Easter

This year our March was very busy...so instead of making the cake I had in mind for our annual family get together, I opted for cookies which I made that morning.

I had bought some white chocolate m&ms to use as well as a bag of white chocolate chips.

I have a ridiculous collection of treat bags that I have collected over the years so I grabbed one of the four Easter designs and bagged the cookies, three to a bag.

Unfortunately, I suck at taking pictures and did not snap a shot of the basket full of cookie bags.

Still, it was a wonderful day with family.

Christmas is a time for Giving.

My parents are two of the most thoughful and giving people I know.
They asked me to bake up a bunch of sweets - none for them, all for others.

They asked for three small cakes to give to their neighbors.
Each cake has French Vanilla and Red Velvet layers with a Chocolate Ganache Filling.

They are each covered in Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream then decorated with homemade Marshmallow Fondant.

They also asked for 2 dozen cupcakes...something Christmas-ey for my father's old co-workers.

One dozen French Vanilla cupcakes with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and White Chocolate snowflakes.

One dozen Devils Food cupcakes dipped in Chocolate Ganache with Vanilla Swiss Meringue wreaths and Sprinkles.

And lastly, they wanted some Cheesecake bites.
Man, I love Cheesecake - so I get excited anytime someone orders it, because I always make extra.

I made the bites a little bigger than usual...well, because...why the heck not?!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thankful

Thanksgiving 2012 was hosted by myself again, meaning I managed to cram over 20 family members into my house and entertain them for a day.

Since our family is so GINORMOUS, we divide up food assignments for Thanksgiving.
Of course, mine has been dessert for the last five years or so...and this year was no different.

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest months ago that I planned to use for the Holidays.
We have some non-pumpkin eaters in my family so I made a double batch, half pumpkin swirl and the other half plain cheesecake.

As I cleaned and prepped my house for the big...I rewarded myself here and there for completing the tough tasks like mopping the kitchen floor and cleaning behind the toilets.

Best. Reward. Ever.

I also made some sugar cookies.
Fall Leaf shaped cookies.

It was a wonderful day...I am so thankful for my family.

Pet Sematary

For the last 3 years I have made a spooky cake with a Halloween movie theme for the same cool kid for his Birthday.

First was this one, then last year there was this one.

This year...Pet Sematary was the theme.

I was given full creative go-ahead for this cake as long as it was Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Filling.

This cake was fun to make.

Smashing cookies into crumbs is always fun.

So it making spooky trees out of melted chocolate.

I covered the cake in Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream then took all my pre-made sematary decorations and went to town...

I saved the trees until I was making the delivery...way too fragile for a ride in the car.

Picture taken in the trunk of my car, LOL.

Happy Birthday Gage!

Dear Bakerella, I don't know how you do it! Part 2

For this year's family Easter gathering, I was of course put in charge of bringing dessert.

I wanted to try something new, something that's been on my baking bucket list and something very yummy.

What's yummier than Cheesecake?!
I wanted to make Cheesecake Pops, like Bakerella!

I used this Martha Stewart's recipe, minus the raspberries.

I baked a 1/2 sheet cheesecake and was so impressed with how smooth the cake baked...you know, except for that jagged knife mark from me testing the center.

I let the cake sit overnight.

The next day I attempted to scoop out pretty little scoops of cheesecake for the pops...and well, it didn't go well.

The cheesecake was too soft and the crumb crust did not set, so I was left with sloppy (but delicious) blobs of cheesecake and graham cracker crumbs.

So....I put trays of those blobs in the freezer for about an hour, then pulled them out and rolled them in the graham cracker crumbs to give them a better shape.

Much better.

Then I put those back in the freezer for another hour until I was ready to dip them in chocolate.
I knew that I should just avoid the whole stick fiasco with these guys, so I made the decision to make Cheesecake Balls instead.

I dipped all the balls in Dark Chocolate and sprinkled them with Easter colored sprinkles.

They. Were. Awesome.

I will attempt the Cake Pops again, using a more original Cheesecake recipe that won't be so soft.
Stay tuned.

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!

Halloween Birthday Cake

A friend from High School asked me to make her twin boys a Halloween themed cake for their 1st Birthday.
She sent me a few pictures...wanted the top tier from one cake, bottom tier from another and the topper from another but she also gave me creative go ahead...

She requested marble cake with chocolate buttercream.

This was my first time making marble cake...and it was fun. See:

I filled and frosted both tiers with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

Then....I decided I was going to make my own fondant from scratch.
I used Wilton's marshmallow fondant recipe.
My tip: SIFT YOUR POWDERED SUGAR or you will have lumpy fondant.
I also only used between 6-7 cups of powdered sugar, not 8.
I made my fondant and used it the same day without any problems.

I am very grateful it worked out well, because I didn't have a back-up plan.
I will probably be making my own fondant from now on.
I feel cool.

I used Rice Krispy Treats to shape two witch hats, two headstones and a ghost body.
I gave each treat a thin coating of the buttercream just to smooth it out a little bit.

After that...I covered everything in fondant and got to decorating.

Happy Birthday Jett and Chase!!!