Let it Snow

December 2008
Let it Snow

I love snow. Wait, that isn’t accurate. I love the idea of perfect fluffy white snow, snowmen, icicles and sledding. The actual cold, wet, and slippery nature of the stuff can be a buzzkill. Luckily, I have a weak bond with reality.

This cake celebrates the pure white “luster of new fallen snow”. Trevor turned me on to these great snowflake presses that turn out perfect blizzards. A layer of iridescent luster dust and some coarse sugar and this baby sparkles. The picture doesn’t give the full effect, but I love it.

For version two of this cake I tinted the icing with a bit of blue so that the snowflakes would stand out more. But I think that it lost that snowdrift quality.

I also created these little white chocolate snowman lollipops to take on the Christmas party circuit. A great way to finish off a plate of homemade cookies. The back of the pops have a sprinkle of crushed candycane for a winter kick. (Mmmm, chocolate and peppermint.)

The details of the eyes, scarf and buttons were somewhat lost, so I highlighted them with red and green petal dust and then gave everything a coat of pearl luster to shine them back up.

And don’t forget to button up that overcoat. Merry Christmas to all!

Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate with Vietnamese Cinnamon
Filling: Mint Chocolate
Icing: Double Whipped Vanilla
Decorations: Fonadant snowflakes, coarse sugar, pear and luster dusts

Chocolate Guitars

December 2008
Chocolate Guitars

These favors were created for the “Rock the Cradle” baby shower. They are about 7 inches high and made with layered dark and blue chocolate.



Suzanne from “Stamps and Papercuts” created the bag toppers which accented the colors and gave it a finished look. I look forward to working with her again because her designs are so fun and include such great details.

December 2008
Rock the Cradle

Cheryl is not a pastel ribbon and booties kind of mom and her baby shower reflected that. Boas, blow up guitars, a great soundtrack, guests wearing fishnets stocking, and nary a stork in sight! Her shower theme was Rock the Cradle to reflect her love of music, but I also wanted to bring in elements of the monkey/jungle theme in the nursery. And that my friends is how this little guy learned to play the guitar.



Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate Star (Chocolate with chocolate pudding mix added)
Filling: Chocolate ganache
Icing: Vanilla
Decorations: Piped Buttercream and Chocolate Icing

Back in Business

December 2008
Back in Business

Have no fear, the bakeshop is still buzzing away. I was barely through the triumphant return to the Virginia side of DC when the holiday baking season went into full swing. The blog and website are being updated shortly.

Thanks for your emails!

Get out and vote!

Stop reading blogs and go vote.

If you already voted (good job), you may now return to your regularly scheduled Tuesday activities.

Thank you.

All the Buzz in Seattle

All the Buzz in Seattle

October 2008

Our merry band moved north to the city center of Seattle and surrounding vineyards. The city has distinct little neighborhoods with their own styles and cultures. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the city is the flying fish market at Pike's Market. But the market has so many more layers with vendors selling homemade huckleberry honey, amazing macaroni and cheese, tiny doughnuts and of course-- the original Starbucks Coffee.

And what goes best with coffee? Doughnuts. Hey, it's your birthday, live a little.

Downtown we shopped and enjoyed observing the "rugged chic" inhabitants. In DC a casually nice restaurant calls for a black dress and kitten heels. In Seattle it is apparently alright to roll out in cargo pants and an under armor tee. Cool. Break dancing and flannel are still abundant here too, giving a fun rebellious streak to the city. One of the trendy spots we visited was the Dahlia Lounge. They have locally famous doughnuts that come paired with fresh huckleberry jam and a whipped marscarpone-vanilla creme.

Dahlia Lounge Doughnuts (apparently doughnuts are a thing in Seattle?!)

We grabbed a great breakfast at the Portage Bay Cafe. This cafe is organic, locally grow, and yummy, living up to their slogan "Eat Like You Mean It". However, when the weather is nice in Seattle it is important to take advantage of the vitamin D boost. So we headed north to the vineyards. (Did I just pin that decision on weather?! Yeah, weather.)

The most picturesque, Chateau Ste. Michelle, was the perfect place for a mellow afternoon picnic of wine and cheese.

Irene insisted that we make one more high-caloric stop at Molly Moos Homemade Ice Cream. (Serious arm-twisting ensued.) This neighborhood joint scoops up flavors like lavender honey, green tea, salted caramel, and Ba'rocky road. Being from DC I tried to distill a greater political platform in the chunks of fudge and, homemade marshmallow. But I couldn't come up with anything. Maybe I should have stayed for another bowl to ponder it some more...

The landfill friendly non-plastic spoon and paper bowl did not escape my eye. The really do care about the environment. It was a discernible leap from the "maybe we will recycle that one glass bottle we sell" attitude of east coast establishments. Plastic spoon or not, this ice cream was indulgent. Yet another reason to move to the left coast.

Hello, Tacoma!

Hello, Tacoma!

October 2008

I'm thinking about moving from DC to Washington State. Wow, what a place! This last trip out to Tacoma and Seattle was a whirlwind of friends, food, and fabulous weather. I have been told that the Seattle area is not always 74 degrees and sunny, but my research says it is. My research also indicates that is a region of GOOD EATS. My tour guides Melanie, Anssel, and Irene know where to go, and my travel companions Erin and Laura take their eating very seriously. I was really taken by how fresh the food is in the Pacific Northwest. Restaurants talk about locally grown or organic, not because it is trendy marketing, but because they really believe in sourcing the best ingredients.


This philosophy of "best" surely factored into the deliciousness found at Hello, Cupcake. This Tacoma cupcakery is nestled on a campus of UW and has a comfy Donna Reed's kitchen aesthetic.




The towers of vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and mocha are irresistible. The chocolate on chocolate has a thick, dense, not-overly-sweet frosting that is the best I've ever tasted. However, when I think of Seattle, I think of my other love--- COFFEE. So I had to go for the mocha with coffee frosting, topped with a chocolate coffee bean.

Yum. Definitely worth the trip.

After getting hyper and sugared up, we thought we should go somewhere quiet, with lots of breakable stuff, where we could be inconspicuous. Luckily the Museum of Glass is across the street. The giant aqua columns on the bridge kinda reminded me of rock candy. Guess that sugar-buzz was still in effect.

A few rolls of candid photos and an injury or two, and we had thouroughly experienced the Chihuly glass exhibits and the gift shop. Who says our generation doesn't appreciate culture?

We ended the day by enjoying local salmon with huckleberry puree at a great resyuraunt near the water (CJ Shenanigans). Since we were celebrating double birthdays (Mel and Laura) the waitress brought us a rack of cake shots. Yup, cake shots.

Someone brilliant found a way to serve EIGHT types of cake at once. Ours included (left to right- to the best of my memory...) banana bread pudding, chocolate mouse cake, oreo parfait, something coconut (?), strawberry shortcake, something else choclate, mudpie, and tiramisu. Happy birthday indeed.

DC's First Annual Cupcake Contest

DC's First Annual Cupcake Contest

September 2008

I had a fabulous time at the 1st Annual DC Cupcake Contest in October. It was a great evening of meeting cupcake fans, sharing my favorite flavors and generally enjoying the cupcake craze in the city.

Jenni from Blonde's I-View organized the event for the young professionals group at the Washington Club, but it was also open to the public for a small admission charge which gave you access to the display samples and more cupcake samples than any one person should consume in an evening. Whew! Several local food bloggers judged the three categories:

#1 Chocolate and Vanilla -- #2 Vanilla and Chocolate -- #3 Wildcard.

These guys are heading off to the judging room.




The Honeybee Bakeshop submissions included:

#1 C/V: Classic chocolate with my favorite vanilla buttercream




#2 V/C: Vanilla cake with milk chocolate frosting (like creamy hot chocolate)


#3 Wine & Cheese: Red wine and dark chocolate cupcake with goat cheese frosting and pine nuts



It was so much fun to talk to people as they stopped at the table and really see the excitement as they tasted the mini cupcakes from the display. Since most of my baked goods go off to parties without me, it was fun to reconnect with the pure sugar-rush that folks were enjoying.

The wine & cheese cupcakes were definitely a hit and we had several repeat samplers and a lot of word of mouth buzz. I ran out of the samples and ended up using my remaining goat cheese frosting on plain chocolate cupcakes, and then handing it out plain as frosting shots because people wanted to grab a taste. Jay even offered to pipe some directly into a guest's mouth-- and for a minute, I thought they were going to say yes! Flattering, but ewwwww!! All in all, those are definitely going into the cupcake rotation. Sometimes its good to have a wildcard challenge that gets the creativity in motion.

All I know is that I COULD NOT have gotten this done without a lot of help from "the Hive".

Amy for the "architure" of the tablescape
Andrea for allowing me to commandeer the kitchen and ice about a bazillion tiny cupcakes
Erin for putting a rush on getting the website up
Jay for braving the craft store to buy supplies
Suzanne for preparing the signage and color theme
And to everyone who came out to the contest with friends and co-workers.

I am so thankful to each of you for your support and friendship!

Oh!!! I almost forgot a very important announcement. The contest winner in the professional category was Sharon from Nostalgia Cupcakes , a newly opened shop in Annapolis. Go there immediately and buy a cupcake. The caramel filled chocolate fudge is particularly yummy.

And if you want to try the Honeybee Bakeshop Wine and Cheese for yourself, they are available for order by the dozen.

Still Stalling...

Still Stalling

October 2008

I'm still stalling on the photos, but here is a great baking blog from Sur La Table. And don't foget Cakewrecks, which is still my favorite.

Time out for cupcakes

Hi friends-

Sorry I have fallen a bit behind. With a wonderful trip to Seattle and a the pics from the DC Cupcake Contest I have a lot to tell you about. Unfortunately my obsessive tracking of the Dow is cutting into my photo editing time. But I'll be back soon. Promise. If there ever was a time to eat chocolate--- this is it!!!

Tide yourselves over by reading about the five weeks of DC "Cupcake Wars" that the Washington Post held.

Thanks!
The Queen Bee

New HB Website!

New Website

September 2008

The Honeybee Bakeshop has a new website! View goodies and bakeshop updates at:

www.HoneybeeBakeshop.net

(*Please note the "Dot Net" extension)

Now you can view cakes and cookies free of my ramblings and anecdotes (Hooray!). The blog will continue, but we will maintain a distinction between product info (on the website) and the stories/photos/ramblings.

A huge thank you to Erin, our fabulous webmaster, who did great work on the set-up and graphics.

Happy Reading.

DC's 1st Annual Cupcake Contest

Honeybee Bakeshop Invites you to DC's 1st Annual Cupcake Contest

September 2008

Cupcakeries seem to be popping up all over DC and Jenni from Blonde's I-View is organizing DC's 1st Annual Cupcake Contest this week so people can taste what's new around the city. It is this Thursday night at The Washington Club. Aside from DC-area bakers (amateur and professional), there is a category for Out-of-Town bakeshops to show us their stuff. So expect a lot of creative and yummy confections!

I'll be competeing in the amateur category for the Honeybee Bakeshop, so come on by and enjoy a few samples. The HB will also have a new website later this week, but more on that later...

When: Thursday, September 25th

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Where: The Washington Club - 15 Dupont Circle

It is my understanding that there will be no admission fee. Free cupcakes for everyone!

Threadless <3's Cake

Threadless (hearts) Cake

September 2008

If I didn't spend so much time making cakes and cookies I think I would learn some kind of graphics program and make t-shirts for Threadless. I love the creativity and humor of these artists. Tons of people submit ideas each week and the people at Threadless pick a bunch (after reader voting) to be printed and sold.

I was very excited to find this site dedicated to cakes that were inspired by Threadless t-shirts. ThreadCAKES was a contest in 2007, but the gallery is still up for all to see and enjoy.

And if YOU also like both t-shirts and cake... you should buy this one: "Cake is Awesome!" Shirt

Mod Cupcakes

Mod Cupcakes

August 2008

This is the summer of cupcakes and cookies. I think people feel less guilty snacking on a cupcake or a cookie on a hot summer day, as opposed to a "huge" slice of cake. This is the latest from the oven. Yummy.

Cupcake Details:

• Cake: Dark chocolate with white chocolate chunks
• Icing: Lemon-Vanilla buttercream swirls
• Decorations: Piped buttercream and silver foil wrappers
  

Carrot Cupcakes

Carrot Cupcakes

August 2008

Eat Your Veggies. Seriously. If all veggies tasted this good I could swing being vegetarian.

These carrot cake cupcakes were an experiment. An experiment in what? Well, carrot cake is usually in full cake form. I was nervous that baking them into tiny morsels would allow for too much moisture to escape. No one wants to eat a dry, crumbly cupcake full of carrots. Yuck! Lucky for me Martha had a fabulous recipe for mini carrot loaves that adapted beautifully. I even used a new frosting recipe with no Crisco (gasp!).

In my mind there are two kinds of carrot cake. The dark molasses heavy/sticky kind with big walnuts and the lighter spice cake style that favors raisins. I chose team raisin. So I guess you could say these are fruit and veggie cakes... So go eat your veggies.


Cupcake details:

• Cake: Carrot cake with freshly grated carrots and juice
• Frosting: Cream cheese frosting with fresh lemon juice
• Decorations: Orange-tinted chocolate wafers (my preference over marzipan carrots)
  

Orchid Cake

Orchid Cake

August 2008

This weekend I was at home watching the Olympics (Go USA!) and decided to use my couch time to work on sugar flowers. I tested out a new orchid and this cake sprung up around that.

The first step in “growing” flowers is to roll and cut the petal and leaf shapes which are individually attached to thin wires. After the pieces are dried (overnight/several days) they are arranged in the shape of the flower and bound with floral tape (the green stretchy-sticky stuff). The porcelain-like flower is still pure white at this point.

One the flower is assembled and fully dried, the color is applied using pigmented dusts. First the base colors are added to the center stamen of the flower (yellow for pollen).



Next I used a pale green on the throat and placed the darker dotted pattern on with a fine tipped food color marker. The main petals also got a pale pink all-over.


A warmer pink lines the edges because when you look closely at photos of orchids there is a LOT going on in terms of color variety and shading patterns. The two onthe right have been shaded while the right hand flower is still pale.
The final step was to shade with a dark hunter green that was also applied to the leaves and then coat the whole flower with a shiny petal dust that gives it a slightly moist look.

Since the flowers have a pink and green influence I baked a pistachio pound cake recipe that I have been dying to try and covered the top with the pale pink rolled buttercream that I had left from the baby onesie cookies.

This vanilla frosting was a new experiment, but it wasn’t as thick as I like when decorating. Luckily, the focus here is really the flowers, so the borders can be simple. Win some, lose some! All in all, I am happy with this tasty experiment. The finished product:



Cake Details:

• Cake: Pistachio pound cake
• Filling: Chocolate ganache
• Icing: Vanilla icing with pink raspberry rolled buttercream on the top
• Decorations: Hand-made gumpaste flowers

Baby Onesie Cookies

Baby Onesie Cookies

August 2008

Wow- what a baby boom! I am so excited for all of the new babies this week that I mixed up a large batch of onesie cookies to bring to hospitals, showers, and gatherings. Some are even heading into the mail.

These adorable onesies are made with cutter kits from Country Kitchen, which some CASANOVA (that would be the Cake and Sugar Artists of NOrthern Virginia) members discovered at the ICES convention and demo'ed for us last month. I think they are adorable!

Here is a wedding cake I am playing with as well. I do love the food color-markers.

UPDATE: Packaged cookies- ready for delivery.

Twilight / Breaking Dawn Cookies

Twilight / Breaking Dawn Cookies

August 2008

OK, I admit that I am addicted to the Twilight books. Some combination of the romance-suspense-thriller plot, the crazy cast of characters and the "bizarrely moral vampires" (what's not to love?) I am hooked. It is also possible that the ink used to print them emits an alluringly addictive substance that captures the mind into a euphoric trance. But maybe that's just me...

Or not. Because I keep reading stories like this one from the MTV movies site, and almost all of the TwilightMoms (all over 25, both married and single), who are perfectly rational adults swept away to rainy little Forks, WA to keep company with the "vegetarian" vampires in the Cullen family.


These are not short books, and reading the 700+ pager, Breaking Dawn, at its midnight release required both caffeine and appropriate snacks.

Lemon shortbread apples provided all of the "temptation" of Twilight's cover. This batch is sweetened up with rolled buttercream icing and red shimmer dust. Because it MUST dazzle in the sunlight. A few bites and I feel a lot better about being human.

Jamaican Rum Cake

Jamaican Rum Cake

July 2008

Congratulations to Darla and Elfe! I loved the beautifully scenic Altoona wedding, and the opportunity to join friends and family to bless you both and celebrate what God has done in joining you together. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'd drive back to Altoona just for another piece of that Jamaican Rum Cake.


I've heard other Jamaican couples talk about the traditional cake being soaked in rum for months before the wedding and having all of the "thirsty" candied fruit soak it up so that it needed to be continually quenched. I'd heard that the rich spice of the cake was highlighted by the soaking process. I'd even heard that the very presence of the cake made the celebration even more lively. But I assumed it was just a cultural pride thing. A touch of home, or a fond memory for those so far away from their warmer homeland. But then I tasted it. Wow. That is some serious cake my friends!

Note: I did NOT make this cake, but I enjoyed eating it.

In this photo you can almost see the dense richness. You could certainly taste it.



I hope that it really does symbolize your marriage and that you will be richly blessed beyond all imaginations with love that is deep and even unexpected.

CakeWrecks

CakeWrecks

July 2008

Here is a definite blog of note. The snarky comments on what passes as “professional” cake decorating are hysterical. Again, I'm glad I do my own baking!

Enjoy.

*CakeWrecks*
www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com

4th of July Cupcakes

4th of July Cupcakes
July 2008

Bring on the picnicing and bbq'ing!



Cake Details:

• Cupcakes: White vanilla with blue and red "funfetti" sprinkles
• Icing: Vanilla buttercream
• Decorations: Candy stars
• Wrappers: Red foil (source: Sur La Tab)
  

Baby Shower (Giant) Cupcake

Baby Shower Cake

June 2008

To celebrate the arrival of the Steele twins we had a farm-themed baby shower with lots of cows, sheep, and bunnies. I was excited to use my new GIANT cupcake pan which was a very thoughtful birthday present. It seemed like a big cake and lots of "baby" cupcakes was an appropriate route for this one.

We selected pink, cream and brown for the color scheme which paved an express path to strawberries and chocolate!

Cake Details:

• Cake: Strawberry (Modified Cake Mix)
• Icing: Vanilla Buttercream
• Decorations: Bottom- Fondant covered to replicate the cupcake paper and create the pink flowers.
• Decorations: Top- Tinted Vanilla Buttercream, Hand-piped Chocolate Animals, Fondant Daisies on floral wire (sticking out of the top)

Cupcake Details:

• Cake: White vanilla cake mix
• Icing: Vanilla Buttercream (in white and soft pink)
• Decorations: Hand-piped chocolate animals, fondant flowers
• Cupcake Papers: Various Pink(s) and Brown Polka-dots (source: Martha Stewart Collection)

Photo source: Andrea (Thanks!)

Chocolate Lollipops

Baby Carriage Lollipops
June 2008

Here are the party favors for the baby shower. To keep with our pink, brown and cream these they are coordinating chocolate lolipops for each guest to take home.

The Real Debate of '08: Frozen Yogurt

The Real Debate of '08: Frozen Yogurt

June 2008

What goes hand-in-hand with cake? Ice cream. And in DC we do love our frozen yogurt... Just ask the hill people. So I am adding a bit more fro-yo news here. Forget Obama and McCain, this is the battle that matters.

Domo Arigato Mr. Yogato

Opening: June 28, 2008

Another tangy yogurt spot is opening in the Dupont Circle area. Mr. Yogato is set to join the summer celebration this Saturday.

And Metrocurean is posting (Bring On The Fro-Yo Wars) that Pinkberry and Yogen Fruz aren't far behind.

Tangysweet Opens In Dupont

Opening: June 6, 2008

Today (6/6) is the opening of Tangysweet and they are giving out free samples. I won't pretend that I'm not going just to see the tables that change color, but you can go for the Pinkberry style fro-yo and fruit if you want. Check out the latest flavor import from LA.

Celtic Bridal Shower Cake

Celtic Bridal Shower Cake

May 2008

The theme for Mary and Ryan's wedding is the symbol for the celtic trinity, a simple and elegant trefoil.



This cake was for a wedding shower at an office. I love making cakes like this because it represents a break from the daily routine to celebrate someone's life and spend time in community. So I kicked it up by adding a layer of vanilla cake between the two chocolate ones. It was fun to assemble and hopefully retained its whimsy when cut.

Details:

Cake Details:

• Cake: Two layers of chocolate cake, with a layer of vanilla in the center
• Filling: Choclate bavarian cream
• Icing: Vanilla buttercream
• Decorations: Tinted vanilla buttercream and chocolate frosting