On the Web!

Exciting news!

As You Wish bakery now has a website! It's still needing some tweaking, but pretty exciting! Dad's been helping me set up the website and take professional pictures for it using the light box that my 'Uncle' Paul made me! Here are the pictures we've been taking (and yes... this was a LOT of baking today!)

Hint of Almond

 Coffee Toffee Swirl

Decadent Chocolate

Chai Spice

Strawberry

Caramel Latte

Chocolate Cake Balls

Almond Cake Balls

Yesterday I also made three dozen cupcakes for a local teacher whose last chemo treatment was Monday. They requested pink ribbons and 'Fight Like a Girl' on the cupcakes. You go girl!

I also made two dozen assorted cupcakes and a dozen cake balls for Reata'z Deli + Market, so if you would like to try one, stop on by!

 And finally, a photo of dipping a cake ball... these are my weakness. Even after a long day of baking, these still taste amazing!

 "Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe even if someone told you about it." -Habakkuk 1:5

All in a day's work...

What a busy day! 8 dozen cookies, 1 cake, 3 dozen cupcakes... 

 

My 'Uncle' Paul made me this SWEET lightbox to photograph my cupcakes! I am so excited and so blessed! Thanks Paul!

 

I'm still learning how to use it... but doesn't this look better already?

Speaking of blessed, one customer brought me a bushel of Mcintosh apples from her apple tree! Wow! I munched on one immediately and it was sooo sweet and delicious. Tomorrow Marmie and I are going to whip up some apple treats... stay tuned!

 

Yesterday I started baking, and then disaster strikes!

 

Oh Coffee Toffee! Why do you fail me now? 2 dozen flopped cupcakes! 

But you know what my motto is... 'When life sinks your cake, make cake balls.'

 

And then... tweak your recipe! The cupcake in the lightbox is the new and improved Coffee Toffee Swirl! 

 

I made a dozen Coffee Toffee and a dozen Hint of Almond for a family whose son is heading to Iraq after this weekend. It was especially an honor to bake for someone serving his country in this way. Thank you!

 

Here's a party platter from Thursday that I'm now listing on my new brochure (e-mail me at asyouwishbakery@gmail.com if you would like a copy of the new brochure!) that has 2 dozen chocolate dipped cookies and 2 dozen cake balls.

 

 

It's Kate's second birthday, so I made her this 6" Whinny-the-Poo cake and a dozen specialty cupcakes. She is the youngest with three older brothers, and her parents call her their 'little spot of pink in a sea o blue.' And so these cupcakes are just that! 

 

 

Today is also the first anniversary for one happy couple. So I made them a dozen of these sweet heart cupcakes.

And finally, 8 dozen cookies for a house warming. 3 dozen chocolate chip, 3 dozen peanut butter, and 3 dozen sugar. 

What a day! I hope your was equally sweet.

Shine...

Breaking News: As You Wish made the cover of the Insider today! Click here to check it out online!

In other news...
Woo! What a fun order!

"Strawberry with lots of color. That's all I want!"


Red, pink, blue, green, yellow...


Pretty darn cute!

I also made a two-tier 8" peanut butter cup cake... yum!


Confession: I was in the middle of making chocolate cake balls, had the cake all baked, and got stuck! I just didn't want to make buttercream! Saw some apples... and some bananas...


...4 loaves of banana bread and 3 loaves of apple bread later, I did get my buttercream made, and had some yummy bread to give out to friends to boot! :)


Here's the recipes for the breads:

Autumn Apple Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 c. peeled and diced apples, moistened with lemon juice
1/3 c. chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 c. chopped raisins/dates (optional)
2 c. flour
2 ts. baking powder
1 ts. cinnamon
1/2 ts. nutmeg
1/2 ts. salt
1/2 c. sour milk (to sour, add 1/2 ts. vinegar to room temp milk, let curdle)

Directions:

Cream together butter and sugar and add beaten egg, stir in fruit and nuts. Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. Place in a loaf pan; let stand for 10 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F until cooked, about 1 hour (Check after 25 minutes... I'm pretty sure mine baked a lot quicker than an hour). Serve plain or buttered!


Sweet Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 3/4 all-purpose flour

1 1/4 ts. baking powder

1/2 ts. baking soda

3/4 ts. salt

1 (3oz) package cook & serve vanilla pudding mix

1 ts. cinnamon

2/3 c. white sugar

1/2 c. shortening

2 eggs

2 Tb. milk

1 1/3 c. mashed ripe banana

1/3 c. chocolate chips (or more :)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and vanilla pudding mix. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and shortening until light, scraping sides of the bowl often. Add the eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Mix in the milk.

2. Add flour mixture and mashed bananas alternately to creamed mixture, beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in chocolate chips or walnuts if desired. Pour batter into a lightly greased 8X4" loaf pan.

3. Bake at 350 until tests done (forgot to time it, sorry! Check it after 15 or 20 minutes)

Take some time to celebrate today!

Sweetness

Yay! Another new recipe!


Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes with Chocolate buttercream.

I made two dozen Peanut Butter Cupcakes and two dozen confetti cupcakes for this birthday order. I love making confetti cupcakes. They're always so cheerful!
Happy birthday to the birthday boy!

I love that my 'office' gets to be this cheerful (and tasty!).


Today I made 40 marbled cupcakes for my amazing neighbor who's starting this season's piano lessons this week. They were my first marbled cupcakes and took a little experimenting, but

I made a batch of chocolate cake and hint of almond. First I put in some chocolate...

then topped them with hint of almond.


A swirl with the knife, and they're ready to bake!


I think they're so pretty! And better yet, you don't have to choose between chocolate and white.


Purely for research reasons, I had to cut one and see what the marbled inside looked like... and tasted like... :)


I topped them with vanilla buttercream and gumpaste music notes I made a few days ago. Voila! I'm calling them Marbled Mozart.


I'll be baking and cooking for the 'Just Joy' women's retreat next weekend, and so I practiced making baby cupcakes (if you have cakes, then smaller are cupcakes, are these teacupcakes?).

Seriously. How cute is that little guy? The chocolate ones need some tweaking (which is understandable. Chocolate should come in massive quantities!) but hint of almond turned out well :)
Here's mom:


One of my goals with As You Wish is to bring sweetness to people's lives, not just by sheer quantity of sugar but also through deeper encouragement.

I know that everyone has a different story, is at a different stage of life. Some are celebrating new life, others are mourning the loss of life or the loss of a relationship. Some are laughing, others weeping. I know that, at some point, heartbreak falls on every heart.

No matter what your story is, I want to share this encouragement with you:

"For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a might savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." Zephaniah 3:17

Paints & Pints

What is this mess in the hallway? Well... let's just say it all started with a cool shower curtain. Add a simple tug at the wallpaper, and I plunged headlong into redoing the bathroom!


I am woman, hear me roar!


With lots of help (thanks, Dad!) we got the bathroom done in two days! Woo hoo!


Last night I also went out to our weed vegetable garden and picked lots of tomatoes and peppers...



...thus, salsa! I made a half batch of this recipe from recipezaar. Here's what I did:

I n g r e d i e n t s

* 6 c u p s d i c e d t o m a t o e s ( d o n o t r e m o v e s s k i n s o r s e e d s )
* 1 or 2 l a r g e y e l l o w b e l l p e p p e r s , s m a l l d i c e d
* 1 l a r g e g r e e n b e l l p e p p e r , s m a l l d i c e d
* 1 l a r g e o n i o n , f i n e d i c e d ( o r r u n t h r o u g h f o o d p r o c e s s o r )
* 2 l a r g e j a l a p e n o p e p p e r s , f i n e l y d i c e d w i t h s e e d s r e m o v e d
* 1 t a b l e s p o o n s s a l t
* 1 / 4 c u p s u g a r
* 1 / 4 c u p t o m a t o s a u c e
* 1 /2 c u p b o t t l e d l i m e j u i c e
* 2 t e a s p o o n s m i n c e d g a r l i c ( I u s e t h e j a r r e d m i n c e d g a r l i c )
* 1 1/2 t a b l e s p o o n s c i l a n t r o , p a s t e ( a v a i l a b l e i n f r e s h h e r b s e c t i o n o f g r o c e r y )

D i r e c t i o n s

1 . D i c e t o m a t o s a n d p l a c e i n f i n e m e s h c o l a n d e r t o d r a i n e x t r a j u i c e / w a t e r .
2 . W h i l e t o m a t o s a r e d r a i n i n g , d i c e r e m a i n i n g v e g e t a b l e s a n d p l a c e i n l a r g e p o t .
3 . A d d s a l t , s u g a r , t o m a t o s a u c e , a n d g a r l i c .
4. S t i r c i l a n t r o p a s t e i n t o l i m e j u i c e a n d s t i r t o b r e a k u p p a s t e . A d d t o m a t o s t o p o t a n d s t i r w e l l .
5 . B r i n g j u s t t o a b o i l , t h e n l a d l e i n t o containers. Sample the warm salsa—it’s really good!

I don't have a canner, but I followed this up to step 5 and it's wonderful! It made about 2 pints of salsa.

And since I was already straying from cupcakes this weekend, I made muffins for my Dad and B2.

Have a great Labor Day!

Joy

I truly believe that joy must be sought out. It just doesn't come naturally, at least not all the time. But there is joy in the little things! We can mourn yesterday and fear tomorrow, but we should always celebrate today.

...cake helps :)


Today I'm finding joy in red nail polish, dancing squirrels, and sugar-covered smiles. I love being in such a happy business! These are photos from a cake delivery a few weeks ago. If I make you some cake/cupcakes/etc., send me a photo and you can be a blogstar!

Three exciting things happened today: I had an interview and photoshoot to have As You Wish appear in the Insider for the Courier in a couple weeks! I'm excited! It's not often that I appear in a newspaper and not be the byline!

I also tried a new recipe for Pistachio cupcakes. (Yumm!!!! My new favorite)

What should I name them?


I also made these gumpaste music notes as my dear friend and neighbor (and my piano teacher, llama whisperer and prairie expert) is starting up her fall season of teaching piano. They'll be the toppers for cupcakes for her students.

I hope this brought a little joy to your day. Go out and celebrate!