Alright folks, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and for most of you that statement will probably cause one of two instant reactions:

(1)   Gag!  I loath Valentine’s Day and refuse to partake in this vile, sticky-sweet excuse of a holiday designed make people feel bad about themselves.  It’s nothing more than a guilt trip created by the establishment to alienate single people and force those who are in relationships to spend money and further partake in our consumer driven culture.  Why do we need a special, designated day to honor those we love?  We should be doing that all the time anyway!  I despise the fact that this holiday exists and you bringing it up makes me feel grumpy.

(2)   Wait, wait what?  Valentine’s Day?  Is January really already over?  Man, time flies.  So right, Valentine’s day,  umm yeah, I guess I should probably figure out what I’m going to do for (insert name of person who currently knows what you look like naked here).

For those of you who are feeling a special attachment to response #1 all I can say is, I totally get it and don’t blame you for not wanting to participate.  Hell, I’ve even taken that same stand on V-day in the past.  While I find the origins and history of Valentine’s Day fascinating, I understand that the modern day expression is nothing more than a marketing scheme (a marketing scheme that I, as a new business owner, am fully prepared to exploit).  I hope you’re able to make it through the 14^th day of February without strangling someone.  Oh, and you can stop reading now as the rest of the post is dedicated to non-haters.

Ok, so moving on.  Yes, Valentine’s Day is a mere 12 days away and yes, if you wish to participate in the Valentine’s Day “fun”, well, then you should be proactive and start pondering what it is you’re going to do for those people you love.  Naughty Little Cupcake Co would be stoked to be the place where you spend your allotted V-Day dollars and to further encourage that behavior we’re offering a special Valentine’s Day promotion.  Behold…

Naughty Little Cupcake Co. Valentine’s Day Special:

• 1 dozen cupcakes, 2 flavors, $30
  
• 6 Red Velvet cupcakes & 6 Buttermilk Chocolate cupcakes decorated with various sprinkles of the red, pink and white persuasion and presented in 2, 6-count boxes wrapped in red ribbon.  Oh la la.

You can check out the NLCC menu here to get a detailed description of the 2 cupcake flavors.

Your cupcakes will be available for pick-up from 9am to 12pm on the morning of Valentine’s Day or they can be delivered.  Delivery restrictions apply; an additional $10 will be added to your order for delivery.

If you’d like to take advantage of the NLCC Valentine’s Day Special, please place your order no later than noon on Friday, February 11th by emailing us at info@naughtylittlecupcake.  We will confirm your order within 24 hours.  Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day, yeah even to you haters!

Are you sitting down?  Good, ok, here goes.  I have a confession to make : I’ve recently starting dabbling in gluten-free and dairy-free baking.  There, I’ve said it.  It’s out.  Go ahead, you can judge me now.  I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking I’m doing this to be “cool”, cause ya know, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, egg-free, vegan-baking is all the rage right now.  Well, you’re wrong.  I’m a lot of things, but I am not trendy (says the girl who started a cupcake bakery).

For years now I’ve been a firm believer that all these food sensitivities people claim to have are  just another example of how lame we are as a society.  Yet another example of the fact that those who live in developed counties don’t have to worry about, oh I don’t, SURVIVING anymore, so we starting coming up with other stuff to worry about, like, for instance, seasonal depression.

In the words of Chris Rock…

“You think anyone in Rwanda’s got a fucking lactose intolerance?”

Funny, all that changed a few months ago when I started experiencing some weird symptoms.  I won’t bore you with the details cause it’s sort of  a long story and this isn’t that kind of blog, but basically it boils down to this: I might have a food sensitivity.  Oh, excuse me while I take my foot out of my mouth (thankfully my sensitively isn’t to my feet cause they end up there quite often).

When the possibility of a food sensitivity was first suggested to me I, of course, balked.  “I don’t believe in food sensitivities” I said.  Since then I’ve done a lot of research in the area of food allergies, sensitivities and intolerance and, well, I gotta say, I’ve learned a lot, namely, that I’ve been kind of a jerk when it comes to this topic.

Turns out the reason that people who live in places like Rwanda don’t have food sensitivities is because they are probably still eating the way their ancestors did a thousand years ago.  In other words, the way humans evolved to eat.  Food sensitivities tend to be more prevalent in developed countries because, basically, we have the “luxury” of eating a bunch of crap that our bodies haven’t really had time to adapt to.  I could go on and on about this topic, but you and I both know that if you’re looking for scientific evidence or concrete data on just about anything, chances are you’re not looking for it at Naughty Little Cupcake.  So, I’m going to cease my rant and instead share this awesome cookie recipe I’ve stumbled upon.

They’re what I like to call The Big 3-Free Cookies, the big 3 being gluten, dairy and eggs.  Behold…

Below is all you’ll need to make these cookies.

Front row: walnuts, dates.  Back row: maple syrup, grapeseed oil, kosher salt, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon.

Ingredients -

• 2 cups walnuts or pecans
• 12-ish dates, pitted
• 2 tsp grapeseed oil
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (I like to use kosher, not because I’m Jewish, but because the flaky consistency incorporates quickly)
• 4 to 5 tbs pure maple syrup (you worth it, don’t settle for maple flavored high fructose corn syrup)
• 1 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (optional)

Directions -

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place walnuts and dates in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground.  Pulse in oil, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Contiue to pulse until mixture begins to form a ball.

2. Remove mixture from food processor and tranfer to a large mixint bowl.  Add maple syrup and mix well.  Add coconut and mix until thoroughly blended.

3.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or if you don’t have any parchment just lightly grease your baking sheet with some of the grapeseed oil.  Scoop a little more than a tablespoon of the dough, roll it into a ball and place it on the baking sheet.  Make an indention in the ball with your thumb or fore finger.

4.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until slightly firm and brown on the bottom.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes.

Note:  While it may be tempting, do not eat these cookies hot and fresh out of the oven.  They need some time to set up.  Be patient.  Take a walk around the block or YouTube some old Chris Rock stand-up while you wait.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that you won’t even notice that these cookies don’t have flour, dairy or eggs in them, because  it’s really quite obvious that they don’t, so you will.  What I will tell you is that you won’t care because they are very tasty little treats that can stand on their own without the “these-cookies-don’t-have-conventional-cookie-ingredients-in-them” introduction.  When you serve these cookies to guests, don’t feel compelled to mention that they don’t contain wheat, dairy or eggs; your guests will think you think they are stupid for stating what is so clearly apparent.

The only down side to these cookies is that they kind of look like miniature sausage patties.  Really.  I had some of these cookies in my pack recently when I was out for a day of back country skiing .  When my friend and I stopped for a snack I pulled them out and started munching away.  My friend suddenly stopped his munching, gave me a strange look and asked,  “Are you eating breakfast sausage?”

I tried taking A LOT of pictures of these cookies for this post and no matter what I did they still looked like sausage patties.  I’m sure a trained photographer could have made them look like cookies, but I’m a baker, not a photographer.  Here, see what I mean…

Jimmy Dean, eat your heart out!

This recipe was adapted from one that I found in the November issue of ‘Delicious Living’, you know, that free mag they give away at health food stores.

As the owner/operator of a business called The Naughty Little Cupcake Company you can only imagine my absolute surprise and utter delight when I pulled this gem out of the ground in our green house several weeks ago.

I mean seriously, how cool, right?  I’m almost embarrassed to admit how excited I was to find these copulating carrots.  I had to talk myself down from taking this as a “sign”, although I can’t imagine what some higher power could possible be trying to say by sending me vegetable porn?

Anyhow, all naughtiness aside, I can’t help but imagine a love story if you will; 2 tiny carrot seeds happen to be placed side by side in the spring, they sprout and grow together through the summer and eventually, by the fall, end up wrapped around one another in a sweet greenhouse love affair.  That is until I come along and rip them out of their bed of soil then chop and puree them to death so they can become part of my Curried Carrot Soup.  I’m a sucker for romance (and soup).

Curried Carrot Soup really has no business on this blog as it is the least like cupcakes of anything I can imagine, but it was insanely delicious so I might as well share it with you…

• 2 tbs butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 to 3 tsp curry powder depending on your tastes (I used yellow curry)
• course salt and pepper to taste
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 cup water
• 1 to 2 whole garlic cloves

Heat butter in a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, curry powder salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, carrots, water and garlic gloves; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

In a food processor or blender puree soup in small batches until smooth ; transfer to a clean saucepan.  Add more water to thin to desired consistancy.  Reheat if necessary.

Note: remember that hot liquids expand when blended so don’t over-fill your food processor or blender.

Thanks to Angela Kuepper for the original Curried Carrot Soup recipe, which I have tweaked considerably here.

That’s right folks, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again…Halloween is just a few days away!

This is the Naughty Little Cupcake Company’s first Halloween in business (who knew we’d make it this long?) and Halloween just so happens to be Tiff’s absolute favorite holiday ever (seriously, this girl is MENTAL for Halloween) so we’ve decided to go extra, special big to celebrate…we’ll be slingin’ our cupcakes at the Halloween Bash with DJ Harry at the The Asian Palate Thai & Sushi Restaurant on Saturday, October 30th!  Sweeeeeeeet!

You do NOT want to miss this show.  If you live in the area and do miss this show, prepare yourself to have to listen to how rad it was for months to come.  You’ll be destine to be that loser who wasn’t at the coolest gathering of the year, without any stories to share.  I’m not gonna lie to you, it’ll be just awful to endure.  Do you really want to put yourself in that kind of situation?  I think not.

Starting at 8pm we’ll be serving up 2 special flavors with a little Halloween flair:

Buttermilk Chocolate ~ rich chocolate cake topped with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting, candy corns and black & orange sprinkles.

Classic Carrot ~ hearty carrot cake topped with luscious cream cheese frosting, candy corns and orange dusting sugar.

First 3 people to mention this post to Tiff (night of the show, at the venue only please) will get a free cupcake – just look for the girl freaking out on the dance floor, that’ll be her!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

PS – As if you needed one more reason not to miss this evening, NLCC has just added a “Sextet of Naugthies” (a 6-pack of cupcakes) to the prizes that will be awarded during the costume contest.  You best be sporting your most creative costume efforts!

Let me start off with an apology; I realize that I have gravely disappointed my loyal readers out there (all 4 of you) by not posting since July.  While there can be no acceptable excuse for my bad behavior and laziness, I must admit, I had fun trying to come up with excuses as to why I haven’t posted in nearly 2 and a half months.  Some of the best are as follows…

-Death in the family.  This seemed like a good one at first, but it would be my luck that I would make such a statement and then actually have a death in the family.  Clearly, for those of us that are supersitious, this is never a good excuse.

-My computer crashed.  See explanation above.

-I forgot my blog administer password.  This also seemed like a good one at first glance, but then I realized it would just make me look like an idoit and I am a lot of things but I am not an idiot.

-Learned I am allergic to sugar and wheat and was so devastated by the news that I could never eat another cupcake that I went into hiding.  This one is just too scary to even contemplate.  Yikes.

-I got thrown in jail.  Not something you generally share with people even when it’s true (from what I hear, of course), so why lie about it, right?

-I hit a deer while on a road trip and was stranded for a week while my truck was repaired.  Um, wait.  Wrong list.  This one actually happened.  Long story short: hit buck on day 4 of what was suppose to be a 7-day kayaking vaca, truck nearly totaled but we’re ok, stuck in Ketchum, ID for a week while truck receives over $5,000 in repairs, missed a week of work, did a bunch of mtn biking while we were stuck there, the mtn biking was sweeeeet and temporarily helped us forget that we were losing a bunch of money by missing work, learned there are far worse places in this world to be stuck than Ketchum, came home to CO and still didn’t do any blog updates.

Truth be told, I’ve just been really busy.  I know.  Anti-climatic, right?  But it’s true.  Between Naughty Little Cupcake, my “real” job at the kayak shop, my boyfriend, my girlfriends and friends that are boys, paddling, mtn biking, trail running, wreaking my truck and laundry I’ve just been really, ridiculously busy.  So, there it is.  I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.

The good news is that things seem to be slowing down a bit and I’ve got some really great ideas for upcoming blog posts.  My goal is 2 posts/month.  I think by actually sharing that goal I will at the very least be guilt-ed into posting more regularly from here on out.

Thanks for sticking with me, loyal readers.  Stay tuned and thanks for checking out the blog.

Naughty Little Cupcake Company is making it’s big debut this weekend at the Collegiate Peaks Music Festival!

If you’re going to be in the area stop by, say hi, enjoy a cupcake and shake it to some rad music (that’s what I’ll be doing when I’m not busy selling cupcakes).  If you’re not going to be in the area, well, you should probably re-think that decision.  Cancel whatever other plans you might have and get your ass to Buena Vista, CO!  Trust me.  It’s gonna be a ridiculously good time and you’re not going to find my cupcakes anywhere else.  Need more convincing?  Below is my menu for the weekend…

• T.M.F Cupcake (Tiff’s Most Favorite) – lovely yellow cake topped with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkles.

• 5-Spice Kick Cake – moist spice cake topped with sweet and spicy chai frosting.

• Classic Carrot Cupcake – hearty carrot cake topped with heavenly cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans.

• Buttermilk Chocolate Cake – rich chocolate cake topped with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting and chocolate shavings.

• Strawberry Shortycake – delicate white cake topped with fresh pureed strawberry frosting.

• The Car-Bomb Cupcake – dense Guinness chocolate cake topped with a hint of Baileys Irish Cream Frosting and chocolate shavings.

You can buy Naughty Little Cupcakes individually or you can step it up and buy a Sextet of Naughties (6 for the price of 5).  The first 3 people to mention this blog post get a free cupcake (for real, no kidding, I do not make this stuff up)!

As if sweet music and sweeter cupcakes weren’t enough there will also be some pretty cool after parties happening on Friday and Saturday night.  See the music fest website for more details.

Look forward to seeing you!

Alright folks, think fast – what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see the following picture?

If you said “Irish Car Bombs” then chances are you and I had very similar college experiences.  However, I must be maturing at a rate faster than I once thought, because now when I see Guinness and Baileys together all I can think about is cake (well, cake and that one really, really awful hangover from St Patrick’s day 2006) .

In my continuing quest to try new and creative cake recipes I stumbled upon this little gem that was just begging to be baked: Guinness chocolate cake with a Baileys Irish Cream frosting.  Go ahead and take a moment to wipe the drool from your chin.

The recipe is fairly simple and quick, the results are amazing and the very best part…

…you get to drink what’s left over from the recipe!  I know, the picture is blurry.  What can I say?  I’m a lightweight!

Melting the butter into the beer.  It may sound gross, but it actually smelled wonderful!

Adding sugar to the beer/butter combo.

Everything all mixed together.  I found the batter to be a little on the runny side.

Filling up the cupcake cups.

Finished product!

Verdict on the Good, Bad, Naughty Scale: Good + 4 (see bottom of ‘About the NLC Blog’ page for an explanation of the Good, Bad, Naughty Scale)

These little guys were so, so, so close to getting a Naughty rating.  The only thing that kept them from achieving Naughtiness-dom was that the frosting was a tad on the strong side.   I like the taste of Baileys and all, but  I was expecting more of a dessert and not a shot.  That, of course, can be fixed though by just cutting back on the Baileys in the frosting and substituting some milk or cream instead.  The cake was wonderful.  So moist, very chocolaty and just the slightest hint of Guinness flavor.  This recipe is a definite keeper.

Starting a business is great fun; brainstorming the name and themes, baking cupcakes, eating cupcakes, baking and eating more cupcakes, working out logo design, working out to burn off  the calories from eating all the cupcakes, designing business cards, second-hand store shopping for unique trays, cake stands and displays for showcasing my cupcakes, creating this blog, blogging on the blog, hitting up fabric stores to select cool, vintagy fabrics so I can make cute little aprons for my girlfriends to wear while working my cupcake booth this summer at the Collegiate Peaks Music Festival, day dreaming about the paint, chairs and saucers I’d want to use in my storefront that is still years from being a reality, wondering what kind of music I’ll play at said storefront during business hours and on and on.

It’s all been so creative! and conceptual!  and inspiring! and awesome!  Weeeeeee!

And just when I was really starting to get the hang of this whole starting a business thing, ya know, really getting good at it — WHAM!!!

I ran smack into the brick wall called “actually starting a business”.

Ouch.  That hurt and this sucks.  Apparently all the stuff I just mentioned isn’t really starting a business, it’s, um, well, it’s just me having fun.

Turns out  “actually starting a business” is actually kind of hard work.  If this were a competition, like Me vs. Starting a Business, I’d pretty much be getting my ass handed to me right now.  It’s not like I thought it was going be easy, I just didn’t think it would be this hard (if that’s not already the name of a country music song, it should be).  When I committed to giving this cupcake business a try I knew I was going to be exposed to vast amounts of new information, concepts and ideas.   After all, my educational background is in environmental sciences, not business, so I was expecting to learn a lot and be challenged.  What I wasn’t expecting was the endless list of licenses, fees, permits, paper work, forms and hoops I have to apply for, pay for, fill out, sign my name on and jump through.  Serious creativity killer.

It’s all so routine (!) and tedious (!) and monotonous (!) and brain numbing (!)  Yawn.

Below is my checklist as of today:

• Finish the business plan and turn it into business adviser for review (60% done)
• Unit cost analysis (which is technically part of the biz plan, but is a big enough task that it warrants it’s very own bullet)
• Appointment with the Colorado Small Business Development Center  (done)
• Look over logo proofs, pick one, use new logo to create NLCC banner, business cards and update blog (nearly done)
• Get a PO box in the NLCC name (done)
• Register trade name for Naughty Little Cupcake Company (done)
• Open a bank account under D.B.A Naughty Little Cupcake Company (done)
• Obtain a Colorado State Tax ID Number from the Secretary of State Office using form CR1100, $20
• Apply for a town of Buena Vista business license, $20
• Apply for a Single Event License on form DR 0859 “Special Event Application”, $8
• Apply for a Retail Food Establishment License through the Colorado State Department of Health $255
• Register for Safe Food Handling classes through Department of Health, cost unknown
• Talk to my insuracne agent about business insurance
• Tour the commercial kitchen I’ll be using at the Evergreen Cafe (thanks Barb!), find out rules, get keys made and have an ‘agreement of use’ letter notarized at City Hall (done)
• Fill out the Vendor Application for the Collegiate Peak Music Festival, due June 1, $80
• Look into financial assistance programs for first-time women business owners (fingers crossed something like this even exists?)

Awww man,  I just want to bake cupcakes and sell them to people.

I’ve been a whitewater kayaker for nearly 10 years now and I can honestly say that there are few things in life that have elicited more fear and simultaneous excitement in me than scouting a Class V drop.  That is until this last weekend when I catered my boss’s daughter’s 6th birthday party.  Talk about some pressure!

My mission: 2 dozen white cupcakes, 8 with chocolate frosting, 8 with vanilla and 8 with strawberry, a sort of Neapolitan theme.

I spent all of Friday night baking and trying to perfect the strawberry frosting which turned out to be the crux of the job (I finally figured it out after throwing away the first 2 batches).  I delivered the cakes early on Saturday morning before heading to my “real” job at the kayak shop.  I spent the entire day at the shop consumed with worry; what if they thought the cake was too dry?  What if they thought the frosting was too sweet?  What if the wind blew the pastry racks over before the party started?  All my fears were laid to rest later in the day when I received an email from Cheryl, Tanner’s mom:

“Great time had by all. EVERYONE LOVED the cupcakes! Great frosting! We sent one with a card home with every mom! Thanks again! -Cheryl”

Whew!  Sweet, sweet success!

Lovely little cakes fresh out of the oven.  Note that they didn’t fall in the center!

One of each: chocolate, vanilla & strawberry…

Tanner’s extra big, birthday girl cupcake…

The pastry racks I decorated for the party with the not so discreet NLCC advertising on the top.

Party set up…

Check out the little blond girl in the back.  She’s already got her fingers in the frosting.  Too cute!  The birthday girl is front and center in the white shirt and brown pants looking shy.

Dad is lighting the candles…

Tanner getting ready to devour her cupcake…

10 little girls diggin’ in…

Who loves cake?  Everyone loves cake!

Cheryl – thanks for hiring me to do the job and thanks for taking some great pics of the girls enjoying my cupcakes!  Hope I get to do it again for Tanner’s 7th!

My first batch of business cards…

I’m anxiously waiting the arrival of the “official” NLCC logo so I can create some real cards, but this will get me by in the meantime.  I’ve distributed the cards at various local businesses throughout the valley and I’m pleased to report I’ve already had a couple of inquiries (pause while I high-five myself!).

This little idea of mine is starting to feel more and more real every day.  The part of me that isn’t scratching my head in amazement is absolutely thrilled.  I’m still struggling with how the whole idea of starting a cupcake business even found it’s way into my brain, but I’m going with it for the time being.