Game, Set, Match Cupcakes

Tennis is one of my all-time favorite sports and I've been fortunate enough to attend three of the four Grand Slams.  (The last one, the Australian Open, is on my bucket list.) Of the three, Wimbledon is definitely my absolute hands-down favorite.  

I love everything about it: the tradition, the beautiful grounds of the All-England Club, the public queue for tickets, Henman Hill, strawberries and cream...I could go on and on.   If you're ever in London at the end of June I highly recommend you make the trip to SW19 - you won't regret it.

In honor of today's Mens Singles Championship between Andy Murray and Roger Federer I made these tennis ball cupcakes.  I got the idea from Martha Stewart.  You'd be surprised at how easy they are to make.  Just use your favorite cupcake and frosting recipes.  The decoration is as simple as dipping the frosted cupcakes in yellow dots or sprinkles then piping the "seams."

Game, Set, Match...these cupcakes are a winner! 

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Congratulations to Jordan and Robyn who are the giveaway winners of the two-month enrollment to America's Test Kitchen's Cooking School!

Jordan's entry:

I'd like to win the cooking school enrollment so I can stop drooling on my computer screen and learn to cook that delicious-looking chicken noodle soup!

Robyn's entry:

We eat through the best of times, we eat through the worst of times, and unless I want to turn the former into the latter, I need to cook all those celebratory or comfort-providing foods with an understanding of solid ATK-supplied culinary foundations. 

You'll receive an email directly from ATK with more information about your prize.   Go forth and cook!!!

Go Giants Cake

The San Francisco Giants clinched the 2010 National League pennant and are heading to the World Series!

Ok, so I'm the first to admit that I'm not much of a baseball fan.  Frankly the sport is a bit too slow for my taste and there are too many confusing rules.  But it's great to see the Bay Area uniting behind its motley crew of a squad.  Black and orange has blanketed the city and Giants fever is contagious!

So as the Giants face the Texas Rangers in the World Series I wish them the best of luck, and for good measure, I'll throw in a few Hail Marys too!  

GO GIANTS!

¡Viva España! Macarons

2010 has been a stellar year so far for Spanish athletes.  One of my favorite tennis players, Rafa Nadal, won the French Open and Wimbledon.  And the Spanish soccer team defeated the Netherlands today to win the World Cup for the first time in the country's history.  They'll be partying for days from Madrid to Malaga, and all points in between.   

In celebration of Spain's thrills of victory I made a red and yellow macaron in homage to their flag.  I actually had a ton of leftover egg whites in my freezer so I thought I'd make macarons this weekend, in five different flavors.  As providence would have it once I filled the macarons I was left with one lemon shell and one raspberry one.   Octopus Paul himself couldn't have predicted that one.

¡Viva España! 

Batter Up! Baseball Sugar Cookies

America's favorite pastime is in full swing so to celebrate I made these baseball sugar cookies.   These treats will be given to Justin, who at 7 years old is already a keen enthusiast.  Am I a fan of baseball?  Not really, not at all actually, LOL! 

My favorite sports to watch are tennis and college basketball.  Wimbledon or the World Series? Not a difficult question...I'd choose Wimbledon every time.  But I do understand baseball's appeal.  Sitting in a beautiful ballpark, the sun on your face, sipping a cold one and enjoying a hot dog.  Oh yeah, and I guess watching the game too! 

The design on these cookies is really simple so it's perfect for the beginning baker.  You take a round cookie and apply a base coat of white royal icing (flooding consistency).  Let this dry for 24 hours.  Tint a thicker consistency of the frosting red and use this to pipe the seams of the baseball onto the white cookie.  You can also create a basketball, tennis or golf ball with a similar icing technique. 

I'll be making several different kinds of iced sugar cookies over the next few weeks so I hope you check back to see what they are.