Adventures at Cupcake Camp Columbus

Stories to come. PROMISE. For now, just dream about these little delicious things.

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Adventures in Cake Balls

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What's this, you ask? It's a cake ball! It's cake, frosting, & chocolate all wrapped up into a cute little bon-bon type treat. AND... they're called "cake balls." Let's face it. Saying the word "balls" is funny. (Yeah, you know what I'm talking about!) I'm normally not one to love fifth-grade humor, but even I get a secret chuckle out of saying "cake balls" to people. When they ask "What are these?" and you cheerfully reply "Cake balls!" with a toothy grin, they smile back, giggle like a 10 year old and say "CAKE BALLS?!?" b/c 1) they look super cute--how could you not love them? and 2)...they're laughing b/c you just said "balls." It's fun. Try it. But anyway, I digress. On to the point.

The inside is chocolate cake mixed w/ salted caramel frosting, actual salted caramel, cream cheese, & cinnamon. Then it's dipped in milk chocolate and topped w/ salt & roasted pecans. This was the first cake ball making adventure. I had a batch of chocolate cupcakes that didn't turn out quite right a few evenings ago. They tasted absolutely fine! But I must've been rushing through the motions and not put the right amount of baking powder or something in the mix b/c they just would not hold together. I'd unwrap them, and they'd crumble. Again, they tasted fine! So I really didn't want to toss the 36 bunk cupcakes that I now had sitting around b/c that's some expensive ingredients to just toss, you know? So now what??? How about some cake balls!

Have you heard of cake balls? If not, check out Bakerella. She's got a bunch of ideas. The link will lead you to her "cake ball" section, but she also has some tasty looking cake pops (basically the same thing but in a slightly different form). If you Google a recipe, the basic ones will tell you that it's a sheet cake (baked) crumbled up and mixed w/ a can of frosting, rolled into balls, chilled, and then dipped in chocolate. Since I make all my own goods here at the Sugarlush kitchen, I use my gourmet frostings & other ingredients to enhance the deliciousness of each tasty morsel. It's totally worth it.

Before I leave you, might I recommend a glass of milk to go along with the tasty bites! They're delicious, but SUPER RICH. So maybe even an ideal diet dessert, right?!?! It's by no means low-fat, but you eat just one and you're satisfied! It's a good theory, anyway. ;-)

Sugarlush goes to a wedding.

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I had my first wedding! As a baker, that is. I not only make paper goods, I also bake...quite obsessively. A lot. Have I mentioned this before? Probably. So I run a small business out of my home selling cupcakes by the order. In this case, I go by Sugarlush Cupcakes. Do you want cupcakes? Let me know. DO YOU WANT FROSTING??? YOU KNOOOOOW YOU WANT MY FROSTING. Let me know that too. Anyway, here's the story.

My excellent friend (and former roommate) Stefanie got married yesterday. Being the wonderful person she is (as well as budget-conscious!), she hired me to do the cupcakes for her wedding. The guest list was small—approx 50 people in attendance—which was absolutely fine by me! I baked 6 dozen cupcakes, which means 72 little cute cakes for you non-dozen-converters out there. The wedding turned out beautifully, and everyone dug into the cake and definitely didn't hold back when it came to grabbing a second. :-)

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The flavors she chose were Spice Cake with Vanilla Malt Frosting and Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting, w/ 3 dozen of each. The Spice Cake was appropriately garnished with a cinnamon stick (TRES CUTE!)…

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…while the Chocolate Cake w/ caramel frosting was garnished with the usual piece of fleur de sel caramel candy. The results were positive! They were much loved by all. The chocolate ones were demolished. There was one left towards the end of the evening, which Stef set aside to freeze for the 1-year-anniversary-tradition. There were a few spice cake cupcakes left since most got their fill on the chocolate option. Seriously, the chocolate-cupcake + salted-caramel combo is a crowd pleaser! For some reason, I'm always surprised at how quickly that one cleans up.

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So how 'bout that tiered mappy lookin' display there, eh? That was made by Stef, the bride herself. We found something online awhile ago about about a 3-tier cupcake display. If I remember correctly, some blogger girl (? I think??) was both selling kits, as well as giving instructions on how to do it yourself. I can't remember if Stef bought the kit or not... I'll have to ask her. But anyway, she put it together herself. She and her man, Steve, both majored in Geography-type studies in college. They share a LOOOOVE of maps. So we saw this online and obviously it was the winner. She made it, I just put the cupcakes on it. Cute, right? And quite a great idea. If you could get circular discs, this concept could be used for any number of occasions--all you have to change is the paper! BRILLIANT! The tiers were held with 2 pieces of corrugated cardboard, intersecting in the middle to create the cross-shaped sturdy support.

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So I guess all that's left to say is… Congratulations guys! I'm so happy for you! :-)