LaSinful Cupcake Cafe: Did somebody say "tipsy"... from a cupcake???

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Did somebody say "tipsy"... from a cupcake???

Most people I know have a drink or two for their birthday.... Aaannnddd then there are those that love the alternative.... Enter the "Drunken" cupcake! One of my favorite coworkers just had a birthday, and she was brave enough to be the guinea pig for my first go at this "drunken" cupcake thing. And what lucky libation was chosen you might ask? I chose Grand Marnier. Why? Well, because cognac is extremely smooth going down and what flavor do you think I chose to mix this smoothness with? Yep, you guessed it- chocolate! I whipped up some Chocolate Grand Marnier cupcakes. This sweet, orange flavored cognac danced very will with the rich chocolate batter. I topped them with my sinful milk chocolate butter cream frosting. I then made a semi-sweet chocolate ganache soaked in the cognac to drizzle atop the frosting. And for the finale, I topped them with candied pecans. Alas, my finished birthday cupcakes........

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About Me.....

Sooo... This is the part that always seems really tough... Writing "about" yourself is quite tricky and I've put this off for as long as I could. Ok, so, here goes....

My name is LaShonna and my love for sweets --no wait-- my OBSESSION with sweets---stems all the way back to when I was a little tot. The sweet tooth came honest from both my mother and grandmother. I was always in the kitchen with my dear Granny, cooking and baking up a storm. She was an amazing cook and she made sure that I always had my apron on, ready for learning:) As I grew older, I continued to stay in the kitchen under my Granny and my Mom, who by the way is also an amazing cook, and can bake some pretty delicious stuff!! I can taste the caramel cake and lemon glaze cake just thinking about it..... All those years of being in the kitchen with the both of them, stayed in my memory bank. When I started cooking and baking on my own, I was doing a lot of it by memory, which came as a bit of a surprise because I thought I would be burning pots and pans trying to cook like my granny and mom.

When I think back, I remember that holiday baking always was and still is a big tradition in our family. Thanksgiving has always been filled with savory, southern dishes, and Christmas, the most beloved for going all out with the sweet treats. Christmas has always been my absolute favorite time of year, hence the honing of my baking skills to this day. Throw in my family's outrageous sweet tooth (and I'm talking having a dessert with dessert) and my love of chocolate, it was easy to develop a love of baking over the years. Baking for the holidays always kept me trying to improve the taste of each treat. When you have a love for something, you have to desire to make a cookie, cake, or cupcake, taste like you want people to feel when they're enjoying a dessert. I love that feeling of a dessert tasting so divine, that you close your eyes as you take each bite, as if to savor every.last.drop.........

Fast forward to this cupcake thing....the "birth" of LaSinful Cupcake Cafe.... Sooo, my employer relocated our Chicago office all the way down here to West Palm Beach, just shy of three years now. Imagine our shock settling in to a place that is pretty much a polar opposite of our beloved Windy City. Working with my small night crew (yes, we became night shift vampires), doing birthday parties, potlucks, and "just-because" nights, I started bringing in my cupcakes for the team to enjoy. To me, my baking has always just been baking. It's something that I love, something that relaxes me, and something that I love to see others enjoy. I started receving hints from my coworkers who started looking forward to what cupcake I was bringing in next. This of course challenged me to bake different flavors each time. That soon led to "you need to sell these", to "you really need to open a shop or something", to "LaShonna, when are you going to open a cupcake shop?".. Seeing as we all have day jobs, I really didn't consider it seriously, and didn't put much more thought into it.

Slowly but surely, after three years of being lightly poked and proded, I figured with so many asking for cupcakes for personal and/or special occassions, it was time to do something about it. Hence, LaSinful Cupcake Cafe was born. I have my dear friend's mother, Mamma Charlie, to thank for the name. I wanted to find a name that was unique and kind of a play off of my own name. Mamma Charlie told me that my cupcakes are "sinful" and that they should be called LaSinful. Annndddd I'm pretty sure she took it to heart because she started calling me LaSin as if that was my name.. lol.. I went back to work, and I heard the word "sinful" used to describe my cupcakes several more times, and thats what made the name stick for me. This has been such a surprise to me, that I'm going to take this journey one dozen of cupcakes at a time:) Above is a picture of me and my Granny... how I love her so.. This just goes to show you how long I've been in the kitchen .....

LaSinful Cupcake Cafe

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Did somebody say "tipsy"... from a cupcake???

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