Canada's Baking and Sweets Show

      A couple of weeks ago Miss McCormack and I went to Canada's Baking and Sweets Show out at the International Centre in Mississauga. We both love to bake, so we were very excited to check it out. We weren't too sure what it was going to be like, or what kinds of booths were going to be there, but we decided to give it a shot.

          After our adventure to get there (make sure you get on the correct bus and have the correct fare as it's double fare to get out there) and finally finding the correct hall (we walked around the entire exterior) we skipped the line (we bought our tickets online) and entered to the sweet smell of sweets.

          We made a beeline for the Celebrity stage to get good seats to see the stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes. Miss McCormack is a huge fan of them, and once Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis La Montagne, the owners and proprietors of Georgetown Cupcake, arrived, the crowd erupted in cheers. When the cheering subsided, they chose a volunteer from the audience, a young girl with a homemade cupcake shirt, a clear fan.  Together, they demonstrated how to make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes, even finishing off with their custom icing swirl. They were scheduled for 2 hours, but they had pretty much wrapped up in about 45 minutes. They decided to do a Q & A session, and after a few questions Miss McCormack and I headed back to the showroom to explore the various booths.

       Despite the exuberant number of booths, it is interesting to note that the show lacked booth variety. Most of the booths were selling cupcakes. Now, some had unique flavours such as pink lemonade and hot pepper and mojito, but most had your regular-plain-jane vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet. There were other booths selling cookies and chocolates, but most were cupcake. A few of the really interesting booths were: Golda's Kitchen, Red Path's Acts of Sweetness, Girl Guides of Canada, and Robin Hood Flour. Golda's Kitchen was very crowded, but had a very wide variety of pans, tools, piping bags, and many other baking utensils. Red Path had a large booth, as they are the lead sponsor, where they gave baking demonstrations. My former baking professor from George Brown College, Chef Christophe Meeson was there to do a Crepe Suzette demonstration! Unfortunately, we missed it. Girl Guides were there selling cookies. This doesn't seem too special, except it's mint cookie season, and they were selling the good old chocolate and vanilla ones. Robin Hood Flour had another large booth. They had a children's cupcake decorating area and 2 large areas with elaborate cakes. One was a Christmas themed display, and the other was a wedding cake display. I wish I had taken pictures, they were amazing!

        Like I said before, we were unsure of what to expect when we arrived at the Canada's Baking and Sweets Show, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be mostly vendors selling their baked products. I was hoping for more demonstration booths, and booths for non-professionals. One benefit to the show was the samples. There were so many samples, mostly sweet cupcake, so we were quite happy to find a booth that was giving out samples of spanikopita and a David's Tea booth.

          All in all, I would recommend checking out Canada's Baking and Sweets Show next year. Cupcakes are the "thing" right now. Who knows what next year's "thing" will be?


                                                                                                Enjoy,
                                                                                                   Mel


P.S. Here are a few pictures that I did take.

A beautifully decorated cake

The cake Chris wanted

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

            No, these aren't just plain old Carrot Muffins, and for good reason, they are delicious!

            So, what's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

           This is a common question people ask every day, and now, I know the answer (not just the BS one).

           Over the weekend, Miss McCormack and I visited Canada's Baking and Sweet Show (post on this to come later), and we watched a presentation by the girls at Georgetown Cupcakes, who are also the stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes. They did a cupcake demonstration, and then did a Q & A afterwards. One of the questions someone asked was, "What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?" And, the answer is actually quite simple. When you make muffins, you mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, and you mix the dry ingredients in another bowl, and then you mix the contents of both bowls together. To make cupcakes, the first step is to cream together the sugar and the fat, this is what gives you the silky smooth and rich flavour cupcakes are supposed to have. Then you add your wet and dry ingredients.

           Now, let's put what we've learned into practice!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (or Cake, it depends on what kind of baking dish you have on hand)

Grated Carrots

4 Eggs
3/4 cups oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans or raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your cupcake tin with paper liners (or grease and flour a 9"x13" pan).

2. Grate your carrots. TIP: Use a food processor, save your little fingers from the monstrous cheese grater.


3. Beat your eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.  (See we're beating the fat and the sugar together here).

4. Sift together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

5. Carefully and slowly mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients.




6. Stir in your carrots and pecans/raisins - If you have a fussy eater, you can grate these with the carrots


7. Pour into prepared cups (or pan).

8. Bake for 21 minutes (or 40-50 minutes for a cake)




Cupcake/Muffin TIP: If you have extra spots in your pan, fill those spots with water. This will help those spots from darkening or getting scorched.





Decadent Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup softened butter (just leave it out on the counter until it's soft)
8 oz softened cream cheese (just leave one of those rectangular blocks on the counter for a bit)
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (option, although just a sprinkle on top would make a good garnish)


1. Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla.

2. Slowly and carefully add the sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until smooth.

3. Stir in pecans (if desired) and frost cooled cupcakes. I used piping tip 804.



                                                                           Enjoy!
                                                                                Mel