A Bake Sale Adventure

As the new year rolled in, I promised myself, I will blog.

The days passed, I kept reminding myself, but I did not follow through.

I made excuses, I'm tired. Parents were visiting, I wanted to spend time with them and cooking for them.

Then came the annual 'Sankranta Mela', li'll S was in a dance group and I had booked a stall for myself at the 'Anand Bazaar' (food stalls).

Drawing courage from my previous experience, I jumped right in, this year. 

I got busy with dance practices and homework and squeezing in as much time as possible for other activities.

And so, finally, I am back with pictures of my Cupcake stall. The cupcakes sold out and I couldn't be happier. 

M and li'll S were my helpers ( S being the main helper and cashier, a job he loves!) 

I made egg less Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes and made butter-cream frosting.

These pretty hydrangeas were a hit with the girls.

Hydrangeas

Who doesn't love a Minion?
These were sold out within minutes! I wish I had made more.
I got this idea from Pinterest.
Here's how you make the Minion cupcakes
1 box Twinkies 
Cupcakes 
Butter cream frosting ( dyed Blue)
Smarties / White chocolate chips / Mini marshmallows (for the eyes)
Black frosting
Chocolate sprinkles for the 'hair'
Place the Twinkies in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes.
Frost the cupcakes ( I used the basic round tip to put the frosting on)
If you plan on using marshmallows for the eyes, prep them. Apply a thin coat of oil to kitchen scissors and gently cut the marshmallow into 3-4 rounds.
I used White chocolate chips, they were the right size and I just poked the pointed end into the Twinkies.
Pull the Twinkies out of the fridge, slice them in half.
Poke one or two chocolate chips in the 'head' part. If you are using marshmallow, put a tiny spot of frosting on the underside of the marshmallow and stick it on, do the same ( spot of frosting) fro Smarties.
Pipe on glasses  and smiles using black frosting. I used Wilton's ready to use tube, it was a mistake.
Poke chocolate sprinkles for hair.
Gently place the decorated Twinkies on the frosted cupcakes. Ta-Dah!  Minion cupcakes are ready!

The most popular cakes, Minions.

I made these flower cupcakes using the 'leaf' tip. These were also a hit with all the kids.

Flowers

This anti-gravity cake was a last minute thought. I made it towards the end and this is the only picture I have of it, an unfinished one.

I found this tutorial very useful.
The children marveled at the cake and wondered if  the M&M's would keep pouring out. Some of them, out of curiosity also tried to pluck the bag out and see how I made it happen.

Anti-gravity cake

In all the hurry of the dance performance and the baking, I did not carry my camera at all, but that's when friends chip in! 
One of the Mom's in the dance group stepped forward and clicked these wonderful pictures and has shared them with me. Thank you, Vaishali! The pictures are great! 

I'll leave you all now, with all this sweetness. See you soon. Hope you all have a great week ahead.

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A simple Vanilla cake using Oil

How often have you seen a child straining at his/ her Mother's hand and demanding something .. anything? 

How often have you done that as a  child? I know I have. Almost every time I stepped  out of the house with my parents, something fancy (IMHO) and utterly useless ( in my parents opinion) would engage me, so much so , that I'd refuse to budge without claiming it as my own. I was around 3 or 4 years old then.

Shortly after our  home started bearing a very strong resemblance to a toy store, my parents took to warning me at the first sight of a demand rearing it's greedy head, " Asa vaglis tar police kaka dumm bhartil, oradtil  tula... chalel ka?" ( meaning: If you behave like this, that policeman will take you to task, do you want that?)

For some time, I was down ( but not out, oh no, no.... definitely not out! ). I would meekly walk on, after putting  my soul into my eyes and looking with undisguised longing at a toy and then very meaningfully at my Mother or Father. They remained unmoved and the 'police kaka' remained in his 'chowki' and peace in my parents hearts and minds and purses.


Until one day, I could no longer bear it, I saw one particular toy I wanted needed, it felt like my existence depended on it ( yeah, right!) Necessity like this makes heroes out of the meekest, and so when I began asking for the toy, my Mother simply pointed to the policeman sitting in his booth ( this booth was in  the apartment community we lived and  most of the time, the cops would sit idle), the policeman had nothing to do and so  looked at me  and wiggled his bushy eyebrows and  and said," aaann?" That was it, the last straw on the proverbial camel's back, I looked at my Mom and  then defiantly at the cop , and mustering all the courage a 3 or 4 year old could, told him , "aaaap"  and brought a trembling finger to my pursed lips, indicating that he put a lid on it.
The cop was shocked into silence and my Mother, thoroughly embarrassed and wanting a quick exit, bought me the toy and I beamed at the world with the trophy in my hand.


Now, why am I relating all this here? Because I occasionally adopt the age old technique of 'police kaka' with my son. He is yet to assert himself with one, but something  happened the other day. 
It was a beautiful day, cool crisp breeze , not really sunny, but not cloudy either, you know what I mean... in short a perfect day for a walk after the bad weather.Little S and I went out  for a small walk. The pattern is, I walk, he skips or jumps ahead of me, looking back every few steps just to make sure I am there and also sometimes seeking non-verbal reassurance that he is allowed to skip or run as long as he sticks to the side walk. 
On this particular afternoon, we were sauntering at our own pace and suddenly he stopped in his tracks and waited for me to catch up, there was a police car parked in front of one building. In a hushed tone he told me , "poos"(his word for police). His eyes wide, he glanced up at me, I smiled and affirmed that this was a 'poos car'. I looked at the car and at that precise moment I felt his tiny warm hand slip into mine. I clasped it lovingly and firmly and fell in step with him.  Reassured that  no one, not even a 'poos' can harm him when he is with Mommy, my little boy skipped , holding  onto my hand and a triumphant smile on his lips. 

Later, as he slept, I stole a kiss and decided to bake  him a cake, for his unconditional love and trust in me, for holding my hand and touching my heart .

Source: Kaboose

Makes Two 9-inch (23-cm) round layers or one 9- x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular cake.

• 2 cups (500 mL) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (250 mL) milk
• 3/4 cup (175 mL) vegetable oil
• 2-1/4 teaspoons (11 mL) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans or one 9x13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't over beat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

Verdict:   
YUMMY CAKE! in Little S's words. 
This was the first time I had baked a cake with no butter, instead using oil. I was nervous, I am no baker, but this cake is really very simple and easy to make and very light and tasty. It is sweet, but not overly so, just the right amount of sugar. 
The only thing that did not stick to the recipe was the baking time indicated. My cake required about an hour, but this could be  my oven, so if you do try this, check the cake at the 30-40 minute mark.

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