I have a soft spot for babies. They're so cute and cuddly and I just wanna squish their little cheeks! [Note: At this juncture in my life, I have no babies of my own.] One of my cousins has six kids. 

That's right, I said six. Three of them are five and under. I'll let that sink in for a minute.

To an outsider, she makes it look rather easy. It's madness, I tell you. Straight up madness. And my family often questions when I have will have my own. Umm....lemme think about that for a second.

Right now, my baby is this new venture in my life. I'm loving it and giving it time to grow. So given the opportunity to do a little work for my cousin, and hopefully gain some new customers out of it -- I had to jump at the chance...despite the fact that I had less than two weeks. [This would be a good time to remind you all that I am still working full time. Those of you who work, bake your business, and have kids...you're crazy :P hehe]

When my cousin told me that the party's theme was Baby Mickey and she wanted 100 cake pops, I immediately thought of Bakerella and her amazing Mickey Mouse cake pops.  But I didn't want to get into all the detail that Bakerella had. Half of the cake pops were balls of various cake flavors, with light blue or light green candy melt coating adorned with the number '1'. The other half were Mickey's silhouette in the same colors, with white sanding sugar covering the top half.

It was definitely a challenge to get all of these pops done so quickly, but oh so worth it. :) See?? *SO CUTE* but this one's a terror ;)

easter. part deaux.

I tend to go overboard when I host. This is most-definitely something I put upon myself. And for the most part, I enjoy it. So on top of hosting my parents, making my sister's cake, and cooking (though a lot of the food was ordered per my mother's wishes, and it was a potluck too), I still wanted to make some Easter-related treats.

While I would naturally gravitate toward cupcakes, we were already going to have the red velvet cheesecake. So I thought about cookies. The bloggers that I follow offered a handful of decorated sugar cookie options, none of which I had the time for. And to ease the guilt from my annual Easter purchase of a bag of mini-Cadbury chocolate eggs and Peeps (and to ensure that I did not consume them all by myself), I figured the best solution was to incorporate them in the cookies somehow.

Sugarbelle must have been reading my mind when she blogged about these. With eggs and Peeps, a nest cookie would be the most logical Easter treat! [And the hubs says I'm not logical. Ha!] And naturally, when I think of making a nest in baking, I think of toasted coconut. But when I think of toasted coconut, I think of samoas.

I used this samoa recipe over at Baking Bites, and made it work for me. 

Samoa Easter Nests

For the cookies:

Follow the recipe. However, when you roll out the dough, use a round cookie cutter (or scalloped if you prefer) -- no need for holes in the center of your cookie. Bake according to recipe.

For the chocolate:
I used 4 oz. dark and 4 oz. semi-sweet. I melted it in a glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water. I added a bit of shortening to thin the chocolate.

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I dipped the bottom of each cookie in the chocolate and placed it (bottoms up) on parchment paper. It's okay if you get some chocolate on the tops of your cookie as they'll be covered anyway. Hindsight tells me that these would be equally delicious if completely coated in chocolate.

For the topping:
I toasted my coconut on the stove. Then I combined the melted caramels, salt, and milk. I mixed the coconut and caramel sauce together, started to form the nest, and got extremely sticky fingers. 

This is when I enlisted a helpful sous chef: my niece. I mean, she was just standing there. If you're gonna be in my tiny space, you need to be there for a reason. ;)

So as I prepped to put the caramel coconut nest atop the cookies, I had my niece use the extra caramel as a glue to adhere the coconut to the shortbread (My first attempt did not include extra caramel, and the caramel coconut wouldn't stay on the cookie). After I created each 'nest', my niece promptly placed the eggs or Peeps in their new home.

The result?
Cookie...good.
Toasted coconut and caramel...yum.
A platform to eat more chocolate eggs and Peeps...perfect!

 

easter and a birthday = family.

My parents were coming in to visit for Easter. My mom doesn't like the snow (though they lived in Chicago for almost 40 years), so instead of visiting for Christmas, she thought it'd be safe to come in April. It snowed days before they arrived. To my mom's delight, it all melted before they came. But much to her chagrin, it just rained and rained and rained on and off the whole time they were here.

So since my parents were coming, I volunteered to host Easter in my little townhouse. 18 people seemed to fit okay. Luckily the children were able to run outside and play at the park for a bit.

It was also my oldest sister's birthday on Easter. And so she didn't feel overshadowed, I knew I was going to make her dessert to celebrate. Except apparently, I had promised to make her my champagne & strawberries cupcakes...yet I had the brilliant idea to make her a red velvet cheesecake cake (which I knew she would love). Oops. Oh well. At least she liked it? :)

I've made red velvet cheesecake cupcakes, and those were a cinch, though tedious (no fancy mini-cheesecake pan for me...at least not yet!). So I'm thinking, a layered cake shouldn't be so hard. I have my handy cake layer cutter. No problem! Or so I thought.

No recipes here. Just tips. Use your favorite red velvet recipe or box mix, and make a crust-less cheesecake.

How to Assemble Your

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

Tip #1: Triple check where you cut your layers. When using your cake layer cutter, even your lowest setting may be too high to make your layers even.  Hopefully you all aren't as inattentive as I am, and you look to see where your first cut is, even if it's on the opposite side of your cake. I ended up with three relatively even red velvet layers, but I was going for four. It worked out in the end, cuz if I did more, the cheesecake would've been far more disastrous than it already was. :)

Tip #2: Place pieces of parchment paper on your cake board before placing your first layer of cake. I used four pieces of parchment (one for each 'side' of the circular board). When you frost the sides of your cake, no matter how careful you are, you will get extra frosting on the board. Having the parchment paper ensures that your cake board will be clean when you put a border at the bottom of your cake. Then, after layering and frosting, when you're ready to put on a border at the bottom, gently pull out the parchment and finish decorating your cake. [Note: In the photo above, you can see the square edges on the cake board that were created by the parchment]

Tip #3: Lightly frost each top or bottom of the cake (any side that will be touching the cheesecake) before layering on your cheesecake. These were part of the directions when I made the cupcake version, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I feel like if the cheesecake was more solid (frozen), then it would have more of a problem adhering to the cake layers. Since mine was a creamy cheesecakey mess, adhering was not an issue, frosting or not. But I wasn't thinking about this issue. I was thinking about my next one.


Tip #4: Slightly freeze your cheesecake before layering and moving it. 30 minutes to an hour should probably do -- just check on it, because you don't want it fully frozen.  

Your cutter or knife will cut through your chilled cheesecake easily. However, when you try to move it onto a layer of cake, it will be a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. I'm talking about cheesecake all over your workspace, on your floor, on your apron (or shirt when you forget to put your apron on) and in your hair (even if it's pulled back). No worries, none of that cheesecake was part of the actual cake...but I won't say that none of it made way to my mouth. 

I used a frosting spatula and pancake spatula to move the cheesecake onto the red velvet, and that was still pretty awful. Luckily, even if it cracks, no one will see it as it's buried beneath the red velvet. Just push it together a bit so you don't have gaping holes. :D

Unfortunately, I did not think to freeze my cheesecake. I was more concerned about slicing it in half. Forty minutes later, I had lopsided layers of red velvet and cheesecake. I would have taken pictures, but the hubs would not have been happy if I decorated the camera with cheesecake. Just take my word that it was a hot mess.

Luckily, the cheesecake layers were soft enough that I was able to kind of push down on the cake to even it out. Then I took my angled spatula to clean up whatever came out on the sides. Eventually, I got it leveled out...and somehow, it turned out pretty well!


Tip #5: Freeze your layered cheesecake before frosting it. I mainly did this because I didn't want the entire thing to fall apart after I finally got it all together. So I figured that if I froze it, the cheesecake wouldn't be moving or shifting as I was spreading the frosting around.


Because of my schedule, I froze the cake for about 6 hours, and that was good. An hour or two would probably be long enough. Then the cake is solid and cold enough to keep the frosting from 'melting'. I have this issue with my cream cheese frosting, and I can't get it as stiff as I'd prefer (I've tried a couple things, but nothing that I've been really happy with). 

After the Easter craziness died down, my sister was able to take home more than a fourth of her cake (a little more was taken off of this) and she told me that she happily ate the remainder of it over the following week. 


Yah, we're definitely related. ;) 

april showers.

So far this calendar year, I have had a couple of small orders to fulfill. This one, I've been looking forward to for a while now. 

I met Missy at an old job. We were assistants together, both promising English teachers who had yet to be given a chance. We quickly became friends, and decided to get our ESL endorsement together, you know, to make ourselves more marketable. Without her bossiness encouragement and support, I might not have taken the classes with her. And then where would I be? :) 

And even though we don't work together anymore, we still make time to get together every now and then (she's one popular chica with some pretty rockin' friends)...and every time we do, it's always full of laughter and good times. You can't help but love this girl!

One of the first few times I made cupcake pops was for her and her then-boyfriend's housewarming party. Naturally, they were a hit. Now they're engaged, and Missy gave her mom my number so I could make goodies for the wedding shower. Woot woot!

Missy and Keith are having a small destination wedding in Jamaica, and they're having a reception at home a month later. So in keeping with their wedding theme, I coordinated with their colors (pink and orange) and threw in hibiscus flower accents.

To have some variety at the shower, the goodies consisted of the following:
peanut butter delights
vanilla cake balls with m&ms and/or toasted coconut
lemon cake balls with m&ms and/or sprinkles

red velvet sunflower cupcakes

decorated sugar cookie favors 

 

I used the Williams Sonoma cookie stamp to make these cookies. I decorated some cookies that said Jamaica too, and I made some wedding dress cookies as well. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of those!

All of the guests seemed to satisfy their sweet tooth in some way or another. And had some sugar to take on the road, too. :) That's the only way to roll.

Congrats to Missy and Keith! I love you guys and I'm so pumped for your wedding!! Can't wait to dance ;) 

<3

baking without my camera.

I love reading blogs that have recipes or tips with visual explanations. As an educator, I should know that visual aids are more appealing and help with understanding while reading. So as I'm new to writing my own blog, you would think that I would include several pictures within each post. Well...I would...if I could remember the darned thing.

Oftentimes, I'm that person who brings my camera along to most every occasion. But for one reason or another, I don't take pictures. I left my camera in my purse, which is in the hall closet with my coat. I completely forget that I brought my camera cuz I'm too busy chit-chatting or what-have-you. OR I don't want to be the only weirdo that's taking pictures. That last one...I've got no explanation except that I've got quirks too. What are yours?

So when the hubs bought his brother's old camera, I was super-excited. I'm not one of those people who know all about fancy camera equipment, but this is one fancy camera...especially for the likes of me. And now, I take a *ton* of pictures of family and friends food. I should probably read the manual and maybe take a beginner photography class or something (then maybe I'd have better pictures). But for now, I just have to remember to have it around when I'm in the kitchen. It's definitely not a habit to take pictures while I'm baking. 

During my week off, I managed to use three new recipes in my kitchen -- none of which I have documentation for. To make matters worse, I didn't even snap the finish products, as I either gave them away or entertained our several visitors during the week. Okay, I lied. I kept two for myself. But I ran out of filling, so I just used Nutella. :) Pardon my camera phone picture.

Chocolate Malt Sandwich Cookies

slightly adapted from smells like home who adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

For the cookies:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup plain malted milk powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup plain yogurt

3 tablespoons hot water

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar on medium until fluffy. Add in egg, vanilla, yogurt, and hot water. Mix on low. Slowly incorporate flour mixture.

Place tablespoon-sized balls of dough about 3 1/2 inches apart (they will spread out) on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. They should be flat and firm (but not hard). Cool on parchment on wire racks. Note: This makes about 36 cookies (or 18 sandwiches). I made half of my batch with teaspoon-sized dough balls so I would have more sandwiches.

For the filling:

10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup plain malted milk powder

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream and milk (equal parts)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions: Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring. Let cool. In a mixing bowl, cream together malted milk powder and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually mix in cream/milk mixture, chocolate mixture, and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, about 30 minutes. Beat on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Note from 'Smells Like Home' (so glad she said this!): After chilling, the filling will be very thick and dark but as soon as you start to beat it, the color will begin to lighten and the filling will become very fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, pair up cookies that are of similar sizes. Scoop about a tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of one cookie. Sandwich with another cookie until the filling pushes to the edges of the cookies. Repeat with remaining pairs of cookies. Martha says that the cookies can be kept at room temperature between layers of parchment in airtight containers for up to 3 days. This will not be a problem.

I made a small sample so I could taste test, and I tried it in-between some sandwiching. I thought it was okay. But then, I tried one the next day, and it was soooooo much better! And like I said, I ran out of filling at the end, so either I tasted too much of it put too much filling on some cookies, or I need to make 1 1/2 times the filling to put more. The latter seems more logical. Though I'm not complaining about the Nutella. 

I brought these to friends of ours who just had a baby. They loved them (and the Irishman cupcakes too!). My sister-in-law and the kids loved them as well. The next day I found out that the kids ate them for breakfast that morning. Nothing like a breakfast of champions! hehehe...

Sorry for the lack of pictures! You won't mind anyway after you make these cookies. They're that good. Even without the filling. Cuz you'll wanna eat the filling with a spoon...just like you do with your Nutella. I won't judge.

i buy cupcakes.

It's not very often that I'm in the city these days. So within the past couple of months, when I've been in the city, I've wanted to go to nearby cupcakeries. [That's cupcake bakeries to you people who are living under a rock.]

Since cupcakeries are few and far between in the 'burbs, I was excited to hear about a new one opening up near my school. I got a notification from 'Free Things to Do in Chicago', and they said the shop, Cup of Cake, was offering free cupcakes. Free cupcakes?! Be still my taste buds! I was so excited, I was looking forward to it all week.

So March 4th rolled around, with pouring rain and blustering winds, and I made my way to The Glen after work. I didn't know exactly where the shop was located, so I ended up walking in said rain and wind. When I finally found it, much to my dismay, there was a sign in the window: 'More cupcakes at 5:00 p.m.' It was 4. Since I was soaked, I was in no mood to poke around and shop. I couldn't believe they were out of cupcakes! So to get out of the rain, I ran back to my car. I made a couple calls and polled: 'Do I leave, cupcake-less? Or do I wait it out?' 

The verdict: I'm already there, so I might as well wait. So I sat in my car for a while, and then made my way into the shop. The decor is cute: turquoise paint with black accents and paintings of cupcakes, etc decorated the walls. Although I was well before the 5 o'clock mark, I was surprised (and disappointed) that the cases were empty when their menu offered whoopie pies and cake pops. I was going for the free cupcakes, but figured I could pick up other goodies while I was there. I assumed that for a "grand opening" they would have a big ta-da, in spite of the terrible weather. Then I overheard one of the workers tell another customer to come in the next day for their "grand opening."

Blurry shot of one of their menus...I felt weird taking pictures since there was only one other person there. Oh well.

Hm. I get a grand opening spanning a whole weekend, but I don't get a partial grand opening. Why wouldn't they have offered their menu when they already had traffic coming into their store? I don't know why, but I was really turned off by this. And apparently I still am. ?? I just think it was weird.

I ended up getting two cupcakes for free: both Oreo. Again, I was a little disappointed because the free cupcakes were supposed to be vanilla, Oreo, or red velvet. And I wanted the red velvet. Oh well. I still ate both of them. You can't waste cupcakes. That's like a deadly sin.

My review of the actual Oreo cupcake? I would give it a 'B'. The size of the cupcake was a little bigger than standard, so that was nice. The cake was really moist, not too crumbly. But the frosting was just okay. I go back and forth with my Oreo frosting. Personally, I make mine with finely crushed Oreos -- that's cuz I prefer to pipe it. I honestly enjoy bits of Oreo in my frosting. However, when the frosting has pieces of Oreo in it, the pieces should be in a proper proportion to the cupcake. I don't need to eat half of an Oreo in one bite of my cupcake and frosting. That's a bit much. But maybe they were rushing to make the frosting because of the growing crowd waiting for the free cupcakes [wouldn't they have anticipated the rush hour?].

So I was underwhelmed by the 'grand opening' of Cup of Cake. And I felt bad about it. I so wanted to be excited about this place. Perhaps this is why the hubs insists: "If you make cupcakes, why do you buy cupcakes? Just make your own."

Naturally, I went back. I believe in second chances.

So on a random day after work, I headed back to The Glen. Although I still wanted to try their cake pops, I decided to stick with cupcakes this time around -- I should have some kind of limit, shouldn't I? I was looking forward to finally trying their red velvet cupcake, and after a quick glance at their display case, immediately decided on their 'krispy kreme' cupcake.

My second review?

 Red velvet cupcake: Overall, a B+ It's definitely not my favorite red velvet. The cake was okay, but not as moist as their chocolate cake was with the Oreo. The frosting was good though, a nice balance of sweetness and cream cheese. I didn't care for the red sugar sprinkles -- I just didn't think they were necessary.

Krispy Kreme cupcake: Overall, an A-. Again, the cake was okay. I don't know if they just used a vanilla cake, but either way it was okay. The frosting was sweet and creamy. It's been a while since I've had an actual Krispy Kreme (all the ones I know of have closed down), but the frosting and cake together was pretty tasty. And topped with (what I'm assuming to be) crumbled pieces of a Krispy Kreme. Not bad.

Note: These cupcakes were a little smaller than the Oreo ones, which I thought was strange.

One day, I'm sure I'll go back and check out their cake pops and whoopie pies. But I'm not dying to have their cupcakes again. Now Molly's or Sprinkles, that's a different story for another post. :)

freezer follow-up

Right after the holidays, I posted about the sticky buns I made. And I promised I would let you know how the freezer buns turned out. I was a little nervous about these sticky buns, 1) because it was a new recipe and 2) because it was a diabetic recipe that uses Splenda.

The verdict? Delicious!

I baked them straight out of the freezer. The original recipe calls for 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Since they were still frozen, I decided to do 400 degrees for 15 minutes and turned it down to 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Perhaps I overdid it a little. But they were still yummy -- the hubs gobbled up the whole pan, minus the two that I ate. However, I think next time I make these from frozen, I'll do 375 for 30 minutes and take it from there.

Next freezer follow-up: frozen cake batter. I've successfully frozen baked cupcakes (undecorated of course, but then they became these). A couple months ago, I mixed up some batter and decided to try freezing it. I don't always need all of the batter, and I don't always have the freezer space to house the baked cupcakes. So I'll let you know how it turns out!