Fundraiser Cookies

My very best friend Catherine Marino is going to Africa (specifically Namibia) in the beginning of December. She will be doing a fellowship there teaching children music. To help raise funds for her trip, we made these giraffe and elephant sugar cookies. These are a quick and cute fundraising idea. You can cut out any shape you want and decorate them any way you want. Below is a link you can use to donate towards Catherine's trip. Thank you in advance for donating. Kids in Africa need teachers like Catherine to educate them.  

 The best way to help is to donate by visiting the WorldTeach website: www.worldteach.org . Click Donate/Pay in the top right corner, and where it says "Donor Specified for" - click "Other" in the drop-down menu, and then add her name (Catherine Marino) so WorldTeach puts the funds towards her trip. *Remember, ANY amount helps!* Thank you so much!

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

My triple chocolate chip cookies have become a family favorite. I recently made these for a meeting that my high school culinary teacher had. I was asked to help out at the meeting and decided to bring treats with me as well. These are triple chocolate chip cookies because they have white chocolate chips, chocolate chips (sometimes chocolate morsels too) and cocoa powder. Even though I am not a big chocolate fan, I still love these cookies. Surprisingly, with all the chocolate, it is not too overpowering. These are great to dip in coffee or hot chocolate and they are also great with ice-cream. I personally just like them plain. I highly recommending ordering these some day!

God Bless Vincent & Rebecca

On October 6th, my two cousins made their Confirmation. To celebrate, they had this cake. It is three layers of chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. It was simple to make and delicious to eat. Congratulations Vinny and Rebecca!

Happy 50th Birthday Kathy, Tracey, Bob & Kenny!

I made this birthday cake for the 6th of October. We celebrated four 50th birthday parties. This is a yellow cake with fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries & blackberries) and my specialty, real whipped cream. This cake was three layers tall and almost every slice was gone by the end of the night. I'd say it was a hit!

Happy 1st Birthday Adam!

A few weeks ago I created a six inch cake and 24 cupcakes for a first birthday party. It was a monkey theme. The cake and cupcakes were both yellow cake with vanilla pudding and vanilla buttercream frosting. The dots were made from gum paste which is very similar to fondant. They were a huge hit! 

Endless Summer Party

For this past Saturday I made a cake. It was a white cake with three layers, a lemon curd filling, buttercream frosting and coated in coconut. To quote "this cake is fabulous!". I am so happy it was loved and it was so easy to make! I made the cake Friday morning and while it was cooling I made the curd and buttercream frosting. The lemon curd had to cool too so I had to wait a while. It was a good little break, watched some t.v. and did the dishes. Then, I cut the cake into three layers and filled it so the cake would set. I had to make a dam in order to hold the loose filling in. After the cake was set up, I frosted it, put the coconut on the outside and made the bottom shell border. If you have any questions or want any of the recipes, I will be happy to share.

Just a tip: I made the cake board with a piece of cardboard, covered in wrapping paper and cellophane. I covered the wrapping paper with cellophane so the paper doesn't absorb moisture or anything else from the grease. That way, you can set your own theme with the wrapping paper and have an inexpensive cake board! 

Sfogliatelle....Part Two

Okay so I had some trouble uploading the picture but here they are!

If you have a pasta machine and can count then you can make these too! The dough was simply made with flour and sugar (Yep! It was that easy). I needed some muscle to run the pasta machine so I did have a helper for this. I found these to be good but not great....I am on a lookout for a new recipe for these. They did taste good but I know these could be better! I hope you enjoy how they look!

My business card

So I can't believe I haven't actually posted this to here yet. But here is a copy of my business card. Everything is priced to order and will be ready for when you need it! Place orders now! I need at least a days notice but sooner would be better :)

Sfogliatelle

Sfogliatelle......if you can say it, you can have it.

I am making three dozen Sfogliatelle for Thursday. I will post pictures as soon as I can. I am so happy to get back in the kitchen and roll up my sleeves! Sfogliatelle is basically a shell shaped pastry with filling. They are Italian. Sfogliatelle means "many leaves or layers" because the pastries texture resembles leaves stacked on each other. I hope you enjoy the pictures when I post them! 

Kelly and Greg's Wedding!!!!!

The Big Day!!! Kelly and Greg got married! I am so happy for my sister and new brother-in-law! Even though this was last year, I am still so happy for the both of them. This was a simple cake. The bottom tier was a marble cake and the top two tiers were cherry nut cake. The whole thing is frosted in buttercream frosting that i made to match the bridal parties dresses.

Kelly's Bridal Shower Cake

This was a delicious two layers of angel food cake and one layer of whipped cream with strawberries in the middle. Just like a strawberry short cake!

I know Kelly enjoyed this cake and I hope you do to! If you want a recipe email me or leave a post on the blog. I'd be happy to share any of my recipes anytime. Even my popular real whipped cream frosting.

Bethany's Baby Shower

Sooo I spent many hours on this cake (because I don't normally decorate cakes like this). I really enjoyed myself on this one. This was a baby shower cake for my sister. As you can see, it was based off this painting that is now hanging in the baby's room.

This cake was a white cake with buttercream frosting and oreo cookies in the center. It was DELICIOUS!

These cupcakes are made out of angel food cake. I soaked cut up strawberries in sugar for about an hour. *Soaking strawberries in sugar brings out their juices* Be careful not to soak them too long; we didn't want them to be too juicy here. Then I cut out some of the middle of each cupcake and put a scoop of juicy strawberry in each one. Topped the cupcake with whipped cream and a strawberry slice. These were a hit! I even made this in cake form for my other sister's bridal shower! 

Peyton's Birthday

My cousin Peyton had a reptile themed birthday. I made a cupcake cake (don't worry it's a good one!)

...I believe it's a crocodile but it may be an alligator (I can't remember now). I also made those froggie cupcakes! The croc is made out of 24 funfetti cupcakes with green buttercream frosting. I hand-piped many many pearls on top of each cupcake. The spiky backs are made with hershey chocolates, the teeth are made out of cut up marshmallows, the claws are made from yellow (banana) runts and the eye is made from a yodel that I frosted green.

Sorry I don't have a better picture of the frogs but they were frosted and dipped in green sprinkles. The eyes are made of a marshmallow (cut in half, frosted and dipped in green sprinkles). The pupils are made up of a single chocolate chip.

(Another) Melissa's Bridal Shower

This next cake is another bridal shower cake.....My cousin Tim got married, to a Melissa as well, and I was asked to make the cake. Soo here is it!........

......With just a few shells, you can have a fabulous cake! Anything (within reason) can make a great cake decoration.

Melissa's Bridal Shower Cake

Okay sooooo like I said I want to update all the cakes I have done from 2010 until now. Here is the first of many. My cousin Eric got married and I made the bridal shower cake for the bride, Melissa. It was a marble cake with buttercream frosting. And boy was it yummy!

It's A New Day

So I know I haven't been on this blog in a while but I want to start getting back into it. Many things have changed since 2010. I have made quite a few more cakes (including my sisters wedding cake!!) I will post pictures within a few days....