Season's Geetings from Bake Star Wars For Me!

May your pastries be fluffy and light

and may all your baking turn out right!

Happy Holidays and Happy Baking to all!

Kitchen Overlord Illustrated Geek Cookbook

I started this blog because I wanted a world with more geeky treats in it. 

I've looked for fun cooking and baking books over time, but never really found anything that really fit the image that I had in mind. 

Well, that is until I found Kitchen Overlord's Illustrated Geek Cookbook!

Kitchen Overlord's Illustrated Geek Cookbook is a lavishly illustrated, easy-to-use cookbook representing over 120 years of geek culture.

Artist Tom Gordon and I spent over a year collaborating to create dozens of beautifully illustrated, ridiculously geeky, and, most of all, surprisingly easy recipes. Fans of Kitchen Overlord begged us for a display worthy cookbook, because nobody really wants to rub smudgy food fingers all over their iPad while trying to scroll through a recipe online.

Your wish is our command! We ran a successful Kickstarter this summer which earned over $16,000. That money went straight into printing high quality hardback books. The printers say the books will be delivered in the next 4-8 weeks. Preorder it now and you'll get a copy signed by the author as well as a quad folded poster of our not so problematic Ice Planets to hang in your kitchen. 

This isn't yet another collection of boring nachos and cookies with recipe title puns. Instead, we give you unique recipes that look like iconic aspects of your favorite fandom.

You like science fiction? We’ve got recipes for Sandworms, Tribbles, Cylon Raiders, and lots more.

Prefer fantasy? How about washing those Princess Buttercups down with some Gelatinous Cube Jello Shots. Bring them both to a party and I promise, you’ll add plus four to your charisma.

Are you a comic lover? How about chowing down on Captain America’s Shield, Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor, or Deadpool’s Chimichangas.

Prefer the classics? We don’t stop at old school favorites like Soylent Green and a Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy recipes. We start there, then go all the way back to the earliest days of Geek culture with tributes to Cthulhu, Sherlock Holmes, and HG Wells. Then we bring it right back to the present with recipes inspired by hit shows like Once Upon a Time and the The Walking Dead.

This isn’t just a comic. It’s not just a cookbook. It’s an illustrated encyclopedia of the best of geek culture.

Check out some of the awesome recipes that are going to be in this book!

You can buy it, and these other awesome cookbooks on her Etsy 

An Unexpected Cookbook

Wood For Sheep

Dining With The Doctor

But if you're going to dine with the doctor, you might want to invest in these!

buy here

I can't wait to get cooking!

Funfetti Cake Batter Cookie Dough Brownie Layer Cupcakes

I'm always looking for a reason to create something sweet and wonderful.

An upcoming team building meeting, a gathering of friends and a birthday was the perfect excuse to try something that I had been meaning to make for awhile.

 

Funfetti Cake Batter Cookie Dough Brownie Layer Cupcakes

 

 

yup, that's a mouthful to say, so let me try to explain what this masterpiece is. It's funfetti cake batter mixed into cookie dough, sandwiched between layers of brownie and then topped with chocolate icing. In other words, melt in your mouth amazing! This recipe, brought to you by Life, Love & Sugar, is suppose to be made as a cake. Well, I'd much rather have cupcakes, so I modified it a bit.

Brownies

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Line the bottoms of cupcake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the oil, sugar and vanilla extract. Add eggs and mix until well combined.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Slowly add dry ingredients to the egg mixture until well combined.
Pour the batter evenly into the three pans and spread evenly.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.

 

Remove brownies from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to cool on wire rack. While brownies cool, make cookie dough.

 

 

 

Cookie Dough

1 1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
two 15.25 oz boxes funfetti dry cake mix
1 1/3 cups flour
3-4 tbsp milk
4-5 tsp sprinkles
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chocolate chips

 

 Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Mix in vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, add one entire box of dry cake mix, plus 1 1/2 cups from a second box of cake mix and mix until combined. 

 

Add 1 cup flour and mix until combined. Add milk and up to an additional 1/3 cup of flour to preferred thickness.

 

 

Stir in sprinkles and chocolate chips. Dough will be thick. Set aside.

 

 

Since we're doing cupcakes instead of cake, cut the brownies in half horizontally and place in cupcake liners.

 

 

Take a handful of cookie dough and mould into a round, flattened ball and place on top of brownie half. Once finished, replace the tops of the brownies on top of the cookie dough.

 

 

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tbsp water or milk
sprinkles, for topping, if desired

 

 

Beat the shortening and butter together until smooth.
Slowly add the powdered sugar and cocoa and mix until smooth.
Add water or milk and mix until smooth.

 

Pipe icing onto the top of the cupcakes. Top with sprinkles.

 

 

Don't they look divine?

 

Everyone who had these wished that I had made more of them. Even I wished I had. These are quite time consuming, but totally worth making.

 

Happy Birthday To Me! Chai & Honey Cupcakes

So this past weekend was my Birthday! Yay! I am officially 31 and just getting better with age.

Not only was it my birthday, but also Canadian Thanksgiving. So I decided to make myself some cupcakes that would go well for both occasions.  

For my love of bees and the sweet goodness they provide; Honey

For the quickly coming fall and all the warm delights that go with it; Chai Tea

Mix them together to combine something amazing;

Chai & Honey Cupcakes

This awesome recipe comes from the same book as 

the Rose Water & Raspberry cupcakes that I posted about earlier this year.

So far these recipes have proven to be worth making

3 chai-spice tea bags

2/3 cup boiling water

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup honey

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg, at room temperature

honey, to drizzle (or honeycomb, cut into 1-inch pieces, for garnish)

Position oven rack in the middle of oven; preheat to 350°; line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a small bowl, steep the tea bags in the boiling water for 5 minutes.

Discard tea bags and let the tea cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt together.

Look at that beautiful, organic, wildflower honey
soooo good....

In a big bowl, combine the honey, melted butter, buttermilk, and egg.

Add the flour mixture and, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until just combined, about 2 minutes.

Add in the cooled tea and beat until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.

Bake about 18-20 minutes, until a pick comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cook in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour (the unfrosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before frosting and garnishing).

Honey Whipped Cream

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons honey

In a chilled bowl, combine the cream and honey; using an electric mixer on low speed, beat until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes.

Gradually increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the cream holds soft peaks, 2-3 minutes; use right away.

I did n't have any honeycomb and neither did the store, so I opted for topping my cupcakes with a drizzle of honey.

If you let the honey sit on the whipped cream for a moment, it starts to sink in and leave these cute little indented lines in it.

These cupcakes were perfect. Not only were they better than I thought they would be, they were also the perfect fall treat!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Stay tuned, as I'm hoping to get my computer back up and running again soon so I can post more of the treats I made this summer.

May The Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day to all my geeks out there!

Oreo Cupcakes

 

The Handsomest, most Amazing man in the World, my boyfriend Adam (yes, I might be a teensy bit bias in this regard, but I'm ok with that) recently had a birthday.

He decided to throw himself a board game party and invited all his friends.

I, of course, loving themed treats, scoured the internet for ideas for game themed cupcakes, but found I didn't come away very inspired.

Adam asked that I make him Oreo cupcakes instead. I've been meaning to make him some Oreo treats for awhile now, so I jumped at the idea. I looked at lots of recipes and finally decided to do it my own way.

 

For the cake I used the Vanilla Tex Mex recipe, but cut way back on the cinnamon. Instead, I got a bag of mini Oreos and cut them into small chunks, middle stuff and all and mixed them into the batter.

 

I placed a full sized Oreo cookie at the bottom of each baking cup, then filled the rest with batter.

Like the Tartcuppins, having something at the bottom of your cake makes the baking time change. The heat doesn't penetrate the same. I ended up baking them for about 10 minutes longer and then broiling the top of them, hence the slightly browned look.

mmm... look at those big Oreo chunks...

 

For the icing, I wanted to do something special. I looked up recipes for homemade Oreo's and used the recipe for "the middle stuff" from Sally's Baking Addiction, tripled the recipe and made it into icing. 

1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup (48g) vegetable shortening, room temperature

1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 1 minute. Turn the mixer off and add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute and then switch to high and beat for 1 more minute until creamy and combined. The cream filling is thick.

I tweaked this recipe, using a bit of milk, a bit more vanilla and Oreo crumbs until I found a taste that I felt worked.

 

Once the cupcakes were iced, I placed the remaining mini Oreos on top as garnish.

 

 

Don't they look good?

 

 

Check out what they look like inside. You can see the Oreo at the bottom, which had softened nicely in the oven.

 

 

These cupcakes were heavenly! I made about 24 all together and all but 2 or 3 were left at the end of the night, which was pretty good, since there were only 7 of us there. The remaining cupcakes were gone the next morning and made a terrific breakfast ;)

 

You should try these, they are to die for!

Rose Water And Raspberry Cupcakes

It's been a quiet few months here. After Christmas and New Years are both over, everyone seems to go into hibernation mode. Well, at least here in Canada, where it has been a super cold and dreary winter.

Everyone hides and inside and there are very few reasons to bake or use the new cupcake book and supplies that I got for Christmas.

Yes, I was the lucky recipient of a William-Sonoma gift-card this Christmas! 

The first thing I bought was this amazing cupcake book.

That was quickly followed by a jar of rose water and a jar of orange blossom water. I have been looking for those everywhere!

As St. Patrick's Day approached, my work's social committee decided to have a comfort food pot-luck. And what is more appropriate for me than to make cupcakes?

Since I really wanted to use the new stuff that I had got, I decided to make these!

(sorry, I forgot to take process shots again)

Rose Water and Raspberry Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp rose water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup whole milk

Position oven rack in the middle of oven; preheat oven to 350°; line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.

In another bowl, with an electric mixer on med-high speed, beat the powdered sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

Add in rose water and the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until combined after each addition.

Add in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake until lightly golden and a pick comes out clean, 15-18 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes; transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour

Rose Water Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tbsp while milk, plus more as needed

1 tsp rose water

2 drops red food colouring

Make the glaze--in a bowl, whisk the sugar, milk, rose water, and food colouring together until smooth; the glaze should be spreadable. If too thick, whisk in additional milk a few drops at a time. If too thin, whisk in additional sugar, one teaspoon at a time; use right away.

Spoon the glaze over the cupcakes (the glazed cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before finishing).

Top each cupcake with the fresh raspberries and sugared rose petals (if using), dividing evenly, and serve.

Don't they look super pretty?

They were really delicious, although a bit intense with the rose water. I would cut it back a bit next time.

These weren't really the right thing to take to a comfort food pot-luck. They are a little too fancy for that. They would be much better suited for an afternoon high tea.

I will for sure make them again.

Ring In The New Year With Champagne Cupcakes

3...2...1....

Happy New Year!!!

art by Bella Pilar

All right, all right, I know this post is a little late, but I figured that this recipe was still totally worth posting.

My friends hosted a fancy potluck for New Years this year. We all dressed to the nines and brought something to share with everyone else. I was asked to make a dessert and I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to try making champagne cupcakes.

Yup, more cupcakes with booze in them. Gotta love it!

I looked through a lot of recipes before I finally found this recipe on Gimme Some Oven. It had everything that I was looking for in the recipe; booze, buttercream and more booze.

Champagne Cupcakes

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup champagne
6 egg whites 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.

 

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne. 

(I used this fun-sized champagne that came in a 3-pack. It made it super easy to take the other 2 bottles to the party with me later.)

In another large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
(I have this fancy egg separator that I never get to use, so that was kinda excited to be able to separate so many eggs) 

Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean

(I actually suggest baking these for 15 minutes instead of 20)

Sweet Champagne Buttercream Frosting

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons champagne, at room temperature

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute.

I couldn't find my good icing tip, so I compromised by widening the one I had with a pair of pliers. It actually worked out pretty well.

I then sprinkled some pearl dust on it to give it some shimmer.

This one was my favourite. It kind of came out oddly, but I like it all the more because of it.

So, I mentioned that this was a fancy dress party, well, I spent way too much time on my hair then I usually do. 

No seriously, I spent like 3 hours doing my hair.

That is unheard of for me. I'm the queen of 10 minute hairdos.

My hair was super full and bouncy... and then I went out in the wind...

It survived ok, but wasn't quite as nice as it originally had been.

Here are a few of the pictures that they took of me.

When I get my computer working properly, I'll post the better pictures of my hair.

Go me.

Anyway, the party was a blast filled with lots of booze.

The cupcakes went over very well and were gone well before midnight.

What did you make for New Years?