Mr. Marshmallow Snow Man

This is a continuation from the Christmas present cupcakes blog I did a few weeks back. There will be a series of these as they were all done for a church event I helped to organize for a teen shelter. Tonight a few of the ladies at my church went to do a Christmas Cupcake Decorating Workshop. Overall I think it went well. The ladies seemed to be having fun. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures due to privacy for the residents there but these Christmas Cupcakes were all prepared for this purpose.

As I mentioned in my previous post these ideas were taken from Martha Stewart's Cupcake Cookbook. There was a snowman cupcake in the book that was pretty plain. So I added my flair to it.

Here are the items I used for the following instructions to make a snowman cupcake:

Snowman: Jumbo Marshmallows

Snowman's Eyes, Buttons, and Hat Rim: Brown Jimmies (Sprinkles)


Snowman's Nose: Orange Slices
Scarf: Sour Belts

Hat: Rolos

Snow: Crystal Sugar

Take a cupcake and ice the top in a messy fashion.

Grab 2 jumbo marshmallows and cut one in half horizontally.


Stick the smaller marshmallow on top of the other using a little buttercream to paste it together.
Then taking a toothpick poke holes for the eyes, nose, and buttons.
TIP: Wet the toothpick so it doesn't stick.


Take some brown Jimmies (the longer ones work better) and stick them into the eyes and buttons.
For the nose, cut a small piece of any orange candy.



Take some crystal sugar and sprinkle it all over the OUTER RIM of the iced cupcake. Try to avoid getting it in the center as the snow man will go there and will not stick well if there is a layer of sugar on top of the buttercream.


For the scarf, take a sour belt candy and cut it in half horizontally and vertically... but more even and prettier than what I had done.


Use a good amount of buttercream to put all around the neck of the snowman and attach the scarf.
Place the snowman on top of the cupcake.

For a snazzy-er scarf fold the second half of the sour candy and slip it into the scarf.


For the hat put some buttercream all along the rim of a Rolo chocolate candy. I keep the foil on because I have warm hands and tend to melt the chocolate before I can get it on the snowman.

Dip it into the brown Jimmies.


Add more buttercream on top of the snowman's head and place the Rolo on top.

Too cute, no? Bravo Martha Stewart's people for the base of this creation.


Instructions for the wreath, Christmas Tree, and Holly Berries coming soon.

An Early Present

I know it's a bit early for Christmas baked goods but I haven't done too much baking these days so I wanted to post something before another week goes by.

Some ladies at our church will be going to a place called Mary's Shelter to do a scrapbooking and baking workshop in early December. We're trying to get to know our community better and Mary's Shelter is one that caught my eye. It's a shelter for teens who are pregnant and/or have children that they can't afford to take care of on their own. The residents' age range from 12-18 years old. The image I get whenever I think of a pregnant teen is Juno..

Anyway, I digress...

Here's one of the cupcakes we will be teaching how to do during the workshop. It's an idea that I got from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book.


When I make cupcakes I usually try to bake it so the dome falls just short of the cupcake liner.
This makes it easier to decorate as opposed to having spillage and it looking a hot mess. When you go to ice the top it's nice and even with just the icing showing.

I used these sour belt candies called Rip Rolls.
You need about 8 inches per cupcake so each of these 40" packets will make about 5 cupcakes.

Cut one piece that's 6".
All you do to make the cute ribbon is fold the belt on top of itself on both ends.
Then use the remaining 2" to wrap the center to finish off the bow.

It's best to make the ribbon first then to place it on top of the iced cupcake. Trying to do it directly on the cupcake makes it sloppy and just plain hard.

More Macarons

My second attempt. Not too shabby, I must say.

This time I used Martha Stewart's recipe for the macarons with the addition of Trablit, a coffee extract. The same buttercream filling was used as with the previous macarons.

To give it some extra pizazz I tried coloring some of the batter with a darker brown color and streaked it inside the pastry bag with the rest of the batter but it came out a little sloppy. But still gave it a little more flair than leaving it plain.

* * * * *

On a tangent from my normal sweet entries, I'd like to share something brief about a rare phenomenon... cooking.

I made a sandwich for myself today.
(Yes, I realize that this is not really "cooking" but when it comes to savory stuff.. this all falls into that category)

This is my typical sandwich:
Toasted bread, melted cheese, little bit of sandwich meat, tomatoes, avacados, mustard... and a WHOLE LOTTA LETTUCE.

As you can see, about 75% of the sandwich is lettuce. I particularly like iceberg lettuce because it lays more flat than romaine and has so much more of that crispy "crunch" that I so deeply love in my sandwiches. It's not because I think that this is so much healthier because I know that iceberg lettuce pretty much has next to nothing in nutrition. I just love it like that.

My grandma from Korea has been staying with us for about a month now and she makes comments every now and then about how I seem more like an American person than Korean because of the things I tend to eat. She saw me eating this sandwich today and said the same thing.

But I told her: "Grandma, as much as I am like an American person..."
"...I still need my kimchi."

Red Velvet Cupcakes Galore

I love red velvet cupcakes.

I think it might be safe to say that I am a red velvet cupcake snob. Some that I’ve tried just don’t meet my standards. All that I ask is that it’s moist, red, and delicious. In my short baking career, I have come across one magnificent recipe that is my go-to recipe for any and all occasions. And that is Elisa Strauss’s recipe in The Confetti Cakes Cookbook.

A friend of mine forwarded me this link for the red velvet cake recipe that is rumored to be used by the Waldorf Astoria. I thought I’d try this recipe as well as Martha’s Red Velvet cupcake recipe in her new book.

Red Velvet Cake originates from the south and used beet juice in the recipes. So, I thought I’d try using real beet juice.

Here are my results.

“The Waldorf”… (supposedly)

½ cup Shortening
1 ½ cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2oz Red Food Coloring
2 TBSP Cocoa (Dutch Processed)
2 ¼ cup Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Vinegar

(This is the way I did it)
Sift the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

In a standing mixer, cream the shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add food coloring. Measure buttermilk and add vanilla to it. Alternate adding the sifted dry ingredients with the buttermilk/vanilla making sure to scrape down the bowl after each addition. Add the vinegar to the batter and mix by hand. Bake at 350 degrees.

Martha Stewart’s

2 ½ cups Cake Flour
2 TBSP Unsweetened Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 ½ cups Sugar
1 ½ cups Vegetable Oil
2 large Eggs, room temp.
½ teaspoon Red Gel Food Coloring
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Buttermilk
1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Distilled Vinegar

Whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt. In a standing mixer, mix together the sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time making sure each is fully incorporated. Mix in food coloring and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Mix well after each addition. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and add to the batter. Mix on medium speed for about 10 seconds.
Bake at 350 degrees.

Confetti Cakes

3 ½ cups Cake Flour
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 ½ tsp Salt
2 cups Canola Oil
2 ¼ cups plus 1TBSP Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1/3 cup Food Coloring
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ¼ cup Buttermilk
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 ½ tsp Distilled White Vinegar

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside. In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the oil and sugar until incorporated. With it on low, add one egg at a time until completely mixed together. Add the food coloring and vanilla. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk in two batches, starting with the flour. Scrape down the bowl with each addition and beat until thoroughly combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the baking soda and vinegar. Set the mixer to medium and add the baking soda and vinegar mixture. Mix for about 10 seconds. Bake at 35o degrees.

*Note: listed is the original recipe. When I made this recipe, I did a HALF batch with about 1 oz of BEET JUICE with 1 tsp of gel food coloring and 1 tsp of cinnamon.

As I mentioned, I used beet juice in the recipe above. What I did was I microwaved some baby beets I had in the fridge and blended it in a juice blender. I was trying to puree it with adding some water to it but it just turned into small chunky bits. So I just added some warm water to the pulverized beets and let it sit for a few minutes. I strained it and added it to the oil and sugar mixture.

It didn’t quite have as deep of a color as I hoped.

After adding the dry ingredients, the cocoa powder overwhelmed the light color of the beet juice so I had to add more food coloring to achieve the deep rich color.

Final Verdict…

Waldorf – Dry, dense, and not as flavorful.

Martha Stewart – Pretty moist, ok flavor, but color wasn’t intense enough.

Confetti Cakes – Ultra moist, intense and rich flavor, with a deep beautiful red color.
THE WINNER!