Bake-a-thon

Okay, so my “after work” activities might suggest that I’ve fallen from the health kick I started a couple of months ago.

By activities, I mean I’ve been baking more than usual.  Two co-worker friends from Montreal came into town, seemlingly for their birthdays, (not really, they came here to work) but I’ve been making CUPCAKES – for two weeks now.  What can you say – sometimes people need their birthday cake!

Plus I made some muffins for D last weekend (when he goes away on business trips I like to make sure he brings something healthy for the road).  So ummm yeah, getting lots of input/output from the oven!

It also gave me the opportunity to work on perfecting my vanilla cupcake recipe.  The last batch I made – basic vanilla cupcakes with lemon zest filled with raspberry jam, cream cheese frosting and a fresh raspberry on top was easy and beautiful.

My 2 week baking binge concluded today (I promise!) with some really great, if I do say so myself, AND healthy buckwheat muffins.  I love buckwheat for some reason.  It’s earthy and yummy at the same time.

Did I learn anything worth sharing from all this baking? Yes, maybe a few things:

• Try to avoid weeknight baking starting at 10 p.m. (like I tend to do).  I ended up finishing around midnight waiting for the cupcakes to cool before icing them  Oh la la, life is so harsh.
• First ever experience with piping icing. It’s actually easy (I approached with some trepidation) – use a large opened tip for cupcake frosting unless you are trying to draw or create small details.
• I found a blog called Joy the Baker; I enjoyed her 101 advice on cream cheese frosting.

D and I watched Stranger than Fiction last night, which incidentally had a baker in the story.  It was good, though hard to describe without giving away plot but it’s definitely an atypical Will Ferrell movie, not that I don’t like typical Will Ferrell movies!  We just watched Semi-Pro (Will Ferrell goes NBA) recently too, and laughed alot.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!