Happy 40th Birthday Dustin!

On Feb. 16th we had a surprise 40th birthday party for my Uncle Dustin. I made a cake, cupcakes and brownies for this event. I sculpted the cake to look like a football jersey (his favorite team...The Cowboys). I made it look like the jersey had shoulder pads....I think it came out great! The cake was two layers of chocolate cake with a vanilla buttercream in between the layers and on the outside of the cake as well.

I made yellow cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting and I also made funfetti cupcakes with funfetti frosting. 

I really enjoy making brownies (as you can tell....I always make them!)

 Here is the complete set up at the birthday party...with a decorative cake board (wrapped in wrapping paper and cellophane like I mentioned in a previous post) and a cupcake stand, this set up makes for a beautiful spread!

Storm Nemo

Storm Nemo (or as it is known in Connecticut, Storm Charlotte)

Staying inside today because of the snow (got between 27 to 30 inches here). I was getting antsy so I decided to make some brownies! These are just regular brownies but I decided to make them in one of my special brownie pans rather than just a cake pan like usual. This brownie pan is great because it makes every square have sides. If your favorite part is the edges (which mine are) this is a great pan!

Below is a picture of the brownie pan....It has a false bottom and the brownie separator insert. What you do is: put the bottom in the pan and spray the pan. Then, pour the brownie batter into the pan and insert the sprayed separator into the batter. They will bake separately and every side of the brownie is an edge! This is also great if you want to add nuts or other things into a few of the brownies but not all of them (I don't recommend doing that if someone is allergic to the nuts or whatever else you put into just a few of the brownies as they would not be 100% separate.) 

What's your storm activity?

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!