Hi Hat Cupcakes? More like...Regular Hat Cupcakes!

So, these bad boys have been on my Baking Bucket List for quite some time.
It's one of those recipes everyone is scared of, myself included...and now I know why.

Granted, I was successful in getting 2 Dozen cupcakes baked, frosted and dipped - it was not easy.

I made both Devils Food and Red Velvet cupcakes, per the request of the Birthday Girl : )

The first time - yes, I said the first time - I used this Martha Stewart recipe circa 2006 for the frosting. FAIL.
After standing over the bowl with a hand mixer for more than 15 minutes, I moved it over to my KitchenAid and it still came out grainy.

See...grainy!

So, I scraped it off and started over.
Apparently, Martha updated her recipe in 2011 after everyone complained.
This time, the marshmallow-ey frosting was successful so I piped some Hi stacks of frosting.

What I SHOULD HAVE done next was put all the cupcakes in the FREEZER instead of just the refrigerator so that they were as solid as possible before dipping.

But, I didn't.
So after a few hours in the fridge, I melted the chocolate and started the search for the right cup for dipping. Not too tall, not too short, not too skinny but not too wide.

What I SHOULD HAVE done next was waited a few more minutes for the chocolate to cool even more.
I did give it a few minutes to cool but clearly, not long enough.
It's a good thing I made some extras that were able to be sacrificed to the learning process.

After dipping and sprinkling and drizzling all the cupcakes I realized the Hats weren't as Hi as I hoped they would be. The chocolate dipping made the frosting a bit soft and caused the Hats to sag a little - making them Regular Hat Cupcakes.

O'well.
They still look cool, right?

They were yummy.

I'd like to try these again sometime...but a Peanut Butter version.
Until then, I will stick to dipping everything else in chocolate : )

300 Sugar Cookie Hearts

Yup...300.

Last year I did 468 with icing and sprinkles.
This time, kids would be decorating them themselves so they were left plain.

I used my most favorite sugar cookie recipe, it's the best.
Try it!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/michelles-soft-sugar-cookies/

These were being delivered two days before Valentines Day, so they were packaged to stay extra fresh.

That's one of my favorite things about this recipe, you can eat the cookies for more than a week and they stay soft and delicious.

I had some leftovers....well, it wasn't exactly an accident.
I decorated these ones and put them in special boxes for some special people.

My Valentine got some special messages in his box : )

Then...I filled my Cupcake Cookie Jar!

Super Cute Baby Shower

There's a baby girl on the way...and her name is Rylee.

I baked up a bunch of sweets for the Baby Shower.

Chocolate Chunk and White Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes

See the chunks? 

Topped with Pretty Pink Buttercream Roses

Also made a little cake to match.

Then I topped the cupcakes with handmade Purple Chocolate Butterflies

I decorated my square cupcake tower to match the Showers decor, cute huh?

(Sorry, it's a cell phone pic)

And you can never go wrong with Confetti Cake Pop Favors!

I love Baby Showers!

Emiley's 1st Birthday

My youngest niece, Emiley turned on on February 1st and I had the honor of making her birthday cakes.

My brother Tony has the biggest sweet tooth in our family, so he requested I use the "real" buttercream on the cakes...meaning the super sweet powdered sugar kind.

I tend to stay away from that buttercream on cakes just because most people prefer a lighter buttercream but I had been looking for an opportunity to try this recipe from i am baker.

White Cake:

Two pretty shades of purple Buttercream:

I attempted to do this, as beautifully done by i am baker....but it didn't work out.
So I did this instead:

For the sheet cake, I took my best shot at this - also done beautifully by i am baker.
It wasn't a total fail but it could have been better.

Here's the BIRTHDAY GIRL...smashing away:

As for the sheet cake...it was still a success.