Red Velvet Cupcakes

On Friday Robert said that he would like to order some cupcakes to give to his Aunt Marta for her 50th birthday, to bring to her dinner party on Sunday evening.  I asked him what her favourite colour was, and he said red.  I immediately thought that this would be a great opportunity to make Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes are so much fun to make!  You mix the small amount of cocoa with some red food colouring:

And then add it to your batter:

It became this beautiful magenta colour!

I then made some buttercream frosting to ice these beautiful cupcakes.

I have only eaten red velvet cake once before, so I don't really have anything to compare these too.  Next time I make these, I will use a red colouring paste, as I wonder if that will make them more 'red' rather then 'magenta'.

I hope Robert's Aunt Marta enjoyed them!

Hope you had great weekends!  Love from,
April's SweetShop

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday Robert texted a picture of a cookie he was eating and asked me to make him some cookies.  So I did!  I have been making chocolate chip cookies for so long, I don't follow a recipe.  It's been in my head for about 15 years.  I thought I would use my hand mixer, rather then my huge KitchenAid.  I have to tell you, that after being spoiled by my KitchenAid, it was rather difficult going back and using a hand mixer.  This is probably because I like to cream the butter for a long time, then cream it with the sugar for a long time.  I don't know how I went so long without a KitchenAid!

This weekend, I am planning on making some Red Velvet Cupcakes.  I'll let you know how that goes.  Enjoy your weekend.

Love and Happy Baking,
April's SweetShop

Some of my recent baking...

Black Forest Cake
For the week of March 14th, we made a black forest cake at George Brown.  This is devils food cake, which makes up the Black Forest Cake.

Now generally, I have never really been a huge fan of the black forest cake.  The cake is always so dry, which does not make for a nice cake-eating experience.  Well we learned a little secret in class, which helped the cake stay moist for days!  You make a syrup, add some kirsch (or whatever flavour for your cake) and brush it onto the cake layers.  Next add some cherries and whipped cream!

And then decorate it - which is the fun part!

So now I am a fan of the Black Forest Cake.  I will definitely make it again, as both myself and my boyfriend loved it. 


Shortbread Cookies
On Sunday, I decided to make a big batch of shortbread cookies, as I wanted to send out a couple of gifts to some friends and family.  It's my grandmother's recipe, but a basic shortbread, which I doubled and divided into 3 batters.  I made a plain shortbread and added some sprinkles for fun; toasted pecans (which are my personal favourite); and chocolate chunk shortbread.

I sent some to my brother and sister-in-law.  Unfortunately they were not home to accept the package, so they drove to the Purolator office to pick them up.  They messaged me, in the office, eating the cookies.  They could not even wait to get home to open them!  That made my day!!

Chocolate Eclairs

And as if that was not enough baking for one day, my baking partner at George Brown came over and we baked up some eclairs that afternoon!  I, probably like you, was intimidated by the thought of making an eclair.  But it turns out, it's not that difficult.  You just need some patience, as they have to bake for 30 minutes.  And with the recipe we used, there were about 4 batches to go in the oven.  Then there's a cooling time before filling with whipped cream and dipping in the chocolate.  We learned afterwards that we were not supposed to open the oven door, as that can flatten the wonderful morsels.  But luckily only 1 batch flattened, and we still had about 40 eclairs at the end of the day!  I will definitely make these again, but maybe do a custard for the filling next time.

Swiss Rolls

This week at George Brown, we made some Swiss Rolls.  The cake was a very light sponge cake, made up of only eggs, sugar, vanilla and flour!  Then we covered the cake with some raspberry jam, whipping cream, and rolled it up and covered it with more whipped cream.  Now the whipped cream that we used in the school was partially real and partially fake.  I found that it had a real fake whipped topping taste to it, so I would definitely change this if I were to make it again, as I am not a fan of the 'man-made' products. 

That is it so far!  I will post more when I bake again - which I am sure will be soon.

Love and Happy Eating,

April's SweetShop

A little bit about me...

My name is April Stuart, and I live in Toronto. I cannot remember a time when I did not bake. My mother bought me my first "Robin Hood" apron, chef's hat and oven mitts when I was just 6 years old. Throughout the years, people have begged me to open my own bakery, and I would just laugh it off. But I've realized, that it is not something to laugh about, as it is my dream. Not only that, but I have noticed a trend in the bakery world.  Bakeries are making gorgeous cakes and cupcakes that look like a work of art.  The trouble is, when you take that first highly anticipated bite, it is a complete disappointment.  I may not be able to create a piece of a cake that looks like a Gucci purse, but I guarantee it'll taste amazing!

I wanted to polish up some of my baking skills, so started going to George Brown and am taking their Baking Arts program. I have also just recently signed up for their cake decorating class, which begins in May. So far it has shown me that I definitely know what I am doing. But not only that, it has confirmed my passion and desire to do this for a living!

A girlfriend of mine has so much confidence in me, that she has asked me to make her wedding cake, despite never doing this before! I do hope I do not let her down!!

In the meantime, I have decided to start my food blog and document my baking adventures! I do hope you enjoy following along with my adventure and hopefully drooling at the pics I post.

Love from,

April's SweetShop