Maggie sings James Taylor

This is priceless. I've been trying to figure out a way to show everyone how beautifully she sings this song and voila...YouTube!! Yeah! Enjoy!

Enjoying her cupcake!

Enjoying her cupcake!, originally uploaded by cupcakelady.

well, what more can one say about this? My latest creation, chocolate butter cake frosted with cocoa-whipped ganache and topped with a yummy raspberry. As you can see, my daughter loved it. I used ScharffenBerger cocoa, as usual. Worked like a charm. The whipped icing doesn't last long, so you have to serve and eat right away.

Plum Oat Crisp

Plum Oat Crisp, originally uploaded by cupcakelady.

This was a really great treat. I think I added too many plums. Which is why the red overflowed onto the oat crisp. It was hard to judge how many of these tiny plums made 2.5 lbs. This is what was in the recipe. The best part about the crisp was the cardamom. Everyone I had over (neighbors B, G, K and L's boyfriend D) had an odd initial reaction to the flavor. I think the mix of the tartness of the plums mixed with the cardamom confused their taste buds. In the end, I got rave reviews. I still have a ton of plums to use and the tree my neighbor has is still producing more fruit. We should be getting those in the next few days. I wish I had my Mom's canning (sp?) ability. She makes this incredible plum jam. I am just not set up to can yet. It's quite an investment so I've heard. In the meantime, I'll be trying a plum galette, plum and peach gelatin, plum popsicles, and roasted plum strudel.

Oh and I failed to mention the crisp is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just delicious!

Lemony Snickets

Lemony Snickets, originally uploaded by cupcakelady.

This is a favorite treat of mine. I named it as such because I still long for the days of living in San Francisco, CA (I'm in SoCal now, love the weather but miss the culture). Allegedly author Lemony Snicket resides in said city. This is a delectable recipe. It starts with a yummy lemon butter cake. I fill it with a delicious and creamy lemon curd (store bought from Trader Joe's b/c I didn't have the time to make it from scratch). I used a fresh-squeezed lemon buttercream for icing and then decided to try out Martha Stewart's homemade candied lemon zest. She described coating the zest with sugar as "sparkly". I loved that description. Cute and yummy cupcakes need sparkly toppings. They were crazy good! My hubby moaned and groaned while eating it. He uttered a barely audible "really rich" with a mouth full of cupcake. An observation I had about them was the zest and coloring made them very coastal looking. I see an abstract starfish in the topping. I bet they'd make a nice cupcake for an ocean-themed party. Just add a "tiffany-colored" cupcake and some white cocobons, throw in some shells and voila a beach party with cupcakes!

Cocobon cupcake

Cocobon cupcake, originally uploaded by cupcakelady.

Cupcakes I created for a baby shower this past week. They're called Cocobons because I fill them with yummy fudge. Coconut cake with coconut cream cheese frosting topped with coconut flakes and finally filled with fudge. Delicious! Enjoy!

Hurray! We're finally online!

Well, it took long enough. A self-proclaimed blogphobe. Do I have interesting enough content to capture the hearts and minds of an actual audience?! We'll just have to wait and see. My goal with this blog is to share recipes, food finds, and have conversations about food. I may also use this space to talk about my other passions: my children, music, celebrity news, and fashion. Hope that's all okay as well.

I am a baker who was taught how to bake by my mother, grandmothers, and great grandmother. I am trying to slowly build a small dessert catering business in Carlsbad, CA. It's growing really slow. I have a nice steady flow of business but with two little ones underfoot it is hard to go full-tilt. I've found that this pace suits me for right now.

I'm having fun writing, baking, and raising a family. I hope you'll join me on my journey to baking nirvana. Please feel free to add comments. You can reach me via email at frostedonline at yahoo.com. I'm always looking for great baking recipes. Enjoy!