Gretchen Bemis was a little plump by some standards, but she was the kind of girl who usually set her own standards, and if she wanted to be noticed by a man — even in a baggy nurse’s uniform — she usually was. In fact, among the internes [sic] at
Not all of Gretchen’s friends in the hospital were like her. Not the delicate Rosemary Joplin, who resented her stepmother because her face always looked as though her feet hurt, and because she was not charmingly helpless like the playmate-mother who had died when Rosemary was fourteen. Not Nelle Gibson, whose square figure and dun-colored hair had made her decide that, not being beautiful, she’d better be bright.
This is the story of senior year at nursing school, when Gretchen and her friends, realizing that they were now adult human beings, began to come to grips with their problems. It was an exciting time for them, and most of all, perhaps, for Gretchen. For her wish was granted in a way that was as unexpected as it was delightful, and graduation day brought to her more than the stiff organdy graduate cap, so like a cupcake, that was the prize for all her hard work.
What does it take to go from baking cupcakes for your friends' birthdays to baking 150 for a wedding? A lot of planning and prep, yes, but mostly it takes getting up early and having a team of good friends to help out - "Team Cupcake" got up with me at 5:00 a.m., kept my coffee cup full, fed me, sprinkled, taste tested, lent advice, took photos, did dishes, frosted, played guitar... well they kept me sane and some how enabled me to make cupcakes for a wedding. So thanks a thousand times over to my cell mates Muffin, Cured Meat, Bone$, Queen Woo, Bagel, Juice, and Dre & Trey, who weren't there early enough to get prison names, but aided in my post-cupcake relaxation by pouring large amounts of whisky and telling me my hair looked good and my dress didn't make me look fat! I couldn't have done it without all of you - I realize that is totally acceptance speech, but it's true! You were more help than I realized I needed, or ever expected, and I can't imagine what we would have ended up with if you hadn't been there to help. And to Vark, there couldn't be sweeter people to make sweets for, I felt honored to provide your wedding dessert and am so happy you are my friends.
Sprinkling (photo by Jessie Sue Hibbs)
Bourbon Infused Yellow Cake with Mini Chocolate Chips & Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
The Recipes
Peanut Butter Cup and Pumpkin w/ Mexican Chocolate have already been blogged. Though, thanks to a tip from my genius friend James, I toasted the cinnamon first, by putting it in a pan and cooking it on low until it smelled really strong. This made for a much more pungent and cinnamony flavored cream cheese frosting. It was deeeelish!
The only new recipe is the yellow cake. This one was my least favorite, though I do think it was good (and I was told it was the favorite of many).
Bourbon Infused Yellow Cakes with Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
(Tastes like a chocolate chip cookie, boozed up, and covered in chocolate!)
Makes 48
5 c Cake Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 large eggs
4 c. sugar
2 c. melted butter
2 pkg vanilla pudding (shhh... it's the secret ingredient!)
2 c. sour cream
1 c. bourbon
1 bag mini chips
Sift flour, bp, bs, salt in med bowl
In mixer – on medium, beat eggs and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes or more.
Stop mixer, scrape sides. On low speed, mix in the butter. Mix in sour cream until no white streaks remain. Mix in pudding and bourbon. Mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.
Bake at 350, start testing after 20 minutes (mine took at least 25).
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (this is essentially 2 G's frosting without the second G)
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
2 pkg light cream cheese, room temp
12-16 ounces milk chocolate chips, melted
2-4 cupsconfectionerss sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened, dark chocolate cocoa powder
Mix it all up in the Kitchen Aid, taste - addconfectionersr sugar, liquid, coco powder, melted chocolate, to taste. Refrigerate for at least an hour before slathering on your cakes. I sprinkled with Jimmies just for looks!
Oh and the mini cake - I ordered a pan from Confectionery House and filled it with the pumpkin batter. It took forever to bake, but ended up perfect. I froze the cake (so the frosting wouldn't melt off of it) and then James frosted it for me (because I'm impatient and don't have a delicate hand, and because he was fabulous enough to offer). I used plain cream cheese frosting so it would be white, and topped it with a mini bride and groom ordered from Plum Party.
One last thing - my photos are a little dark and not so great, mainly because I was tired and distracted with my cupcake job. The lighting wasn't fantastic for photographing and I didn't have my flash with me, so I did the best I could with my tired brain. And Jessie helped enormously by photographing me at work (those came out great). I also wasn't too worried about getting the perfect cupcake photo because there was a real, professional photographer there doing the job. It is very exciting that my cupcakes were photographed by Portland's HOTTEST photographer, and will end up online in something like 4-6 weeks. I'll be sure to post a link to them when they're up. I'm super excited!
