Friday, October 12, 2012

late night baking


The idea that I would stay up too late at night baking is not new.  It's happened often since Ladytroupe Sweets has a table at the market every Friday.  Some weeks I'm really organized and my projects turn out well and other weeks I push myself a bit too much.

This week the girls all happen to be sick.  Ashlynn's on antibiotics now and she's the one I worry the most about respiratory infections and RSV.  Addie's turned into an ear infection and this time around Bella just has a nasty cough.  Mix illness with Justin heading out of town for two days and my organization skills went down the tubes along with my patience.

My creative project this week was buttermilk spice cupcakes with caramel frosting.  I had a ton of fun making the buttermilk and grinding the spices (cinnamon and cloves).  Bella and I made two dozen cupcakes on Thursday afternoon and they tasted great but were so tiny.  I like a big plump cupcake so I decided to make another batch later that night after the girls went to sleep.  Another batch of buttermilk and the resulting butter were needed.  I made the caramel frosting and let it cool while the cupcakes were baking.  Next thing I know my frosting has completely collapsed and separated.  My head hit the pillow around midnight.  This morning I decided to go back to my tried and true frosting recipe and adjusted it for the caramel flavor using dark brown sugar.  Perfect!
 I ended up with almost 50 cupcakes. They were wonderful. Buttermilk really adds rich flavor.  The cloves were fragrant and lovely.  The caramel frosting a nice compliment.  Now I can sleep tonight!

5 comments:

Anne said...

Oh how I wish I lived in Addis so that I could partake in all of your tasty treats!

Anonymous said...

Husband out of town, 3 sick kids AND baking from scratch including your own buttermilk? You are a super woman! Btw, I need an expert baker/entertainer's opinion: we're doing brunch on Saturday for 8, I'm making cinnamon rolls, quiche, some challah, I made granola for a DIY yogurt bar, bacon, a salad and some cut fruit, does that sound like a month? I'm so out of brunch practice, I don't know how to gauge these things anymore!

Anonymous said...

whoops! *enough not *a month. Jeez I really need to sleep! :)

Sara said...

That definitely sounds like enough! It sounds like a perfect spread because people can keep it light with salad and fruit or go heavy with cinnamon roles and quiche. Love the idea of a yogurt bar. I miss good yogurt! Wish I was invited. Enjoy, I know you've been waiting to host brunch for awhile. Oh and don't forget the coffee and tea!

Sara said...

Thanks Anne! I wish my photos were scratch and sniff! or even better scratch and taste!