Bar explosion, ATX

Well, Austin is exploding with new bars. It's actually pretty crazy. I, of course, love it when new things come to SOUTH Austin...because the more things come, the less I have to go north. HA...that MIGHT make me a south snob...but anyone who lives here knows how lame traffic can be, especially when crossing the river too much. And south has almost everything I need.

ANYWAY, one of the newest contenders in the south (and pretty far south, at that) bar biz is The Red Shed Tavern. The owners Andy & Kelly (and a partner who i don't know) are awesome awesome awesome! They are the nicest people ever, which is just the first reason to support their establishment. The second is that...well...its RAD! It is really cool inside and has an amazing patio, and cool little stage in a RED SHED out back. I love it. GO!

Why exactly am I going on about The Red Shed Tavern on a baking blog,you might ask? WELL...last Saturday was their grand opening. SO...they asked me to make them a cake. Decked out with their logo, this cake was Almond flavor cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream. It was topped with a hand painted fondant logo. I also made a whole bunch of mini cupcakes to supplement the cake. They loved it and said it was a huge hit! I am so glad. I had to work and couldn't stay longer than to drop off the goods, which was kind of sad.

Here's the cake:

Turned out ok, right? Always a challenge, but fun to do!

It's definitely summer!

Texas is HOT. Have I mentioned this before? Summer is here, for sure. Soon I might even convince myself to go swimming.

As always, lots of baking happening around here.

Two more blog-worthy things this week:

The first...
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes with buttercream frosting and chocolate cookie "dirt", with plastic bugs on top! For someone who is an environmental engineer, apparently.

I thought they were super cute. I made an extra cupcaked and my roommate ate it. It looked MESSY as all get out, with the jam oozing out. peanut butter cupcakes are one of my favorites though.

In other News, my friend Adam (who is going to marry the lovely and talented rebeca, who i work with) had a birthday the other day. Beca told me she wanted me to make him a cake. When asked what kind he wanted he just kept saying VANILLA, and beca thought that was too boring. SO...one night, late at night as she and i were counting tips at the bar and discussing what kind of cake he might like...i texted him. The text went something like this "What kind of frosting goes with vanilla cake?". To which he texted back "TWIX". As though that really had any meaning. BUT...i took it literally and decided that that is what he would get.



They are not vegan, and neither is twix...so i figured I would put caramel in there for good measure. SO...

This cake is vanilla cake (which in itself is vegan, coincidentally), with buttercream frosting (which again, was vegan before adding the twix), topped with Twix Mini candy bars. It is four layers and in the middle layer the buttercream has crushed up Twix in it, which gave it a crunchy texture. Then the top was drizzled with caramel syrup (which i didn't make myself, since i didnt want to buy and mess around with a bunch of milk)...and decorated with more candy.



They thought this was the best cake ever. AND told me that when they eventually open their own coffee shop, they want to have the Twix Cake all the time!

Anyway, that's last week for me. This week brings a bunch of donuts and a special cake for some friends.

More on that later...i'm starving and in desperate need of coffee myself!
Cheers!
Meghan

PS: Beca and Adam named their new kitten after me, which is bizarre. SO...here is a picture of "Little Kitty Meghan Krasnoff" (aka: little meghan) waking up from the flash of my camera, whilst sleeping in my lap. Sorry little kitty, I didnt mean for the flash to be in your eyes!



CUTE!

May the Fourth Be with You. (even though it's the 7th now)

Well...Haven't I just been baking up a storm. It's been super busy. Except that Britt is sitting next to me and is sad, because there are officially no treats baked in my house at the moment.

Anyway...Biz has been just that...BIZZY! ha. Two things I've baked in the last couple weeks are worth posting...here you go.

My friend Mariana ordered these for her friend Jake, who is apparently moving to Japan sometime soon. These might have been the most fun cupcakes I've made in some time. Who knew that you could roll Fondant JUST like you would roll sushi? Except that it's actually a little bit easier.

AND...Ed and Lynette ( I hope I spelled that correctly) got hitched this last weekend here in Austin, Tejas. They needed a groom's cake to go with the Tree wedding cake they had ordered. They wanted the second cake to be vegan, and mocha with raspberry....so this is what I made:



Britt helped me make the leaves and the wee yellow pearls around the edges, as well as super cute (and subtle) acorns. She is the best...and if I could ever afford to pay her, I gladly would. SOMEDAY!

Stay tuned because I have a TON of projects coming up...
xo.

PS: Here is a picture of (the mighty) Quinn Lee Spaw, my bosses' amazingly cute little guy. He is 3 weeks old. CUTE! Love him...