Strawberried and Multifaceted

Every now and then, I get overzealous when it comes to flavors. I find it so tempting to jam-pack a variety of flavors into a single cake, so long as they're complementary and, well, tasty! Don't get me wrong--I have no complaints when it comes to keeping it simple: rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse, covered in chocolate ganache, piped with chocolate buttercream, decorated with chocolate curls, chocolate chips, and chocolate-covered chocolate... Mm, okay. So I lost the simplicity somewhere in the chocolate (looks like I got Carried away, ha!), but the point is that a cake like that--while heartstoppingly rich--is focused and truly showcases only a single featured ingredient: chocolate.

When Iris gave me the freedom to craft any cake I wanted for her manager's birthday, my imagination ran wild with the possibilities. I had a hard time choosing a single liqueur, ingredient, or flavor to highlight, so I decided to make a cake featuring my most popular flavors to date.

I call this one Little Miss Popular.

Featuring a chocolate whiskey cake made with Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey (seen here and here), a creamy Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream frosting (seen in the above two links as well as here and here), plenty of crushed pirouette cookie bits (you'll know that I'm a fan of pirouette cookies if you take a gander here and here), and loads of fresh strawberries (which you'll find in just about every other blog post here at Carrie Cakeaway) both inside the cake and sitting prettily on top of it. Don't let this cake's simple exterior fool you--it packs a lot of complex flavors from smoky whiskey to sweet strawberries to creamy Bailey's, as well as a variety of textures, from the dense dark chocolate cake layers to airy buttercream to crispy pirouette wafer bits.
True to her name, Little Miss Popular maintains a fine balancing act without spreading herself too thin (or in this case, having way too much going on in each bite). Excuse me, miss, it's time for your close-up:
And here she is again, taken under different lighting right before delivery:
Don't worry too much about ogling at and even drooling over this beauty. Little Miss Popular here is quite used to that by now.

"I Only Look Sweet and Innocent..."

should be the motto of this cake:
You know that tough, beefy biker sitting at the corner of the bar who looks all sorts of intimidating until you see a heart-shaped tattoo stamped on his tricep with three bolded letters: M-O-M? Well, consider this cake the complete opposite of someone who's tough on the outside but sugary sweet on the inside. This strawberry-topped cutie knows how to pack a wallop! If you dive in expecting cheesecake or strawberry cream, think again.
This is a rum cake. And not just any kind of rum. It's hard to the core with Captain Morgan's Tattoo--a very dark Puerto Rican rum infused with spices to give it a bold, licoricey kick. Aaron requested a birthday cake for his roommate featuring his favorite liquor and strawberries, and I was happy to oblige with what I like to call the Strawberry Tattoo--the cake that bites back.
Underneath this sweet, harmless exterior are two layers of buttery rum cake and a filling of freshly sliced strawberries and crumbled chocolate wafers. The cake is frosted with a strong rum buttercream, padded with more crushed chocolate wafers, and topped with fresh strawberry halves for that wholesome, "bakery-next-door" look.
Here it is taken with flash. Aaron, I hope your roommate had a happy birthday and that you both (and all your partygoers) enjoyed the cake!

Playing in the Mud

Ahh, who knew that the combination of dirt and water could offer so many youthful indulgences, from packing mud pies in a cozy garden corner in the summertime to running up a hill in the rain and sliding down at full speed on an old piece of cardboard? Some of us have outgrown these antics and others who are, well, imaginary like I am simply haven't had the pleasure--but one thing's certain: mud has no place in the kitchen.

Well, not unless you're thinking chocolately mud pies, marshmallowy Mississippi Mud cakes, or milkshakey, oh-so-decadent mudslide cocktails. In those cases, bring in the mud by the bucketful, please!

Linh-Chi must've shared this sentiment when she ordered a batch of Mudslide Cupcakes for an office celebration. Kahlua? Check. Bailey's? Check. Vodka? Check (and Grey Goose at that!). Mud? Um...no, but let's settle for chocolate and lots of it.
Why, hello cupcake!
What we have here is a dark chocolate cupcake infused with Grey Goose vodka and Kahlua coffee liqueur, topped with Bailey's buttercream and a pirouette cookie "straw."
Some were left unadorned, others were topped with a chocolate-covered espresso bean to really bring out the coffee flavors of the cupcakes...
and still others were drizzled with melted dark chocolate for some added oomph.
Thanks, Linh-Chi, for ordering! Happy mudsliding to you and your coworkers :)

A New Fad in Housewarming Gifts

Cute potted plants, scented candle and candlestick sets, fancy picture frames, cool kitchen gadgets...the list of housewarming gifts can go on and on, with plenty of focus on all things decorative and all things practical. That being said, you can leave those gifts to all the other guests and bring something unique and tasty to liven up what's bringing you there in the first place: the party. That's what Eugene did when he ordered a batch of boozy cupcakes for his friend's housewarming party on a Saturday evening in a beautiful San Francisco neighborhood.

Presenting, Light-as-a-Cloud Cointreau Cupcakes:
Ooh, will you look at that? Light, vanilla buttercakes with orangey Cointreau poured into the batter, topped with an airy cloud of Cointreau buttercream--whipped 'til fluffy--and a juicy mandarin orange slice.

Here they are pre-mandarined:
And here they are after, for a refreshing splash of color:
The lightness and delicate orange flavor, while deceptive (these babies were in no way low-fat), make it easy to devour these cupcakes without any feelings of guilt--and that's a good thing! All the more reason to take a lovely stroll in the new neighborhood to work off those extra calories that were oh-so-worth it.
Thanks, Eugene, for your order. I hope these cupcakes were a hit at the housewarming and that you were deemed the most awesome guest in the history of, well, ever ;)

Pirouettes and Birthday Parties

There's something about pirouette cookies that I can't get enough of. I don't know if it's the ribbon of chocolate that slinks down the wafer or the fact that they're really tasty--delicate and flaky with a sweet cream filling. Whatever it is, I do enjoy creating a fence of pirouette cookies around my layer cakes for a fancier look, especially when the flavors of the cream filling complement the flavors of the cake. This weekend, my assistant and I churned out two birthday cakes--pirouettes aplenty.

First, Joshua ordered a cake to surprise his wife with at her birthday party. He requested a mocha cake with Bailey's filling and frosting.

Presenting, the Mocha Madness, which is sure to energize and wake you up rather than lull you into sleep like my Midnight Mocha (which has Jack Daniels whiskey rather than coffee in the batter) might.
This is a two-layer mocha cake--a chocolate cake base with very strong, freshly-brewed coffee poured into the batter--filled with Bailey's custard, topped with Bailey's buttercream frosting, garnished with dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, and encircled by sturdy chocolate cream pirouette cookies.
Held together by a shimmery gold ribbon, this cake contains layer after layer of flavor--rich dark chocolate with bold notes of coffee and the smooth creamy finish of Bailey's Irish Cream.
Thanks for ordering, Joshua! Wishing your wife a very happy birthday. I hope you and your guests enjoyed the cake!

As for pirouette cake number two, Jason ordered a birthday cake for his buddy, Cliff. The only request he made was that it be chock-full of strawberries, as Cliff is a big fan of them. Not a problem. With plenty of Bailey's on hand, my assistant and I decided to make a Strawberries and (Irish) Cream cake:
Here we have a bottom layer of vanilla cake slathered with Bailey's custard and a generous filling of fresh strawberry slices. A second cake layer, gently placed on top of the first, is frosted with a smooth layer of Bailey's custard and neatly arranged strawberry halves. Finally, a circle of vanilla cream pirouette cookies--held together by the same sparkly gold ribbon--hides the strawberry-and-Irish-cream center from sight until the birthday boy cuts into the cake for a sweet surprise.
Thanks, Jason, for your order, and happy birthday, Cliff! I hope you like the Bailey's and strawberry pairing as much as assistant does. How unfair! Here I am watching her dip extra strawberries into the leftover Bailey's custard. My being imaginary isn't an excuse for not even offering to share, y'know...

Cupcake Lineup

Okay, I've caved. With cupcakeries sprouting up in cities big and small everywhere, I've been trying to turn my nose at cupcakes, deeming them nothing more than a sugar-laden, overpriced trend with an obscene frosting-to-cake ratio. After all, I'm all about the cake--moist, tender, fine-crumbed cake in all its delicious varieties from the light and spongey to the dense and fudgy. But somewhere along the way, I caved. Cupcakes are so darn cute and ridiculously fun to craft! From my first cupcake order to my biggest and most elaborate, I've been smitten and can no longer hide my excitement every time a cupcake order comes in. Like when Charles wanted a batch of boozy cupcakes for his friend's housewarming party, I was happy to oblige.
All sixteen were vanilla bourbon cupcakes made with Maker's Mark poured generously into the batter. The eight on the left were frosted with bourbon buttercream, while the eight on the right were frosted with Bailey's buttercream. Toppings from left to right were as follows: crushed walnut pieces, chocolate shavings with a coconut cream pirouette cookie, dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, and caramelly butterscotch chips.

And here's the lineup in reverse order:
If a batch of bourbonful cupcakes doesn't properly warm a house, I don't know what will ;)

Take me to the Big Apple

I just completed my largest cupcake order to date, and am both stoked and hugely relieved. Whew! Eric ordered three dozen Manhattan-inspired cupcakes to surprise his wife, Anne, at her birthday party. This was a challenging order, as it's hard to capture the flavor of the classic Manhattan cocktail (which isn't very sweet) in a cupcake (which certainly is)...and the thought of adding a dash of bitters into sweet, unsuspecting buttercream was enough to make me cringe. But after some experimenting and a couple of test batches, my assistant and I were pleased with the buttery, bourbony results and were ready to unveil our creation:

One big batch of Manhattan-inspired Cupcakes:
Ahem, as mentioned in my previous post, my assistant needs some serious help with her photography skills. Are you kidding me? I can't even see the swirls on those!
Oh! Well, there's the swirl. That's not half bad...
And this one's sitting quite prettily...
Okay, so she took a spare cupcake and brought it on an outdoor photoshoot to prove that lighting is indeed the problem. All right, touche.

Anyways, these were bourbon buttercakes made with Maker's Mark and minimal sugar in the batter for just a hint of sweetness. The tops of each cupcake were brushed with a thin layer of the bourbon straight out of the bottle before they were decorated with a buttercream swirl flavored with both Maker's Mark bourbon and Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth. Finally, each cupcake was topped with an Amarena cherry--Anne's favorite--rather than one of those cloyingly sweet and artificial-tasting Maraschino cherries. There's no room for those when you've got lovely, plum-colored beauts like these that taste more like cherries than they do sugar and red food coloring.

Anne, I hope you had a fantastic birthday party and that these cupcakes captured the essence of the classic and ever-classy Manhattan. Cheers!