My baking adventure...

So I've been inspired to start a little baking adventure. There are a few places my inspiration came from. It started while I was in Chicago in June. We walked by a bakery named Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique. It's a cute little bakery that mainly sells cupcakes. Check out their site but clicking on the name above. They had something called an Icing Shot, which got me and my partner thinking of a way to make icing a candy that you could just pop in your mouth. Here's one form of what I've come up with...

Icing Bites. Candy filled with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese icing.

Another source of my inspiration was a cupcake blog I came across. Cupcake Bake Shop They focus on trying recipes and creating their own. Blogging and photographing along the way. This was what gave me the idea to start doing research and testing recipes. Along with the blog it's my goal to have baked goods tasting (kinda like wine tasting). So far I've only managed to make one new recipe from scratch which I got from the Cupcake Bake Shop blog. Vanilla Bean Cupcakes. They were YUMMO! It has made me want to NEVER make a cake/cupcakes from a box again. I also made, from my own recipe, a Vanilla Banana Buttercream. Amazing!

My last source of serious inspiration was from the movie Julie & Julia. I FINALLY got to watch it. It was the perfect time to watch it. I went out and bought a new cookbook last night because of the movie and just being ready to start this adventure. I got the book The Art & Soul of Baking. It's a very thick and heavy piece of book. The recipes seem simple enough but delicious. I've started reading all of the information before I get into the recipes. I want to learn all I can before I start getting into breads and trying to make my own cake recipes. It was my goal to just try new cake recipes but this book has made me want to bake all kinds of things. I think I will start with cupcakes because I have some great ideas thanks to family and friends and I brainstorming. More updates will come has I learn and start baking. Thanks!

Here's a picture of the book. If you are or want to be a great baker, I think this book should definitely be in your collection.