Bake Sale! Hamburger Cupcakes & Tartine Cookies

I helped host a Great American Bake Sale at work with all proceeds going to Share Our Strength, a charity to help fight childhood hunger in the US. It was so much fun, even more then I expected, and we raised $1400 in one week! Co-workers were very generous with donating their baked goods, and eating too. We were sold out in minutes almost every day. Above is a pictures of some of the baked treats we had on Tuesday.

The giant cookies are Tartine Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. The recipe orginated from the famous bakery in the Mission District of San Francisco, so famous the line stretches out the door on Sunday mornings. It's currently my top favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with a unique nutty flavor and amazing texture - I highly recommend it! (link takes you to the recipe)

I also made these "hamburger cupcakes" below out of white and chocolate cake, with colored buttercream for the mustard & ketchup, and green fruit roll up for the lettuce. As usual, it was more work then I expected, cutting all those tiny mini cupcakes in perfect halves...

Classic Red Velvet

Ahhhh, red velvet, it's everybody's favorite. And I didn't make it for years because I didn't know the big fuss. And I was afraid of red dye.

But last week, I finally lost my red velvet virginity. And boy was it memorable. I get it now. A good red velvet has a hint of tang, a faint aroma of cocoa, and just sweet and sour enough cream cheese frosting.

The recipe was actually very easy and you can get it from one of my favorite baking books:
The Sweet Melissa Baking Book: Recipes from the Beloved Bakery for Everyone's Favorite Treats

Just a note that if you make these, you have to eat them within three days. Otherwise the chocolate aroma fades, and the cupcakes are flavorless.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I lost the battery to my digital camera and haven't been able to take photos for weeks. So sad as I have made at least 3 batches of cupcakes since then. One of them was for a baby shower. I made little bird nests and got bored with those, so made little baby booties, rattles and safety pins with buttercream. They were displayed very well given the variation in designs (I tried to tie them altogether with the theme colors - orange & teal.)


Close up shot of the baby bird cupcake:


And I also made a diaper cake for the baby, Dylan, whose sex was still undetermined!

You can learn about how to make these cupcakes from Martha Stewart.