Cakes Cakes Cakes and cookies

So since I've been slacking on my blogging. Here are some of the cakes I've been doing since then.

This is probablly my best cake I've ever done...for my sister and aunt's birthday!

A rock n roll cake for my friend daniel's 21st!

For my cousin's 30th (who got thrown from our tube at the lake haha)

And these little cookies were for a presentation to a company that my group had worked on all semester for a company. They were highly impressed ...were not suck ups I sware!

Hope to do some more soon...hmm who's birthday is next??

Gingerbread House Holidays

My mom and I make a gingerbread house every single year! SO when I heard the daring bakers challenge was going to be this I was excited! I then read on to find out we had to make it from scratch....not so fun. I guess that's why it's a challenge right?

Anywho..Thank god my gingerbread baked up nicely...otherwise I would have quit haha. Overall, I think it turned out cute!

I also had some fondant left over from a cake I made a few days earlier so I used it to make a mini snowman! Isn't he cute??



AHH I love that snowman!!

Oh and I thought I would just include a picture of my vegas cake...pretty good considering I had just a days notice! I got paid big bucks from this one! yay!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers' everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

A Macaroon Mishap

So I have been the worst Daring Baker ever! I was supposed to start my new project of baking and posting something new once a month in August and I have neglected my duties for the past two months! Ugh school was just killing me! So since after missing 3 months you get kicked off I figured I should get to work.

Luckily this month was macaroons! I have always wanted to make these but I've always shyed away because I thought they were extremeley difficult...I mean why else are they really only popular in France? This was a great recipe to start my first time with too, all the ingredients were fairly cheap and you don't need any extra fancy equipment. I really loved this challenge too because you can customize them to any flavor combination you prefer...or even according to the occasion...should have colored these black and orange right?

So these didn't turn out exactly how I wanted but they werent bad. I used strawberry nesquik in the batter which i feel could have been part of the problem with them not rising. Bottom line...they were cute, tasty, and unique; not perfect.

P.S. Don't you LOVE my cookie jar I painted...im a little proud :)

Here's the recipe if any of you want to try them for yourself...

Ingredients

Confectioners’ sugar: 2 ¼ cups

Almond flour: 2 cups

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons

Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Defensive Driving Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not sure what it is about me, my car, or sadly enough my driving skills. I don't want to admit that the reason I get tickets all the time is due to my terrible driving but I really do feel unlucky. haha So as soon as I got home from school for the summer I got stopped my a woman officer for running a red light that is less than twenty feet from where I pull out of my neighborhood! Oh whatever...I'm done venting...it just ticks me off even more. I paid the ticket in full and agreed to take defensive driving but due to summer school I havent been able to take it lately.

So it was time...I came home everyday after work and did stupid online defensive driving and after 2 1/2 days after work I needed something to celevrate with so I decided to reinvent my chocolate chip cookie recipe...mmm therapy!

So I revamped it up and here it is..

I know! This picture doesn't do it justice I sware! Its from my camera phone though so what did I expect right?

Oh gosh these were the most fabulous amount of crunch on the outside and chew in the middle...PERFECTION! I also subbed with milk chocolate chips which just made them divine. Here's the recipe!

MMM Perfection Cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 stick butter( melted, then cooled slightly)
1 tbl Vanilla
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbl milk
1 12 oz bag of milk chocolate chip

Preheat to 325F
-Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda
-Cream butter and sugars together, add milk, vanilla, and eggs. Then beat in flour fixture slowly. -Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop cookies about 2 1/2 Tbl each and bake for around 25 minutes.
Eat when warm... mm :)

Family Time Brownies

Oh joy! A whole week with my 15 year old step-sister! NOT!
Actually I know for a fact that I bugged my older cousin when I was that age just as much as she bugs me now, so I can't be too hard on her. She is on the dance team at her high school so fortunate for her she can eat whatever she desires and never gain a pound. ( lucky) She also happens to be a VERY big brownie addict. She has probably tried over 100 different kinds of brownies in her short life!
So I decided to try to impress her with my baking skills!
The statement I got after a bite into these Huge brownies will never leave my memory...."This is the best Brownie I've ever had in my life" umm...seriously? wow! Although I can imagine why since these brownies have an ounce of chocolate in every serving! haha so anyways...TRY THESE! They are sooo gooey and soo thick and rich! Do it!

"The best brownie I've ever had"
1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs( add 4 if you like them really gooey)
1 1/3 sticks of butter( or margarine)
24 oz. of chopped semi sweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9 X 13
In a small bowl combine flour, b.s., and salt and set aside.

In a medium saucepan melt butter, sugar, and water until sugar is dissolved, then add half the chocolate. Once silky and smooth, remove from heat and add both extracts.

While the chocolate mixture comes to room temperature, beat the eggs in a large bowl until light in color. Then add your chocolate mixture and beat until well combined. Then slowly add in the flour mixture and make sure everything is well incorporated.

Then gently stir in the reamining chocolate. Pour into the 9 X 13 and Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool cut and serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a la mode.

Serves 24

Enjoy!

Look-A-Like

Beside the fact of having a MAJOR chocolate attack,my first ganache, and that I have never made a cupcake with filling, what more excuses did I need to make these? So I saw them on MyBaking Addiction and thought how perfect!

( I'm pretty sure my mom would kill me if she knew I put a cupcake on her piano! lol )

So I spent my Saturday night ( haha I'm such a lame college student) making some cupcakes. I was fairly surprised at how easy they were to make. They weren't too bad tasting either! I'm not so sure they tasted exactly like a Hostess cupcake but they were awfully close. I have to admit I do prefer the fake (Hostess) stuff! Okay well I have lots of homework to do so Got to go. Hopefully I can find another day this week to bake!

Also, I can't wait to get a better camera haha!

Tart n' Sweet Black Cherry Cupcakes

I actually had a break from my homework and school today. Shocker I know! Calculus and now Physics...what happened to summer? Anyways, I decided what a day to bake right? Well I found a recipe on MyBakingAddiction.blogspot.com for some Strawberry Cupcakes. By the way...I love that blog! It's one of my favorites! I think she is great and always has the most scrumptious food!

So The cupcakes looked so good so I had to try...but when I got home I realized we had no strawberries :( I was so dissapointing but I had to improvise, so I took some cherries we had in the fridge, pureed them up, and crossed my fingers.

They were so awesome! The frosting was the best because it wasn't to sour and not too sweet. Just perfect. I'm sure the strawberries would have been better but it got my baking fix out of the way for a few days at least.

I let my dad " Certified Taste Tester" try these out and he seemed to love them. Usually it's just one bite for him..but I think the tartness of these hooked him enough to eat the whole thing.

Cupcakes (edited from the Sprinkles cupcake recipe)

Cherry Buttercream

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of cherries(pited & food processed)

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb of powdered sugar

Cream butter, add vanilla and cherry puree, then add 1/2 cup powdered sugar at a time until light and fluffy

I'm thinking Blueberry Pancakes for my next endeavor...or maybe some Hostess inspired cupcakes...mmmm I'm making myself hungry

Babies!

This picture is terrible but I made some butterfly cookies for my BEST FRIEND Meagan who just had twin babies!! So now that I'm a godmother/aunt or whatever I am considered, I can start baking for them haha These were for her baby shower so I wrapped them up and shipped them off! Hope they get there okay!

This is my cute little godbaby/nephew Jayger...

And my other sweet little godbaby/neice Tallulah(Lulu)
Oh I can't wait to meet them! I'm so excited! Yay! They are too cute! Don't you agree?

Independence Day

Any excuse to bake cookies,right? haha I loved making these for my parents and the neighbors! So festive and really good actually!!Here are some flags I did!

These are all the cookies I made for this Patriotic Saturday!
These fireworks were my favorite!

Everyone loved them! Have a good 4th of July!!

Another Aggie...

Once again...an aggie baked good... haha they are hit around here! This was for the owner of the company I work for. He was turning 78! A very old ag' :) So I did a chocolate WASC cake with buttercream and a Buttercream Transfer for the aTm seal!

This took a couple tries and few lessons learned but finally got it down... not perfect though :/

I was very happy with it even though I felt like it was a caketastrophe between the buttercream not coloring to maroon correctly and a couple tries with the transfer ...it wore my evening out for sure!

All in all....I'm happy with it and even though he doesn't like celebrating his birthday, I hope he enjoys my hard work! Thanks and Gig Em'!

Under The Sea....

Remember the days where you wished to be something like a mermaid? or an astronaut? I mean those were they days for sure! This was for a little girl in my family who turned 5 and she wants more than anything to be a mermaid! it was by far the cutest thing in the world. I wish her luck on her venture towards life under the sea! haha

My favorite part of this cake was the sand! It was Nilla Wafers and brown sugar dumped in the food processor...SO GOOD!

I also had to make some cupcakes for all the little kids that were coming to...18 kids +18 doses of sugar= good luck to the host! haha

Blueberries & Butter

Blueberries and Butter....what more could you ask for?? I made these homeade last night. AMAZING! I could eat these everyday, and make them because the kitchen smelled like warm butter for at least a day .

These blueberries were so fresh and sooo yummy!
Nothin like melted butter...

Little sprinkle of sugar on top!

TA DA!! The sugar on top gave it a crunchy, struesel like topping without all the calories. Definitely a great way to start your day!

Strawberry Birthday!

I recently baked a Strawberry WASC for an employees birthday! I really wished I would have put a cream cheese frosting but I topped it with a pineapple frosting instead. Still turned out Yummy!

I added strawberry puree in with the batter with a strawberry cake mix! It was amazing!
Man...I so need a better camera. This picture does not do this justice! Take my word...it was yummy!

Baby

I recently got volunteered to do a cake for a baby shower and she wanted it to resemble the invite. I tried by best and my frosting was getting a little runny near the end so my dots on the side don't look that great :/ oh well. I just hope everyone gets to eat some tomorrow! YAY!

I'm not sure if I've emphasized how much I LOVE WASC(White Almond Sour Cream) Cake....

Buttercream Love...

And when WASC and Buttercream Love come together :)

Finished Cake


Cake and the invite
So yummy!

Georgia Peach

So I found a recipe for Peach Buttercream and couldn't resist :)

Although this cake looks good and tasted good I did forget eggs...my bad! But it actually just made the cake REALLY moist, which everyone loves, so all is good!

The ingredients for the AmAzInG Buttercream( that's peach puree in the glass by the way)

My beaters broke on me half way through and plopped powdered sugar everywhere but I went with it and got my spoonula( the best tool ever).

Pretty cake that I didn't feel like decorating


WARNING!

May cause EXTREME Drooling!

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The cake was so moist there was a little batter that wasn't cooked( probably because there were no eggs) but no reason to worry about it not being good for you

I will definitely make this cake again! It was easy, fast, and VERY good! Here is the recipe for the Peach Buttercream and the link so you can buy a spoonula Its so worth it!


SPOONULA


Peach Buttercream

3/4 cup butter

28 oz powdered sugar(buy a 32 oz bag but don't put all in because its super sweet)

2 peaches, peeled, chopped, and pureed.

Cream butter and alternate adding puree and powdered sugar.

Gig Em'

WHOOP!Lots of aggies in the family. My stepdad just graduated from the Masters Program and I still have some years to go but we had a party to congratulate him. I just decorated some plain ole sugar cookies( store bought...I know its a disgrace to my baking) with store bought frosting( second disgrace) and decked them out aTm style. I thought they turned out very cute. I know the picture quality is bad but hey its a camera phone. I need a digital one soon. Maybe with my summer money!

Swirls

This was a cake I did a while ago. I made it for a friend's mother (any excuse to make a cake) haha. It is WASC (White Almond Sour Cream) Cake with Butter Dream and MMF( Marshmallow Fondant). YUMMY!! All homeade, all good! I am just in love with this cake because I spent so much time on the swirls and got a very sweet thank you card from my friend's mom and she now knows me as "the cake lady" haha its funny because I love to get that title!

Anyways....Recipes below!

White Almond Sour Cream

1 box of white cake mix

1 cup of flour

1 cup of sugar

3/4 tsp salt

4 egg whites

1 1/3 cup water

2 Tbls. Vegetable Oil

1 8oz container of Sour Cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

Mix all together and Bake at 325 for about an hour

Desperate to Bake

Hi there!
I am doing my first official blog! I am a 20 year old college student who is obsessed with baking! I am addicted in fact...hence the names Dessert Junkie :) .I am totally obsessed with anything sweet! I love it all. Cakes are my favorite though because I get to decorate so you might see a lot of decoration goin on. Just talking about all this baking is getting me excited!