Liz's Bridal Shower

Today at work we had a bridal shower for one of our fabulous paralegals!  She is getting married in exactly a month.  One of my co-workers suggested that I make a miniature wedding cake for the shower.  We tricked Liz into thinking that we were doing a Halloween munchie day.  Everyone brought in food and we ate like crazy.

The cake was really tiny.  It was a 6" base with a 3" top  I put a cupcake on the very top and covered it in buttercream flowers to make it look like a hydrangea.  I hope you loved the cake, Liz!  Can't wait for the wedding!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today we went to a birthday party for our friend Matt's son Alex's birthday.  Alex turned 6 and he gave me 3 options for his cake.  He wanted either soccer, space, or legos.  I thought that a lego cake would be awesome, so that's what I made.  I did a quarter sheet cake and decorated it with fondant "legos".  Alex loved it!  Happy 6th birthday, Alex!

Go Tigers!

Over the summer, I met a girl in my bar review course that asked me to do a grooms cake for her October wedding.  Her fiance went to Clemson so she wanted a Clemson themed cake.  She really gave me creative license but she did request that I put "Howard's Rock" on top of the cake.  Apparently this rock is good luck for the football team and they rub it before each game.  Does this sound familiar, Terps?

Here is the Clemson cake.  The best news of it all is that the bride and I both PASSED the Delaware bar exam. For her, it was a particularly exciting week because she not only passed the bar, but 2 days later, she married her Clemson groom!  Congratulations Amber!

Oh, and speaking of weddings, last night we went to a wedding in NYC.  They had a "Viennese Hour" which is an hour full of every dessert imaginable.  They put all the desserts on a stage in the ballroom.  What an awesome idea!  Good call, Dave and Leah!

Sunday Morning: French Toast Muffins

Last Sunday, Risa over at Baked Perfection posted these muffins.  I saw them and instantly needed to try them.  This Sunday, I had some left over french bread.  Greg requested french toast for breakfast, and, well, it was just perfect timing.  These muffins are really excellent.  The cake is buttery and moist.  The topping is a true fench toast.  It is really the best of both worlds for those of us who like to eat cake for breakfast.

Since I didn't have any cinnamon bread I added some salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar to the topping mixture.

I know, I rarely post a recipe, but here it is.  YUM!

French Toast Muffins from Baked Perfection

French Toast Topping

3 tablespoons milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

6 slices cinnamon bread, crusts trimmed, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Muffins

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine all the french toast topping ingredients in a medium bow and set aside. Combine 1 cup milk, melted butter, 1 egg, and vanilla extract in another medium bowl. Combine all remaining muffins ingredients in a large bowl. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until mixed.

Spoon batter into a greased or lined 12 cup muffin pan. Soon French toast topping evenly over batter; press down slightly. Baked 20-25 minuted or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately brush muffins with maple syrup. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle over glazed muffins. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Serve warm.

Happy Birthday Skylar!

Today was my nephew Skylar's 5th birthday.  He LOVES Super Mario Brothers so I decided to make a Super Mario Brothers cake.  There were about 30 people at the party and I thought a tiered cake would be much more exciting than a sheet cake.  I frosted the entire cake in blue buttercream and used fondant to make the decorations.  Everything on the cake is edible.  My mom was my sous chef this time.  It took the two of us 8 hours to pull this one off.  I have to say, though, it might just be my favorite cake ever.  There is something about fondant that makes it so appropriate for the cartoon look.  It was just so perfect here.  Most importantly, Skylar loved it!

It's PUMPKIN time!!

Two weekends ago my friend Marie (she's coming up in a lot of posts lately, isn't she?) had a bbq at her hour to celebrate the birthdays of Mike, Kelly, herself, and me!  It was really a great party.  Since it was September I felt like it was time to break out the pumpkin.  I feel like this year I might get just as obsessed as I was last year.

This is my favorite cake.  It's my mom's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake.  It has tons of yummy spices, pumpkin, chocolate chips, and even All Bran cereal (which, I feel, makes it healthy!).  It is seriously the best cake ever.

I also made some carrot cake cupcakes for the party since that seems to be the favorite among my group of friends.

There's an app for that!

Along with the peach cupcakes I just mentioned, I also made a birthday cake for my friend Mike.  He is pretty much obsessed with his iPhone so I wanted to make him an iPhone inspired cake.  My friend Marie was amazing in picking out his favorite apps and cutting them out of fondant.  We made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Oh, and it reminded me why you should never try to make a carrot cake decorative.  Cream cheese icing is IMPOSSIBLE to work with!

I wrote hAPPy birthday on the cake!  HOW PUNNY!

Just Peachy!

Ok, I've been neglecting the blog.  A few weeks ago I made cupcakes for my friend Mike's 1 year old cousin's birthday.  Her nickname is peaches so her mom wanted to use that as the theme for the party.  She did a black and white invitation with a peach on it so I decided to tie that in with the cupcakes.  I used black foil liners with white cake.  I made peach buttercream and cut "peaches" out of fondant.  My friend Marie was my sous chef once again!  They really came out cute!