Substitute Ingredients List

When I started in the baking world everything was sooo new to me and I couldnt get many of the ingredients in various recipes and Oh God I ended leaving them to the side because I had no one to explain; I didn't have anyone else close who already baked so I was lost. One day I came across a magazine, a very old one, that had a list of substitutes for many ingredients. When I didn't find something in the market I could easily substitute it for another ingredient and finish the recipe that my heart longed for....soooo here I simplified it a little and posted it for you.  I assure you that it will be helpful at some moment ;))

Ingredient  =  Substitute

• Fresh whole milk  1 cup  =   1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/2cup water
• Mustard 1 Tbsp  =   1 tsp powder mustard
• Tomato Juice  1 cup  =   1/2 cup tomato sauce and 1cup water     
• Sugar 1 cup  =   1 cup honey
• Honey 1 cup  =   1 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water
• Baking Powder 1 Tsp  =  1/2 tsp cream of tartar and 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Buttermilk 1 cup  =    1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice 
• Semisweet chocolate 1onz  =   1onz unsweeted chocolate mixed 1tbsp sugar
• Corn syrup 1 cup   =   1 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup water
• Egg 1  =   2 eggwhites  or 2 yokes or 1/4cup egg subt.
• Molasses  1 cup  =  1 cup honey
• Granulated Sugar 1 cup  =  1cup brown sugar or 2 cups powdered sugar 
• Cake flour 1 cup  =  1 cup minus 2 tbsp of All Purpose flour
• Sour Cream 1 cup  =  1 cup evaporated milk plus 1 tbsp vinegar 
• Pumpkin Spice 1 tsp  =  1/2tsp cinnamon 1/4tsp nutmeg and 1/8tsp ginger
• Mascapone cheese 8onz  =  8onz regular cream cheese                                               

Hope you find it useful as much as I did! Happy Substituting!!!!

Like I promised Eggnog/Coquito cupcakes

I have been the entire week crazy with these cupcakes because they taste just like Christmas! And here they are:

Aren't they cute and they not only look good but they taste awesome. So try them out!
For these I just used a regular vanilla cupcake recipe and added my homemade eggnog; you my use your receipe for eggnog or a store bought one.

 For this recipe:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large egg and 1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup eggnog
Eggnog buttercream /frosting
Nonpareils and/or sprinkles (for decoration)

Preheat oven 350 F. Line a standard 12cupcake pan with liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy, 2-3 min. Add egg and whites one at a time, beating well on low speed after each addition then beat in vanilla.  Add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating with the eggnog in 2 additions, beating on low until just combined.  Scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. Do not overbeat.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake until lightly golden or toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool while your prepare your buttercream or frosting.

Well for these cupcakes I made a Eggnog cream cheese frosting, but you may make a vanilla buttercream and add some eggnog or ginger, or you may even make a frosting using Crisco and some spice rum. You pick your favorite!

Eggnog Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 12onz of Cream cheese 
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp of eggnog
• 1/2 tsp of ginger
• 1 cup of confectioners sugar, sifted

In a bowl using a mixer beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the eggnog and ginger. With the mixer on low speed add the sugar slowly and beat for a couple of minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use. 

For decorating these I just used big circle tip to frost them and just added some golden sugar sprinkles. Well I hope you enjoy these as much as my twins and I did eating them up, because they are to die for!!

Royal Icing Recipe for Decorating Cookies

Hi  I dont know how this happened but I realized I didnt post my royal Icing recipe for decorating cookies. Sorry about that gals but here it is:
You will need:

1. Confectioners sugar about 1lb
2. 3 eggwhites (large eggs)
3. 1/2 tsp lemon juice
4. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

All you do is in a beaters bowl you put eggwhites and start to beat using your paddle attachment until you see it starts to become foamy (at the first few bubbles) then add sugar cup by cup til you have a fluffy and pretty stiff peak form at the tip of your paddle when it is removed from your beater.  Now you add your lemon juice and vanilla extract and beat just to incorporate. You may use at the moment or store in an airtight container. If you have any questions just comment at the bottom or email me at sweetbakingboutique@gmail.com or just visit me at facebook. 

Getting into the Christmas Spirit with the wonderful gingerbread smell!!

Like I said before whats not to Love about Christmas? Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I just love the gatherings and the homemade gift giving! All year I'm wondering what I may come up with for gifts because I'm a homemade gift making freak. Its good to receive store bought gifts but to me its Extra special to receive something that's homemade. Soooo I started out with gingerbread cookies and the smell drives me crazy. And to begin with here is my recipe:

Gingerbread Cookies 

• 1/2 cup Butter (unsalted)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 -3 cups of All Purpose Flour ( decide when adding depending if it looks dry)
• 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp ginger spice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp ground clove 
• 1/8 ground pepper
• 1/2 cup honey 

Instructions:

Beat together butter and sugar until well mixed then add egg and honey. In a separate bowl mix all other ingredients and slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture. Once the mixture forms a ball remove from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When the dough is cool I roll it out into a 1/4"to1/2'and using my cookie cutter I make the desire shape and place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10mins at 350F.

 Once the cookies are baked and cooled you may decorate them with royal icing recipe in my earlier posts.
Well hope you be having lots of fun making and eating these great tasting and smelling cookies! Oh and sorry about not adding finished photo, blog is not letting me post the rest, but will be adding them to facebook, soooo visit me there!!

Gingerbread cookies and Eggnog cuppies!

Preparing for Christmas!! My favorite time of year! Love the weather, the food, the goodies, the decorations and the people become more loveable. Hey whats not to Loooove about Christmas!!  And since we are getting ready for Christmas we are going to share some gingerbread cookie recipe and decoration; And will be making a wonderful Eggnog cupcake recipe. Oh soooo good specially for us dieters, yeah right!  All this, this weekend soooo stay tuned!

Victoria!

Make your own Cookie Cutter Tutorial

Make your own Cookie Cutter Tutorial

Hi! I've been obsessed with cookies and cookie decorating lately!! OMG So obsessed that I have bought sooooo many cutters that I cant even count them anymore. I go looking everywhere, ebay, internet, malls, even in the kids sections with the toys, its incredible mi twin daughters are always saying more cutter Oh Mami! But I just love it. I dont have much experience decorating them and they dont come out so great but I have tons of fun making them. But when I want one that I dont find, what I do is make it. These aren't the most perfect ones but they do work well. Soooo well, that for a graduation I needed one in particular for a school logo and couldn't find it sooo, I made it and made 350 cookies and Its still running well.

Recently I came across a post made by  Marian at sweetopia.net and she made a beautiful baby elephant cookie for a baby shower and I just fell in love with.  This picture belongs to her.

Sooo, I decided to make the cutter myself because I couldn't find it. And here it is:

Ok to get it done we need various materials and they are:

• Aluminum pan ( like the ones for turkey roasting)
• large sissors
• metal ruler
• the picture or drawing of the cutter
• pencil 

What I did was cut the pan in strips and eliminate any rough edges and the round corners always being careful not to cut yourself.

and also eliminate the round edge at the top. Then after cutting the strip I flatten them, I folded it in half, leaving a small edge at the top and straighten them out really neatly like this:

If the strips aren't long enough for my cutter I just join them together by putting one into the other and then folding the top edge down and there they will be like pinched together and won't come apart. This is where my metal ruler comes in handy.  It helps me fold and bend the aluminum being careful not to cut my self. 

Perfect!!   And we are ready to design your cutter.

Here is where the art comes in and the paper and pencil too. Create your design and draw it on a paper. That is going to be your guide. Here I use my pencil to give it the roundness to the cutter, it's much easier! Keep bending, keep bending, use your pencil to helpppp. 

When you reach the ends all you do is insert one into the other like a small pocket and press firmly. And there you have it, your own cute elephant cookie cutter. 

Enjoy making these, they are soooo much fun to make and you can make almost any shape. If you have any questions just comment below and do not forget to visit my friend at http://sweetopia.net/, shes awesome!! Also visit us at facebook!!

Have Fun!!!

Sweet Baking Boutique

Zebra Print Cupcake Toppers Tutorial

Hi to you all! Today I will be posting my very first tutorial on how to make a zebra print cupcake topper! I'm so exited and nervous!!!

 Well the first thing we will need is flower paste or fondant. If you haven't ever made flower paste I will be posting the recipe later on after this tutorial. The material we need are:

1. Paste (white/black for zebra)
2. Rolling pin
3. Round cutter or even flower shape if you like 
4. Non-stick surface to work on 
5. Crisco (to put on your hands before coloring paste for non-sticking)
6. Small brush and a some water ( to work as glue)
7. Some powder sugar if necessary 

Ok, Lets begin.  As you can see I divided the paste into two section one white and the small will be painted black with icing color (gel) for the stripes. Roll out your paste and cut out your circles or the form you may like your toppers to be, and put these aside to dry a little bit. Then we shall color the remaining paste

 in black and let it sit for a while in a small bag ( this is for the dark colors to darken a bit).

Ok after waiting a bit for the color to darken or you may do this anticipated so you dont have to wait and believe me I have seen the difference between making it before and just using it after painting. Sooo we roll it out and take the same cutter that you used before and cut out the shape as your topper.

And cut wierd strips out of it. One of the black cutouts with be enough for two white toppers. They look faded because I put powder sugar for non sticking issues. And now just use a little bit of water to glue them to your white toppers. You may glue them closer or with more space in between the strips, depends on how you like them. 

After the strips are glued to your white toppers, let them dry overnight or depending on the humidity in your area.  Once dried just frost your cupcakes and put on your toppers!!!

Hope you enjoy making these toppers, I know I surely did. They are soooo much fun to make and the finished product look sooo cute all put together.  If you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me.

Espanol:

Hola a todos!  Este seria mi primer tutorial y estoy super anxiosa y emocionada!!

Si nunca han hecho la pasta de flores  luego de este tutorial colocare la receta.

Necesitamos varios materiales:                                                                                                                      

1. Pasta de Flores o Pasta Laminada
2. Rolillo 
3. Cortador (puede ser redondo o en forma deseada)
4. Brocha y agua para utilizar como pega 
5. Crisco ( para las manos antes de pintar la masa)
6. Azucar en polvo ( para que no se pegue la masa a la mesa) 
7. Superficie donde rolar 

Colocamos crisco o azucar en la mesa dependiendo de la humedad que tenga su masa para que esta no se pegue a la superficie, Como pueden ver en la foto, rolamos la pasta de flores blanca segun el grosor que desee y procedemos a cortar con su cortador (puede ser redondo o en la forma deseada). Los ponemos a un lado para que vayan secando mientras pintamos el restante de la pasta color negra (colorante en gel para glasa). Una vez pintada la colocamos en una bolsita plastica y la dejamos que tome un color mas intenso (esto lo pueden hacer con anticipacion). Una vez con el color deseando la estiramos y procedemos a cortar con el mismo cortador que utilizamos anteriormente para la pasta blanca, luego estos circulo lo cortas en rayas con movimiento segun las fotos para que no queden iguales. Tomamos nuestra brocha humeda y humedecemos la parte de atras de estas rayas y las pegamos a los toppers blancos segun deseado (ver fotos arriba).  Los dejamos secar 24hrs o dependiendo de la humedad en su area. Una vez todos secos, frostiamos nuestros cupcakes y solo colocamos nuestros toppers y listos!!!! A disfrutar! 

Espero que disfruten haciendo estos toppers para sus cupcakes tanto como yo lo hize. Si tienen alguna duda o pregunta sientase libre de dejeme un comentario. 

Sweet Baking Boutique

Flower Paste Recipe

1 Tbsp glucose (glucosa)

1 Tbsp Tylose 

3 Tbsp water (agua)

Powder sugar 

1 Tsp Crisco for the hands (para las manos)

Sift Sugar and Tylose in mixing bowl. Warm the glucose and water in micro for about 7-8 seconds and then pour into mixing bowl. Add sugar as needed until it forms a paste. Remove from mixer and onto table previously powdered with sugar, put crisco on hands so it doesnt sick to hands and knead to form a ball that does not sick to table, add sugar as needed. Put in plastic bag and let it rest for 24hrs.

Espanol: Cernir azucar 10x y tylose en bowl de mezcladora. Aparte calentar en micro la glucosa con el agua de 7-8 segundos hasta disolver y unir a azucar y tylose. Mezclar hasta formar una masa anadiendo azucar segun necesaria y luego llevar a la mesa y amazar, anadir azucar hasta que no se pegue a la superficie. Luego colocar en una bolsa plastica y dejar reposar por 24hrs. 

Nuevos Comienzos!!!!

Hola Soy Victoria.  Hoy he tomado la decision de comenzar este nuevo y maravilloso blog! Llevo mucho tiempo deseando este nuevo comienzo pero en nuestras vidas aveces luchamos contra muchas cosas para adquirir lo que deseamos aun contra viento y marea, y muchas veces durante mucho tiempo. Pero cuando vemos cerca aquello que tanto deseamos nos dan corrientes de miedo en nuestros cuerpos y ahi nos toca decir"lo hago o no lo hago".  Pues Siiii lo hago!! El miedo nos paraliza aun cuando sabemos que eso es lo que queremos y ahnelamos!! Pues si esto te ocurre es totalmente normal pues somos humanos y siempre le tendremos un poco de temor a lo desconocido pero lo que no es Normal y bueno es que esto te paralize y no te deje tomar la espada y luchar por eso que quieres!! Asi que Lucha! Toma tu espada y lucha por lo que quieres no importando lo que sea es Tu sueno y lo puedes convertir en realidad!!! Estos son nuevos comienzos para mi en muchas areas de mi vida. Acabo de comenzar una nueva pagina en facebook tambien y otras etapas que les contare mas adelante; Con Dios por delante todo es possible!!!!! 

Suerte Sweet Baking Boutique!!!