I am a fan of cupcakes and I always have been. Ask any of my former roommates who I have subjected to countless batches, including one who witnessed me calling the police department when an entire batch went missing from my kitchen. (Yes, I’m serious. No, the cupcakes were never found and the SFPD fondly refers to the incident as the great cupcake caper.)

But who doesn’t love cupcakes? They’re cute and little, they taste good and they’re all about YOU!

It’s a cake just for you. A miniature marvel of sugary goodness reserved for your taste buds only. Want to lick all the frosting off? No one’s going to stop you. Want to dig your finger straight into the middle? No one will balk at the thought of getting your germs into THEIR SLICE because the whole cupcakes is YOURS YOURS YOURS.

Perhaps this is why I love them so much. Now that I’m older and have developed a taste for higher quality food, I feel my cupcakes should follow suit. Luckily, in the past couple of years cupcakes have gained popularity among foodies and trendsetters. They’ve made their way over from New York to the bakeries of San Francisco. And while we are blessed here in the city by the bay with lovely establishments such as Citizen Cupcake, Kara’s Cupcakes and American Cupcake, this is a blog all about DIY food. Bringing the bakery to your kitchen. (And personally, I always find homemade cupcakes to taste better than the store variety, with the exception of Sibby’s Cupcakery where the cream cheese frosting has reached a level of perfection I can only dream of one day matching.)

In honor of the desserts I love so very much, I’m dedicating my first Feeding Fashionistas post to cupcakes.

My coworker noticed how much I love cupcakes and let me borrow a book called (appropriately) Cupcakes.

It is full of almost fifty recipes for different types of cupcakes. Our arrangement was that I would keep the book as long as I wanted, providing I brought her samples of each batch I tried out. Fair enough. So far I have found all of the recipes to be relatively fool-proof and easy. They produce great tasting batches with minimal ingredients and a meagerly outfitted kitchen. If I can make cupcakes from scratch… YOU can make cupcakes from scratch.
(more…)

Filed under: Recipes, Firstposts
2 Comments

Excuse the rough layout and nasty graphics (for now). This is, you guessed it, the first post in my new blog, “feeding // fashionistas” (dig the slashes- so hot.) - a running commentary about my 2nd favorite subject*, cooking like a motherf—er.

I’ll admit it, I’m a west-coast urban hipster type, straight out of central casting. I’m a dj, a musician, a geek, a beer connoisseur and a fledgling wine lover. My politics lean heavily left, I love foreign/indie films, I go to Burning Man and underground raves. I’ve got a tastefully messy haircut and I wear subtly chic clothes. I cook almost exclusively vegetarian (sometimes vegan) food, but don’t let that scare you. If you want to take my recipe for dill-miso tofu tacos (forthcoming) and sub in some ground lamb, then far be it from me to stifle your creativity. Baah. I just like a good challenge, and making transcendental grub with little to no animal products is a worthy one.

What I want to relate in this blog is just how goddamn easy it is to cook amazing food for yourself and your fabulous friends. Food that reflects exactly what you want to taste, what you want to say on that plate, so to speak. Food that will have your social circle bowing and scraping at your feet for recipes. The funny part is, once you get it, chances are you’ll be cooking purely in a state of flow and you’ll be able to to smile knowingly and say, “Oh, sorry, this was just kind of improv!”.

At the end of the day, I say all it takes to be a good cook is a little information, some canny shopping, and a sense of adventure. If you “can’t make toast” and want to start on your way to culinary nirvana, I think you’ll find some good info here. If you’re already a good cook but just want some inspiration, I hope I won’t bore the hell out of you. Either way, please leave comments, tell me what’s good, what sucks, what’s missing, what’s overstated. I welcome your jeers as well as your cheers.

One warning- once you start to form your style and get it down, eating out just won’t be the same again.

Cheers and fresh lime leaves to you,
-george C

Filed under: Philosophy, Firstposts
2 Comments