In the midst of wedding cake baking and fall festivities I managed to whip out a little quilt for an old friend.

I have known Brooke since the days of tutus and sequins. We have commiserated over horrendous dance numbers and waited in the wings nervously marking our steps. And while I couldn’t find any photos to post I can remember those days vividly.

When I found out she was expecting a little boy I set to work trying to find the right fabrics. In combing through my stash I came across some Alexander Henry elephants that I had purchased some time back. It’s whimsical and childlike without being too kitchy. Coupled with some coordinating blues and greens and the obligatory polka dots I was set. Of coarse there was a hasty trip to the store with fingers crossed to get just a little more fabric. One of these days I might plan ahead, but what fun would that be?

In piecing the back the elephants reminded me of the marching elephants in Jungle Book. Which, if you will allow a slight rant, makes me ask why Disney no longer makes good animated movies? I am sure I am not the only one who sang along to Part of My World until she was hoarse or wore out the Beauty & The Beast soundtrack, on tape. I just can’t get excited out Cinderella 2.5, though maybe that is because I am not the target audience…

Vanilla cupcakes… sounds easy right? They have been making the rounds at birthday parties and swanky bakeries for years. So finding the perfect recipe should be like finding a needle in a pin cushion. But alas I have not done so well.

First I tried the infamous Magnolia Bakery’s version. Located in New York, it’s one of those sweet shops that have lines wrapping around the corner and have to place a limits on orders. I was sure their recipe, found in Magnolia Bakery Cookbook would be an instant success.

I’m not sure where I went wrong. I followed the recipe (which as some of you know about kills me) but the result was not good. In fact it was terrible, hence no photo. They were buttery, too buttery and heavy. The frosting was gritty and limp no matter how much I whipped it. They left both Matt and I with a tummy ache, and that is NOT something you want when baking for a wedding!

Needless to say I was let down with this recipe but I forged ahead. How could I not master something so basic? My next attempt came via the SimplyRecipes site. I remembered seeing a recipes for Double Vanilla cupcakes a few months ago and I happened to have some vanilla beans stashed in the cupboard to I gave them a shot the other night.

These too came out dense and lacking in flavor, even with double vanilla. Now it has been cold here and I never felt that my butter and sugar achieved the coveted etherial state which may account for the heaviness. But I am starting to think that maybe this is how people like their cupcakes? I my mind vanilla cupcakes should be light and airy, no? The frosting was good, it reminded me of Bryers ice-cream, the kind where you can actually see the specks of vanilla bean, but it wasn’t anything spectacular.

Why is finding a good recipe so hard? If anyone has a go to, never fail vanilla cupcake recipe out there and is willing to share I would love to try it!

So when Martha and I sat down to discuss what type of cakes she and Ben would like for their wedding it came up that a handful of people attending were vegans, as in they eat no animals or animal byproducts. Being a nice and sweet person Martha did not want them to feel left out so I said I would do some searching and see what I could come up with.

Most of the recipes I found revolved around chocolate, one even included beets! I decided that I would give this version, from Martha Stewart, a whirl. The ingredients are pretty straight forward, soy milk and margarine, apple cider vinegar, natural cane sugar, etc. But the ganache called for brown-rice syrup which I’d never heard of before It’s a thick, almost honey-like syrup made from brown rice and water that somehow has a sweet flavor…

Overall I think that cake turned out really well. Incredibly moist and chocolaty, the cocoa kind of chocolaty not the Hersey’s sort. I do need to find my straight sided cake pans so the layers will line up and create a sleek profile. The buttercream filling could be a little stiffer by adding more powdered sugar. And maybe add a little semi-sweet chocolate to the bitter-sweet in the ganache to sweeten it a little.

Matt said the cake was wonderful, but he tends to say that about anything I bake! Not a bad quality mind you, but I’m looking for a critical eye/pallet for this one. So I am going to take a bit by the fabric store this afternoon and some to work tomorrow to get more feedback.

*The finished cake will not be naked, I plan on placing large curls of chocolate on top.

Update:
I took some cake by Sarahs and work. It was very well received. Unnamed folks at Sarahs probably had a tummy ache from how much they ate, but that’s just a testament to how great it was right? Everyone seemed to think the bittersweet chocolate was perfect a good balance with the sweeter faux buttercream filling so I don’t think I’ll add any semi-sweet to the ganache. It was mentioned that there could be a little more coffee flavor, so I might sprinkle more espresso powder in the filling. All in all I think this one might be a keeper!

This past weekend I got together with my dear friend Martha to discuss wedding cake for her and Ben’s impending nuptials. Which I promise is coming in a later post… well probably a number of posts! But in our discussions she told me about the Smitten Kitchen.

I LOVE this site. The photos are beautiful, they make me want to move into a glass house so that I can achieve all the wonderful natural light. Her recipes are mouth watering and her writing witty.

I have spent more time than I care to admit to reading this site over the past few days. Here are just a few of my favorites that I can’t wait to try:

Cantaloupe Salsa

Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza

Cherry Brown Butter Bars

Broccoli Slaw

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels These are going to the top of the “to make” list

I have a finished quilt to post about but I couldn’t wait to share my newest project.

The inspiration came from a quilt Ashley over at Film in the Fridge made. I have been wanting to make a black and white quilt for sometime but I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to lay it out so there wasn’t too much white space. When I saw her quilt and read her amazing tutorial I knew knew I had to try it.

I still need to sew the blocks together and then add some sashing… and quilt… and bind…