There's a first time for everything

So, after going on in my last post about how no recipe comes out right on the first try... I had a recipe come out on the VERY FIRST try!

The idea for this cupcake came about at the beginning of last week (it was World Nutella Day incidentally). I get ideas for flavors and flavor combos at weird times and often in weird places. This one happened to come to me while taking a shower! When my youngest asks for a "sandwich" it means one thing... peanut butter, marshmallow creme and Nutella. I figured if it was good on bread, it HAD to be good as a cupcake. There's lots of ways this could've been combined, but I decided on peanut butter cake, marshmallow filling and Nutella buttercream. I wasn't sure it was going to work at first, cause the peanut butter cake didn't seem quite peanut buttery enough. Once I got it finished and assembled... WOW! These things are pretty fantastic! Now, to name them... The Trifecta seemed pretty good!

These are officially on the menu!

Recipe tweaking...

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food, especially my cupcakes. Most of what you see in my gallery has come from many a trial and error. I think most recipes have gone through a least 2 revisions before I decided they were right. Well, that is except for the Ain't Your Granny's. Cause my Granny did the perfection for me on that, and you just shouldn't mess with perfection!

So, when I came up with the concept for the Sno White, I had a couple fails in the cake and filling department. I had something that was so-so, but I knew I could do better. I think I finally hit the mark this week. I decided I was gonna give it one more go and I couldn't be more pleased. A moist, tender white cake, filled with white chocolate ganache and topped with white chocolate, mint buttercream (one of my favorite frostings!). I know I've got a keeper when the hubs says, "This is just horrible"!

The search continues

Wow! I haven't updated since November... The search is still on for commercial lease space and baking continues! I'm gonna attempt to get better about more regular posts...

In other recent news, over the past few months I've had my Ain't Your Granny's cupcake image stolen TWICE! Oddly enough, I discovered this while browsing Etsy. I have an Etsy shop, but I don't sell cupcakes there, so imagine my surprise to see one of my photos on the front page! I would be flattered if it wasn't stealing! Besides, shouldn't these people be using photos of their OWN?? Seems like false advertising to me (especially when they talk about crean cheese frosting on their cupcake...) That lead me to spend the good part of one day last week watermarking all my photos. Thankfully, the people using my photos have taken them down and I've updated the photo. Lesson learned! And for your viewing drooling pleasure, here's the new Ain't Your Granny's!

Hello?

Did you miss me?? The computer is back in action and I'm still baking up a storm. I've got a few things to share.

Hubby's work had a big 2 day sale and I was asked to provide cupcakes for both days! I was told they were all a hit and none lasted very long!

Day 1: Drunk Monkey, Feelin Hot Hot Hot and Ain't Your Granny's

Day 2: Rum Rummer, Milk's Favorite Cupcake and Mama Mia

Yesterday my youngest turned five and she decided we should have another go at the On The Boardwalk cupcakes.  They worked out great this time and she LOVED them!

Curse you technology

There's lots of baking and business building going on, but seeing as our main computer (you know know the one with all the photos and recipes) is out of commission for around 2 weeks. I'm working off the dino laptop, so posts may be few and far between. I'll try and keep up on the FB page! Thanks for sticking with us!

The show must go on...

I'm still waiting for that knock on my door... It's going on 3 weeks since I've heard anything. I'm not counting it out yet, but I'm also gonna keep moving forward with my own thing.

Still working on perfecting some recipes and have a few that still need to be tested. I'm finding that most need at least 2 tries to get them right.

I did cupcakes for a birthday this weekend. It was a Tinkerbell theme, and the colors requested were pink and green. I was told that flavor was not overly important. So I went with vanilla cake and white chocolate mint buttercream. I did have green cake with pink frosting and the other half pink cake with pink frosting. Unfortunately, in my rush to get them to the party on time, I forgot to snap a few photos... So, I thought I would share what I made my "baby" (she just turned 9) for her birthday. She requested "chocolate and more chocolate"...

When opportunity knocks

I've been keeping quiet about some things that are brewing on the cupcake front. Normally when I get excited about something I tend to shout it from the rooftops! Seeing as making this work is EXTREMELY important to me I've been handling this with a "cautiously optimistic" attitude.

I found a very interesting ad on Craig's List at the end of August when I posted my own ad in hopes of finding someone to rent kitchen time to me. It was one of those "that sounds too good to be true, but it can't hurt to try" kinda of things. The ad was for a guy wanting to add cupcakes to compliment his idea for a coffee shop. Well, I jumped real quick on responding (even though the ad was around a month old). I waited... and I waited... and then I pretty much put it out of my mind. THEN... lo and behold, I get an email on Sept 15 saying that he's interested in sitting down and discussing a business arrangement with me. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a couple seconds. I responded back that I was VERY interested in seeing what we could work out. Then it was quiet again for a little while. Then last night he sent me info on the retail site he's looking at renting and said he'd be ready to sit down and talk soon. So, being curious, the hubby and I took a little trip to scope things out...

Tucked in the corner, but stands out from the rest of the businesses.

It has a HUGE patio area, perfect for some bistro tables!!

Planter boxes on the front, leaded glass in the door, the arched wood trim...

This place is PERFECT!!!! It's adorable, in a great neighborhood, had a packed parking lot when we were there at 10am. I think I was pretty close to squealing! It's going to need LOTS of work on the inside for it to be ready, but it's pretty darned close to what I pictured in my mind what the perfect place would be.

So, now to get a meeting set up to discuss if we are really interested in working together. I'll be bringing the hubby along to help with questions I forget, general business stuff and to keep me from getting too excited and agreeing to something I shouldn't!

Knock, knock... You better believe I'm answering the door!

Twilight zone

No, I'm not talking about the Stephanie Meyers books. I'm talking about the mess I've been making trying to get my website going by myself. It's harder than I thought. I'm starting to feel a little lost!

I moved over to Wordpress thinking it would be a piece of (cup)cake. Well, it's far from it. The free blog is fairly simple, but I already know my way around Blogger pretty well. The problem came when I registered my domain name and got hosting. I'm using the Wordpress software to power the site, but for the like of me I can't get the hang of it.

I finally decided that I was gonna have to buck up and actually pay somebody to design it for me. I'm a bit on the impatient side and am getting a bit antsy that I haven't gotten any responses from the few designers that I've contacted. I'm trying to keep calm, but I have a thing with instant gratification (which is why I taught myself, via Google searches, how to do most of what's this blog). So, I'm taking deep breaths and hoping for a response soon... from someone...

In the meantime, I thought I'd share the results of my very first birthday party. It was for my friend's daughter who just turned 7. She requested chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting, so this is how it turned out...

I found a tutorial here on how to make the stand. I think I'm gonna work on something that I can take apart and reuse. I've got lots of ideas brewing!


Still waiting...

Pick me!! Pick me!!

Voting is now open for the Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge!   I'll love you forever if you go vote for me!  Click the link and look for this little guy!

How NOT to ship cupcakes

I made another attempt at shipping cupcakes this week.  I actually remembered to take photos this time.  I think I was just to anxious the first time.  I got photos from the recipient and it was another EPIC FAIL.  Even with my fancy new "dry ice" packs, which apparently were still cool.  I'm trying my hardest to keep shipping costs as low as possible, but I think I'm gonna have to beef up the cupcake/coldness protection, which means more cost.  Here's a little pictorial...

Spicy chocolate and chai!

Fancy ice pack!!

Wrapped and ready to be boxed!!!

How they arrived (so sad)...

I really did have high hopes for this.  I'm starting to wonder if it's just going to be best to stuff them in a disposable container and give up on them arriving pretty...

Back to the drawing board!

Crafty Cupcakes

I'm constantly visualizing what the inside of my storefront will look like.  I imagine a shop filled with vintage treasure and handmade goodies, styled with bright colors and a very kitschy feel.  In the meantime, I've got my kitchen decorated with cupcakes all over.  Photos, paintings and drawings cover the walls.  I've made cupcakes out of socks, thrifted fabrics and containers.  I've turned tea cups and saucers into cupcake display plates.  Then there's my cake stands, created from thrifted plates and candle sticks.

There was a blog post on Oh Mandie about a week ago, where she discussed making a wreath out of cupcake liners.  I proceeded to freak out and then decide I simply must make one for myself.  I found a wreath (with some UGLY paper on it that I promptly ripped of) at the thrift store for 45 cents and then discovered a cake supply shop in town that had these lovely papers for 40% off (there's orange on them... nuff said).  I really like her suggestion to use straight pins instead of hot glue (hot glue and I DO NOT get along).  I scrunched and pinned and scrunched and pinned some more...

And... TA DA! I haven't quite decided where to put it, so I just took some quick photos of it on the table. I dug through my (VAST) button collection and found this beat up old metal button for the center of the white paper flower!

I got a package in the mail last week and squealed in delight upon opening it! My mom has been crocheting and knitting like a mad woman and these little cuties found their way to my house!

And look... they are interchangeable! You can mix and match the tops and bottoms!!!!

Exciting news on the business front... I am officially Food Manager certified and babee cakes is a registered business with the county. I'm still searching for a kitchen to work in. I sent some emails out last week and haven't gotten responses yet, so I think some phone calls will be made this week!

Fun design stuff

You may (or may not) have noticed that I changed things a bit on the blog. I had to put my new logo to good use! You'll also notice a new addition on the side bar. There's a little pdf sneak peek of what my menu will look like!!!

Speaking of my AWESOME logo, I made business cards straight away after I got the file!

I LOVE them! I deleted my phone number for this post. I love you all dearly, but didn't think it would be a great idea to post my digits for the world to see.

I've got ingredient pricing lined up for this week and then I hope to get in touch with at least once place to possibly rent kitchen time. I really need to get down to the courthouse and register my business name, too.

OH YEAH! Last week I got my TX food handler certification! I think there's one more food related certification I need, but I'm going to hold off until I find the kitchen. I feel like I've made some real progress!

I love a challenge!

I've seen this in my blog hopping and figured it was high time I participated. The Sweetest Kitchen hosts a monthly Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge. I voted in the first two and when I saw that the challenge for this month was a memory, I knew I had to play along. I've been wanting to make red velvet cupcakes for some time, but they kept getting pushed aside with all of the other recipe testing I've been doing. This presented the perfect opportunity for me to make them. These cupcakes are ALL about memory for me. The recipe (originally made in cake form) is my Granny's. Anytime there was cake to be had at a family function this was always at the top of the list. It's been my birthday cake request for the LONGEST time. Let's just say that I refuse to eat red velvet unless it is made from this recipe. What's makes it so special? Well, it doesn't have much to do with the cake, but EVERYTHING to do with the frosting. Hang on for a sec, while I hop up on my soap box... CREAM CHEESE FROSTING HAS NO BUSINESS ON RED VELVET CAKE (yes, I was just screaming at you)!!!!!  I've gone so far as to do research on the subject, getting irritated by the claims that cream cheese frosting in "traditional".  While most people do use cream cheese frosting on their red velvet.  It's SUPPOSED to be topped with, what my Granny called, white sauce icing.  Which is basically a cooked roux mixed with butter and sugar.  It ends up looking a bit like whipped cream.

This batch was shared with my friend Lisa and her coworkers and also at my hubby's work. I was told that these were the best red velvet that anybody had ever tasted. I owe it all to my Granny (who I'm sure is smiling down on me during this baking adventure)!!

Here's the details on the challenge prizes!
The winner of September’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:

• Bake It Pretty; a $5 electronic gift card
• Bakerella; an autographed copy of her new book Cake Pops
• Beanilla; 2 each of 4 special vanilla beans
• Hello Hanna; a pack of Sweet Stands cupcake stands
• Miss Kitty Creations; a handmade cupcake charm of your choice
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a prize pack worth $25
• Tundra Books; a selection 3 very sweet children’s books

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

For more info on participating in the challenge click here

Voting starts on the 21st and ends on the 26th at The Sweetest Kitchen!

I have the most awesomest friends!

I love my peeps!  I've made some wonderful friends over the past couple years through various online endeavors.  I've even gotten the opportunity to meet a few of them in person!  Allow me to gush for just a second about my friend Marisa...

When I first started selling jewelry on Etsy, I joined a wonderful group made of mothers.  While getting my feet wet, I asked for some constructive criticism from the other members and the lady from Elegant Snobbery volunteered to give me some pointers.  It helped a bunch.  So I paid a little bit more attention to her shop and her blog (in fact, I spent an entire afternoon reading every single one of her blog posts no I'm not a stalker, I swear).  We figured out that we had quite a bit in common and became buddies.  When we moved to TX and I realized that she was only 5 hours away, it wasn't long before I was scheduling my first visit!  I'll be darned if it wasn't even better hanging out in person, besides the fact the our girls got along famously!

I think that her art is so wonderful!  It's bright and cheery, whimsical and just plain CUTE!  So when she said she wanted to do my logo, I very happily accepted!  I knew it was going to be great, but I think she went way beyond!

I mean, seriously, have you ever... I've made up a "rough draft" of a business card and I think it looks wonderful (the jpg image I saved is bad, so I'm going to attempt photographing it or scanning it)! I'm going to start working on a menu and some stickers too!


On a little side note, I shipped some cupcakes to Marisa to test the shipping method I came up with and, well... unfortunately it was a mess, but she assured me they tasted good! So, I'm back to the drawing board on shipping. Fingers crossed that I've found another possibility.

This changes everything...

You wouldn't think it possible for a single cupcake to have a profound effect on ones idea for a cupcake business. Well, let me tell you IT HAS! My hubby requested that I make cupcakes for one of our friend's birthday. He was very specific in what he wanted... banana walnut cupcake, with rum syrup (from a cake I make) and brown sugar butter cream. I figured that a little drizzle of homemade caramel sauce wouldn't hurt! So this, my friends, is the master piece!

Before I get to why this cupcake could be changing up my ideas, let me tell how difficult it has been lately to name my cupcakes. The idea is for each one to be named after an actress or movie character from the 40's and 50's. I was doing research on actresses to pair the right flavor with the right lady. My firs few worked fine, but lately nothing has been working. So enter the above cupcake. It was dubbed "The Drunk Monkey" by the birthday boy. I don't think there has ever been a more perfect name for a cupcake!

So, now I'm rethinking how I want each cupcake described. Maybe I'll start taking suggestions as to what they should be named. I'd love to have my friends and family involved in this process!

Messes and Successes - it's a mess this time

It's hard for me to come to terms that during testing, all recipe tweaks are not always gonna work.  I learned that in a BIG way yesterday.  I made raspberry cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes in the morning (both new recipes) with the plan of frosting the raspberry with whipped ganache and the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.  I've done the ganache before and it came out perfect and my first pb was just a little too stiff.  Well, between being on the phone for about 3 hours getting applied for private insurance, running the oldest to the dentist and eye doctor AND running a few errands for the hubby, I wasn't able to frost until after dinner.  I was tired and unmotivated, but was planning on testing out the shipping method I discovered (gotta love Google) and had to get the frosted cupcakes in the freezer for an overnight chill.

The ganache had been in the fridge pretty much all day and was hard as a rock.  So, I figured I'd start with the pb and adjust the amount of cream to make it smoother.  So, I WAY over compensated and ended up with frosting that was entirely too soft.  It tasted fine but was lacking in the pipeability department.

I figured the ganache would be ready by the time I was said and done with the pb. Not so much. I should've let it sit for a bit longer, but I really wanted to just sit myself! I thought maybe if I whipped in a touch more cream it would help... NOPE! It was so stiff and grainy looking. I was so frustrated and had ganache everywhere.

So it's back to the drawing board! In the words of the wise Dory... "Just keep swimming".

A little note on taste and flavor combo - I'm having a real hard time with a chocolate cake recipe that "speaks" to me. The 3-4 I've tried have been just ok. The ganache REALLY overpowered the raspberry, so I think I'll give it another go with whipped cream frosting.

The business of starting a business

I think I tend to be overly optimistic. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy getting babee cakes going, but I really didn't think it was going to be this hard. There's so much more to it than I thought. It's like having a full time job doing this, between driving around and making phone calls.

I spent the morning driving downtown around a one block radius desperately trying to find the building for the SW TX Women's Business Center. Ummmmmm, the address that they had listed as where they had moved to didn't exist. After parking in a random parking lot and making several phone calls. I finally got a person. She told me to just send her an email requesting to speak to a counselor and she'd get me set up in the next couple weeks (insert chirping crickets). So I did and now I wait.

Wasted Hairday Apparel

I then decided that I might as well stop in the Small Business Administration office and see what info I could gather. Luckily it was easy to find and not busy and I was able to actually sit down with a real live person! After about 30 minutes of conversation, I think I ended up a little less confused. I know I want to register as a LLC, but I also have to file a DBA with the county courthouse. He gave me the address to the office where I find out what licensing I need. I almost went straight there, but it was going back to where I had just come from and I had to go pick up paperwork from the pediatrician and had a doctor's appointment myself. Glad I didn't go, when I got home I got on the computer and found out that licencing office had moved... So, I'm going to just plan on making another trip downtown next week.

I'm kinda stuck with my business plan right now, but there's a workshop next week that I'm hoping to attend to help with working out the kinks. I think the next really important step is locating a kitchen that I can bake in. No matter what I do with all the legal aspects of forming the company, if I don't have a certified kitchen to bake in it does me no good.  So it's time to step up the search.

It's the little things...

I really am easily amused.  Especially when it comes to anything baking related.  I found a restaurant supply store recently and decided to browse yesterday and these are the wonderful little treasures I found.

An open star tip, a closed start tip, a big round tip, a coupler (that lets you use different sized tips) a REALLY nice piping bag. I probably could have spent most of the day in there!!

I meet with the career counselor today. I'm interested to see what info she's found out for me. I decided to take some of the carrot cupcakes I made to her office with me! You never know who may be a potential customer!

babee cakes is born (in my head anyway)

Elegant Snobbery

I realize I was quite vague in my last post about what my idea entailed, so I thought I would elaborate for you now.  Obviously from the name of this blog, I've chosen babee cakes as the name of my business.  Why all lower case letters and two e's at the end instead of a y?  Because nobody ever accused me of being normal, and I like it that way!  I thought this name for the business would be good to indicate the notion that cupcakes are "baby" cakes.  This, in turn, led me to a slogan.  "Good cake comes in small packages".  Then I started thinking that babee cakes sounded like it could have been a slang term for women in the 40's and 50's.  That's when a giant light bulb went of in my head.  I'm a bit vintage obsessed as it is and I thought it would be fun to name each flavor after an actress or movie character from the 40's and 50's.

I drew up (ahem...traced from some of my cupcake photos) a couple logo samples, but I'm not sure I love them.  Then, there's the issue of adding color and getting them scanned into the computer.  Lucky for me I have a VERY talented friend (the insanely talented lady responsible for the print above) that has offered to design my logo!  Just about every room of my house has one of her prints hanging on the wall.  I can only hope that one day I'll be able to decorate the walls of my store front with some of her art!

So, what happens next?  I get laid off from my job, present the idea to the career counselor that was provided to me (who just so happens to think it's a FAB idea), start doing my homework as to what all I need to get this started as a cupcake catering business, begin writing a business plan and (the best part) keep recipe testing!!!

Laying the groundwork

The Black Apple

I have been subjecting friends, family, co-workers (mine and my hubby's) to the trial and error of recipe testing. I will say there has not been too much complaining going on! If it doesn't taste good, well then, nobody is going to buy it. I have very specific ideas in mind for the flavors that I will have available, but I'm always thinking of new things I want to try.

What really got me going on this whole idea, was a comment by a wonderful new friend I made at my former job (I neglected to mention in my first post that I was recently laid off after being back to work full time for only 6 months, another reason I'm really pushing for this now). Ms. Joanne shares my love of baking and we "hit it off" straight away in the food department in general. After bringing in some cupcakes to share, she pointed me to the website of a local cupcake shop and said that she thought I could compete with this place. That's when I spilled the beans about wanting to do this for a living. I would sit and daydream about what it would be like, how I would decorate my shop (sometimes when I was supposed to be working, sssshhhhhhh...) I never really let myself get past the daydreaming.

A few months ago, my mom was in town while I was recovering from surgery, and the subject came up. We sat for a good 2 hours bouncing ideas back and forth and the REAL framework for what I wanted started coming together. We're talking a business name, slogan, logo ideas, flavor combos, what to have available on a daily basis, flavor of the day specials, seasonal flavors and even what I would do with what cupcakes didn't sell at the close of business. I even went so far as to decide that each flavor would have a personality and a name. By this time, I was completely consumed and determined to make this happen.