In Pursuit of Perfection

Patti called me the Cupcake Queen at work on Tuesday night. I had to laugh, because I've never honestly seen myself in that fashion, and further to this, it was one batch of cupcakes and it was two weeks ago.

Ok, let me backup. The beginning of August, I asked Patti, the boss lady at the coffee shop where I work, what the protocol for making food for the coffee shop was, and would it be possible to look into making something of my own, to sell. Patti was eager to let me try, stating that it wouldn't hurt, and it might turn out successful. I did my research, asked other employees their thoughts (and wishes) and finally concluded that I would make cupcakes. If you've ever had a Crave cupcake, or seen the line outside of a Crave bakery, you'll understand me when I say that Calgary, maybe even Alberta loves a good cupcake. This considered, I figured I'd start there.

I finally settled on a recipe for the cupcakes and tentatively agreed to try a particular buttercream icing recipe. Now, if you've ever researched buttercream icings, you'll know that there are about 4 different varieties, all with various amounts of butter, shortening, and even sometimes eggs. I have a cookbook, that I'm sure is being used as a textbook somewhere, that gives 4 different versions of buttercream, with varying descriptions and suggestions. Did you know that there is French buttercream, Italian buttercream, Swiss buttercream and American buttercream. French is the most delicate (no surprise there) and American is the easiest (again, not a big surprise). I had experimented with both the French and the American versions, only to read in the textbook that Swiss is the way to go. Well you should have told me that earlier.

I whipped up my buttercream, made it a beautiful blue and red hue, piped it onto my cupcakes, and drove'em to High River. My goal was to sell out, and peak people's interest. Well folkes, I guess I did more than that. I sold out and heard from three different people about how much people loved them. So, I taking another batch down tomorrow. I'm going to be daring and leave 15 this time instead of 12. Truly, it's all part of my master plan (insert evil laugh here!)

I will post the recipe for Swiss buttercream when I figure out cup measurements. Right now, it's all be weight, and despite the fact that its more accurate by weight, most people don't have a scale. A great investment, but not very common. So, when I can tell you how many eggs and how many cups (yes, I said cups) of sugar , I'll be sure to post it. Word to the wise, it's not a 5 minute procress, more like 35, but well worth the time.