r.a.n.d.o.m.

we dog sat for my sister's boyfriend on saturday . . . . 

& it was then that i realized . . . 

we have a long ways to go with 'page before we add another dog to the family.

we have been talking about adding a frenchie (french bulldog) to the mix . . . .

but it is clearly evident that 'page is a spoiled only child and wouldn't allow for that . . . 

he had so much green in his eyes, and was very naughty

if she was on my lap, he would come over and push her off or try and nibble at her ear or whatever he could get a hold of until she left . . . . . . everything was a race for those two, and our walks were just a disaster  . . .. . .good thing Shannon was done with work & could help me out . . .

S.I.G.H. 

also, once again reaffirms our wishes to not have kiddos for a few years! 

not that we could afford one, the one we have is costly enough . . . haha

:) 

on another note:

Christmas is coming up--Mom is coming for the holidays and I am so excited.

Lots of baking to do . . . so look for posts/pictures whatever! This blog has turned rather lame . . . so;) 

Mermaid . . . . .

My newest challenge for a very special niece turning FIVE!!!! EEP!

:)

So excited to start trying things out:D

I think this is my favorite-but I would add a mermaid too:) 

Pumpkin

I don't know about you, but I love pumpkin:)
Preferably in cookies, cupcakes, muffins, or bread . . .. .

That right there is the sous chef . . .his favorite: FROSTING

Starbucks has a great cream cheese pumpkin muffins, sadly they were out yesterday when I stopped in for my peppermint mocha--no, they haven't started their Christmas flavors, but I order it anyways:)

(That is next up on my list--Espresso Cupcakes with Peppermint Frosting)

Fall is definitely not my favorite season, but I enjoy the goods it brings with it, including the holiday of Thanksgiving. I don't like *cold,* and hate the thought of winter coming. Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday, although Shannon's favorite. I told him last night he would be dressing up with the kids, and he said, "You know I will, I used to dress up when I went trick-or-treating with Kylie." I am much more of a Spring person :) I could live with 75 degrees year round. However, I have never lived in such a place . . . nor will I ever haha:)

But for today, we are talking Pumpkin:)

Soooooooooo. . . . .

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting (with a little bit MORE cinnamon than called for)

&

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.

I however found this amazing recipe yesterday, and I want to make it too, just not sure if I will have room! I don't have room for the ones above. Oh, in our new house I better have a separate fridge just for my stuff and of course, an extra big kitchen.

**I don't eat much of what I bake . . . well, expect maybe the toffee I made. I just enjoy making them, but not so much the eating part. And well the pumpkin bread might be another story--I love that too. Not because I think they don't taste good, I just would much rather bake then eat:)**

http://iambaker.net/chocolate-pumpkin-cake/

Doesn't it look heavenly? :) Even Shannon thought it looked good, and he isn't so much into Chocolate . . .  .Unless it is Chocolate Symphony Bars with Toffee he LOVES them, and buys "me" them (because they are one of my favorites) but eats most of it ;) haha It is the thought that counts:D

For the cupcakes, I decided to use my mini-cupcake pan too! Little delicious pumpkin bites with Mascarpone Frosting

After finally making mascarpone frosting, i might never go back . . .so light & fluffy:)

But, Mommy being in the kitchen, and him just sitting there leads to lots of pouting and feeling sorry for himself-he threw himself on the floor and continued to pout--such a hard life he leads. 

I got three of the beauties out of the batter:) 

I looooooove how it piped:) 

So light and fluffy!!!



Well, time to run errands--so, until next time:) 

Back in the Kitchen:)

I was watching CUPCAKE WARS and had this big itch to get back in the kitchen! After all, it has been too long since I made some cupcakes (or any sweets for that matter!)

So, with that I had this need to make something with Mascarpone cheese and Ricotta. Well, I am not putting them all in one cupcake that would be a bit much, but I am going to come up with something for both.

So, with that the first up are Cannoli Cupcakes. I went to Boston and went to the famous Mike's Pastry which was soo packed and busy we just had to squeeeeeeze ourselves in the store and we slyly made our way to the front to put our order in. We got an espresso cannoli, hazelnut, and a regular cannoli . .. . So So So good:) So, ever since then I have had this desire to make some sort of cupcake . . . . .

So-Vanilla Cupcake with Cannoli Filling and Whipped Cream frosting.

These two mixed with a wee bit of vanilla and 3/4 cup of powder sugar, and you get yourself some good tasting filling! 

Love this too:) I stick my bowl and my beaters in the freezer before I beat it-takes a fraction of the time to get it to WHIP!:) 

I piped a few doing the circular one but it is pretty soft, so I just started piping one big pipe in the center! 

I also LOVE English Toffee, so I decided to quick whip that up too. . . .so easy, but oh so good:) It is so expensive to buy in the store, so I rarely do. But all this took was 1 cup of salted butter, 1 cup of sugar, 2 T of water and you heat it to 300 degrees. (Stirring occasionally)  Put it in a buttered pan and let it get the "film" on top and put the chocolate and crushed almonds on top. Put in the fridge, let it harden, and break into pieces and BOOOOOM!--delicious:)  Not to mention I have an amazing candy thermometer that I use a LOT. A lot of my buttercream frosting requires the candy thermometer . . . so, I love it! (I use to have a thermometer that wasn't digital, but I will never go back! It was "expensive" but so worth it, and so accurate, which is huge when dealing with candy etc. This is the one I have Digital Candy Thermometer (I got it for a little cheaper at Fleet Farm)

Mmm mmm good:)

Well that is all for now:) I might do more today, but think I might save it for tomorrow! Looking like Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting and then I am thinking of something good for Mascarpone Frosting:)

Until Next Time!

Audrey Hepburn

My sister's request was merely a funfetti cake with chocolate frosting that tasted like stuff bought at the store :O 

I said, "you know I don't use store bought frosting . . . right? Really store bought anything when it comes to baking." 

"I know, I know, but make it taste like that!" 

My decision, and personally I don't think it tastes like store bought, but I am making a whipped chocolate ganche! All it is, is whipping cream and chocolate. Who can argue with those two ingredients? Deliciously Rich! 

Now, I have only used it as filling, so actually covering a cake with it could prove interesting:) 

Not to mention my sweet sweet sous chef is gone for the day! 

That being Rampage Jackson himself. He is so tired from our trip to the stores today that he just couldn't take part in the baking activities. 

(We ended up going to town, then I realized I didn't have my wallet, and had to go back home again and then go back to the store--I have such a wonderful memory!) 

I first went to JoAnn's Fabric (oh, my word!) best selection ever-3-4 aisles! To pick up some decorating supplies and then off to the grocery store! 

I made up cream cheese frosting yesterday for my cupcakes and I had some left over so  I am using that for filling. 

Oh, and side note funfetti is so incredibly easy to make-use your favorite base recipe (I use vanilla, but you could use yellow too) and add a whole lot of sprinkles:) The candy portion of the sprinkles melts into the cake and then you are left with the colors. 

Prior to whipping . . . .
I warmed the whipping cream up on the stove and then poured it over the chocolate chips! Then, I slip it in the freezer so it whips up better, and faster!

Whipped . . . .at this point I put it in and take it out of the Freezer so it firms up a bit!

Not going to lie, the Brown was a bit hard to work with ahahah:) But, I didn't want to go to the hassle of attempting to dye the frosting, so I just worked with it:) Not to mention how hard it is for this particular frosting is to get smooth --it isn't a crusting frosting therefore my VIVA paper towel trick doesn't work;) 

I got this idea off the internet:) and well, I really thought it turned out nicely! 

The finished product:) 

Hope you enjoyed! Was so fun to make:) I really hope she likes it!! 

Until next time! 

A little bit of color

Well, I enjoy baking on my days off and experimenting. I have never been one to do colored frosting. I do for cakes etc, when covering the whole cake, but I always thought that putting colored frosting on cupcakes looked fake . . . .Or if I want to be totally honest, it looks like Play Doh  to me:D But, i figured I would give it a try:) Funfetti with cream cheese frosting!

10.11.12

Well, I can officially say that my first wedding cake turned out fabulous! I got great reviews, and the bride and groom loved it. . . making me a very happy cake maker:D

I got home on Friday morning from work, slept for 4 hours and got up and got busy! I had made the gluten free top tier the night previous and froze them, and then finished my baking. My sister came over and kept me company and watch the 'page while I baked.

Gluten-free, that was a new experience, but was so happy that the bride could actually enjoy her wedding cake:):)

Something I found that was almost a "pen" when doing the lines 

My beloved cake center, sadly I need a lot more space, and for the time being this will have to do:) Requirement number one when we buy a house  a HUGE kitchen:D

Gluten-free Marble. . . . .Doesn't bake UP as much as regular cakes, but tastes just as good!

The Marble . . . . . I did a 8" with 4 layers as I had the batter to do it . . . . .Whipped Chocolate Ganache filling . . .sooo good! 

Peanut butter chocolate . . Rory's request 

 There was A LOT of frustration with this layer! It was incredibly moist/soft so so hard to work with . . .and the bigger the layer the bigger the chance of them breaking when stacking . . . . 

but really the frustration came in the snow white recipe that i was using for the frosting. It was far tooooooo thick and NON spreadable . . .thus resulting in the cake just being tore up as I tried to frost it.  I stuck it in the freezer and frosted it, but needless to say the crumb coat was frustrating! I added a bit of water to the frosting and it made it a lot more spreadable, but I was so frustrated. Totally worried that I would have to redo the second layer of cake. 

His sheet rocking days came in handy! He helped me SOOOOOOO much! 

 These turn tables are absolutely amazing, and I would have been lost without them! I actually went to Walmart at like 2300 to pick up another one because I needed it so badly:) They work wonders and make frosting and getting the frosting smooth sooooooooo much easier! 

 This above pictures made my day! This was the bride's grandma and she walked over . . . we were still setting up . . .and poked the cake "is it real?" hahahahahah and then, while I was touching up the frosting she is like "right here, you will have to touch up, i poked it with my finger;)" 

Such a pretty setup:) 

So, I know it isn't the most thorough, let me walk you through how to make a 3-tier wedding cake, but it works;) I can truly say I have a lot of work to do in my way of baking cakes, but this was my first BIG cake that I had done. Everyone complimented me on it and that helped, but I am a big critic  . . . .my worst critic. .  .. so I saw a lot of room for improvement. Also, I can truly say Shannon is amazing good at this cake decorating thing. . . He helped me with the red and silver lines, and did fantastic. And he helped me get my cakes leveled out so that each tier would sit perfectly on the next. (Filling in the frosting and leveling the cake) He was also a huge help in set up, it is tough and took us over an hour to set up, because of  the way we had to do it:) But, it was such a good learning experience and we had gotten to the reception with plenty of time to spare. 

How did I transport it? Well, I had a cake carrier that extended incredibly high, so I put the biggest tier in that one. On our late night run to Walmart I also found some three dollar cake carriers . . .SCORE! Worked perfectly for the other two tiers. Had a bit of touching up to do, but I had brought all my tools, frosting etc with me :) I was prepared for that. 

So happy to do this! 

My sister has a birthday coming up, and I have wonderful plans for her cake! She requested Funfetti:D:D: I loved the way the funfetti cupcake batter turned out so excited to do this cake! 

My sister loves Audrey Hepburn, and I have found some incredibly cute cakes online that I will try and replicate:) I get to enjoy Tues and Wed off this week, which is perfect time to make a cake! 

So, look for pictures!