Happy Cupcake Co.

Popchips!

2011-12-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

I spent some time at popchips head office in san francisco in august for the yearly snackers summit (read annual employee conference).

popchips. Cupcakes. Ashton Kutcher... all in one day? What more could a girl ask for? By the way, the one in the photo below was key lime pie...

Birthday Cupcakes

2011-12-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

I don't remember what flavours these were, but I do remember they were freakin' delicious.

My lovely friends at Manifesto Community Projects bought these for my for my 28th birthday from the Red Tea Box.

Kitchenaid

2011-12-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

For our engagement, Tristan and I received the most wonderful gift from my cousin's... a stainless steel Kitchenaid standup mixer! I've wanted one of these to call my own since I was a young child, and I feel like it signifies my first big steps into adulthood (along with becoming a homeowner and getting engaged)...

Surprisingly, the first thing I made with the mixer wasn't cupcakes, but vegan chocolate chip cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar! Hazaa!

The Cake Boss

2011-12-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Tristan's parents bought us tickets to go see the Cake Boss in Waterloo last year. While I had heard of the Boss, I'd never watched is show... but friends kept telling me it was a pretty big deal, and I quickly learned just how big a deal after seeing the throngs of fans with signs and tshirts!

We had a great time, and sat pretty much in the front row. Tristan's dad was actually selected from the crowd to participate in the men's cupcake decorating contest!

Here's a photo of the final product, which of course he gave to me... I can tell you the cake was pretty delicious (fluffy and slightly salty) but the frosting was terrible! I don't think it helped that it was stacked just as thick as the cupcake itself either...

I'm getting married!

2011-10-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

So one of those amazing things that kept me away from this blog was my not-so-recent engagement to my now fiance, Tristan! To celebrate, my parents hosted a fun afternoon at Lucky Strike bowling alley with our extended family.

The occassion was catered, but I also whipped up some mini-cupcakes for dessert.

Vegan lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting...

Vegan double chocolate...

Vegan apple spice (eek - you should've seen the icing for this... It got all melty and lost its shape, but I fixed them up with some vanilla drizzle and I think they turned out the nicest in the end!)

Dark chocolate mint...

Koyama Press

2011-10-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

Last October I was asked by Koyama Press to cater the double book launch for Wowee Zonk's "Wowee Zonk 3" and Tin Can Forest's "Baba Yaga and the Wolf" at the The Central on Markham St with some vegan goodies!

I made some lemon raspberry mini-cupcakes (topped with raspberries and lemon zest)...

...some double chocolate minis, and dark chocolate mint mini-cupcakes...

and I also made some gluten free chocolate chip cookies, and vegan chocolate peanut butter pillows!

All in all, it was a great night of art and eating. Though the event is over now, here are some links to the event/artists.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160796723932000
http://woweezonk.blogspot.com/
http://tincanforest.com/

Vegan Cupcakes @ The Mascot

2011-10-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

An old friend of mine runs this amazing little cafe in Parkdale called The Mascot.

I used to work just down the street from there, and I can't tell you how many times I've had friends/clients buy me one of their vegan cupcakes enroute to my old studio. I guess vegan cupcakes are hard to come by, and I'm kind of a fiend...

Here's a pic of their chocolate cupcake with purple icing. Note: someone took a bit out of it while I was away from my desk (ahem, Che)...

Anyway go check it out if you're in the neighbourhood! They're good people.

Mayor Miller's Arts Luncheon

2011-10-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

A group of friends and I, just 5 years ago, started our own non-profit organization called Manifesto Community Projects. Last year, we were invited to Mayor Millers Arts Awards lunch at Arcadian Court.

Lunch was awful, though the event was wonderful! And look what they had on all the tables... Not only did we get to eat these yummy little cakes at dessert, but people kept urging us to take some back home with us... This photo is post cab ride back to the studio, so mind the smushed icing...

Anyway, I won't get too much into the organization, or the awards, or how much I really miss Mayor Miller and his support of the arts and culture here in Toronto, since this is a cupcake blog... but I will say that Manifesto won the Arts for Youth Award that day – celebrating an individual, collective or organization that has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to engaging Toronto youth in the arts – nominated alongside Art Starts and Supporting Our Youth (SOY).

Check us out in the globe and mail here!

What a mug...

2011-10-12T16:12:00.001-07:00

Tristan's mom bought me these neat little cupcake mugs!

My favourite mugs to use while drinking David's Tea Creme Brulee... mmm...

Hiatus...

2011-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year since I've posted here... Which seems like such a waste of amazing cupcake baking and eating experiences. So while I can't promise I won't fall off the face of the earth again, I can promise to update you RIGHT NOW at this very moment on a few cupcake adventures I've had since my last post! Happy reading!

2-bite Brownie Hearts

2010-05-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

I made some birthday cupcakes for my dear friends Ryan and Nana.

(you might remember THESE from their last bday jam...)

I had a sneaking suspicion though that this year the birthday couple were going to arrive at this supposed "birthday party" with an engagement announcement. And low and behold they DID!!!

Luckily, I just "happened" to decorate these cupcakes with 2-bite brownies cut into hearts, which just so "happens" to be their go-to dessert fave...

The others included coconut (for the vegans)...

DAIM chocolate bits (kind of like SKOR)...

Willowisps (sp? Chocolate peanut butter chunks, sort of like Crispy Crunch?)...

Word to the wise, those 2-bite brownies cut super easily and can be molded (my guess, sort of like playdough) into just about anything... which makes them a little bit weird, but a lot a bit amazing!

Cupcake Date Night

2010-05-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when your roommate is having a potluck at work the day before his birthday... CUPCAKE DATE NIGHT!

Tristan ate the armored cupcake, which I thought was brave... I have very weak enamel.

We also had a debate as to whether the chocolate bears looked more like chocolate bear dominos or a chocolate bear graveyard. You be the judge.

Strawberry Cupcake from The Sweet Shoppe

2010-05-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

I went over to the Distillery for what I thought was going to be gelato (at SOMA), and then cupcakes (at The Sweet Shoppe), but ended up being a peanut butter nanaimo bar (from the same place) BEFORE nachos at Mill St. Brew Pub (p.s. Monday nights are half price appetizers!)...

Ana had a strawberry cupcake. I can't tell you if it was good or not, but it does look pretty. Their apple cinnamon cupcakes are pretty awesome though.

Iron Cupcake Toronto

2010-05-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

I went to Iron Cupcake in March with my friends Adam and Angela and was TOTALLY inspired to register to compete. I actually tried to join with my friend Olivia but registration was full by them time I contacted them. Then I was SO eager at the event that same day and then regretfully had to decline (conflict with a bridal shower - how tragic)...

I even asked to register for the following month and alas, I'll be at Bonnaroo that weekend! GAH!

Maybe July?

Anywho, the theme was coffee. Some delicious, some not so much. Overall an awesome experience - a great way to taste the competition and also see some creative ways to use the secret ingredient!

These pics were taken with my iPhone.

The lady who made these gave me her full sized cupcakes to take home! I was so excited haha... but the donut and cupcake combo isn't as amazing as one might think...

I voted for this as the people's choice award for Best Cupcake. It was DELICIOUS!

Cupcake Girls on the W Network

2010-04-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not the hugest fan of Cupcakes in Vancouver... they have some tasty ones, but I can't reiterate enough that I hate buttercream icing so that sort of knocked a lot off the list right off the bat...

Anyway, I noticed a poster by my house advertising a show about the owners of Cupcakes!

Click HERE to watch full episodes.

I gotta say, it's pretty good! Looks like madness but it makes me want to open one of my own!

Almost Vegan White Russian Cupcakes

2010-03-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tristan and I were invited to a "Cock-off" last night... a party to determine Graham and Kate's signature wedding cocktail. Each cocktail was judged by a number of things (taste, appearance, cost, name, etc) and the winning cocktail is going to be served at their wedding reception in June.

Since we knew we were up against 10 other couples (us being the youngest), we figured we'd just go completely left-field and choose a cocktail that we could make into delicious cupcakes and pretty much forfeit any chances of winning. So we decided on White Russians because their wedding colours are white, black and red.

Originally we were going to just serve the drunken cupcakes (aka cupcakes soaked in liquer) but ended up serving both the cupcake and the white russians...

They turned out so much better than I expected! The Kahlua gave the cupcakes a really nice subtle sweet coffee flavour and made them taste like donuts (which are one of my other favourite snacks!!). They're vegan - except for the chocolate we used to drizzle on top...

We got 5th place - which I think is pretty good for not thinking we'd even be taken seriously!

Late Christmas Cupcakes

2010-03-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

I forgot I made these chocolate peppermint snowmen, and double chocolate reindeer for Christmas... just thought I'd post for fun!

Not Cupcakes - but still AMAZING!!!

2010-02-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to bake some cookies of a while now, and even though I don't own VEGAN COOKIES INVADE YOUR COOKIE JAR, this recipe comes from that book. And even though this post isn't about cupcakes, the above book does have a sister book VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

Ergo, this post isn't really about cupcakes... but it's sort of guilty by association.

Tonight I made CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PILLOWS. And they're just TOO DAMN GOOD not to include here!

Speaking of guilty - this recipe is by no means "health conscious" and just because they're vegan doesn't mean they're at all good for you... but hot damn are they ever YUMMY! I suggest you make them for a special occasion - my excuse was Valentine's Day/Family Day.

Happy baking!

--

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows
makes 2 dozen cookies

Chocolate dough:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened dutch processed cocoa powder

2 tablespoons black unsweetened cocoa or more dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

3/4 cup natural salted peanut butter, crunchy or creamy style

2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons soy creamer or non-dairy milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa if using, baking soda and salt. Mix to form a moist dough.

Make the filling. In another mixing bowl beat together peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons of soy creamer and vanilla extract to form a moist but firm dough. If peanut butter dough is too dry (as different natural peanut butters have different moisture content), stir in remaining tablespoon of non-dairy milk. If dough is too wet knead in a little extra powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bakings sheet with parchment paper.

Shape the cookies. Create the centers of the cookies by rolling the peanut butter dough into 24 balls. Scoop a generous tablespoon of chocolate dough, flatten into a disc and place a peanut butter ball in the center. Fold the sides of the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter center and roll the chocolate ball into an smooth ball between your palms. Place on a sheet of waxed paper and repeat with remaining doughs. If desired gently flatten cookies a little, but this is not necessary.

Place dough balls on lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and let cookies for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to complete cooling. Store cookies in tightly covered container. If desired warm cookies in a microwave for 10 to 12 seconds before serving.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2010-02-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid and I wanted to bake, it didn't matter if I had all the ingredients at home... I always used something in my mothers Filipino pantry to substitute. Which I think has made me fearless when experimenting with ingredients... 9 times out of 10, whatever you make is usually still edible, but just doesn't keep its shape...

Which brings me to my Caramel Apple cupcakes. I made a total revamp of the recipe in Veganomicon.

The frosting I think was meant to be "fudgier" and stiffer, something I could pipe fancy things with... but turned out to be this... Note how it sort of looks like melted cheese on-top...

It was still DELIGHTFUL! In fact, I would probably make this frosting again. I topped them with honey roasted soynuts.

So word to the wise, don't be afraid to experiment a little. If they aren't that pretty in the end - that only means more for you at home! (although no one seemed to care that the frosting looked like melted cheese)...

Cinnamon Carrot Cupcakes

2009-12-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

We bought an obscene amount of carrots at the market the other week... This is only the remaining half that is taking up our entire crisper.

So what better way to use these up than by making vegan cinnamon carrot, raisin, walnut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (I was too cheap to buy the tofu cream cheese... so this is non-vegan frosting pictured here)...

These are special because:

a) I tweaked this recipe from one I had, and the one in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and they came out SUPER moist and delicious!! I once made vegan carrot cupcakes that were SOOOO dense and gross... SAVORY almost. Like carrot bread in cupcake disguise. It was awful. Only Tristan could eat them, and even then I think he was doing it to make me feel better about myself.

b) I got to use my fancy new silicon La Creuset cupcake liners which I got from Miss.Olivia Go for my birthday! They're BRILLIANT! THANKS OLIVIA!

c) Because I made them for my darling Tristan on our 2 year anniversary (I LOVE YA!) They're made with EXTRA love and care, which I'd like to think is why they came out so damn good...

Strawberry Cupcakes

2009-10-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just watched the episode of 30 Rock where you find out Kenneth is allergic to strawberries... Which reminded me that I had these photos of strawberry cupcakes I made this past summer.

Doesn't that strawberry make you miss summer?

Isn't Jack Donaghy the best thing to ever happen to Alec Baldwin?

*le sigh*

Flour Girls

2009-08-25T22:12:00.001-07:00

I was on my way home from Waterloo today and stopped in Milton to check out Flour Girls.

I dunno how I heard about this place (probably a blog somewhere) but what better reason to a) visit your boyfriend in Waterloo on a Monday night which gives you a good excuse to b) pull off the highway on your way home the next day to go eat cupcakes.

The place was tucked away just one block from the main street in Downtown Milton. It was pretty big, but a little dark for my liking. Good news is they have a patio area and it's just a walk away from a park with a pretty pond so plenty of options to enjoy the summer weather if eating indoors ain't your thang. It ain't mine so I got mine to go.

Selection at the shop was limited (I don't imagine they get much traffic being in Milton?) so I decided to go with the Red Velvet and the Chocolate with Raspberry Buttercream.

Red Velvet

INCREDIBLE! Moist cake and delicious not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. Exactly how a Red Velvet cupcake should taste in my humble opinion. It was the perfect cupcake to frosting ratio.

Sidenote: Have you ever had such vivid dreams about amazing cupcakes you've had you can taste them in your dreams?

Yah, me neither.

Chocolate with Raspberry Buttercream

I tasted the frosting first and was pretty excited because I actually HATE... no LOATHE... most buttercream frosting. However this was light and had a really lovely raspberry aftertaste. But when I bit into the cupcake it was too dry and dense and the raspberry flavour was totally lost. I was super disappointed. Bah.

Verdict? Cupcakes were only $2.50 so not bad price wise. I wouldn't suggest going out of your way to go here (who ISN'T going out their way to go here?), but if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, stopping in to see if they have any Red Velvet would be worth it.

A little bit of Seoul...

2009-08-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Even though I tried to move to South Korea 3 times this past year and got rejected EVERY TIME, I still love it there!

This video encompasses so much of how I feel...

Each time I promised myself I'd go to Good Ovening but alas, I never made it back. Le sigh. In any case, I thought I'd share their link.

http://www.goodovening.com/

Turning Japanese...

2009-08-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

My good friend Olivia Go just recently came back from Japan and brought me back these fabulous little cupcake liners!

We think the small ones are actually rice ball liners for bento boxes - which I quite love to make (and eat) anyway - so they've got dual use. Sugoi!

Arigato Olivia!

Palace Cupcakes

2009-08-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

It was Daelyn's turn to bring a snack to soccer so of course I decided to make "Palace Cupcakes" (Palace being the name of his team) in the colours of his striped soccer jersey.

I'm sure I could've topped these with nothing and the kids would've still loved them, but I think the stripes came out nicely :)

Rolly's June Midnight Market

2009-06-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

100 cupcakes later, Rolly's Midnight Market was a great success! I was incredibly nervous to have buttercream icing in such hot weather, but thanks to my parents who lent me their coolers, it wasn't that bad!

I didn't take many photos except for the cupcakes themselves - but there were lots of people who did and promised to pass them along. I'll post them once I get them. In the meantime, here was my VEGAN menu...

SIMPLE VEGAN CUPCAKES - chocolate, vanilla or cookies'n'cream cupcakes, topped with vanilla or chocolate frosting

GOURMET VEGAN CUPCAKES

RASPERRY LEMON DROP - Vanilla cupcake with fresh lemon curd filling, topped with rasberry frosting
This was a labour of love for sure. It takes a long time and a lot of rasperries and lemons to make reductions of both. I thought this would sell fast and furious because of the hot weather - like a refreshing glass of lemonade. But instead it sold slowly but surely. Still very popular!

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO - chocolate cupcake filled with vanilla bavarian cream, topped with chocolate espresso frosting
This was my best seller. Which at first I was surprised about - but looking at this photo... I should've known haha. It is REALLY quite pretty. I think I'll make double the batch next time.

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported!

Chestnut (Marrow) Japanese Cupcakes

2009-06-25T13:46:00.001-07:00

I recently read a blog post about the lack of cupcakes in Japan. It's true. You'd think Japanese bakeries would be all over it, but sadly I didn't find many (or any).

During my last trip to Japan, I was on a hunt for the ultimate ice cream in Kyoto. In my search, I was lucky enough to find a bakery that sold both beautiful cupcakes and incredible ice cream sundaes.

I opted for the ice cream (how could I *NOT* just LOOK AT IT! It's topped with MOCHI!)

Ana had the Chestnut cupcake. On top of standard Japanese vanilla cake, there was a dollop of buttercream icing topped with yellow icing threads and a candied chestnut on top.

Sooooo proper.

ROLLY'S MIDNIGHT MARKET!

2009-06-25T13:31:00.001-07:00

Incase you live in Toronto...

I'm selling vegan cupcakes at the Rolly's Garage Midnight Market.

Menu is as follows:

BASIC VEGAN CUPCAKES
Vanilla (with chocolate or vanilla icing)
Chocolate (with chocolate or vanilla icing)
Cookies'n'Cream

GOURMET VEGAN CUPCAKES
Lemon Raspberry
Chocolate Espresso

TREATS
Mini Cupcakes
Cupcake Pops

Hope to see you there!

DIY Cupcakes

2009-06-22T07:06:00.001-07:00

Ryan and Nana had a birthday party on the island, and trying to figure out how to get 24 cupcakes intact on my bike to the picnic sight was a difficult task. So I decided to bring the cupcakes in a tupperware bin with a can of icing, and bags of coloured icing to pipe there... And voila - problem solved and people were able to decorate their own! However, I think most people asked me to decorate one for them... which I didn't mind but it was still a good idea I think.

Here's the birthday couple!

CUPCAKE TIP #574 - When transporting bags of icing for piping - don't twist the bags in advance. I did that and the bags BURST in the tupperware bin they were in. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it was the bumpy road while biking? Maybe it was the cheap bags I was using haha? But I think it might've had to do with the warm weather. Either way it ruined the piping bags which was unfortunate. Take heed!

Happy Birthday Mark Valino!

2009-06-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Vegan chocolate Rock Band cupcakes ;)

The Main Ingredient

2009-06-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

The lovely people over at The Main Ingredient asked me to bake 300 holiday cupcakes to give away during their holiday edition party. I made vanilla berry vegan cupcakes and vegan chocolate toasted coconut cupcakes.

Fruit Topped Vegan Birthday Cupcakes!

2009-06-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

I made these vanilla apple cupcakes many moons ago for my friend Che. He's also vegan and in light of that, I figured topping the cupcakes with fruit instead of sprinkles and candy would be a good look...

I made these for Tristan's sister's birthday. Vanilla fig cupcakes topped with fruit.

I was worried the kids wouldn't dig them, but as you can see, they had no complaints.

CUPCAKE TIP #1054 - When decorating with fruit, if you have fresh cut fruit don't top until it's to be served... cut strawberries and the like leak lots of liquid over frosting... word to the wise.

I HEART OLIVIA GO!

2009-06-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Years ago my good friend Olivia Go moved to NYC to go to vegan culinary school. We threw her a surprise going away party and of course, I baked vanilla banana cupcakes in her honour.

I never intended to use the strawberries as hearts, but I'm happy I did because not only did they look great, the flavours matched well.

THE BLOG!

2009-06-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally decided to start up a Happy Cupcake Blog.

In hindsight - I should've been taking more photos of the creations I've made over the years... but better late than never I suppose!

Happy Cupcake!

Adrienne ^^