so every now and then i get into crazy food phases and am inspired to recreate these foods until i’ve had enough…i am highly motivated and overly ambitious…and most of the time, i spend more money than i intended to and i end up eating way too much.
for example: i had a mcdonalds cherry pie, for the first time, a few months ago…and it had me hooked. (don’t judge me, on any account!) anyhoo, i was never a cherry flavor fan, but something about this pie just made me want more! i decided that i wanted to bake PIES! enter: pie phase. i researched online for all the best pie recipes i could find, i was going to make a cherry pie, a blueberry pie, a apple pie…put together a grocery list and headed to the grocery store, to find out that everything was out of season, thus would cost me an arm and a leg for ingredients, when a pre-made frozen (probably tastier pie) would cost me 1/4 of the price! i ended up only buying some apples, pre-made pie crusts (talk about cheater!) and a frozen cherry pie (just to satisfy a craving). I made two apple pies, one traditional pie and one dutch apple pie. The traditional pie was overflowing with apples…the dutch apple pie didn’t have enough apples. However, as always, the boyfriend (tyler) helped me put some finishing touches on it, so it wasn’t a total disaster. I used diced apples instead of sliced apples…requires a little more, but i like the texture better. there was a little too much lemon in it, but not overbearing. as for the cherry pie, the one that started the whole phase, half ended falling on the floor as it came out the oven, and the other half, salvaged, but looking like a big slop of cherries and crust. i had a few bites and was not satisfied…thus the end of PIE PHASE! sometimes, all you need is a pie from the mcdonalds dollar menu…considering it’s 2 for a $1 anways. x_x
bringing it back to the main point of this post: cupcake war.
there’s a buzz on cupcakes taking bakers and consumers by storm. something about those little pieces of cakes with pretty decorative iced tops make people think $3 (or more) is worth spending… pilsbury makes some amazing funfetti cupcakes in a box…makes 24 and costs way less than $3. but “it’s just not the same” i suppose….so, enter: CUPCAKE PHASE. i want to see what all the commotion is with the $3 a piece cupcakes, i’m going to start baking speciality cupcakes and work my magic on decorating (with my new cupcake decorating set)…see if it’s really worth the money spent. as i was doing my research on cupcake recipes, i came across an awesome series: the washington post’s cupcake wars. it compared two cupcake bakeries, every week for 8 weeks and pick a winner after the 8th week. The winners were Georgetown Cupcakes, which fortunately enough, i’ve tried (Thanks to my cousin Tommy who bought me a dozen for my birthday!) and I whole-heartedly agree, one of the best cupcakes i’ve ever had and they looked absolutely goregous! (a little on the small side though). On the other hand, one of the worst rated cupcakes were, CakeLove, FoodNetwork’s own famous Warren Brown’s bakery. I find the cakes too dry and lacking of a distinct flavor. They did a piece on Georgetown Cupcakes and it’s pretty amazing at what they do and how much money they make – who woulda thunk it, cupcakes are an extremely lucrative business …
so, in the upcoming weeks, i’m going to try my hand a cupcakes. here are the cupcakes i intend to make (sans the pilsbury and betty crocker, but all from scratch!):
- strawberry cupcakes
- apple pie cupcakes
- white chocolate cupcakes
- black bottom cupcakes
- funfetti cupcakes
- chocolate cupcakes
- chocolate peanut butter cupcakes
- carrot cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting
- coconute cupcakes
- s’mores cupcakes
