Recreating The Baltimore Bomb (Chess Pie with Vanilla Fudge Cookies)

I've always enjoyed eating pies, but they've never consumed my daydreams the way cupcakes and macarons have. Perhaps its their rustic appearance and less portable/adorable packaging. Or perhaps its the added step of having to make pastry dough in advance (a pie without a homemade crust is not a pie worth making IMO). Either way, my thoughts rarely turn toward pie unless autumn's on the horizon.

At least that's how it used to be until an unassuming slice from the aptly named Dangerously Delicious Pies (DDP) in DC blew me away at first bite. Its name was The Baltimore Bomb, and I guarantee it's like no pastry you've ever tasted. DDP created The Bomb especially for the city of Baltimore, Maryland, using their famous Berger cookies, which are equal parts vanilla cookie and chocolate fudge. The inspired twist was to suspend these decadent cookies in a traditional Southern chess filling. The fudge melts down to bestow its gooey goodness to the entire pie, while the tangy custard reigns in the richness of the chopped Berger's. I strongly encourage everyone in the DC area to experience the real deal at DDP, but I think this recipe hits pretty close to the mark and captures all the elements that make the Baltimore Bomb Pie so exceptional and addictive =D.

P.S. - Please pardon the mediocre photo! I only had 15 minutes during the workday to grab a shot in front of my office building AND it started raining as soon as I got outside. The taste was fantastic though so I wanted to make sure I had a photo for this blog post to tempt you to try the recipe (please do!).

Chocolate Guinness Stout Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, dear readers! It's actually not a big day for P and me 'cause it's a bit like St. Paddy's Day every day around here (lol can you guess what P stands for now? =p). The joke started a few years ago when we went shopping at Old Navy close to a certain holiday. A cute green St. Patrick's Day tee was on sale, so I got it for him with the justification that he could wear it any day rather than just the one and he totally does wear it all the time (yay!). But then again, I just asked if he'd wear it later today, and all I got was a huge eye roll. Don't worry though, I'll keep working on this...I've still a few hours yet.

In the meantime, I want to share a really delicious Irish-themed (by which I mean boozy ^-^) cupcake recipe with you. I have my coworker and friend A to thank for requesting these chocolate cupcakes full o' Guinness stout and Baileys Irish cream. Her repeated guidance as I prepared to make these was "Remember. There is no such thing as too much Baileys!" I agree in theory, but many of you bakers will already know that runny frosting is a bit of a nightmare. I found a happy medium using my special cold cream cheese technique to keep the frosting firm while adding more liquid than usual.

These cupcakes were actually such a hit with P and my coworkers that I only got a single bite of one. So I've decided to use their descriptions rather than my own for this post:

• The Boy called these "seriously dangerous" and a combination of "F yea and awesome!"
• Guinea pig coworker N may have moaned a little while eating his cupcake.
• Coworker B called these the "best thing ever!"
• Coworker C, who works in Pricing, when asked if the cake was moist enough drew me a bell curve showing me that on a scale of 1 to 100 (completely dry to terribly moist) with 50 being the ideal level of moistness these cupcakes were a 48. 
• On a side note, I'm a crazy perfectionist so I tweaked the cake recipe in response to his feedback. Hopefully the recipe below makes a perfectly moist 50-worthy cupcake now.
• Coworker N liked the cupcake and was kind enough to be my hand model for the photo above (thanks!!).

Now if those reactions don't get you running to the kitchen, I don't know what will! I truly do hope you'll give these a shot. Either way, hope you all have a fantastic (and safe) St. Patrick's Day!

Sunday Favorites!

I've been sick as a dog for the last week, but managed to rally enough this weekend to spend some time with my best friend visiting from NYC. Thanks for coming, N! Sorry I couldn't be a better host this time, but I promise to make it up to ya when I'm better =)...

Hope you all had fun weekends as well. And here are some lovely sounds and images to end it on a high note!

Shrimp Fresh Spring Rolls from Shoot to Cook

Mushrooms and Soup Photographs by William Meppem

Cottage Cheese Peach Strudel Bars from Dolce Vita

Chocolate Cake from Pratos e Travessas

Chinese Steamed Dumplings Photograph from The Marion House Book

Wheek Wheek! (Guinea Pig Cake Tutorial)

I had a Work Hard, Play Hard kind of weekend and I'm gonna be honest with you, my body just can't bounce back like it used to in college! In fact my head's pretty mad at me right now for not going to bed 2 hours ago lol. But I had to type up this post now 'cause I couldn't wait another second to share my first carved cake with you! My good friend E is a guinea pig lover (and proud mama to 6 adorable lumps of flesh and fur piggies), so I volunteered to make a guinea pig-shaped cake for her big 3-0 party this weekend. I was pretty scared to carve a cake for the first time, but I'm so glad I went for it because (with P's help) I was able to make something we all found super-cute. I looked at a LOT of cake versions of this adorable rodent and EVEN MORE photos of real pigs before settling on my own path. Kinda really hoping not to see another guinea pig photo for a few months, as cute as they may be...

Nonetheless, I wanted to share some notes (before I forget!) on how I made this cake in case any of you have pig-lovers as friends/family/clients/selves. Wish I'd thought to document the initial cake carving/spackling process, but I'm hoping the 3 pre-buttercream shots below are still helpful. If you have any additional questions about how I made this Wheek-tastic cake, don't hesitate to leave a comment or shoot me an email!

Guinea Pig Carved Cake
Makes one approximately 11 x 5 x 5-inch cake

12 or 14-inch Cake Drum (sturdy base board)
Three 8-inch square cake layers 
***I made 1.5x batch of my favorite chocolate cake with 1 extra egg and 1/3 cup less coffee
Chocolate Buttercream
Vanilla Buttercream
Black, Brown, Yellow, Pink and Green gel OR powdered food coloring
Spatula (for frosting between cake layers)
Sharp Knife for Carving
Piping Bags (optional)
Medium Paintbrush (used for food ONLY, with coarse bristles for best texture)
LOTS of Paper Towels
Gumpaste (for eyes, ears, and nose)
Vegetable Oil (for painting the eyes)
Smaller Paintbrush (for painting the eyes)
Wilton Tip #233 (or other grass piping tip)

I started off by cutting, filling, and stacking my cake layers with chocolate frosting to make a 10 x 5 x 4-inch rectangular cake. Crumble any leftover cake into crumbs and combine with enough frosting to make an easily moldable material for spackling the cake. (If you've ever made a cake pop, this is essentially what goes into cake pop fillings.). Chill rectangular cake for at least 30 minutes, then start carving! Use back and forth motions with a sharp knife to cut away small pieces of cake at a time. I just looked at a LOT of photos of guinea pigs (including my friend's actual pigs) and became familiar with their shape from different sides. To start with, you'll want to smooth out all the top corners and carve more toward the middle to create a subtle "waist" between the main guinea pig body segments. I'm not great at thinking in 3D, so this part was nerve-wracking when I thought I could only cut away. BUT (and you can call this cheating but I won't care =p) once I started using the mixed paste of cake crumbs and frosting as spackle, both building up the shape and cutting it away, I was able to just have fun. The angle, size, and shape of the head also stumped me for quite a while, so I just kept building up the cake "butt" with more spackle haha. So if you noticed that this (pig) baby's got some back, the credit/blame falls squarely on these here shoulders...**cheeeeeesy grin** 

If you find the cake getting too soft to carve well, simply stick it back in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up again and then continue working. When you're happy with the shape, chill the cake again to set the shape. While you're waiting on that, reserve about 1/2 cup of vanilla buttercream, then divide up and color the remaining chocolate and vanilla frostings to make the shades you want for the fur. I used black gel food coloring to darken chocolate buttercream and a mixture of vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, and brown and yellow gel colors to create the lighter shade of brown fur on the pig. 

Now's also a good time to color the 1/2 cup of vanilla buttercream reserved above a vibrant grass green for later. I used a combination of gel and powdered food coloring. Cover and set aside for later.

Once the cake has been chilled enough, it's time to add the fur-textured buttercream. I spent as much time figuring out the best way to do this as I did studying guinea pig shapes (is it just me or do those both make me sound ultra cool?? and not weird at ALL). The keys to getting a fur-like look with buttercream are (1) to use a paintbrush (one reserved for FOOD use ONLY) with somewhat coarse bristles, (2) to apply the different-colored sections from the back of the cake toward the head, and (3) to wipe your brush off VERY well whenever it touches more than one color at once.

Modern Cake Decorating Tutorial with Edible Wafer Paper

Stunning Wedding Cakes (above and below) by Hey there, Cupcake!

It's obvious from my favorites posts that I've fallen truly and deeply in love with cake decorating during the past year. One aspect of this creative community that really draws me in is the amount of openness, sharing, and instruction that goes on between professionals and hobbyists, experts and complete n00bs such as myself. This exchange occurs constantly through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, countless blogs, and devoted forums such as Cake Central and Cakes Decor. And such support among artists is the reason many of us novice decorators have had the courage to try daunting designs like this extended tier cake I made for my company's holiday party and the carved guinea pig cake I'm about to make for a friend's birthday.

Many professional decorators are not only generous with their advice, but are also releasing full tutorials for their coveted techniques (some for purchase but many for free)! It's become a common enough occurrence that I started praying for one from the first moment I saw these stunning Hey there, Cupcake! cakes using die-cut edible paper (above and below photos). Edna De la Cruz of Design Me a Cake turned out to be my knight in shining armor with her tutorial created for Edible Artists Network Magazine. Please check out her step-by-step on using craft punches with edible wafer paper to decorate your cake HERE!

This is an especially exciting technique for those of us without Silhouette or other die-cut machines yet don't have the delicate touch and patience to cut these patterns by hand. Any Martha Stewart craft punch will work, and there're so many beautiful ones to choose from. I've already purchased the Double Arches Punch Set used to create part of the Hey there, Cupcake! designs above. The Optic Dot Edge and Deco Shells punches are also on my caker's wishlist but I'm trying not to be toooo much of a shopaholic (for now...). Also, if you're interested in making chic edible paper flowers like those in the top photo, Paul Bradford offers a tutorial for similar flowers as part of his online Sugarcraft School (£9.95/month). 

I hope at least some of you find these tutorials as interesting as I do, and Happy Caking to all of you!

Tutorial for Using Craft Punches with Edible Images by Design Me a Cake

A Day Late OR 364 Days Early? (King Cake Cake Pops!)

I know Mardi Gras was technically yesterday, but can you really blame me for wanting to keep the party going? I made these King Cake^2 Pops for a birthday celebration at work today. And based on 100% statistically sound exit polling, these treats would be a welcome offering year-round =p. The filling is a 6 Bittersweets original cake full of sour cream, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream cheese. Dressed up in a slim candy coat and sparkly colors, these are my most party-ready cake pops yet! I suggest you grab on to any excuse you get to make these, whether it's Mardi Gras, a birthday, or even just Hump Day =).