L.O.V.E.

Ahhh yes Valentine's Day.  The day when you shower your loved one with goodies.  Some say it's a "Hallmark" holiday, I say it's another reason to bake (as if I really needed one).  It's also a day to get flowers delivered to your work so that you can make your co-workers jealous.  haha what? did I say that? :)

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and while millions of men run out last minute to buy their sweetheart something special, I'll be in the kitchen baking up some yummy treats. There are endless goodies one can make and I know these days most people are looking for the most economical (aka cheapest) and easiest treats to whip up. In fact, ATTENTION MEN! You can bake this stuff too!! AND homemade is MUCH more romantic than picking up a cake at the good ol' grocery store (plus their frosting/icing is usually g.r.o.s.s.). Wow her with your baking skills! or if you have kiddos, you guys can make these together.

Check out these fun/easy (and of course yummy) ideas for treats!

ahhh yes the simple red velvet cupcake. This is the most popular cake requested on Valentine's day (duh, it's red!). Slap some cream cheese frosting on this puppy, sprinkle some red sugar and done! Make anyone's heart (and mouth) melt.

Cookies! Anyone can make these, from the little kiddos to the big guys.  The funnest part? Decorating them of course. The possibilties are endless!! Serve them on a pretty platter or wrap them up with a nice ribbon.  Everyone loves cooooookies!

These are similar to the whoopie pies I just made. VERY easy to make. Buy a kit, follow directions and BAM, red whoopie pies (they are deelish!)

These are America's favorite treat (ok maybe I made that up but it sounds true right? Just go with it). People have been making Rice Krispie Treats for decades and this is a good one if you want the little boogars to participate. They are sticky and fun...and what kid doesn't like a sticky mess.

and last, if you have zero baking skills but have the ability to buy a cute little jar like this one (find one at your local Michael's, WalMart, JoAnn's) buy some brownie bites (although they are seriously easy to make but buy if you must) fill them up in a jar and wrap some decorative ribbon around it for a homemade (almost) treat like this!

Ok don't say I didn't try to help out.  These are fab ideas that would make anyone's day, wife, mom, sister, grandma, aunt, girlfriend, co-worker, secret admirer, stalker (well it may piss your stalker off but you get my point).

Hurry up you've got 5 days left!

Laces OUT!

In honor of the Super Bowl I whipped up some goodies.  Nothing too fancy but I had an idea to make these little guys and look how cute they turned out!  I made chocolate fudge cupcakes and snickerdoodle cupcakes.

I used the "grass tip" with green buttercream for the grass, mini pretzels for the field goal posts, and Milk Duds for the footballs (painted the laces with white gel icing). I made little toppers with the Green Bay and Steelers logos.

I had the itch to make a cake too so I made a 3 layered cinnamon buttercream cake.  I dusted the top with cinnamon sugar and made the football out of gum paste.  Not sure why I used yellow icing, it was the first color I grabbed.

Congrats to the Green Bay Packers! (glad football is over, I'm not a fan lol) 

Happy Halloween!! BOO!!

HALLOWEEN is here!!  I was so excited to bake goodies for this ghoulish (heehee) occasion.

Since cupcakes are always a hit, I decided to make Wicked Witch Cupcakes and Evil Spider Cupcakes. Chocolate Devil's food and Buttercream frosting.  
First off let me tell you, they were SO much fun to make. All items used were 100% edible and yummy yummy yummy!

Ok so here's a shot of all the ingredients used:
Black Licorice, Candy Corn, Black Sugar Sprinkles, mini M&Ms, Marshmallows, Sugar Cones, Lollipop Sticks, Edible Food Marker, and of course Cute Baking cups!

I picked these up, they are Wilton Halloween cups:

Edible food marker on a marshmallow:

 Little Jack Skeleton faces :)

Cutting the licorice to use for the spider legs and witch's hair:

All baked and ready to decorate!:

After frosting, roll the cupcakes in black sugar sprinkles

Used red mini m&ms for the eyes and voila!! Aren't they the cutest!! I mean, scary, boo! 

Here are all the goodies! 

Witch cupcakes are awesome. Sugar cone hats, M&M eyes, licorice hair/eyebrows, candy corn nose

Candy Corn toppings:

 
I'm pretty happy with all the goodies and they were deeeee-lish!  They went like hot cakes!
Now on to the next holiday, Thanksgiving ha!

Cupcakes for the Cure! Think Pink!

In honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I baked up these goodies.
These fun baking cups, candy toppings and cake plate were birthday presents.

They are Lemon cupcakes with vanilla cream frosting. They were so moist!!

Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend sweet tooF and I headed out to Vegas for a mini getaway (and we met my bro and sis-in-law out there too!)  Good times were had and we ate like there was no tomorrow (uhm, not good).  What else is there to do in Vegas but eat, gamble, eat, eat, then maybe gamble some more? Did I mention I'm not a big gambler? LOL! (Shout out to the Wheel of Fortune slots)

So as we took a stroll through several hotels/casinos, I found sweet sweet treasures!!

First stop, the Monte Carlo Hotel.  As we strolled through the shops, there it was, in the far distance (of course I spotted it)... The Cupcakery!! Yes my friends, a cupcake shop! WoooT! It was calling my name.  And of course, it's not like I had to drag sweet tooF in there with me.  He was all over it too haha.
There were so many pretty sparkly cupcakes to choose from.  I couldn't decide!! (There was also 2 GIANT cupcake displays that were SO cute!)

(that's sweet tooF picking his out heehee)

YES as in Orange Julius

So I ended up with the Southern Belle (because I'm such a lady) good ol' Red Velvet w/Cream Cheese and sweet tooF picked up the Peanutbutter Jammer. (PB&J style!) They were super yum!!!

Ok, now for treasure #2.  We decided to check out the new Aria Hotel. First of all, gor-geous. Decor was modern, simple, classy, awesome.  Inside the hotel they have the famous Jean Philippe Patisserie! I saw sparkly cakes, fun mini cakes and of course I had to snap some pics. Check these cute thangs out!

Seriously, how adorable are these?!?!

Sad to say the ol' "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" didn't apply as I my big full belly came home with me :-/

The Twitter Birdie!

Ok, everywhere I look I see these cupcakes of the Twitter Birdie. They are SO adorable!!!

Seriously freakin' cute!!

Cupcakes for the Cure!

I'm SO excited about this upcoming event - Cupcake Camp! It's a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and I've signed up to be a baker!!! (ok what did I get myself into ha!)  I will have my own little booth of cupcakes that can be "purchased" for a doantion.  What an awesome event.  They have these in cities across the country (apparently I just missed the Orange County one last month..RATS!!) but I will be ready to go for the Cupcake Camp Inland Empire.  Here's the info.  Come one, Come all! Stop by and say hello :)

CUPCAKECAMP COMES TO THE INLAND EMPIRE

There may be no sweeter way to help join the fight against breast cancer than to participate in the inaugural CupcakeCamp Inland Empire! An event for cupcake lovers to bake or buy cupcakes to bring -or- just come to eat and help a good cause. Why? Because who doesn’t love cupcakes!

On November 7, 2010 1pm-4pm, the event’s Official Sponsor, The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, will open its doors to cupcake enthusiasts from around the Inland Empire. The event will bring together local cupcake companies and the public to showcase their products as well as raise money for the Inland Empire Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, which is dedicated to combating breast cancer on every front. Imagine life without breast cancer...

CupcakeCamp Inland Empire is a gathering born from the desire for people to share and celebrate cupcakes, community and creativity in an open environment. And, what better place to have this celebration, than at one of the Inland Empire's historic landmarks, The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside.

http://www.missioninn.com/

There are many different ways to participate in CupcakeCamp Inland Empire: bake or buy cupcakes to donate, come and eat cupcakes, help raise money for a great cause. Charity never tasted sweeter! This year's activities will include a cake auction, baker’s competition, raffles and more. The competition will be judged by Special Guest Judges.

For more details, visit http://www.cupcakecampie.wordpress.com/

It's Peanut Butter...Jelly...Time!

The other day sweet tooF had a request.."how about a peanut butter filled cupcake?".  Now, I'm not a fan of peanut butter unless it's in a PB&J sammich.  I will have the occasional Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but considering I don't have the sweet tooF in the family, this didn't sound appealing to me.  Well I tried it (why the heck not right?) and they actually came out pretty yummy!

I made Triple Chocolate Fudge cupcakes filled them with peanut butter buttercream and topped it with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting.

Mmmm, creamy center!!!

Here is the recipe for the Peanut Butter Buttercream Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temp
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

Halloween Costume

I know what I'm going to be for Halloween this year....

hahaha!

IKEA Find!

First of all, I LOVE Ikea. They have the cutest stuff and it's so cheap! (and yes I know all about their glorious meatballs)

So I'm browsing the aisles and run into this cute thing!

It's a cupcake apron!! BEST PART? $5.00!! (yes I said FIVE doll-hairs)

Has an adjustable neck strap (just in case you have a fat neck or small torso ha) and is pretty good in length (if you're shorter than 5'3 this will probably drag, sorry shorties)

It's a pretty thick material so I'm sure it can take several beatings in the wash.

Go get one, go go go!

Why are you still reading this. I said GO!  :)