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The Week in Cupcakes

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 2 Comments

Unintentionally, cupcakes were plentiful last week in the Olsen house. I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

This first pink one was actually not completely made at home. I taught my mom and the other ladies at our fun weekend in St Cloud how to decorate a cupcake. As my mom says, you know it’s a good cupcake when there is just as much frosting as cake. I couldn’t agree more! Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting. And sprinkles, of course.


Here is just one of the quad of cupcakes delivered to our dear neighbors the day before they moved away. Chocolate cupcake with almond frosting.


This is what we took next door. Each was slightly individualized for a specific member of the family.


This was a quick one for Ella’s afternoon snack. I topped the chocolate cupcake with whipped cream and a blackberry. She loved it.


These lovelies were made for our new neighbors the day after they moved in. All chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. The middle has mini chocolate chips with a mini Chips Ahoy cookie, a few had raspberries, and the others were just sprinkles.


The cake plate awaited with similar cakes as the photo above. These were for a girls dessert night I hosted on Friday. There’s never enough chocolate with girls around.

And this little beauty is my new cupcake cook book, given to me by my sweet friend Zaundia. My first recipe was mint frosting. Yummy yummy yummy. How long do you suppose it would take me to bake my way through all 500 recipes?? It’s a nice thought.


Oh, cupcakes. They really are lovely little treats, aren’t they?


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Photo Friday: Our Artist

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments



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Naptime Study Session

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments

My view while the wee one sleeps. Only two weeks left of the semester!


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Recipe: Perfectly Sweet Vanilla Whipped Cream

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments


My little helper has helped me discover a perfect whipped cream recipe. And even better than discovering the recipe? I wrote it down! Amazing concept, isn’t it? I had been working with a Martha recipe for a while that wasn’t sweet enough for my liking, so I changed it every time I made it. The thing was, I had to keep re-inventing it because I kept forgetting to write it down. So now that I practically have it etched into stone so I don’t forget it again, I want to pass it on to you.

The recipe makes a pretty good amount. (I just wrote it down for the first time. Please don’t expect that I’ve also measured how much it produces.) I do know that half of the recipe is plenty to cover a pie. So if you don’t want to have extra because you think you just might eat all the leftovers with a spoon right after promising yourself you’ll save the extra, I’d recommend going with the half recipe.

Here’s the full recipe:

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons powdered sugar

Pour all the ingredients into a bowl and mix just until stiff peaks form. This can be done by hand with a whisk or using a mixer on medium-high. If you use a stand mixer, though, don’t walk away. It can reach a ready point pretty fast and ruin the batch if the mixer isn’t turned off right away. (Yes, I tell you this from experience. If this does happen, add more cream one tablespoon at a time and mix until it gets back to the right consistency.) Feel free to add more or less vanilla and powdered sugar to your liking. A lot of vanilla can be really good on some desserts. I’ve done it with French silk pie and hot chocolate. Mmmm.

It’s a simple recipe, but whipped cream is kind of a dessert staple, so it’s nice to have a good recipe on hand. And it’s always memorable to tell people it’s homemade.

Enjoy!


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Photo Friday: At the Playground

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments

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A New/Old Dress

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Angela @ The Mango Memoirs • 0 Comments

I love dressing up for parties. Love love. I don’t doubt it comes from theatre experiences and all the amazing costumes I’ve had the privilege of wearing since I was little. Basically, if there is a theme, I’m so dressing up.

Just such a party came up two weekends ago. Theme? Roller disco. That’s exactly what it was. A roller disco with skates and snow cones and the Hokey Pokey. It was at the church. Yeah, pics to come. Now, before you look at this dress and say, Ang, that is so NOT roller disco, let me assure you that I’m aware of the fact. Here’s what happened. Pete & I went out looking for something for me to wear to the party (Nana & Bapa Olsen were with Ella, so we considered this a hot date). There was a store I wanted to check out that I thought might have what I was looking for, so we headed to Obscurities on 4th Street. If you’re from Duluth, you may or may not be aware of its existence. Not many people I know have been there. Kinda one of those sketchy places from the outside. Looks like they just run it out of their house. Anyway, Pete was with me so I was a bit more brave than I would have been on my own. So glad we went! As soon as we walked it, I knew I was going to find something.


And find something I did. Hanging from the window in the front room was this amazing little orange number. So very 60s. But would it work for a roller disco party? After looking through the rest of the store and choosing a couple different outfits, I tried everything on and pretty much fell in love with this one. I’d make it work. Here was my thought: I’m going to wear it one night for a disco, right? So big deal if I’m a few years off on the fashion train. After that, I’d be able to wear it for whatever I felt like. So I went with it. Yeah, I would have loved to wear a sign on my back at the party that said I realized I was total 60s, but why apologize, right?


The only change I needed to make before the party was to shorten the hem. That’s nothing new in my world, being a whole 5 feet 2 inches. (I do completely enjoy being on the shorter side, mind you.) The hem originally fell right in the middle of my calves, but I took it up to just above my knees. I tucked the extra 8 inches up in the hem so I can change it in the future if need be. (You can see Ella’s little helping hands in the work shot above.)

I paired it with black opaque tights and tall black boots. I’m a big fan of the collar and sleeves. There’s a chance I’ll do more alterations eventually, but I’m not exactly sure what. Take off the collar? Remove the sleeves? For now, I like it just the way it is.

Never mind roller disco. I’ve got a new 60s frock. And I like it.


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