...I say you blame sheer exhaustion. I just started teaching at Golden West college; my man just started his grad program, and cupcakes have been flying out of our home like crazy. The business is doing great, and very honestly, I would say that August was really the first month we were able to see a palpable increase of business since Cupcake Wars. In June, it was still really new. In July, we got a lot of calls of people wanting to stop by but not any real orders. This month, we met so many awesome new fans and clients, and we actually invented a number of flavors, but in my humble opinion, none compare to the mighty Nutella Almond Champagne cupcake:
I had to make a collage. I mean that is how spectacular it was.
Let's start with a shout out to some amazingly beautiful muses:
First and foremost: Thank you Nicole Valencia! Nicole actually outright suggested it. Very literally, she ordered me to get some champagne and get some nutella and bake until my heart's content, and I'm happy she suggested it for a number of reasons:
#1. I realized that drinking while baking is fabulous.
#2. My dear friend Erica Hayes needed something special to set apart her joyous house warming and I have a feeling they did the trick, quite perfectly. For a wedding, we once made a mimosa cake with fresh orange zest, orange juice concentrate, hand zested tangerines, and just as much champagne as we used for Erica's homewarming cake, and people flipped for it. Nothing says "I feel like celebrating" like champagne. And we really wanted to celebrate Erica and her new home, so it was time to pop open that bottle and bake! (Erica Hayes, that was your shout out.)
#3. With the left over nutella, I keep making myself nutella and PB and banana toast. So bad for me, and yet so viciously tasty... Look forward to me somehow coming up with a cupcake that references that dreamy concoction.
#4. For my birthday, a girlfriend of ours, knowing how I love the bubbly, got me a bottle of delicious almond champagne. Sadly for me, the love of my life does not drink champagne, and without his necessary assistance, I can't even dream of coming close to drinking that much champagne by myself. As a result, I was super happy to have found an appropriate way to share that sweetly given bottle with my near and dear. Even Shan got one as a thank you for the thoughtful birthday gift:
Thanks Shanny!!Now that shout outs are done, and you know way more about my pre-baking, inspiration process, let's talk about some cool photos. Usually, I type a lot and there are only a few photos, but I have a feeling, you probably like the photos more than my random ramblings, so let's try a new format. Word to the wise: ignore how messy my poor pans look! They get a lot of love, so don't judge!
I love these photos because I think you can tell how soft the cake turned out. Originally, I feared these cakes would be heavy. Nutella, after all, is thick and creamy. It's a lot like peanut butter. My PB & J cakes, a personal favorite of mine, are awesome, but they're dense and they're heavy, but when the nutella met those magical champagne bubbles, a miracle took place and the result with airy, nearly bouncy cakes. I'm hoping that is translated in the photos, because it was translated through taste, in a very real and yummy way. In lieu of an actual nutella intended and test kitchen founded recipe, I used my tried and true and very loved PB recipe, but replaced the peanut butter with nutella, added an extra egg to create the illusion of fudge, and replaced the coffee I put in my peanut butter cake with ALMOND champagne. The key here is the ALMOND. I replaced my beloved and usual vanilla bean paste with a mixture of 1:1 bourbon vanilla and real almond extract. I like vanilla so much that I couldn't completely kick it out, but it was A OK because, the almond was a very apparent taste.
....Although I sometimes criticize other bakers for using fillings and frosting as compensation for dry cake, I cored these, filled them, and frosted them generously! That green little toy is my corer. I love it! I got it at Target, and you should get one too!GET BACK ON TRACK, ERICA!
As I was saying...
Ultimately, I was glad I laid on the frosting, and that's not just because the frosting, photographed beautifully (as you can see below,) but that's also because it wasn't overpowering. My problem with other bakeries is that they seem tempted to hide their cake in distracting, little kid, sugary, artificial flavors and frostings. But if that was a fear I had with these cakes, you couldn't possibly tell by the outcome! While being creamy and buttery, it was mild enough as to not overpower your taste buds. It complimented the cake without masking it, and that's probably because I keep it simple. After all that's kind of our style at 2 Sweet...
It was my simple butter cream, the same one any good grandma knows how to make, but creamed right along side with the extra fat french butter and madagascar vanilla was 1 decadent scoop of nutella. Define buttery, right? At least Nikol and her world famous cupcake sandwich thinks so:
...Bonus: I had some shaved almonds. Tied the whole thing together, I know. So did those black and white polka dot wrappers. Really, I couldn't get over how fun this cake was. People loved biting into 'em. In the words of Erica, our generous household guest, "They were some of her favorites." And trust me, Erica's been given quite a few good cuppies, so her approval is not easily earned.
Here's some proof. Look at her smile! She's stoked to serve such nummy cupcakes. Who wouldn't be?
