Pink themed baby shower

Pink, pink and more pink...

A few weeks ago, my cousin, Karen, aka my best customer, asked me to make a small cake for a "Sprinkle" she and her friends were throwing for their friend, Deb.  The only theme I was told was "pink" since this will be her first girl after a few boys.  I've been wanting to try a quilting technique I have seen, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.  Since these ladies are classy people, I didn't want to "baby" the cake up too much with storks and bears and such.  I just wanted it to be pretty in pink.  I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and topped it with pink fondant and candy pearls. 

 I told my cousin to tell people not to look to close.  Its like a Monet, from far away, it looks pretty, but up close its a big old mess.  (Bonus points if you get the movie reference).

I love the quilting technique and hope to perfect it in the near future.

I had some leftover ribon and a cake box.  I always think it makes it extra special when it arrives in a nice package!

And the mommy-to-be.  I've never met you, Deb, but I'm sure your little girl will be precious!  Congratulations!

Happy 30th Birthday, Jennifer!

I love the 80's!

One of my bestest friends, Jennifer, turned 30 in August, and her sisters and friends decided to throw her a totally awesome 80's suprise birthday party.  Not only was I excited to celebrate Jen, my mind was spinning with ideas for the desserts!  I thought about this party for months and couldn't wait to get started. 

This is the first time I've used fondant in such large quantities.  I decided to try out Duff's line at Michael's and used a lot of his products.  I have to admit, I loved most of them.  Well, except the white fondant.  Awful.  When I opend the package, the fondant was liquid!  I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, but I was definitely disappointed.  I will stick with my homemade recipe for now.  However, the black fondant was fantastic.   Also, I used some of his cake tatoos.  They were fun to use and worked well for the tie dye cake. 

First, we have Michael Jackson gloves and neon RayBan sunglass sugar cookies.

Next, we have a Rubix Cube chocolate cake!

Miss Pacman chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

Simon vanilla cake.

The total package. 



The cake for Jen to blow out her candles.  Neon tie dye cake!

The inside of the cake..so much fun to make.

And finally, the fabulous Repetto sisters, all decked out in their 80's gear (Jennifer is on the right).  Jen was completely surprised, despite my bad acting trying to get her there.  And her sisters picked her the perfect outfit for her to change into once she arrived.  Happy (belated) birthday, Jennifer!  We love you!

Happy 30th Birthday, Matt!

Very belated at this point, but...

better late than never, right?  I've had some technical difficulties, but it hasn't stopped me from baking...only blogging.  Sorry for the two month delay since my last post! 

Anyway, my fantastic husband, Matt, turned 30 in August, and we celebrated him by enjoying his 30 favorite things.  Included in that list is friends and family.  We had our loved ones over to commemorate the awesomeness that is Matthew.  Also on the list was vanilla cate and argyle, so I combined the two and tried to make an argyle cake.  Its not my best work, but pretty cute.  I want to attempt it again in the future, but perhaps a little better...

I can't remember if I've showed you my cute cake stand before...I think its summery and fun!

My brother, Jimmy, and sister-in-law, Abby, took the theme of Matt's favorite things to heart when they bought his birthday gift.  If you've ever seen Parks and Recreation, you will understand.  They made him a Ron Swanson gift package including Omaha Steaks, Scotch, Cigars and a photograph of Ron Swanson himself.  I don't think Matt could have received a more perfect gift!

Happy Birthday, Matthew!  I love you and I hope you enjoyed your week!



Cherry Pie

My cousin, Hilary, is going back to school next week, and my aunt and uncle invited us for dinner.  I wanted to make something summery (is that a word?) to take.  Matt suggested cherry pie.  I couldn't find a recipe I loved so I (nervously) tried my own.  Cherry almond pie.  I used an almond crumb crust from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and used two bags of frozen cherries, a few teaspoons of cornstarch, a half cup of sugar and a teaspoon of almond extract.  I put all of the ingredients in a sauce pan and heated until it started to get thick.  Then I poured it in the shell and topped with the remainder of the crumbs.  Then baked at 350 degrees for an hour.  I was nervous to take it, but it turned out great!  This gave me a little more confidece to try my hand at creating new recipes.  There was only one small piece of pie left at the end of the night, so I'll take that as a good sign.  Very summer, not too sweet, and perfectly baked.  Delicious!

I started to put the crumb topping on when I realized that I should probably snap a picture of the filling.

Look at that delicious filling! 

That beautiful pie dish was a wedding shower gift from Hilary herself...

The crumb topping really made the pie.  I think this might become my go-to pie recipe from now on...

See you at Thanksgiving, Hilary!  We love you and will miss you!

Happy 30th Birthday to Us!

Several months ago, four of my best friends and I decided to spend a weekend at the beach celebrating us, our 30th birthdays, and over 15 years of friendship.  That's right.  This year marks that fact that we've known each other for over half of our lives.  That makes us old.  Well, me anyway, since (as my friends continued to remind me all weekend) I am actually the only one who has turned 30 so far.  The rest will fall in line in the fall...I can't wait.  In celebration, I made some cupcakes honoring us.  I have to admit, though, that I took the easy way out and killed 3 birds with one stone.  Not only did I have to make the cupcakes for the weekend,  I needed a dozen for Matt's co-worker's son who recently had surgery.  Also, I was having lunch one day with a friend of mine who lives in Massachusetts, and I wanted to give her some to take home, as well. 

Anyway, I used Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe and her Dark Chocolate Frosting recipe.  I'm not bashing Martha, but I hated her dark chocolate frosting recipe.  I couldn't seem to get it thick enough, so I put it in the fridge, but then it was too solid to work with.  So frustrating.  I was finally able to make it usable but I'm not sure I'll be using that recipe again in the future. 

Katie and I had a great time catching up at lunch.  I cannot wait for next year when she moves back to the Philadelphia area.

Matt's co-workers son, Matt, is doing well now.  He's a brave kid.

Each of my best friends on black fondant.  I didn't take great pictures, but the liners were black with white polka dots. 

Sorry for the poor quality pictures...

 

And here we are getting ready to go out to dinner on Saturday night.  From left to right:  Tara, Jen, Lauren, Me, and Denise.  I love these girls and wouldn't know how to get through life without them. 

Scallion Corn Muffins & Bailey's Irish Creme Creme Brulee

Our friends, Erika and Jeff, came over for dinner last night.  It was a late dinner since a few of us had to work late, but it was nice to spend the night eating and chatting away.  It was a simple but delicious menu...

Appetizers:  Bacon Cheddar Toasts and Goat Cheese, Sundried Tomato, & Pesto Torte

Main Course:  Oven-fried buttermilk chicken, Cucumber, Shallot & Celery Salad, and Scallion Corn Muffins

Dessert:  Bailey's Irish Cream Creme Brulee

Yep, I did it again...I successfully made Creme Brulee again!  This time, added with the Bailey's, it was fantastic.  I stole the recipe from The Happy Housewives Club.  Simple and perfect.

(I forgot to take pictures last night, so I found this picture online...looks very similar to what we had!)

The entire main course, I took from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food June 2010 issue.  It was the perfect late summer meal...light and refreshing.    This was my first attempt at cornbread.  I'm definitely going to make cornbread more often.  This was so simple to make!  It came together in a snap and tasted delicious.  The scallions really added some depth to the cornbread.

Can you see the little bits of scallion? 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Salted Toffee-Chocolate Squares

As I was flipping through my Martha Stewart's Everyday Food looking for ideas for dinner, I found this recipe for Salted Toffee-Chocoate Squares in the May 2010 issue.  I thought, "That sounds good right about now," but I really did not feel like venturing out during a thunderstorm to get the ingredients.  To my surprise, I actually had everything I needed in my kitchen!  These were simple to assemble and quick to make and the perfect blend of salty and sweet.  This was the perfect snack for a Sunday afternoon. 

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

My brother Johnny's birthday was on Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate by having one of his favorite meals last night....tacos.  Johnny, my sister-in-law, Abby, and my cousins Karl, Claudine and Holly came for dinner.  It was a nice, low-key night with lots of laughs and delicious food.  Johnny is not one for birthday cake but is a huge fan of banana bread.  Holly won't eat anything called bread, so instead, we were calling it banana cake.  I think she was upset that there was no icing!  As soon as we sung Happy Birthday, she just started yelling, "I need a plate!  I need a plate!"  HILARIOUS!  I used Martha Stewart's recipe for banana bread but ommitted the walnuts since Abby is allergic to nuts...I think I like it better without the nuts.  Also, I added cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  I like it a little spicier...

Banana "cake" all ready for singing. 

Can you see all of those delicious spices?

Holly was excited to sing!  She did a great job helping Johnny blow out the candles. 

The table all set for dinner...

Happy Birthday, Johnny.  Love you!

Beer Cheese Cupcakes with Bacon Cheddar Cream Cheese

Sounds gross, right?  WRONG!

As you've read in the previous post, we stayed at our friends Sean and Shira's home in California last weekend.  They were awesome hosts, and Matt and I wanted to repay them in some way.  Shira had printed out a recipe for Beer Cheese Cupcakes with Bacon Cheddar Cream Cheese that she found over at the Cupcake Project, which had both Sean and Matt drooling.  As I mentioned previously, Sean shares my affinity for cupcakes, but he also works for MillerCoors and enjoys the occasional beer.  And what guy doesn't love bacon?  On Sunday morning, I woke up early, headed to the grocery store to buy ingredients and Sean's first muffin tins.  By the time Sean and Shira woke up, Matt and I had the cupcakes just about in the oven.  It smelled fantastically like beer cheddar soup while baking.  Sean helped make the icing and waited not too patiently to taste the final product.  I was reluctant, seeing as I don't even like bacon.  But I have to tell you...they were great.  We each had way too many...

Sean and Matt had way too much fun making the bacon.

Of course, we're all from Philadelphia, so we had to use Philadelphia Cream Cheese!

Sean enjoyed helping...

The Final Product. 

Sean, Matt & Shira enjoying their breakfast...