love post

recently celebrated 5 years of being together with the boyfriend. it was on a saturday, so we had the whole day {insert weekend here} to ourselves.

confession: didn’t bake anything for the big 5. it’s okay. i’m saving it for his birthday !

there was a bike ride, picnic with a blanket where we had delicious handmade bread with wild blueberry jam, more bike riding, fancy dinner and out & about with friends.

did i mention everything was planned by my other half?!? i had no idea what we were going to do because he kept telling me we were just going to “hang out.”

i love him. with. capital. l. {i don’t use caps but who cares??!? LOVE YOU bf, love you !}

here’s a recap in photos.

p.s. swing by clock tower cafe for cupcakes this week and leave me a message on here or facebook with your feedback ;)

biking

biking

we found a wedding

not impressed by the wedding

bread and jam

bread and jam

saw a house from the 70s - literally

me attempting to be athletic

pretty trees

pretty house

;)

dinner time

being goofy

sombrero!

sombrero!

the group

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friendship

the last couple of weeks have been pretty insane.

i got stranded in bismarck due to a snow storm without any clothes. so i had to go to the local convenience store to get something to sleep in. yeah. classy.

ran tons of errands and took care of a few orders that came in, too.

but. enough with the boring stuff.

oh, this is not boring. but sad.  i had to decline two orders :(

the truth is. it did not feel pleasant.

one of the orders was for lisa, a sweet lady. she wanted cupcakes and cake balls for her mom’s 90th birthday.  yes.  you read right. 90th !

the reason i couldn’t serve my clients this week? well. i already had booked my… vacation. and could not undo.

i’m going to visit my best friend karla in florida. we have known each other for 19 years.

so. pretty please. give me a call in a week or so with your requests :)

i will miss you!

karla {right} visiting fargo - aug '10

cupcakes

sharing the baking love!

have a great day!

chocolate peanut butter cupcakes

cupcake flavors giveaway

i have a special request to ask you.

i’m working on a special order for this client, you know. but since i love pretty much every flavor there is for cupcakes. i would like to have your opinion.

the client is not too picky and said to make anything. i have to bake three dozens :)

so. you have the facts. now. let’s get to work, shall we?

the giveaway consists of:
1) leave me a comment with your 3 favorite flavors
2) i will pick one with the best flavors (yet)
3) the winner will receive 4 cupcakes from the baking cup of that person’ choice (flavorwise)

deadline is saturday 11 am cst

let the the baking cup cupcake flavor festivities commence!

sprinkled buttercream

when my office decided to do a white elephant gift exchange during christmas, i offered to bake some cupcakes. they asked for vanilla cupcakes filled with nutella and buttercream frosting on top (my specialty!). more on the nutella later.

one of my male co-workers asked me “what do you make the frosting with?”

puzzled by the question i asked, “what do you mean?”

“is it real?” he replied.

ha-ha! at that point, i was unsure if we were still talking about frosting.

“um, i make it with butter. does that count?” … “oh, totally. i thought it was store-bought you know.”

in my head: oh no, no. no. no. no. no. no.

“if i could make the butter myself, i would,” i said.

it was a windy, cold and snowy (insert -15F here) commute back home. but first. pit stop at grocery store #1 (it’s common to stop at several in fargo). got most of the ingredients. it felt awesome. went back outside, fighting the wind and cold with my grocery bags, making sure i didn’t fall because it’s so slippery that i sometimes wonder why don’t we wear ice skates instead of shoes?

get to store #2 and the only missing ingredient was sold out there, too. um, what am i going to do without nutella? it’s not like i can buy a substitute. right? you know how you can make buttermilk out of milk and lemon or vinegar? i wish there was such a thing for nutella! maybe not.

it’s okay. my co-workers won’t be mad at me, i think?!? after all, i offered to bake.

at home, i look in the cover and see a green and red sprinkles container that i have barely used. how convenient, i thought. they are the universal christmas colors. i covered the top of the cupcakes with the sprinkles before baking them to reassemble a christmas cookie. that is me improvising, as one of the best foods on planet earth was sold out.

i made the “real frosting” and sprinkled that too. ’tis the season. i sang to myself. ’tis the season. haha. don’t judge.

when you are missing a vital ingredient it’s okay to go ahead and substitute. it will feel that you have cheated on that key ingredient you love, but it will make sure you get your baking done.

sprinkled vanilla cupcakes by the baking cup

sprinkled cupcakes by the baking cup

sprinkled cupcakes by the baking cup

off we go!

back in october i decided to start this blog. months went by and between the demanding job and the holidays, i just didn’t get to do it.

why this blog? well, i don’t know how to explain this. but i adore food. yes. i just said adore. i really care for it. i dream about it and fantasize about going to another city and check out the local cuisine. i make that extra trip to one two grocery stores for that curried beef with apple couscous dinner i sooo want to make.

baking on the other hand…it’s heaven. pound cake and oreo milkshakes were my favorites growing up. i was so obsessed that i would make them on a weekly basis. the perfect after school snack – not! oh well, i was just a kid. in my defense, i haven’t had an oreo milkshake in months! sort of.

so, i’ve been baking since the summer of 2010. on a weekly basis that is. i said to myself – more like all of those who surround me – that if you never start the baking process you’ll never get to open your own custom dessert boutique. a.k.a. my dream.

the plan is to start taking orders from home and then open the boutique. easy, right? um, i found out that it takes more than that. it takes tons of time and funds to get started. not to mention some frustrations when the cupcakes were in the oven too long and come out dry. but that’s another post.

i have lucked out with family and friends. i tell you. they have helped and given me the support to take on this adventure. i have learned some techniques. learned that if you use a dark baking cookie sheet or any other dark pan you need to reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees. score! no more dry cupcakes.

well, that’s my first tip to you. i’ll be back tomorrow. i hope to do this as long as i’ve liked oreo milkshakes.

ruby red velvet cupcake by the baking cup