Thursday Things

1. I am applying for a job at a local café! I spend enough time there as it is so I may as well be on the payroll. Wish me luck!
2. Because I spend so much time at said café, I tend to shake from all the caffeine I consume. But that's good right? Burns more calories?
3. I am relatively productive. But also a heinous procrastinator. I think that’s why I like the idea of journalism so much. The deadlines and need to beat the clock make it seem exciting.
4. I have over 2 dozen recipes bookmarked that contain the word “pumpkin” <--fact.
5. This morning my dorm had a pancake breakfast. Best. Idea. Ever. Carbs + conversation = human connections.
6. Nothing makes me more nervous happier than baking for my friends. I feel such a sense of relief accomplishment when they take home my treats and don’t get sick come back asking for more.
7. By combining numbers 3 and 6 above, a friend of a friend asked me to make cupcakes for her daughter’s graduation party next year! A real, live baking job! I am beyond ecstatic. Naturally, I had to make test batches for her and her daughter to try. So, the weekend before I left, I spent nine hours in my kitchen when I should have spent all of that time packing. It was totally worth it though when I produced these little beauties below.

To start things off I made this dark chocolate cupcake with white chocolate ganache and cinnamon and sugar bacon on top (recipe via How Sweet Eats). The mother and daughter loved the idea of bacon in a cupcake (who wouldn’t?!?), so I am going to add bacon to the actual batter and change the ganache to a sour cream frosting to add a little more tang to the dessert.

This guy is a dark chocolate rootbeer float cupcake with a vanilla bean butter cream and rootbeer frosting and filling (recipe via How Sweet Eats). For the party I am going to do a vanilla rootbeer cake, but keep the frosting and the filling the same.

Here we have a a candied ginger cake (recipe via 101 Cookbooks) with a tangy lemon and cream cheese frosting that my mom and grandma have used for years.

A balanced diet means plenty of vegetables so these brown sugar banana cupcakes with avocado butter cream from How Sweet Eats totally fit the bill, right? Right.

The café I adore (as referenced above) has an amazing horchata cake made with ground almonds. I didn’t go that route but found this horchata flavored cake recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop that was a good approximation. I made the horchata buttercream, adding a little lot more cinnamon and filling the cakes with a cinnamon whipped cream. Sigh.

One of my favorite desserts is tiramisu, but I don’t have the patience feel I have the expertise to execute it properly. These tiramisu cupcakes brushed with a coffee liquer glaze and topped with a mascarpone whipped cream frosting were a delicious approximation on the Italian layered dessert (recipe via Martha Stewart).

Since I was turning desserts into cupcakes I decided a bananas foster cupcake with a cinnamon caramel Swiss meringue buttercream would be a fitting recipe to tackle. This was my second time making a Swiss meringue buttercream and I love the process! It produces a light, not-too-sweet frosting that is delicious and SO worth the extra effort (recipe via  The Curvy Carrot).
     
       8. I really like cupcakes.

                

             9. I really need to go for a run.

Happy Thursday!

Amanda