Valentine's

So, it can be awkward giving out Valentine cards to co-workers now that we are all adults... so I decided to use my Message In Cookie Cutters to make Candy Heart Cookies for them.  I love that I can stamp messages in my cookies.  Brilliant, William-Sonoma.  Brilliant.

I also baked some extra love for the family.  You know I couldn't leave them out!  

Flag Cake

I missed posting the cake we made when my daughter turned 3.  It was a labor of love, but she insisted she wanted a red, white, and blue cake.  So, I knew that this would be difficult but I wanted to make the flag cake I had spotted once upon a time on pinterest.  Let me just say, Patience is the key.  

Here's what it is supposed to look like:

Have I ever publicly declared my disdain for coloring cake RED?  I really don't enjoy it.   Pink.  Always pink.  Unless you use a bottle of red gel.  Christmas time usually wipes my supply out!  Oh well.  Here is what mine looked like:

It turned out ok.. but it was a lot of effort.  It made our girl very happy and that's what counts right?!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Well, I am a sucker for Cookie Dough.  So, this seemed like a win from hearing the very name.  My sister in law made these for a party a few years ago and I was so impressed with the frosting.  It tastes like cookie dough, but of course doesn't have raw egg in it!  It is actually made with flour which I was a little hesitant about... but it is DELICIOUS!  I made these for a baby shower last year... but I also found these pictures on my computer of the first time I made them.  So, repost!  The recipe is really that good.  Head over to Annie Eats to make your own.  On these, instead of making the filling, I just dropped a break and bake tollhouse chocolate chip cookie dough in the top of the cupcake and let it sink in.  To be honest, I really think you could get away with just the cake and the frosting.  No need to add a filling unless you are feeling wild and crazy!

Rice. Krispie. Treats.

I just had a baby.  These sounded yummy.  So, I picked up some cereal and a bag of marshmallows.  Then... my husband did a curious thing.  He googled a recipe for rice krispie treats after I couldn't find one on the box.  Someone was bragging about how this was the "best ever" recipe.  Kind of like the gourmet ones you buy in a bakery.   Sure we will give it a try.  Why not.  Browned butter?  Never heard of such.

UM.  YUM.

Do this.  Do yourself a favor and do this:

I love how thick my treats were and also how they were so crisp after being combined with the gooey marshmallow butter mixture.  Aside from the shame of adding an entire stick of butter... I would NEVER want to make them the regular way again.  These are amazing!

Christmas 2012 Cookies

A little late... and I was so super proud of how these Christmas Cookies turned out last year.  Can't believe it is almost that time again!

My amazing husband helped me bake and decorate these... for oh... about 3 nights ... until we had baked enough to show our love to many of our friends and family as a gift!  We had so much fun and our house smelled so good.

I had the help of a few custom cookie cutters this year.  The giant snowflake I picked up from Michael's.  The leg lamp cutter came from a special gift pack that included the movie and a few cookie cutters.

9th Anniversary

I threw together a little cake for our 9th anniversary last month.  I used a red velvet cake with "White Mountain Frosting."  This is a frosting my husband's grandmother made often and I really wanted to try my hand at.  It essentially tastes like marshmallows.  The consistency is also a little mushy, so it's not really a decorating frosting.  I think it would probably be better with a single layer chocolate or vanilla sheet cake.  But it was definitely a fun way to celebrate our special day!

Safari Cupcakes

Recently, I helped host a baby shower for a friend.  Her nursery theme is Safari so we took that into account for her shower.   The mom to be's dessert request was simple.  Chocolate.

I was intrigued when I saw Duff Goldman had a Zebra Cake.

I had never tried his cakes, but thought this would be fun.  It was a bit tedious.  Especially in cupcake form, but it was fun and actually turned out decently well!  Also, I was impressed that the white cake was almond flavored instead of just plain white cake.

I decided to top my with animal crackers.  I was feeling pretty wild as you can tell.  I would definitely like to try this again in cake form.  Until the next safari...

Happy Breakfast, Happy Birthday!

Have I told you lately, that I love... my Happy Face Pancake Pan?  You should order one too :)

It was perfect for starting my 4 year old birthday girls day off just right.  Colored pancake batter and happy faces?

Happy Breakfast, Happy Birthday!

Four The Birthday Girl

So, I bit off more than I could chew and ended up elbow deep in colored batter in the wee hours of the morning in preparation for my little one's 4th Birthday.  I had seen the beautiful Polka Dot Cakes online and wanted to try my hand at it.  I was feeling brave, confident, and really excited!

My first challenge was to make cake pop balls.  These are not the same as cake balls so I had to borrow a friend's pans.  After hearing the nightmare stories of cake pop ball failures, I studied up and had a great experience thanks to combining tips from several blogs:

adapting a cake mix for cake pops:

http://thebabycakesshop.com/tips-and-recipes/2012/10/help-using-boxed-cake-mix/

Randi | 4 November, 2012 at 7:07 pm

I really found a neat way to covert a box mix. Substitute one cup milk for any water content, use no oil add an egg. Works Great!

http://homemakerchic.com/2012/08/24/how-to-make-fool-proof-cake-pops/

first time over filled a little much and didn’t let it cool long enough.  Most of them were fine, but had to redo a few.  Had to use a butter knife to pop them out.

spray the outside of the pop pan so the overflow won’t stick… oops!

Second time filled just over the brim and cooked only 13 min.  Cooled 5 min on rack then 10 in the fridge.   Almost released on their own!

Freeze overnight.

http://www.nordicware.com/how-to-videos   cake pop video

I wish I would have used baking spray instead of greasing/ flouring.  It left a flour residue which is fine for the cake, but not as pretty for using the balls as cake pops.

I was feeling good.  Things were sailing along.  I had two days left.  I was full of anticipation for the final result!  

Once the cake balls were frozen, I thought this would be a breeze.  Just throw them in the pans cover them with batter and... VOILA!  Beautiful, pinterest worthy Polka Dot Cake by Crumpycakes.

Things started out well... but I was wrong.  The cake balls rose to the top of the batter instead of sinking down.  I had to cut the tops off the cake and ended up with half ball polka dots instead of beautiful rows of balls.  

This was the first Crumpcake Wreck in my opinion and I was devastated.  DEVASTATED.  I could have cried, but I was too tired.  I wanted to throw it away but I just trimmed and stacked and in the end... it was still fun and perfect for my girl's Candy Land party. 

The good news was... salvaged... it was still delicious and so fun!