Strawberry Cupcakes

So...since I'm trying to improve this whole cooking/blogging/photo-taking skillset, I decided to post other baked goodies as well as Baked Explorations!
Some friends were throwing a shower for a girl in our ward, and when something came up for one of the girls I was excited to throw my hat in the ring and take a stab at these cupcakes! After calling my go-to baking expert, Elizabeth, and getting some good ideas to get started, I was ready to go!

For the first batch, I started with a basic Strawberry cupcake recipe, but it called for Strawberry extract, which I wasn't so sure about. Elizabeth recommended I try freeze dried strawberries in the batter, and I went ahead and added diced strawberries for good measure. The batter seemed a little thick, so I added some buttermilk (a substitution from another recipe) and went to town baking them. They tasted delicious but they didn't look amazing--the strawberries browned, as typical, and they sunk in places they shouldn't have.

Not completely satisfied, so I made a second batch, following the original recipe almost exactly, but still adding in powdered freeze dried strawberries in for the color. The recipe LOOKED beautiful, but it was dry dry dry and not nearly as tasty as the other.

I almost went for a third batch, but felt an over-kill coming on, so I made the delicious strawberry cream cheese/buttercream frosting and frosted away, ending with a homemade cupcake wrapper and Holly's beautiful cupcake toppers. For the frosting I also used freeze dried powdered strawberries, and it made a pretty pink color without any food dyes (yay!) Topped with some diced strawberries, they didn't look too bad!

Overall, I was a little embarrassed when people were eating them at the party. I mean, they weren't gourmet by any means, and perhaps my pride was in the way a little, feeling like I could have done better. BUT, it was a good experience to bake, and next time it'll only be better!

*As always, I WELCOME any ideas/thoughts/critique of photos! The first (amazing) photo is courtesy of Holly Badurek, and I love it!) I think the background in the second photo is a little to "spicy" for this one...I'll mute them down in the future!

Double Chocolate Loaf

First recipe: Success!!

Seth laughed at me as I was nervously and carefully measuring out each ingredient, referring back to the cookbook several times to make sure I was doing it "Just Right". Not typical for this cook!

The Chocolate Loaf (Link to the recipe) is recommended served with a Peanut Butter spread as a breakfast treat. While I definitely ate it during the hours typically reserved for Breakfast, it is about as much a "breakfast food" as Candy Cane Jo Jos. I made it with TJ's cocoa powder and TJs Dark Chocolate circles, and substituted Coconut oil in for the Oil called for in the recipe. I think the Coconut Oil really made it more moist, and adding in a tiny bit of almond extract in addition to vanilla extract made for the perfect combination of flavors.

I was surprised at how much I liked this recipe! It's simple to make, very moist and chocolate-gooey good, and holds up well the day-after. I realized too late that my cream cheese was expired, so I opted out of the spread, but I was planning on using almond butter for the spread to go along with my "hint of almond" in the loaf. Ohhhh, what could have been! There's always next time!!

*I would love any tips or recommendations for "How to help" my pictures. I am not a photographer by any means, and would love to learn more!

And so it begins...

I've long admired the culinary bloggers. Their photo composition, description, and knack for tweaking recipes to suit their needs is both intriguing and exciting.

Following over 50 cooking blogs isn't the best for my waistline, but it is so fun to see new ideas, remember old ones, and examine the twists on a classic dessert or meal.

Being no sort of photographer, I don't imagine that I'll ever be a real "Culinary Blogger" but after a friend got me interested in "BAKED Sunday Mornings" I couldn't help but think I could do it on my own small scale, a new year's resolution and challenge for myself to grow in my own little world of baking.

So, Seth got me this for my birthday:


...and here I come!