Bakesale for Japan

Today was the nationwide Bakesale For Japan to raise funds for earthquake and tsunami relief. My sister-in-law, who is originally from a town near the most affected area in Japan (Sendai), came over last night and we were up until the wee hours baking and packaging goodies for the bakesale this morning. We delivered everything to a group of volunteers, manning overflowing tables, at Ula Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA and crossed our fingers that every last thing on the table sells and TONS of money is raised to help our family, friends and strangers rebuild their lives in Japan. If you live near JP or one of the other locations, I hope you had a chance to stop by to buy some goodies and/or make a donation. All  proceeds from today's bakesale go to Peace Winds America.

In total, sis and I baked almost 200 cookies, brownies and cupcakes and packaged everything into 100 cute little packets, each tied up with a bit of golden ribbon. Here are some photos from our epic night of baking and the bakesale just kicking off this morning.

On the menu:
> lemon chiffon cupcakes (adapted from the orange-glow chiffon recipe) with chocolate raspberry ganache frosting
> orange-glow chiffon cupcakes with chocolate orange ganache frosting
> chocolate-vanilla zebra cookies
> stained glass sugar cookies (sugar cookie recipe from Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust...)
> double-decker brownies (aka Congo Brownies from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions)

mise en place for lemon chiffon cupcakes

stiff-peaked egg whites get folded into the yolk mixture below

the lemony smell was delightful

now on to the orange chiffon cupcakes...

done!

mise en place for the ganache

raspberry syrup and orange syrup to flavor the ganache

half for the raspberry, half for the orange

the lemon cupcakes, frosted with chocolate raspberry ganache and decorated with sprinkles

gorgeous!!

orange cupcakes with chocolate orange ganache and sanding sugar

all frosted and ready to be wrapped up

mise en place for the zebra cookies (although we didn't end up rolling the logs in the sprinkles)

three chilled logs, ready to slice and bake

cute stripey cookies...just like zebras ;)

moving on to the stained glass sugar cookies

smooth, pretty dough

sis bashing those candies into bits

jolly rancher candies are the best for this type of cookie -
they come out beautifully clear when baked and the colors are so vibrant.

ready to bake

our Japanese flag cookies

so pretty!

and, finally, mise en place for the double-decker brownies

these were great looking and, even though we only sampled the crumbs, delicious too

you can see the two layers here, a blondie layer and a fudgey-chocolate layer

it was a busy night!

everything looks better with a little curlicue ribbon

cupcakes and stained glass cookies

zebra cookies

sis and I were such a good team when it came to thinking up packaging ideas

have brownie, will eat it...

we felt like we were opening a bakery...so pretty!

everything lined up and ready to deliver. We hope they sell out!

bakesale day, Ula Cafe in JP

some shoppers

we added our goodies...the table was overflowing

...hope they sell everything!

Dewa kore de (translation: Bye for now)...