New blog address

I now have a new address for my sugahcakes blog:

http://sugahcakes.blogspot.com/

Please join me there

Snow Day!

Snow Day!

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Wow! The first snow of 2011 – considering we are in South Carolina – could be the only one. It started snowing late last night and snowed all day, becoming a “wintry mix” as they call it. Home and Garden wasn’t open – so no cupcakes or cookie baking today. Hopefully, we will serve lunch tomorrow. Everyone will begin to have cabin fever – I know I will. A whole day of household chores, paying bills and doing laundry, are not my preferred activities. Looks like it is going to be dreary tomorrow too. Perfect day for chili and jalepeno cornbread. Here is a recipe that makes a fabulous moist cornbread – almost need a fork to eat it. My family loves it, yours will too.

(I normally do 1.5 times this recipe and use a 12″ everyday pan)

JALEPENO CORNBREAD

3 TBS BUTTER

1 CUP CREAM CORN

1 CUP YELLOW CORN MEAL

3 TSP BAKING SODA

1 TSP SALT

2 TBS CHOPPED JALEPENO (JAR)

2/3 CUP VEGETABLE OIL

2 EGGS

1 CUP SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE – SHREDDED

8 OZ SOUR CREAM

1 MEDIUM ONION CHOPPED

2 MED GARLIC CLOVES – CRUSHED

MELT BUTTER IN SKILLET IN OVEN – MIX REMAINING INGREDIENTS AND POUR INTO HOT SKILLET – BAKE AT 350 FOR 50-60 MINUTES

Perfect Meal for a cold winter evening

Everyone will be gathering at my house for the next few days – great to have them home – but what to fix? Obviously work at the store takes most of my time these days. One of my favorite things to make for my gathering clan is homemade pizza. Using a pizza stone can make anyone’s oven turn out pizzas like a pro. The other tip is using cornmeal to dust on the stone. Gives that crisp texture to the dough without overcooking.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves,chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley,chopped
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand crushed (recommended: San Marzano)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 recipe fresh pizza dough, recipe follows (or premade dough -available at Publix)
• 1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella
• 1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
• fresh grated parmesan (reggiano)
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle cornmeal over pizza stone. Begin by making the tomato sauce. In a large saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the minced garlic, parsley and oregano. Cook until just fragrant then add the crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Lower the heat and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes to reduce. Set aside

On floured surface stretch and shape the dough into a 13″ circle.Transfer the dough onto stone.  Smear with tomato sauce then tear up the mozzarella and scatter it evenly over the top of the pizza dough. Tear the basil leaves, spread them over the top and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Give it a final season with salt and pepper, to taste, grate fresh parmesan cheese, then bake in the hot oven until golden and bubbly, about 15 to 18 minutes

• Remove from the oven, cut into slices and serve.

Home again

Hard to leave Sea Island, but had a fun detour on the way home. Low Country Produce is a product we have sold in our store for some time and Noel Garrett, the owner, is one of my favorite people. He and his family have expanded their facility (truly an authentic farm stand) and are serving lunch (great hamburger!), selling produce and are expanding their store.

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Looking forward to a great week, we are working on several new products and hopefully they will be available when we start the “tour” of holiday shows starting in October. The Cotton Pickin’ Fair in Gay, Ga will be the first and we had such a great time in the spring we are looking forward to it!

Another day in paradise – Sea Island that is!

Last full day at the beach and actually looking forward to new cupcakes – easy to get inspired in an area with fabulous food. Shrimp cupcake? – no maybe not!!

I am lucky to be here at Sea Island - Kristen is at the store and making 13 dozen custom cookies today – whew – she has plenty of help though. Most of us can roll, cut, bake and flood – but Kristen is our artist - Can’t wait to see the new creations. Will post them tomorrow. It is amazing how many great ideas there are for cookies. We have done them as favors for birthday parties (kids and adults), place-cards for formal events and rehearsal dinners, teacher’s gifts, centerpieces ( we bake them on stems and voila′ - a favor to take away )

Another sweet treat to consider is our mini-cake. A treat for two (but really 4, unless you are really hungry), we make them in any flavor our cupcakes come in – unlimited!!!

The end of summer -so sad

Summer has flown by and we’ve taken a bit of a break, but it is time to be on the road again. Just a few more weeks and we will be in Greenville at the Upstate Women’s Show . a unique show in that it is geared to and about women. As usual for us – we are expanding our booth – doing not only our cake mixes – but cupcakes, pimento cheese and featuring Kristen’s Sugah Cookies!

Speaking of, we’ve done some new and really cute cookies this past few weeks. This is a bumble bee cookie that matches a party invitation (baby shower) for  a perfect party favor. Of course, the always favorite flip flop with the gingham bow and another flower made to match an invitation seem to be the most asked for this summer.

We’ve also spent the summer experimenting with new cupcake flavors – bacon maple? – no, seriously – it was pretty good. Chocolate orange definetly made the list for permanent addition to our standards.

Sugah Cookies!

Spent the rainy afternoon baking cookies for a bar mitzvah in Miami next weekend. Kristen Stinson will work her magic and decorate them tomorrow – then ready to ship. We love making special favors for our customer’s events. (see Jennifer Bearden Photography blog) Our recent favorite  was the dice cookie we made for a Bunko party!

Katie's table setting

On the road, again!!!

After last fall, I thought we would be home for months. But me and my big ideas – we have found a whole host of shows and festivals to go to. Last week we traveled to Gay, Georgia for the Cotton Pickin’ Fair. I really had no idea or expectations about this event. Arrived very late  - up the mountain to Pine Mountain near Callaway Gardens. Very quaint accommodations – and very dark! We were definitely not in the city anymore. When we arrived the next morning – what a pleasant surprise – an old cotton farm with about 25 outbuildings bursting with vendors of all types. Great food, handmade crafts and plenty of music. It was pure americana and almost a time warp. We had a great couple of days. Large crowds of attendees and all in good humour. We will definitely be back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristen selling cakes and pimento cheese!

 

Christmas Show

We left this morning for the Junior League of Columbia, SC Christmas Show. The show lasts till Sunday evening. This is our 6th and final show for the Christmas season, it has been fun and exhausting! Not only have we met some great new customers, we have formed new friendships with other vendors “on the road”.

When we say our cakes our hand sifted – I mean hand sifted. You should see the kitchen at the store – today there are 300 cakes packaged in their bags, now we have to box and label them!! We form our own little assembly line. Henry Ford would be proud. I have had some big jobs in my life – very corporate – but this is so fulfilling. Starting from scratch and putting a product together has been tough. but it is like being proud of your children

Hello world!

Welcome to Sugah Cakes. This venture has been so exciting and has had the help of so many people I just had to share!