Disaster Alert!

So after feeding my daughter at 6 this morning, I made a white and a dark chocolate ganache. I intend to use them as frosting hard enough to pipe onto my cupcakes. But I can't find out anywhere how long it takes to set, and I am starting to regret not having made it last evening for it to set in the night... I have looked on the internet, and get everything from 1 hour on the counter to all night in the fridge, and frankly all the recipes are the same! So mine were done exactly an hour ago and they are super liquid still. I have put them in the fridge and they really pretty much need to be done in 6 hours or this experiment will officially be a disaster. I really don't feel like looking for an alternative right now, and I don't think adding chocolate to this lukewarm mixture will do anything but ruin it entirely. Ahhhhhh, WTF!!!!!!! Can't something go right in this kitchen!??? Can someone tell me why, when you follow recipes perfectly, they work for some, and others not? Are the ingredients so different from one place to the other? I wish, I wish for a world where every single store has exactly the same types of cream, butter, chocolate, flour, etc...and ovens that all heat up to exactly the same temperatures and books that don't actually give you bad recipes!!! Come on! Anyway, if these cupcakes work out, there will be a picture in there for you tomorrow morning, including how long it took for the ganache to set, if they don't work out, I am not quite sure what you will hear from me tomorrow, or if I will have the guts to put the picture of the liquidy end product...wish me luck!! Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Still Waiting...

To those of you who read my post about supplies, bad news...the internet shop doesn't have all my things yet, they have to get them, and then will send them over...they are really nice though, so what can I say... My husband has signed me on to do a dessert for a BBQ on saturday evening, so at least I can try something new for that! Chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with what I hope will be a white and dark chocolate ganache swirl and self made white chocolate shapes on top. I am not certain about the shapes...they may break and no one will ever see them!! I have never made any before. I tried yesterday, and realized only after that there is much more to melting and using chocolate than I thought... Thank God for youtube! Experiment chocolate shapes number 2 is in process! Stay tuned!!

Party Treats!

Ok, so, I am sorry to my facebook friends reading this...they keep seeing the same old pictures...but as you may have read from my last post, I haven't made anything new since starting the blog, so I am posting my old favorites for anyone new that may be joining me in my quest. This was actually some of my best tasting up to now, a variation on the other mini cupcakes I have already posted. Super moist chocolate cupcakes, with vanilla buttercream (pink and yellow), fondant cherry and some decorations. I made these because a child was coming to eat at ours, but because she had never had a cupcake, I think she didn't quite know what to do with them and went for the cookies instead. I was a bit disappointed...when I was a kid. I would have jumped at these! What about you guys? Feel free to say anything...so I know someone is looking?!

Baking Supplies! My Kingdom for Baking Supplies!!

I have been waiting for a delivery of baking supplies for a few days now, and I am a bit bored. The experiment I was hoping to make was autumn cookies. I found a set of 9 leaves and acorns on an internet site in Germany and a bunch of other things as well, and was hoping to make some sugar cookies and ice them in lovely colours. I am not inspired to do anything else right now! So I am waiting, waiting, waiting....which brings me to today's dream/wish. Why can't there be a giant supply store for everything I want to do in life, right here in town? Is it too much to ask that I can buy what I need easily? Does it  always have to be on the internet? I have one site in Switzerland, one in Germany, and still I can't find lovely colourful sprinkles, I may have to order from the UK. Isn't that ridiculous? Hello out there! Anyone have the same problem?? I don't just mean baking supplies! Ahhh, if I had a real amount of money on my bank account, I would just open a giant Canadian Tire sized store with everything that interests me, and everyone with the same hobbies would know exactly where to go! Meanwhile, just waiting...

Experiment...failed! Help!!

Ok, so yesterday I realized, although this blog is a bit of a way for me to share my thoughts without having to come out and say them to anyone, it is also that I want to learn how to bake and decorate really well, and I have to write about my experiments more clearly. So this is experiment number 1. Cupcake is brown sugar pound cake from Martha Stewart's cupcakes, and chocolate buttercream from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. The cake is good, the cream is good, but together they didn't do each other justice. Oddly these tasted better after 3 days than in the beginning. I wanted to pipe an easy swirl rose but the cream wasn't hard enough. Anyone out there with a dark thick chocolate cream recipe? Are there some hard ganaches out there that are good to pipe shapes? And the fondant flowers I made a few days before and they tasted super bitter when it was time to eat. Why is that, can someone tell me??? In the end, they look pretty, because of the chocolate sprinkles and the red sugar, but they are just not what I wanted. Any suggestions??

Coincidence?

Almost every cupcake recipe book author assumes all normal households have a mixer. You know, the big ones where all you have to do is dump in the ingredients and it does everthing for you. I really don't know how important it is to put the flour into the mixture in 3 different amounts with milk in between. Does it really change the taste or the consistency? I wonder....but I do it all the same, with a hand mixer. But god does it ever get messy and annoying that way! Always trying to put in stuff while leaving it on! Try to put an egg in one handed while holding the mixer in your "good" hand! Arrrggghhhh! So I have given up and stop the machine all the time, which is also not optimal. So I have been looking around for a mixer. I don't know how it is in north America, but here, there is nothing worth buying under 600.-! I mean, at this point, this is a hobby, not a job! I can't purchase this in secret like I do most of my other things...(marc by marc jacob purses on ebay...don't tell husband...)! So I tell my husband about it, and he's not against it, but I don't want to spend that money! Yesterday, about 3 days after deciding I want this but don't know how, our supermarket has this prize system where when you buy, you get some stickers and fill some pages...sounds boring, but is pretty easy and quick to do, and I can get a mixer for 300.- instead of 650.- and only need to fill up 2 pages! So next month you will be seeing a picture of my brand new kitchen helper! What a coincidence...or was it just meant to be?

My first try at outlining and flooding

I really loved making these, but my baby daughter was yelling the whole time! Had to carry her in a sling the whole time! Back pain!!!

My first mini cupcakes-super moist and chocolatey with vanilla buttercream and fondant flowers. Was a total success!

Let me introduce myself...

Hello! Anyone reading this? If yes, welcome to my baking dreams! If anyone is curious at all, the reason I am writing this blog is because 2 of my very best friends told me I should. I have been (mis)using facebook to post my baking experiments and I guess they are getting highly tired of having these pictures pushed on them. So now you know three things about me, 1. I love to bake, 2. I am easily influenced, and 3. I am a dreamer. That last one is the most important thing to know about me. So I will tell you about the "big dream" now and probably share some more extravagant impossible ones with you as I continue posting.It is quite simple really, I have a hugely unrewarding job (provides no happiness at all) and I am tired of just going through the motions. I want to get good enough at baking and decorating to make a living of it and I will practice until someone is impressed! What do you think? Is there a possibility that someone out there in internet land is interested???