Tackle it Tuesday 7: Gettin' busy at the bakery

I wasn't going to post any Tackle it Tuesdays this week because I thought "well, I really haven't tackled anything worth posting. *sadface*

But then I realized, heck, I've been PLENTY busy at the bakery! THAT's why I haven't been able to do stuff around the house. So I might as well post what the EFF I've been doing all week!

So here goes. The week started with a cake for a friend's birthday. She wanted black with fuschia dots. The drinks were my idea, because, obviously. What do you think? Nice, huh?

I also received a call from an old classmate from high school. She writes for a local parenting magazine - which is pretty awesome, actually - and told me they were planning a birthday edition to celebrate their own first birthday. They were doing a "faux-bithday" bash at a local playground and needed cupcakes. The theme was jungle animals, which gave me room to work with plenty of colors. Here are the cupcake toppers I made for them:

And here are all the cupcakes on display at the table:

Oh, and she also mentioned they needed kids, so she asked if Lil man was available to participate. Umm... OF COURSE!! He had a blast. Here is him playing soccer with a balloon:

And here is him having fun before the cake pictures:

OK, so my house is a mess, but I still kept plenty busy! Happy tackling!

Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

Tackle it Tuesday 6: Zelma's Bakery Photos

For those of you who don't know, I have a home-based bakery business. I work full time in Corporate America and have a 4-year-old son, so I only do this on my spare time, which is not much, but it does keep me happy. I have a Facebook page, but I wanted to start my own blog (in Spanish), so that my local clients can get to know me and my products better.

I like to take photos of everything I make, and have TONS of photos! The only problem is, they were all scattered everywhere. Not all of the photos were uploaded into my Facebook page, and since my laptop crashed about 2 months ago, I had photos in my old hard disk, as well as my new one.

Well, I decided to upload everything into my new Flickr account. I categorized everything, and made sure everything had its watermark (for copyright purposes). It took me a LONG time, but I'm happy to have everything organized and in one place. Take a look!

www.flickr.com Go to zelmarl's photostream

If you have a Tackle it Tuesday post, link it here for others to see!
Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

Wordless Wednesday 13: Cookies for Santa

I know it's been 3 weeks since Christmas, but I completely forgot to post these, and they're just adorable!

[caption id="attachment_782" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Helping Mama make the cookies"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_783" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Choosing his cookie cutter designs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_781" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Table is set. Waving "hi" to Santa Claus before bedtime."][/caption]

If you have a Wordless Wednesday post, link it here for others to see!

Here's the fun thumbnail linky:



Thanks to Uisce for creating Wordless Wednesday.

Praying for a Christmas miracle

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Rebecca and her hubs"][/caption]

Tonight I was deep into my Twitter conversations, when all of a sudden I saw the following tweet:

@bitofmomsense Twas the night before last Treatment...;) http://plixi.com/p/64112528

I stopped completely. It was such a simple and sweet photo of Rebecca and her bald husband looking happy and at peace. I had seen many tweets from her over the past few months about her husband's treatments, and several times I've replied saying something like "hope everything turns out OK!" or "praying for you and hubs!" Do people actually pray when they say that?

But tonight, for some reason, it made me stop. If you look at that photo out of context, all you see is a very happy couple in a very intimate cuddle. And you know what? THAT'S HOW IT SHOULD BE!! It breaks my heart when there's a stupid disease that changes the way you look at everything, including a simple photo. I'm pretty sure that they both look at everything differently now. Maybe not better, maybe not worse. Just different.

You see, I kinda know what Rebecca is going through. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, when I was 19 years old. FREAKING 19!! I didn't know what cancer was, or that it was so dangerous. I wasn't prepared to deal with such a serious situation. All I saw was my mom's courage through it all. Through the surgery, the treatments, the baldness, the throwing up, and eventually, the recovery. It changed her, somehow. Made her stronger, if that's even possible.

So when I saw that tweet from Rebecca, I felt compelled to finish her thought. I looked at the original poem, and looked at the photo, and came up with this:

'Twas the night before last Treatment
and everyone's at peace
not a single sign of sickness
not even a cyst.

I hope that's what's going through their minds right now, the confidence that everything will be OK, and they can put all this behind them. They can say it's simply something that happened. In the past.

Also? It's freaking Christmas, for chrissakes! No one should feel sad this time of year. I know what that's like, because exactly two years ago, I miscarried my second pregnancy, two weeks before Christmas, and had to have the baby surgically removed. ONE week before Christmas! Let's just say I'm a sucker for people who go through tough situations during the holidays.

So to Rebecca and her husband, I know it may not be a literary masterpiece, but I'm glad it made you smile. Here's to a very healthy 2011!!

-----

While on the subject, won't you consider being a part of @Frosting4Cause? If you have a blog, and love to bake, just visit http://frostingforthecause.com/ to see how you can help. It's very easy and fun! You don't have to be a professional baker. You can even use cake mix and canned frosting! The point is to help, get involved, and "bake" a difference!

Tackle it Tuesday 4: Mega Birthday Weekend!

Last week was lil man's 4th birthday, and we had not one but TWO parties for him. First one was last Thursday at school, where we sang Happy Birthday with his classmates, and the second one was on Sunday at home with the entire family.

I had several tackles related to this mega birthday weekend:

1. Create TWO birthday cakes (or in this case, cupcake displays) using lil man's selected theme: Hot Wheels.


2. Assemble the goodie bags for his 23 classmates and 8 cousins.


3. Make some of the appetizers. Thankfully, my Mom helped by also making some.


4. Get the house ready for the birthday. This included getting all the crap out of the way, and putting up all the decorations. Thankfully, hubs helped me with this.

It was all worth it, though. Lil man had a great time, and that's all that matters.

[caption id="attachment_484" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Cupcake display for lil man's classroom"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_483" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Singing Happy Bday with his classmates"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Cupcake display for the family party"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_485" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Singing Happy Bday with his cousins"][/caption]

Now I'm going to have to tackle the toy situation in the living room/play area!

[caption id="attachment_487" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Living room / play area disaster!"][/caption]

If you have a Tackle it Tuesday post, link it here for others to see!



Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

How to jazz up your store-bought, allergy-free treats

A few days ago I was tweeting with @MiscarriageMom about our kids' upcoming birthdays - her daughter turns 4 on October 20th, and my lil man also turns 4 on the 21st, just one day apart, awesome! So I was telling her about how I was taking cupcakes to his classroom and singing Happy Birthday with his classmates, and she mentioned that at her school, they're not allowed to bring any homemade treats because of allergy issues. I thought that was ridiculous! Not the allergy part, that seems reasonable, but the part where you can't actually MAKE anything - everything has to be store-bought!

So we tweeted back and forth with ideas, and finally I came up with an alternative that I THINK is allergy-free: Rice Krispies Treats!

OK, so the individual squares that come in a box don't look very appealing, but there's a way you can jazz them up and make them party-ready.

Here's what you will need:

• Ready-made Rice Krispies Treat squares


• Can of cake frosting - I like the "whipped" version because it resembles the consistency of homemade frosting


• Sprinkles - any kind


• Plastic food bag or piping bag (I used a piping bag)


• Optional: star tip (any size - I used the giant star tip)

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="What you will need"][/caption]

First, open all your individual packets and lay them out on a platter or serving dish, making sure it fits the amount of squares that you will need. Optionally, you can also serve them in individual paper liners.

Using scissors, make a small cut on a bottom corner of the plastic bag or piping bag. If you're using a tip, insert it and make sure it fits snugly through the hole. Fill the bag with the frosting, making sure to press it down so there are no air bubbles.

Using a circular motion starting from the outside in, pipe the frosting on each square.

Finally, to make them look more interesting and festive, add any sprinkles you like!

 Don't they look cute? Much better than the plain-old foil-lined squares in a box, right?

Alternatives:

• If you can make your own, try molding them into cupcake tins to make them look like cupcakes. Or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes!


• Use canned whipped cream! Just shake & pipe. I've also seen some frostings that come in the same type of can as whipped cream - I bet those would be fun too!


• Dip them in chocolate! Melt equal parts chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler (place them in a glass bowl over boiling water) until it's completely smooth, and then dip the treats. Lay them in parchment paper until they're set. You can even dip them in sprinkles or nuts before they set!

Do you have any other ideas for store-bought, allergy-free treats to take to school? Give us your suggestions below!

Zelma's Bakery: October's featured cupcakes

OK, so I live in Puerto Rico and we don't really have Fall, or any season other than Summer for that matter. That doesn't mean I can't get inspired by the flavors of Fall. I might eat them with hot cocoa and a warm sweater, but then again, I might melt and people will surely call me crazy. :)

Take a look at the cupcakes I have featured for the month of October:

Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:

These yummy cupcakes are almond-flavored with chopped toasted almonds. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped toasted almonds.

I think the almond taste is very subtle, and the chopped almonds give it a great crunch. The icing is super chocolatey!

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are apple-cinnamon-flavored with chopped walnuts and raisins. Filled with cinnamon-sugar-cream-cheese filling. With vanilla buttercream icing and topped with chopped walnuts.

I would categorize these more like muffins than cupcakes, and the filling is the awesomest I have ever tasted!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

These cupcakes are peanut-butter-flavored. With double-chocolate buttercream icing and topped with chopped peanuts.

Everyone who likes peanut butter cups will surely love these. Even my husband liked them, and he doesn't like peanut butter!

Zelma's Halloween Cupcake Box:

Happy Halloween! These festive cupcakes are vanilla-flavored with orange and black jimmies. With vanilla buttercream icing in orange and black colors and topped with a halloween-themed decoration in fondant. Includes a variety of decorations: pumpkin, ghost, bat, and witch's hat.

These have to be the cutest cupcakes I've made so far, if I do say so myself. They're so friggin' cute, my lil man started screaming when he saw them!



Unfortunately, these are only available in Puerto Rico. If I try to ship them, no matter how careful I am, the frosting will get smushed, and that's definitely NOT good eats!

Zelma's Bakery: My Cupcakes

I still can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post! The reason is that things have been pretty busy at Zelma's Bakery. You see, lately, I've fallen in love with cupcakes. They're super easy to make, and they're the perfect portion-controlled treat. So I decided to look up different tasty and interesting recipes, and have been having a ball testing them!

Besides my standard vanilla and brownies cupcakes (which I still love!), I have decided to start testing the following flavors:

• Almond Chocolate: Almond-flavored cake with chopped toasted almonds inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted almonds.


• Boston Cream: Butter cake filled with Bavarian Cream. Chocolate Ganache frosting.


• Apple Cinnamon: Apple Cinnamon cake with raisins and chopped toasted walnuts inside; filled with Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese. Cinnamon-Sugar Cream Cheese frosting topped with chopped toasted walnuts.


• Mocha: Mocha cake (chocolate and coffee). Mocha buttercream frosting topped with chocolate shavings.


• Peanut Butter: Peanut Butter cake with chopped toasted peanuts inside. Double Chocolate buttercream topped with chopped toasted peanuts.

So far I have only tested the first three, and can I say YUM!! The Apple Cinnamon is more of a muffin than a cupcake, but it's still super tasty. I'm working on taking photos of all my cupcakes for my album, and I will post them soon!

Zelma's Bakery: My Brownies

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="White and Dark Brownies"][/caption]

You may have wondered why my Facebook page is titled "Brownies and More by Zelma" and yet I keep calling it "Zelma's Bakery". Well the story behind it is very simple: it's the first thing that I sold, and at the time, my imagination was non-existent. Besides, I never thought it would become a long-term thing, much less that people would actually be interested in anything that I baked!

You see, last year, when lil man started preschool, I noticed that there were many holidays and special occasions where I would need to buy gifts for his teachers and classmates. Since I am extremely cheap and a horrible shopper (that's a story for another day!), I decided that a good alternative was baked goods, so I started taking classes at the local cake supply store.

One day, Vanessa, a coworker and one of my closest friends, asked me for a dozen of my "White and Dark Brownies" that she had heard me talk about. I posted a pic of those brownies on Facebook and people liked them!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Heart-shaped Fudge Brownies"][/caption]

At first, Vanessa and her mom were my only paying customers, and I was happy to bake for them. Every time I took a different class - cupcakes, cookies, etc. - I tried out the different recipes at home and posted the pics on Facebook. That's how it all started! Pretty soon I had friends calling me for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and tons more.

It wasn't until I started getting calls from strangers that I thought "hey, I might have something here!" That's when I realized that the name "Brownies and More by Zelma" was silly. People kept asking me why I had named it like that, and after having to explain the whole story about a dozen times, I decided to change the name. However, my brain was still drawing a blank, so I ended up with the simple "Zelma's Bakery". It's not very catchy, but it does the job. I actually kinda like it now, and it goes with my blog "Zelma's Workshop", so everything worked out. :)

What do you think? Do you like it? Not? Maybe? Suggestions? Sound off below, I would love to read your feedback!

Foodie Review: Cherry Pie Cups

Last month was my husband's 35th birthday, and even though I was making the cake, I decided to also make all the appetizers and hors d'oeuvres. Browsing through the internet for foodie blogs, I came upon these Cherry Pie Cups from Recipe Girl, which not only looked delicious, but was very convenient because I happened to have canned cherry filling in my house.



There are 2 changes that I made to the original post:

• This recipe uses homemade cherry filling, and I vow to someday make it, but I used canned cherry filling and it still worked great!


• The instructions call for regular cupcake tins, but since I wanted finger food, I made it in mini-cupcake tins, and they looked super cute! 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="This is my version, don't they look cute?"][/caption]

 

 



Here’s the recipe so you can try it out for yourself. You can also find the original blog post and pic here.

Cherry Pie Cups

1 package of ready-made pie crusts (or make homemade)

FILLING: (I used canned, but this filling looks delicious!)
2½ cups pitted & halved fresh cherries (about ¾ lb.)
2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt

EGG WASH:
1 large egg yolk
2 Tbs milk or cream

TOP:
coarse grain sugar (I used red sprinkling sugar cause they matched!)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
2. Roll out ready made pie crust until it’s a bit thinner. Use a plastic tupperware-type bowl as your “cutter” to cut out 5-inch rounds. You should be able to cut out 8 rounds from a package of pie crust (re-roll scraps, if needed). Line 8 muffin cups with the rounds, pressing in lightly.
3. Place filling ingredients in a medium bowl and toss. Scoop into crust-lined cups.
4. With leftover pie crust scraps, cut out decor for the tops of the pie cups- stars, stripes, whatever you’d like… be creative! Then crimp the edges of the pie cups.
5. Brush them lightly with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar- the chunky, sparkly kind of sugar if you have it.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes (watch closely since baking time will depend upon how thinly you’ve rolled your crust). Cover lightly with foil during baking if they’re browning too quickly. They should be lightly browned (like the photo above) with the filling slightly bubbly.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely (or serve warm). Serve with whipped cream and blueberries, if desired.

Many thanks to Recipe Girl for the great recipe!

Foodie Review: Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars

As most of you know, I make custom cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and other sweet goodies as my part-time home business. It all started at home with hubby and lil man as my only clients and grew from there. I still like to bake new stuff for them whenever I don't have any orders. Lately, I've been browsing foodie blogs for new and interesting recipes, and thought it would be nice to blog about my experiences.

I will begin with the one that started it all: Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars with Dark Chocolate Ganache from Mini-Baker. When I first saw this recipe and noticed that it was made with boxed cake mix, I decided it was simple enough for a weeknight dessert, but would never ever tell anyone about it - after all, I make chocolate cake from scratch, so why should I brag about this one?

Turns out I was being extremely prejudiced. When I first tasted it, I almost passed out from the cherry-chocolatey goodness! And to think I didn't have to measure sugar or flour! It was awesomeness at its best.

The true test came when my hubby tasted it. I didn't tell him how I made it (I was still a bit embarrased about having made a cake from a box). He was all over it! When he started asking me where I had gotten the recipe from, I was tempted to lie, but eventually caved in and told him the truth. He mumbled something while chewing, and the cake was gone by the end of the day.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I used a 8x8 pan, so they look more like cubes!"][/caption]

Here's the recipe so you can try it out for yourself. You can also find the original blog post and pic here.

Chocolate Cherry Cake Bars with Dark Chocolate Ganache

CAKE:

Ingredients
1 box of your favorite Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can cherry pie filling (the one I found at the grocery store was 21 oz, so you can imagine how moister and goo-ier it was!)
2 eggs (make sure to use large eggs)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (eye-ball it, that's the best part!)

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease and flour 13x9-inch pan.
2. In large bowl, gently mix dry cake mix, pie filling, eggs and chocolate chips with rubber scraper; break up any undissolved cake mix by pressing with scraper. Carefully spread in pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Prepare the ganache while the cake is cooling

GANACHE:

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate chips (if using from a bar, make sure to chop it into small pieces for best results)

Directions
1. Melt butter in a medium-sized pot over low heat.
2. Stir in cream and vanilla into the butter and bring to a boil.
3. Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
4. Remove the pot from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted.
5. Pour the warm ganache over the top of the slightly-cooled bars. Let the bars set for 1 1/2 hours until the ganache is firm. Use a non-serrated knife to cut the bars and EAT UP!

Many thanks to Christa at Mini-Baker for the great recipe!