Super Bowl!

As per my usual, I made themed desserts to match a themed party. And I'm weeks late posting about it.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting and White Chocolate Laces

Chocolate Covered Strawberries with White Chocolate Laces

I will warn you, piping the white chocolate gets super tricky because it'll harden in your piping bag. So I would melt and use only maybe 1/2 cup max at a time. Also, if you're not lazy like I was, make a small batch of buttercream frosting to pipe the laces on the cupcakes. Good luck and enjoy!

Go Team! And Happy Crafting!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

We do Friday Treats at work and last week it was my pod's turn... I brought Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. I'll be honest, I cheated a bit on this one. The cinnamon rolls are store bought, but the icing is still homemade!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes Recipe:

Place individual cinnamon rolls (NOT jumbo size) into cupcake liners in muffin tins. I bought Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (3 packages of 8 rolls) and they fit perfectly. Bake according to instructions on the package (about 8 minutes), remove from oven, and let cool. Ice with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla. Makes more than enough to ice 24 cinnamon roll cupcakes.

Happy baking!

Oreo Cupcakes

So as a middle school teacher, I often struggle to convince my students to turn in their homework (as if the idea of learning or failing isn't enough motivation?!). One of my fellow teachers had the same problem and she came up with a Homework Competition. Genius! So of course I totally copied her idea (she said it was okay). Each of my 5 classes competes against each other each week to see which class has the highest percentage of homework completed and turned in on time (I also struggle to convince my students to turn in on time). The winning class gets to pick their prize. So far, some of the choices have been Late Homework Passes, Bring a Snack to Class, One Extra Day for a Project, and of course, Cupcakes! I made the cupcakes below for period 5. They have won the Homework Completion Competition more than any other period and even got 100% one week! They deserved cupcakes...

Oreo Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Start with your favorite Chocolate Cupcake. Any chocolate cupcake will do, I normally use HERSHEY'S "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake. (It goes well with my cream cheese frosting.)

Oreo Frosting

Make your favorite Buttercream Frosting. Again, any buttercream frosting will do. Once your frosting is made, ground up a bunch of oreo cookies (I used a few handfuls of oreos and threw them in the food processor), and add them to your frosting. Taste your frosting as you add the oreos in order to find the flavor you're looking for. It won't be a very strong oreo flavor, more subtle.

Garnish

Top off your Oreo Cupcakes with a whole oreo. Yum!

My students loved them, and were very impressed... They saw there was an extra (mine!) and began to persuade me to give it to them... A bunch of lawyers, they'll be!

Happy baking! And happy crafting!

Bunny Cupcakes

I realize that I am now a couple of days late (meant to post this ON Easter), but still worth a post. This year I made Easter Bunny Cupckakes... vanilla cupcakes, vanilla buttercream frosting, sugar cookie ears with white fondant, and cotton ball tails. Cute, right? I have to admit, I don't think they are nearly as cute (or nearly as tasty) as last year's carrot patch cupcakes.

What would I change? 1. I would use paper cupcake liners (as originally planned) in order for the cotton ball tails to stick better. 2. I would replace the butter in the frosting with shortening to get pure white instead of off-white. 3. I would have (as my mom suggested) baked the cookie ears with a toothpick or stick in them to help them stay on the cupcakes a little better.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Today is my Grandma's 90th Birthday! Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma Pauline! The family went down to visit Grandma today and celebrate this milestone. There were balloons, karaoke, and of course, cupcakes! I whipped together some vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting for the occasion...

Yum, right?! I found both recipes at marthastewart.com... I have yet to find a bad recipe from her. The cupcakes were a tad sweet, but a really good sweet. Here are the links... Old-Fashioned Vanilla Icebox Cake and Vanilla Bean Buttercream. Enjoy!

Super Bowl

Football Cookies:

Almond-Sugar Cookies, White Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate Fondant, White Icing

Endzone Cupcakes:

Chocolate Cupcakes, Green Cream Cheese Frosting, White Icing, Goal Post Toothpicks

 

Football Cupcakes:

Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Ganache, White Icing

Endzone Trays:

Football Field Patterned Printed on White Cardstock, Cut, Folded, Glued...

line with wax paper to hold chicken wings!

Enjoy the Super Bowl, Ya'll! Happy Crafting!

Chocolatey Birthday Cake

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! Although we celebrated her birthday last week by volunteering to package homeless kits at our church, I decided it was necessary to celebrate on her actual birthday with some very chocolately cake. Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganach and Chocolate Sprinkles. Yum, right?

 

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Cake:
2 c sugar
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c boiling water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour evenly into pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Ganache:
Courtesy of Martha Stewart
1 1/2 c heavy cream
9 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
Bring cream to a boil. Pour into heat-proof bowl over chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth. Let sit before frosting.

Happy Baking!

Navy Party

Like I said in my previous Navy Party Post, the party was awesome! Below are pictures of the decorations and food...

Thank You Hadar, aka Miss Kindergarten, for helping me paint the way cute signs we used. And by help, I mean she totally did it all for me while I watched and pretended I was doing something.

And she helped me fix all the mistakes I made painting stripes on wooden trays. I really should not be allowed to paint. Anything. Ever. I used one tray to hold Margarita Supplies at the bar and the other to hold a Boat, Cocktail Napkins, and LifeSaver Mints.

The Navy Props that were used in all those fabulous pictures. Nicole, my amazingly awesome partner-in-crime, found Temporary Anchor and Heart Tattoos! I know. Way Cool... Ignore the Gorilla Tape. The backdrop was giving us quite a hard time!

Thank You Jan, aka Daniel's Mom, for taking all these fabulous pictures. I was so preoccupied that I forgot to take pictures of all the decorations! I know! Thank Goodness for Jan! Here's the table, from left to right.

Thank You Nicole for all the work you put into planning and prepping the food! She made four different types of Butter as a toppings bar for Grilled Corn on the Cob. YUM!

And my Dessert Table. Nothing but Cheesecakes and Forks.

Remember my Triple Chocolate Cheesecake? Mmm. One of my Favorites.

And another one of my favorites... Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.

So happy that so many of Daniel's closest colleagues, family, and friends could join him in celebrating his Commission into the Navy. Happy Crafting! 

Cupcakes for Jan

So it's the boyfriend's mom's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Jan! I thought I would make her a card using one of the stamp sets she's given me. Problem. She's given me almost half of my stamp sets! So I just sort of closed my eyes and picked one. Create a Cupcake was my blind choice and I LOVE how this card turned out! It's definitely one of my new favorites.

Seriously! How cute is that?!?!

I'm once again OBSESSED! And instead of making her cupcakes, I made her fudge...

Yumm. Happy baking! And happy crafting!

More Yummy

Daniel and I had dinner with friends last night... Of course I made cheesecake for dessert. And I gave the extra slices away as "thank yous". Below are the baggies I made with my "a little yummy for your tummy" stamp (see my previously made "yummy" bag here). I love that stamp. So here I go... Thank You, Jan! Jan is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and set up a stamping party for Andrea and I yesterday (I'll post the cards we made later). Thank You, Francheska and Shastina! Francheska and Shastina gave me much appreciated rides home this week from Vacation Bible School. Thank You, Kelly! And Kelly is a high school science teacher who is sharing some of her amazing tricks with me. I'm obviously super lucky to have these people in my life and wanted to show my appreciation.

Not my finest work, but edible. I've been trying out new cheesecake recipes...

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cheesecake:

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Crust

HERSHEY'S Chocoalte Chip Cheesecake

It's good, but the Triple Chocolate Cheesecake I had previously made was definitely better. Happy baking! And happy crafting all!

A Little Yummy

I felt like making a little yummy today...The leftover slices of triple chocolate cheesecake are going to Hadar today, so I decided to decorate the baggie for her. Below is the product.

To Make: Fold patterned paper in half over the top of a Ziploc bag, covering the zippy part, and decorate. I used my yummy stamp from my Yummy stamp set from Stampin Up and some ribbon.

Don't Forget: My GIVEAWAY ends Thurs, July 7th @ 7:11pm!

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Oh, baby! Daniel and I are having dinner with friends tonight, so as usual, I made dessert. I LOVE the triple chocolate cheesecake that comes in the "Cheesecake Dillema" box at Trader Joe's, so I thought I'd try making that. I didn't have an actual recipe, but 3 seperate cheesecake recipes that I combined... And it TOTALLY worked! In reality, I made a chocolate graham cracker crust, filled it with chocolate cheesecake, then topped it off with mini chocolate chips. You'll find the recipes below.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe:

HERSHEY'S Crust

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. HERSHEY's Cocoa

1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Combine graham crackers, sugar, cocoa, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and about 1 1/2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes at 325.

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Cheesecake

3 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c. sugar

1/3 c. HERSHEY's Cocoa

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour into prepared crust.* Bake 45-50 minutes at 350. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Loosen cake from side of pan before removing side of pan completely. Cover and refrigerate several hours. Enjoy!

* One mistake I made was not mixing in the mini chocolate chips before pouring the filling into the crust. Next time, I plan on pouring about half of the cheesecake filling into the crust., mixing the mini chocolate chips with the remaining filling, then pouring that chocolately batch on top of the cheesecake. Maybe a nice chocolate drizzle over that?

VOTE: Which do you prefer, Original (vanilla) Cheesecake or Chocolate Cheesecake?

And don't forget about my GIVEAWAY!

Easter Decor

This year's Easter Decor Theme: Carrots! And not only is it Easter, but it is also my cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday, Alex! So I promised her I'd make some cupcakes for her birthday... of course, I didn't stop at the cupcakes. I created a banner by sewing together a string of orange paper triangles, addes Alex's name, as well as some green ribbon to make the two on the end look like carrots.

I went shopping with my aunt, Alex's mama, in order to find bright green and orange napkins, plates, and silverware. We'll be eating outside this year and we don't want to do dishes (and by we, I mean me!). And because I just can't stop at festive banners and cupcakes, I also made carrots out of the napkins and silverware... so smart, I know! I googled "carrot napkin folds", thinking I'd find a fancy way to fold just a napkin into a carrot (sort of like oragami) and found this idea instead.. I rolled a medium-sized orange napkin around bright green silverware, tied with a bright green ribbon, and viola! Haha. We could use our carrot to eat our carrots! (I'm practically rolling on the floor laughing right now!)

And my pride and joy... carrot patch cupcakes! I made basic chocolate cupcakes and frosted them with my fabulous cream cheese frosting (thanks for the idea, Francheska!). I then sprinked some crushed graham crackers on top to represent dirt and wrapped cupcake liners made from kraft paper around the base. Now for the tough part... I molded orange starburst into the shape of carrots and cut green sour strings to represent the stalk. As simple as this sound, and it was, I made 3 per cupcake times 20 cupcakes to equal 60 candy carrots! Needless to say, my hands started to hurt after a while... it was so worth it, though!

I can't wait for Alex to see all of my carrot decorations! And I can't wait to eat all those carrot patch cupcakes! Have a happy Easter and happy crafting all!

Ashley

Ducky

A friend of mine will be moving to Minnesota in less than a month, so we are throwing her a goodbye party. Growing up, I called her "Ducky," therefore, it seemed appropriate to have a duck themed party... "Good Luck, Ducky!" Below are all the fun treats I made... The cookies are almond-sugar cookies with yellow marshmallow fondant on top. The cupcakes are chocolate with blue vanilla buttercream frosting and a yellow candy duck on top. Doesn't the candy ducky look like he's taking a bubble bath? Ha! I have way too much fun with this sort of stuff... and I clearly need children. Oh, happy crafting!

It's a 60's Party!

My dad celebrated his 60th birthday back in February and we threw him a surprise 60's party... so much fun!!! Below are pictures of my dad and I, as well as the cake I had made. The tie dye t-shirt invite is actually one that I made for a party that the boyfriend's mom is throwing... totally groovy, right?

Polka Dots

Black and white polka dots were the theme of our Teacher Appreciation Brunch for Sunday School this year. I made water bottle labels with a polka dot border and "Thank You" written across the middle. I also made cupcakes as the "thank you" gift for all the Sunday School volunteers... red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, then wrapped them in some black and white polka dot wrapping paper. Yum! The cupcake wrappers were super easy to make as I found a template on the internet, cut, traced, and cut again. And I even thought to wear my black and white polka dot wedges so I totally matched the theme! Happy crafting, everyone!

Graduation

The boyfriend graduated last weekend and I've been dying to share pictures from the party we threw for him. So here they are...

I made water bottle labels that just stuck right over the originals, graduation caps made out of mini Reces Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate squares, and a red velvet cake with graduation cap and scroll made out of fondant. I also took pictures of everyone at the party using some graduation props. Here are a couple of the happy graduate. Most of them turned out pretty funny. So happy graduation to the boyfriend and to anyone else graduating this year! And happy crafting!