Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Facebook Page

I have finally created a Facebook page. It is easier for me to log into Facebook any time of the day and quickly post pictures of treats I baked. So you will be able to see pictures more quickly and more frequently. 


I hope you check it out. Like the page and share it with your friends.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Caramel Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I saw a recipe for chocolate truffle cookies and the pictures looked so good, I had to try it. But it was months before I finally got around to pulling out the recipe and making sure I had all the ingredients.

Then the day I decided to put the recipe to the test, I decided that I would make some caramel and  place a piece inside each scoop of cookie dough before baking it.

You can't see the caramel in some cookies, but in most, the caramel oozed out of the cookie while baking and you could see it after they cooled. I felt the caramel gave another dimension to the yummy chocolatey goodness of a cookie.

Apparently everyone else did too because the cookies did not last more than a day.



Friday, September 6, 2013

Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I needed to see if it was possible to decorate a cake using cream cheese frosting like a buttercream or if it is too soft to decorate with. So of course, I needed a cake to frost, but I didn't know what since I already made red velvet and pumpkin spice. I decided I was going to go with a vanilla cake, until I saw the box of strawberries in my fridge that needed to be used immediately. Then I thought, a strawberry cake should go well with a cream cheese frosting since there are people out there who make a cream cheese-based dip to go with a platter of strawberries (but I am not one of those people).

Turns out I was right...it was a fabulous combination! 

Decorating with the cream cheese, however, was not quite so fabulous. I was trying to create a ruffle look on the cake, but the frosting was as I thought, too soft. Plus I just need to practice...A LOT! I think I will try the ruffle look with a buttercream next time and see if it turns out any better.



Saturday, August 31, 2013

Chocolate Caramel Mousse Birthday Cake

After trying this cake at my son's first birthday party, a very good friend requested this cake for her own birthday. Of course I wanted to surprise her with this cake and gave it to her a week early so she could share it with her boyfriend and his family. She was so excited to get this cake and said that everyone else was going to get a small piece but the rest of the cake was hers.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Homemade Strawberry Poptarts



After I saw this recipe posted on one of my favorite blogs, I had to try it out. They turned out great, taste-wide. As for the looks, it was a little bit of a disaster. I had a horrible time rolling out half the dough and cutting it freehand into 9 rectangles and then rolling the other half and cutting another 9 rectangles to fit nicely on top of the first 9 rectangles. It was frustrating, needless to say.
Then one Valentine's Day, I decided to make heart-shaped poptarts. After using the heart-shaped cutters, I realized that solved my problem of cutting freehand rectangles and making sure the tops and the bottoms matched. What a brilliant idea! Now I can make more than 9, which is a great thing, since this tops my husband's favorites list. Now I just need to improve the sealing of the poptarts so they don't leak the filling out because that is the best part, according to my husband.
This last time I made it, I rolled the dough as thin as I could, per my husband's request, and made more strawberry filling. I was able to make about 2 dozen Poptarts. They still didn't last long, though.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Cupcake Sampler

I had a potential client interested in me providing their wedding cake and cupcakes. So I baked up several different varieties for her and her fiance to try.

I made vanilla cupcakes with brown sugar buttercream,
 and pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting,

and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting,

and chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream,

and finally, apple spice cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream, as well as a few apple spice cupcakes with brown sugar buttercream.
They loved the cupcakes, especially the apple spice cupcakes with the salted caramel buttercream, and had to decide which ones they wanted for their wedding. Needless to say, I'm thrilled that I have the honor of making their wedding cake and cupcakes.


Saturday, July 27, 2013

1st Birthday Cake, Smash Cake, and Cupcakes

My first order was for a very dear friend whose son is a couple weeks younger than my son. She asked me to make a cake for her son's party, as well as his smash cake. 

We decided to make a 9" cake for the adults, a 4" smash cake for her son, and cupcakes for the kids. 

The theme of the birthday party was a summer picnic and decorated with primary colors bunting. So my friend requested the cakes be decorated with bunting.

The 9" cake was a gluten- and dairy-free chocolate cake with a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

The 4" smash cake was a gluten- and dairy-free vanilla cake with a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. The cupcakes were both the chocolate and vanilla.

Everyone loved the chocolate cake, saying that it was really good, especially since it was a gluten- and dairy-free cake. There were a few people who said they didn't want any cake and ended up eating a piece because they had to try it, and there were others who went back for a second piece.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookies


I have been making these since I was in high school and so it is the only recipe I know by heart. It was the first thing I ever baked for my husband and it is still one of his favorites.

It is my one of my go-to recipes when I need to bake something at the last minute because who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie.



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

My husband loves Cinnabon, but the closest one is over two hours away. So I do the only thing I can do and make cinnamon rolls from scratch and top it with lots of cream cheese frosting.



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Ice Cream Sundaes in a Box


As a party favor for my son's birthday, I thought it would be fun to send everyone home with the makings of an ice cream sundae so they could end their 4th of July celebration with something fun and sweet. 


So I made salted caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce, added sprinkles, gummy bears, mini peanut butter cups, and M&M's, and put everything in cute little packaging and into a homemade box. My favorite sundae is simply a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of the caramel sauce, yum!

1st Birthday Smash Cake - Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake

This cake was for my son's smash cake.

He loves cake, but for some reason, he would not dig into the cake on his own. He would only eat it when I held the cake up to his face. 

Until...I cut the cake up for him.


Caramel Mousse-filled Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache


My sister loved this cake the first time I made it two years ago for my daughter's birthday and has been wanting it again ever since.
So she requested it for my son's birthday since I had no idea what kind of cake to make for his party.
This cake has three layers of chocolate cake and two layers of delicious caramel mousse and then it is frosted with a dark chocolate ganache.
Everyone loved this cake, and my husband told me that this is the best cake I've made. By the time I remembered to get a pic of a slice, this was the last of the cake.


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Salted Caramel Frosted Chocolate Cake


This is one of my all-time favorite chocolate cakes. I just love chocolate and caramel together and this cake is the perfect combination of the two.
The chocolate cake is everything that I love in a chocolate cake and has a ton of chocolate flavor. The caramel buttercream is so good, with a lot of caramel flavor and the salted part of the caramel keeps everything from being too sweet.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

1st Birthday Smash Cake - Banana Bread and Cream Cheese Frosting



The smash cake was a banana bread with cream cheese frosting. The party was an army/camouflaged theme and the parents had requested a camo design for the smash cake.
The parents had to show the birthday boy how to dig into the cake, but he did manage to make a good mess and get a few bites into his mouth. In the end, I think his mom enjoyed the cake more than he did.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Lemon Blueberry Muffins


After searching online through many recipes and trying several, I have finally found one that has met the one requirement that I look for in a lemon blueberry muffin - tons of lemon flavor. I love that I can have lemon blueberry muffins any time I want now.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Strawberry Ice Cream & Red Velvet Cake with Strawberry Buttercream


This cake was inspired by Coldstone's Strawberry Passion Ice Cream Cake.

My inspiration for this cake

The strawberry buttercream and ice cream had great strawberry flavor. The buttercream was on the sweet side, but the homemade ice cream helped cut the sweetness. The red velvet cake was moist and delicious.




It was delicious for being a test try and I will definitely be making this again, though there will be some changes including the addition of graham crackers.