I have the honor of my life to make this couple's wedding cake in November! I CAN NOT wait.

:)

Macaroon Photo Shoot

I stayed up late one night and made macaroons while my sister took pictures.
It was fun.

More pictures...

Pumpkin Pie? Oh no...Pumpkin Maple Creme Brulee.

 

 

Once Again...

And once more, my oven ruins my plans.
I know that my oven bakes too hot. But it's a fact I try so hard to ignore. (I should just buy a freaking oven thermometer and get it over with)
Recently, The Duvall Church came to me with an order for over 100 desserts for their Volunteer Appreciation Dessert Event. (Hurray! We now dedicate this time to a moment of silent contemplation of over 100 desserts. Yes, we know. It's lovely.) Included in these tasty plans are 4 wonderful cheesecakes. So today, I whipped up a test cheesecake in order to catch any malevolent mishap that may spring up in the recipe I'll be using for the event.
Ah yes. Mishap in two words: cracked cheesecake.
My oven bakes too hot! I'm sure it was over baked as well. It isn't too awful. It IS a test bake and over baked cheesecake still tastes awesome. It just doesn't look too fancy.
So I'm topping the whole thing with orange marmalade sauce and mandarin orange slices. Cracks concealed and citrus goodness = crisis averted.

Pretty in Pink

Grapefruit Infused Cupcakes.
It was my birthday so I made meself some cupcakes.

Change of Mind. Happiness of Mouth.

I know I said I would bake beef pot pies in my ramekins...
But I changed my mind. We ate all the stew and there was no leftovers to make pot pies.

No worries. (no worries at all)
I made Creme Brulee. Not just any Creme Brulee. Pumpkin Maple Creme Brulee. But as I said earlier today, it doesn't matter what the flavor is: it's heaven in a ramekin. My sister replied.
"Can I eat it now? Pumkin in a Ramekin, stuff my face-kin..."

I have decided what I am going to make in my delightful ramekins that I happily purchases sometime this past (whirlwind of a) month. 

Beef Pot Pie. 

It's such a nice Autumn type of food. 

And I love seasonally relevant food.

Sea Turtle Cake

I'm the busiest person on the planet right now, and so I have very little time to write anything about this cake. But it was for my sister's 16th birthday. Her favorite animal is a sea turtle... :) As far as taste goes it was a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream. Super tasty. I did this cake without any decorating tips since I have very few. (word to the wise, writing anything in icing without a tip is hard.)
The turtle is a lemon cupcake covered with green fondant and painted over with food coloring. But even though he was edible, in the end no one actually ate him, he was too cute.

Ladies Fall Kick Off!

Saturday's Fall event went great! Lots of people gave the Purple Door Bakery compliments and it was encouraging to feed so many people successfully. I feel as if I can actually DO this...
It was an uphill battle and I'm thankful it's over, but I'm super glad I was able to do it.

Because it was a volunteer shindig it was great to work with other people who also love baking and cooking. My mom and sister did a great job grating cheese, prepping salad, baking frittatas...Laura even helped me do all the hundreds of tarts we put out (in addition to all the wonderful photos she took.). We were so sick of mushrooms by the end of it! Also, a good friend of mine, Shannon, came early on Saturday to help as well. She was a life saver too! I couldn't have pulled off such a succesful catering endeavor without the help of everyone and I am very thankful.

The Menu:

Salmon Asparagus Frittata

Mushroom Onion Tarts

Mediterranean Salad

Autumn Gingerbread Cookies

Purple Himalayan Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

We were even able to decorate the table to make it look festive and autumn themed. I'm so glad presentation is part of this. Making things look pretty is my favorite part of this job...

My favorite thing from this brunch: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting with chocolate chips and homemade candy pumpkin toppers.... :)

All in all, it was a very tasty and fun event!

Mushroom Tarts

I have another ladies event to cater this month!
*confetti* Yay!
The last Solace Event that I baked things for was so much fun! It was hosted in a garden with music and flowers. All the women wore nice clothes and ate dainty food. So I'm really excited about this next one. At first I was a little nervous because I was going to be the only person providing food. Last time there was another local bakery that brought muffins so I knew they could be my safety net if I dropped a whole platter of cookies or something. But by now the nervousness has faded away and I'm just happy to be baking for people. Today was a blessed day off of work so I spent it planning and testing the menu. I originally planned to do large platters of fritatta, but although I like making egg dishes for a dinner, the thought of 80 plus servings is a little daunting. And it didn't sound FUN.  I love cooking, but baking is what I really do best. So the menu had a face lift. Scratch the eggs. New addition=Mushroom tarts.

A big family sized tart for dinner. I couldn't just make a bunch of little ones, oh no. We whipped out the MAN sized baking sheet.

I experimented with two kinds. The first (which was my personal favorite) was Mushroom Asparagus. I used puff pastry to make it light and fluffy, fresh herbs and garlic to give it flavor, and swiss cheese. It was so tasty! And they look pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

 I'm getting pretty good at this food photography thing, aren't I? Eh. Maybe I'll let Laura do the other ones. Hehe. 

The second tart was Mushroom Bacon Onion Herb Deliciousness Tart. We ate a big one for dinner and everybody liked it. Even John Mark ate it, although he complained about the vegetables.

The baby one before he popped in the oven.

 Toasty warm and fresh!

Featured!

The Purple Door Bakery's Purple Himalayan cupcakes has been featured on one of the cutest blogs ever...
Only Cupcakes.
http://onlycupcakes.net/

Go check them out! There are tons of beautiful cupcakes to drool over.

Rainy Day Soft Pretzels

Today was a rainy grey-ish sort of day.
Granted. It was a beautifully lovely day since I didn't have to go into work. I woke up and frosted pumpkin cupcakes my mom had made last night. They were the perfect breakfast.
Then I dillydallied here and there. Took a shower, checked emails, read a script that my sister wrote for her TSA group, packaged up some jam to send to college students deprived of home food. Then I found my kitten staying warm in the dryer, kidnapped her and took a nap.

 The Penny Kitten aka Nap Companion

Upon awakening I tweaked the Purple Door Bakery website, braided my hair, and went to the grocery store and bought more flour.
I'm always needing either sugar, flour, or vanilla extract. All the time. It's a baker's plight.

My day was almost complete.
My family happily attacked the kitchen. John Mark cooked the onions for a beautiful rue. My mom shredded carrots, Laura taste tested, my dad stuck his head in and sniffed...Ginger the dog tripped EVERYone.
Dinner was a broccoli cheese soup success. It always is. ...a success, I mean. It isn't always broccoli cheese soup.

 Fresh out of the oven...

After dinner John Mark and I couldn't wait to start rolling out dough. After reading one of my favorite blogs Have the Cake, I coaxed him into joining me in recreating Shopping Mall Soft Pretzels. You know the kind? The buttery-salty-fluffy-I-could-eat-these-forever kind? We kneaded, stirred, rolled, shaped, dunked, and baked those babies til they were perfect. They really do taste like the kind you pay an arm and a leg for in front of JC Pennys.

 Plate of Deliciousness...

Half of them we left just plain butter and salt, and the other half we sprinkled onion salt and italian herbs on. They made them taste fancier. Or so John Mark says...he also says when he starts working in the future store front he wants a weekly pay of $10. And a name tag that says "J-Man". Of course I complied.

Papa Garlic, Baby, and Salty Mama Pretzel Family

Rainbow Blast

Me and my mom made pumpkin cupcakes yesterday.
They are uh-mazing! I am definitely making them for the fall ladies event for The Duvall Church this month.
My little brother wanted to decorate one. So I piped on frosting and gave him all the nuts, coconut, sprinkles, and sugars I had for him to customize his very own.
He called it rainbow blast.

Unfortunately he only took a bite, and then remembered he had chores to do and forgot completely about it.
It's ok, I ate the rest.

I think, when I ever open a bakery shop, I'll let little kids decorate their own cupcakes if they want to. Look at how great they turn out!

Today is Farmer's Market Thursday!! Yay! And I'm off of work so I can actually go and wander about the stands and buy things!
I'm excited....

Coming up:
-A new purple door bakery website! Includes flavors, menus, contact info, and lots of pictures!
-Testing out a Rootbeer float cupcake. A little nervous about that one.
-Birthdays are coming up! A double whammy party is scheduled for September... :D

School starts again!

The siblings go back to papers, projects, early mornings and sack lunches tomorrow.
(Yay! Sack lunches...I can't wait to pack up all sorts of yummies.)
I'm a tad excited. I like "Back to School" time. All of the school supplies and notebooks are so fun, and you can wear sweaters in the fall weather...but I'm going to miss Laura and John Mark way too much.
My amazing sister (and best friend) takes all of the astounding photos on this blog. She has a great eye for composition and I shamelessly use her talent for my own gain. (It's ok, I pay her in Starbucks Frappaccinos.)
My baby brother on the other hand, is never afraid to tell me when a baking experiment tastes less than perfect. I love when he comes into the kitchen and asks "Do these ones taste good?" or even better "Are these for us?" Yesterday I baked 6 dozen desserts for a back to school teacher's lunch at the high school that was today. John Mark cracked every single egg for me and didn't get any shells in the bowl. I do believe I've taught him well.

The "naked" cupcakes and cookies

I realized today and yesterday that what I do at "Purple Door Bakery" isn't just me. The people I love are just as essential for this dream to get off the ground. When I woke up at 5:30 this morning to frost cupcakes, my mom was already sitting on the couch waiting for me to come downstairs so we could start working together. She cleans up after my messes for me all the time when I slack off, and she is the best encourager a girl could want.
My dad, having owned his own business for several years always has golden wisdom on supply, demand, customers, advertisement, risk, investment, pricing, pretty much anything! And I wouldn't be able to have any kind of website without his computer smarts behind me.
My sister, of course, is my faithful photographer, assistant delivery girl, music playing, stay-up-late-with-Candice-while-she-bakes-her-booty-off, all around awesome helper. I've promised her, when I ever get a store front, she is my very first cashier. I wouldn't want anyone else anyway.
And John Mark is just a hungry, cheerful, and egg cracking inspiration. For a long time when he was younger he used to want to open a French Restaurant with me. He wrote out a recipe book and watched "Ratatouille" a bajillion times. One day he said to me: "Candice, one day will you fly with me to France so we can learn how to make french food together and open my restaurant? I can be the chef and you can be my assistant." Of course I said yes...We haven't taken the trip yet. But our food is still tasty whenever we bake together.
But enough with stories about my family! You want the line up of tasty goods that went down at the Teacher's Lunch today! Righto!

Earl Grey Citrus Cupcakes

I was so happy with my Lemon Buttercream! It was perfect...

Spiced Chair Latte Cupcakes

 

The frosting on these tasted exactly like the frothy milk on top of a steamy Chai Latte. Mmmm....

Fruit Topped Shortbread Cookies

 

Kiwis, Strawberries, Blackberries (fresh from the bush this morning!), and Peaches. Dainty and pretty!

Thank you Carly and Leanne Christiansen for letting me bake you some of my favorite things. :)

Purple Inspiration

Ok, I realize I might have been obsessed about Blackberries for the past week.

And I know that I this is the third post in a row about blackberry. But they are so good! And the fact that they are freely sitting in  my backyard just waiting to be conquered by an aspiring culinary master....Well, it's just too much.

Do you ever have a goal, kind of a big goal, and you go all sorts of places to draw inspiration? But sometimes (most of the times) you just feel like instead of being truly inspired, you are just copying their genius and only tweaking it a little bit? Ok, that might not have made sense. Think of a poor art student (kinda like me when I was still a poor art student). They study all sorts of amazing artists, they try and make art that is the same sort of style or genre. But then they get discouraged because it just looks like a crappier version of a potential masterpiece. That is how I feel with cupcakes sometimes. There are so many wonderful cupcakes out there, but I feel like I'm not contributing to the masses. I'm just sorta copying old ideas.

Don't worry, this isn't a depressing post about how I feel like I'm a failure. I don't.

Because I made these beauties! I made the recpie up, I made the frosting up, I made it all up on my own! And the best part is... (ok, maybe not the best part. The best part is probably you eating it) The best part is they are purple! They are my signature "Purple Door" cupcakes! :D

Behold the new cupcake to grace the culinary world with it's presence: The Purple Himalayan

It's blackberry vanilla cake with blackberry frosting and blackberry lemon swirly garnishes. So far everyone that has eaten one has proclaimed it "The Best Cupcake Ever"

Yeah. I'm pretty pumped.