Cupcake Baking Tips, Part II

Posted by Lauren

If you follow me on Instagram (find me! @laurenolerich), you might have seen this go up recently.

That would be me, on a plane, flying to Portland, with a dozen eleven ‘Sporadically Snickerin’ Boo Radley’s Cupcakes. Want to transform the callous don’t-talk-to-me environment of an airport? Carry around cupcakes. Errybody wants to be your friend.

Before I jump into Portlandia, I thought I’d share a few recent happenings and some more cupcake baking tips. Earlier tips can be found in this post: Cupcake Baking Tips, Part I here!

But first… Thursday night I found my way over to Happy Hour at Sports Page. I reunited with former coworkers to catch up, enjoy a pint of Anchor Steam, and try our hand at trivia.

We were pathetic, once again. But we most certainly earned an E for effort! Elliot offered to give me a lift home, since I’m still car-less. My accident happened during the beginning of February and I’m seriously slacking on the car hunt front. Suggestions?

I arrived home with impeccable timing – BBQ chicken, veggies, and rice sat on our kitchen table and everyone’s plates were untouched. Perks! These two shared their dinner with me…

…and in exchange, I brought them to the airport at 5 am! That’s familial love, folks.

Since the sun barely just rose and I was alert, I headed to the gym before work. Such a great use of the 6:00 hour.

Kept it easy again with 30 minutes on the bicycle, LiveFit legs, and the planks from Wednesday.

Okay, time for cupcake baking tips! A few days ago my high school BFF Katie (who I’m visiting in Portland) let me know her boyfriend was interested in my cupcakes…

I made sure to bake up a batch before I left town; here are a few random musings:

If you have to melt your butter and sugar together (i.e. for a devil’s food recipe), use a double boiler. You get way more control than when you only use a saucepan.

For chocolate cakes, you have a variety of ways to get that chocolate flavor. If you go the cocoa powder + hot water route, I have two suggestions: use high quality, Dutch-processed cocoa powder and stir the beejezus out of it. No lumps allowed! That means stir them together in a taller container than you think you need.

Don’t be lazy. Scrape the bowl!!

Take your time filling the tins. It’s not a race – unless you are on Cupcake Wars, of course. I use a very specific measuring cup every time I’m filling the tins. I should snap a pic of it because it is the perfect size/shape – it’s actually a hand-me-down from my French roommate Manu…

K, that’s it until next time! We just ate a fabulous breakfast and are about to go for a hike!

More on that later!

Question: what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever carried on a plane?

-Lauren