Hey everybody, I have my own blog site, were I talk about my family and the newest events, however since we opened the cafe it's been put on the back burner. Then two or three weeks ago Debbie (0lder sister & and shorter) tells me she has started a blog spot. Anyway, I have enjoyed reading her take on things. Ever once in awhile I will pop in and give you my two cents worth.
Here it is, my two cents worth. Debbie is a cupcake crazy chick. She has a vision and has the highest standards for our cupcakes. She has real integrity to the look and the taste of the cupcakes. Just know if you are ever blessed to try one, you will never forget it. Some have even suggested they are sprinkled with Krack! LOL
Until the next two cents,
Eat cupcakes.
CA
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Chocolate with a cigar
This is a chocolate cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with one of those cookies that has the chocolate in the middle. I don't remember what the cookies are called, but cookie and chocolate can't be bad!! They look like cigars so that how we came up with the name.
I don't know if I have said this before but I had a really hard time finding the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe!! They would come out flat or overflowing and make a big mess or a big mushroom cap that would deflate while it cooled. I just hated making chocolate cupcakes. But I kept trying new recipes that I would come across and I finally found it!!!! The PERFECT Chocolate cupcake recipe. Every single time it comes out perfectly with a nice little round dome. never sinks, it has a great chocolate flavor, it's moist and best of all it is so easy to put together!! I will try to remember to make a copy and post it and give credit to whoever came up with it!! It is amazing the things that can make you happy and everytime i bring these out of the oven I just can't help but tell Carol, "I love this recipe, it makes me so happy!" and she just smiles and says I am happy it makes you happy!!
Ok, so I am up to date in the cupcake blogging. My son comes to visit for the long weekend and he is requesting a few different flavors to take back home to CA. so I am sure I will have more to post in the next couple of days. While he is here he is going to give me computer lessons so I may actually understand what is possible to do on this blog!! It's hard when you didn't grow up in the age of computers. You know the saying about old dogs and new tricks!!LOL!!
Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
We are calling this one "Triple Threat". It is a chocolate cupcake filled with cheese cake filling, frosted with vanilla cream cheese, sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs and then cherry pie filling in the middle. Let me tell you, it is yummy!! ( As long as you like all the parts to it)
More pictures
Yes, I am making up for lost time. I have been neglecting my baby blog and now I am trying to fill it up with the last weeks cupcakes. Good part is I have pictures for most of them!! I always love to look at the pictures and see what others are
doing. Mine pale in comparison because I am not a decorator!!
Above we have cotton candy, which really didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. But you have to have a few stinkers!! The next one is a coconut/coconut decorated for the Mini Grand Prix race held last weekend.
Chocolate Malt
This is a chocolate malt cupcake. A chocolate cupcake with malt mixed into the cake and the frosting and then topped with a malt ball and a straw. Remember it always tastes better if it has a straw it it!!!LOL!!
A long long time ago...
Yes, this is us. I am the taller, ok, older one and Carol Ann is the shorter one and she would remind you, the younger one!!!
We look really about the same today!!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Black Forrest
So last night we get to the shop and there is a message on the answering machine. Is it too late to make an order for 2 dozen cupcakes for tomorrow? Yes, it is late but why did we go into this business if we don't want to sell cupcakes? So Carol calls back and talks to the woman about flavors. It is for a child's birthday party. Carol mentions a few flavors and the woman picks PB & J with grape jelly please for one dozen and unknown for the second. So we tell her what the flavor of the day is going to be, Black Forrest and she decides that sounds like a winner.
My Black Forrest is my yummy chocolate cupcake filled with pureed (mashed) cherry pie filling and then the debate came over the frosting flavor. Carol thought it should be chocolate but I thought it should be vanilla more like a whip cream appearance. I won out because I make the cupcakes. So it had vanilla cream cheese frosting with chocolate shavings on top. Very pretty!!
I had just made PB& J yesterday so I just made the one dozen for the order and decided to make the rest of them Blonde Drama Queens. Which is just a fun name for a buttermilk cupcake with hot pink vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with sprinkles. It is the name and the appearance that will draw them in and the taste that makes them come back for more!
My Black Forrest is my yummy chocolate cupcake filled with pureed (mashed) cherry pie filling and then the debate came over the frosting flavor. Carol thought it should be chocolate but I thought it should be vanilla more like a whip cream appearance. I won out because I make the cupcakes. So it had vanilla cream cheese frosting with chocolate shavings on top. Very pretty!!
I had just made PB& J yesterday so I just made the one dozen for the order and decided to make the rest of them Blonde Drama Queens. Which is just a fun name for a buttermilk cupcake with hot pink vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with sprinkles. It is the name and the appearance that will draw them in and the taste that makes them come back for more!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Marshmallow cream is messy...
So the other day at the store I was given a coupon for Nutella, so I had to buy two. It is always good to have something different on hand. I knew I wanted to make a chocolate cupcake I just wasn't sure what I wanted to frost or fill it with. Looking in the cabinet I saw the Nutella and marshmallow cream. I thought it might be interesting to mix the two to fill the cupcakes with and then mix some Nutella in the frosting to pull it all together. Made the cupcakes and since I found this recipe it is chocolate cupcake perfection!! I mixed the marshmallow cream and Nutella then filled the pastry bag. I had already put a little x in the top like I do when I fill with jam. So I inserted the tip and pushed in the filling mixture and nothing seemed to happen so I did it again and I thought it had filled and when I removed the tip a big chuck of cupcake came with it. So I cleaned it off and tried another, same results. Ok I am smarter than a cupcake so I thought I would just remove a small cone from the middle of the cake and I did. Now I start to fill the hole in middle and it fills but there is just no real control over marshmallow cream. It starts when it wants and it stops when it wants!! So I have globs of marshmallow Nutella mixture all over everything. But some did get inside the cupcakes. I only filled half of the batch. I filled the other half with just straight Nutella. Much easier and much easier to control!! Then they were both topped with Nutella flavored cream cheese frosting. I left coming up with the name to Carol Ann ( the other sister)
Monday, May 12, 2008
Pictures! Maybe?
The Pretty pink cupcakes with a straw and a lemon slice sitting on top are "Pink Lemonade Cupcakes" Lemon cupcake with strawberry lemon flavored cream cheese frosting. Everything tastes better with a straw!!
These are called "Nana Pudding Cupcakes" It is a buttermilk cupcake with a Vanilla Wafer baked in the bottom with banana cream cheese frosting. Topped with a Vanilla Wafer.
These are "Cinnamon Toast" This is a cinnamon flavored cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting topped with cinnamon sugar.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Today's flavors
Flavors of the day are: Orange Dreamcicle, an orange flavored cupcake with orange and vanilla cream cheese frosting swirled on top. Birthday cake, buttermilk cupcake with sprinkle baked inside and vanilla cream cheese frosting with more sprinkles on top. When I figure all of this out I will try to post pictures of the different flavors.
I went to a gift shop to look for Mother's Day gifts and found the cutest cupcake soaps. They smell really good too!!
I went to a gift shop to look for Mother's Day gifts and found the cutest cupcake soaps. They smell really good too!!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Flavor of the Day
Everyday we have a different flavor of the day cupcake. There is no calendar of flavors or a weekly schedule. It is all up to me and what I feel like baking that night. Or is some instances what orders we have and that is surprisingly what I feel like making!!LOL!!
Today we had orders. So I made 3 dozen Chocolate Raspberry, which is a chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling topped with chocolate ganache and a candy raspberry. 3 dozen Hummingbird, which is a moist banana cupcake with crushed pineapple and pecans topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. The other 3 dozen is a Southern Favorite, red velvet with vanilla cream cheese frosting. Boy that was a lot of cupcakes in one night with a regular oven and two 24 hole cupcake pans!! But we got it done and they look great and taste even better!!
Today we had orders. So I made 3 dozen Chocolate Raspberry, which is a chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling topped with chocolate ganache and a candy raspberry. 3 dozen Hummingbird, which is a moist banana cupcake with crushed pineapple and pecans topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. The other 3 dozen is a Southern Favorite, red velvet with vanilla cream cheese frosting. Boy that was a lot of cupcakes in one night with a regular oven and two 24 hole cupcake pans!! But we got it done and they look great and taste even better!!
Let's start the blogging
OK so this is my first official blog entry....Hummm, what to say....Let's start at the beginning. My sister and I had been making cupcakes for a while just selling them to our friends and giving them away just because our family couldn't or shouldn't eat them all. We started getting busier and had the wild idea of starting our own cupcake shop. But we had never started our own business and really didn't know all the "details" (aka money) that would be needed. But as they say ignorance is bliss and we started looking at spaces.
We live in a small town with an a historic downtown area that is visited by many out of towners. We thought this would be the perfect spot to open our shop. They is always something going on and even when it's a slow weekend there are people coming to the square to take pictures of the courthouse. So there is usually a lot of walk by traffic. Problem was there just weren't that many spaces available and the ones that were available were very pricey or wanted a long term lease that we were just not ready to sign quite yet. Then we found what we thought was the perfect space. It was just off the square, but close enough and it seemed the right size. It was going to take some time and money to make the space a place to bake and sell cupcakes. We got contractors and plumbers to come and give us quotes but the owner of the building was never available to talk about the terms of the lease. So we prayed and asked God to make sure this is the place we are suppose to be. We had prayed earlier for patience in waiting to find the right spot. Sure enough this was not our place, the owner had another deal in the works and we were his just in case plan "B" people. We were disappointed but had to believe it wasn't the right place or time just yet. We put it on the back burner but always had our eyes and ears open for possibilities.
One day after work I didn't want to go straight home so I decided to go by one of our favorite antique stores on the square. About half way through the store I came around a corner and there was a small cafe space that had a for rent sign on it. Oh My Gosh!! is this our space? I found the person in charge and talked to him about the space and then called my sister. It was fully furnished with EVERYTHING except the ingredients. It was a very reasonable price and a short term lease. All good things in our mind. One small thing was the owner really wanted the place to serve something other that just cupcakes. So we put our heads together and came up with soups and sandwiches in addition to our cupcakes.
Within a matter of just a couple of weeks we had developed a menu, bought groceries, made a sign, signed the lease and opened for business!! Isn't God wonderful!
Carol had stepped out in faith and gave her notice at her school job. She would be the person at the shop on a day to day basis, making the sandwiches, dealing with the daily business. I would be the cupcake maker. I work my full time day job (as an x-ray tech) and then every evening go to the shop and make cupcakes for the following day.
So that is how we came to be, Two Sisters Lunchbox Cafe. My Dad says we should have stopped at Lunchbox because a cafe sells more than sandwiches and cupcakes.LOL!!!
We live in a small town with an a historic downtown area that is visited by many out of towners. We thought this would be the perfect spot to open our shop. They is always something going on and even when it's a slow weekend there are people coming to the square to take pictures of the courthouse. So there is usually a lot of walk by traffic. Problem was there just weren't that many spaces available and the ones that were available were very pricey or wanted a long term lease that we were just not ready to sign quite yet. Then we found what we thought was the perfect space. It was just off the square, but close enough and it seemed the right size. It was going to take some time and money to make the space a place to bake and sell cupcakes. We got contractors and plumbers to come and give us quotes but the owner of the building was never available to talk about the terms of the lease. So we prayed and asked God to make sure this is the place we are suppose to be. We had prayed earlier for patience in waiting to find the right spot. Sure enough this was not our place, the owner had another deal in the works and we were his just in case plan "B" people. We were disappointed but had to believe it wasn't the right place or time just yet. We put it on the back burner but always had our eyes and ears open for possibilities.
One day after work I didn't want to go straight home so I decided to go by one of our favorite antique stores on the square. About half way through the store I came around a corner and there was a small cafe space that had a for rent sign on it. Oh My Gosh!! is this our space? I found the person in charge and talked to him about the space and then called my sister. It was fully furnished with EVERYTHING except the ingredients. It was a very reasonable price and a short term lease. All good things in our mind. One small thing was the owner really wanted the place to serve something other that just cupcakes. So we put our heads together and came up with soups and sandwiches in addition to our cupcakes.
Within a matter of just a couple of weeks we had developed a menu, bought groceries, made a sign, signed the lease and opened for business!! Isn't God wonderful!
Carol had stepped out in faith and gave her notice at her school job. She would be the person at the shop on a day to day basis, making the sandwiches, dealing with the daily business. I would be the cupcake maker. I work my full time day job (as an x-ray tech) and then every evening go to the shop and make cupcakes for the following day.
So that is how we came to be, Two Sisters Lunchbox Cafe. My Dad says we should have stopped at Lunchbox because a cafe sells more than sandwiches and cupcakes.LOL!!!
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