Tomorrow will be two weeks…

by Aimee on June 11, 2009

Aunt Barbara, Uncle Bob, Me

For the last two weeks I’ve been trying to finish this post. I want to write this so I can move on to….well, I guess sweeter things (at least as much as I can “move on” under the circumstances). This is another one of my personal posts, so if you’re not interested skip til tomorrow (hopefully I’ll have something of use to all the dessert freaks out there then, despite it all I still bake, I have to assuage the grief somehow so why not with sweets).

My Aunt Barbara died May 29th, two weeks ago tomorrow, from cancer. That’s her holding me when I was a babe (good grief, I had fat arms even then!). The guy kissing my head is my Uncle Bob, who passed away March last year, from God knows what but probably some complication due to the medication he was on all his life for manic depression. Along with my Grandfather last September, that’s three family members in a little over a year. *big sigh*

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IC ~ I ♥ NY Cupcakes…Savory Edition!

by Aimee on May 23, 2009

I ♥ NY (Bagel) Cupcake Half

It’s Iron Cupcake time, and I actually made the deadline this month! This month’s theme was to come up with a savory cupcake. All I could think of was bagels. And what is more NY than a bagel that has a dream of becoming a cupcake. NY being the place where impossible dreams can come true. But I didn’t want a plain old bagel. I envisioned an parmesan cheese and olive spiked “cupcake” of delectable doughy goodness…but would it work?

Our May ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Voting will begin no later than Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m. at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and will be open through Friday, June 5 at 12 noon.

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Recipe Round-Up ~ May 2-8

by Aimee on May 22, 2009

Just say no to store-bought

I told you I was going to go back in time and address weeks past. I’m finally getting around to it, but it’ll be one at a time. For you Oreo cookie buffs, check out the cookie section for the holy grail of cookie recipes…now you can just say no to store-bought Oreos!   Click to continue…

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I guess klutziness runs in the family

Here we have it folks, the first in what I’m sure will be an orgy of evidence to prove that klutziness is in fact genetic. Many of you may have looked at this picture and thought, “There’s she goes again.” But it wasn’t me! This “Oops!” belongs to my Mom. I guess it runs in the family.

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Mango bread slice

Can you believe that I actually baked this on Wednesday last week? You’d think that since I baked so early, I’d have this thing written before the weekend, let along before 7pm today. You’d've thought that, but then you’d been wrong, just like the Bride. Nope, I got it in my head that I had to get my savory cupcake baked this weekend, and that’s what it took to get it done…all weekend. And prior to Saturday I was trying to play catch up with my Recipe Round-Ups which I’ve only managed to get last week’s out. Busy, busy, busy.

But who cares. You’re mad about mangos and want to know how they faired in a quick bread. I can tell you they faired well, but got a bit lost in the cinnamon. Apparently it was her ardent love of fruit that brought Kelly of Baking with the Boys to select the Fresh Mango Bread from Dorie’s tome of baked goodness.   Click to continue…

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Recipe Round-Up ~ May 9-15

by Aimee on May 19, 2009

What to do with leftover vanilla bottles

Thought I forgot about these huh? I didn’t. I’ve been meaning to catch up, which I’m working on… slowly. At least I have last week’s here. I will be looking back over the weeks that I missed. There’s a lot of good stuff to mention!   Click to continue…

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Ricotta Cheesecake with Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, Whipped Cream, and Strawberries

Holy cow am I late on this one. This was actually supposed to be for the Daring Bakers challenge last month. Jenny Bakes supplied a simple enough cheesecake recipe to follow, but I just couldn’t do it. I can’t handle another cream cheese, brick-in-my-stomach-after-eating cheesecake experience. It’s good going down, but an unruly house guest to my stomach later.

So I hemmed and I hawed all month long….what the heck was I going to do? I want to participate in the challenge, but the thought of cream cheese brick syndrome left me nauseous. I know that some of the other DBers had similar issues with cheesecake and did some tweaks, so I began a search for a light alternative. Then I remembered Martha. That’s right, the woman who started it all for me and the very first baking book I bought offered salvation in a ricotta cheesecake *cue the angels singing with light shining down from the heavens*

(To appease the DB powers that be: The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.)   Click to continue…

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Where the heck did my beaters go???

by Aimee on May 13, 2009

Found them!

Last week when I was making the tiramisu cake when I lost my beaters. You know, the beaters for my hand mixer. I spent close to half an hour searching the entire kitchen, resisting the urge to look through the rest of the house for them. Don’t ask me why I was compelled to search my bedroom for hand mixer beaters, but when you feel like you’ve looked in every logical place on the planet your mind suddenly jumps to the illogical ones.   Click to continue…

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TWD ~ Tartest Lemon Tart

by Aimee on May 12, 2009

Tartest lemon tart

We revisit the golden lemon this week with Babette of Babette Feasts. She chose Dorie’s Tartest Lemon Tart which, as written, uses the WHOLE lemon, “zest, pulp, and juice.” This zesty combination truly gives you one of the tartest lemon tarts you’ve ever tasted.   Click to continue…

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TWD ~ Tiramisu Cake (an ode to TWD)

by Aimee on May 7, 2009

Tiramisu Cake

Buongiorno! Megan of My Baking Adventures leads us to Italy, the land of Tiramisu with Dorie’s Tiramisu Cake. In an attempt to be faithful to the recipe, I’ve been all over town trying to find mascarpone cheese. My last ditch effort was at a natural food store on Tuesday, but no luck. I know some people have been able to find it at Publix, Walmart (gah!) even, but I did not. Thankfully I came across a great website that gives (somewhat cryptic at times) substitutions for mascarpone cheese, as well as others.   Click to continue…

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