Getting in touch with my inner Wee-aboo

Evening all you lovely internet dwellers.

It has been a tad too long since my last post and I apologize.
A few great things happened.

My sister and fellow blogger flew out to visit me.
Had a staycation and went on an awesome trip with my lovely friend.
Aaaaannnddd have started to earn some side cash by crafting things.

It's been quite an adventure.

While my sister was here we did some shopping (more her shopping and mine and friend's window watching) and stumbled upon this lovely beauty.
I wish I had known before that such a beautiful place existed.

I won't lie, candy is my kryptonite. So couldn't help but indulge a couple of treats for myself.
If you're a fan of Japan Land and all it's wondrous happenings and things then I'm sure you're aware of these.

I couldn't resist.
It's just too damn cute.

So me and the younger sibling set out on a magical journey of processed sugar snacks that you prepare yourself.

Unfortunately, though....

ALL OF THE DIRECTIONS ARE IN FUCKING JAPANESE.
*screams internally*

But no worries!
There's always a way around this type of obstacle.
What would I have done without the help of youtube?

It was pretty easy to find a video tutorial on how to make this stuff. Now, I'm here to help you do the same if it ever crosses your mind to do so.

So first, everything came wrapped in this little package which I cut up to prepare as like a little box but I gave that up pretty quickly.

Here's the box and it's contents unopened.

And here is all the precious cargo.

It's been a while but I believe it came with like two big bags for the "dough", two little ones for the frosting, one for the chocolate syrup, and two for cookie crumbles and sprinkles.
Also, a little spoon because you may have been fucked without one.

Here's everything all laid out. I already took the pleasure of separating the components of the tray.

So first thing is to make the "vanilla dough" using the giant yellow packet and the oval corner section. You fill the oval with water then add the powder and mix. After a certain point it's best to start mixing the "dough" with your hands.

Then you split your dough into two halves.

Next is the chocolate one using the same method. Mix, then separate.

After both "doughs" have been formed, it's now time to "mold" them. There's one for a flower-y shape and one for your standard doughnut. You have all the creative freedom, but we enjoyed trying to copy the picture on the box.

Yay! All pressed to impress.
Don't hurt me.

Sister made the bear. Which by the way, would be quite a task to actually look as good as what's on the box.

NOW IS TIME FOR FROSTING.
The small blue packet is for "vanilla frosting". You add it to one of these little tubs and add a "cup" of water. Which is this small piece on the corner of the package with a little indent to hold water.

Add the "strawberry" packet to the other side.
Add your "cup" of water and mix!

Then make your chocolate sauce using the same method as the frostings.

All nice and mixed.

Forgot to mention that the kit also comes with a tiny plastic bag to use as a pastry bag for your chocolate sauce. Simply fill the bag, twist into a corner, and snip the end.

NOW DECORATE!
FROST AND SPRINKLE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE THINGS LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.

I gotta say, these came out better than expected. I was quite impressed with our candy making abilities.

As far as taste, it was pretty different from what you would expect candy to taste like.
First off, this kit isn't exactly 'candy'. Japan went out of their way to try and make this as close to the real thing as they could.
They were both pretty accurate and off-putting at the same time. I though the smell was good but the texture was like that of old play-dough. The vanilla doughnut of course, tasted like vanilla and the chocolate was like that cheap tootsie roll flavor.
The chocolate sauce was actually quite good. Probably my favorite part. The other two frostings weren't bad either, but it was also a minor texture thing.


I really had fun with this.
I predicted so much fun that, I actually bought two.
The second was made with lovely friend.

I'm sure you can agree we did a pretty spectacular job.

Happy Hauntings

Forgive the lateness of this post.

I hope everyone had a merry all hallows eve following an even better samhain.
Just remember, not everyone who boils pots of rat's tails and bat's wings with owl toes are witches.
They just have strange tastes and are misunderstood.
No need to burn their evil, soulless bodies in the town square.

The smell is enticing though.


My halloween was actually a tad more eventful than I thought it was going to be. I figured I'd be sad panda at home binge watching episodes of something on Netflix and drinking lots of eggnog.

Most awesome friend's roomie had a party at their establishment. Of course I HAD to go since there were no other social events coming at my general direction as far as I could see.

Had to make cupcakes. Just had to. Can't do anything without a good cupcake in your life.

So I decided to whip up something from this bounded sugary delight.

And it's actually a cookbook 'trilogy'.
I haz all three.

Don't judge me.

The recipe I pulled was from their halloween section (duh) and it looked like a real easy piece.

OF COURSE it has cats. 

What else would you expect of someone suppressing their spinster cat lady urges? 

If I'm ever alone, I'll be the old woman with fifty cats hovering on and around my legs at all times as I shuffle through the house with a hairy cup of luke warm coffee. 

Ah, that's the life.

But anywho. This shall just be another decorating bit. Way too many steps to include everything.
So, the "Hello Cupcake" books are renowned for their use of canned icing and jazzed up cake mix recipes.
Nuh-uh. Not this lady. No way.
Ever since I jumped onto the scratch made and buttercream train I've missed every stop and haven't gotten off. There is NO WAY I'm going back.

The recipe calls for white cake mix and a can of vanilla frosting. *vomits*
Yeeeaaahh, no.

So, I decided (I'm not sure why) to do a devil's food cake with orange cream cheese buttercream.
The buttercream recipe taken from this little dandy here.

Okay, now after baking all of the cupcakes and letting them cool in wire racks I get my decorations going. This part takes a while.
First of all, the cupcake book gives you an outline for your sprinkled chocolate kitties. It was HUGE. Like to actually use the original template I would have to either make jumbo cupcakes or just hope to Nrygoth that the chocolate was solid enough to not break.
Looking at it, I was like, from one to even I can't.

So being the awesomeness that I am, I scanned the template, fiddled around with the color and scaled it down to print out a sheet of kitty outlines.

Tape it down onto a baking sheet or whatever is easiest for you.

Then tape a sheet of parchment paper on top.

Oh, and before I forget, these are the main objects you need for this project.

Here we have black paper liners, parchment paper, two things of black sugar and some chocolate candy melts.

Okay, so once you have your template all prepped and ready, now it's time to melt your chocolate.
Place some candy melts in a ziploc baggie.

Then microwave for about 15-20 seconds at a time. Making sure to mush it in your fingers so it gets all melty in between the microwaving intervals.

Yes, before you say anything, I know how much this looks like I had the squirty dumplings into a sandwich bag.
But believe me, it's really melted chocolate.
;)

Now press all the air out and seal. Then twist everything into one corner like so.

Cut off a very small part of the tip and begin tracing over the template. Working kitty at a time, trace the outline, then fill in, making sure to tap lightly to get rid of any air bubbles, and sprinkle on your black sugar.

Once you've made all the kitties you need, remove each gently and place onto your iced cupcake. Then pipe the little evil hallow's eve kitty eyes.

And if done correctly, you should have something similar to this!

 

I successfuly got these to the party, got super trashed, and had a fun time downtown.

Then celebrated buy buying ALL of the discount halloween candies the day after.

 Because I'm an adult. 

Nutella? You Mean Chocolate Crack Right?

It has gotten so fucking cold outside.

Like, seriously. One day it's tank top season then the next it's frosty balls weather.
We actually had to turn the gas back on today after, I want to say, like 5 or 6 months.
I forgot how much it sounded like the NASA rocket shuttle taking off whenever the gas turned on.

It scares my cat half to death.

Okay. So.
Muffins are good right?

I think I mentioned before that I've been trying to go through my dessert books. I am now on this plethora of diabetic delights.

I've had this in my collection for a while. Aaaand I'm not too sure if I bought it? Or if someone else bought it for me.
Either way, it's been good to me so far. Honestly, it's pretty hard to ruin muffins.

So the recipe next on my queue was this gem.

 

It's for "chocolate chunk muffins." I'm a bit low on funds until my next pay day, so I decided to improvise. 

My pantry was full of both chocolate chips, and lo and behold, a giant tub of nutella that I nearly forgot we had. 

Nutella was the way to go people.

Clearly.

Now, unfortunately I am not going to specify the exact amounts of this recipe because when a published product actually has some worth, I do encourage supporting the author and actually buying it.

Or you know, stealthily writing them down onto scraps of paper at the bookstore.

Whichever is more convenient for you. 

Okay!

First things first.

All of my lovely ingredients.

I doubled the recipe like usual.

Pretty much all muffin recipes have the same directions. It's mix all the dry, mix all the wet, combine the two and voila.

But yeah, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.

Add the sugar (and chocolate chunks but obviously those are absent).

Now onto the wet! Lightly beat your eggs.

Mix in the melted butter, vanilla, and milk.

Mix all that shit together.
Once combined, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet.

Then gently fold them together until JUST combined.
Remember, nobody likes a tough muffin.

Using an ice cream scoop (or a large spoon) fill the muffin cups about halfway.

Now take that lovely addictive chocolate substance, and drop a spoonful into the middle of each cup.

Cover that shit up with some more muffin batter.

 

Then, drop another small dollop of nutella on top of each one. (You can skip this step if you like, but I enjoy the marbling effect). To make swirls, use a knife or a toothpick and make swirls through the nutella in the muffin batter (just don't go too deep to the bottom).
If successful, they should look like this.

Now bake these bad boys for about 18-20 minutes depending on your oven and it's fickle attitude.

AAAAANNNNDDD PRESTO BAKE...O!

 

These were not disappointing. I think I might have overmixed the batter a tad but all in all I was pleased.

And while baking I had the fantastic sounds of Pogo blasting in my kitchen.
What?
You haven't heard of Pogo?

I feel like we can't be friends.


JUST KIDDING.
But give him a listen. Shit's amazing.
This one is probably my favorite.

Yet, you can't go wrong with this one either.

 

You're welcome.

Also folks. I've been working on this cheap ass paint by numbers FOR FUCKING EVER.

And, I FINALLY FINISHED IT

BEHOLD

 

The paint was cheap and dried way too fast but I'm kind of okay with how it turned out. Especially since I don't paint a whole lot.
I'm finally able to move onto another cheap do it yourself little craft.
With a cat being the main subject again.

Don't judge me.

Pumpkin; Fall's Most Basic Bitch Flavor

I'm sure that all of you are aware of your surroundings at this point in time. The weather is cooler, the leaves are turning, and that one indiscernible flavor has started to creep into every spectrum of your diet.

You thought right folks,
Pumpkin.

In fact, this video sums it up quite nicely.

OH GOD. THE SHEER HORROR OF IT ALL.

Even though I'm not one to totally immerse myself in pumpkin everything for the whole fall/winter season, I will admit that it does seem to end up in quite a few baking projects.
I won't lie, I really do like pumpkin desserts.

I've been meaning to make this pumpkin cake recipe (again) for about three or four weeks and finally had the opportunity.

Although since I have made it before, I thought I would skip the step by step baking instructions and just skip to the frosting and decorating process.

I'm not too skilled in this department but if it doesn't sound TOO vain I think I have made some improvements.

SO
First things first.
I baked the cake (duh). The recipe yields two 8-9 inch round cakes. I let them cool on a wire rack, covered them in saran wrap, and had them chill in the fridge overnight.

Before assembling, I whip up my frosting batch.
First, you beat the cream cheese and butter.

Once that is all smooth and creamy, you'll add the maple syrup and confectioners sugar.

Make sure it is PURE MAPLE SYRUP people! Not Mrs. Butterworths syrup or Maple Syrup extract.

Also with this step, I just eyeballed the maple syrup and the confectioner's sugar. I honestly don't like my frosting to be too sweet. So I just whip and taste along the way.
Use your best judgement. As long as it's of spreading consistency you should be okay.

End product should look similar to this

Note that I have my angled spatula in the frosting bowl. I do HIGHLY recommend this tool when icing or frosting desserts/cakes.

Now the next step, take out your cakes and unwrap them. Figure out the best way to stack them before actually attempting to do so. Leveling off the tops also help if they rose too high during the baking process.

I also recommend decorating the cake on cardboard cake rounds. It just makes transporting the cake easier.

Drop a dollop of frosting on the cake round before adding your first cake layer. This helps keep the cake from sliding around and shifting on your cake round.

After adding the first cake layer. Spread your frosting on top. This will be your filling.
For this recipe, I doubled the frosting because I found that I nearly ran out after spreading the filling portion.

I sprinkled some pecans on top because reasons.
Now, add your top layer.

As for this next step, I've noticed some debate on whether it's really necessary. But after icing a few cakes somewhat unsuccessfully I found that the end result looks better when incorporated in the process.
If you've ever watched Cake Boss, you know that this man does what is called, "dirty icing." Basically, this is adding a thin coat of icing to your cakes and letting them set before actually doing the final icing. It's good to do this so that your frosting isn't filled with tiny cake crumbs. This is also why some people call this step a "crumb coat".

So! Onto dirty icing this baby.

It's okay if your cake isn't pretty at this point.
After this, I let it sit to firm up a bit in the fridge again for about an hour or so.

Next, take it out again and spread on your final frosting layer.

I did kind of have a tough time making this smooth enough. Cream cheese frosting always seems a little harder to work with.

Now onto decorating! Since I'm unoriginal and lack imagination, I just decided to copy the design from the original post. Except I added a little more on the bottom and changed the colors.

Aaaand you're done!
I felt like this looked like crap. But *shrugs* I haven't had a whole lot of practice decorating with piping techniques.
I was hoping to make the outside look likes leaves but the frosting was just so unwilling to hold it's shape when piped.

Still yummy though.

I did mention earlier that this is my second time making this cake and the decorating process was totally different. This was my first attempt at this about two years ago.

I feel like this was a more appropriate theme for this time of the year, yes?




Also,
You guys,
I think I'm in friend-love.

Cutest ever token of appreciation and expressions of feelings from my fabulous and most amazing friend and doppelganger
No you cannot has.

Until next time!