French Macarons

Little Cupcakes birthday is coming up soon and it's a big one this year. It's her Golden Birthday (she'll turn 5 on the 5th) and she has decided since she loves the Eiffel Tower that she wants a Paris party. Well what Paris party would be complete without French Macarons?
I have been reading online all about them and how difficult they are to make. I couldn't figure out how that could be when they are 4 ingredients. I made these the other night and filled them with chocolate ganache. They turned out PERFECT and sooooo yummy too!
We are going to have a lot of fun making all different colors and flavors for her party!

Hello Kitty Birthday Party

My best friends daughter turned 3 a few weeks back and wanted a Hello Kitty themed party. I think it's such a cute little theme and the cake turned out wonderful! I decided to make the cake itself pink and had vanilla cream filling. The cupcakes were angel food with strawberry whipped cream frosting. YUM!

Monkey Bread

Did you have monkey bread as a child? My mom used to make it all the time when we were younger because it was one of my little brothers favorites. I stumbled upon Pioneer Womans recipe a few years back and it's very similar to my moms but she cooks the butter and brown sugar on the stove until it turns into a Carmel, then drizzles it on top. Doing just that one little thing seriously sends this monkey bread into a whole different category of DELISH!

Pumpkin cucpake with Cinnamon Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting!

I LOVE this time of year. I LOVE anything pumpkin. So my first batch of pumpkin something this year had to be these that I've been drooling over since finding the recipe last year. And they taste as good as they sound!!

Happy Birth Day Stella Rae!

I didn't make this cake... I had all intensions of baking an adorable little cake for all of us at the hospital to share on the day Stella came into this world. Instead I was too tired, and nervous and had a whole birthday cake of my own that I wasn't sure who was going to eat. So my wonderful Mother in-law picked this up for us on the way to meet her newest granddaughter.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

I turned 34 this year... two days before giving birth to our new baby girl.

Have I really not posted here since MAY!?

Geesh! I had no idea it'd been so long! It was a crazy summer without a lot of baking...being pregnant and the weather being over 100* just doesn't really get you in the mood for baking a cake! But I have done a few things here and there and I'll share them with you now! :)

It's a jungle out there baby!

I really like how this jungle themed 1st Birthday turned out. These little cupcake liners and picks are soo adorable! And the little monkey cake for the birthday boy to dive into... so adorable!!

A Groovy Tie-Dye Party!

My little cupcake turned four over the weekend and her party was a tie-dye theme! It was sooo much fun, and the cupcakes and cake were a lot of fun to make for her too! I did plain chocolate cupcake with tie-dye swirled buttercream frosting and sprinkles. Then for the cake I made a tie-dye cake, with vanilla cream filling and buttercream frosting pipped on to match her tie-dye shirt she wore that day. It was all a big hit!!!

It's been a long time!

Geesh has it really been 3 months since I posted any yummy new dessert recipes??? I guess that seems about right. I've been rather busy and a little bit sick so I hadn't done much baking except a thing here and there. Now that I'm feeling better tho and holidays and fun stuff coming up I promise to have more posts for yummy desserts!

Merry Christmas Cupcakes!

Simple yet Adorable!
Happy Holidays!!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Growing up I remember always making sugar cookies with my grandmother and I remember always loving them. Over the years I've tried to perfect the recipe I have, sometimes the cookies would turn out too flat -resulting in a sort of crunchier sugar cookie. Not what I wanted. Sometimes they'd puff up too much and lose their shape in the oven - resulting in snowman cut outs looking more like melted snowballs! Not what I wanted. This year though I was asked to make 50 mitten cookies for my Mother in law's annual Christmas Tea Party and cookie exchange. They were going to hang on little trees as centerpieces on the tables and be given to each guest when they went home. So I knew they had to be perfect. And thankfully this time... they were! Take a look at how adorable they turned out! I can't wait to make them again the week of Christmas with Little Cupcake, and again on Valentines Day, and again for Easter, and well... you see where this is going! There will be lots of Sugar Cookie posts in our future!

Birthday Girl turns 2!

My dearest and oldest friend's daughter turned 2 this year and I got to bake her cake! It turned out really cute, I loved the color combination of the different shades of pinks, cream and chocolate brown. I filled the cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate mousse, and the giant cupcake had cookies and cream filling. Yum!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

It's almost ready!!!

1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies and Cakes is almost ready to be released!! For those of you who didn't know my S 'mores Cupcakes are published in this book!!! It's an exciting time for me and my hardwork. If you are interested in preordering the book please use the following link to order through Amazon.com

Sliders! :)

For Labor Day weekend this year I decided to make slider cupcakes! They are so fun, and sooo yummy! I mean really, a cupcake bun, a brownie burger, and ketchup, mustard, and lettuce frosting... what's not to love!

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!