"See what you can do with... Apple"

Sean said these words to me shortly after the Chocolate Raspberry experiment.  The same Sean who came up with the name of this blog.  I'm always up for a challenge, so I made some apple cupcakes.  I've been told that the best apple to use for baking is Winesap, but I've never heard of them and they definitely were not in any of the grocery stores that I went to in Sarasota.  I eventually decided on some Gala apples, and they worked just fine since they are traditionally a sweet apple.

Here is the recipe that I used for the Apple Cupcakes.

1 cup, unsalted butter
2 cups, sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups, all purpose flour 
2 teaspoons, baking powder
1/2 teaspoon, salt
1 cup, milk
1 1/2 teaspoon, vanilla
4 cups, apples (peeled, cored & diced)


Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream together butter and sugar, until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.   Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in parts, alternating with the milk & vanilla, and beat until all ingredients are incorporated.  Using a rubber spatula, stir in apples.   Scoop into cupcake pans (I always use an ice cream scoop for this) and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Now, I originally planned on frosting these with a butterscotch cream cheese frosting, but didn't plan on only getting enough icing for 12 cupcakes out of the recipe (when I had 24 cupcakes).  So, half of the cupcakes got the butterscotch cream cheese frosting and the other half got a caramel buttercream.  Both of the frostings were from another one of my favorite cupcake places: Magnolia Bakery in NYC.  The recipes are in their book, "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook," along with a lot of other tasty treats.

Since I'm fairly new to the blogging world, I don't really know what the rules are.  But, I would assume that printing their recipes on my blog probably isn't a nice thing to do.  (Plus, my cookbook is in my office in Sarasota and therefore I won't see it again until January!)  So for now the photos will have to do.  Here's a shot of the half that were lucky enough to get the butterscotch cream cheese frosting.

And, for the one that Sean actually ended up liking better - the Apple Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

This was the first cupcake that I brought to work with me and started sharing with the cast of my show, and they were a hit.  It led to many more baked goods in rehearsals.

Attempt at Re-Creation

My friend Jamie introduced me to the fabulousness that is "The Flying Cupcake" while we were in Indy together.   In January of this year, Jamie's birthday was approaching and we were about to be working together again, this time in Sarasota, Florida.  Immediately I went to the "Flying Cupcake" website, hoping to order a dozen of Jamie's favorites and have them shipped to Sarasota.  My only problem was that they don't ship cupcakes.  How disappointing.

This left me with no other choice but to bake the cupcakes myself.  I set out on an attempt to recreate greatness from "The Flying Cupcake" - Jamie's favorite, the Razzamatazz.  

I had been in Sarasota for about a day, and it was already Jamie's birthday so I had to get to work.  The first step for me, when tackling a baking project this big: Call Sarah.  My friend Sarah is the one person I know who loves baking probably more than I do.  And she lives in Sarasota, so of course she was the perfect partner in crime for this experiment.  

We started with a recipe for Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.  I'm a horrible person because I can't remember what recipe I used, but I can tell you that for other cupcake adventures I have used this one and the cupcakes are delicious.   To make them Dark Chocolate, all I do is substitute Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa in place of the unsweetened Cocoa.  

As the filling, I used a jar of Black Raspberry Preserves.  You can use Red Raspberry Preserves too, but I really wanted something seedless and that was only available at my store in Black.  As the frosting, I used this Raspberry Buttercream (which was amazing!) and topped it with a fresh raspberry.  I think they came out pretty tasty.

What matters most is that the Birthday Girl was all smiles upon receiving her surprise treats.

It was a successful mission at least, and it lead to many more missions throughout the 4 months I was in Sarasota.  

My First Blog!

Welcome to Contessa di Cupcake.  

I’m a freelance stage manager, which means I travel.  A lot.   When always traveling to different cities, you find inspiration in the most random and unexpected places.  During a production in Indianapolis last fall, I found myself at “The Flying Cupcake.”

http://www.theflyingcupcakebakery.com/

This adorable local cupcakery became a frequent stop over the next few weeks.  Along with a few friends, I sampled many of their flavors.  We tried their Pumpkin Patch, Blueberry Cream Cheese Blues, Salted Chocolate Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Razzmatazz, Key Lime, Peanut Butter Blackout and of course, the Red Velvet Elvis.  

Now, I have always been a fan of baking, but I didn’t realize that this little cupcake shop was about to provide me with a lot of inspiration. 

In the months since my stay in Indy, I have become cupcake obsessed.  I research cupcakes, I search for cupcakes, I eat cupcakes… but most importantly (to me), I bake cupcakes.  Baking has become a bit of a therapy for me, and it is definitely way more affordable than retail therapy.  Friends have been coming up with challenges for me - different things they would like to see me use in a cupcake - and it has become a creative outlet for me. 

I thought I would start this blog to chronicle my cupcake adventures.  No matter what city I end up working in, cupcakes can be a constant.   Even if I am somewhere without a kitchen and unable to bake, I can still eat cupcakes.  There are cupcake shops all over the country these days – from my hometown NYC to little ole Sarasota, Florida (where I spend a lot of my time).

And to explain the name of the blog, quickly… my wonderful friend Sean, a fabulous opera singer, called me "Contessa di Cupcake" one day.  I told him that if I ever opened a cupcakery, that I would have to use this as the name of the shop.  But, since there is no way I can afford to start any kind of business -  instead here it is, the title of my new blog of cupcake adventures.  Sadly for Sean, with just a blog there will be no profits of which to give him a percentage.

I figured the best way to get going might be to start with the cupcakes that I have made since that trip to Indy, so here is a look back at the year 2010 in cupcakes and into the future of Contessa di Cupcake.