Happy Valentine's Day

Wow, seems like forever since I logged onto my blog. With facebook, pinterest & being a <3 wife & MOM <3 time just slips away.....

Since my last post I have been on health kick and excited about my new juicer!! Since watching the documentary "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" I was thoroughly impressed and wanted to give it a whirl! I am not trying to loose weight Nor Am I trying to give up SUGAR......just wanted to include some healthier options and see where it takes me.

Also with Christmas & so many birthdays money hasn't exactly been flying off my money tree so I slowed down on the baking a bit. You know, all that fondant, cutters, colors, the fun & crazy wilton gadgets add up!! Lets not even talk about the price of pecans, walnuts & macadamia nuts! 

Just a quick little update on this beautiful day of love, flowers, chocolate & romance....wanted to say HELLO! Happy Valentine's Day!

Cupcakes & More Cupcakes.....

Good afternoon on this beautiful sunshine day!
First I want to say please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers. I have a very dear friend from Tokyo and I am glad to report she is fine! A bit shook up, but nonetheless ok!

Here is a link to the American Red Cross which has valuable up to date information. You may also make donations on this site to help Japan in their much needed crisis! http://www.redcross.org/en/

I have been experimenting trying to find new & super delicious cupcakes. Every time I think of making a cupcake I want it to be just more than a simple plain ole cupcake! Most of my cupcakes have a sweet surprise inside. Some have butterscotch, chocolate ganache, cherry filling, coffee buttercream and just about anything else you can think of that I can stuff into that sweet little amazing cake!

http://justjennrecipes.com

Here are some of the cupcakes in my very near future: Key Lime, s'mores, spicy chocolate, salted caramel & a really adorable cupcake that I saw on someone's blog (Hawaiian themed party) it looked exactly like shaved ice! Here is a pic of her cupcake (this is not mine, but its so absolutely beautiful)!!





OK, now on to my most recent cupcakes! I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. Have a wonderful day!

Orange Blossom Cupcake candied orange pieces infused throughout...♥

Butter Pecan Cupcake Butterscotch Filling White Chocolate Drizzle

I seem to love the color orange for cupcakes ;)

Honey Lavender Cupcake

Love the colors on this one! Vanilla Cupcake Chocolate Drizzle!

Espresso Cupcake with Coffee Buttercream

First Attempt at a Croquenbouche

I do not know what first drew my eyes into this amazing french pastry, but surely I appreciate learning about its existence! It may have been one of the many hours I spent gazing at desserts online, or walking into a local bakery, but not only is this beautiful, but its a masterpiece!

I really would have preferred an occasion to make this, but with all my excitement I had to give it a shot! OK, so maybe I don't want to make the cream puffs from scratch since this is just a test run....hehe

I must thank Sara Lee for her amazing sweet little puffy clouds of heaven since those were the foundation of this Croquenbouche. I also did another first today. I have a strong desire to learn about spun sugar so I found some pastries online that incorporated this as well. I have much more learning to do since I was only able to make a topper for this pastry. Next time I will make more and try new techniques.

I used chocolate ganache to dip the cream puffs and then layered them on top of each other to create a towering effect. I played around with chocolate decorations, but in the end I thought it looked better without them. Also I gave it a chocolate & white chocolate drizzle.

Before I removed the extra chocolate...

Not sure how the family would enjoy this, the empty plate 30 minutes into presentation kind of spoke for itself... lol

I love the chocolate on her face!!~

I hope you enjoy & Have a fabulous day!!~

Lasagna Our Way!

My hubby and I often talk about choosing lasagna for dinner, but it quickly gets tabled for another day. The main reason is because up until now I have only known how to make lasagna one way! Growing up I always watched my mom make it. Her motto was make sure there is enough for everyone with plenty of leftovers! Well, we prefer to eat on the lite side and not having that overstuffed full feeling when we are done.

Not wanting to miss out on this delicious Italian delight it came to me one day to use my cupcake pan to create little mini lasagna's! I thought why not, let me give it a try....

Success! Not only were they extremely simple to create, tasted wonderful, everyone enjoyed, but we didn't stuff ourselves silly!

Just a side note, when trying these (if you do), lightly spray the cupcake pan with some olive oil "pam-like" spray so they come out easily without a mess! I used the Wilton circle cutter on my noodles & on my mozzarella cheese.

A wonderful suggestion from Ingrid was to be able to create a lasagna for each family member since not everyone loves the same ingredients (i.e ground turkey, spinach, artichokes, etc). This dish was a true delight and I enjoyed making it. I hope you enjoy!!~

A Tri-Celebration!

Hello & Happy Thursday! Just a quick little note to show the most recent cake I made. I love that each cake and dessert I make, Mike gets more and more involved....! I am not sure if he really loves this or if he is doing it to make me happy. Either way, I am glad to spend the extra time with him and do something that I love!

Happy 20th Birthday Anjelica!

 This cake was a "gift" to my ex husband for his 45th birthday, his step daughter's 20th birthday, and his in-laws anniversary! I had no plan going in. No color scheme, nothing!

Happy Anniversary Dianne & Leonard!

I bought the wilton decorative flat plates with pillars, but I ended up not using those. I wasn't crazy about how they snapped and fit together. I used something that was purchased from a local bakery. It worked well & so simple to use. I also wanted to put roses over the entire top of the cake, but my lovely buttercream was a bit too soft to hold the shape of roses. I always have a full cabinet of confectioner's sugar, but this particular day I actually ran out! (That was a first)! So, I wasn't able to stiffen my buttercream. You know Reese and I ran out the next day and bought enough confectioner's sugar to recreate a snowstorm! lol

I forgot to mention, the only request Brian had was to put custard in between the layers. I used french vanilla cake, homemade custard, and buttercream. I was pleased with the outcome. I have a question though, how do baker's know what their final product tastes like if we can't cut a piece to try? haha I was so into baking that I don't even sample the cake that I cut off from the top (those get used for cake pops by the way which hopefully I will get to post soon)!

Happy 45th Brian

No matter what the occasion....its always a "celebration"!

 I was just told that today is National Chocolate Cake Day! So don't forget to indulge and enjoy in that wonderful piece of chocolate cake!

Listen to SugarInTheSky

Samoa Cupcakes

Happy Thursday! Its a beautiful chilly day outside!

Just wanted to post some pics of the cupcakes that I made last night. They are yellow butter cupcakes with a nice gooey coconut topping delicately placed upon a mouth watering chocolate ganache! Finished off with a chocolate drizzle....eat at your own risk!

♥ Nikol trying the cupcake ♥

♥ isn't chocolate pretty? ♥

Today I went on an adventure to find something unique for my next cupcake....I stumbled upon 3 very beautiful and what I think will be Super Yummy items! I will play either tonight or tomorrow with those. I also found the cutest molds in the cake supply store. They are both suited for making chocolate lollipops. One is a cupcake on a stick and the other is a soft serve ice cream cone on a stick! How neat is that? I can't wait to decorate and play with that! OK, I also some some lavender and electric blue sugar crystals....they sort of jumped into my hand basket (hehe).

Have a sweet day!!~