Research and Development

I get asked all the time where I find my cupcake recipes.  Truth is, they start where a lot of your recipes start… with a Google search.

 

Well, let’s back up and start from the very beginning…

First, I have to decide what is missing from my cupcake repertoire.  For this, I often think about childhood treats (a la orange cupcakes), classic flavors (a la peanut butter banana chocolate chip) or gourmet combinations (a la triple salted caramel).

Once I have a flavor, I consider how the cupcake should be composed – base and frosting flavor, add-ins, decorations, etc.  I check out other cupcake shops to see if and how they make similar flavors.  And then the recipe search begins.

At this point, I have a number of go to places – Martha (duh!), Ina (obvi), Annie’s Eats, Smitten Kitchen and a host of others.  But I also do a simple Google search.  You just never know what you are going to find.

Armed with the recipes, I move to testing – some might say the best part of the process.  And they are correct.  I usually test two or three recipes.  During this process I might tweak as I see fit – a dash of nutmeg, brown sugar versus white sugar, add chocolate chips etc.  And then we bake.  And then we eat.

And then we make more changes.  I know, I want perfect products the first time, every time.  But, it just doesn’t always happen and I don’t want to offer you anything less than perfection.  So we tweak, we bake, we eat.

If all goes as planned, we then take pictures and add it to the Kristina’s Confections flavors menu.  Hopefully to rave reviews!!!