Windy Sydney

Here are some of the things I have been working on...

The first set is some cupcakes I made with leftover fondant. I was inspired by a photo I saw on WeeLoveBaking, and decided to do my own take on the idea. Mine turned out okay, but not even close to the wonderful work done by the original baker. Be sure to check out her stuff!!



It was time for me to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I knew I couldn't go wrong if I went with Martha Stewart. I was right. The cookie recipe was delicious, and unfortunately I don't have time to search for the link... just look up "chewy chocolate chip" on her recipe info and it should be there for you. For the chocolate cookies I added melted bakers chocolate to the batter and used white chocolate chips.



This set of cupcakes were inspired by Mother's Day. They were really good, and I took a lot of time on them. I really like the quilted design of the first one..

Read more »

I created these for Earth Day!


In honor of Earth Day I made a vow to make sure none of these cupcakes go to waste. Hehe...

Read more »

I have been busy practicing my fondant skills lately, and I think I am getting a little better. I really need to get some fresh fondant, because the crap I have left is old, gross, and crumbly.

This is what I have been working on:


Abbey likes them...

Read more »

The other day I shared some cupcake pops by Bakerella. They inspired me to make these Spring Chick Cupcakes!

Hope you like 'em!

Spooky approves of them...

I also made these candy bar cupcakes for a friend's birthday party:

The flavors were Heath, Butterfinger, and York Peppermint Patty. They were fantastic!!!

Andee

Read more »

Tomorrow one of my supervisors is transferring to another department. It's not like I will never see him again or anything, but he is really cool and I will miss his laid back approach. He's cool. Luckily, the person taking his spot seems pretty cool as well.

So... I used his last day in the department as an excuse to bake. I will take any excuse to bake, most of you know this by now.

Here are my latest creations:

These are homemade girl scout cookies... samoas.



The cookie itself is shortbread. I used the recipe from Martha Stewart magazine but you could substitute store-bought cookies if you like. Sandies Simply Shortbread are just as good as the cookies from scratch if you ask me!!! And you don't have to tell anyone you didn't make 'em!

I melted a bag of milk chocolate chips, and poured half the chocolate onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. I then placed my shortbread cookies on the chocolate to coat the bottom. Then, I took some toasted coconut and caramel sundae sauce, mixed them, and put a little of the mixture on top of the cookies (still on the cookie sheet). I then used a fork and drizzled the remaining chocolate over the cookies. Pop them in the fridge to let the chocolate cool and harden, then break the cookies up and put them on a plate. The chocolate breaks randomly, and I like the homestyle look it gives the cookies.

I didn't have as much coconut as I thought I did and that was a bummer. I highly suggest using more than I did!



I know they look nothing like the girl scout version, but the taste is similar and quite good.

Next, we have:


Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes!

It's devil's food cake with tons of chopped toffee candy bars in the cake batter. Then I iced the cupcakes with chocolate frosting and then rolled the cupcakes in the remaining candy bar pieces. These are really good, and I am definitely planning on making them again.


Last, but certainly not least:

Devil's Food Mint Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes.

Yes, this one was pretty damned complicated, but very worth it.

In each cupcake cup I placed a spoonful of devil's food cake batter, then a layer of mint chocolate brownie batter, then another layer of devil's food cake batter. Bake, then cool. They look like these:
I didn't want too much chocolate in the cupcake, so I used vanilla frosting and tinted it green to play up the mint flavor inside the cake itself...


Then I took some time and used the remaining mint chocolate brownie batter and baked up the topping...


Yeah, this cupcake will probably kill any diet created. It's worth it, though. Promise.

The chocolate sauce is mint chocolate sauce, which really helps the flavor.

Hope you all like 'em!

Andee

Read more »

Wow, I was just featured on Utah Loves Cupcakes, a wonderful blog about everything cupcake in my home state.

What an honor!!!

Andee

Read more »

I have finally been blessed with free time. I saw a recipe on a baking website for Apple Pie Cupcakes, and I wanted to give them a try. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy they were to make and how good they tasted!


Step one is to make the cinnamon cupcakes.

All I did was use a white cake mix and add cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. It can't get easier than that! Just be careful with the cinnamon. Common sense reminds us all that you can always add more, but you can't take it out! Let them cool completely before doing the next step.


Step two: Cut a cone shaped hole in the cupcake and toss the excess cake aside. You won't need this extra cake anymore, so feel free to munch and munch on the yummy goodness.


Step three: Put a giant spoonful of apple pie filling (I added cinnamon to the filling as well) in the cone shaped hole.


Decorate the cupcakes! I wanted the icing to resemble soft-serve ice cream so I used a star tip. I also thing the goodies look better when you can see all of the layers, so I only added a small amount of frosting.

Then, I went in my fridge and found caramel syrup to drizzle over the cupcakes.



They are fantastic!!!

Read more »

Hello friends (and those who love to hate me),

I have not decided to leave WindySydney, or forget about the blog. Promise. Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I have been working on some new photos that I am quite proud of, and keeping myself busy working, working, and working (which is good, glad to have a job right now!).

I have decided to start a new project for my baking adventures. It will be a separate (sister) blog of WindySydney that people can go to without having to read my rants about leaving Mormonism behind. It will be more user-friendly to the baking crowd and make me seem less of an insane freak (hopefully).

Can anyone think of a good name for the baking blog?

Here are some of my thoughts...

What Andee's Eating
Delicious? or Disaster?

Can you come up with something creative? If you do, you will get a big huge cyber-hug from yours truly. I am officially stuck.

Also, I will be changing the layout of my blog (again). I still hate it. Will I ever be happy? Probably not until I get a custom one made, huh? Let me start putting money away for that riiiiiight now.

Love you all!
Andee

Read more »

Well, I hopped back into the kitchen today just to have a little fun. I wasn't really focused on a specific recipe or decorating technique... I just wanted to make something.

I decided to go with vanilla cake and vanilla icing. You can't go wrong with that. No fancy fillings or anything like that. Just good food.

I also had a mini-cupcake pan and mini-cupcake liners, so I made mini-cupcakes, too!

Here are a couple shots of the results:

The only decorations I had on hand was a mixture of colored sugar. I rolled the cupcakes in the sugar and created a rainbow. It's pretty cool... I like it.

The green colored sugar reminded me of a granny smith apple, so I became inspired to create some "apples."

I used a pretzel stick and green ribbon for the stem and leaves. It would have been awesome if I had some mint leaves on hand, but no luck. That way the entire thing would have been edible.

Hope you like 'em!
Andee

Read more »

I couldn't let my banana disaster cupcakes get the best of me. I couldn't move on with life facing a first-week-failure...

I decided to try something completely different, and I am really happy with the super-delicious results... and what better way to redeem myself than including an ingredient I was once warned against in Mormonism! Coffee!!

Here are the steps for Andee's Dark Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes!


I used a dark chocolate cake mix. After the banana disaster, I wasn't up for a "from scratch" adventure.

After I baked the cupcakes and let them cool, I cut a cone-shaped hole in the cupcakes and added a spoon-ful of the chocolate espresso mixture:

A shot of espresso (or instant coffee if you are in a pinch)
Hershey's syrup (just go by how you want your texture)
A couple spoonfuls of chocolate frosting

Mix together until the mix is the texture you like, taste, add something else... taste... this is how I bake... never measure... just lots and lots of cake batter testing and filling tasting until you get it how you want it.


Cut off excess cake from the "cone" and replace the top of the cupcake...


Add icing and decorations.

As you can see, my filling was a little runny and the tops of the cupcakes were caving a little. That's okay... because the taste more than makes up for it!

Wow, were these good.


Messy.... but good!

My apologies for the photos. Not my best work by far. I didn't take the extra time to set up the tripod because I was a little lazy.

Andee

Read more »

Um... this isn't getting off to a very good start.

As promised, I made a unique batch of cupcakes for WindySydney and they tasted like crap.

My goal was to make a banana flavored cupcake and top it with caramel and a banana slice. Unfortunately, the cake didn't taste anything like I wanted it to, and I tossed them in the trash...

They looked pretty, though!

Andee

Read more »