Pink and Black Heart Cake

Made this cake for a Valentine's bake sale. I absolutely love how it turned out. I felt like the decorating went perfectly, I wouldn't change a thing. The cake is Red Velvet with a creamy cream cheese filling. The cake recipe turned out really yummy but not very red. Red Velvet cake is chocolate cake colored red. My cake didn't look very red, even with the huge dollop of red food coloring, it just looked like a slightly colored chocolate cake. Oh well, the person buying it won't know until they cut into it and it will still taste amazing! I got the recipe from bakedbree.com. Hope you like it!

Blue Brown Bow Cake

This cake was for my birthday. Yes, I made my own birthday cake, why does everyone ask that? You think I'm going to let my husband whip up a box cake, dump it in a 9 x 13 pan and slap some canned frosting on the top? I don't think so. Making my cake is one of the highlights of my birthday! I've been dreaming up this cake for weeks. I love how it turned out. Hope you like it too!

Pretty Quilted Cake

Made this cake just for fun. Really fun to do, no deadline, no pressure, just fun. Hope you like it :)

Santa Cupcakes

I think the funnest thing to make!! They turned out even cuter than I hoped. The head is a mini-cupcake turned on it's side and then stuck on top of a regular sized cupcake (secured by a toothpick). The hat and beard are gum drops rolled out flat and cut to shape. The nose is a red hot. The eyes are mini chocolate chips. The fluff on the hat and the rosy cheeks are piped icing. The green mittens are green gumdrops and the red body is red icing rolled in red sugar sprinkles. Anyway, just a lot of fun!!

HO HO HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I also made these mini-cupcakes that turned out really cute too.

The whole santa lineup, ready for some Christmas action.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin and more Cookies

These turned out so yummy. I found the original recipe online at cooks.com but I made so many modifications that I feel it is my own now. Perfect for that pumpkin and spice crave. Sorry no picture, we ate them too fast.

Ingredients:

1 C Flour

1 C Whole-wheat flour (I used hard-white wheat in case you wanted to know or cared)

1 1/3 C Old-Fashioned oats

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/4 tsp Cloves

1/2 tsp Salt

2 sticks Butter (I used real butter - I never trust margarine in cookies)

1 C Brown Sugar

1 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Pure Pumpkin

1 Large Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 C Raisins

1/2 C Dried Cranberries

3/4 C Chocolate Chips

**After it was all mixed up together I ended up adding an extra 1/3 C Oats and about 1/4 C White Flour because I felt it was too moist and sticky. Use your judgement.

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1st 9 ingredients (all dry). Whisk together well. Set aside

Cream butter and sugars. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Stir in dry ingredients along with raisins, cranberries and chips and if you want walnuts or something that would be yummy too ;)

Check if it needs a little more flour and oats.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Yielded 3 1/2 dozen and a couple of my batches were really big cookies.

Hope you enjoy!!

Key Lime Bars

Key Lime Bars

America's Test Kitchen

This recipe makes an 8x8 size pan, double it for a 9x13. These have a very intense lime flavor and I loved it! So yummy!

CRUST:

5 ounces animal crackers (any brand)

3 TBSP packed brown sugar

4 TBSP butter - melted and cooled a little

FILLING:

2 ounces cream cheese - soft

1 TBSP lime zest (the zest of about 3 regular limes)

1/8 tsp salt

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (do not use bottled lime juice)

GARNISH:

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Heat oven to 325. Spray 8x8 pan with oil spray. In a food processor, pulse animal crackers until broken down and evenly fine. Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until evenly moistened. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 -20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling.

While crust cools and before making the filling - toast the coconut; spread coconut in rimmed baking sheet. Bake in 325 degree oven, stirring often until golden brown and crispy (about 10-15 minutes). Set aside.

While crust cools, stir cream cheese, zest and salt until soft, creamy, and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk until combined and no lumps; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 - 20 minutes (about 25 minutes if 9x13 pan). Cool on wire rack 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Before serving top with toasted coconut. (coconut will go soggy if you top the bars and then cover and refrigerate, add it just before cutting and eating.)

Spider-man Cake

This is a Spider-man cake I made for my 3 year old's birthday. He's been asking for a spider-man cake for his birthday for the past 2 or 3 months. Since I was not about to do a replica of spider-man's head, this is what I came up with. I thought it was fun, and turned out pretty cute. Just wish my kitchen was better for taking pictures. The cake was a new recipe - tropical carrot cake by America's test kitchen. It takes a typical carrot cake and adds pineapple, coconut and extra spices. It turned out really moist and pretty yummy but I think I still prefer just regular carrot cake. I don't think the recipe called for enough salt, the flavors fell a little flat. Oh well, you add cream cheese frosting and anything is delectable right?