Second Guesses that become tasty pieces!

                            

I am really glad that I didn't toss the "healthy" cupcakes. After trying them both warm and cooled, I placed them in the cool oven to store overnight to deal with in the morning... I was torn as to what I should do with them as I really didn't feel that they were of edible worthiness. Some of the reviews said that they tasted better after cooling. While I am not sure that I agreed with that I choose to frost them anyways.

I wanted to stick with the low sugar and semi healthy theme, since what good dose it do to put a ton of sugar into the frosting of a healthier cake?

In the frosting I mixed Honey (for the sweetener) cream cheese, and almond extract. then at the very end added shredded coconut for a wonderful texture.

I managed to make a really yummy frosting that sticks with the "healthy" part and they now taste pretty good.

 I do stick with the fact that the cake itself needs tweaking, but hopefully when I get around to that, I can duplicate the frosting. LOL We will have to wait to test it and find out.

Not sure if I mentioned it or not in the last post, but all these treats were taken to my doctors office for my doctor and his staff to enjoy. Everyone loved them and were so excited that I brought them in. Put a huge smile on every ones faces and that made me tickle inside with happiness... There is still hope that I can one day open a successful bakery. :D

And now the pictures I promised I would post :D :

Hershey's Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

 

Mini "Healthy" Cupcakes with Coconut, Almond reduced sugar frosting



                                                                                                                                                      

Dark Chocolate Truffles, with Semi sweet Chocolate coating and Nuts, Powdered Sugar, Cocoa Powder, or White Chocolate

 

Final Display, Packed and ready to go in my Nifty carrier :D

Healthy Cakes/cupcakes?! and Truffles

I recently have been on a baking kick... Things take way longer then they should since I still am having to work in small stages, but none the less I am accomplishing great results in the kitchen. My last chocolate and cinnamon cupcakes were a big hit. I am still drooling over the fudgey frosting :D Since it wasn't exactly the taste I was going for, I made a second batch and oh boy were these delicious. The perfect combination of chocolate, density, and moistness. My thanks goes out to Hershey's Kitchen for the fantastic job of creating masterpiece recipes that I can duplicate at home. They have several that I want to one day try :D My chocolate loving friends will love me when I'm done lol.

After the second batch of perfect chocolate cupcakes, I wanted to give my hand a go at making truffles. I know, I know I am a cake decorator (wanna be) and should be focusing on making amazingly good tasting  cakes and beautifully decorated ones at that. The recipe just was so inviting that although they were a very tedious process I loved how they turned out. I do have to say though that they needed to be tweaked for  more subtle chocolate loves like myself but once tweaked perfectly it will be a tasty addition that one day I can sell along with my cakes. :D

After making the truffles, I made some Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies, again from  the Hershey's kitchen recipe box. :D I have to be honest I have yet to try these ones as I just haven't been in the mood for a cookie. My roommate however has devoured a good handful of them. The other half a batch is going to my doctors office staff along with the truffles and part of the second batch of chocolate cupcakes.

With all this chocolate I felt I should include something vanilla/ non chocolate flavored. In wasting time online, I found several new recipes that were lower in sugar/carbs/ and calories. Not to mention that most of them are gluten free. I was really shocked to discover that they didn't use regular flour, but coconut flour or almond flour. Of course I had to give it a shoot and see just how good it could be.

I went to the local supermarket that had the largest healthy food section I know of and bought coconut oil, coconut flour and some blanched almonds. I had read online that blanched almonds sent through a food processor would be the same as almond flour. This was a more appealing idea as the almond flour on the self was almost $13 for a bag with about 2 cups in it. At this time I just don't have that kinda of money and the almonds were on super sale only $1.38 for two cups worth. Now I don't know how much it is going to take to make a few cups of flour but hey I can give it a cheep try right. If it doesn't work out well then I have some almonds to use for a topping on the next creation that I make where almonds would complement. :D

Once I got back home I whipped up the recipe for "healthy" vanilla cupcakes. Now, for starters I won't say that they are awful, but they surely are not amazing either. I think this recipe has potential to be great and until then I will keep the recipe a secret. Once perfected I will also give credit to my fellow blogger's who have opened my eyes to a more health consciences way of baking. I really hope that I can master this technique to add to my diversity of cake flavors and to be able to market to a diverse crowd.

Since I still have yet to decorate all the cupcakes, I will post pictures later this week. Along with that post I will also say how well received the goodies are with my doctors office. Thanks for reading, until next post have a good day. :D

Chocolate-Cinnamon Cupcakes

Yes the post reads right I (a non-chocolate lover), made chocolate-Cinnamon cupcakes today. Wow that's a lot of c's in one title lol. I have been searching for a good chocolate recipe for a while now that I could try my baking skills with. My roommate has said that her fellow classmates would enjoy special treats on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In my head, this provided me with a chance to try out several new recipes to find that new keeper for my recipe book and true chocolate lovers would provide me the feedback that I would need. Well I was not sold on this recipes flavors and moistness so maybe next week will produce a better one. If you have one to share with me, I am more then willing to give it a try. :D

I will say that this was a day of first for me in the baking department, aside from the fact that its my first ever chocolate cake. I don't even think I have ever made a chocolate box cake. So hers the firsts that I can think of  : First batter to be made with the use of the stove, first time I winged the amount of ingredients into the frosting (I will get to that in a bit), First cake I iced warm (the directions told me to),first time I was actually satisfied with frosting only the very tops of a cupcake and not covering the whole circle and sides I know see why the pros frost that way),  and the first time I managed to get done including frosting them with in two hours. I am proud of myself for this cake even if it doesn't look amazing, or wasn't the flavor that I was going for I still did a good job and I am learning to be quicker with my tasks.

So the frosting, was like a fudgy, smooth, finger licking good recipe. I loved it so much more then the actual cake. This frosting will also provide room for variations, I plan to add peanut butter to it next time and see if I cant make a great filling. I will defiantly be keeping this recipe and use it every time a cake calls for or the flavor would complement a chocolate frosting. :D This two was made on the stove and boy do my arms hurt from the constant whisking. I was scared that I had burnt it but nope, as tasty as could be. :D was even better when it had cooled and hardened a bit, but I can see why they said to frost the cake (cupcakes for me) with it warm. After drying it was like trying to spread play dough. It would stand very nicely for a base frosting or filling and again it tasted great.

I am so excited for Valentines Day approaching soon, as I have lots of baking time in my future and lots of people to make very happy. :D Thanks for reading, ideas, recipes, and requests are always welcomed.   Until next time, I will leave you with these photos!