Asheville Citizen-Times Hearts Short Street Cakes

Check out the online photo gallery of Short Street Cakes! Published in conjunction with the article coming out tomorrow morning. Yay for awesome photographers and journalists who love cupcakes!
All images by Erin Brethauer (who's very very sweet) and courtesy Asheville Citizen Times (who I'm beginning to like more and more...) And here is a link to the sweet article by the even sweeter Carol Motsinger.

Ginger Stout Cupcake (by guest blogger and lead baker Jenne!)

It's difficult to talk about beer and cake without talking about stout and chocolate.  What we've got here is somthing a little different - a ginger stout cake.  Stout is dark and generally for hibernating in the winter.  The Wedge's Imperial Stout is especially dark, especially delicious, and especially wonderful for this particular cake.  In addition to being chocolatey it's a little fruity (their website was kind enough to pinpoint the fruit for me: raspberry!)  This fruitiness is what makes it so great for the ginger cake - though the baking process subdues the stouty flavor the resulting cake maintains the deep flavor of the beer and the fruitiness is allowed to mingle with pieces of crystalized ginger.  This cake is moist, light, fluffy, refreshing and delicious topped with cream cheese frosting and an extra little piece of ginger.

Introducing Jenne and the Wedge Imperial Stout Cupcake!

Remember Jenne? Well, Jenne, as Short Street Cakes' newly named lead baker (that's lead as in "leader" not lead as in "lead paint"), is going to be working on a recipe over the next few days involving the Wedge Brewery's Imperial Stout. Stay tuned for Jenne's guest blogger spot on My Life in Cake, and featuring the perfect union of Beer and Cake.
xo
jodi

Today: I perfected the Banana Pudding Cupcake.

In mini or regular form, banana pound cake with a vanilla pastry cream icing, garnished with fresh banana and vanilla wafers.

Happy First Birthday to Annalie!

Here's Annalie, enjoying her First Birthday Cake. It was Caramel Apple, in case you were wondering...

Our First Wedding of the Season!

This cake, for a wedding at Lake Lure this past weekend, consists of alternating layers of Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake and Georgia Hummingbird Cake, all iced with Everybody's Favorite Cream Cheese Icing. I'm noticing that the more my wedding cake style evolves, the more I allow the cakes to speak for themselves: textured icing swirls, lush piping layers and fresh flowers inspired by the season. These cherry blossoms were falling like rain as I was bringing the cake into the reception site. So, I went with it, and threw a few more on!
So happy for spring.
xo

Happy Eostre! (and the cake shop is closed for a couple of days)..

Friends, We've decided to take a few days off at the cake shop, and will be closed tomorrow (Easter Sunday) and Monday (because we're closed on Tuesday already.) This will give me a chance to catch my breath before wedding season, and spend some much-needed time off with my beautiful family. Hope you enjoy the lovely spring days ahead!
I'll leave you with this, from the School of the Seasons:

This Christian holiday is named after a pagan goddess of spring (Eostre) and takes place on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (making it the only Christian holiday with lunar connections). It was named Easter in the 8th century. Before that it was known by the same name as Passover, Pesach...

Read more on the traditions of Eostre here.

A Project Near and Dear to my Heart.

Bountiful Cities Project Presents:
The 7th Annual Birdhouse Auction!


On April 18th, 2009, starting at 5pm, The Bountiful Cities Project hosts the 7th Annual Birdhouse Competition, Live Auction, and Celebration of Spring at the Courtyard on Lexington in Downtown Asheville to raise money for Urban Agriculture.

Featuring handcrafted birdhouses from local artists, the 2009 Birdhouse Auction will be a festive celebration of springtime! Dozens of locally made birdhouses, both functional and artistic, will be on display. The entries will be judged, with exciting prizes going to the top three winners. The entries will then be auctioned off in an old-fashioned live auction, while attendees enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer, and peruse the plants for sale. The location is the beautiful brick courtyard behind Bouchon French Restaurant on Lexington Avenue in Downtown Asheville. The 2009 Birdhouse Auction will be a lovely springtime evening celebration among friends and community!

Funds raised will go directly to the Bountiful Cities Project (BCP) to support the work of community gardening and urban agriculture. BCP is an Asheville-based non-profit with a 9-year history of supporting community gardening, urban agriculture, and food security for the Asheville community. The mission of the Bountiful Cities Project is: “to create, on urban land, beautiful community spaces that produce food in abundance and foster a learning environment for social justice and sustainability.” BCP works in 10 Asheville communities to grow food in the city: Shiloh, Burton Street, Montford, West Asheville, Stephens-Lee, and others, running educational, youth and outreach programs and connecting communities to the resources they need to begin growing food in the city!

Community Gardening and Urban Agriculture are enjoying a renaissance as individuals recognize the health, environmental, economic and social benefits of growing, eating, and purchasing local food. BCP helps the idea become reality! Donating a birdhouse, and attending the party, will help BCP to fulfill its mission and enrich the patchwork quilt of gardens growing all over the city of Asheville.

Birdhouses are still being accepted! Donations accepted at the French Broad Food Co-op and the Short Street Cakes’ Cake Shop at 225 Haywood Road.

Children and youth in the Shiloh Community eating food from their garden as a part of the Bountiful Cities Project's Strong Roots Program:

Bookworks Edible Book Festival 2009!

Friends, I am proud to announce that Short Street Cakes had the winning (among the popular vote) entry of the edible book festival 2009 at BookWorks. This means I won a bunch of awesome gifts, incuding a gift certificate at Minx, a cool apron, a gift certificate to Harvest Records, an amazing necklace from Figs and Ginger, and the pleasure of knowing that the money raised from my donation went towards the Scholarship fund at BookWorks, so go there ASAP and getcha a half off class. Oh, the entry: This quote, from the foreword to the original 1931 edition of the Joy of Cooking, rendered in the form of 350 miniature cupcakes:
"This book is the result of a long practical experience, a lively curiosity and a real love for cookery. In it I have made an attempt to meet the needs of the average household, to make palatable dishes with simple means and to lift everyday cooking out of the commonplace." Irma S. Rombauer, The Joy of Cooking, 1931.
Here are some pics: