the most delicious cupcakes in the world

That may be a slight over-exaggeration, but they are pretty delicious (I may or may not have eaten 1/3 of this batch by myself). This recipe comes from a cookbook passed down from my grandmother- look at how well-loved it is! This cake recipe is simple but delicious. A tested and timeless dessert for all occasions! 

My grammy's cookbook!

Come on pups, into the oven!

See how I dyed some of the batter pink to make swirled cupcakes? Perfect for Valentine's Day!

All iced, dipped, and ready for devouring! 

My First Foray with Cake Pops

It seems like I'm on a roll about cake... but why not? It's delicious. For New Year's Eve, I decided to make cake pops, because they seemed to be a great party food, and seemed semi-easy. Right? WRONG. My first experience making them wasn't pretty, but in the end, they sure were delicious!

How to Make Cake Pops

Make and bake a boxed cake according to the directions (or make one from scratch!). You can really play around here, but I chose to do a regular ole chocolate cake. 

 Once the cake is baked and cooled (I let mine cool for around 30 minutes- you want to be able to touch it without burning yourself), you need to crumble the cake into really fine pieces. This part is really bizarre, but fun. While I was breaking up the cake, I kept telling my sister that "It feels so wrong!"

Once your cake is crumbled finely, add icing to the cake crumbs. I added about 1/3 of a cup of chocolate icing. Again, I used a can of whipped icing from the store, but you can make your own, and play around with flavours. My cake was really moist so I didn't need a lot of icing, but you can add as much as you need to get your cake to stick together. 

 Once the icing is added, start rolling the mixture into balls. In hindsight, you'll want to make smaller, bite sized balls. I made mine too large and it caused problems later on in the process.

 Lay out the balls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Put them in the freezer for at least 6 hours. I let mine stay in there overnight (because I did this at about 10 pm). 

It was all relatively easy up until this point. Here's where she got gnarly, and thus, accounts for the lack of pictures. You need to take your cake balls out of the freezer for a few minutes, and then start coating them. I did one at a time. Take one ball, insert the stick (I used wooden skewers... except I put the blunt end into the ball, and kept the pointed end at the bottom to stick into the box) and dip it into melted chocolate. After you dip the ball, roll it around in a circular motion, while gently tapping your wrist to get the excess off. Continue doing this until you are satisfied. (Lots of un-ladylike cussing at this point). 

 I used milk chocolate chips.... I would not recommend this. I would recommend buying the wafers from Wilton. The chocolate was heavy, and the balls were too big (That's what she said-- I had to haha), and this resulted in some balls falling off the skewers, not drying fast enough, and just being a plain pain in the butt. 

Nevertheless, once the cakeball was coated in chocolate, I sprinkled on a variety of sprinkles and then stuck them in their display (Which, in this case, is an old box covered with some holiday foil paper). Next time, I'm going to use a piece of foam. They won't jiggle around as much.

 Here are the finished products. I think they look purdy, despite the devil of a time they gave me while they were being created.

These were BEFORE I had to transport them 20 minutes away... After a journey, they did not look this good. So again, I would recommend a) using a piece of foam to hold them, OR b) only making them if the party is at your house. Nonetheless, they were a big hit- not a single one went to waste! They tasted delicious, and I can see how versatile these could really be. So, have you guys had any experience with making cake pops? Was your experience any better than mine? 

DIY Cake Stand

When my niece celebrated her 2nd birthday in October,  I offered to make the cupcakes. Because I'm an overachiever and didn't want the cupcakes to be presented on just any old plate or tray, I decided to whip up a coordinating 3-tier cake stand- Princess themed!  After searching the interwebs, I came up with a pretty solid idea of the mechanics of said stand, and went hunting for supplies.

Here's What You'll Need:

• 3 cardboard circles (I chose 3 different sizes)
• 3 cans from your pantry (You'll want a large one for the base, and gradually smaller ones for the upper level tiers)
• Double sided tape
• Fabric and/or Construction paper
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun

All of the materials needed for your DIY cake stand. 

I covered the three cans with white scrapbook paper. I secured the edge with double sided tape.

Then, I covered the foil circles with my fabric. I used double-sided tape to stick it down, with some hot glue around the edges. Then, I trimmed the excess fabric off the edges, and hot glued ribbon around the sides.

The bottom tier covered with fabric.

The top tier covered with fabric. 

After you cover the cans with paper and the cardboard circles with the fabric, align the cans in the centre of the cardboard. You'll want to apply a generous amount of hot glue to the inside lip of the can, and then apply more around the outer edge. Press firmly into the cardboard. I let mine sit for a long time before flipping them right side up. 

Once the glue was dried, I applied crown stickers I found at the Dollar store to the can. 

When you're all done, centre the cans on top of each other. Make sure it's stable! As long as you place the cans in the centre, you shouldn't have any problem with it toppling over. If you're worried though, you could put a circle of hot glue around the base of each tier as well. 

And here she be, ready with the cupcakes and all. They were a huge hit, and my niece had a fabulous birthday! 

Next time you have an event, why not make a DIY cake stand? It's a little more work, but it's totally customizable to your theme, and the cake stand will be one of a kind and sure to impress.  

whimsical pleasantries

I must be in a baking mood these days because I baked these beauties for my boss' birthday yesterday (A+ for alliteration). The cupcakes are from a box (holla Duncan Hines!!) but I made the icing myself. Don't ask me how, because it was a little of this, a little of that until the right consistency was achieved. Just use lots of icing sugar, some butter, vanilla extract and splashes of milk/cream. 

I had the most fun creating these darling designs. Take a peek:

Flowers because we work at a garden centre. 

Because her name starts with an "N."

Because her favourite colour is green.

Because I love this pattern. It would be super cool for halloween decorating with orange and black!

I'm adoring this green and pink colour scheme. How sweet would it be for a little girl's birthday party? Hmm... I have a niece who will be turning 2 in October. I might have to whip these up again! 

It's that time of year again!

You know, that time of year when the leaves are just beginning to change colour, the evening air is crisp, and you are grasping onto any fragment of summery goodness. Nothing puts me in the mood for apple pie more than the promise of fall on the horizon. I snagged a copy of Kraft's "What's Cooking" publication from a co-worker, and they had a multitude of drool-worthy recipes, including a sinfully delightful dutch apple pie recipe. Add that to the fact that one of my 12 goals before 2012 is to bake a pie from scratch, and you have the perfect conditions for a bake-athon. 

Here's how it went down:

The stars of this recipe. I know I have 5 apples out, and the recipe only calls for 4, but I thought since some were smaller I might need to compensate. Turns out I only needed 4, but you'll just have to adjust that according to your apples. 

I'm lucky enough to have a mom who freezes her homemade pie dough. I know I wanted to make my pie dough too, but in my defence, I have made it before, and technically this crust is still homemade!

Roll out the pie dough and place it in your pie dish. This is where I had to call in the big guns (Mom)- I caved! I just wanted to make sure that nothing would seep out of cracks. After one failed attempt, I had a semi-decent pie crust. 

 Pie crust with crimped edges. You can really do any type of "edge" with your pie crust though.  

Beat the softened cream cheese and add granulated sugar.

Add an egg and vanilla extract.

Spread the cream cheese filling over the pie crust.

Peel and thinly slice the apples. Mix them with a couple tablespoons of flour, some granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Pour the apples over the cream cheese layer. 

To make the crumbly topping, add oats, brown sugar, and cut in margarine. The recipe calls for butter, but I try to avoid fatty butter when possible- it turned out just fine with margarine.

Fresh outta the oven! Still bubbling- see that?!

First slice of heaven. 

There ya have it. While the three-part recipe is kind of tedious, it is de-lish, and it looks so rustic and is perfect for an autumn afternoon. Not only did I satisfy my apple pie craving, but I can also cross off another item from my 12 Before 2012 list! booyah!

Baking Frenzy!

This weekend I went on a baking and cooking frenzy. Let's just say I ate gooood this weekend! When I'm stressed I find cooking and baking really cathartic. Here's what I made: 

Cheddar and Rosemary Tea Biscuits 

Vegetable and Rice Soup with Meatballs

Banana Nut Muffins!

Another shot of the Banana Nut muffins with a perfect view of the platter my momma gave me. I love the scalloped edging- so dainty and feminine! 

And here's the recipe I used! 

I got this cute recipe card from Messy Vegetarian Cook. There are different styled cards you can choose from, and download for free, so check it out!!! Then I just photoshopped in the text over the card image using FotoFlexer. 

Happy Baking my loves! xo