Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, sweet readers!

I hope you are having a great day so far! Here are some treats I made for family, friends and neighbors for the holiday. The sugar cookies were the result of meeting with one of my wonderful new friends from Flickr! Glory lives relatively close and we have so much in common in addition to baking. She is such a blessing.

She came over the other day to bake with me. She showed me some of her wonderful techniques for sugar cookies and icing them beautifully. She is a master at it. As you can see above, I need more practice, but the patience required might take some time for me :)

Here are some really decadent chocolate cuppies filled with fudged frosting and topped with the same. I made these little fondant cutouts for them and detailed them with royal icing.

Have a safe and fun day!

So Cute!

Is this not the most darling sight! I have no clue who this kid is, but he was at my son's soccer game last Saturday and neither myself or the rest of the parents there could resist getting some photos of him! No worries..the dog stayed mellow and all was well! :)

Witch's Brooms and Cemeteries

Hello Sweet Readers!

Well, it's Harvest Time and time for parties at school for the boys. I made these little witch's broom cookies for my youngest son's class. It was funny to see the kids' reactions. Some immediately knew it was a broom; others said, "It's not a broom, it's a lollipop." And they were unwavering in their insistence of it, let me tell you. First graders know what they know and they will let you know it, too!
I found the recipe in on e of the little Betty Crocker Fall mini cookbooks in the dollar section at Target. There are a few really cute recipes in there! Check it out if you go. It's definitely worth a buck!
On a completely different note, here are a couple photos of my sweet hubby and me on my other son's field trip (to a really cool old cemetery!). I have been playing with Picnik a bit and trying out their collaging and antiquing elements. Not sure if I've got it down yet. I'm sure you'll see more of my experiments, so feel free to give me any tips if you so desire!

Have a great weekend!

Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch

Hi Sweet Readers!

I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with my younger son to the pumpkin patch today. It was very fun, though a bit chilly at the beginning. With the strange weather we've been having, they lost their corn maze and it was too muddy for the hay ride, but the kiddos had fun picking out pumpkins, sliding and teeter-tottering. Here are some shots of the main attractions.

Now, I am off to bake!

Cupcake Truffles in a Cupcake Candy Mold

Hello Sweet Readers!

I hope you had an awesome weekend! I wanted to share with you these cute little cupcake truffles I made some time ago. They are my truffles stowed in a cute little cupcake candy shell. I just love this candy mold. It makes for some bite-sized fun!

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Martha Stewart Cupcake Club #3 : Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Hello Sweet Readers!

So here we are with the 3rd official installment for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club! They are Pumpkin Patch cupcakes. This month's choice came from Kim over at What the Whisk.
Here are mine! I just love the little adorable pumpkins. They are made out of marzipan..which I also love. I discovered that I could only make three since the other bar of marzipan I had was covered in chocolate. Oh, the horror! I had to eat several bites just to soothe myself. When I bought it, I thought it was plain, but, alas, it wasn't. I guess it was meant to be that I got to enjoy a yummy chocolate treat. Oh the tough life I lead, I tell ya.

So how was the pumpkin cupcake? It was outstanding! I really liked this cupcake. I was a bit wary of it being too dense, like a pumpkin bread, but it wasn't. It was light and moist and had the perfect crumb. I think the cake flour in the recipe really made it more "cupcakey" than "bready". The spices were just right. I was actually wondering if it would be too spicy since it called for a tablespoon of ginger, among all the other spices. I nearly cut it down, but I didn't. And it was perfect. The pumpkin flavor was not lost among the spices and it left a lovely lingering pumpkin taste in my mouth.

The recipe said that it would make 32. I got 36 regular cupcakes and 28 minis. I don't overfill, obviously, but, as you could see from the photos, they are full enough, right!? Just a little crown on top. Gotta leave room for max frosting, in my opinion.

By the way, my hubby L-O-V-E-D these. He is actually quite picky about his cupcakes, and although he prefers creme brulee and chocolate chip cookies to any cupcake out there, he was mightily impressed with these. Read "mightily" as 3! Just thought I'd bring in another opionion here. :)


So if you are in the mood for your house to smell like fall and get all cozy eating one (or more) of these scrumptious treats, I highly recommend this recipe. It's in the book, and I'm not allowed to post it, but if you like cupcakes, YOU HAVE GOT TO BUY THIS BOOK! It really has tons of yummy recipes and great photos.

Be sure to go to http://mscclub.blogspot.com/ and check out all the links to the other bakers taking on this fun challenge! And get your pumpkin ready!

12 Layers of Yummy!

Hello Sweet Readers! Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I have been busy doing large projects and traveling some. Hope you all are well, though!

Here is a delicious cake I made to bring to a dinner party a few weeks ago. It was 12 layers of pure yumminess :) I got the recipe from epicurious.com. It was actually the cake that came in 1st at a bake-off I participated in at the end of summer (Congrats to Annika!). I had to make it.
Here are the cupcakes I brought for the hosts :) Since I was embellishing the tops of the cake, I thought I will carry the grapevine theme over to the cuppies.
Oh, yeah. This cake took some time. I spread it over 3 days or so. There are alternating layers of vanilla sponge cake, chocolate souffle cake, coffee Italian meringue buttercream, mocha IMBC, and hazelnut crispy meringue. I handpiped the grapevines separately and them placed them on the cake.
It is a very delicious and complex tasting cake. I highly recommend it. Just give yourself some time and have a little patience :)

Tiered and Fanciful

Hi Sweet Readers!

Here is another mini tiered cake I made. This was actually my first one. The layers are orange cake and chocolate butter cake, with varying layers of lemon and vanilla buttercream. Hope you like it!

Next week I will be very busy making my nephew's 1st bday cake and cuppies and a few cookie orders. I hope to share them with you soon!

Have a great weekend!