Thursday, October 7, 2010

Oh blog, how I've missed you!!

I'm back in the blogging swing after two weeks of utter chaos and craziness!

The trip to the orchard yielded a peck of apples perfect for pies (Super Husband's fave!) and crisps! My dear friend, Cris, absconded with my Pampered Chef apple peeler/corer/slicer for a few weeks and made merry with her stash from the orchard. She inspired me to do the same and even returned the apple tool with a FABULOUS apple crisp recipe! The recipe includes orange juice. It was SOOO delish! The fam ate it for dessert and breakfast for one day and- poof- 'twas gone! I also taught my sous chef, Avery, how to make an apple pie. Some of my fondest memories are of making small apple pies in the kitchen with my mom when I was five or six. However, I think her crusts probably didn't come from a box labeled 'pie crust' but it was a weeknight and a pre-made crust was the best I could do!

We're still devouring the pie (well...THEY are, I'm NOT a pie fan) and all reports point to it being a hit. I'm working on creating an apple cupcake as a fall-inspired flavor! I'll let you know what I come up with!

I had a very large cupcake catering gig this week for my friend Amy's open house at another friend, Kathy's, house. Kathy has a to die for kitchen, so the cupcakes displayed oh so very nicely! Amy's product, Willow House, has some amazing pieces that we used for display as well as many versatile pieces that can be used as stands. I think much of the cupcake profit will be going toward the purchase of lots of amazing things from Willow House! You can check out Amy's website at www.amyschreck.willowhouse.com. It's gorgeous!




I had four flavor choices for this particular event. I resurrected the old stand-by, Pride O' The Bride and topped the cakes with tempered chocolate decorations and coarse, crystalline sugar. I LOVE the way this coarse sugar sparkles and mimics the crystals often used on bridal gowns.






I love to ask friends about their favorite cake flavors and then create cupcakes tailored to them. My dear friends, Tim and Jenny both love chocolate and raspberries and after telling Tim W(who has a vocabulary like Shakespeare and a wit like David Letterman) about my 'Ben and Jerry's' approach to naming the cupcakes he emerged with the name, Jen and Harry for the chocolate raspberry cupcake. You see, Jenny is an absolutely adorable girl married to a 6-foot something handsome guy with TONS of long, curly blonde hair! So, the name was quite appropriate...Jen and HARRY! Here's their namesake!







I have a sickness for all things lemon. Ask anyone who has ever gone to dinner with me and they'll tell you that I always order water with "lots of lemon". I love lemon chicken, lemon cookies, lemon cake, lemon pudding....you name it. I'm kind of the 'Bubba Gump' of lemon. It was only natural to take this lemon obsession and put it into a cupcake. Hence, the lemon drop was created.








Fall is my very favorite season, hands down, so a fallish cupcake was a must. This is a very simple pumpkin spice cupcake with decadent cream cheese frosting and shaved cinnamon on top. It was hard for me to come up with a pumpkin-sounding name, but Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater kept running through my mind- and stuck!




I was able to roll out business cards and price sheets, as well! I can see a new laptop and printer in the business's future....my archaic printer doesn't even recognize Avery label products, so this run of the price sheets and the cards was a wee-bit rough.







I've got two more cupcake orders to fulfill this week PLUS friends to fill full of cupcakes tonight as the FANTASTIC Nebraska Cornhuskers take on those boys from the land of Oz. It's a house divided for us tonight!

Good Eats,
Jill

4 comments:

  1. Can I make a request for an oreo inspired cupcake???? That's my current daily 'must have' and I just keep thinking how it might make a delicious cupcake :) Your cakes look gorgeous!!! I love how you make each one have its own design!!!

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  2. Wow, Jill...the cupcakes just keep getting better! I love the way you displayed them, and Amy's kitchen is gorgeous!!! Very, very cool. Go Huskers!!! Right now the Huskers are leading but K-State is threatening!

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  3. i am thinking you need a zuchinni cupcake with something. . . .and then convince great barry he REALLY wants to order some for his daughter in MA. :)

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  4. U inspire me! Fabulous! Fabulous! Fabulous! U need a chocolate peanut butter cupcake just for me, Jillo...I'll think of a name :)

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