A castle fit for a princess!

A very good friend of mine asked me to make a castle cake for her little princesses 3rd birthday. It was a lot of work, but the pay off was worth it. It turned out just as I had hoped it would and it was enjoyed by all at the party!

Turtle Cake

For my birthday this year little cupcake made me a turtle cake. This was one of my favorite cakes my mom used to make when I was growing up. It's a rich chocolate cake, and baked inside is all the yummy stuff of a turtle candy... caramel, pecans, and chocolate chips. SO yummy! It was the perfect birthday and perfect cake!

Edited to add the family recipe I've used for years.
here's what you'll need:
1 german chocolate cake mix (and all ingredients to prepare cake)
1 Cup chopped pecans
1 Cup chocolate chips
1 bag of caramels
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven 350*. Prepare cake according to box. Pour 1/3 the cake batter in a 13x9 pan (i actually used a spring form pan for this cake but we typically use a 13x9 pan) bake cake for 15 minutes and remove from oven. While cake is baking, unwrap all the caramels and place in a small pot on the stove with sweetened condensed milk and cook on low until all caramels are melted in with the milk. Stiring often. Once it's melted remove from stove. Pour over the baked cake, top with the pecans, and chocolate chips, then pour remaining batter over the top and bake an additional 40 minutes. It's a little hard to tell if the cake is done because the toothpick will come out dirty with all the yummies that are inside the cake. So just keep an eye on it and make sure the center is set. Let cool completely then cut and fall in love!!! :)

Sprinkles!

Now that I'm a stay at home momma, Little Cupcake is having the most fun baking with me. :) Last night she made pudding and for a nice color touch she added sprinkles. LOTS and LOTS of sprinkles!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

As most know my favorite type of dessert is a cupcake. It's like an individual party just for you! But I have to say that Chocolate Chip Cookies is probably my second favorite dessert. Throw in some pecans and Oh yeah! I could eat a few dozen! :) These Chocolate Chip cookies were the best ones I've made yet. A little bit crispy on the outside, but still ooey and gooey and soft on the inside. AMAZING!!

edited to add the recipe that I used. I followed it exactly, except for one thing. I decided to grind up 1 cup of oatmeal to use in place of 1 cup of flour. I think by doing this it added just enough extra taste and texture to make these the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever had!

Scooby Dooby Dooooo!

Cupcakes for kids

It seems like every where you look these days cupcakes can be found. Cupcake shops are popping up all over; there's about 6 million cupcake shows on T.V. right now, all of which I find myself wasting hours of my life watching. There's cupcake shirts, and cupcake necklaces (one of which I am now the proud owner of thanks to Goody Gum Drop Candy shop) there are even cupcake band aids! See... so cute!

Then there's all the super cute cupcake books that are out for children. There's the ever so popular "If you give a cat a cupcake...." we seriously love this book!

These three are on our list to let Santa know we want them...

Seriously stop the cutness!!! I feel like if it all keeps up I may have to name my unborn child Cupcake!

A Cupcake Tower

For my grandfathers birthday this year I created a cupcake tower. My husband built this amazing cupcake stand to display them all on and it worked out perfect! The original plan was to make a variety of cupcake flavors and frostings, but things changed at the last minute. I went with a basic chocolate and a basic white cake and topped them with a chocolate fudge, a red buttercream, and a cream cheese frosting.