Chocolate and Peanut Butter Frosting Cake...

Here's a few pictures of the peanut butter frosting

and chocolate cake.. 

I made for my hubby 

on his bday.. 

The frosting was delicious.. 

it was like eating a giant 

reeses cup... 

The recipe is here.. 

in case you get the desire.. 

Stay tuned to see how the cheesecake truffles went.. 

let's just say.. 

"yum"!

30 Years...

So today my husband is turning the big

3-0!

I have been teasing him that he 

is getting so old...

but in reality it's me a little frightened 

of getting older...

The other day someone asked my age.. 

and I said aloud 26...

in my head all I could hear was.. 

'4 years till 30'...

and for some reason 

it was a little daunting.. 

But today we are celebrating!!!

My plans are to make.. 

chocolate cupcakes 

with peanut butter frosting.. 

yum... 

I only plan to make the frosting homemade though.. 

baking the cake from a box.. 

because that is how I roll.. 

I expect it will be super yummy.. 

I am going to use 

Mrs. Barefoot Contessa's recipe.. 

and hopefully they will turn out like these.. 

from Glorious Treats...

wish me luck!

Sunday Sweets...

I adore lovely Sundays...

The weather was beautiful.. 

and we went on a bike ride 

by Santa Monica's pier..

so lovely.. 

Then when we came home..

I knew...

it was time for some cupcakes!

I found a box of cupcake mix

with Paula Deen's

lovely face on it.. 

and how could I resist!

Plus,

it was nice because 

it was a small box..

just enough to make 12 cupcakes..

so perfect!

It was my first time using a piping bag!

I wasn't going for spectacular.. 

Just wanted to get a feel for it..

and it was quite fun!

Happy Monday!

Eat a cupcake!

A little cherry and chocolate cookies...

I was excited when I saw 

what looked like and easy recipe

in the latest martha stewart magazine.. 

a perfect cookie recipe for Valentine's cookies..

(thank god I tried it before the day of!)

Cherry-chunk cookies.. 

yummm!

Anyhoo.. 

for some reason the cookies 

came out extremely flat.. 

and burnt.. 

part because my oven just

started running extremely hot lately.. 

(please don't break oven!!)

but apparently other people were 

having problems with the recipe too, 

so I don't feel so bad.. 

Anyways,

I went to my old faithful cookie recipe

from this fun little baking book 

that has a deceiving cover.. 

looks like something you would never use.. 

but I love it!

and I just added the cherries and chocolate

and perfection.. 

A perfect Valentine's cookie.. 

except for the part where I bought

cherry flavored cranberries accidentally instead of cherries.. 

(that's what shopping while sick and with a toddler will do to you!)

Recipe for never-fail fluffy cookies.. 

from Nestle..

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter (softened)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

375 degrees 

(or 350 if your oven is crazy!)

and 9 to 11 mins.. 

ta-da

Happy Baking!

Here come the hearts...

I always get a jump-start on the next holiday

as soon as the the last one has finished.. 

It makes me a little burnt out on 

the holiday by the end.. 

but it's soooo hard not too... 

there is just so much fun stuff to do 

and to plan for.. 

Plus, 

when you start the holiday late.. 

all the good stuff at the stores are gone.. 

Especially out of the target dollar bins.. 

which are my one-true-loves!

So on to Valentine's Day!

My plan for this year is to make.. 

conversation heart pops

from bakerella..

I'm so excited.. 

I have the heart molds, 

the pen to write on chocolate.. 

I'm almost ready!

(image from bakerella)

With the new year brings..

resolutions.. 

and I do have a few of those

this time around.. 

There have been some years that 

I have forgone this little ritual.. 

but it's kinda fun.. 

In a similar, 

but different category.. 

I also have some goals.. 

just some little things to accomplish this year.. 

amongst those would be 

to make macarons.. 

I have never even eaten one, 

so I guess I should start there.. 

but I would like to make some 

lovely,

or if not lovely, 

at least mostly edible, 

colorful macarons.. 

(image from crumb bakery)

Any fun goals for the year?

Well, hello there 2011...

Welcome New Year, 

I plan to fill you with many new projects, 

flour and sugar, 

gifts for friends and family, 

and much more goodness.

A pleasant way to start.. 

would be with the champagne cake truffles 

which I made for our little family New Year's.. 

I used the recipe for the champagne cake and frosting

from Sprinkle Bakes.. 

which I posted here.. 

They were super yummy.. 

especially when dipped in Ghirardelli's white chocolate

and sprinkled with edible gold glitter stars! 

The cake turned out so perfectly tasty...
it was almost too sad to crumble it..

in fact I would make this cake for any occasion
it was so good!

Hope your New Year started with some 

bubbly goodness!

pOp

I have been looking for 

New Year's inspiration 

and I found the most beautiful, delicious-looking

treat...

Champagne Cupcakes

from Sprinkle Bakes.. 

(picture from Sprinkle Bakes)

I think I might have to make these.. 

although my frosting job 

will probably lack the gorgeousness of these!

Some Days..

You just need to bake cookies...

Cakelet Pan...

I'm loving fall.. and

What better way to celebrate than with

an acorn pan.. 

I saw this beauty on Stephmodo..

and I can't stop thinking about it..

mini pumpkins and acorns to adorn your 

fall feast.. 

that sounds just about perfect 

to me.. 

(photo.. william sonoma)

Plus it's called a cakelet pan.. 

I must own anything called a cakelet pan.. 

thank you..

stephmodo for sharing.. 

and 

William Sonoma.. 

for making it.. 

Cheers!

Let's Get S'mored....

What says summer in one simple bite.. 

Well, in my book that would be a s'more

There is not always a campfire near by.. 

But still this taste can be captured.. 

and on a stick no less..  

Here we go..

First,

My ingenious contraption

to hold the marshmallow sticks up right

to let the chocolate dry.. 

I was quite proud of myself for thinking of this.. 

(just a drying rack on some cups)

Melting some chocolate.. 

Marshmallows all stuck up.. 

Dip it in some chocolate.. 

Let it drip a bit.. 

and then sprinkle with gram cracker crumbs..

(word to the wise.. buy them already mashed up in your baking section)

All together now.. 

A great fun way to share some summer fun!

Baking on the Weekend..

I have been desperate to make these for quite sometime.. 

There was no occasion.. 

Just a practice run.. 

Here's a look at my black and white cookies.. 

 

Such a shame that you have to melt these beauties...

I ended up using the little cookie cutter with the scalloped edges instead of the big heart.. 

so cute!

Actually laying them on the cooling rack was not such a good idea..

they stuck.. and i had to carefully take them off..

But it ended up ok..

Go make/bake something beautiful!

Monster Cookies..

Or shall I say.. the most delicious wonderful cookies that you will ever eat.. and then eat some more..
So today I hung out with my friend's daughters and I wanted to think of something fun for us to do.. and since we all love to bake.. come on. what else would we do...
I found this recipe for monster cookies on food network's website..
so off we went..

Got all ingredients together.. 

mmmm....

Tada.. the most wonderful cookies ever!

Oh, are there empty spots on my cooling rack...

I definitely do not know how that happened!

Chocolate Cake Truffles..

So I have a few friends with birthdays coming up.. 

and I thought that I would try something new and fun.. 

I found the recipe for chocolate cake truffles

on another blog

So I decided to give it a try.. 

they turned out rather cute I thought..
It was amazing to bake a whole cake 
and just crumble it in seconds
felt very mischievous indeed!

I added sprinkles on the tops.. 

for birthday flare.

Next time i might use vanilla cake, 

so they are not sooo chocolaty..

But they were still rather good.