Being cray cray, pays off!

I am very pleased to say that sometimes a little cray cray pays off. I tweeted my Dan Stevens cupcake to him last night before going to bed at 10.57PM.

 

 

I was woken up at 3.45AM by my buzzing phone. At first I thought it was just my alarm going off, but then I noticed it was still pitch black. So in a semiconscious state, I turned over, looked at my phone and noticed a twitter push notification “@danstevens favourited and mentioned you in a tweet”.

 

 

My heart did flutter ever so slightly. Ekkkk – Matthew Crawley acknowledged my existence. Yes, I realise that Matthew Crawley is not actually a real person, but in fact a fictional character. And yes, the actor that portrays Matthew Crawley only wrote one word, “delicious”. But still … swoooooooonnnnnnn!

I got the cray cray in me!

I know I have already blogged about this in the past, but I am clearly smitten, so please bear with me! As you know, I heart, heart, heart (times a million and then around the universe twice) Downton Abbey. During our recent trip to the United Kingdom (UK), Brendyn hired a car and drove me to Highclere estate, where Downton Abbey is filmed. Upon entering the estate, I gasped and tears began streaming down my face. And although, I knew I looked like a crazy person, I could not stop myself from crying – I was so overwhelmed with happiness. All Brendyn could do at this point was laugh hysterically and pleaded with me to stop crying because I looked insane.

 

Being the fool that I am, I did not pre-book my tickets online. So basically it was pot luck whether we would gain admission into the estate. Yes, we drove two hours to Highclere Castle on the whim that we would be able to buy tickets at the gate. Brendyn teased me the entire trip, he kept saying “I beat everyone on the M14 is making their way to Highclere Castle and there will be no tickets left for us”. I had to use all my will power to keep it together. So naturally, once Brendyn managed to park the car, I quickly ditched him and ran (possibly even sprinted) to the ticket booth to purchase tickets and thank the heavens, we were able to buy tickets into the estate!

 

The estate was as beautiful as I imagined it to be. The gardens were breathtaking and the castle itself was … I cannot even find the words to describe how amazing the castle truly was. I was simply in awe of the entire estate. My stomach is in a state of flutter simply writing about this Downton Abbey experience.

 

 

With Downton Abbey season three having started in the UK, my Downton Abbey passion has reignited itself in full swing. Although it has not aired in Australia, the episode recaps and reviews by UK fans have been giving me my Downton Abbey fix! Also, I have recently discovered Downton Abbey fan fiction. Yes, I am one of those people who read fake fan fiction. Please understand that it pains me to admit it, but I am anything but a liar!

 

So why am I SO obsessed with this fictional television show?! I just love the Matthew and Mary (M/M) love story. I know, how common, how predictable, but it is nevertheless true. I love watching their interactions and their longing grazes. It is the typical heart aching, tear jerking, butterflies in your stomach, love story. Also, I think I may have a little tini tiny high school girl crush on Matthew (portrayed by the swoon worthy Dan Stevens). So I have done what every normal rational high school girl would do (only that I am not a high school girl and I am in my late twenties and should probably know better), I made a Dan Stevens cupcake and tweeted it to him, in hopes to get a response. The fondant topper is of his twitter profile picture.

 

Does this make me appear a little desperate? Possibly, it is subject to interpretation. Does this make me a crazy stalker? I do not think so. I mean, I have not started writing fan fiction and I have not made youtube video clips of my favourite M/M scenes yet, so until then I do not consider myself as a stalker. But until then (I do not want to rule out the possibility), I think I will continue to walk the fine line between a dedicated fan and boarder line cray cray.

 

Fingers crossed, I hear from Dan Stevens. And FYI, if I do, I may just stop breathing!

Sheilas in Sheila Magazine!

Top the Cupcake has been very lucky to be featured in a four page spread in the August edition of Sheila Magazine. Check it out!

Big thanks to Sheila mazagine!

Holiday in pictures

We have finally made our way home after four blissful weeks of travelling through Europe. Although we have been home for just over a week, I am not quite ready to accept the reality of “normal” life. Nevertheless, begrudgingly I have returned back to “normal” life by returning to work and even took on some bake jobs this past week! 

Although it was only a little over a week ago since I was in beautiful sunny Europe, it feels like a life time ago. And all I have to show for four weeks of travel is photographs of all the food I ate! Correction – all the DELICIOUS food I ate. Naturally, my body gravitated towards pastries and baked goods. Hey, the body wants what the body wants, and who am I to deny my body what it wants?!

The trip started off in London. Where we watched my superstar sister-in-law represent Australia in the Olympics. She and all the Hockeyroos did a stella job and the whole family was (and still is) very proud! But enough of about that, let’s talk about cupcakes! I had two cupcakes while in London – first cupcake was from Hummingbird bakery and the second cupcake was from a random cupcake stall in Bricklane Market. The verdict? Of course the Hummingbird cupcake was delicious, as if it would be anything less than that. But what caught me by surprise was how delicious the cupcake from the random cupcake stall in Bricklane Market was! I remember the icing was particularly divine – creamy, light and packed a lot of flavour. I am salivating at the thought of the cupcake – GET IN MY BELLY NOW!

Vanilla chocolate cupcake from Hummingbird bakery.

Get in my belly now cupcake!

Also referred to as, vanilla berry cupcake from a random stall at Bricklane Market.

After London, we made our way to Paris. The city of beautiful macarons, but sadly no cupcakes! I searched for cupcake stores high and low and was out of luck. I even googled “cupcakes in Paris” and the stores that I found online were sadly closed down. Perhaps this was because of the current economic conditions in Europe. For whatever reason the cupcake stores were closed down, I was nevertheless very sadden by not being able to eat cupcakes whilst in Paris. So, I ate plenty of macarons and desserts to make up for it.

Marcarons from Laduree.

Macarons from Pierre Herme.

Macaron a la framboise.

Macarons from Lenotre.

Nougatella (nougat nutella mousse) from a dessert bar in Paris.

After Paris, we made our way to sunny Barcelona! Barcelona was simply amazing – tapas, fresh fruit and friendly people. I even managed to source a cupcake from Florentine bakery. Although the cupcake was ‘nice’, I was just content with the opportunity to eat a cupcake after going cold turkey for 2 weeks straight without eating a cupcake! Let’s just say I was experiencing withdrawals and was a little more crabby than usual.

Vanilla marshmallow cupcake from Florentine bakery.

And here we are, four weeks later. As if it was all a dream and I have just woken from a coma … a food coma that is!  

Best of both worlds!

I don't ever pretend to be anything but greedy! I want it all. After all, why can't I have my cupcake and eat it too?! If I can have the best of both worlds, why not?

Last year I wrote a blog post about my preferred method of icing cupcakes. Basically in the post, I categorised cupcakers as either spreaders or pipers. I personally categorised myself as a piper. In my humble cupcake opinion, there is nothing quite as pretty as a piped cupcake.

However, recently I have had a cupcake revelation. Why can't cupcakers be spreaders and pipers? Why am I so narrowed minded that I feel the need to categorise cupcakers by the way they choose to ice their cupcakes. I mean, that is cupcake discrimination and I am no bigot.

Nevertheless, I now identify myself as a cupcake spreader piper. So how does one become a cupcake spreader piper? Well it's easy! As Agent O-Zo (sorry, children's program reference) would say, just follow three simple steps:

Step 1: When you are filling your cupcake patty with the cupcake mixture, just fill half the patty. That way, the cupcake base will rise to the rim of the cupcake patty.

Step 2: Place a generous scope of icing on top of the cupcake base. Using a knife, spread the icing over the top of the cupcake base. Fill in any gaps between the cupcake base and the patty. By the end of this step, you should have a smooth surface of icing completely covering the cupcake base.

Step 3: Using your desired nozzle, pipe on your icing on top of the cupcake base.

And there you go. You get the best of both worlds! And the good news keeps on coming, by completely covering your cupcake base with icing, it keeps your cupcake base moist for longer! Ascetically pleasing and practical.

Cupcakes = Brain food

As you are well aware, my preferred method of cupcake decorating is to use fondant. Butter cream and royal icing are fine, but from my experience if you want the “wow” factor than fondant should be your cupcake decorating companion. Although I believe this whole heartedly, I must confess butter cream came through for me this past weekend.

I was very honoured that my dear friend Camila, who was planning her dad’s 50th birthday party, placed a cupcake order with me. Although I was slightly disturbed by her cupcake request – brains! Her dad is a psychologist who specialises in brain trauma. Hence his admiration for brains.

Although I found the idea somewhat difficult to stomach, I am not one to turn down a cupcake challenge. So after extensive google research, I realised that perhaps fondant was not the most appropriate cupcake decorating companion for this particular bake job. I know BLASPHEMY! In the given circumstances, it appeared that brains are best suited to butter cream!

Putting the brain cupcakes together was a lot easier than I had imagined. Basically, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes, whipped up some vanilla butter cream frosting, mixed through a little pink and brown food colouring and piped little swiggly bits on top of the cupcake. And the next thing I knew, I had freakishly looking brains starring up at me.

Who would have thought, cupcakes were brain food?    

Getting into the Olympic spirit

I have said it before and I will say it again, I married into an over achieving family! Yes, at times it does make me feel slightly incompetent. But then I think, it makes me over achieving by association and I am somewhat comforted by this notion. A fine and adequate example of my over achieving in-laws is my sister-in- law, Ash. Not only was she a Miss Universe contestant but she is also a part of the Australian National female hockey team, The Hockeyroos! And to top it all off, she has been selected to represent Australia at the 2012 London Olympics. Bah - I am exhausted just writing about her achievements!

As you can imagine, with the lead up to the Olympics, Ash has received considerable amount of publicity. The story writes itself really: "Not just a pretty face - Miss Universe contestant is to represent Australia at London Olympics". Our Ash even made the front page of The Westralian (one of the most popular daily newspapers in Western Australia). Don't be fooled by those big eyes and gorgeous face, she can do some serious damage with a hockey stick in hand!

Front page of the West Australia 3rd July 2012

We bid her farewell last week as The Hockeyroos made their way to London to prepare for the Olympics. To bid her farewell in the manner that she is accustom to (after all she is royalty being a Miss Universe contestant and all), the family organised a little party in her honour. Naturally and to which I did not object, I was put on cupcake duty.

To keep with the Olympic spirit, I decided to make Olympic themed cupcakes. I had to make the fondant toppers a few days early as I was flying to Singapore for work (literally fly in and fly out - I think I was there 20 hours in total)! My flight to Singapore was at 6AM, so I decided I would just work the night through as I had to be up and ready to leave the house at 3.30AM. After working the night through making little Olympic ring toppers for his baby sister, Brendyn woke up at 3.30AM and said sarcastically asked "Why did you use froot loops to make the toppers?!" and insert smirk here. I wanted to punch him in the face but I refrained as I needed a lift to the airport after all. Desperate times call for desperate measures, or more appropriately, reserve measures.

The cupcakes turned out well despite the Olympic ring toppers looked like they were made out of froot loops! They were all consumed and Ash was bid farewell in the manner that she deserved, a party complete with great company and copious amounts of food and champagne.

The Olympics is due to kick off in 5 days and her first match is soon after. To read about her Olympic experience, check out Ash's blog: http://ashleighnelson.org/category/bulletins/

Keep an eye out for The Hockeyroos number 8, Ashleigh Nelson. Don't forget to cheer on our little Aussie batter/beauty queen.

Presenting our latest product:

Rainbow cupcake in a jar!

I came up with this idea when I was driving the kids (the niece and nephew) home from school. It was after a little storm had hit Perth and the sunny was shining and the rainbow was out loud and proud. Zac pointed out the rainbow and asked me if we can drive to the end of the rainbow, so that we could collect the pot of gold. As much as I thought that would be a great idea, I am also a realistic and I knew my chances of finding a pot of gold was the same as me winning the lotto.

So I thought to myself, what is the next best thing to finding a pot of gold or winning the lotto? Well, cupcakes of course! One thing led to another and voila the idea popped into my head, a rainbow cupcake in a jar - my own little version of a pot of gold (or at least the next best thing).

If you decide to try this at home, please be sure to check that the glass jar is thick enough to withstand the heat of the oven. Otherwise, the glass jar may shatter and that would not be fun for anyone! So bake with caution.

Sweet, sweet music

Mini Mousey had her first piano recital this past weekend! I can't believe how fast she has grown up. It feels like only yesterday that we were taking her home from the hospital. Now I am picking her up from school and attending her piano recitals!

Parents were asked to bring a plate of food to share after the recital. Ade, Mini's mum, asked me to make cupcakes. I mean, what choice did she really have?! Even if she didn't ask, I would have conveniently brought along a box filled with cupcakes appropriately themed of course!

Once I secured the bake job, I had to get cracking on the all important cupcake theme. Mini Mousey is a typical girlie girl! Everything has to be either pink, purple, gold or rainbow as these are "girl" colours. Every other colour apparently is a "boy" colour. Which is somewhat surprising as I thought yellow would be categorised as a "girl" colour - clearly not accordingly to the law of Mini. So basically, I had to make pink cupcakes and given that we were attending a piano recital, the cupcakes had to be piano themed. I consciously used the word "had" because I had no other real other choice.

There is only one thing sweeter than sweet, sweet music and that is sweet, sweet cupcakes!

Oh and in case you are interested, Mini Mousey did extremely well in her recital. Despite her short performance, she was outstanding. Not that I am bias at all. :)

Cake pop machines

Over a month ago, Living Social (a coupon website) had cake pop machines for sale at a ridiculously discounted rate. For those who have not come across a cake pop machine before, it is basically an oven like contraption that you bake your cake mixture in and it forms a perfect ball. Therefore, making it a heck of a lot easier to make cake pops!

When I first saw this coupon, I must admit, I did consider buying it. I mean it would make by cake popping life so much easier. However, then I thought to myself: “Where’s the love?” (Not to worry, I am not going to recite the Black Eyed Peas song, despite how tempting it may be!) I remembered why I choose to bake on a daily basis and it because I love the process. Although I never use to, I love starting from scratch and producing little edible pieces of art! Now if I was to buy the cake pop machine, it would eliminate basically the whole baking/making process. There would be no need to bake a slab of cake, crumb the cake, mix the crumbs with icing and roll the mixture into balls. Although these steps are at times tedious, a lot of love goes into these steps and I believe it makes a lot of difference.

With a lot of things becoming mass produced, it is nice to keep some traditions. I know I sound like an old grandma and I am talking about cake pops which is a fairly new baking phenomenon, but hear me out. Although the machines are convenient (there is no denying that), in my opinion, what you save on time, you lack in taste. Basically, using the machines you will make perfectly round sponge cakes. Whereas if you were to make it the traditional way, you would make somewhat round, dense sponge cakes, but incredibly moist from the icing. I am sure once you decorate the cake pops, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But once you bite into that cake pop, would you be able to? I think so.

Although this blog post sounds overly critical and somewhat righteous, please do not take it that way. It is just my take on the cake pop machine! In this day and age, time is so precious and if there are ways we can cut corners or do what is convenient, then we usually do – I mean I definitely guilty of that! However, this cake pop machine is just not for me. Although I may choose to take the convenient route in other facets of my life, baking is not one of them. Please know that I don’t judge the people who use the cake pop machine, I just choose not to.

My favourite thing about making cake pops is watching the faces of people when they bite into a beautifully decorated cake pop and taste a yummy homemade moist cake!  Ahhh, FML* on a stick – what more could you want?!

**For new blog readers, FML stands for my cupcake requirements – fluffy, moist and light (FML).