Art

I've grown up being taken to museums everywhere I went. A Vermeer on display at the Hague captivated me. So did the small square pink canvas I watched being painted by an artist on the streets of Montmartre over a decade ago and brought home to display on my bookshelf where it sits still, a study on a staid flower-arrangement enlivened by the violent sunflowers I watched him slash on as an inspired afterthought. An aquamarine image of lotuses (my favorite flower; my namesake) hanging by our table at a restaurant became a birthday gift one year, and it hangs on my bedroom wall alongside the oil painting made for me by a close friend of a vintage Barbie doll with my black hair, red lips and an icy gaze. 

So, when my parents invited me to accompany them to the High Museum one night to see the new Modern Masters: Picasso to Warhol exhibit, I couldn’t decline. I put on a black dress and my favorite shoes and met them in the city. I had been to the museum countless times before, but this night was a little unusual. The museum was closed for the evening, and we were attending a private event. When we walked up to the entrance, there were men wearing suits and women wearing black dresses like mine scattered throughout the room. I meandered through the museum's galleries (which seemed to have grown in the absence of crowds) holding a glass of red wine and nibbling on potato gratin and roast beef.

The array of paintings was extensive. Picasso, Matisse, Warhol’s Marilyn portraits and soup cans, Pollack’s 1A, and a progression of Mondrian’s deconstructed landscapes, among so many others. A dossier took us through the exhibit and it was wonderful to be in the empty museum with all the time I needed in front of each piece.

I went home. I was faced with some spare time and lingering images of the exhibit. I decided to bake cupcakes.

"Mondrian"

"Matisse"

"Warhol"

"Pollack"

I delivered them the next morning, but not before quizzing my friends. I posted pictures of each cupcake to Twitter challenging my followers to guess their respective inspirations. My friends are impressive—answers were immediate, enthusiastic, and accurate.

Wedding Cake

Last April, Prince William married Kate Middleton.

My friends and I couldn't get enough. Our generation had been raised on princess movies, dressing up as Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Pocahontas in turns each Halloween, watching and re-watching the movies until we knew every word, and now, here in front of us we saw those girlhood fantasies become reality as Kate married her Prince Charming. We watched the specials, the documentaries, the bad made-for-TV movies. We waited for weeks, following as each detail was covered in the news and wondering, wondering what our new princess would wear.

And finally it came.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, I wore a white dress under my dad's old fleece pullover, wore one of the many plastic and rhinestone tiaras friends have given me over the years, and drove down the road to my friend Laura's house. She let me in, and we prepared mimosas before settling down on the couch to watch each glamorous guest arrive. The dresses! The hats! Then came the royal family, car by car. William, looking more the fairytale prince than ever. Harry, sharing a laugh with his brother. And then, Kate. Us watching, ever the clichéd group of girls, gasped audibly at the first glimpse of her lace, Sarah Burton-designed  dress.

The ceremony began. We clinked champagne flutes and cut the cake, imaginary guests at the event of the year. Did I mention, I had brought along cupcakes? I had to do something to keep awake between midnight and 3 a.m.

I baked my wedding cake recipe, a modified white cake with a finer, softer crumb, plenty of vanilla, and a hint of almond flavor. I cut some of the cupcakes to form tiers, iced the miniature wedding cakes, and decorated them with sugar pearls, royal icing, and fondant rose buds.

The ceremony finished around 6 in the morning. I drove home and took of my tiara and my white dress, and went to class. 

Tamara's Secret

I made these cupcakes for Melody, who ordered them for a Bachelorette party she was hosting last weekend. They are strawberry cakes frosted with a pale, pale pink vanilla-bean frosting and topped with hot pink and black lingerie elements made out of fondant and embellished with white pearl dragées and white shimmer powder.

My strawberry cake is made with fresh, finely chopped strawberries, and turns out to be a lovely pale pink color. I tinted the creamy vanilla-bean frosting the palest of pinks, light enough that the hot pink lingerie could stand out against it, before piping it through a large star tip in spiral mounds. It's really important to have the right frosting-to-cake ratio. As much as I love frosting, too much of its rich sweetness overwhelms and covers the delicate strawberry flavor of the cakes. 

I made one cupcake specially for the bride-to-be, with an all-white corset complete with lacy bridal veil.

Tastes

Here's a list of available flavors for cakes, frostings, and fillings. If you have a favorite that isn't listed, let me know and I will experiment until I find a perfect recipe to make it for you. You can combine basically any flavor of cake with any flavor of frosting or filling, and I can make suggestions if you're unsure. The result? A cupcake that not only is completely personalized on the outside, but uniquely you in flavor as well.

___________________________________________________

CAKE

Vanilla:

Vanilla Bean

Yellow Buttermilk

White Cake

Pound Cake

Chocolate:

Chocolate Chip

Red Velvet

Devil’s Food

Chocolate Malt

Chocolate Rum-Raisin

Chocolate Marbled

Flourless Chocolate

Vegan Chocolate

Mint Chocolate

Orange Chocolate

Raspberry Chocolate

Black Forest

Specialty: 

Carrot Cake

Coconut Cake

Caramel Cake

Tiramisu

Mocha

Tres Leches

Margarita

Chai

Snickerdoodle

Streusel

Pistachio

Pumpkin

Raspberry Marbled

Orange-Vanilla

Banana-Pecan

Strawberry

Filled:

Salted-Caramel Chocolate 

Peanut Butter and Jelly

S’mores

Lemon Meringue

Peanut Butter Cup

Boston Cream Pie

Cheesecakes:

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Raspberry Cheesecake

___________________________________________________

FROSTING

Fluffy Vanilla Bean

Dark Chocolate

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Caramel Buttercream

Rose Buttercream

Chai Buttercream

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Semi-Sweet Ganache

White Chocolate Ganache

Lavender

Coffee

Mocha

Peppermint

Marshmallow Fluff

Cream Cheese

Honey

Mascarpone

Coconut

Peanut Butter

___________________________________________________

FILLING

Salted Caramel

Peanut Butter

Lemon Curd

Mascarpone

Marshmallow Fluff

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Semi-Sweet Ganache

White Chocolate Ganache

Social Network

We're on Facebook! Go "Like" the Cupcakes by Tamara Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/cupcakesbytamara

Almost Famous

We've been featured in Craft Magazine! Check out the article about Tamara's Glee-inspired Slushie Cupcakes, written by a clear arbiter of good taste, Laura Cochrane, on Craft's:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Thanks for the support, and stay tuned for this season's Glee finale party. More cupcakes coming soon.

Labels

Cupcakes made for Avery, my big sister in our sorority. We're kind of soul mates. I knew it the first time we met, right after I found out (officially) that she was my Big-- the first thing she did was compliment my Tiffany's necklace, and it was love. These cupcakes are my little tribute to our shared obsessions and favorite people: Tiffany, Louis, and Coco. 

The Chanel cake is done in Mademoiselle Coco's signature matelassé pattern on pale pink fondant, accented by the interlocking C's and a white "ribbon" draped over the top. The Burberry cake is done in their signature Novacheck through a combination of fondant and painted on Wilton's gel coloring. Little Louis cake is a replica of the LV signature Monogram Canvas fabric, made from cut-out fondant shapes on chocolate icing. Finally, the Tiffany cupcake is made to resemble their coveted little blue box. It took a lot of trial and error to achieve that perfect Tiffany blue tinted fondant. Now if only I could have afforded to hide a little something inside the cupcake... 

Gleeks Unite

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a Gleek. 

I wasn't always this way. You could call me a late bloomer. I picked up the habit about half way through the first season, and before I knew what had happened, I owned more Glee than I knew what to do with. 

I take that last part back-- I knew exactly what to do with it. I watched the episodes, over and over, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. They had no idea what they were getting into either. I'm an enabler. I listened to the songs while obsessively watching interviews and behind-the-scenes clips on YouTube. 

I don't think anybody really knows just how much of a dork I really am... until this blog blows my cover. 

Needless to say, I have been counting down to the premiere of the second season of Glee for weeks. I invited a few close friends over to bring in McKinley High's new school year with some festivities. Festivities which called for cupcakes. 

I made the cupcakes to resemble the infamous "Big Quench" slushies that chill the faces and stain the clothes of our favorite musical losers. The cakes themselves were nothing special-- just chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream icing, and red sanding sugar on top. I piped the frosting using just a couplet in the pastry bag without a tip, to give the impression that the "slushy" came straight out of its dispenser at the nearest convenience store. The cakes fit perfectly into mini Solo cups, and a blue straw cut to size completed the look. 

I also served these Cheerio-Marshmallow-Chocolate lollipops, the recipe for which I found here: 

The recipe is really simple. I made them last night, and it took less than half an hour. Combined with the easy-peasy cupcakes, I had time to finish a paper and get a head start of my reading before settling down to watch Glee! The lollipop form was convenient for eating without removing one's eyes from the television screen, and the cereal is a cute reference to the name of McKinley High's cheerleading squad,  helmed by Sue Sylvester.

Speaking of Sue, I couldn't resist buying myself an Adidas track jacket in bright blue (similar to the one pictured below) with hot pink stripes (instead of white: upgrade) to wear to the party. 

That was about 3 hours ago. I am still wearing it as I type. I will most likely still be wearing it tomorrow morning. No wonder she never takes her signature tracksuits off. They are insanely comfortable. Now I am going to wear my jacket to go to sleep. 

Safari

Here are some new pictures.

Let Them Eat Cake

Marie Antoinette never actually said what arguably became her most iconic quote. "Let them eat cake," or en français, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," first appeared in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, written when Marie was only thirteen years old. 

This cake was inspired by a Marie Antoinette-Barbie Doll's dress as well as the costumes and hair in Sofia Coppola's lovely movie based on Marie's life. The figures are both made of fondant. It was very satisfying to painstakingly sculpt the head, body, hair, dress, and ornamentation only to cover it all with [edible] blood in the end. That may have actually been my favorite part. I enjoyed making this, because like with my Bride and Groom cakes, I got to be Marie's stylist... as well as her executioner.

Compromise

I have a confession: these cupcakes were not completely my idea. The credit goes to someone named JD, who very sweetly agreed to bake some cupcakes with me yesterday. We went to the grocery store with no plan in mind whatsoever (another confession: I brought a cookbook with me in my purse just in case. I can't deal with having no plan.). When we tried to decide what kind of cupcakes to bake, he immediately and conclusively said, "NO chocolate." 

... No chocolate?

What else is there?

Luckily for me, still stunned in the wake of his merciless chocolate ban, JD popped over to the fruit section and grabbed a couple of navel oranges. "How about these?" I wasn't convinced, but he seemed really excited so I conceded. 

Well, these cupcakes (literally) made me eat my words. They are completely delicious. I don't even really like oranges, and I can't stop eating them. They taste like those ice-cream pops that are vanilla on the inside and orangey on the outside, with just the right balance of sweetness and citrus-y tang. The orange sugar on top adds a yummy crunch. I included the recipe below.

I have another confession: I bought an emergency can of chocolate frosting in case I hated the orange cupcakes. Turns out, I didn't need it. 

Here is the recipe:

1. Make 24 of your favorite vanilla cupcakes. If your favorite vanilla cupcakes come from a box, great. One tip for using boxed cake mix is to add between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the prepared batter, just to up the ante that much more. 

2. Whip up your favorite vanilla buttercream recipe. If your favorite vanilla buttercream comes from a can, buy two cans. Again, if using prepared icing, you might want to add an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

3. Zest 2 medium navel oranges (or whatever oranges you can find]. Add 3/4 of the zest to the frosting and stir until well combined. If you would like, you could add a drop or two of orange food coloring, but I didn't. 

4. Combine the rest of the orange zest with an equal amount of sugar. I used a fork to mash the mixture together. If there are still clumps consisting of more zest than sugar, add more sugar. You're looking for a mixture the consistency of slightly moist sand and light orange in color. 

5. Frost the cupcakes. I used a plain round tip, but a star tip would look pretty too. You could also spread the icing on if you prefer that look.

6. Divide the orange sugar evenly among the cupcakes. Add more than you think you need. 

7. Eat and enjoy!

Spring

April showers bring May flowers, but the flowers came early this year. I was asked to bake some cupcakes for my sorority's Parent's Weekend a couple of days ago. My only requirement was to make them look "springy." The cakes were French Vanilla with shavings of white chocolate folded into the batter. They were frosted with Vanilla Bean Buttercream. I tinted fondant bright pink and blue (my sorority's colors), and used some new cookie cutters I bought to make flower and butterfly shapes. I used an overturned egg carton to give the flowers a three dimensional shape by placing each fondant flower over an upturned egg cup, and draped the butterflies over a rolling pin to give their wings the effect of bring in flight.  Frosting attached pearlized dragées to the centers, and I added white pearl dust to all the fondant shapes. I love the way the colors came out, especially with the bright cupcake liners. 

Bride + Groom

I made these cupcakes for my sorority sister, who served them at a bridal shower for her biological sister. The cupcakes for the attendees were really simple, with just swirls of frosting topped with teal dots the same color as the groom-cake's boutonniere. 

The (human) bride's favorite kind of cake is caramel cake, so after experimenting all week with recipes, I found a delicious combination of vanilla and caramel for the cakes and paired it with a caramel meringue buttercream. The cakes were basically white cake, but some of the liquid was replaced with homemade caramel syrup (recipe follows): 

1. Combine 1/4 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar. 

2. Stir constantly till it is boiling. 

3. Continue stirring until light amber in color. Remove from heat and immediately add 1/4 cup water. 

4. Stir until the mixture becomes a liquid again.

 The resulting flavor of the cakes wasn't overwhelmingly caramel-y, but the syrup did add an interesting dimension. The frosting was another story. Meringue buttercream is labor intensive, involving heating egg whites and sugar over a double-boiler, whipping them for 10 minutes, and then adding butter in tiny increments so as not to deflate the meringue. To make caramel meringue buttercream, you must first make caramel sauce: 

1. Repeat steps 1-3 above, substituting 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water for previous increments. 

2. At the end, add 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream instead of 1/4 cup water and continue as instructed.

 Once the buttercream is made, you can slowly add the caramel sauce. This can be tricky because the sauce must be slightly warm to mix and pour easily, but too warm and it will melt the buttercream and ruin the texture. Like I said, it's labor intensive, but the taste is so worth it. 

The bride-cake (made for the bride) was caramel, her groom-cake (do I need to say it?) was devil's food with dark chocolate frosting, and they were decorated with fondant, pearl shimmer, and these pretty pearl sprinkles I found. To make the tuxedo, I made a jacket, shirt with pearly buttons, lapels, bow-tie, and boutonnière. Then, I covered all of the above with white pearl dust. 

I felt more like a stylist than a baker when I was making them. I think groom-cake looked fabulous in his glitter tuxedo.