Banana Bread Cupcake... Yumm...

Last night I did my first test trial for the banana bread cupcakes. Made it with 2 different frostings - both caramel. Caramel Buttercream and Caramel Cream Cheese frosting. I garnished it was a caramelized banana on each one.





For all of you who know me, you all know that my hubby is a phenomenal baker and really good with flavorings and pairings. He suggested that I dice up the bananas instead of sticking in a slice per cupcake. I thought the slice looked classier but it looks a bit... naked. I was thinking of dusting it with cinnamon or something. I dunno... I'm going to have to ponder on that a little more. Anyways, it tasted yum.. I used a mixture of different recipes, including the one I learned at French Culinary and added my own twist. The French Culinary recipe is good but I think the xtra things I added made it more moist. So - banana bread cupcake was a SUCCESS!

I have to say, I got really annoyed when I started laying out the baking cups and said to myself, "Cupcakes are SUCH a pain in the ass..." But then I thought about all the times I bake cakes and have to butter and flour every single pan and then having to perfectly crumbcoat each tier.. and then the annoying feeling went away!

Tonight I will try another recipe - either the chocolate with creamy peanut butter frosting or the pumpkin with the spiced cream cheese frosting. It's gonna be hard not to devour these tonight...

Corsette Cake and... am I finally succumbing to CUPCAKES?..

Yesterday I made a corsette cake for a bachelorette party that was going to take place overseas. I hope the cake gets there in one piece. Luckily, it's not tiered or standing up. I gotta say, it turned out quite lovely. Wish I had a body like that. HaHa.





And now... onto cupcake news... I've been asked SO MANY TIMES to make cupcakes - and I've always said no unless someone REALLY begged me. I've been turning so many people away, I feel kind of bad! Just this week alone, I was asked by 3 people for cupcakes. So I've been debating with myself whether or not I should add a cupcake menu. Nothing crazy... maybe like 5-6 items.
So last night I started jotting down different recipes that came to mind. Remember I said 5 or 6 items? That turned into 10, then 13 - then 16 different items! I ended up writing about 4 pages (FRONT AND BACK) of different cupcake recipes, frosting recipes - things to garnish with. Goodness, so many things involved. Uy! So I gotta narrow it down - maybe have 4 year-round items and have a couple of seasonal items. I dunno. But before I put anything on my website, I'm going to test bake everything first - make sure it tastes yummy. So I'm looking for taste testers! HaHa! Let me know if you'd like a batch of cupcakes! I'm sure they will taste delish!

Perverted Cake Decorator?...

It's so funny how many requests I'm getting for bachelorette party cakes! I was asked by someone recently to make a "penis cake" and after I posted pictures of that cake, I received an overwhelming number of inquiries. I think I received more comments and questions about the penis cake than any other cake! I'm starting to become a whiz at molding penis'! The first time I made it, I must've google'd the word "penis" for hours to find the perfect looking one. The second time, I made it like a pro. And no... I didn't make my husband model. I think I was asked that question like 20 times. Silly girls. I didn't post pictures of the penis cakes on my website because I didn't know if it would be a violation...

GET IT??? Here "Cums" the Bride??




The customer told me the bride's colors were red and platinum so I wanted the actual cake to look classy - and then stick a penis on top.

The next customer didn't care WHAT the cake looked like. She just wanted a pink cake with a big penis on top. I thought the butts with the panties would be a cute touch. And she suggested the "Cummin Alive @ 35." HaHa...







The other day I got a cake order for a friend's birthday and she asked me to surprise her. So I decided to make a CupCAKE cake. I get requests all the time on cupcakes. Here's my view on making cupcakes... I don't. Sorry - nothing against cupcakes. I love them. They're the perfect serving and when made right - OH.. so friggin' good. But I just really despise making them. I have no idea why... Maybe because I have to make 50 of the same things? But that can't be why... because I make cookie favors and I really don't mind making those... Maybe because the icing can't stay "perfect" because when you transport them, they knock on each other?.. But that can't be why either because I can always frost them on site or when using buttercream, it gets hard in the fridge. Oh I don't know... So anyways, unless I REALLY like you, or you're a REALLY good customer of mine OR you order like a HUNDRED cupcakes, I'd really prefer not to make them. UNLESS of course it's a cupcake the size of your head. NOW we're talking!







Tonight, I make another bachelorette cake but this time, a corsette cake!

Xanga is Out...

Does anyone even read xanga anymore?... I had a xanga account for almost ten years and it seemed like only 5 people read my blogs, since my site was private, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of blogging, no?..

Anyways, I've switched over to a public blog.

A little about myself: I am a cake decorator. I am not a pastry chef or cook, nor did I ever enjoy any part of that. I am capable... so if push came to shove, I would be 'able' to do it but... I just don't want to. I've worked in just about all areas of the business trying to figure out which part of it I would enjoy - restaurants, bakeries, cafe's - you name it, I've done it. I hated the restaurant business. I never understood why you needed a culinary degree to plate desserts all night. I didn't enjoy working in bakeries either - unless of course it was decorating a cake. Cake decorating isn't something I planned on. Hell, I was supposed to start chiropractic school in January 2009.


I graduated from the French Culinary Institute back in 2008 and I was probably one of the most disobedient clowns in the class but I must say, I did enjoy myself somewhat - A culinary boot camp if you will.





In the interim, I had a full time corporate job...


...as well as another full time job (at a restaurant working as a pastry cook getting paid next to nothing)



while attending French Culinary full time...


(that's not me by the way. Those are 2 of my chef instructors Chef Toni and Chef Claudia - awesome awesome people)

WHILE planning a huge wedding...



... and trying to help my husband at his full-line bakery





...AND trying to look for and furnishing a new apt. WHEW! It was rough. I left my house every morning @ 5am and didn't get back home until midnight, maybe 1AM. And it would start all over again the next day.

I eventually graduated FCI, kept my 9-5 job, quit Burton & Doyle, worked at a couple of other places (including The London @ Gordon Ramsey's Restaurant) in the city until I was finally so sick of working 20 hours+ day, I quit working at restaurants altogether and concentrated on cake decorating.

What I REALLY wanted to do was intern at a specialty cake shop to learn more so I concentrated on making a cake portfolio. I worked on that portfolio for months and months. When I finally thought my portfolio was good enough, I applied to a couple of specialty cake shops - but they all turned me down! They all seemed so skeptical and suspicious... First they asked: Why I wanted to intern - and then went on to say that there was nothing for me to learn and that I wouldn't get anything out of it... what the hell? There's always something to learn. I tried a couple of other places - and got turned down from there too so I decided to go off on my own and started my own business. *Shrug*

Oddly enough, that's my story and here I am. If someone told me 10 years ago that I'd be where I am today, I probably would've laughed at them. Not just giggle but hold my stomach while pointing at them LAUGHING HARD.

And so... ~ Cakes By Christine NY ~ was founded...


And here the adventure begins... (at least for this blog site)

I don't think I have room to upload all my cake pictures so you can check out my website for now.. until my next blog!

http://www.cakesbychristineny.com/