Cupcakes | The Wannabe Chef

Tag Archive: Cupcakes

Sweet Freedom Bakery Review

Written on August 25, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Restaurant Review

One place that kept coming up when I mentioned that I was going to Philadelphia was Sweet Freedom Bakery. So many readers, bloggers, and tweeters recommended this place that I couldn’t not go. I’m happy with anywhere that sells gluten-free treats, but Sweet Freedom goes above and beyond selling only gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, and vegan desserts. I visited Sunday morning before lunch with Cynthia and Katie.

The selection was—in a word—overwhelming. There were cupcakes, cookies, hand pies, brownies, and bars. It took me 10 minutes just to settle on something.

I ended up getting a brownie sundae cupcake(top left) for myself and a Samoas(top right) and chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting(bottom) for Madeline and Boots.

I love that they showed you the ingredients for all of the items. Not only does it help people with allergies know what they can have and can’t, but it helps nosy bakers like me know the secret ingredients of their baking.

The brownie cupcake was good, but nothing outstanding. The frosting was delicious but then again when isn’t frosting delicious? The Samoas cupcake was seriously impressive, with a coconut cream filling that looked incredible. But the real stand out was the cinnamon bun.

Photo from Katie

I wasn’t planning on eating one of these, but Katie bought one and insisted that we share. Twist my arm why don’t ya? There was some serious moaning from our side of the table as we ate this. It wasn’t the best gluten-free, vegan cinnamon bun I’ve ever had; it was the best cinnamon bun I’ve ever had—period. It was so light and fluffy you could tell it had to be fresh and homemade. The glaze was sticky and sweet but didn’t overpower the spiciness of the cinnamon. Every part of it was pure bliss.

I can’t lie: I’m as excited as going back to Philadelphia in November for the cinnamon bun as I am the marathon. Carbs have never tasted so good.

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Semi-Homemade Coconut Cupcakes With Lemon Buttercream

Written on April 26, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Lord help me.

I’m posting a Sandra Lee-esque recipe.

It’s not that I don’t love baking from scratch; I do. But there are only so many hours in a weekend, especially Easter weekend. Somewhere between spending Saturday at the mall and egg-painting and Sunday at home with family sifting together flour, sugar, and baking soda didn’t seem so important. So I phoned it in. But I made the frosting from scratch, and everyone knows that’s the part that counts.

Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients(Makes around 16 cupcakes):

1 box yellow cake mix
2 or 3 eggs*
1 cup coconut milk

*Use however many the instructions for the cake mix calls for.

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees.

Mix together the mix, eggs, and coconut milk in a large bowl until well-beaten.

Evenly scoop the batter into lined cupcake tins making sure each paper liner is about 2/3rds full. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Let cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Buttercream

Ingredients:

4oz room-temperature butter
2 cups powdered sugar
Zest from one lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Beat together the butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Slowly incorporate the rest of the sugar while beating until all of it is mixed in. Add in the lemon zest and juice and mix until the frosting reaches a uniform consistency.

Spread on cupcakes or over cake. Optional: Roll the tops of the cupcakes in a bowl of shredded coconut.

Like I said, it’s the ~~frosting~~ thought that counts.

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Scenes From Easter Weekend

Written on April 25, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Highlights, Holiday, Photography

‘Tis the season…

…Now let me at that discounted candy.

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Cupcake Tour of DC

Written on March 28, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Restaurant Review

When you’re a foodie, the best part of visiting a new city isn’t the historical monuments or the shopping centers. It’s the food—more specifically, the cupcakes.

My partners in crime, Holly and Madeline share this same sentiment. After over a year of ~~stalking~~ reading there blogs I was ecstatic to finally meet both of them. On Friday after finding each other at the race expo we down to Georgetown to Georgetown Cupcakes.

If you aren’t aware of the gem of a reality show that is DC Cupcakes you really should be. The TLC show focuses on two sisters who opened up a cupcake bakery and… well, that’s the entire premise. But I promise it’s funny. The storefront offered some amazing sounding flavors. I was most surprised when I saw they had a gluten-free lava fudge cupcake for me!

This might have been the best cupcake I have ever eaten: a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and a fudge sauce filling. The filling was delicious and entirely unexpected. And the cupcake part didn’t taste starchy at all which can be a problem with gluten-free baked goods. But the best part was the frosting; Madeline and I both agreed that we would have bought a tub of the frosting if they sold that.

On Sunday the three of us headed to Sticky Fingers Bakery for breakfast. The owner of the bakery won season 1 of Cupcake Wars on Food Network(another show that I admit is awful and yet 100% addicting). Sticky Fingers is an all vegan café with plenty of gluten-free options, too.

I ordered the gluten-free pancake plate which came with maple syrup, tofu scramble, and vegan grits.

Simply put, the pancakes were amazing. They were thin but the taste and texture were dead on. They even soaked up the maple syrup perfectly. I have no idea how they made these without eggs or gluten but I want the recipe.

The vegan grits came with Daiya cheese. I’m still not even sure what grits are or how these were made. They were filling and tasted OK but could have used a pinch more of salt.

Sticky Fingers was definitely a winner in my book.

On the way out we all grabbed some cupcakes. I meant to save it for the bus ride to the airport but ended up eating it at 11am. Hey, I did run a marathon the day before.

I got the gluten-free chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. The cupcake itself was excellent and reminded me a lot of Georgetown Cupcake’s gluten-free cupcake. The frosting, however, was a little boring and just tasted generically sweet. I enjoyed Georgetown Cupcake’s cupcake more but if I were vegan I would not at all mind settling for Sticky Fingers. My only wish would be that cupcake stores make more interesting gluten-free flavors than chocolate(I swear I ordered it both times not because I’m a chocoholic but because that’s all there was).

I have to say thanks to my hungry companions, Holly and Madeline, for the awesome time! The only question left is what city should we hit up next?

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Mocha Buttercream

Written on January 25, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Remember when I made cupcakes and was too lazy to frost them? Well, 6 days later it snowed again and I had nothing but time.

At first I was going to try a chocolate buttercream but to get chocolate to be the right temperature seemed like more work than reward. Also, I was on a coffee kick and decided to split the difference and settle on mocha. Who doesn’t love mocha lattes and mocha cappuccinos? It’s an excuse to have chocolate in the morning. This frosting is just as rich and pairs perfectly with any chocolate cake recipe.

Mocha Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter(or Earth Balance) at room temperature
3 cups of powdered sugar, divided
2 tablespoons warm water + 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules(you could substitute with 2 tablespoons of strongly brewed coffee)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Cream together the stick of butter with 1 cup of powdered sugar.

Once the mixture is homogenous, mix in the coffee, cocoa powder, and 1 more cup of powdered sugar and beat again.

After that has come together, sift in the last bit of powdered sugar and beat until the buttercream is smooth and there are no lumps.

Let’s address some elephants in the room:

1) I’m completely aware of what color the frosting is and what it looks like. You don’t have to tell me because I’m not blind. In fact, I was the one licking it off my fingers, so clearly the flavor trumps the appearance.

2) I know I can’t pipe frosting to save my life. My favorite Charmed one was Piper; I loved Billie Piper as Rose in Doctor Who; I, on the other hand, am no piper. You can hire me to bake your birthday cake but God help us all if you want me to decorate it.

I will, however, garnish with some espresso chocolate bark because that’s how I roll.

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Have Snow Day, Will Bake

Written on January 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

In case you weren’t aware, it snowed in the North East on Wednesday. I’m just kidding; I’m aware that this is all the news stations talked about. I mean, they cancelled Days of Our Lives on Wednesday to talk about the weather for Christ’s sake. That means the storm was a big f*cking deal.

I don’t remember when snow in New England became front page news. It seems like when I was in Elementary school, it snowed, they cancelled school, and that was that. There weren’t any news stations coining “Snowmageddon” or “Snowpocalypse”. We simply stayed home and ate. And ate, and ate, and ate.

I had leftover coconut milk from something I made a few weeks ago(is it bad that I have no recollection of what this was?). I smelled it and it didn’t seem rotten, so I figured I’d better use it before I have to toss it. I made a 1/2 batch of my favorite cake recipe from the Sweet Utopia cookbook called “Chocolate Midnight Cake”. I love this because it’s rich, moist, and the perfect texture; you’d never guess this was vegan or gluten-free!

While those were baking I cleaned the dishes and watched the snowfall. I’d say we got at least 16 inches, probably more. I, for one, find that exciting. But I’m also the one who didn’t shovel at all and had nowhere to go on a Wednesday, so take my enthusiasm and think of it what you may.

And then the cupcakes came out perfectly! They need frosting, don’t they? There might be another storm this weekend, so I’ll save that for then.

In other news, the winning comment of the Goji Gourmet giveaway is:

Congratulations, Nourhan, who like most of you thought chocolate chip sounded the best. I’ll contact you and we’ll get you your cookies immediately. If you didn’t win, you can check out my copycat recipe for a similar taste. Happy Friday!

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