Monday, January 17, 2011

Cupcake Heaven

Spent the weekend in Chicago!! Had an amazing weekend! Fancy Italian dinners, wine, massage, spa, cooking class,and.... A Cupcake Tour of Chicago!
I have been to chicago many times, but have never been into or bought any of the sweet treats from chicago bakeries. So, this time, we decided to try as many cupcake places (within walking distance) that we could find..

More (Forever More Cupcakes)
Sprinkles
Sweet Mandy B's
Sugar Bliss
Sensational Bites

So-- we tried  Chocolate Hazelnut, Smores,Lemon Meringue,Andes Mint,Black and White, Carrot, Strawberry,Vanilla,Chocolate,Butterfinger,Red Velvet and More!!

Ratings:::

Best Packaging:: More
Best Logo::More & Sugar Bliss
Best Shop::Sprinkles
Best Cake::More
Worst Cake::Sprinkles
Best Icing::Sugar Bliss
Worst Icing::Sweet Mandy B's
Most Unique Flavors:: More

So-- If someone (maybe me!) Could make cupcakes that taste like More with unique flavors like More but made an icing like Sugar Bliss--they would make a lot of people happy and make a lot of money!!

So, today, my first day back at home and a day off of work (MLK Day)..I decided to start my venture with this idea- starting with Icing!

I usually make the "American Buttercream" which is shortening,butter,powdered sugar,vanilla....WELL this is NOT my kind of icing anymore!
I am LOVING the Roux Buttercream

1/2 cup Milk
2 1/2 TBL. Flour
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

Easy measurements--i've only made it once and have it memorized! Delicious..a few problems..

Making sure the sugar granuals get all dissolved without melting the butter..pushing the roux through a sieve before adding it to the sugar/butter to get rid of any flour clumps.

But- texture is amazing, consistancy is amazing, it is thick enough to pipe, sturdy enough to keep a cake from sliding around and taste= FANTASTIC!

 So after I made this icing.. I decided you can't truely tell how great it is unless you are eating it with cake!
So I made a quick carrot cake batter and made some mini cupcakes to test this icing!


AMAZING.  This icing almost has a natural cream cheese flavor without ever adding cream cheese! It is so great. Not overly sweet, not a crunchy sugar texture. It's so great and easy to pipe!

My new love!!  <3

No comments:

Post a Comment