Frosted.

Sushi Cupcakes!

2009-07-31T16:24:00.003-04:00

Oh man, I have been talking about making these forever! I finally got around to it...thanks in part to the fact that Jeff is having a sushi party tomorrow night, so that gave me the perfect excuse.

I am not going into the baking part/recipe for these. They are just a basic white cake with a basic vanilla frosting. Now for the pictures!!!

Here are all of the cupcakes together (yes, i only made 7 because i ran out of fondant...more on that later):

Here are some kind of a sushi roll (feel free to use your imagination)....it's black fondant in the place of seaweed, twizzlers, gummy worms, and other candy as the fish, and nonpareils as the rice:

And here is another "roll" featuring jelly beans in the place of roe and, again, black fondant for seaweed:

Last but not least, the sashimi...too funny. It's just a swedish fish tied on with a small piece of black fondant as the seaweed...although I am sure you figured that out by now.

So, I had intended to make 2 dozen sushi cupcakes, but I ran out of fondant after 7 cupcakes mostly because I bought the pre-made kind and half of it was dry and cracked....lame. Oh well, 7 is better than none. And there are still 2 dozen cupcakes, it's just that the 17 that aren't shown do not resemble sushi whatsoever.

This was my first foray into fondant and although I bought the pre-made kind, I would have to say it went pretty well. Next time I'll try making it myself! It is safe to say that my rolling pin has made his way back into my good graces :)

Makes me want to eat real sushi!!

Baby Shower Cupcakes (Lemon Sunshine)

2009-06-22T12:53:00.004-04:00

My very first paying cupcake job!!! One of my very best ladies asked me to bake cupcakes for a baby shower the she and her mom were throwing. The theme was surfer boy using the colors blue and orange. The cupcakes themselves are lemon flavored and I took a little help from a box because I had so little time to put these together. However, I did not follow the directions on the box. Instead I did this:

Ingredients

1 package lemon cake mix
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 small package lemon instant pudding

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Use a strong mixer, this batter is thick. (I used my stand mixer, Pearl). Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (I was able to get 24 very full cupcakes from the recipe). For regular cake, pour into a greased 9x11 pan or two round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don't over bake or the cake will be too dry! The toothpick test works to check to see if they're done. I doubled the recipe and then I simply piped on a simple a lemon cream cheese frosting. I didn't get to taste them, but rumor has it that they were delicious!!! Here's some pics from the party:

Lemon Meringue Pie

2009-06-22T12:42:00.002-04:00

Yeah, so it has been a while since I posted. I have been baking, I just haven't had the time to update my blog. Either that or it's just plain laziness. It's your call. I don't really make pie, but I woke up one morning and had a craving for marshmallow fluff...weird, I know, but I just had to have it. I couldn't find any recipes that called for marshmallow fluff that sounded even remotely appetizing to me. Hence, the meringue pie...I added the marshmallow to the meringue and it was soooooo freaking good!!! It was fabulously delicious! Here's the recipe: Ingredients

1 1/2 c. sugar
6 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 c. cold water
3 eggs yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 c. boiling water
1 T. butter or margarine
9-inch baked pie shell
Fluff Meringue (below)

Directions

1. In medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch and salt.
2. Add lemon juice, cold water and egg yolks; stir in boiling water.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to
boil. Cook 2 to 3 minutes more.
4. Stir in butter until melted. Remove from heat.
5. Heat oven to 350° F and Prepare fluff meringue (see below)
6. Pour filling into pie shell.
7. Spread meringue over hot filling; seal well to crust.
8. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until meringue is golden. Cool completely on wire rack.

Fluff Meringue

1. In medium bowl beat 3 egg whites, at room temperature, until
soft peaks form.
2. Beat in 1/2 c. Marshmallow Fluff, a little at a time, until whites stand in stiff glossy peaks.

Makes me wish I had a slice right now. Therein lies the danger of posting recipes weeks after you actually made them....

ApronDance

2009-05-20T17:09:00.004-04:00

So, while I didn't exactly bake these, I still MADE them. I think that makes them fair blog fodder. For those of you who don't know what the apron dance is, do your research. It should be a lot of fun and as the maid of honor and matron of honor, Kasey and I (respectively) get both the pleasure and privilege of wearing the aprons during the dance. So, to all of you who will be attending Jackie and Tim's nuptials, bring your dollar bills...or $5's, $10's, etc... It's like a strip club where we all keep our clothes on.

Anyway, I decided to make the aprons for them so that they would have them forever as a keepsake from their wedding. Plus, Jackie and Tim love to cook together so it seems appropriate.

The soon-to-be newlyweds in their brand new aprons:

Tim's seems to fit perfectly and I sincerely hope the pattern isn't too feminine. I thought it was fun and funky. And obviously Jackie's is yellow and covered in lemons (in case you can't tell). Hers was a little too big so I made it smaller at the top, however that is not reflected in this picture.

I hope they like them and I hope the apron pockets get filled to the brim with cash for their honeymoon!!!

Rainbow Cupcakes with Fluffy White Clouds on Top

2009-05-04T15:25:00.010-04:00

These were definitely an experiment, but A LOT of fun to make! I used the same basic vanilla cupcake recipe as usual, but this time I added some fun colors to the mix. After making the batter, I divided it evenly into 6 different bowls and then dyed each one a color of the rainbow.

Starting with red, I spooned each color evenly into individual cupcake liners.

Bake the cupcakes at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. When they are finished baking ALLOW THEM TO COOL IN THE PAN FOR 10 MINUTES. I write that in all caps because I learned the importance of this valuable lesson today. Typically when baking cupcakes, I blindly follow this direction, no questions asked. Today, however, impatience got the best of me and I immediately transferred the cupcakes to the cooling rack upon removing them from the oven. Much to my chagrin the paper liners separated from the cake itself, which really isn't a huge problem--it just makes for less cute finished products.

Here is what they looked like after baking:

Then I iced them with a basic vanilla buttercream frosting, but I whipped it for extra long so that I could pretend that is was a fluffy white cloud atop a funny looking rainbow.

They looked so irresistible that I could barely wait to taste one. The cake was exquisite and the frosting, while good, was a tad bit sweet....but I ate it all gone anyway.

Going.....

Going.....

Gone.....

Oh, and on a side note...my darling husband got me a GREAT birthday present! He bought this little lighting kit so that I can take better pictures of my creations. Normally I rig a similar set up on my floor right in front of the sliding glass door so as to get the most natural light as possible. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Now I never have to worry about at because he bought me one of these:

Best husband I ever had. Love him!! Thanks darlin'.....

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

2009-04-23T14:09:00.004-04:00

The truth is that I love all things cookies and cream, so I have been dying to make cookies and cream cupcakes. However, I am not a huge fan of super sweet desserts so I decided to compromise my desire with my non-sweet tooth and made vanilla cupcakes with cookies and cream frosting. The results are fantastic and these might just be the best cupcakes I have ever made. Seriously.

For the cupcakes themselves, I opted to try Amy Sedaris' recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes from her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence which Kate Mac gifted to me a few Christmases ago--just to be clear, it wasn't a Christmas present, just a gift she happened to give to me around Christmas. She would want me to clarify that....

Here is the recipe as quoted from Amy Sedaris' book:

Turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
You will need:

Unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, flour, milk

Put 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in 1 1/2 cups of sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can really be stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 cups of flour, and 1 1/4 cups of milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3rds full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I am doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted 2nd best by New York Magazine.

Back to me (Jenn) now...This recipe is freakin' fantastic! Best vanilla cupcakes I have EVER had! Moist, fluffy, and delicious. Highly recommended...not to toot my own horn or anything...

Oh! and to add my own touch, I twisted a cookie in half and placed the side that got all the cream in the bottom of each paper cupcake liner (cream side up). Does that make sense? This way each cupcake had an Oreo "crust" of sorts.

For the frosting I whipped up a basic vanilla buttercream (one box confectioners sugar, one stick unsalted butter, one teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup milk--whip it good). Then I added 15 food-processed Oreo cookies and mixed them in really well.

I decorated half of them with 1/2 a cookie stuck in the icing on top, but didn't like the way it looked. I prefer simple. So I opted not to photograph those specific cupcakes.

Anyway...you must try these cupcakes. End of story.

(you can kind of see the oreo cookie at the bottom)

Easter Basket Cupcakes

2009-04-14T15:44:00.006-04:00

Unfortunately the only people that enjoyed these cupcakes were Tim's coworkers. We were supposed to go to my Grandmom's for Easter, but I woke up and just wasn't feeling well so we had to call out of Easter. It saddened me to do so, but I really wasn't feeling up to it and contrary to the rumors that my Grandmom was spreading, it is NOT because I am pregnant. Haha--I know she was just joking or it was wishful thinking. Either way, that isn't the case.

So, after we cleared that up Tim and I spent Easter Sunday lazing around, watching Slumdog Millionaire, and eating Burger King because it was the only place open. All in all it wasn't a bad day and I sent the 2 dozen leftover cupcakes to work with Tim so that they wouldn't go to waste. I sincerely hope that the boys at DCP enjoyed my hard work.

In all honesty, these were actually very easy to make. I am not posting the recipe for the white cake because if you read this blog, then by now you know where to find a good recipe for cake from scratch. And these were more about the decorating than the baking.

(photo courtesy of the darlin' husband)

1. After baking the cupcakes and letting them cool completely, begin the decorating process by piping on green icing to look like grass. I used Wilton tip #233 and it came out like this:

2. Then take a Twizzler and bend it in half. Stick it as far into the cupcake as it will go in order to resemble a basket handle.

(sorry--the stupid flash washed out the pretty green color)

3. Finally, fill the "basket" with a few jellybeans, which should stick to the icing like glue.

(again with the washed out green color...)

Here are a few pictures of the final product displayed on the cupcake tree we received from Cat Kochanski as a wedding gift. Thanks Cathy!!!!

I kind of wish I had used black licorice instead. It probably would have looked cuter, but I detest the taste of licorice...oh well.

Jackie's Mexican Cheesecake Bars

2009-04-07T15:44:00.003-04:00

For quite some time I have been talking about Jackie guest blogging for me. Well that time has finally arrived! She is a great cook, but not a huge fan of baking despite the fact that everything she bakes is met with fabulous reviews. The following is straight from the lovely redhead herself:

I made these for a little boy named Donnie, who recently turned one. He had a Mexican fiesta party and his mom asked me to make a dessert. I am NOT a baker, but wanted to contribute something. So I found this recipe and altered it slightly. Little Donnie was too young to enjoy them, but the rest of the party loved them. I didn't even get a chance to taste them for myself. But I am making them for my mother-in-law-to-be's birthday. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) pkgs. cream cheese softened
1 Cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 (8 ounce) pkgs crescent rolls
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter

Directions

1. Spray 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla until combined.

3. Unroll 1 pkg. crescent rolls and shape to bottom of baking dish. (You may need to use a rolling pin and flour.)

4. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly onto crescent roll layer.

5. Top cream cheese mixture with 2ND crescent roll layer.

6. Combine 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup sugar. (I used my hands just for fun.)

7. Dot sugar mixture on the the crescent roll layer.

8. Bake for 35 minutes or until crescent roll is golden brown.

Makes 12 cream cheese bars.

Back to me (Jenn) now...Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to try one of these. Apparently, I was too busy drinking beer with the Husband and deciding which one of the adorable little babies we were going to steal and keep for ourselves. Haha, not true...Not true that we were actually going to go through with it, however, we did discuss it. I guess that's what happens when you find yourself newlywed and at a birthday party surrounded by babies. Or is that just us????

Regardless, I know they were delicious because the guests were raving and I overheard them. Perhaps she will make them for me another time. Cinco de Mayo??? Job well done, Jackie!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

2009-04-02T18:54:00.013-04:00

One of my best friends, Jackie, is getting married on June 14th. Yay! I, her matron of honor, along with the other maid of honor and the rest of the bridesmaids threw her a bridal shower this past weekend. It was such a blast and Jackie received so many wonderful gifts, including a lovely mouthful of bunny marshmallows from yours truly. Here is a picture of the ladies who helped plan the shower and Kate Mac.

We set out with the goal to make this shower as Jackie-friendly as possible, so we went with a theme that would be sure to please our lovely red-headed gal. As the invitation (also made by yours truly) promised, we were successful in showering Jackie with love, laughter, and the luck of the Irish--hence all the green in our attire. As coincidence would have it, even Jackie showed up wearing a green dress!

(here she is with her groom-to-be)

Green is Jackie's absolute favorite color and also one of her wedding colors, albeit a slightly less bold version of the color we are all wearing. Another one of the shower related jobs that I bestowed upon myself was to make the cupcakes. Obviously I went with Lemonade cupcakes as it is well known that Jackie loves lemony goodness almost as much as she loves the color green.

I began by making the stand that would hold these cupcakes. I purchased a plain cardboard stand, spray painted it bright yellow (her other wedding color), and outfitted the edges in green ribbon with white polka dots.

I also made a "cupcake topper" for the center cupcake on the display. I bought wooden letters--a "J" for Jackie, a "T" for Tim, her fiance, and a heart for love, obviously. I attached toothpicks to the letters and covered them in light green and gold glitter.

So, here is the recipe I used and then I will show how it looked once it was assembled. Oh, and by the way, I tripled this recipe because I needed to make 6 dozen cupcakes, but as it is printed, the recipe will yield 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 box white cake mix
1 (8 ounce) container of sour cream
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove 2 tablespoons lemonade concentrate from each can and dispose of the rest.
3. Combine remaining concentrate (2 tablespoons), cake mix, sour cream, cream cheese, and eggs.

4. Beat with mixer until well blended.
5. Fill paper muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full.
6. Into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

7. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

(just try to ignore the bottles of scotch in the background, haha)

I used this recipe for Vanilla Buttercream Frosting to ice these.

Here are some pictures of the whole thing put together:

I must day that I was (and am) pretty darn proud of myself. I received many compliments on how delicious the cupcakes were and one lady even offered to buy my cupcake stand from me. I just let her have it--the stand that is, not a piece of my mind. All in all it was a good, long hard days work all of which was well worth it to see the surprise on my Jackie's face and the tears in her eyes...and no one deserves it more. I love that girl!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

2009-03-24T20:28:00.003-04:00

Childhood memories. Not mine necessarily, but I'm sure these memories belong to someone. As for me, I just think they're cute. Ice cream cone cupcakes are actually extremely easy to make. I made them as a birthday present for my mother-in-law but spread their sweet, confectionery goodness around to a few other people. How many cupcakes can one person really eat anyway?

I had originally set out to pipe the icing on top in order to make them resemble soft serve ice cream cones, but my make shift pastry bag exploded. For years now I have refused to buy a real pastry bag and instead have used a simple ziploc with the corner snipped off. However, the last THREE times I tried to do this, the bag popped mid pipe causing not only frustration, but also non-piped icing. Darn store brand plastic bags. Alas, I have succumbed to the baking gods and will be going to Micheal's this weekend to purchase a bona fide pastry bad. I write this as I wipe away a tear shed at the loss of my ingenuity.

Enough about me...here's the recipe:
(p.s. I was way too lazy to bake these from scratch)

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix, any flavor you like
water, vegetable oil, eggs according the box that your purchase
1 container of frosting

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place an ice cream cone in each well of a cupcake pan.
3. Fill each cone about 3/4 of the way full.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool completely.
6. Ice and decorate as you see fit!

So easy, a child could do it. Perhaps this is why they are such a birthday party staple.

There is just one problem with these cupcakes: the cake bakes inside the cones and therefore, cake can be found all the way down to the very bottom of the cone. While cake is good, it is perfectly complemented by icing. Yet, by the time you eat down to the lower half of the cone, the icing is a distant memory.

Next time I think I would tunnel a small vertical hole down the center of the cupcake and pipe in a little bit of icing so that its creamy goodness can be tasted throughout the entire experience. Probably easier said than done....

Happy Birthday Mom Ford!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

2009-03-19T16:01:00.012-04:00

The plan for this week was supposed to be Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes but they are for dinner on Saturday so I can't make them just yet. However, I still have the baking bug. The cure for this ailment turned out to be Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes.

The husband and I (especially the latter) are huge fans of cinnamon buns. The problem with them is that they take FOREVER to make. All that rolling and rising doesn't work out very well for a girl who, as we all know, severely lacks patience. Besides, my rolling pin and I still haven't made up from the last fight we got into. He's been banished to the dark drawer and perhaps one day soon will be allowed to grace me with his presence. But he hasn't earned that privilege yet. That is neither here not there.

As luck would have it, I stumbled about a recipe for Quick and Easy Cinnamon Bun Bread over at Baking Bites. I thought to myself: Self, there is no reason why we can't do a little experiment with this recipe and turn them into cupcakes. And that is exactly what I did. They turned out to be delicious although I wish you could have seen the look on my face when I opened the oven and it looked like a brown sugar explosion had occurred inside my oven. It's just as well because it could use a good cleaning anyway...Part of me is inclined to suggest lessening the amount of brown sugar used in the recipe but they just tasted so perfect that I think the brown sugar blowout and subsequent dishpan hands were well worth it!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (about 1 minute in the microwave)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.

2. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk.

3. In a separate bowl, stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg together.

4. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, mix well, and spoon evenly into 12 well-greased cupcake pan.

5. Allow the pan to sit still for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile...

6. Mix together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl using a fork or your fingers until the butter is entirely incorporated and the mixture is crumbly.

7. After the dough has been resting for 15 minutes, divide the brown sugar mixture evenly over top of the unbaked cupcakes. Press the sugar into the dough with your fingers or use a butter knife two swirl it into the dough.

8. Place pan into an UNPREHEATED oven. Then, set the temperature to 350 degrees.

9. Total bake time will depend on your oven and how quickly it heats up. Mine baked for about 18 minutes. Just keep an eye in them until the center of each cupcakes springs back upon gently poking. Don't worry if the sugar on top still looks gooey.

10. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 30 minutes on a wire cooling rack.

Meanwhile...

11. Prepare the frosting by mixing the powdered sugar with the milk until it has reached your desired consistency.

12. Drizzle the icing over the cupcakes.

Voila:

***I ate two of them (for test purposes obviously) and they are definitely better when warmed slightly in the microwave...just a suggestion...

Because Everyone Fails Sometimes

2009-03-16T12:10:00.010-04:00

In my last post, I declared that I would be making Cupcake Pops. And I tried. And I failed. Miserably. Here's what happened:

It all started out well enough. I baked a lovely yellow cake and whipped up a batch of vanilla icing. After the cake cooled, I crumbled it into a fine texture using my food processor. I smushed the icing into the cake, rolled them into balls, and stuck them in the fridge for a few hours. So far, so good.

However, that's where it all took a turn for the worse. I tried to use the flower cookie cutter to shape the base of the balls into a cupcake shape. Failed. The balls were too small or the cookie cutter was too big. Either way, tiny cupcakes just weren't going to happen. Time to move onto plan B: (Round) St. Patrick's Day Cupcake Pops.

So, I left the cake in ball form and decided to go from there. I melted the green candy melts over a double boiler, stuck lollipop sticks into the balls, and proceeded to dip.

Failed. The candy was too thick and just kept sliding off of the cake. The lollipop sticks kept coming out of the cake. The lollipops that did work wouldn't stand up straight in my temporary Styrofoam stand, so I had to put them flat down onto tin foil which would inevitable cause the top side of the cupcake pops to be flat. Then...when I tried to decorate them with sprinkles, the chocolate kept sliding down onto the foil causing the sprinkles to go with it. Failed.

This is what I ended up with:

I suppose that I could have continued in this manner and at the worst they would at least taste good, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I wouldn't have been more embarrassed than proud to share these.

All is well and I'll be trying something new this week for my mother-in-law's birthday. She mentioned cupcake ice cream cones the other day, so I think that is what I will attempt to make for her this week. Hopefully the failures are all behind me.

Oh!! And I am going to Cold Stone Creamery this week specifically to try one of these:

Ice Cream Cupcakes!! Not only are these one of the cutest things I have seen in a long time, but they also look unbelievably delicious! I will let you know how good they...are all the while hoping that this doesn't turn into an unhealthy obsessions (or an extra 10 pounds).

I'm So Excited

2009-03-09T23:42:00.003-04:00

And I just can't hide it. This week I am making Cupcake Pops:

I stumbled upon this picture and it was as if these cupcake bites spoke to me. Or rather begged me to bring them to life. They are going to be quite challenging, but I am so up for it. I think that I will make them more St. Patrick's Day oriented and bring them to a party I am going to on Friday night. I absolutely can't wait to share these.

Then next week, sushi is on the menu. Sushi cupcakes that is...sounds appetizing, huh??? Stay tuned!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

2009-03-08T13:47:00.006-04:00

Decadent. That is the only word that comes to mind....and delicious, delectable, definitely delightful. That's enough alliteration for one day. Or is it? Maybe there is something to Betty Crocker after all because these were freakin' fabulous! I got this recipe from my B.C. cookbook, but you can also find it online.

My mom had the husband and I over for dinner the other night while my niece was spending the weekend at her house. She made us shrimp scampi that was fantastic and I brought these brownies for dessert. I also brought them to The Ladies first Book Club meeting which was also spectacular. Although next time perhaps we should have a little less wine and a little more book talk. I digress....

Anywho, these come highly recommended by me and everyone else who had the pleasure of pleasing their palette with their gratifying goodness. I pretty much followed Betty's recipe except I decided to skip the chocolate frosting and substitute it for homemade chocolate ganache because something about this recipe just had to be from scratch or I couldn't live with myself. In the end, I think I made the right decision. It really made the difference and I learned how to do something new!

Here's how to make it:

Ingredients:

1	box Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1/4	cup water
2	eggs
1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix
1/2	cup butter or margarine, softened
1	egg

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray, or grease with shortening. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and 2 eggs. Spread in pan.

2. Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter and 1 egg. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter; press down lightly.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool on cooling rack 30 minutes. Cover with the chocolate ganache (recipe to follow) and cut into bars.

For the ganache:

1. In a small saucepan, heat 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream and 6 tbsp. butter until just before the boiling stage.

2. Pour over 12 oz. chocolate semi-sweet chips that are in a separate bowl.

3. Let stand for about 30 seconds and stir until everything is incorporated and smooth.

4. Pour over the brownies and allow to set before cutting. (This might take longer than you think)

Finally, pour yourself a BIG glass of milk (or wine) and try to eat just one!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

2009-03-01T11:40:00.006-05:00

So, these would fall under the "everything nice" category. Clearly they aren't baked goods, but they were so yummy that I just had to share. Rumor has it that Asian Lettuce Wraps are the number #1 appetizer to order at P.F. Chang's, which happens to be one of the husbands favorite restaurants, but neither of us have actually had the restaurant's version despite their raving reviews. We have, however, been trying to eat much healthier, so I made these with ground turkey and they were a hit! Something we will definitely find a place for in our revolving menu. The other added bonus is that I, being such a picky eater, was forced to try a few new ingredients and (surprise, surprise) actually liked them!! Funny how that works...

Anyway, these are delicious!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup instant brown rice
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped (i left these out)
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 heads Boston lettuce, leaves separated
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as cilantro, basil, mint and/or chives
1 large carrot, shredded

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add rice; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the turkey is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, bell pepper, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

3. To serve, spoon portions of the turkey mixture into lettuce leaves, top with herbs and carrot and roll into wraps.

mmm....i'm hungry just looking at this picture!

Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes

2009-02-25T18:59:00.005-05:00

from Coconut and Lime

I don't eat doughnuts regularly, but when I do I tend to partake in the kind that have jelly on the inside....especially of the munchkin variety. These were pretty good--I would rate them a 6.5 out of 10. The cake part was very different than I am used to. It was very moist and actually kind of tasted like a doughnut. The husband told me that they taste exactly like jelly doughnuts. Now whether he was being honest or just boosting my confidence remains to be seen. You make them and let me know!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
½ cup milk
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt

good quality red jelly (any flavor--i used raspberry)
powdered sugar ( i used regular sugar)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Grease and flour or line 8 wells in a cupcake pan.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg, vanilla, zest and milk beat well. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until the batter is light and fluffy.
5. Fill each well 2/3 of the way filled.
6. Bake approximately 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of cupcake comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack and take a small corer, knife or melon baller and scoop out some of the center of the cupcake.
8. Fill with jelly (I just spooned it in).
9. Sprinkle with sugar.

My Darling Friend and Her Darling Blog

2009-02-24T21:34:00.005-05:00

A Dining Darling

One of my very best friends has a blog of her very own. I will allow her to introduce herself:

I’m not a Food Expert, I just like to eat it. I also like to read about food, imagine great new recipes I can cook up, restaurants I need to visit, and fantasize about the kitchen I would have if I won the lottery. You better believe that there would be a Cuisinart Stand Mixer in that kitchen, and if they had one in pink, even better!
I am unabashed about my love of all things cupcakes, tea, and wine. I like red wine the most and am lucky in that it doesn’t turn my teeth and lips purple. If you try to call me at 10:00pm on Wednesdays, when Top Chef is on, I will most likely not answer my phone. I love comfort foods, and especially like finding lowfat alternatives for comfort foods.

Come eat with me!

So be sure to scope out her blog and follow her as she discovers the wonders of the food culture in Baltimore...

Lemon Sqaures

2009-02-24T20:50:00.008-05:00

Normally, I am not a huge fan of lemon flavored things, but I have been a lover of lemon squares for as long as I can remember. However, I have never had them from scratch, my mom always went the boxed route. So, the other night I got the desire to bake something and as it turned out, lemon squares were the perfect choice for two reasons: 1) I already had all the ingredients in my kitchen and 2) I would be seeing my Jackie the next day and if anyone loves lemony treats, it's Jackie...

Speaking of Jackie...she alerted me the other day that she has a recipe to put up on my blog. So keep an eye out as she will be my first official guest blogger.

Now onto the luscious lemon squares....

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 cup white sugar, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
4 eggs
Zest and juice of 2 lemons, separated
powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

2. Add the cubed butter to the flour and using your hands, combine the butter with the flour until you’re left with a crumbly mixture.

3. Press this mixture into a 9×13 pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.

4. Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes or until just turning golden on the edges.

Meanwhile...

5. In a new bowl, combine the zest of 2 lemons and 1 1/4 cups of white sugar and rub them together until the zest is incorporated into the sugar.

6. Whisk or beat in the eggs and add the lemon juice. Add 1/4 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and whisk them in.

Once the crust has finished baking...

6. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is set and doesn’t wiggle.

7. Remove the lemon bars from the oven and allow to cool COMPLETELY before sprinkling with powdered sugar and cutting.

These were absolutely delicious!! And I kind of wish I had one right now.

P.S. Did you notice that picture taking skills have improved? Well, not entirely. More like my photo touch-up skills have improved, especially for the pictures of the final product....mmmm, i'm salivating...

Valentine's Day Surprises

2009-02-19T15:47:00.010-05:00

It seems that I have found myself with A LOT of free time on my hands lately. It's been almost 2 months since I graduated and I have yet to find a job--not even so much as an interview. I have turned to baking in order to distract myself from the unfortunate circumstances. I keep on applying and I keep on baking...I have all the time in the world.

Valentine's Day was this past weekend and I decided to make special treats for some of my lovely lady friends. Two of these ladies live on the West Coast so they only received cookies, but the ladies who live in my area received cookies AND cupcakes. Then I gave Tim the leftovers to take into work. And everyone got a handmade card (well, except for Tim's co-workers). I spent last Tuesday baking 2 dozen cupcakes and 9 dozen cookies. I present you with the fruits (sweets) of my labors:

Valentine Cupcakes:

Basically, I made a standard white cake mix. The twist, however, is that I added 2 tbsp. of sprinkles because I LOVE funfetti cake!!! Then I iced and decorated them in a special Valentine's way:

P.S. I found the cutest cupcake boxes in the world, but more on that later...

Valentine Sugar Cookies:

I'll be the first to admit that cookies are not my forte, but I decided to give them a whirl anyway. They aren't my best work. They were supposed to be heart shaped, but I got in a fight with the rolling pin and decided just to plop them on the baking sheet and go from there.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat again until well combined. Then beat in eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture.
4. Refrigerate dough for 3 hours.
5. Drop onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned.
6. Allow them to cool completely and then ice them.

Icing:

2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
3 or 4 tablespoons of water
few drops of food coloring

1. Mix the sugar and water together until desired consistency is reached.
2. Spoon or spread (depending on consistency) over completely cooled cookies.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Ingredients:

12 oz. white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
seedless raspberry jam
1/2 tsp. shortening

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. Set aside. In a heavy small saucepan melt 4 ounces of the white chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer about 30 seconds or until softened. Add the sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in eggs and melted white chocolate chips until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Stir in the 4 more ounces of white chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough from a rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks. Cool completely.

4. Melt the raspberry jam in a small saucepan over low heat. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of jam atop each cookie. In a heavy, small saucepan combine the 3 ounces white baking bar and shortening. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle each cookie with some of the melted mixture. If necessary, refrigerate cookies about 15 minutes or until chocolate mixture is firm.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Now here are the little packages I put together for my ladies:

And these are the cards I made :)

All in all, I think everyone enjoyed them...except Kate because she still hasn't gotten hers. All in good time, even though that makes for stale cupcakes, haha!!

(Lo Cal) Banana Muffins

2009-01-29T15:17:00.009-05:00

...well sort of...

As I mentioned earlier, I am on a diet. This does not change the fact that I still crave something sweet and dessert-like every now and again. More like all the time, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, I was going to make applesauce brownies, but then I decided that banana muffins sounded way better. The thing about these muffins is that they look nothing like my previous experiences consuming banana muffins--instead they look like mushed bananas both before and after baking. Is it just me or are banana muffins supposed to be a brownish color???

Regardless, these are yummy, super easy, and 110 calories per muffin. Of course, this depends on the size of the particular muffin, but my batch made 10 muffins, which means each muffin is 110 calories, give or take.

What's even better is that you could make these muffins even healthier by using a sugar substitute and whole grain flour. I had neither of these in my kitchen, so I went for the yummier yet still healthy version....best decision i made all day.

So, obviously begin by gathering your ingredients:

2 bananas
1 tbsp. melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp. of vanilla extract (you can use rum extract or whatever else you have sitting around)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
2 tbsp. of milk
3/4 cup of flour

***to make these even healthier, substitute the 1/2 cup sugar for 1 full cup of splenda and use whole wheat flour***

1. Place the bananas into a bowl and mush them up.

(eeeewwww, how icky does that look???)

2. Add the margarine, vanilla, sugar, baking powder, egg, and milk to the mushy bananas.

3. After mixing those ingredients together, add in the flour and mix well.

4. Finally fill your muffin pan with the batter. You can either use paper cup liners like i did, or you could always grease and flour the pan...muffin cups are way easier!

5. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

I must warn you that you should definitely check them with the toothpick trick after 20 minutes because they look exactly the same coming out of the oven as they did going in. Proof:

These are fully cooked.

And I hope they satisfy the Missi's and Josh's of the world.

White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling

2009-01-28T15:49:00.020-05:00

As most of you know, Tim just started a new job. Unfortunately for me, this new jobs involves some traveling. In early January he was gone for 12 days between Miami and LA. In order to keep myself busy, I did A LOT of baking. I started with a chocolate chip layer cake of which I have no pictures to share. Then I made 4 dozen m&m cookies and mailed them to Alee in Seattle. Then I made the glorious cake that I am about to share with you.

This cake was beyond decadent and a very pleasant surprise for Tim upon returning home from his trip. Admittedly, the decorating could use a little work; I am not the best cake icer in the world as this was perhaps the most difficult cake I have ever tried to ice. The raspberry jam kept gooing out the sides and turning the white chocolate icing into a pink color, which needless to say was not the desired effect. I tried to distract from this by compensating for it with fresh raspberries and white chocolate curls.

There is someone special to whom I owe tremendous thanks in her assistance with this recipe. I received her as a Christmas gift from Mom Ford and I love her like she is my child. Readers, meet Pearl:

One final note...I am on a diet. Good for me, yes, but the baking of cakes will have to stop until I reach my 8 pound goal. However, once this happens (if it happens) I plan on stepping up the blog and focusing mostly on delicious cupcake recipes. Stay tuned.... So, here's the yummiest cake I ever did make:

1. Gather all of the ingredients you will need for the cake. (flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, vanilla, white chocolate, half and half, baking powder, and salt)

2. Begin by separating the yolks from the whites of 4 eggs, but save both components. Allow the egg whites to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

3. In a small mixing bowl combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Whisk these ingredients together and then set the mixture aside.

4. Melt 3 ounces of the white chocolate baking bar (broken down into smaller chunks) with 1/4 cup of the half and half in a saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly just until the chocolate begins to melt. Remove from heat and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in 1/2 cup of half and half and allow mixture to cool.

5. With your version of Pearl, beat 1/3 cup of butter for about 30 seconds and then add 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Then add the 4 egg yolks one at a time.

6. Alternately add the flour mixture and the white chocolate mixture, beating just until combined.

7. In a separate mixing bowl beat the 4 egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks begin to form. This will take a few minutes and look something like this when finished, although the picture can't really capture the peaks that you are looking for.

8. Very gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

9. Pour the cake batter into two 8 or 9 inch pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

(nevermind the gorgeous insides of my oven...)

Meanwhile....

Prepare the icing...

1. Gather your ingredients: milk, white chocolate baking bar, vanilla, butter, salt, powdered sugar, and whipped cream.

2. Melt 4 1/2 ounces of the white chocolate (broken into chunks) over a double boiler. Then stir it until smooth and allow to cool to room temperature.

3. Sift 1 3/4 cup of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl.

4. Add 1/4 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt. Beat until combined.

5. You could stop here and have delicious icing, but I like my icing a bit more fluffy, so i added about 3/4 cup of whipped cream. After mixing the icing to your liking refrigerate it for about 30 minutes.

Now to put it all together...

After the cakes have COMPLETELY cooled, place the bottom layer into your cake plate. Cover it with about 1/3 cup of seedless raspberry jam and a thin layer of the white chocolate icing. Place the top layer on top of the cake and frost the entire thing with the icing.

To decorate the cake, I used fresh raspberries around the bottom and curls of white chocolate all over the top. To make the curls, take a vegetable peeler to the remaining 1/2 ounce of white chocolate and let it fall where it may.

Alas, I present my White Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Filling:

***As a reminder, do not judge my cake by appearance alone, but rather by how good you can only imagine it tasted....Absolutely Delicious!

Cheescake Stuffed Strawberries

2008-12-14T20:46:00.007-05:00

First of all, allow me to apologize for the inconsistent blogging. I promise that once school is finished (5 more days, woo hoo!), I will be much more consistent. Besides, Tim and I have our annual Christmas cocktail party next weekend, so many a yummy plate will be made. Stay tuned for those yummy recipes....

Anyway, without much further ado, I present one of the best non-baked desserts I have ever made: strawberries stuffed with cheesecake, dipped in creamy milky chocolate, and drizzled in white chocolate, although that part is mostly for effect :)

Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to take picture of every step. I was in a bit of a rush to prepare something for dinner at Kasey's before the Agora Christmas Party. I did, however, get a picture of the final results and I will provide much details on the directions. It's really quite easier than it sounds.

Here we go:

1. First, hollow out the insides of the strawberries. You can use as many or as little as you want. I used a little less than two cartons as it really isn't strawberry season and the pickins were slim. The easiest way to do this is to use the small side of a melon baller. If you don't have one of those, you can just use a small, sharp knife.

2. As you hollow out the strawberries, lay them face down on a paper towel so that they can drip dry.

3. To make the cheesecake filling combine 12 oz. of cream cheese softened for 30 seconds in the microwave, 3 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Combine until it is well mixed.

4. Spoon the mixture into a plastic ziploc bag, seal the bag, and smush all of the mixture into one corner. Snip off a tiny piece of the corner of the bag. Yes, I know this is essentially a pastry bag, but who wants to buy one of those when ziplocs work just as well? Not me!

5. Gently squeeze the mixture out of the corner of the bag into the hollowed out strawberries in a swirling motion allowing the mixture to come out over the top of the strawberry just slightly.

6. Next, melt your chocloate. For the sake of time, I used the dipping chocolate you can buy at the store and simply melt in the microwave, but you can do it however your little heart desires.

7. Dip the bottoms of the strawberries into the melted chocolate and sit them on parchment paper. Place the strawberries in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes so that the chocolate can harden.

8. This next part is purely optional...Melt white chocolate in the same manner as the milk chocolate and use the end of a spoon to drizzle it in a zigzag pattern over the strawberries.

And voila! you're done. Pretty easy, huh? But they look gorgeous and taste just as good.

Here are a couple pictures of the final product!

P.S. I am well aware that my talent as a food photographer is not existent, but you get the idea...

Halloween Cupcakes

2008-11-12T10:31:00.017-05:00

I realize that I am a little bit late posting this, but you can always keep it in mind for next Halloween. It must be said that these cupcakes might be the greatest ones I have ever made...I am quite proud of myself!

So, I just used a box of cake mix that I bought from the store. Mostly because Jackie requested that the cupcakes be Halloween Funfetti and I have yet to figure out how to make funfetti cake mix from scratch. Also, the real artistry in this project lies not in the baking, but rather in the decorating. That being said:

1) After you remove the cupcakes from the oven, cool them COMPLETELY on a wire cooling rack so the icing doesn't melt once applied.

2) Then gather your decorating items. These cupcakes will eventually be pumpkins, spiders on webs, bloody eyeballs, skulls, and mummies. Therefore, I gathered two cans of icing, sparkly orange sprinkles, pretzel sticks, black gel icing, fake plastic spiders, red gel icing, gummy lifesavers, mini marshmallows, and m&m's.

3) Begin with the pumpkins because they are the easiest. First, use red and yellow food coloring to dye the white icing orange. Then ice a few of your cupcakes with it. Sprinkle the orange cupcakes with the orange sparkly sprinkles and stick a pretzel stick in the middle. They should look like this:

2) Next, make the spider web cupcakes. I was so wrapped up in making these cupcakes that I forgot to take picture of each step, so I am just going to post the final products but I will still explain how to do each one....For the spider webs, I iced the cupcakes with the orange icing, then used the black gel icing to make concentric circles around the cupcake. Then, i used a butter knife and began in the middle drawing the knife outwards pulling the icing with my knife to create the "webbed" look. Finally, I stuck a plastic spider ring into the cupcake to look like a spider resting on his web.

3) Now for the bloody eyeballs, which are my second favorite ones!! For these, I iced the cupcakes with plain white icing. Then I placed a gummy lifesaver in the middle of each cupcake and filled the inner circle in with a dot of the black gel icing.

To make them look bloodshot, just put bloody squiggles around the "eyeball" using the red gel icing. Final product:

4) Now for my absolute favorite ones, the mummies!!! These were slightly more difficult to make, but I think they turned out the best....First, take a plastic ziploc back and spoon some icing into the bag, pushing it all down into one corner. Then snip of the tip of the corner.

Then, you take an un-iced cupcake and draw straight lines (using the bag of icing) across the cupcake making sure to cross over each other.

Don't forget to leave space for the eyes!

Then, color in the space you left for the eyeballs with the black gel icing, put two m&m's on top of the black icing, and use the icing to create little eyeballs in the candy. VOILA:

5) I also made skull cupcakes, but didn't take any pictures of them! We were in a hurry to leave for a Halloween party and it completely slipped my mind. However, you can see them in these pictures of all the cupcakes together.

Then I used my brand new cupcake tree for the very fist time to display them at the party!!!

And there you have it, spooky cupcakes! Until next Halloween......

Snickerdoodle Cake

2008-09-28T21:20:00.039-04:00

So, last Wednesday was my friend Kasey's 27th Birthday and this is her sort of belated birthday present. There are two things that I know about my friend Kasey: 1) she loves snickerdoodle cookies and 2) she doesn't really much care for cake. And there are two things I know about myself 1) I really like to bake cakes and 2) I don't much care for baking cookies. Besides, apparently her mom's snickerdoodles are so good, that I wouldn't even want to attempt to compete. So I baked this cake in her honor. I know she won't eat it, so Tim and I will eat it and tell her yummy it is! Some birthday present, huh?

Here is my best effort to bring over to my side of the dessert fence.....

One more note about this recipe. While it is true that the recipe calls for a box of pre-made cake mix, DO NOt follow the directions on the box. I like to think if this recipe as somewhere in between from-the-box and baked from scratch. Yes, I use the boxed cake mix as my base, but I add completely different ingredients that Betty Crocker's recipe calls for. She's so overrated anyway.

1. Gather all of the following ingredients: vegetable shortening a.k.a crisco (yum, but don't worry, you don't actually eat any crisco), flour, plain white cake mix, whole milk, real butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

2. Make sure your oven rack is placed in the center of the over and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3. Use the Crisco to grease two 9-inch round cake pans, then dust them with flour. Be sure to shake out the excess flour from the pans.

4. In a mixing bowl, place the cake mix, 8 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

5. Blend with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, then scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat with mixer for another 2 minutes. The batter should be well combined and fluffy.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 round cake pans that you greased and floured earlier. Smooth out the tops of the batter so that it will cook evenly. Then place the pans in the oven side by side and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch.

7. When the cakes have finished cooking, remove them from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for about 10 minutes.

8. Run a knife around the edge of each pan to loosen the cakes, then invert each cake right-side up onto the wire rack to cool completely--about 30 minutes.

MEANWHILE...make the cinnamom buttercream frosting.

1. Gather the ingredients for the frosting: butter, confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon (which i left out of the picture by accident)...and this recipe is from scratch :)

2. Place 8 tablespoons of butter at room temperature into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until butter is fluffy.

3. Add 3 3/4 cups of confectioner's sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Beat with the electric mixer on low for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the icing is light and fluffy. The amount of time is important because the longer you beat the icing, the more air that gets incorporated which makes the icing fluffier. But if you beat it for too long then the batter will be stiff.

Now you can frost the cake!!

1. Ice the top of one of the cakes.

2. Place the second cake right-side up on top of the other.

3. To ice the rest of the cake, start with the top and then move on to the sides, smoothing as you go along. The inside and outside will look like this:

I hope she likes it...
Happy Birthday Lady!!!

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

2008-09-28T18:24:00.019-04:00

So, this is my first recipe entry ever. I apologize in advance (even as I write this) because I already know that it won't turn out as nicely as I had hoped that it would. However, I promise that every time I post a new recipe, I will be better than the last time...especially the pictures. Who knew photographing food could be so difficult?!?!

The following recipe is what I made for dinner tonight. It is Sunday, which means dinner has to be something easy that I can eat whenever and that will also be easy for Tim to heat up when he gets home from band practice. I made this soup because it is SUPER easy (I do have a paper to write tonight, after all) and delicious...I like to think that it rivals that of Panera Bread's soup!

So, here I go.......

1. Gather all of the ingredients. My first mistake: I left the whole milk out of the picture. As my husband would say, I'm such a newbie (i think that's how you spell it???) Anyway, I have gathered REAL butter (i prefer the half sticks because i think they're cute), a cooking onion, ground white pepper, frozen chopped broccoli, chicken broth, garlic, flour, whole milk, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and salt.

2. Melt a 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat in stockpot.

3. Dice 1 small cooking onion and cook in the butter until softened.

4. Add 2 cloves of garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper; cook for about 1 minute.

5. Stir in 16 oz. of frozen broccoli.

6. Stir in one quart of chicken broth.

7. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

MEANWHILE.......

8. Whisk 1/2 cup of flour into 1 1/2 cups of whole milk until dissolved.

9. Once the soup has finished simmering, stir the flour/milk mixture into the soup--stirring frequently until the soup has thickened.

10. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in 8 oz. of shredded sharp cheddar cheese until it has melted and the soup is heated through.

11. Season with salt to taste and when you are finished your soup should look something like this (although you might have a different spoon):

I suggest pairing it with a sandwich for a yummy meal. I made a BLT and Tim will most likely have a roast beef sandwich. In case you were wondering this is what i ate for dinner tonight....mmmmmmmm :)

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup (for the visually impaired)

Ingredients
1/4 cup real butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp. white pepper
16 oz. frozen chopped broccoli
1 quart chicken broth
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt to taste

Directions
1. Melt butter over medium heat in stockpot. Cook onion in butter until softened. Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute then stir in broccoli and stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, whisk flour into milk until dissolved. Stir into soup frequently until thickened. Reduce heat and stir in cheese until melted and heated through.

3. Season with salt to taste.

ENJOY!!!