Monday Crush

Mondays always need a little sweetening, right? Well, IMO, it doesn't get much sweeter than cute boys with a knack for sugarcraft. That being said, let me present my Monday Crush - Geoff Manthorn from Charm City Cakes.

I'm willing to bet that anyone who's seen him work his skills on Ace of Cakes can attest to his dreaminess, but check out this video if you need any convincing. Not only does he know how to yield a pastry bag with precision, but he can play you a lovely tune on guitar while you're enjoying your delicious mountain yak shaped birthday cake. Nothing says romance like songs about wet t-shirt contests and the jersey shore. Behold:



Now I typically find that placing a guitar in front of someone increases their foxiness by at least 63%, but the fact that he's playing you a song while in a bakery? That's the icing on the...umm, yeah...cake.

Enjoy.

Owl Cakes for Emily

As much as I love Chicago, some of my favorite things are still in Boston. Included in that list of things I miss from the homeland are some of my favorite people on the planet. These cupcakes go out to Emillama, who I miss terribly. Emily loves owls and the color yellow almost as much as I love her.

Inspired by: Emillama.

Best enjoyed: While listening to The Concretes on an autumn afternoon when the sun makes everything look shades of orange.

I want your skullcakes...

I've always wanted to play in a Misfits cover band. Over the weekend, I decided to take the most logical step to fill this misfits-cover-band shaped void in my life...but instead of practicing el guitaro and posting a craigslist ad for bandmates, I baked skullcakes.

Little did I know when setting out on this task that it would come damn close to being an epic faiulre. You see, I did my homework. I made a template for the white chocolate skulls, and I assembled them while the vanilla cuppers were in the oven. It was only once the cupcakes were cooled and I was ready to place the glorious white chocolate skulls on top of them that I realized my mistake. The skulls were gigantic. I don't even know how my measurements ended up as off as they were, but these skulls were about the size of two cupcakes (each).

No biggie, though. I just stacked two cupcakes on top of eachother (with the wrapper removed on the top one), secured with chocolate buttercream and a lollipop stick, then dipped the whole thing in chocolate ganache. Crisis averted. Cupcakes prevail.


The details - vanilla cupcakes dipped in chocolate ganache (tinted black). The skulls are made of white chocolate that I piped on wax paper and set in the freezer to harden.

Would Glenn Danzig eat these cupcakes? That I can't say, but I can say that you won't lose any punk cred by devouring one (or three). Hey - if the [chocolate] drains down like devils rain, we'll bathe tonight.

Inspired by: Danzig, The Misfits, Skulls, and my lack of a music related creative outlet.

Best enjoyed: while wearing a black hoodie and listening to Skulls by the Misfits on repeat.

Smashing Pumkins...literally.

I'm going to put it out there - pumpkins kick ass. I'm talking about anything pumpkin related. Not only are pumpkins the ultimate symbol of fall (and the raddest holiday in existence), but they also taste really, incredibly good. As a tribute to Daenra's upcoming birthday, I decided to experiment with my all time favorite pumpkin cupcake recipe. These little packages of awesomeness combine three of my favorite things - pumpkin, ice cream, and cupcakes. The name is a bit of tribute to one of Daenra's favs from his teenage years. Plus, in terms of British adjectives, these babies really are smashing.




For the mini-cakes, I used the Pumpkin Chocolate Cupcake recipe (sans chocolate chips) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World in a Wilton pumpkin mini-cake pan.

The Wilton pan makes 8 pumpkin halves which you place together for 4 total pumpkins. After baking, I scooped out their guts with a regular table spoon to make a bowl shape, then filled the bowls with vanilla ice cream just before serving.


For the leaves, I molded tinted gum paste and then used food coloring diluted with vanilla extract to paint the shadows. For the vines, I wrapped strips of gum paste around lollipop sticks and let dry in place.


The frosting is cinnamon buttercream tinted orange and piped into the pumpkin crevices with a #5 tip. We were pretty excited to eat these, so please excuse the hasty piping job.

This recipe alone is probably reason enough to go out and buy the cookbook if you don't already have it. The cake comes out moist and delicate with a fine crumb - in other words, "awesome". The best part is that you literally have to smash these mini-cakes to get to the tasty ice cream center. Try it, and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.


Inspired by: Daenra, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, and Autumn. Best enjoyed with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness playing in the background. Don't worry, autumn is an annually issued passport to emo-dom, regardless of who you are. Embrace it.

x ms. s