Strawberry Shortcake Fourth Birthday Cake and Hay Stack Smash cake

The last week of February and the first week of March are filled with birthday celebrations and fun in our house! This year, my daughter celebrated her fourth birthday on March fourth. About 6 months in advance, she, very specifically, requested that I please make her Strawberry Shortcake's house as her birthday cake. As the day drew nearer, and I started work on the elements of the cake, she would wake up each morning and quiz me on which elements I had completed.

"Mommy, did you make the flowers? Did you make the pink door? It has to have a PINK door" What can I say? She had a very specific vision of what she wanted! However, the day before I started work on the cake, I found inspiration in this Strawberry Shortcake cake. I liked the use of green fondant on the top of the cake to give the look of grass. I had also been wanting to try my hand at fondant ruffle details, so I added those to the design. To keep in line with the birthday girl's vision, I gave the house a pink door and matching round windows. I also added a giant sunflower.

The ruffle was not the only new technique I tried on this cake. I used rice krispie treats covered in royal icing to form the giant strawberry house. For some reason, I have been fearful of working with krispie treats, but it turned out to be very easy! I began to form the strawberry while the treats were still warm and pliable and then smoothed them into place with two pieces of parchment paper. Strawberry Shortcake and Custard are a toy we had on hand. In the end my little girl was very pleased with my blended vision version of her cake!

My son turned one on February 28th. I wanted a tractor/barnyard theme for him...ahhh so nice to have total decision making control :) I went with this hay stack smash cake. The tractor is rice krispie treats covered in fondant. The chicken, pig and baby are gumpaste. The baby came out strange looking and I thought I was working with gumpaste for the diaper, but maybe I grabbed fondant, because the weight of the figure caused the diaper to collapse and gave the baby a big bottom :/ Oh well, my little guy had fun smashing his cake regardless of the odd looking baby!

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Pink and Green Monkey First Birthday Cake and Smash Cake

Our neice Chloe turned one year old! Her Mom and Dad gave her a wonderful birthday party yesterday with this adorable decor:

Chloe's mom, Sarah, let me have free reign with the design, and with such fun decor for inspiration, I had a lot of fun! The big cake is covered in buttercream with fondant decorations and the monkey is sculpted from gumpaste. I also made a little smash cake for the birthday girl with fun, and easy!, ribbon piping. All the cake is vanilla with vanilla buttercream filling.

smash cake

party setup

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Assorted Valentine's Day Cupcakes and Black Forest Cupcakes with Cherry Liqueur Buttercream Recipe

I have never been hugely into celebrating Valentine's Day. I will not bore you with all the bah humbug reasons why V-Day has not earned a place on my holiday hit list. We'll just say I've never thought the day was worth making a fuss over. This year however, my almost 4 year old daughter was so jazzed up about her approaching Valentine's Day party at her pre-school that I could not help but get into the spirit a little.

Okay, maybe I got into the spirit a lot.

You see, I'm usually not a big cupcake baker either. I prefer making one big, uniquely decorated cake to making many similarly decorated small ones. Maybe cupid got me while I was sleeping or something, because as Valentine's Day approached I fell in love with the idea of cupcakes, many different kinds, to suit the many different tastes of all the Valentines in our lives.

So, I made some vanilla cupcakes frosted with vanilla buttercream and decorated with tiny candy hearts.

I also made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting and topped with a delicate red chocolate heart I made by piping some melted candy melts onto a silicone baking sheet.

I wasn't done there. I felt I would be remiss to bake 6 or 7 dozen cupcakes for Valentine's Day and not include red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I topped them with a whimsical ( I am using this word as a euphemism for messy) sugar crystal heart.

Last but not least, I made Black Forest cupcakes with cherry filling, frosted with cherry liqueur buttercream, and dotted with tiny cocoa pearls.  These were a new cupcake for me, but have turned out to be my new personal favorite.

My daughter proclaimed the cupcakes "AHHMAZING!" and was very excited to give them as a Valentine's gift to the teachers and staff at her school. My husband and I also shared some with our coworkers at our respective offices. I hope these little treats brought a little joy into our Valentines' lives. With as much joy as my little girl's enthusiasm and excitement has brought me, the least I can do is pay it forward!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Black Forest Cupcakes with Cherry Liqueur Buttercream  basic concept and cherry filling recipe from Cupcake Project

Make a batch of your favorite chocolate cupcakes. I used the Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe and adjusted the baking time down to 20 minutes.

Cherry Filling

1 lb cherries, washed, pitted, and destemmed ( I used a 12 oz. bag of frozen cherries)
1/4 C water
3/4 C sugar

1.Throw all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil.
2.Reduce heat and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes, stirring periodically.
3.Remove from heat and let cool

Cherry Liqueur Buttercream
I use this buttercream recipe and substitute the cream for 2 (okay maybe closer to 3) Tablespoons of  a cherry liqueur. I used Dekuyper's Michigan Cherry Liqueur.

When the cupcakes are cooled core out the center and put in a few cherries from the cooled cherry mixture and spoon in a few teaspoons of the juice. Replace the tops.

After all the cupcakes are filled add 3 Tablespoons of cherry liqueur to the remaining cherry and sugar syrup mixture. Brush a generous amount over the top of each cupcake.

Frost with the Cherry Liqueur Buttercream and decorate as you would like.

Enjoy!

Jungle Themed Baby Shower Cake with Koala Topper

This jungle themed baby shower cake was designed to coordinate with the shower invitation. The tree decoration is made from fondant as are the animals on the side of the cake. The 2D animals are hand painted with gel food coloring. The Koala on top is holding a blue baby blanket and is made from gumpaste.

My friend Michele asked me to make this cake for her baby sister, Laura who is expecting a sweet baby boy named Reid in March. I have known this family for 17 years, so this was a special cake to make! The flavors are chocolate cake with classic chocolate buttercream filling per the expectant mother's request.

Chocolate Chocolate Whoopie Pies

These chocolate whoopie pies, or blackmoons as my family calls them, were an experiment. I was headed to my friend Michele's house to watch the movie "Water for Elephants" (I had actually just finished reading the book, which I thought was amazing) and I had texted her to ask if there was anything I could bring. She texted back to bring any sweets I had lying around :)

I actually didn't have anything in the house, but I wanted to try chocolate filled whoopie pies so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give them a whirl. I have an adaptation of these in mind to go with my son's first birthday theme, but I don't want to say any more about that and give away the surprise!

I have made the run of the mill white creme version of these (my Mom's recipe) many times, but have never done them with chocolate filling. Since I was altering the recipe I thought I had better give them a test run. I was also using a whoopie pie pan and had only used it one other time. Since I was going for a smaller whoopie pie this time, I wanted to make sure the pan would work and I also needed to figure out if I would have to adjust the baking time (which I did).

Michele brought these into work with her the next day and was kind enough to send me her teams' reviews of them. The chocolate filling was a hit, but they were also deemed a bit dry. I adjusted the baking time down to 8 minutes from 10 to remedy that, though I do find whoopie pie cake to be a bit dry anyway. So overall,  I think I am on the right track! I will be sure to post the final results after the combined birthday party we are hosting for our son and daughter in March. Yes, we have 2 kids with birthdays less than a week apart. There are lots of birthday cake pictures coming up in the near future!

Chocolate Chocolate Whoopie Pies

For the cakes:

2 cups flour
1tsp salt
6 tbsp shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa together. Cream shortening and sugar together in a small bowl and then add to the dry ingredients. Also add the egg, milk and vanilla and mix until just combined.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, or whoopie pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes if using a whoopie pie pan and 10 minutes if using a cookie sheet.

Remove the whoopie pie halves to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before filling.

For the filling:

6 Tbsp shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
2 T
6 Tbsp marshmallow fluff
2 tsp evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
4oz bittersweet Ghiradelli baking chocolate melted and cooled

Using a mixer, blend all ingredients together at medium low speed except for the melted chocolate. Once blended slowly mix in the chocolate at low speed. Once the chocolate is combined return the mixer to medium low speed for 1 minute.

Butternut Squash Macaroni or Healthier Macaroni and Cheese

Yes, this is a caking and baking blog. Yes, the picture above does not include a cake or baked good. I do apologize if I am disappointing anyone. It's just that, like many of you I am sure, with the advent of the New Year I have resolved to serve healthier foods to my family.

It's not that we were eating badly before. Even though I bake so much, we don't eat cake for every meal, believe it or not! However, we are sometimes more indulgent than we need to be. For example, a few months back when Cadence BEGGED me, her big blue eyes so serious, for mac 'n cheese I immediately consulted Google for Paula Deen's recipe. While making it and serving it I realized, that while it is delicious, Paula's is a recipe best reserved for special occasions.

So I thought I would start there with my vow to serve healthier options: mac 'n cheese. I found this particular recipe while browsing Food Gawker. It comes from "Daily Unadventures in Cooking". Now, I normally would shy away from a recipe like this because I would assume that substituting a vegetable for tons and tons of cheese would be setting myself up for a massive fail. However, I took a chance on this recipe for some reason, and it was quite good!

I had to make a few tweaks to the recipe according to what I had in the house. I used shredded Parmesan and Romano instead of the blue cheese and dried rosemary instead of fresh sage. I also did not have whole milk so I used skim and it did not seem to impact the thickness of the sauce at all. I also omitted the chili flakes.  Despite the substitutions, my husband, my 10 month old son, Trevor, and myself really enjoyed this. The squash lends the dish a creaminess and the rosmary, garlic and onions give it a nice flavor. Cadence, well, she wasn't fooled, and she did say she didn't like this kind and she wanted the "other" mac 'n cheese. It didn't take too much coaxing to get her to eat a decent sized portion though. I would say 3 out of 4 aboard the eating healthier train is not bad!

Butternut Squash Macaroni

adapted according to what I had in the house from Daily Unadventures in Cooking

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, grated
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tablespoon flour
2 1/4 cups skim milk
2 cups butternut squash puree
salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups dried macaroni (I used elbow)
3 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
1 cup shredded Parmesan and Romano cheese
Put a big pot of water on to boil. While you are waiting for it to boil, start your sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add onions. Sweat over low heat until sweet and tender. Add the garlic and dried rosemary and continue sweating until garlic is softened, stirring regularly.

Sprinkle the flour on top and stir it in. Stir the flour mixture over medium heat for 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk 1/4 cup at a time, waiting until it starts simmering before stirring in the next batch. Whisk in the squash. Season with salt and pepper to taste, approximately 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a gently simmer, stirring occasionally. Turn on oven to 375F.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, undercooking slightly. Drain. Fold the pasta, tomatoes and grated parmesan and romano into the sauce. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake for 10 minutes to let the cheese melt. Serve hot.

Easy Sugar Cookies: My Favorite Recipe of 2010

The cookies pictured above are classic, delicious, and come together quickly with just 7 ingredients. I don't even want to admit how many of these I can eat warm and right out of the oven. However, the cookies pictured above almost did not make the blog. So why, you ask, am I now posting them as my favorite recipe of 2010? Well, that my friends, involves a story and a bit of a sappy one at that. Those of you reading this, who know me well, know I am a story teller, and a sap. For those of you who are just getting to know me, here I am, all sappy and telling a story.

The story begins a few evenings before Christmas Eve 2010. I had wanted to make some sugar cookies to leave out for Santa Claus with my nearly 4 year old daughter, Cadence as my helper. In the before-Christmas-rush I had forgotten to pick out a good cookie recipe. So at the last minute I searched Google for easy sugar cookie recipes. I needed something I could make fast! I ran across the recipe for these cookies on allrecipes.com and everything worked out great. The cookies mixed up and baked quickly so Cadence didn't get bored and wander off to do something more interesting. They come out wonderfully soft with just a hint of crispiness..not bad for an easy sugar cookie recipe. Cadence sure was proud setting out the cookies she made for Santa on Christmas Eve and that would be the end of the story...but...

My very good friend Michele had decided to have a Christmas Cookie Club party at her house on December 30th. Somehow, we were just as busy after Christmas as we had been before. I finally sat down to hunt for a recipe for the cookie exchange and came up with some kind of chocolate dipped coconut shortbread recipe. It was 9pm on December 29th before I was able to shop for the ingredients and after 10pm before I sat  down to REALLY read the recipe and lo and behold those suckers had to set up in the refrigerator for at least an hour before they could be baked! I felt defeated. Then I remembered the easy sugar cookies! I went to bed and whipped up a batch the next morning before my kids woke up.

I took Cadence with me to the cookie exchange the next day. Sampling many different kinds of cookies in one sitting was one of her dreams come true. At the party, each person got up, told any history behind their recipe and presented their cookies for sampling. Everyone did such a good job! We tasted Ginger Rounds, Cutout Sugar Cookies, Cream Cheese Lemon Wreaths, Oatmeal Cream Cheese Butterchotch Cookie Bars, Cookie Biscotti Sticks and more! I felt a little bashful about about my easy sugar cookies, but when we passed them around Cadence was just as proud as she could be. When we sat back down, she wanted to taste one of our own cookies. When she bit into it she let out and exaggerated , "MMMMmmmm," then she said, "Mommy, you made the BEST cookies!"

Mine certainly were not the best, but I believe to her they were, because they were more than just a sugar cookie. To my daughter, those cookies held the memory of her and I making them together for Santa Claus. They held the memory of her waking up to find the jolly old guy had enjoyed those cookies down to the last crumb. Those simple cookies held in them, the joy of being a child at Christmas. At the time, her comment melted my heart for sure, but it really didn't sink in until days later that these cookies are my favorite recipe of last year. They earn that title because the intentions I had in making this recipe were perfectly realized in the end product. With this recipe we made a memory. I hope for myself, and all of you, that we are able to do the same many times over in 2012.

Wishing you all a belated, yet wonderful and prosperous 2012!

Easy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Directions


1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3.Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

We've had some more girly birthday cake fun going on at KT Kakes Bakery! My most recent custom cake request was for this Hello Kitty birthday cake and matching cupcakes. The cake and cupcakes were made for a 4 year old little girl's birthday. The cake was yellow cake with vanilla buttercream filling and the cupcakes were chocoalte with vanilla buttercream frosting tinted pink.

The birthday girl made a fun request that the cake be tinted pink!

I had so much fun making this cake and cupcakes! This one did hit a little close to home since my own little girl will turn 4 in just over a month. I hope little Miss H had a great 4th birthay!

How to Make Christmas Cupcakes in a Jar

Last night* I put my cupcake in a jar planning to good use and made just over two and a half dozen cupcakes in jars to give out as holiday gifts. Overall, this project was not terribly difficult, but it did have many repetitive steps and could be considered tedious at times. Believe it or not, I prefer making complicated decorated cakes to making cupcakes or cookies or really doing any project that involves a lot of repetition. Thankfully my husband stepped in and helped me with the process of decorating the jars. Having company always makes a repetitive project more fun!

The good news is that these carrot cake cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, adorably packaged in jars, were very well received as gifts. Seeing others delighted at something I, or in this case we, made always makes a project worthwhile for me.

Here are the steps I took to complete this project:

1) Prepare your jars.

I used 8oz Ball Regular Mouth Quilted Crystal Jelly Jars. I purchased mine at my local Publix grocery store for about $9 per case of 12. To prepare them for this project, I washed them in hot soapy water and rinsed them well. Then I laid them out on paper towels to dry.

2) Bake your cupcakes and make your frosting. I do not have any pictures of this part of the process. I chose to spray the muffin tins with non-stick spray and bake the cupcakes without using paper liners.

3) While the cupcakes are cooling, decorate your jars.

I used some Christmas scrap booking card stock I had previously purchased for 75% off at a Michael's after Christmas sale to decorate my jars. With my husband's much appreciated help :), I traced the center circle of the jar cover on to the card stock and cut them out. I then hot glued the card stock circles to the tops of the jars. The finished products looked like this:

4) Cut the cooled cupcakes in half. Place the bottom half of the cupcake in the jar. Using a large piping tip on your piping bag, pipe some of your frosting of choice on top of the cupcake bottom. Then add the cupcake top. You may have to squish it in a bit to make it fit. Finally, pipe some frosting in over the cupcake top and add your festive decorative sprinkles of choice.

5) Place the cover on your jar and add the wooden spoon. I used this Martha Stewart baker's twine I purchased at Michael's to secure the wooden spoon.

I used these wooden spoons:

I tied the twine around the glass jar just under the lip of the metal jar cover. However, as both my husband and I handed out the cupcake jars out to our coworkers we discovered that the twine loop and the spoon was slipping off the jar. We solved the problem by pushing the twine loop back up the jar and up over the metal jar top. To make sure the spoons are securely secured I would recommend taking this approach from the beginning and tying the loop tightly around the glass jar just under the metal jar top and then pulling it up over the bottom lip of the jar top. This will ensure that when you slip the wooden spoon under the twine loop it is fastened securely.

And that's it! Enjoy handing these cupcakes in adorable decorated jars out to your friends and family!

*I began writing this post the day after I completed this project and I am attempting to publish it dated for that day 12/22/2011.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies: Holiday Baking Contest Entry

Though I highly doubt any of you out there are waiting on baited breath for me to reveal my entry in the recent PattyCakes Holiday Cake Competition, I thought it was time I spilled the details. So drumroll please...I made Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies with a white chocolate cream cheese glaze. The cookies are decorated with some red sanding sugar.

I first learned of the PattyCakes competition last year, but I was due with my son, Trevor, in a few months and I wasn't up to entering. This year I decided I would put myself out there and enter my first competition!
The competition featured Holiday Cakes but also had a "Down Home Dessert Cafe" category, which is what I entered. I struggled with the decision as to what I should make and thought I would enter these, but in the end  I decided to try a red velvet cookie. Red velvet is a staple of the holiday season, but I thought in cookie form, the red velvet would be a bit more unexpected. I finished the cookies with a cream cheese and white chocolate glaze and dipped them in a bit of sanding sugar.

I did not place this year, but I was proud of myself for following through and showing up to compete. With two small children, a husband, and a part-time job in the mix I don't always take the time to nuture my passions. Going to the contest let me spend a few hours among people who are just as passionate as I am about baking and caking and it was wonderful to experience that.

I also got to spend some time with one of my best friends Michele who lives right around the corner from where the competition was held. Michele is special to me for many reasons, but it was particularly fitting that she should be able to attend my first baking competition with me. Sometime back in 2005, I believe, Michele got tired of hearing about me mixing up giant batches of cake or other baked goods with a hand-held mixer. She got all my friends together and they chipped in and surprised me with a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer for Christmas that year. It still brings tears to my eyes to think about my friends, in their early twenties and just starting out in life, to help me out that way. I am especially thankful to Michele who, for whatever reason, believes in me. When she gave me the mixer she said, "I expect great things from you." I have never forgotten it and I intend to live up to those big expectations!

So, this post ended up being about a lot more than the red velvet cookies. However, I did think the cookies tasted good. They were chewy and not too dense and the glaze and sanding sugar added a little extra something. Packaged in a holiday cupcake wrapper and a small clear cellophane bag, as I had them at the competition, they would make a nice gift to take to a Holiday gathering.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

from How Sweet It Is

makes 12-15 cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla and combine until smooth. Beat in red food coloring. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt until just combined, scraping down the sides when needed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of dough and set on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Glaze
a KT Kakes original

Over low heat melt 2 4oz bars of Ghiradelli White Baking Chocolate and 4oz of Cream Cheese. Stir until melted and smooth.

Finish the cookies by dipping in sanding sugar the color of your choice.

Pig Smash Cake and Cupcakes: Custom Cakes

 I was so excited to make this pig smash cake and pig cupcakes for a little girl's first birthday. Her Mom had chosen "This Little Piggie" as the theme which I think is just such a cute idea for a baby girl's first birthday.  Everything was just so pink and girly and fun to make!

Here's a close up of the smash cake. I thought she needed some pretty eyelashes and a bow :) The smash cake and cupcakes are white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Holiday Whoopie Pies- Baking Contest Reject

These festive whoopie pies have a little of everything. The cookies have a rich chocolate flavor, the creamy filling has the warm taste of peppermint, and the crushed peppermint gives them a bit of crunch. On paper, or on my blog, they sound like the perfect holiday treat, and yet they left me sorely disappointed.  

I had selected this recipe (part of it is Paula Deen's- the filling- and part of it is my Mom's -the cookie) a month or so ago for a Holiday baking contest. I was very excited about the possibilities of combining a traditional holiday family recipe with some of my favorite flavors; chocolate and peppermint. In the end though, I found these whoopie pies to be much too sweet, and I like sweet things.

Needless to say, these will not be my entry in the baking contest, which is tomorrow. Luckily, I had another idea in my apron pocket. More on that later.

These are not the tastiest cookies in the world, so I'll spare you the recipe. I still had to post about them though because they sure do look pretty, don't you think?

Cupcakes in a Jar- My Holiday Project Planning

Like many of you, I am sure, several months back I decided to play with fire and check out Pinterest.com. I had heard much talk about this website, and I say "play with fire" because from what I had heard, I was quite certain this site had the potential to suck even more from my ever dwindling well of free time. Oh, and it has most certainly lived up to that potential!

I mostly use Pinterest to catologue all the wonderful cakes and baked goods I want to make. One of the most intriguing ideas I have seen on the site is for cupcakes in a jar. Putting desserts in jars seems to be a current trend and I am in the process of gathering supplies to hop on board this train of sweet jarred cuteness this Holiday Season. In my mad dash to buy mason jars and adorable tiny and earth-friendly wooden spoons I realized maybe I was putting the cart before the horse. So this post is basically a list of the best links I think the Web has to offer on making and jarring cupcakes. I hope it helps me with my Holiday baking project and I am sharing in case it might help you too!

1) Martha's Buttermilk Cupcakes in a Jar. This recipe does not offer instructions on how to jar the cupcake but I feel it is worth noting that Martha has been putting cupcakes in jars since the Spring of 2009.
2) This post on Glorious Treats has instructions but omits how to put the lid on the jar. Since I have heard stories about the process of boiling the mason jar to seal the lid from my canning friends, this is something I  definitely an area where I want more details. Also, she uses cupcake liners in this recipe whereas I have seen others say they omit them to eliminate the ridges and give the cakes a smooth look in the jars.
3) Cakies has a post on jarred cupcakes and the instructions are fairly descriptive and include information on how to actually bake the cupcake in a jar
4) I like this post because it gives some tips for decorating the jars. To me, especially because these will be Holiday gifts, the decoration of the jar is almost as important as the cake inside it.
5) These instructions show you how to make the cupcakes in 4 ounce jars, instead of the 8 ounce jars, and she also makes an adorable printed label for the top of the jars.
6) These peppermint fudge cupcakes in a jar would be perfect for Christmas gifts! It looks like 4 ounce jars are used here, and I have purchased 8 ounce jars. However, if you add the step of baking the cupcakes in a muffin tin and halve them, and frost between the layers this would work in 8 ounce jars as well.

Good luck to you if you are trying cupcakes in a jar for the first time this Holiday Season, and wish me luck too, please!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake: Custom Cake

This is a custom fondant covered and decorated cake that was requested by a friend of mine for her sweet little girl's second birthday. Selina loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so this was the perfect cake for her.

This is the first time I added elements on wires to a cake. They were fairly easy to work with, although I opted to place the wires in plastic stirrer straws so they would not have direct contact with the cake, and this made them a little more difficult to manipulate.

Here it is from the back.

Here is the full cake with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figurines.

The cake was inspired by this picture my friend sent me. The flavors are marble cake with chocolate buttercream.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of the things I like most about baking and caking is the process by which a project "comes together". For me, this process is often a string of random ideas and happy coincidences. I found the inspiration for these Fall themed cupcakes as I was browsing Melissa Diamond's blog at mycakeschool.com. Her turkey cake and Fall cupcakes caught my attention because they were so colorful and fun. As luck would have it- happy coincidence- :), I had some of the Fall leaves sprinkles used to decorate the cupcakes on hand.

When I ran across the Fall tree decoration idea, I was already planning to make some pumpkin cupcakes topped with my favorite cream cheese frosting. I thought these tree decorations would pull the cupcakes together so nicely. After all, a pumpkin flavored cupcake with cream cheese frosting definitely tastes like Fall and with these colorful Autumn trees on top they look like Fall too.

So now I just needed a great pumpkin cupcake recipe. I wanted a recipe that would knock my socks off and wondered who I should turn to: Paula?, Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes? Their recipes looked good, but they incorporated chocolate, and I wanted a traditional pumpkin cupcake recipe. I considered Brown Eyed Baker's recipe, but it called for cake flour, and I have found my trusty King Arthur's All Purpose Flour makes the best cupcakes. I also perused the 130 options on allrecipes.com. In the end, I went with Martha, I trusted her to do a classic right, and my trust was not misplaced: These cupcakes are scrumptious! The cake is moist and only slightly sweet and the cream cheese frosting adds a perfect extra bit of sweetness.Martha also suggests that you use your favorite cream cheese froting recipe to ice the cupcakes, and I definitely have one of those!

I followed the recipe as is, with only two minor changes. I did not use canned pumpkin. Instead, I roasted a small pie pumpkin in the oven and pureed it in my trusty chopper attachment for the Cuisinart stick blender. Michelle over at Cook Au Vin, loves pumpkin in recipes and uses fresh instead of canned because it is so easy to prepare the fresh pumpkin. I agree that roasting and making the pumpkin into a puree was no big deal, but I will say that you need to have a very good knife before you attempt to cut the pumpkin in half to roast it. I thought our knives were in good shape, but that pie pumpkin let me know I was sadly mistaken. I ended up hacking the top of the pumpkin off with a paring knife, and roasting it upside down. However, I digress. I also did not have ground allspice, so I omitted it.

I will include Martha's pumpkin cupcake recipe below. If you are interested in the Fall tree decorations you can see the tutorial I followed here.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
from marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

2.In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.

3.Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Pistachio Cake with Honey Buttercream: Classic Cakes

As my own birthday approached this past September I found my head, not unusually, filled with thoughts of cake. I wanted to try something different, but not so outlandish that I would risk ending up with a flavor I didn't dig. I started out thinking, "neopolitan cake." Then I thought, "No, those flavors are too simple, what about spumoni cake?" Lastly, I thought, "The pistachio part of the spumoni cake is probably the best, I wonder if I can find a good pistachio cake recipe??" And so go the thoughts of a cake obsessed lady with a knack for Internet searches.

This time around, the product of my Internet searching that piqued my interest the most was Baked's Pistachio Cake with Honey Buttercream and it resides on Oprah's website. Pistachio infused cake? Fluffy buttercream icing with a hint of honey? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I did not get to make this cake until October. I guess there was a bigger plan for it though, because instead of my 34th birthday cake, it became a gift for my Grandmother's 80th birthday; which is, as far as birthdays go, a much bigger deal!

As it turns out, this pistachio cake was chosen as one of 10 "sweet creations" in celebration of "O" Magazine's tenth birthday. Also, when I posted about making this cake on the KT Kakes Facebook page Josie over at Pink Parsley mentioned she had made this cake for her birthday a while back. She also blogged it and her write up on it is, as usual dead on. Her observations were also similar to my own. I agree that the cake is delicious but the frosting recipe is the real find here. It is not too sweet and comes together so silky, smooth, and is really SO good! So, I won't re-invent the wheel any further, if you want the details on making this cake you can head over to Josie's blog post.

I linked to the recipe above, but for simplicity's sake, I will also paste it in below. The only change I made was to the number and size of pans I used to bake the cake. The recipe is for a traditional layer cake with 3 8 inch layers, but I only had two 8 inch pans. So instead, I went for two tiers of one 2 layered 8 inch cake and one 2 layered 6 inch cake. I don't think it changed the texture at all and it made for a nice looking 80th birthday cake.

Oh, one quick note on the fondant roses: I used this youtube tutorial to make them. I worked with pre-made Satin Ice fondant that was already tinted red and the roses came together SO quickly! It took me about 20 minutes to make the four roses on the top of this cake. As a bonus, it just so happens that red roses are my Grandma's favorite flower.


Baked's Pistachio Cake with Honey Buttercream via Oprah.com

Servings: Serves 12–16

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups shelled pistachio
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter , softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs , at room temperature
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
3 large egg whites , at room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
24 Tbsp. (3 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
3 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract

A Break From Cake: Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwiches

As we prepare to usher out Summer, at least via the calendar, I would like to share a treat that combines the cinnamon tones of coming Autumn days and the refreshing ice cream burst of dwindling Summer nights: Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwiches. As a born and bred Northerner, I had never heard of a Snickerdoodle. I encountered the cinnamon-sugar delights a few years into my tenure as a Southern transplant and, like slightly sweetened iced-tea and cheese grits, these little yummies made it easy to succumb to the Southern way.

A few months back, issues of Women's Day magazine mysteriously began showing up in our mail box. I did not subscribe to the magazine and John says he did not purchase the subscription for me either. I personally think the subscription is some kind of divine act meant to bring me these amazing ice cream treats! The cinnamon sweetness of the cookie combined with the rich ice cream is out of this world! The flavor combination is reminiscient of my favorite Mexican restaurant treat: sopapillas with ice cream.

The Snickerdoodle cookie recipe came together very easily. I usually don't care too much about uniformity in my cookies, but with these being the "bread" for ice cream sandwiches I wanted them to all be roughly about the same size. A small ice cream scoop with a release handle did the trick nicely. I just went with store bought ice cream as the recipe suggests but some super creamy ice cream of the homemade variety would be lovely too.

The mint chocolate chip flavored ice cream I used was chosen by my daughter. Personally, I would have perferred to stick closer to the sopapilla flavor combo and gone with some vanilla, but this was good and the color is more interesting. So go ahead, usher in Fall and hold onto Summer all at the same time. I promise, it will be a delicious experience!

Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwiches
From the July issue of Women's Day

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups ice cream

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.


In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and 2 Tbsp of the granulated sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated.

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and remaining 2 Tbsp granulated sugar. Form the dough into 1½-in. balls, roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 in. apart. Bake until set and edges are slightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Form sandwiches with 2 cookies and ¼ cup of ice cream. Serve immediately or freeze, covered, for up to 3 days.

Classic Cakes: Carrot Cake Cupcakes

After a blistering hot summer in Atlanta, we have recently had a bit of relief with some 65-70 degree temperatures. The cooler weather feels like a signal to blog my favorite Carrot Cake recipe.

For years I made the Carrot Cake recipe my Mom had given me. I believe it originated from her Betty Crocker cookbook. The recipe called for baby food carrots. I made it many times before I finally admitted it was a bit dry and not very good.  A girl cannot be without a go-to carrot cake recipe, so off I went in search of the moist and delicious recipe that gave carrot cake it's famously good name. I found a true winner in Ina Garten's Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe.

Her recipe calls for grated carrots instead of the baby food, and vegetable oil, which I believe is the secret to this cake's moist and fluffy texture. I like my carrot cake plain, I know that may be blasphemy to some; however, I omit the nuts and raisins. I have also baked this recipe many, many times divided evenly into two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and it has come out wonderfully every single time.

The cream cheese frosting recipe I use is my Mom's. It is wonderful! Plenty of cream cheese taste and not overly sweet. I believe I doubled the recipe to have enough to ice all the cupcakes.

I made this particular batch of cupcakes for a bake sale at John's office. I wanted to go with something classic, that had mass appeal, to help raise as much money as possible for the cause: the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk & Fitness Program. All the cupcakes I sent in sold, and the extra ones I made for us disappeared pretty quickly too. John is burning off the extra calories tonight as he completes the run. As for me, I have to admit, I couldn't resist eating one, or two..and a half of these. They were so worth it though, and I'm sure I burnt off the calories running around after the kids :)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 extra-large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups grated carrots (less than 1 pound)

Directions


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat the sugar, oil, and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the grated carrots, raisins, and walnuts to the remaining flour, mix well, and add to the batter. Mix until just combined.

Line muffin pans with paper liners. Scoop the batter into 22 muffin cups until each is 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and cook for a further 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

For the frosting, cream the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.

When the cupcakes are cool, frost them generously and serve.

Cream Cheese Frosting  (double)

2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsps butter (softened)
Beat until smooth

A Break From Cake: Better Blueberry Muffins

I do love my go to blueberry muffin recipe, but I will admit it does have one serious flaw: Not every bite of muffin contains a blueberry. Adding enough blueberries to achieve a taste of berry goodness in every bite would probably seriously mess with the chemistry of the recipe. So, I looked to The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook for a recipe that maximized the blueberry to muffin ratio.

As usual, the Test Kitchen did not disappoint! Their trick to upping the blueberry quotient in the muffins is to make and add a blueberry jam. Genius! The swirl of blueberry jam provides a taste of berry in just about every bite.

My husband, John, loves blueberry muffins and I made this version to serve him this past Father's Day. He loved them! The leftovers also freeze well and John was quite disappointed that my daughter Cadence and I polished off the rest of the batch in the following weeks. We just couldn't resist, they are so yummy!

I made just a few tweaks to the recipe. First, I eliminated the Lemon-Sugar Topping. I find blueberry muffins to be sweet enough as is so I never add extra sugar although most recipes do suggest a topping. Lastly, I used frozen blueberries, instead of the suggested fresh ones, because that is what we had in the house at the time.

Making the blueberry jam does add another step to the muffin making process, but I promise, it is very worth it!

Blueberry Muffins
Slightly Adapted from America's Test

2 cups blueberries
1 tsp sugar plus 1 1/8 cups
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust and oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a standard-sized muffin pan with vegetable spray. Bring 1 cup of the blueberries and 1 teaspoon of the sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing the berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. I used frozen berries to make the jam and they produced a substantial amount of water. I made a paste of flour and water and slowly added it and stirred it in at the end of the cooking process. Transfer to a smal bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and the eggs together in a medium bowl until thick and homogenous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg mixture and remaining 1 cup blueberries into the flour mixture until just moistened (the butter will be very lumpy with a few spots of dry flour, do not overmix.)

Using a 1/3-cup measure or an ice cream scoop (I prefer the ice-cream scoop), divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups (the batter should completely fill the cups and mound slightly). Spoon 1 teaspoon of the cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a chopstick (this is what I used and it worked great) or skewer, gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure-eight motion.

Bake until the muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes before serving.

A Break From Cake: Homemade Fudge Popsicles.

When I saw the recipe for these homemade fudgesicles on the Smitten Kitchen blog I knew I had to make them. It has been an absolutely scorching summer in Atlanta and I knew these would make a nice cool treat for my three-year-old daugther, Cadence, that incorporated her new favorite flavor: chocolate.

I had just purchased some 2oz BabySteps Frozen Treat Trays and they were the perfect size for a little after dinner treat for a pre-schooler. I followed the tip given by Smitten Kitchen blogger, Deb, and used wooden popsicle sticks instead of the plastic holders that come with the trays. These pops were so creamy and chocolately that the plastic stick surely would have been gnawed on to get every last yummy taste. Yes, I made these for my daughter, but I HAD to have one for the purposes of writing an accurate review of the recipe, you know!

I had only fat free milk in the house, so I substituted that for the whole milk called for by the recipe. Whole milk would make these even creamier, but I found the low-fat version to be delicious as well.

Very Slightly Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Fudge Popsicles

2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon  cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups skim milk
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pure Mexican vanilla
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

In the bottom of a medium saucepan over very low heat, gently melt the chocolate chips, stirring constantly until smooth. Stir in sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, milk and salt and raise heat to medium. Cook mixture, stirring frequently until it thickens, anywhere between 5 minutes and 10 (it took mine 7 minutes to thicken).

Remove from heat, add vanilla and butter and stir until combined.

Set aside to cool slightly then pour into popsicle molds. Freeze 30 minutes, then insert popsicle sticks. Freeze the rest of the way before serving.