juice (not from concentrate) OR you can juice your own apples if you are crafty
Add 1 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste) (some people like to add nutmeg or all spice as well)
Heat over stove top at medium heat stirring often.
Remove when it's begun to boil.
Pour into your favorite mug, add a cinnamon stick for good looks and ENJOY!

Happy Wednesday!

Jen

exciting stuff!

So after a fairly difficult month I have decided that October is going to be fantastic, upbeat and full of good news.

That being said I am proud to announce the "LIGHT" butter cream recipe is COMPLETE! For those that prefer a whipped buttercream frosting with a hint of butter and sweetness, with less than half the sugar (and all the taste). It's so soft and easy to work with. I'm so happy I tried it.

I won't lie it took about 15 minutes to mix so at the 10 minute mark I was certain there was no hope. But I put my faith in the Kitchen gods and it paid off.

Next Saturday I'll be making a few babycakes for a family members wedding (which I'm VERY EXCITED FOR!) Hopefully the recipe is as well received by them as it was in the house.

I'll have some nice photos for you next Friday.

Thanksgiving weekend is going to be busy and wonderful!


Have a good weekend everyone!

Jen

photos!

Look at the pictures by Marlee MacLean Photography!









Hope you guys are having a great week

Jen

Hello!
Sorry for my absence but this month has been quite busy. Aside from school getting underway again I had an End of Treatment party for a dear friend that has finished all her cancer treatments! Naturally I celebrated by bringing cupcakes!
The mini vanilla swirls are I am happy to say were well received:


Next was my best friend and baking partner Nikita's birthday! So naturally I made her favorite, mango raspberry swirl for the occasion. I know she liked them. Plus I got to try out my newest tip. The Giant French tip from Adecco.





and lastly I was flattered when asked to make the cake for my partner's nephew's 2nd birthday. He is all about dump trucks (when he says the word it sounds very close to a profanity) so I decided to go with that theme. The kids loved it and I made the cake base low in sugar (made up for with the butter cream) to keep the mom's happy!



We also came up with a Banana butterscotch part 2 (a much better version in my opinion). It's sweet and savory. I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a good name for it though.
"Scotchlate" is my next to try. I want to combine a chocolatey cupcake with a butterscotch ripple and a butterscotch butter cream icing. We'll see how that goes.

Now that school is in full swing I am expecting to slow down a little. Hopefully things will come back into full swing come December when the break hits. And plus... CHRISTMAS time will be here!

Have a great weekend everyone
Jen

Cabbagetown!

Hey guys
I just wanted to let you know you can find us hiding at the cabbagetown festival this weekend!
We're serving some coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting:


and some mango delite cupcakes:


and our classic vanilla!

Have a great weekend everyone... and WISH US GOODLUCK!

Busy Bee's!

Hello again!

I cannot believe it. It's officially September. Summer is almost over. As great as the season has been to us I think Nikita and I are both excited for what lies ahead this fall.

Nikita and I have been pretty busy recently. We've been trying out new flavors, and designs.

We've come up with a Pumpkin Spice Cupcake (perfect for Thanksgiving). Plus we're going to start adding the apple and spice cupcakes to our regular menu for the fall season.

On top of that we have been fulfilling a few orders for some old (and new) friends of ours. Plus today is my dad's birthday so I decided to whip up a quick cake for the occasion! Here is how it turned out:



I will leave you with some photos of what we've been doing to keep busy!

Hydrangea Bouquet Cupcake




Daisy bouquet Cupcakes


Hydrangea Cupcakes





I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend and enjoys their cupcake orders!

Jen

Cupcakes galore!

So I have been a little delinquent in my blogging. This past week and a half has been really busy. With Nikita on the other side of the country I was given the task of fulfilling an order for a friend of ours that was going to not one, but two BBQ's last weekend.

One of the BBQ's was Gluten Free. When she requested gluten free cupcakes I thought it might be a good time to give a new recipe a try. I'm happy to report they came out tasting delightful and were very well received! Here they are...




The other two types of cupcakes were vanilla ganache filled cupcakes with strawberry butter cream frosting, and our traditional chocolatey chocolate.


Doing my first solo order was exciting and scary. I love baking with Nikita because I always know she is there to keep me calm and collected. Thankfully this week there were no disasters. No leaking pans, no smooshing cakes. I'm glad it all went well.

I also want to thank Laura for thinking of us. I'm so glad everyone liked the cupcakes! It was delightful baking for you.

Oh and one last thing... I MISS NIKITA! Can't wait for your return this week.

Now I must get to sleep,
Good night all

Jen

Struggle... Struggle... SUCCESS!

This morning was quite an adventure. Nikita and I were putting together our first "pram" baby shower cake for an old colleague and friend of ours.

I got up early to start baking and the pan decided to start leaking. Yes LEAKING. About 3 minutes after the cake was in the oven I started to smell something burning. When I looked there were globs of batter burning at the bottom of the stove. It was not a pretty sight. I took that cake out, tried to put some foil on the bottom to prevent it from continuing, but it was too late. I couldn't very well give them a cake that I had lost confidence in. So I made a second one. Thankfully I had a second cake pan of the same size and it worked just fine! After taking it out of the oven I let it sit and then
Nikita and I began the decorating journey!

It started to look like a cute baby pram cake. I got really excited! We finished it in record time too. Sounds great right? it was!
Then we just had to take it from the board, and place it into the box.

That's when IT happened. The board cracked and folded. The wheels of the pram smooshed against the body of the cake. A mixture of yellow and pink frosting made the look like a terrible mess.
I wanted to cry, Nikita laughed hysterically. Then we both laughed. This WOULD happen to us, when we need to have it done in 15 minutes.

Lucky Nikita is a decorating genius and we were able to salvage the cake thanks to her.
THANK YOU NIKITA THANK YOU THANK YOU to the best partner ever!

Now it's safely stored away, waiting for pick up!
The picture quality isn't that great this time around, but here she is...



The cake is a vanilla chocolate marble. It's topped with vanilla butter cream and filled with vanilla custard. I hope they like it!



Now... it's time to rest.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Failures...

Today I have been thinking a lot about the term failure. Not just in baking (which has happened SEVERAL times when trying to create new recipes) but in life in general. Do you recognize the name Thomas Edison? He invented the first incandescent light bulb.

I once heard somewhere that Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time, actually failed at creating the light bulb (among his many other inventions) over 5000 times before getting it right. When asked how he felt about failing 5000 times he responded, "I have never failed, I have simply found 5000 ways that do not work." I love this quote.
I think it's so important to remember that when we feel as though we are failing at something, we are just finding out ways that don't work. Moral of the story: KEEP TRYING!

Sometimes I need to give myself a pep talk like this so I thought I'd share this one with you too.

On a food related note- Nikita and I have a big day on Wednesday. We're testing out a few new recipes. I won't tell you the flavors until we have them complete though. Wish us luck! I'm pretty excited

Good night,

Jen

Chocolate


Yesterday I went to a pool party. The weather wasn't all that fantastic but naturally I decided to bring some festive cupcakes. I went with a more tropical, summer theme so I brought vanilla with pool blue vanilla frosting, raspberry lemon drops, and mango delite babycakes. Here's what they look like:







Today I decided to try out some chocolate cupcakes for a friend of mine. This time I was pleasantly surprised with the result. I took a recipe from the "joy of baking" cookbook and tweaked it a bit. The result was just what I was looking for. I topped it off with some pink butter cream frosting to give to a friend of mine that is off to Africa to volunteer with habitat for humanity. Have a great time Liz! You're drive and enthusiasm is inspiring!

here is a sneak peak at her little gift.



I hope you are all heading to bed from a fabulous weekend. Have a wonderful Monday tomorrow!

Good night!

Jen

Bake-a-thon

Hey there

Nikita and I have been baking daily and coming up with new flavors and recipes for all to enjoy.
So far we have gotten rave reviews about our Mango Delite cupcakes as well as our Coconut cupcakes. We're both really proud of them. Here's a peak at the Mango Delite!



We're working on more flavours but for now we are feeling pretty good about the following:

Vanilla
Lemon Blueberry
Raspberry Lemon Drop
Coconut
Mango Delite
Babaganache (Vanilla cupcake with chocolate ganache filling!)

There are more to come, wish us luck!!!

Jen

Party-Q: success


Party-Q was a success!
Everyone loved the cupcakes and they came in handy as the night went on and people got hungry.
I made some truly marble marble, raspberry lemon drops, chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes for all to enjoy. It was a long night, but so worth it!


Now Nikita and I have been busy baking away perfecting some other recipes. Apple'n'spice and everything nice, Mango Delite, coconut, chocoholic and a couple of others.
Lets see what we can come up with tomorrow!

Good night!
Jen

Party-Q preview!

Tomorrow marks the 4th annual Party-Q!
In honor of the event I decided to do a little mini cupcake baking and decorating. I was going to decorate them tomorrow with Nikita but once I started doing a couple for practice, I couldn't stop!

Anyway here are a few pictures of what came of the event. I'm loving the raspberry lemon drop cupcakes. They're my current favorite.


While baking I noticed that my chocolate cupcakes are always slightly more dry than yellow cake based cupcakes. I will have to work on that. A bake-a-thon with the Nikita is slated for Tuesday . I'm looking forward to seeing what we can come up with.

I'm also looking into a new flavor. I am thinking something with coconut... Perhaps chocolate chip and coconut icing. I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great long weekend everyone! Lets hope tomorrow is a success.

Back in the Kitchen


I just wanted to show you guys a picture of the cupcakes Nikita and I made for our friend's twins 3rd birthday. We like to call them "Truly marble, marble cupcakes". The frosting is a combo of chocolate fudge and vanilla buttercream.

One tip that I find really improves the flavour of the actual cake batter is using unsweetened choclate squares (or the discs) instead of cocoa powder. I like the richness of the taste. It is a more full, rich and smooth texture of cupcake. I highly recommend it!

Oh and a tip for the frosting; use cocoa powder so it's not TOO rich (if using buttercream frosting)The consistency of the frosting makes it full and rich and smooth enough, so the powder is a way to add the light chocolate flavor to the icing without over powering the flavour.

Happy baking everyone :)

P.S. Here is a picture of the cake we made for their Barney themed birthday to go along with the cupcakes. As our first attempt at full cake decorating (we did a Princess Jasmine for our friend earlier in the year) we were pleased and the boys loved it! The coloring was the hardest part to master, but so worth it to see their little faces covered in the icing a few hours later.

A Little Love

Happy Wednesday!

Withdrawl!

After deciding to take 2 days off from baking, I've begun having withdrawl symptoms. Why did I say I wasn't going to bake for 2 days?

There is something so calming about mixing different ingredients together to make a delicious creation. Even if it isn't cupcakes. I find creating differet cakes, tarts, meals etc... a challenge, but also a form of relaxation.

Comfort is something I think of when I think of my kitchen. It is a comfortable space. Nothing snazzy, nothing particularly over the top; But when I'm in there, I'm happy, comfortable and balanced.

Tomorrow I will get back to it. and... i'm going to try something new too! We'll have to see what I can come up with.

Good night!

THE ONE!!!!

Well after about a month of really searching and experimenting (and years of baking with several different recipe books) I think I have found THE ONE. It is light, with a hint of buttery goodness in a cupcake!

I've been forcing everyone I know to try it. I am fortunate to have supportive network of people that like to participate in taste tests. I haven't had a negative comment, which is saying a lot given my critics. I am so grateful for their honesty and am pretty excited about the positive feedback.

I'm starting to feel comfortable whipping these up quickly too. With new recipes I am always cautious, just in case I forget to add something, like baking powder... yes it happened, just once though).

Now I need to think of a name. I was hoping for sweet somethings but it seems to be taken. I want to make sure that my cupcakes are known to be natural, homemade, handmade. Homemade Handmade... hmmm that could work (clearly I'm not that creative).

In non baking related news, I've finished the summer semester of school (I'm also a full time student if I haven't mentioned that yet). In 4 days I'll be finished my placement as well. That means I have the next 5 and a half weeks to relax and BAKE my heart out. I have accomplished a vanilla and chocolate cupcake but I have about 8 more that I want to try.

I think the next one will be Raspberry White chocolate... or Banana Chocolate. We'll have to see what happens.

I must say. Having a cupcake finished feels really good. I'm hoping to add some photos soon. Hopefully they look as delicious as they taste! Now I'm off to enjoy the evening sunset. I hope everyone is able to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. What a fantastic summer.

Until next time; eat, drink and be merry

me

slight fail...AKA further opportunity for growth!

I believe in keeping the world (and desserts) as natural as possible. I hope to one day have a home that is environmentally friendly, waste nothing and of course, only feed my family natural foods.
My motto is, if I can't pronounce it... I probably shouldn't eat it (I'm sure there are a few exceptions of natural foods I cannot pronounce).

Today I made another batch of cupcakes, tried out a slightly different icing recipe (which was a definite winner by the way).

The downside... it wasn't "the one". I really thought it would be. As I put it in the oven I even said.. Lets hope... I think this is THE ONE.

After just 18 minutes my cupcakes today were too dry! I did use veggie oil instead of butter and I'm wondering if that made it cook faster? hmm I smell a test coming on.
I have to test this tomorrow. Perhaps I'll reduce the time by a couple of minutes and see what happens.

Also I'm starting to think of my next flavour. I'm thinking of a fruity cake or cupcake... kind of like a jelly filled donut but in a cupcake. Oh man, I could go for one of those right now. I just have to figure out how to make it!


Good night,

me

Finding the Right Mix

The best smell in the world to me, is freshly baked cake, cupcakes, cookies... you get the drift. I have a sweet tooth. I grew up with my grandmothers always baking something fresh, delicious and natural. Now I feel as though it is my turn to start the traditions of baking little sweet somethings for my family and friends to enjoy.

Currently I am trying to find the best cupcake recipe out there. The search started with cook books... but I couldn't find "The one". I've decided to try and make up the recipe all on my own. The task is proving to be more difficult than I originally anticipated.
The smallest changes can make a huge difference.

So far I have made...

Too dry cupcakes
Too sweet cupcakes
Not sweet enough cupcakes
Too dense cupcakes...

and finally, today... the "almost there, just a tiny tweak and they'd be perfect" cupcakes.

Wish me luck. I'm hoping I can find THE ONE tomorrow!

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