Margarita Cupcakes

Growing up in California, Cinco de Mayo was the equivalent to St. Patty's Day on the East Coast. I remember celebrating it in school as a kid which meant traditional food, costumes, and performances. I vaguely remember getting to host one of these celebrations and writing out my index cards of what to say the night before. Even though I'm 3,000 miles away from California, I still had plenty of reasons to celebrate the mostly American holiday. I'm currently running the social media accounts for Santana Rae's, a local mexican restaurant with great food and amazing margaritas. They've been thinking of Cinco de Mayo since they opened last October and this weekend and I was excited to be a part of it. We also were going to a party on the Tres de Mayo so it was just a great weekend to try and make Margarita Cupcakes!

As with most of my recipes, I pulled from a couple different pins from Pinterest. I love reading about what worked for each one and what didn't...and I also love finding different components that I could add to make mine special. These cupcakes have my blood, sweat, and tears in them. (Well, at least a little blood was shed as I thought it was a good idea to zest my thumb instead of the lime!)

I used the tequila lemon cake and lime buttercream recipe from I Am Baker:

Tequila Lemon Cake

1 box lemon cake

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup tequilla

2 tbsp lemon juice - (my addition)

1 tbsp lemon zest - (my addition)

Instead of using the recipe on the box of the lemon cake, mix all of the above ingredients together. I added the lemon juice and lemon zest because it wasn't citrusy enough for me.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 way full and bake for about 18 minutes at 350.

My cupcakes came out with an unpleasant little dome on top and after a little research, I think I found a quick solution to my problem for next time. The cake on the outside cooked faster than the middle, so next time I will cook them longer at a lower temperature, and that should take care of it!

The night before I frosted the cupcakes, I made a tequila lime curd from Kathleen's Confections. It needed to chill completely so I wanted to make sure I wasn't rushing anything. I totally forgot to take pictures of this part so I really apologize on that part!

Tequila Lime Curd

2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg

1/3 cup lime juice and tequila (you can choose what ratio, but I did 1 part tequila: 3 parts lime)

1 tbsp lime zest (2-3 limes)

3/4 cup sugar

Whisk eggs and sugar together until creamy.

Place over a double boiler and whisk constantly for about 20-25 minutes (tedious, yes, but don't quit too soon or else it will all be runny). The mix should be kind of thick.

Add the liquid and zest and mix until pudding consistency, probably another 10-15 minutes.

Cool completely with a layer of saran wrap touching the top of the curd so a crust doesn't form.

This filling was the best part of the entire cupcake. Standing in front of the stove for 35 minutes was totally worth it! The tequila doesn't really "cook off" so it still had that awesome flavor. Was just like a margarita.

Finally, I made the lime buttercream, as mentioned before:

Lime Buttercream

1/2 cup butter, softened

4-5 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 to 2 Tbsp. milk or half and half

In a mixer, blend butter, lime zest (make sure it is a very fine grate if you are piping out the frosting), vanilla, and salt until fully combined.

Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time, alternating with lime juice.

If you need more liquid add the milk or half and half to reach your desired consistency.

To till the cupcakes, I put the tequila lime curd in a pastry bag with a star tip on. Simply inserted the tip into the cupcake and filled until the cupcake visibly expanded. Next time I fill a cupcake this way, I would suggest using a larger tip so the filling can get deeper.

I piped on the frosting with a star tip and finished them with a lime slice candied by Jeff, a sprinkle of lime zest, and of course drink straws from the bar at Santana Rae's. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Fruit Basket Cake

I've decided to pursue a big passion of mine: baking. I've always loved to bake and am always excited to try new recipes, but now I am challenging myself even further. I've always admired fondant and piped frosting from afar, but have never ventured farther than browsing Michaels aisles of baking goodies. Jeff and I have dreams of one day opening up our own restaurant/bakery/coffee shop/general eatery so this will be my way of preparing for this future journey. Even if things don't work out, I will always be that family member who will always bring the most amazing goodies to any holiday or party.

As baking can be expensive and time consuming, I am going to be challenging myself to make one amazing cake each month. Jeff and I decided that we just cannot keep this much cake around all the time, so this will be one of the few cakes we enjoy ourselves and plan on giving away the rest. This month, I decided to stick with something simple and reminiscent of my childhood. More than once, I remember my mom driving all the way across the city to get this amazing cake called the Fruit Basket for my birthday. It was a very simple yellow cake with strawberries and bananas in the middle. I couldn't remember all of the details, so I used Pinterest to piece together the full picture.

I knew I wanted a yellow cake with a whipped cream frosting and of course the strawberries and bananas in the middle. I started with a delicious yellow cake from Pinterest that promised to be moist. Here's the recipe for that:

Moist Yellow Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature)
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
3 cups of sifted self-rising flour (White Lily)
1 cup of whole milk (room temperature)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (McCormicks)
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans.
Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
Add sugar and continue to cream for about 7 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
Add flour and milk (alternating to creamed mixture), beginning and ending with flour.
Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.
Divide batter equally into three cake pans.
Hold each layer about 3 inches above your counter and carefully drop the pans flat onto counter several times to ensure release of any air bubbles. This will help you have a more level cake.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until done.
Cool in pans for 5 – 10 minutes.
Remove and immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in moisture. Cool completely on wire racks.
Once cooled, you are ready to assemble your cake.

I didn't have butter flavoring so I left that out and it was still delicious. Picture a sugar cookie in cake form. Also, since I am practicing my techniques, I just used a 6 inch spring form pan so I had plenty of batter left over. I went a little crazy and made some mini cupcakes and ramekin cakes as well!

Searching for "fruit basket cake" on Pinterest, I came across a helpful blog that had created a custard for the filling to go with the fruit. I'm almost embarrassed to admit, but I don't actually have a whisk aside from the attachment for my standing mixer. I think the lack of the whisk combined with the fact that I cut corners and halved the recipe, resulted in a much thicker custard than I wanted. It tasted great, but could have been a little more liquidy.

Custard Filling

2 cups of milk
5 large egg yolks
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour


First, bring two cups of milk to a boil in a saucepan.
In a bowl, add five large egg yolks.
Add in 1 cup of sugar and cream until the mixture is pale yellow.
Beat in 1/2 a cup of flour.
Slowly drizzle in the boiled milk, when the mixture is well combined, return it to the saucepan and bring to a boil, while whisking the mixture the entire time.
A lumpy mixture will form and then smooth out as you whisk, this is your custard.
Remove from heat and whisk in one tablespoon of butter and vanilla extract. Set aside.

I assembled my cake after it had spent a few hours in the fridge. I don't have a cake leveler so I did the best I could. The biggest mistake I made was not leveling off the top of the cake. It was slightly domed and made a difference once I was decorating it. Won't be making that mistake again!

I sliced up strawberries and bananas very thin so I could get as many in the layer as possible. The beauty of this cake is that you could add any type of fruit you want to it. Blueberries and raspberries would also be amazing! I smoothed out the custard as best I could as it really thickend up after cooling and made a dam of the whipped cream to catch all of the fruit.

For the whipped cream, I tried another recipe from Pinterest that claimed to make the whipped cream frosting as sturdy as they use in the bakeries. I must have done something wrong, because there were gelatin pieces in the resulting frosting. The cake needed another layer of whipped cream anyway, so I just made it the usual way (1 cup of heavy cream with 2 tbsp of powdered sugar and a touch of vanilla extract) and covered up the layer with gelatin bits in it! Weird! For those of you interested, here's the recipe for the stabilized whipped cream:

Stabilized Whipped Cream

1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
2 tbsp cold water
1 cup whipping cream (regular or heavy--I always use heavy cream)
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften. 
Scald 2 tablespoon of the cream (this means you put the cream in a pan and bring it to a simmer on the stove); pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved.
Refrigerate until consistency of unbeaten egg white. (This takes about 10-15 minutes.) Then, with a whisk, beat until smooth. 
In a stand mixer with a whip attachment, or with a hand beater, whip remaining cream and sugar just until soft peaks form; whip in the smoothed gelatin mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl twice. Whip until stiff peaks start to form, but be careful not to over beat. You will probably only need to whip it another 10-20 seconds before it's done.

Fills and frosts top of 2 8" or 9" cake layers; or frosts 10" angel
cake or spongecake. Tops one standard 9" pie with some left over to enjoy from a spoon.  Stands up well, even in warm weather. Keep leftover frosting and any product topped with it in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Recipe is easily doubled. 

This was my very first time using buttercream frosting to do piping details. I was very excited to try out my new frosting tips I bought last weekend. I just beat together 1 cup of butter and 4 cups of powdered sugar for the frosting and added my colors in once it was done. I practiced a little before I took my hand to the cake but was a little antsy to just try it out. The buttercream frosting didn't stick well to the whipped cream frosting...so I would make sure to account for that if you ever try to do the same. I wish I would have planned my flowers out a little better, but in the long run, these are just the first of many flowers to come.

Once we were done with dinner, Jeff and I were so excited to finally dig into this cake I'd been making all weekend long. It needed more fruit to go along with it so I sliced some more up and put it on the side. It was absolutely delicious! The buttercream frosting was the sweetest part so it was nice to have little bursts of it every now and then.

For next time:

• Make sure the cake is actually leveled properly.
• Do 3 layers instead of 2 to get more fruit in the cake.
• Instead of a design on top, decorate it with strawberries.
• Could possibly even put more whipped cream in/on it.
• I don't think the custard would be missed, so possibly add whipped cream to the filling.

Bonus: I practiced piping words with the leftover frosting!

Focus Board

For the new year, we created a focus board to keep track of all of our resolutions. We wanted this board to be something that we'd see every day to remind us of what we want to accomplish. I also wanted to be able to update it frequently so we could add goals to it throughout the year. We divided it up into four sections: one for short term goals; one for long term goals; another for places we want to visit; and one for general happenings. 

It was pretty simple to make. I found the board at Target and used ribbon to make the sections. I found this app called PicLab HD to make the beautiful pictures with text overlay to display our resolutions. I also cut some things out of magazines that I either wanted to try it display. It's a little girly, but Jeff is excited to have something to keep us focused and inspired. 

Chocolate Dipped Graham Crackers with Crushed Candy Canes

In between all the madness of Christmas shopping and last minute madness, Jeff and I found time to make some holiday goodies. Earlier in the week, we had stocked up on everything--including 3 lb bags of chocolate from BJ's! We got up early on Sunday morning, headed out to get some breakfast and pick up a few more things, and then settled in at home for a day of crafting. Jeff already has his own signature items that he makes for Christmas: pistachio and dried cranberry chocolate bark and lemon marmalade. I was inspired to make my own this year. I present to you chocolate dipped graham crackers with crushed candy canes.

They were relatively easy to make and could be a fun project if you have little ones that want to help. Before I started melting the chocolate, I crushed up a few candy canes. You want to make sure you leave some good chunks of candy cane, about the size of an eraser on a pencil. Once you have the candy canes crushed, it's time to melt the chocolate. Feel free to melt it any way you prefer. Since I didn't have a double boiler, i just used a glass bowl sitting on top of a pot with some water in it. Works just the same. You could also microwave the chocolate and just stir it every 20 to 30 seconds until it's smooth.

Once the chocolate is melted, I poured it into a container that was big enough to fit a graham cracker in, but tall enough that the chocolate was at a good height for the dipping. After breaking each graham cracker in half so I had squares, I dipped each one so only the top where my fingers were wasn't covered in chocolate. Shake off the excess chocolate and lay out on a cookie sheet or wax paper. After every 3 or 4 crackers, I would sprinkle the chunks of candy cane onto the wet chocolate. Gently press down on each bit so that it will really stick to the chocolate when it's dry. Then I finished each one with a dusting of the candy cane powder.

After trying one of the dipped graham crackers, I thought that it might be a little too much chocolate so I tried a chocolate drizzle instead. Just dip a fork in the melted chocolate and whip it back and forth over the graham cracker quickly to get a nice drizzle. Sprinkle the candy canes on top just as before. I wound up really liking the way they looked so each bag in the end got one of each.

I was really excited for the way we packaged each treat. The cellophane bags and Christmas tags were from Target and we found the twine at Walmart. We were in the kitchen most of the day, but it will all be worth it to share some yummy treats with everyone.

Chocolate Dipped Graham Crackers with Crushed Candy Canes

1 box of graham crackers
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 candy canes


1. Crush candy canes until no piece is bigger than the eraser of a pencil.
2. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.
3. Dip graham crackers in the chocolate and shake off any excess chocolate. Place dipped graham cracker on a cookie sheet or wax paper.
4. Before chocolate has cooled, sprinkle the crushed candy canes on each graham cracker. Gently press the candy canes into the chocolate.
5. Place finished graham crackers in the fridge for 15 minutes or until the chocolate hardens.

Blinged Out Bottle

One of my best friend’s birthdays was at the beginning of this month. And it wasn’t just any birthday. It was his 21^st! Of course, alcohol is the proper gift for any 21-year-old. But this gift was not about being proper! I had seen ideas of nips baskets on Pinterest before. And I was so close to doing one. However, I had a judgment call and instead decided to bling out a bottle of alcohol. Tequila is my friend’s drink of choice, so I went with a nice bottle of 1800 Tequila.

It was really quite a simple project. I did it over two nights while watching TV after dinner. If I were to do it again, however, I’d try to figure out a way to maybe spray the bottle so all of the rhinestones stay on better. The humidity combined with a cold fridge didn’t bode well for the rubber cement I had used. Either way, it came out great and who doesn’t like jewel-covered tequila?

What you’ll need:

• Clear and colored rhinestones (can be found at Walmart)
• Rubber Cement (also at Walmart)
• Any bottle of alcohol
•  Patience for sticky fingers

I had an idea of how I wanted the bottle to look, but like most projects I take on, I just start doing them and hope for the best. I figured it would look better if it wasn’t stiffly planned, and it came out great. The “21” on the back of the bottle was a little tricky, but I got it figured out. I would just brush on rubber cement onto a small working area—it dries pretty quickly. Then I would lay down some rhinestones and move on to the next area. I would suggest having a heavy hand with the rubber cement, as the areas that I did a smaller layer seemed to have lost their sticky pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, my friend already had a bottle of Patron the night of this birthday, so we didn’t crack this bad boy open. Wait a second—who am I kidding? FORTUNATELY, my friend had a bottle of Patron that we very much enjoyed and he will be saving this bottle for a future date. This was so much fun to decorate and I’m sure it will be even more fun to consume. Definitely a great idea for anyone that is looking for a creative birthday present.

Duckfat in Portland, ME

Yesterday I promised a post about the restaurant Duckfat and I shall deliver. Before going up to Portland, Jeff had told me that it was known for being a foodie town. It was almost overwhelming to sift through the amazing reviews left on Yelp for dozens of restaurants in the area. But one of the names caught our eye: Duckfat.

On the Food Network in particular, I had heard so many of the chefs go absolutely gaga when it came to all things duck fat. Curious what the hype was all about, we figured we’d try it for ourselves. It was a beautiful day as we walked down the block of the restaurant. I got very excited when I saw a ton of people waiting outside. A good trick when you’re not sure where to eat: follow the line. People are waiting for a reason.

There was some seating outside and the inside was a small room with as many seats as possible crammed in to supply their customers with a daily dose of duck fat. It had a grunge atmosphere with the exposed brick on the wall and magnetic boards lined the tables to make amusing phrases while you waited for your food. Water was served by the pitcher with mason jars for glasses. We don’t really drink much, but it seemed like they had good choices for local brews.

Of course we had to order the duck fat fries. Yes, they are fried in duck fat. I was a little skeptical at how much of a difference it could be and was happily blown away by the most amazing fries I have ever tasted. It almost tasted like it was a bacon potato…so crispy and full of flavor. It came with a dipping sauce made from their fresh, in-house mayo. We opted for garlic but some of the other flavors included Thai chili and truffle ketchup. Not sure why we thought getting a small order would be OK…next time I’d pay the extra $1.50 to get the large!

Duck fat fries with a garlic mayo dipping sauce.

Duck fat fries. Yum!!

While their menu wasn’t too extensive, their food was phenomenal. It really is quality over quantity.  They were big on paninis and charcuterie. We stuck to the sandwiches and fried goodness this time around. Jeff got the BGT, a bacon, goat cheese, and tomato panini, while I got the current special: pork loin with a spicy tomato chutney, feta, and fresh cilantro. The bread was so crunchy that I’m convinced they slather a little duck fat on top before pressing it.

We ended the meal with duck fat fried doughnut holes. Excuse me while I drool thinking about these. There was a touch of lemon zest in the dough and they were so crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The perfect little dessert. And as if we weren’t gluttonous enough, we added a dipping sauce of duck fat caramel. Holy moly. Do not pass on the caramel! It is worth every single calorie. I basically had to stop Jeff from up and licking the little cup it came in when we were finished.

Duck fat doughnut holes.

The amazing duck fat caramel sauce.

Overall, Duckfat was an amazing place with simple, yet amazing, food. I would recommend getting there a little early or else you might end up waiting for quite a bit. There aren’t too many seats so it’s tough to get in once it gets busy. Also, they don’t take reservations, so factor that into your plans.

Exploring Portland, ME

Jeff and I are making sure we use our weekends to their full potential and our streak of day trips continues. So far this summer, we’ve gone to three different beach towns, did a scavenger hunt in the Back Bay part of Boston, and yesterday we ventured up to Portland, ME. I had never been before, so exploring a new city is always exciting. After stopping for a quick breakfast and some gas, it took us a little less than 2 hours to get up there. A little warning to anyone traveling south of New Hampshire, be prepared to pay $6 in 3 different tolls each way. We were a little surprised with how much it was costing just to get to Portland, but now we know for next time.

On our way!

Not knowing any better, we parked at the first garage we saw. It was $3 an hour so it didn’t seem too horrible. Unsure of how long we’d be there anyway, we were fine with our decision. We walked out onto the street and were greeted by one of the nicest days New England has seen all season. It was the perfect temperature with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. For a second, I almost thought I was back in California! We perused a few shops and grabbed a grilled muffin and coffee from one of the corner stores. We were sitting down enjoying our second breakfast and looked over to see a sign that said $5 for all day parking. Clearly we got robbed finding a place to leave our car for the day! We decided to head back to the garage and find either metered parking or get to that $5 lot.

No luck.

We couldn’t find anywhere to park under $10 now that we had forfeited our place in the garage. We gave up on main drag and after driving around aimlessly, we finally settled on parking in front of one of the government buildings. We happily paid $2 for 2 hours and it was only after walking passed several expired meters that we noticed it’s free parking on Sundays! Everyone, please learn from our mistakes! If you are in Portland on a Sunday…DO NOT PAY FOR PARKING! I’d much rather spend my money in the shops or at a restaurant then on a place to leave my car.

Anyway, parking aside, we had an amazing time in Portland. We ate at this amazing restaurant called Duckfat that was a quick walk from the Old Port District. I’ve decided that Duckfat was such an awesome meal that it deserved its own post, so see tomorrow for more details. I will leave you with this fries fried in duckfat and lemon zest donut holes with duckfat caramel sauce were some of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

After what was a fattening—but delicious—lunch, we figured we should probably work some of that duckfat off. There is a beautiful park at the edge of Portland that was built with the public in mind, the Eastern Promenade. Free parking lines the street (if you can’t tell, I hate paying for parking) and there are so many different activities you could do. We saw kayakers and paddle boarders, swimmers and bicyclists, even people just lying on the grass enjoying a good book. We took a nice walk along the coastal trail, loving the cool breeze that was coming from the water. We headed back to the car, exhausted after a nice, long day in the sun. After stopping at one of the nicest rest stops we’ve been to—Maine knows how to do things right—we were ready to be home. Until next weekend!