back in the kitchen again...

heavens i haven't posted in forever! back in may i packed up my kitchen to live in a camper for 2 months while paul built our dreamhouse, and then it took another month or so to get back into the swing of things and to unpack all of my cake gear, set up my craft room, and organize my life. did i mention we are getting married on new year's day?

so, i haven't been baking or posting much. i did make this amazing chocolate peanutbutter three-layer cake last week though. the recipe can be found in sky high cakes and this picture is deb's over at the smitten kitchen. though i haven't been doing any blogging of my own, i have been reading other bakers' blogs. i'm slightly obsessed with deb, and for a little while she was my new blog crush and i wished for her to be my best friend. (hope it's ok i'm using your photo deb, like you're really even reading or seeing this...)

i've moved on to crushing on photographer blogs, florist websites, dessert table blogs, sugar cookie flicker accounts, weight loss blogs, cakepop blogs, dental hygiene blogs, & neurotic dog blogs.

i'm slowly getting back to baking though -- the holiday season is quickly ramping up. to start it off is my older sister jennie's 36th birthday. i'll be making these and hopefully posting more about them sooner than later... can't wait to boil me up some frosting!

photo by bakerella.

chirp chirp

i cannot stop thinking about pie -- grasshopper pie in particular. creme de menthe, creme de cacao, chocolate crumb crust, cabot whip cream, & mini chocolate chips -- how can you go wrong? at first i hesitated -- it's not really that decadent of a dessert -- but the liquor is actually kind of spendy. you just can't buy small bottles of creme de menthe & creme de cacao! oh well, that means more grasshopper pies must be made!

the camel cake

meet ted. ted asked me to make a cake for his english teacher wife who loves books and camels. he asked that they be riding the camel, with their black dog running along beside them, and camel's hump and a sun in the background, with a poem on the other side of the book. I think I like ted.

the detail is all made out of marzipan. yummy! goes well with the chocolate raspberry almond buttercream cake! can you tell this is a book? alexa is turning to year/page 30!

like a book, the authors' names are on the top of the page...

and the title is on top of the opposite page...

ted's poem (or is it dr. seuss'?). written with edible food-coloring marker.

their dog's name is tuesday and he's got a blue collar!

"18" cake

chocolate cake filled and frosted with the most amazing peanutbutter cream cheese frosting, then glazed with the most amazing chocolate peanutbutter glaze, then frosted with the most amazing chocolate buttercream. hey, you only turn 18 once.

more train cakes

toot toot! make way for year #4!

ice cream cone cake

i've always wanted to try baking cake batter inside ice cream cones. yesterday was my boss' birthday, and since i am unofficially the "resident baker" at my work, i volunteered to create the dessert.

martha stewart's cupcake book says to cover a tube pan in a double layer of tinfoil, poke holes through it with only about an inch of the cone showing, and to put 2-3 tablespoons of cake batter in the cones. i guessed that a "tube pan" was a bundt pan, and put paul to work creating the perfectly sized holes for the cones. i filled them too high, some of them ran together, the cones started unravelling, and became slightly soggy. they were not going to look good presented in the tinfoiled bundt pan. so, i thought fast and baked up three 6" rounds. the cones are double chocolate chip, as is the mini round in the middle. the mini rounds on the top and bottom are regular chocolate chip cake, with chocolate pudding in between the layers. not perfection, but it did taste good, and my co-workers were impressed with the presentation of the ice cream cone cake bouquet...

a magical day

not only does the birthday girl love unicorns...

she also just got engaged!

sheet cake: devil's food with mint buttercream frosting and mini chips.
top shaped horse: mint chocolate chip cake.
unicorn horn: marshmallow fondant (wrapped around a chopsick!)

happy heart day!

dear readers,

did you think i stopped baking? fear not! i've been working away in my kitchen -- just not as much. for this valentine's day, in addition to making cupcakes (red velvets and devil's food minis)...

... i tried my hand at sugar cookie-making and decorating. here's my family's traditional sugar cookie icing (made with butter, powdered sugar, and milk):

And here's the meringue flooding technique that gorgeous cookie-decorators (whose blogs -- click here & here -- i've been perusing daily) use. it's a bit tricky and time consuming, and there is a HUGE learning curve. i will get there. can't wait to try my hand at shamrocks for st. patrick's day...