Cupcakes for ye wedding

I would like to make several different types of cupcakes for ye old gay wedding. I think that for sure, Chockylit's lavender cream filled vanilla cupcakes with citrus frosting.

I was also thinking about Cupcake Royale's salted caramel chocolate cupcakes. I freaking love salted caramel. I couldn't get enough of Trader Joe's version at the holidays. DELICIOUS!!!

Meanwhile, I meet someone today who knows the owner of Cupcake Royale today. It was a big thrill. I am such a cupcake geek!

Rosie is thinking lemon, but I don't really have a favorite. Would 5 dozen cupcakes be enough for 50 people? I just don't know.

Part 2 of Recipes

Here's the other things that I made:

Lavender cream filled cupcakes with a citrus cream cheese frosting-- a recipe from the now defunct Chockylit's cupcake blog.


Potato salad from the Salt Lick (although I added 4 strips bacon to mine and cut the mayo by 1/2). The key is truly brining the onions in pickle juice overnight.

Corn avocado salad from the Food Network. I subbed sundried tomatoes for the grape tomatoes.

And finally, I made hamburger and hot dog buns from scratch. The recipe is in this month's edition of Gourmet Magazine. More pictures are available on my facebook page-- see the album titled "Baked things."

Adventures in Memorial Day Baking/Concocting Part 1

This weekend I made several concoctions, baked goods and salads for our BBQ at Kim's.

Here's some recipes:

First, cocktails:

Ginger-Infused Vodka Lemonade

• 2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 cups lemon juice
• Vodka (1 bottle)
• Ginger Ale
  
• Ice cubes

Directions

Pick out a good quality vodka for your mix. Cheap vodka tastes like ass with or without ginger infusion. This time, I used "Rain" -- some organic vodka that is very smooth and we already had it in the house.

2-3 days prior to using the vodka, you need to infuse it with ginger. Peel and dice about 1 ginger root and throw it in a bottle of vodka. Store in a cool dark place (I like the fridge). Shake it everytime you remember to mix the bits of ginger around. The day you are ready to use the vodka, strain out the ginger, and pour into initial vodka bottle or other vessel. Voila, ginger-infused vodka.

The day of/or day before, make a fairly sugary simple syrup. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and 2/3 cup water and place over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cook the sugar until dissolved but the syrup is still clear. Don’t brown it! Remove from heat and cool.

You will also need 1 cup of lemon juice. I bought two bags of lemons from Trader Joes which was plenty. To maximize your juicing output, make sure your lemons are room temperature. Cold lemons don't juice well AT ALL. Mix the lemon juice with the cooled simple syrup. I like to also shave some of the lemon rind off to make twists. My twists are not very pretty-- just some rinds that I managed to carve off rings. I added some candied ginger to the bamboo spears and threw the lemons on. No big deal.

I had a pitcher of the lemon/sugar concoction and the vodka separate. In an iced glass I put 1 part lemon/sugar mix, 1 part ginger infused vodka, 1 part gingerale and then added water to fill the martini glasses. This is a sweet and refreshing drink!





Other recipes to come shortly...

Bad ass projects

AWESOME Altoid Garden Tin! Directions at the link. And why don't I have this moustache key holder? And doesn't every wedding need some moustache hankies?