A good friend of mine got married this past weekend, in San Francisco. She asked me to make cupcakes and I said, "OF COURSE!" She and her fiance chose three flavors: chocolate, red velvet, and carrot all with cream cheese frosting. We discussed liners, wraps and the colors for the wedding. I decided to make a green velvet since the colors were green, gold and black.
I ordered wrappers and stands and ultimately round, rod shaped sprinkles (Jimmies) and had them shipped to H's house. I started to freak out about getting my other tools there and the groom's mother came to the rescue. She lives in Albuquerque and drove out to San Francisco before I flew out. She offered to drive with my stuff. I said, "YES, PLEASE!"
I left Santa Fe on the 4th of July, with my oven thermometer, sifter and liquid measuring cups. Those were the random things I forgot to send with Mom-in-law. The next morning I went for a LONG walk around the bay, had some breakfast and headed off to East Palo Alto to do some baking. H was out running with her best buddies when I got there so I sorted through stuff and got started on the chocolate cupcakes.
H made it home and we found wrappers and other supplies that were related to the cupcakes. All but the wrappers for the carrot cakes. I started to panic a little, but the wheels were starting to turn. We headed off to the store for perishables that didn't make the trip before me. H was in charge of navigation. It took a few turns and oops' but we made it to the store and back to her house!
I next started on the green velvet cupcakes. I decided, like a dummy, to use a different recipe. I thought, "I'll be at sea level, baking will be a breeze." But it didn't occur to me to try out this recipe before a big event. DUH! And it still didn't dawn on me until I pulled those cakes out of the oven. The centers weren't setting well, so I let them stay in a few minutes longer. I let them cool for a while and then opened one up. It was dense and seemingly undercooked. Some were even browned on the bottom. GAH! I was out of green food color. GAH!
I moved on to the carrot cupcakes. The recipe wasn't new to me but I didn't manage to remember that I needed my food scale. The flour was in ounces, not cups. DANG! Double dang! I went online and found some conversions and jumped in. Upon mixing everything but the carrots and walnuts I saw cookie dough. And I didn't know how to fix it, so into the trash that went.
Time was running out, as this evening was the dinner for the out of town guests. I left H's house, ran to Michael's and then to my hotel to change and put make-up on. All so I could go back and continue baking.
And back I came with moss green coloring, gold cupcake liners and an idea for a decoration around the gold liner. I found my "go to" red velvet recipe (link to said recipe) and got going. They turned out amazing! Fluffy and full and cooked properly!
The carrot cupcakes were next and they went off without a hitch, thanks to one of my favorite baking bloggers (Annie's Eats). H had purchased some moss green ribbon and some gold filigree that had an adhesive backing. I put some of the guests to work peeling and sticking while I worked on frosting. I found some amazing baking faeries who were so excited to help! All those who helped saved me 2+ hours of work. And they were so excited to learn about the process. It was so fun!
I convinced the restaurant manager, at my hotel, to let me store the cupcakes in their walk-in overnight. I'm a rockstar at times!
The next day was Saturday and a day to celebrate the union of two amazing people! I went to breakfast at John's Ocean Beach Cafe with some friends from Arizona who happened to be passing through at the same time I was in San Francisco! We also ran into the bride and groom, mom-in-law and the officiant and his family. I roamed around town for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to get ready and head out to the zoo. I decided to put the stands together at the hotel. I'm so glad I did. One of them was missing a piece. I went to the front desk and asked for scissors and cardboard. I ended up back at the kitchen where they came to my rescue. I traced the identical piece and cut away. Crisis #3 averted.
I went to the restaurant to retrieve my cupcakes. Then I saw that someone had tossed a pie box, with a quarter of a pie, on top of my boxes. The boxes were at the TOP of the racks. That person had to try hard to make that happen. My heart started to break when I saw that browken down box. I pulled it down and saw that frosting was mashed a little bit but otherwise the cakes were in good condition. I asked the girl from the front desk to help me carry the boxes to my car and then drove off into the misty bay in search of the service entrance for the San Francisco Zoo.
I went to the wrong gate twice and finally found the correct one. I asked about getting a cart to transport all of the items at once. I was told that I was responsible for arranging that. Um, okay. I was unaware of that so I shrugged it off. I started carting the stands to the gate. I carried three boxes to the gate and walked backward to my car to watch people passing by my cupcakes, in the event that someone decided to take them home or eat them. Some guy walked over and then kicked the boxes. WHO DOES THAT? So I yelled, loudly, "HEY! GET AWAY FROM MY CUPCAKES! YEAH, YOU, KICKING THEM. GET AWAY!!!!!" I was in three inch heels and now about to run but I was walking quickly with the other three boxes in my hands. He looked at me in amazment and walked away. I'm scary in three inch heels and screaming like a banshee!
Just at that moment the officient's mom and step-dad walked up and asked if I needed help. Prayers are answered! They, so graciously, helped me carry everything into the room for the reception. I set them up, decorated the table and made my way to the reception.
 |
| One guest turned it into a cupcake sandwich = genius! |
There's always a story behind a good cupcake...here's promising I'll tell more of them!
