Leftover Mashed Potato Cupcakes (and Paris)

Instead of throwing down lovingly crafted paragraphs about our trip to Paris, I thought it might benefit the masses if I just simply put it all in list form. Because, seriously, who has the time?

1.) Paris is fun. Paris with a horrible plague flu? Not so much fun. (Yeah, I was actually sick the entire time we were in Paris. I was so hopped up on meds that most of it is pretty fuzzy. I may or may not have done some things I'm not proud of.)

Bon Voyage!

If you haven't heard on our facebook or twitter, then you've definitely missed some news. Huge news. Gigantic news. Nouvelles énormes. 

Mr. C and I are finally jumping over to France. Paris, more specifically. While Mr. C will be chowing down on garlicky and buttered snails and I will be repeating "Je suis une végétalien. Je ne mange pas la viande, les poissons, le beurre, ou la crème" over and over again, several very talented bakers will be flexing their culinary muscles for you on this very blog. Exciting, no? Here's who will be gracing this blog in the next couple of weeks:

Leanne Bakes

Diary of a Mad Hausfrau

SPCookieQueen

That Skinny Chick Can Bake!

Galexi Cupcakes & Sweets

Now then, I've got some serious jet lag for prepare for. Also, does anyone know what vegans eat in France? Because I'm a little frightened. 

Calling All Nerds!

Have you ever argued over friends over who was the best Doctor? (Totally Number Ten) - Do still cry over the loss of Ned Stark? Are their more 'graphic novels' on your book shelf than actual books? Boy, do I have a event for you!

Since '71, Vancouver's own Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention has been spreading joy throughout the land of nerds. This year, we'll be joining them with a giant table full of incredible baked goods. Not only are these treats tasty, but they will for sure impress even the most stuck up of comic book guys. As a total bonus, all our proceeds are going to Aunt Leah's Youth Program, which support foster kids and mother's in need. We'll be in the Hospitality Suite on Sunday, from 10am until 5:30pm (or until we sell out!) at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport. You gotta check out what we're dragging along with us:

Tribble Truffles

Starks on a Stick

Bad Wolf Brownies

Browncoat Bars

Sonic Shortbread

Buffy Bites

Hufflepuff Cookies

Cthulhu Cupcakes

(Blue) Milk and Cookies Cupcakes

I really hope you come and visit. If you do, make sure you tweet, blog, and take lots of pictures!

C&C Joins Bake for the Quake!

We're so happy to be joining another great charity event on Wednesday, April 20th at the Yaletown Roundhouse Community Centre. The lovely and talented Melody Fury (of GourmetFury.com) and Joy (of Gourmeted.com) have organized Bake for the Quake, benefiting Japanese earthquake relief via Doctors Without Borders.

Here's all the deets, Vancouver peeps!

Date: April 20th at 6-8:30pm

Address: 181 Roundhouse Mews Vancouver, BC [corner of Davie & Pacific]

• Underground pay parking is available(access off Drake) $1.5/hour until 6pm, $3 max after 6pm.
• Via transit, take the Canada Line SkyTrain and get off at Yaletown Roundhouse station. Head southeast on Davie Street towards Pacific Blvd, then turn right at Pacific Blvd. Entrance is along Pacific Blvd.

What to expect:

• An amazing array of baked goods by the Lower Mainland’s most talented cooks and bakers
• Prizes for raffle and silent auctions
• Music and Refreshments
• Fun for the whole family

We'll be there, along with some other amazing bakers. Our table will be full of bacon filled cookies, ice box animals, domo sandwiches, muffin tops, vegan cupcakes, and other things that will absolutely melt your face.

And, if you do come by, make sure you drop by and say hi! Mr. C and I will be the awkward ones wearing skull t-shirts, trying to stuff baked goods into your pockets.

Commercial Drive Cupcake Throwdown!

On January 26th, we'll be packing our equipment, our pizazz, and 8 dozen mini cupcakes for a big ol' Vancouver cupcake throwdown like no other. Cafe Deux Soleils, a lovely little vegetarian place on Commerical Drive, has let 15 bakers come to play. The best part: proceeds will go to HAVE Culinary Training Institute, an amazing charity which supports "employment barriered" people from the downtown eastside, and helps place them in entry level jobs in restaurant kitchens around the city. Ten bucks will get you in the door, where you are seriously free to eat as many cupcakes as you can fit in your maw. You will also get a vote in the overall cupcake competition. We will bake our best little cups to the public to eat, judge, and (hopefully) enjoy. 

This is why we need your help, cupcake peeps. We need to figure out which one of our cupcakes to bring to battle. Do we take a crowd favourite, like our Caramel Savannah or Kaylee's Cupcakes? Do we stick with a classic, like our Funfettis or Rainbow Velvet? Or do we freak some people out with something a bit strange, and change our Stinky Cheese and Beer cake  into cupcakes? What do you think will win over our Vancouver crowd?

(If you're wondering when the next recipe is going to come down the pipe, don't worry. I've got a post that will be up this week. And it's a doozy.)

Disneyland Rundown

It's been a while, hasn't it? Actually, I don't know what day it is. I know it's slightly after Boxing Day. To be honest, I sort of lost track. We had quite the busy holiday. A lot has happened. Our Kulfi Cupcakes won December's Mystery Box Challenge from the Sweetest Kitchen (thank you to everyone who threw your pity votes at us!). I also received some kitchen goodies - including a dehydrator, a new apron, and a set of floral flavoured sprinkles from Paris.

This was the main highlight of our holiday, though:




Mr. C and I finally made our pilgrimage to the Land of Mouse. It's all a blur now - I'm not sure how many days ago we rode Space Mountain or sucked down the magical hot chocolate that made our teeth burn. We got a lot done during those four days. It helped that half our week was plagued by a torrential downpour that kept most of the crowds away (you couldn't beat the 5 minute line up for the Indiana Jones ride). By day three, though, our legs were about ready to fall off and our feet rebelled. The food was wonderful - if you weren't vegan. I had to survive on a meager diet of hotel fruit and the edamame they sold in a little stand in the California Adventure park.

Unfortunately, we didn't dip into Disney's sweet concoctions as much as I wanted to. No cupcakes or frozen bananas on sticks for this crew. The only baked good we snagged was this mouse head:



Mickey's got a bit of elephantiasis going on, I understand. But he was tasty. Not to sweet. Lovely chocolate. Absolutely magical. As was the rest of this very very long vacation. We're still not home yet - we've got a couple hours and a ferry ride ahead of us. I do want to share something with you before I finish this little bit of blog-fluff up:

Vegetable Desserts, you say, like pumpkin and carrot? Pish. Nothing special. And I say, oh ye of little faith. Yes, this little book has pumpkin and carrot recipes - but it also has parsnip, turnip, and cabbage desserts. Yes, cabbage. Sauerkraut, to be exact. This wasn't even a Christmas gift - it was actually something I picked up for four bucks at the local used book shop, but I am so incredibly excited to get my hands dirty. The more bizarre, the better (I'm looking right at you sweet pea and mint pie).

Hopefully we will return home soon. And, as soon as Mr. C will let me, I'll cook up some sauerkraut crisps for y'all. Until then (or until we get off this blasted island) I'll have to wish you a wonderful end of December. Keep on cookin'!

Manly Cupcake Challenge Update

Hey sports fans! I've got some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that, so far, we only have a handful of entries for the Manly Cupcake Challenge. Though that does bode well for those who have entered thus far (the odds are with you, my friends), it's not so good for our ultimate goal of spreading awareness of the Movember Foundation and Men's Health Month. This is why we've decided to push back your cupcake due date to the 21st at midnight. That's right. Now you have the whole weekend to get your little procrastinating butt in gear. Aren't you lucky? If you were one of my students, I'd just give you a zero and call home. But I'm feeling kind of nice this month.

One more thing to mention - I'm seeing a lot of lovely cupcakes. But not a lot of variety. So, please, go crazy. Think of some famous mos for inspiration. What sort of cupcake would Hulk Hogan eat? Charlie Chaplin? Freddie Mercury? All of them are manly in their own way, so please just don't think you're stuck in a "slightly chubby, hockey watching,  male next door" rut. Take this contest and run!

Have any questions? Plan on making cupcakes and need advice? Want the meaning to life? Email and we shall answer.

The Winner, The News, and The Announcement

Once again, I found myself without my bag of nerd dice - so random.org will just have to do:

Congrats to Kriss! Your last minute entry paid off big time! A big box full of spooky goodies will be sent to you as soon as you email us at cccakery@gmail.com with your address and full name. Tout suite, please! We want those cookies to make it to you before Halloween!

Some more news for everyone - Voting for this month's Cupcake Hero and Mystery Box are open now. Both the Dead Elvis and the Candied Yam Cupcakes are in the mix, so go on over and check everything out.

Finally, we have something super exciting going down behind the scenes here at C&C. We'll be unveiling a new annual contest in the start of November. I can't tell you exactly what's happening, but I can give you a bit of a clue. Meet our new little friend:

Any guesses?

Cupcake Hero: June - Blueberry Roundup!

We had a couple lovely (and healthy! Gasp!) muffin recipes for you this Wednesday. Unfortunately, something went wrong in our test kitchen. Something went horribly horribly wrong.

It involved Swiss Buttercream. And it was not pretty.

photographic recreation

Anyway, both me and Mr.C got out alive (even if we were covered in frosting) and free to work another day - we've got a big order coming out for Thursday, and must once again venture into the test kitchen to finish what we had started. Hopefully with better results this time.

But, onto some better news - Remember those lovely Blue Pom-Poms we made oh-so long ago? Welp, Cupcake Hero: June has come to a close and voting has begun.

Check out Kitchen Koala's front page for the Blueberry Cupcake Roundup (there's some amazing entries this month) and the poll on the right hand side! Remember to vote!

Good luck to all the fantastic bakers! We'll see you again in Cupcake Hero: July!

And to our readers, we'll have a double shot this Saturday - I promise you both muffin recipes (as long as we've recovered from the Vesuvius incident by then).

Rock the Cupcake Hero Vote!

Cupcake Hero: October has just been brought to a close. This one is close to my heart - Halloween is my favourite time of year - so we tried to make entries that really fit with the season. We have complete confidence in the recipes, but there are so many amazing tasty (and spooky) cupcakes!

Here's where you can see all the entries and vote for the one you think looks and sounds the tastiest. We hope our Dias de los Muertos and Pumpkin S'more cupcakes do well - but competition is steep!

Cupcake Takes the Cake!

It seems like we've been spotted by the lovely girls over at Cupcake Takes the Cake! Thanks for the look see!

You can read the short blurb here - but make sure you look through the rest of the blog. It's one of my favourites!

Cheers!
C & C

Our Flikr Account

Want to see all of our work? I've started up a Flikr and uploaded most of our treats. Go ahead and have a look around.

This blog will still be updated with stories and pictures of each cake, don't you worry. Stay tuned for more badass bakedgoods!