celebratory desserts

On March 19, Mark and I visited Six Penn Kitchen for dinner. We were got three desserts, since it was a celebration and all. And since we'd be sitting for the rest of the evening watching Celtic Woman at the Mellon Arena. (Time out for a little squeeeeeee!)

We got bananas foster cake. (Excuse my terrible photos - they don't do these fantastic desserts justice.) It had the most wonderful fried banana chips on the top; they were crispy and light and not at all greasy like the dried ones you get in trail mix.


My favorite dessert was called the Six Penn Circus. Homemade cotton candy, whoopie pies, cinnamon doughnuts, and caramel corn. It was really fun to eat and everyone's eyes got big at the surrounding tables.


And finally we had grasshopper cake. It came with a thin shamrock cookie on top, as well as some fitting decorations...courtesy of our fantastic server and the pastry chef.


When she found out we had just become engaged an hour before dinner, she thought she'd ask for something special. :) I won't gush too much in this post, but the whole evening was something special. I'm glad we started the next chapter in our lives with good food and delicious dessert. Seems fitting, don't you think? :)

cupcake contest: part deux

Notice my gigantaloid t-shirt in this one. It's a men's XL. Mark had to pin the sleeves back so I could even work. I went home and set it on fire. No, just kidding. But I did throw it out.

Drumroll, please. The final piece. 4 hours, 5-8 lbs. of fondant, 20ish cupcakes, 1 batch of green buttercream, and some of my sanity later. Ta da!

This is me talking to Anne Byrn. Squeeeeeeee!

And because I couldn't have done it without the support I received, here's some more fun.

By the end I was safely back in my cupcake t-shirt. Thanks also to my work friends who came to support me, bought me a cute pink apron, and for those who voted in the contest to get me there in the first place.

And because my face in this picture cracks me up so much, I will end the contest post with this one.

cupcake contest recap

So the cupcake contest was this weekend (sponsored by the newspaper which I refuse to name so as not to give them any more free advertising.) I didn't win, for a lot of reasons, but in order to avoid an overwhelmingly negative post, I'm going to focus on the fact that I was really proud of my entry and how it came out. It felt really awesome to stand behind it and say "yes, this is mine." I even got to meet Anne Byrn, who was more than gracious and so friendly. She signed my cupcake cookbook, which was the first one I ever used. Besides having my posse of family and friends there to cheer me on, meeting her was the highlight of my day.

I have a lot of photos, courtesy of Mark, that depict the process, so I'm going to do a photo essay of sorts and let them speak for themselves. I made the pumpkin patch scene from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Everything except for the actual cupcakes was made on site - the icing and the sculptures, etc. Here is part 1.

When my Comcast modem stops freaking out about me uploading photos, there will be a part 2.

Stay tuned...

double whammy: vote for me and feed a needy family for Christmas!

So I did it. I entered a local charity cupcake contest. Before I explain, this is my entry.


I do love the Pens. And even though the name of the contest was the Holiday Cupcake Challenge, your first entry didn't have to be a holiday cupcake. So I went with the Pens. You can never go wrong with the Pens.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is sponsoring the contest to raise money for Operation Santa Claus, which partners with the Salvation Army to provide complete holiday meals for families as well as storybooks for the children in those families! Food and reading! Yes!

Voters donate to Operation Santa Claus for votes to apply to cupcakes, starting with $5 for 5 votes, going to $25 for 40 votes. The top 5 cupcakes at the end of the voting period get the chance to compete at the Good Taste Pittsburgh Food and Cooking Expo in November. There, the contestants will make a holiday cupcake to compete for $1,000.

And to top it all off, Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes will be at the Expo! Squeeeee!

My entry is a devil's food cupcake with buttercream frosting, black and gold jimmies, and fondant sculpted figures: Iceburgh, Mellon Arena, and the Stanley Cup (which belongs to us right now, thank you very much Detroit! :) )

First we start with ingredients (minus Sir Sous Chef).

Chop up a whole buncha chocolate.


Add some cocoa powder and boiling water to make chocolate sludge.



Cream the butter and sugars. I always love this part.


Add eggs.


Sour cream and vanilla.


Mix it up with a combo of cake and all-purpose flour, and you get batter that smells delicious and looks like mousse.




At this point I forgot to take photos of the finished cupcakes. But you know how the story ends.


If you feel so inclined, please vote for my cupcake and donate to Operation Santa Claus by clicking on the widget to the left. Pass it to your friends.

Even if I don't move on to the next round, and you vote for any cupcake in the contest, your money will help needy children and families during the holidays. And knowing that people voting for my cupcake might put some Christmas dinner and storytime on the menu for a family this December is good enough for me.

myron cope just might be proud

Though I love living in Pittsburgh as much as I love cupcakes, I have never been known to be a Steeler fan. However, I have said on many occasions that I am not above any celebration that calls for food. Thus, I present the treats I made for this year's Super Bowl.

*Note: I realize that it's been five months since the Super Bowl and already another Pittsburgh team is vying for another championship, but I'm still playing catchup. And rest assured there will be a Pens cake.

First, I made cupcakes for a Steelers party at work, where I made red velvet cake (my personal favorite) and dyed it pitch black. Add some piles of yellow cooked frosting and some Burgh jimmies, and there you have it. (I must add that my cupcakes went like hotcakes. Many a black and gold bagel were left behind in their wake.)

The pièce de résistance was the cake I made to look like Myron Cope's Terrible Towel for the game party. It was a cookies and cream cake with dyed buttercream frosting, decorated with black fondant which I eyeballed and cut by hand and topped off with piped frosting.

The cake was a hit. Most of my friends know that I typically call dibs on making desserts for our urban family gatherings, however one party guest did not know this and asked which bakery the cake came from, which was quite a compliment for me. I strive to out-bake Giant Eagle's Aunt Martha at all times.

Next year I will make another Steelers cake, if they make it to the Super Bowl again. A logo? Perhaps. Steely McBeam? Highly doubtful.