Every cake is made with dark caramelized rum, real butter, and Madagascar bourbon vanilla. No half measures here. Each comes individually packaged in a cute round container, which, by they way, make a perfect little gift. Seeking something a little fancier? My gift box filled with turquoise crinkle paper, tied with my signature black satin ribbon, is ready to go with two, four, or eight cakes.

You’ll find Carmen’s Babycakes at Central Markets throughout north Texas, and I’m happy to bake up a batch just for you. Give me a call or send me a note!

Feel free to email me at carmen@carmensbabycakes.com

or call me at 214.649.2688.

Stay well. Stay well fed.

Carmen

October 9, 2009……..Oprah’s on her way to the State Fair of Texas!

If you’re a fan of Carmen’s Babycakes on Facebook, you already know how excited I am that Oprah Winfrey is taping her show at the State Fair this Monday, October 12th, the same day I’ll be offering tastings! And a huge bonus is Martina McBride will be performing on her show! Oprah will start taping at 10 am and will be on the Chevy Main Stage, right next door to the Food & Fiber Pavilion. It’s standing room only, and you can get all the details on her visit at Oprah.com.

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I’ll be offering tastings of both Babycakes from 10am to 12pm, and from 2pm to 4pm in the Food & Fiber Pavilion. Maybe she’ll stop by for a little taste!

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To top off this most amazing experience, Carmen’s Babycakes was selected to put a little goodie in her welcome basket!!! (Am I driving you crazy with all of my “!!!”?) I don’t know any other way to get my excitement across!! I am so star-struck!

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Oprah is finally going to find her bliss…one bite at a time! And maybe Martina too!

Oprah's Welcome Basket and a Rum Babycake

October 6, 2009……..Stay tuned!

I’ll be highlighting some of the fabulous Go Texan goodies I’ve discovered at the Fair. Lotions, potions, food, honey bees and their beekeepers…

October 4, 2009……..More fun at the Fair

Chef Joseph Poon (professional watermelon carver) on the left, me, Scott, June Hand (lavender specialist and owner of Purple Ranch Lavender Farm in purple shirt) and her family Brenda (in the hat), Sherry (red shirt), and Jerry.

Chef Joseph, me, Brenda, Scott, Sherry, June, and Jerry

Lots of people browsing through the F&F Pavilion

Los Pinos Ranch Vinyard...some tasty wine, and adorable labels!

September 27, 2009……..Tastings were meant to be savored

September 22, 2009……..State Fair of Texas, here we come!

Babycakes on their shelves

Babycakes, 3rd row back

(September 23, 2009) 17 miles this Saturday? OMG!!

The way I see it, I will be walking to downtown Dallas this weekend… from San Antonio! This is going to be my first walk that is about the same distance I will be walking each day for the 3 Day. I’ve been slacking a bit lately so I’m a little (read a LOT) scared. Thank goodness I am on an amazing team of women and men, as they may need to carry me on their backs Saturday. C’mon 3 Day!!!

(August 19, 2009)  D’Vine Wine ROCKS!

If you’ve never been to a barrel tasting, you are missing out. I was planning on attending my 2nd barrel tasting at D’Vine Wine in Grapevine (TX) last weekend. I had gone to the initial tasting about 9 months ago and I had a blast. It was time for the 2nd tasting of the wine. Between the hors d’oeuvres (yes, I had to Google that), the tastings of wines before the barrel tasting, and the actual barrel tasting, I was in Heaven. Fresh from the barrel, they pull wine using a long baster/syringe-looking thing called a “wine thief” and pour it slowly into your glass.

Needless to say, I was really looking forward to the evening. I gave Sebastian a call to ask him if I could bring along some special Babycakes in hopes of raising a little money towards my goal of $2300 for the 3 Day Walk for a Cure. I would offer Babycakes to each of his guests and they could donate whatever was in their heart. He was more than enthusiastic.

The cake needed to be pink and it needed a nice liqueur twist. I tossed around Pink Limoncello Babycake (Limoncello & vodka), Pink Passion Babycake (X Rated liqueur & vodka), and a few other pink ideas. Then, of course! A Strawberry Daiquiri Babycake with Rum Lime Glaze.  I spent an afternoon in BF’s kitchen experimenting with strawberry preserves, fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries, lime juice, limeade, lime zest, and lots and lots of rum.

The next morning, with the new recipe in hand, I headed to the Southlake kitchen to bake up a batch of 80 cakes–50 for D’Vine Wine and 30 for a Slow Food gathering later that weekend. It was great fun baking something so pink!

Friday night I arrived at D’vine with my basket full of Strawberry Daiquiri Babycakes and a lump in my throat (I would never make it as a salesman). Silly me, I had nothing to worry about. Within an hour, the D’Vine Wine team had “sold” over 50 cakes. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe the generosity of everyone in that room. I couldn’t believe the outpouring of love and support and CASH!!!

All told, I brought 55 cakes and walked out with over $300 in donations.

On behalf of all daughters, moms, and sisters… thank you D’Vine Wine!

(August 2, 2009)  What was I thinking?

My girl friend Martha and I were having lunch yesterday at our new favorite hangout, Chef Point Cafe. We talked about the typical musings of everyone we know (all in good fun of course) and then talked about this being her 2nd year to do the 3 Day Walk for breast cancer. I had been thinking about joining her this year. See, my Mom died of ovarian and colon cancer in 1997 at age 55, and my sister died of pancreatic cancer in 1992 at age 25. All three cancers are related to the breast cancer gene, or the BRACA gene.

So there I was, thinking about joining her in the walk. But I couldn’t really make the commitment. I was too, well, busy. Busy trying to get my new business off the ground. Too busy networking. The home office had to get organized. I had things to do on the weekends, especially things to do early in the morning when they do those god awful training walks. Just so darned busy.

Really. Too busy? Ok, I finally admitted it. I was just too um… lazy. Too lazy to get my butt out of bed at 5 a.m. Too lazy to commit to walking 4-5 times a week. And waaaay too lazy to walk Saturday AND Sunday mornings. Just too busy. Ahem, I mean lazy.

Then I got to thinking… too lazy to help find a cure that I might very well need some day? Too lazy to help fund research that WILL save other moms and sisters one day? Too busy? Too lazy? Really.

So I committed right then and there, over a heaping bowl of to-die-for bread pudding. I committed to joining her team Pink Soles in Motion and start training, even if it meant getting up at 5 a.m. and walking on the weekends.

“Great!” she said. “We’re meeting tomorrow morning at 5:45 in Coppell for a 6 mile walk.” Uh, huh? Tomorrow morning? Like, 12 hours from now? But I don’t have shoes. I don’t have sox. How can I possibly walk if I don’t have good walking sox? And 6 miles? That’s like walking to Southlake Town Square from my house! I thought I’d take baby steps. You know, a mile or so the first day. And wait a minute!!! You lost a toenail last year! I remember that!

What was I thinking?

(You can see my 3 Day Walk personal page here)

This buttery, dense, dark chocolate cake is nothing less than spectacular, if I do say so myself! I have been tinkering with the recipe for over 9 weeks, and I am really happy with the final result. Here are the highlights of the past two months creating this little darling…

Sorry Hershey’s, Barry’s got you beat. In my (un)official taste opinion, Barry Callebaut makes the best cocoa. I tried a few of the brands I could get at my local grocer, but the chocolate flavor seemed to disappear behind the other flavors. I did some research and purchased some Callebaut Cocoa (22-24%) and Boy! what a treat! It has an intense chocolate flavor that didn’t get lost in the rum and raspberry liqueur. This stuff is beautiful, really.

Butter. To salt or unsalt. I grew up on “lightly salted butter,” so after I read a while back that salt is a preservative in butter, and that you might be eating salted butter made many months ago, I made the transition to unsalted. I’m a firm believer that salt brings out the flavors in foods, so I add an extra pinch of salt to my chocolate batter. Just a pinch. And lots of butter. Gotta have lots of butter.

From Amsterdam to Cuba in search of the best raspberry liqueur. This was fun. Soon after I decided I was going to make a chocolate raspberry liqueur cake I headed to the liquor store. (They love to see me coming.) I picked up several raspberry rums, raspberry vodkas, and raspberry liqueurs. BF and I lined up our shot glasses and started sipping. Bicardi Razz and Bols Raspberry were the “sipping” winners. They each had a nice, fresh raspberry taste. Not that artificial-flavor flavor. After adding each to my cake batter, the Bicardi got lost. Never to be found again. The Bols, however, stood proudly next to the dark cocoa and rum and tasted wonderful.

With my cake recipe underway, I moved on to the glaze. Every Babycakes needs it’s own glaze. My Rum Babycake gets a nice little soak in a hot buttered rum so, not to be outdone, Cocoa Framboise got it’s own glaze of butter, rum, and more raspberry liqueur.

And a sugary crown to top it off. Who knew there were so many types of sugar!?! Granulated, fruit (finer than granulated), bakers special sugar (finer than fruit sugar and used by Carmen’s Babycakes), bar sugar (finer than bakers special), confectioners (did you know you can make your own with granulated sugar and a little cornstarch?), course sugar, sanding sugar, turbinado, pure cane, beet juice sugar, demerara, and the list goes on! After some trial and error, I decided on a coarse sanding sugar. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Did I mention it was perfect?

So there you have it. My two month adventure creating the “perfect” chocolate cake.

A heartfelt thanks to Nita for nudging me in the direction of something chocolatey, and to BJ for recommending the winning combination of chocolate and raspberry liqueur.

Glo Bug and Ma (Geri) Putz

This is one of my bestest girl friends, Gloria, and her Mom Geri. I met Gloria many years ago while participating in a community service volunteer event. We chose the same non-profit organization and the same task… working in the garden. We met while having a lunch of, unfortunately for her, hot dogs. She’s a vegetarian. A faithful vegetarian for almost 20 years.

Glo Bug and I quickly became friends (even though she is a vegetarian). I mean, who could not love a girl that lights up the room as soon as she walks in, has a laugh like champagne bubbles, and the compassion of the Dalai Lama. Seriously. Then I met her Mom and learned where Glo gets it. Two peas in a pod I tell ya.

Gloria and Geri (also a vegetarian) are both amazing cooks and, even more awesome, they have an absolute blast whenever they’re in the kitchen together. I’ve had the privilege of hanging out at Glo’s place with her Mom and Dad, all of us crunched up in the kitchen giggling and making a fine mess. Glo’s Dad, Larry, and I have a special bond. We’re the carnivores in the family!

Here is a wonderfully simple Banana Bread recipe from Geri. Glo used to bring this to the office on occasion and, trust me, it is ah-ma-zing! I love the low fat version.

Ma (Geri) Putz’s Banana Bread

1/2 cup canola oil (can substitute applesauce for low fat)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup mashed ripe banana

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) optional

Cream oil (or applesauce) and sugar.  Add eggs and beat well.  Stir in banana.  Add dry ingredients and nuts.  Mix well.  Pour into greased pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Patti and Jack, Scott's Mom & Dad

The next recipe was sent to me by Scott’s Mom, Patti, when I was seeking ideas for my next Babycake flavor. I haven’t made it… yet. It’s on my bake list and I can’t wait to try it.

One of my favorites is a Mandarin Orange Cake with brown sugar glaze. I would think you could add an orange liquer for that extra kick. It is very moist and an icon at one of our local restaurants. My recipe is as follows:

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

2-11 oz. cans Mandarin Oranges, drained

Mix the first six ingredients together, then add the drained oranges. Pour into bundt pan and Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Mix the following topping ingredients in sauce pan. Bring to a boil and spread over warm cake.

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

6 Tbsp. butter

6 Tbsp. milk

Central Market graciously hosted the celebration in the Patisserie, how much better could it possibly be? So many people came to help me celebrate. Keller Chamber of Commerce ambassadors, my new Central Market family, friends and new customers, and (get this!) Honorable John Terrell, Mayor of Southlake!

Mayor John Terrell, Ren Knight, Me, and Austin Jourde

I decided to have my celebration on July 1st in honor and memory of my Mom since that was her birthday. I was elated that her best friend, Nita, came to celebrate along with Mom’s long-time colleague Robert (1st and 3rd person from the left in the picture below). What a treat to have them both there.

How much fun is THIS!

We noshed on Rum Babycakes and fresh coffee and had a great time. It was the best — except for the part where, in all my excitement, I did my little “trixie dance” in front of everyone, including Mayor Terrell. Niiiiice.

Note to Self: “Don’t do the trixie dance in public. Ever.” Oh well, I still had a blast!

The final cut!

Ren and Kim, thank you for helping with all of the details. It was absolutely perfect. And thank you, Keller Chamber of Commerce, for your support of my little bakery. And Mayor Terrell, thank your for coming out to celebrate with me. Too fun!

I love to talk shop. Love, love, love it. I have discovered that most of us have a fond memory of a dessert that, at the mere mention of the confection, makes our eyes twinkle and mouth start to water. For me, that memory is my Grandmother Lela’s rum cake. I knew when I walked into her house and was greeted with the heavenly scent of vanilla and rum I was in for a treat. The hardest part was waiting for the hot buttered rum glaze to turn into a crystallized sugar concoction on top, which I so dearly loved. Indeed, it was tasty while it was warm; but oh, that crunchy little topping once it cooled! I loved the cake so much I decided to build a bakery around her recipe. Thus, Carmen’s Babycakes and my signature dessert, the Rum Babycake, were born.

Well, after meeting and greeting so many wonderful people at the Central Market store over this past weekend, and hearing so many delicious ideas for flavor combinations over the past few months, I have decided that I am going to let you—the real taste experts—do me a flavor and help create my next liqueur Babycake.

So unleash your creativity! Send me a comment during June with a “spirited” cake flavor from your past or, heck, just share your ideas! I’ll do a little taste testing, pick the next fabulous flavor from all of your suggestions, and announce the winner in July. If you’re flavor is selected, you’ll win a dozen of the newest Babycake flavor! Woohoo!

Just remember, I specialize in liqueur cakes so it needs to have plenty of your favorite elixir.

Here’s how to play…

1. Leave a Nibble on this post with your idea for my next liqueur Babycake. You can submit a complete recipe or just an idea (and let me figure out the details).
2. Make sure your post has contact information (e-mail or a link to your blog) so I can notify you if you’re a winner.
3. That’s it!

The deadline to enter is Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. (based on the timestamp of your comment) and I will announce the winner and the new Babycake flavor in July.

This is going to be so much fun!

If you haven’t had the pleasure of spending an afternoon strolling the isles of a Central Market, boy are you missing out! Their “sumptuous selection of everything edible” is a feast for the eyes and the palette. The only drawback I’ve discovered while shopping at Central Market is …it’s addictive.

Very, very addictive.

Stay well, and well fed.
Carmen

There is something a little intimidating about baking for 700 people you don’t know. I have offered tastings to a few groups, but never 700 people. I decided to participate in The Great Taste of Grapevine, the city’s annual event featuring 50 area restaurants and chefs providing samples to attending guests. I thought this would be a great opportunity to let lots of people taste my Rum Babycake, and get my feet wet participating in a large “foodie” event.

First item on the agenda: How will I decorate my space? This is going to be so much fun!

Wait! I’m feeding 700 people! How many Babycakes is that? How many days in the kitchen? 700 tastings means 700 little soufflé cups with lids; how much time is that going to take? What will I put all those little containers in? Serve yourself or hand them out?

Ok, deep breath. Each cake divided by 8 tastings…hmmmm…88 Babycakes and I can bake 96 at a time in my dreamy oven .

This is doable. Right? I’m thinking a half-day baking and a half-day packaging. Easy, breezy.

Now that I have the baking logistics figured out, time to start decorating! Woohoo! All I had was two 6-foot tables and two tablecloths. The back table would display my Babycakes in their round containers along with a few gift box towers. I found these cute French-inspired metal tubs at T.J.Maxx and they would be perfect for holding the tasting cups.

An Easter basket filled with Babycakes for a centerpiece, a couple of turquoise balloon bouquets, some floral garlands around the table and voila! Cute. Cute. Cute. It doesn’t hurt that our new president and Secret Service were there to keep an eye on things. That should get us some attention.

Dan Weinberger of Weinberger’s Deli was there serving his to-die-for best seller, The Italian Beef. I confess, I hadn’t eaten all day and was starving by the time the doors opened to the event so I made two trips to indulge in that soggy little sandwich loaded with sliced beef and sport peppers. Thank you, thank you, thank you Dan for being there! And for those of you going to Weinberger’s for the first time, here’s a tip: This is a TRUE Chicago deli complete with a menu that reads like a novel. So, walk in, grab one of those menus and take a seat. Relax, and read for a few minutes before you order. You will NOT be disappointed. Promise. Oh yeah, can you say Chicago Beef Dog? Now that is bliss.

It was great fun watching all the people walk around filling their plates with amazing food and their glasses with local wine, visiting, laughing, and having an all-around good time. Thank you to everyone that tried my Rum Babycake. I loved all of the feedback. Especially from the man that said, “remind me not to give these to my kids, these little cakes pack a rum punch!”

Thank you Jenna, Martha and Nita, from the bottom of my heart for your help in the kitchen, passing out Babycakes, answering lots and lots of questions, and making me smile. This was a great experience and a great time for me.

Feed your spirit,
Carmen

I must admit, I am not a chocoholic. But, this cake is slowly but surely converting me. Over the past couple of weeks I have been talking to my dear friend, Nita, about what my next “recipe” might be. I was thinking Spring so visions of vanilla and lavender and vodka were coming to mind. Or, maybe lemon verbena and vodka. I’m anxious to create another vodka cake…so moist and tasty. I wondered if Homestead Farms down the street is growing herbs this year…I’ll just have to go visit. Fresh herbs. Ooooo, that sounds yummy.

Well, Nita is a died-in-the-wool chocolate lover and so her vote kept leaning toward a moist, rummy, yummy chocolate cake. Simply chocolate, she said. Just keep it simple and keep it chocolate and you can’t go wrong. I started thinking about my grandmother’s chocolate rum balls at Christmas time. How could I go wrong? I had received some pretty good reviews for my Chocolate Covered Cherry Liqueur Cakes over Valentine’s Day so I decided to go for it and give a more simple and traditional chocolate recipe a try.

I traded the Kirschwasser for the rum, cherries for some Texas pecans, and replaced the milk and dark chocolate ganache for a double dip in some hot buttered rum. I started passing out tastings of the little Babies everywhere I went (thank you for bearing with me again Keller Chamber) and Fudge Rum Babycakes were born!

I hope you enjoy…

Sweetly,
Carmen