Eva's Bakeshop

These babies suffered a bit from the drive. It was a hot summer!

On a trip out to Douglasville, GA, Mimi and I attempted to take advantage of the Going out of Business sale at Borders (which was not much of a GOoB sale to be honest). When we finished "shopping," we stopped by Eva's Bakeshop to try out their cupcakes. Six cupcakes for $10, so we selected a variety to try them out.

Baking Adventures - Blackberry Cupcakes and Banana Pudding (again!)

Mimi had a church social to go to this weekend and, this being the South, she needed to bring something for it.... so what is better than cupcakes! I volunteered and decided to make the banana pudding cupcakes again. I was all ready to go and then it happened. I found a recipe for Blackberry Cupcakes and I  knew I had to make those too.  Mom agreed, especially when I suggested a white chocolate butter cream.  We had leftover almond butter cream in the fridge, so she suggested we mix in white chocolate since we don't need butter cream just laying around - too much temptation.  After some struggling with the blackberry puree (first time making it..... go easy on me), in they went and I started on the banana pudding. I mean, seriously.... you can never have too many cupcakes, can you?

To Nice To Slice - Part Deux

Clockwise from top left: Pineapple, Vanilla-Caramel, Banana Split, Banana Pudding, Grape, and Chocolate Caramel

My previous experiences with this cupcakery were poor, but after a friend of mine said she had heard great things about it, I wondered if maybe they had stepped it up and changed their methods to improve flavor. Mom accompanied me again and off we went to try them again.  Six cupcakes were purchased, with my father taking one with him to work (I don't know what he though though as I forgot to ask).

Baking Adventure: White Chocolate Cupcakes

After the cupcake road trip, I had been wanting to make my own white chocolate cupcakes similar to the Berry White.  After searching the internet, I came across this recipe which used only what my mom had in the house. This recipe, like the banana pudding one, uses a box mix and pudding mix.  This I have found makes for very moist and flavorful cupcakes.  This also required melted white chocolate, but a mishap with me and melting chocolate (it doesn't go well right now) resulted in me not being able to use it (I also learned just how horrible burned white chocolate smells...). I'm sure if I made these again with the melted white chocolate, the flavor would be a bit stronger.

Even naked these were amazing!

Even still, these cupcakes were wonderful. I frosted them with premade tub milk chocolate frosting and my mom topped them with strawberries.  Before we topped them, however, we tried one bare and the cake was so moist and wonderful I would have been happy to eat them all that way.  They were still moist the next day too, having been left out over night.  This is another wonderful recipe that, with some more practice and maybe some berry filling will be a recipe I'll come back to over and over! Not sure I would use a milk chocolate frosting though... maybe a white chocolate buttercream?

Baking Adventures - Vanilla Cupcakes for Two

When the Amazing Sam came into town on her way to Austin, she had mentioned wanting to make cupcakes. As she was only going to be in town for the night, a whole batch of cupcakes was just too much - especially as she doesn't eat a lot of sweets and would end up leaving most of there here with me. When I came across a recipe for "Vanilla Cupcakes for Two", I knew these would be perfect.

Cupcake Road Trip '11 - Day 3: Cake Fetish

Day three was my favorite day of this road trip. It would also be our last as Day 4 saw a cupcake suicide: cupcakes flying across the inside of the car to splatter all over my gear shift, console, and me. That pretty much decided it and we just focused on coming home.  It also meant that we ended with "The best for last".  Cake Fetish cupcakes in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If I lived any closer, I'd be huge because every day has a selection of specials that add to the regular flavors. I want to go back over and over just to try the ones I couldn't try because it was the wrong day.

This was also our most varied day with a total of 6 flavors being sampled.

Cupcake Road Trip '11 - Day 2: Beautiful Leaf

Top left clockwise: Pink champagne, creme brulee, chocolate, and red velvet!

Day two began and as we left California and traveled across Arizona we stopped at our second cupcakery: Beautiful Leaf in Flagstaff. Again, we opted for four cupcakes in order to get a good variety.

Cupcake Road Trip '11 - Day 1: Sprinkles Cupcakes - Palo Alto

When I graduated from grad school, my mom came out so she could help drive me back home to Alabama.  As my graduation present, we decided to make the trip a Cupcake Road Trip, hitting one cupcakery each day as we traveled across 7 states.  You can't do a cupcake road trip that starts in California without hitting one of the many Sprinkles Cupcakes. The original cupcakery, the Palo Alto location was a great start and helped set us on the right foot. In order to facilitate a good comparison across bakeries, we opted to get a red velvet at each, since that is one of the more common cupcake flavors it seems. For this stop, we chose four cupcakes.

From top left going counter clockwise: Red velvet, salty caramel, chocolate marshmallow, and black&white

CupKate's Truck - Oakland

Before I graduated and left the area, I had to make one final cupcake stop: hunting down the CupKate's cupcake truck.  As it turns out, it was parked the Thursday before graduation right outside a BART station and close to a Peet's Coffee (where I was determined to get a Hibiscus Tea as well which you can see next to the box below), so with SR in tow (my official Bay Area Cupcake Shenanigan's Partner) we went out for one last adventure.  Finding it was pretty easy and, despite a rather long line, it wasn't long before I ended up with these (forgive the cellphone pictures, I didn't bring my camera with me for some reason and couldn't resist):

Kara's Cupcakes - Walnut Creek

Before I moved out of the bay area, I had the chance to go to Kara's Cupcakes three more times, each time trying different flavors.  It has cemented itself as my favorite cupcakery in the SF Bay and is a place I will miss now that I've moved away... So what did I try?

Baking Adventure: Banana Pudding Cupcake

I am not a fan of public speaking, so presenting my thesis wasn't something I was looking forward to. Fortunately, it was only infront of my thesis committee and my classmates, but it was still stressing me out.  When I stress, I bake and I figured bringing in cupcakes would help to distract my audience while I presented.  When I found this recipe, I just had to try it out and this was the perfect time!

Too Nice To Slice Bakery - Oxford, AL

Over Christmas break, my mom and I went to check out the only cupcakery near my hometown - Too Nice to Slice Bakery in Oxford.  We selected a half dozen flavors to try and, after some running around, set about trying them out.

Kara's Cupcakes - Walnut Creek

I've had Kara's before when I went to a street festival with SK and they had the Kara-van there, so when I heard that they were opening a location in Walnut Creek (only 20 minutes from me) I had to check it out.  That, combined with the fact that they sell a pretty decent gluten free chocolate (which is what I had at the street festival) which is great for Than, meant that it had to happen before the end of the semester.  So off SK, Than and I went.  I bought two (and one for Than) and by adding the other one he bought himself to my total I was able to get this super cute reusable tote.

Crafts or Homework... the eternal debate for me.

So this week has been a nightmare of homework and other stressors... so what did I do to cope? I crafted while procrastinating. Yup... and somehow it made the homework seem less daunting.  So the combination of origami and crochet projects has helped to keep me sane (and allowed me to give some pretty rockin' gifts to my dear friends).

Teacake Bake Shop

I love love LOVE cupcakes... bite sized bits of delicious and I'm fortunate to live in the Bay Area where cupcakeries are abundant.  That being said, one of the ones I've been to multiple times is the Teacake Bake Shop in Emeryville.  When I got a text from a roommate asking if I wanted one, I jumped at the chance.

Pink Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting

I selected the Pink Velvet cupcake, one I've had twice before.
Verdit: This one is hard for me to judge. I've had it twice and each time it's been a different experience.  I love that it isn't overwhelmed by frosting, but the flavor of the cake is a little weird.  The first time I described it as a "Strawberry cake that wants to be Red Velvet but can't commit". The second time the flavor was a little more distinct (not a weird mix of two) and was very moist in the middle, but again... not sure I'm a fan.  The cake was pretty crunchy and dry on the top, but since these cakes were bought at around 5:30 pm. Final Grade: B-

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

SK got the Chocolate Chocolate cupcake. I've had this one before and while the cake is pretty tasty, there is just sooo much frosting, it's almost overwhelming.  Her verdict on this cupcake: While the frosting is delicious, there is just too much and I had to scrape a lot of it off before I ate it; there is also a lot of sugar in it.  The cake is crunchy on top, but not stale and the cake is dense and really sweet. Final grade: B.

Folding Papers

One of the things that I have wanted to do since I moved to the Bay Area is learn to fold a paper dragon.  One of the many friends I've made here, Than, had a few in his room and when I saw them I just fell in love with the idea.  He agreed to teach me one day and today was the day.  At the same time, my new roommate, SK offered to teach me to fold a rose.

 

Allow me to Introduce Myself.

My name is Erin and well... lets face it. I'm a pessimist.  It's the honest truth and I can't really hide from it.  What I do know is I would love to change that.  So instead of dwelling on the negative, lets focus on the good in life, eh? So..

• I love reading books - especially young adult fiction.  Fairy tales are amazing and I love reading them in their original form as well as retellings with an updated twist.
• I love chocolate... and cupcakes... and chocolate cupcakes. Living in the Bay Area has allowed me the opportunity to try out a few cupcakeries and I have to say... I like the idea.
• I love baking. I can't really cook to save my life, but I enjoy making cookies, muffins, brownies, and cake (though I still haven't attempted cupcakes myself).
• I love animals - otters, dogs, foxes... so going to the zoo or aquarium makes me happy simply because I get to see these animals. 
• I'm a crafty being. I enjoy quilting and crocheting and trying new things (though I'll be honest, I get frustrated quickly and lose the enjoyment if things get too crazy).

So that's all I can think of at the moment. Not really interesting overall, but from this list I hope to begin to find the things in life that make it interesting and enjoyable. As I move around, I'll try new cupcakes, visit new zoos, and hopefully find now things to bake and new books to read.  And if I'm lucky, I'll be able to document my journey from bon-a-fied pessimist to partial optimist.