Delish!

Ok, so it's been awhile.
a LONG while.

Besides moving, settling, working, and school(ing), I have finally had some time to sit down and talk to my computer (and whoever is reading this) about what's goin' on!

would you happen to own these few items?

 (the spices are oregano and basil)

well, with these simple ingredients plus a couple more..), you can make this!

and here's the fabulous recipe to follow :)

trust me, you'll want to try this.

(that's my "oh my, this is delicious" face..while trying to laugh 

while Andrew takes a random picture of me)

so again, you'll want to try it. it literally took about 10 minutes to make. Plus, for two people, we have about a whole 'nother serving for leftovers! yay!

enjoy!

been awhile...

For a quick update on things:

• We have moved into our apartment! (i know, i still haven't taken pictures)
• made 72 cupcakes for my senior recital
• made birthday cupcakes for my flute professor (i will post those recipes for sure!)
• got a cake job coming up in Feb. for Yonder mountain String Band.  Heard of them? well, they seem to be quite popular in the "newgrass" crowd. that should be fun!
• Andrew will be attending Chatt. Tech in the Spring for motor sports technician (working with motorcycles and such)

that's it for new stuff lately, i will be coming back for recipes and pictures!

stay tuned!

Ugly brass lamps

I'm sure you all have been to goodwill before, if not, you should go! there is so much good stuff! (if you dont mind cleaning things up and giving them a new life!) so, because we are moving soon and are in need of things to make our space a home, I wanted to hop into Goodwill to check out what they had. (I tend to do that often..)

I found some ugly brass lamps, you know, the ones that everyone has at some point and can't wait to get rid of.. maybe something like this?

We paid attention to the shape of the lamps, not worrying about if they matched or not. oh! and make sure that you check the lamps before you buy.. luckily, they set up an outlet at the lamp section with a couple light bulbs. these were good to go!

We ran into walmart and bought some black flat spray paint (I love the flat because it makes it look modern, but not shiny). Also bought some nice lamp shades, they were also pretty modern and a neutral color that goes with the master bedroom idea (in my head).

and voila! new lamps! Andrew even mentioned how he liked that they weren't the same and were unique!

my shopping list:

• brass lamps:
• one for $7
• one for $4
• flat spray paint
• $2.40
• lamp shades
• 2 for $14 each
• TOTAL:  about $26 for 2 brand new lamps! and I must say, they look quite nice :)

Must be Magic!

Finally, here are the long overdue pictures of the magic cake!

now, if there are a few things ive learned from making cupcakes, it would be that I need to stop being so stingy with the batter and really fill the things up.

I planned on taking a picture of how puny my original cupcakes looked to the monstrous peanut butter ones, but forgot. so, imagine a small tiny, barely filled to the rim cupcake next to a spilling over with peanut-buttery goodness cupcake. ya, looks pathetic eh? therefor, i had to redo basically all of them.

the good news is that all the little decorations and icing turned out great!

another thing I've learned- do not try to dye your own icing black. I thought starting with chocolate might make it quicker, plus i needed the chocolate flavor for the icing. well, with my small little jar of gel coloring, i was not able to achieve my goal. so i tried with vanilla. (obviously), took much longer and still didn't turn out black black. I decided to run to publix and pay $4 for a pound of black black butter cream. that really makes things so much easier... 

here is the finished product!

if you are wondering how i achieved the top hat, i actually poured chocolate into a cake mold, one that releases with a buckle, and froze it. Surprisingly, it worked out great! Didn't even have to re-do anything! i covered it with the black icing because as mentioned before, i was unable to make chocolate black.

After i was done and let if cool, i added on the words for Brandon's 12 birthday! 

For the Oreo cake (SO easy!)

I took a yellow cake mix (helped bring out the oreo flavor), and added in about a cup of crushed up oreo.

 if you would like more oreo flavor, keep adding more! 

the icing was just vanilla icing, i made mine from scratch. typically you would crush up more cookies and sprinkle on top.

For the peanut butter cake

White cake mix

3/4C peanut butter (i use creamy)

for the icing, just a plain chocolate works great. I used dark chocolate for this one to be more black and it turned out delicious!

any other questions? ask!

oh, and p.s., Andrew is demanding I do a post about him or something at least interesting to him... (which is basically only motorcycles).  

...that post will come later.. :)

In progress...

Hello again! (I seem to be posting much more than I expected!)

I have another order coming up- a "magic" theme birthday! for this one, 35 cupcakes, and a small cake to feed 10. It will be a top hat with a rabbit coming out, and playing cards/ stars all over and on the cupcakes.
should be good!

I have most of the things done, just waiting to put it all together! pictures to come soon (of course)


one more thing, we have decided to buy an apartment! so, with that i will have more postings on design and home ideas. So excited to get to make my own space! cant wait!!

Check it out!

Hey everyone! look what i just made!!

Cupcake/ cake order form!

cupcakes, circus cakes, birthdays, Oh My!

The long wait has finally come to an end.

This is the part where i show you (if there are any of you..) all of the pictures from the latest baking projects.

I did cupcakes with my friends Scocia and Tinsley for my other friend Ashley's b-day!
We decided with peanut butter Reese's and chocolate, cookies and cream, Margarita (obviously a crowd favorite..), and the amazing vanilla cream-cheese strawberry cupcakes.
they all turned out delicious!

next is the circus cake for a friend's son's 1st birthday (happy birthday Julius!!) Let's just say... dying white fondant red has been the death of me, and I would MOST recommend you buy pre-made red fondant or at least pink to reduce the amount of dying and kneading...dying and kneading... dying and kneading... well, you get the point.
To start, i made the wilton  butter cream vanilla white icing
in case you would want it:

• Ingredients:
• 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup butter/ margarine, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tbl. milk
• cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. add vanilla. gradually add sugar one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. when all is mixed, icing will appear dry, add milk to make fluffy.
• (did not know this!)- when not in use, keep covered with a damp cloth.
• this recipe makes about 3 cups.

For this cake, we went with vanilla cake and cream-cheese/ strawberry filling (YUM!) I received the wilton yearbook-mega-magazine that has basically anything you would ever want or need. just so happened the theme for this one was circus! (weird?!) they had the CUTEST little figurines on one of the cakes, and i knew it would be perfect for a 1 year old's bday. so, for julius' big cake, we put both figures on top in front of the circus tent. not going to lie...it was a little scary doing this, they were pretty heavy little fellas and sitting on an uneven surface of a cake was not comforting. by the way, if you ever wanted to make these figurines, i used rice crispy treats which i think would be the easiest. I think wilton was saying to use some decorator balls but I had no clue what they were talking about.
now, don't get the idea that this was easy.. i had a lot of improvising to do and many many hours of standing on hardwood floors with aching feet to accomplish these tiny little characters.

anyway, enough rambling... here's the finished project!

after i took this picture, we decided to add a few more things- a number one on the front, and stars coming out of the cake. (ill update with that pic later).

So, there you have it! A circus cake! if you would want any recipe or what i did, let me know! (everyone must have the cream cheese strawberry vanilla delicious amazing icing.. so ill give you the recipe whether or not you want to see it. i repeat, you must try this.)

• ingredients:
• 1 package of cream cheese (8 ounces) cut into cubes
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla in food processor; process just until blended. add powdered sugar; pulse just until sugar is incorporated. (do not over mix or frosting will be too soft to spread).

and by the way, this is basically the fruit dip you get on those fruit trays. so, I might find myself using this ALLLLLLLL the time. because it really is, that... good.

thanks for tuning in! more next time!

Cupcakes and celebrations!

I'm back, with a new project on deck:

Toga b-day party cupcakes.

 later this week, a circus cake for a friend's son's 1st birthday.

Pictures and results will be sure to come soon!

sweet!

So as most of my friends know, i like to bake. a lot.
and i have gotten into the cupcake craze... much like everyone else.

here are the last bunch that i did for a summer party- everything was made with summer in mind- flavors and all!

The flavors in this wonderful collage are pina colada, pink lemonade, strawberry vanilla, and margarita!

if you want any of the recipes, just ask!

Painting the time away...

So I've been working on something a friend asked me to do for her wedding in September. 

She gave me a HUGE letter 'R' like this:

She wanted it to be painted with paisley-ish designs.

I cut out a few pieces from a piece of paper she gave me, but decided it was much easier to free hand the whole thing and add in my own designs.

using the colors from her "fall" inspired wedding, it turned into this!

I kind of like the crafty brown paper texture as the background instead of painting the entire thing. some of the inside edges are also painted up and fancy-fied.

hope you like it!

Just a few pics from our most recent trip to Daytona, Florida. 

I'd say it was a pretty good time :)

Day One.

So here is the {first} posting (hopefully of many to come!)


status: trying to figure this website out.

To-do list:

•  talk with witty sentences
• add in more flare
• figure out a cohesive topic to talk about that people would actually care to read...

let's begin.