Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope everyone had a very happy Valentine's day!  I know I did!   I decided to throw together a couple valentine's cake pops and these are the final result!  I had some left over frosting but not enough to make anything substantial and it was also colored green (not very Valentinesy)!   I think I went a bit overboard with these... my heart shaped cookie cutter didn't look that big but apparently it was!  Normally, these would be dipped in chocolate- no big deal, but they were so heavy they kept coming off the sticks and I couldn't get them out of the chocolate... not exactly what I had anticipated!  So my quick dips turned into a laborous project!  The chocolate had to be applied like icing and it was so bumpy when it dried so I had to do some camoflauge (is that how you spell it) with the pink chocolate!  All in all, I will never make them that big again!  It took 3 people just to eat one heart pop!

On a lighter note, I did make a whole bunch of one bite cupcakes. Nothing crazy. Just dark chocolate (I'm really into the dark chocolate for some reason) with a nice fluffy vanilla buttercream (of course I mad it pink!).  I brought a bunch to work and to the orthodontist's office. Needless to say, they were devoured immediately!  I like to bring treats when I have appointments (hair, dentist, etc.).  I know my office always appreciates the thought and it does make the staff like you a bit more!!!  I always hope that they'll remember that when I need an emergency appointment!!

I can't believe I've only been doing this blog for a month!  I'm hoping that maybe, someday, I'll have lots of readers and they'll be inspired to pick up a spoon and a bowl and create something too!  See ya next week!

Week 4....Lots of Birthdays!

So, as you know, last week was both my husband's and my father's birthdays so needless to say, I did alot of baking!  We're not the type of family that celebrates a birthday just once, we keep it going all week long!  I posted pics last week of the birthday cupcakes I made for my hubby so this week I made him a cake and I made Super Birthday Bowl Cupcakes for my father.

This was my Honey's cake.  I have to say, I've never seen a cake eaten so fast!!  I tried a new buttercream recipe and it was phenomenal!!! (If I do say so myself)!   Usually when I hear the word buttercream I think very sweet and heavy and this was anything but that!  It was so light and fluffy you could eat 2 pieces and still feel good afterwards! But enough about the icing!  I tried something new for the filling as well (if you can't experiment on family, who can you experiment on??).  My husband's favorite ice cream is Rocky Road so I thought, why not make a Rocky Road filling?  I've been told that my whipped creams taste just like ice cream so this wasn't a far stretch!  I wish I thought to take a picture of the insides of this cake! It was loaded with marshmallows and nuts in chocolate whipped cream sandwiched between Devil's food cake! YUM!

Now these are the Super Birthday Bowl Cupcakes!  Once again, experimenting on the fam!  They are dark chocolate BEER cupcakes with a Beer Glaze.  They little footballs were made from Lindt Chili Chocolate.  The subtle spiciness of the chocolate worked well with the sweetness of the glaze. Overall, I, myself, would have preferred a bit more of the beer flavor but the cupcakes were extremely moist and sweet enough. These too went very quickly so I'm guessing that they all enjoyed them!

I'd love to hear about anybody else's baking expeditions!  Until next week!!!

Week 3..... Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

  
        First and foremost I want to say Happy Birthday to the two most important men in my life, my husband Will and my father Bob!! With that being said, I think it's quite obvious what I've been up to this morning- BAKING!  Will loves the combo of peanut butter and chocolate (who doesn't really!) so I made him peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate icing decorated with chocolate pieces and peanut butter drizzle- see pic above!  I took the liberty of taste testing one for breakfast and I have to give myself a pat on the back!

    Earlier this week I did a little experimenting. Sometimes I get a little tired of just chocolate and vanilla so I thought I'd mess around with my favorite spice- GINGER!  I literally put it in almost everything I cook so I figured why not try it in cupcakes!  After a bit of searching around, I found a recipe for Ginger Lime Cupcakes (two great tastes that taste great together!).  I had my usual tastetesters handy and they liked them, they really did!  To me, it kind of reminded me of a ginger flavor muffin (which I didn't mind) but the icing is what made it. They cake was more gingery (is that a word?) and the icing tasted very limey with a hint of ginger.  This combo was more of a spring-summer flavor to me so I will be trying it again later in the year!

      I'll be doing a couple birthday cakes this week so hopefully next week I'll have some some interesting things for you!  Until then remember-  Life's too short...... eat dessert first!