tonight i made this

and it was glorious.

recipe here

thanksgiving

So this thanksgiving I am contributing 2 things - vegetarian gravy (no poor helpless turkey throat in MY gravy, thank you very much) and this gorgeous perfect delish cake. i made a mini-cupcake variation of this for my sister in law's "meet the baby" party, where all my mom's friends came to meet gorgeous Finley.
they were g.o.o.d.
so i'm makin the real deal holyfield for tomorrow!

yum city!

recipe via bonappetit

The recipe is fairly simple, and it's easier than it looks.

I'm excited! off to the grocery store!

kwismas kookiez

oh gee, these are cute!

I bet you could just use little letter (clean, duh) stamps too and write
messages like "Santa's Got a Big Chimney" or something glorious and perverse along those lines.

But most likely I'll spring for the designer cookie cutters!




williams sonoma

owl love you

i saw this cake on cakewrecks.
they found it via hypercreative's flickr.
it is not not not a wreck (obviously they know that too, duh).

it is the least wreck i've ever seen in my life.
it is, in my opinion, my "perfect cake".
holy moly i'm in love. the colors, the shapes, its perfect.

if this was a term, it would be "the cake of my life."


i wish more than anything i knew how to work with fondant.
maybe this will inspire me to get lurnin!

let them eat cupcake

i love to bake.
i try to restrain my urge to reach for the sugar and flour for fear of blowing up into a giant sized version of myself, however, whenever my self awareness light goes off, I head to the oven.
just to be clear- i head to the oven to bake, NOT to kill myself.

i am also a big believer in presentation. In my edible opinion, things taste twice as good if they look twice as good (with the exception of most wedding cakes...)

aren't these just to die for?

visit cupcakesocial for more

the. perfect. meal.

ok so it's to the point where i feel incredibly stupid for saying i cooked another martha stewart recipe. but seriously, it is virtually impossible to go wrong.

Last Night's Menu:
Grilled Striped Bass with
Lemon and Caper Mashed Potatoes and
Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream and Dill Dressing

with

Strawberry Tart for dessert.




It really really like rules my life, this meal.

when life gives you lemonz

make lemon bars!

I am a huge fan of Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King (hey, any King is a friend of mine). I have made nearly everything in this book but one of my abso faves is the Dot's Lemon Bars. They are the perfect mix of tart and sweet, and i'm feeling tarty and sweet-ish, so bring on the baking.

In case you wanna get baked, here is the recipe for you.

Dot's Lemon Bars
Yield: 16 squares

Ingredients:
(this is the best part - you most likely have all these things in your kitchen already)

BASE:
1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

LEMON TOPPING
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

TO MAKE THE BASE:
In a medium bowl, miz the butter, flour, and sugar with your hands till the mixture is well blended. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch pan. Pat the mixture evenly on the bottom of pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
While the base is baking, beat the eggs. Add the sugar and lemon zest. Mix thtoroughly. Add the flour and mix it till it is incorporated.
When the base is baked, remove the pan from the oven (duh). Add the lemon juice to the sugar mixture and mix. Pour it over the warm base and bake it for 20 minutes.
When it is cool, cut it into squares. Dust it with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. (the recipe says they look prettier sugared, but taste better plain - i personally prefer the confectioners sugar dusting, but it's your call)

Eat.

cake town!

my lovely friends are having a potluck backyard
bbq tonight and i made dessert, natch.


have a look here at my grand ol' flag cake!

easter sunday cake

this is what i made! i made a tiny ramekin for me and jamie to sample and it was deeeee-vine.

it looks GROSS, i have to say. i dont know why - but it really is not something i would cut into at the buffet table.

however, it tastes like a dream.

my momma loves cranberries thats why i made it. (she saved a bag in her freezer, otherwise this would have been a thanksgiving cake!)

Note to Reader: This picture below is complete bullshit. This cake does NOT, nor will it ever look like it does below. I was very disappointed when i turned the cake out of the pan. however, when that baby did the cha cha on my taste buds all my book judging instincts went out the window!

recipe found (duh) here

happy easter!

i have no religion, but i like reasons to bake cakes!

ch-ch-ch-ch-chaaaanges

so biiiig changes goin on in the house.
let me tell you.
BIG changes.
i changed the labels on my ingredients containers.
don't go bein alllll jealous cause i got so much goin on.
just be happy for me that i got the guts to partake in such a courageous undertaking.

rainbow cake to another degree

srsly.

image via ffffound

maybe?

this miiiight not be legal but i mean, i see no harm in re posting something i have paid for. i made blueberry muffins this morning and i have to say they are the EASIEST things i've ever made and they were like, really freakin good. i take zero credit for the wonderfulness of this recipe, as it belongs to Tate's bakery (best baking recipes i've ever tasted and really really easy).

Blueberry Muffins
(you can add any fruit, really, but blueberries are called for here)

ingdts: 3 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup salted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups fresh or frozen berries (i used fresh as it takes a lot of the crazy sweetness away)

preheat oven to 400 degrees. grease twelve muffin cups. (i had a little extra so made whatever was left in a second batch)

in a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

in a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, and eggs. whisk the mixture until it is combined.

combine the butter mixture with the dry ingredients and mix it lightly until just moistened. fold in the blueberries, spoon the mixture evenly into prepared muffin cups.

bake them for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of one muffin.

yields 12 muffinz. (for me it yielded 15!)

box cutterz

so i made cookies this morning and obviously i dont want them in my house. i was pressed to find a cute package to put them in (wrapping them in parchment paper is good but its never got the punch i'm lookin for.) soooo i went in search. i found this perfect tutorial on creating little paper gift boxes from regular old computer paper. so i scanned in a bunch of my favorite pieces of vintage paper that i dont want to give away (or have them touch food, thank yew verrrry much), printed them on regular old computer paper and got to foldin! about 4 cookies, stacked fit PERFECTLY in here! also, jewelry gifts, anything that will fit into a box measuring 3 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall.... its another good way to make something instead of using a lame-o white box.

see below for the results of my little paper project!

click here for the simple and easy to follow tutorial

tate's

i'm making tate's uhhhhmazing chocolate chip cookie recipe!

yay!!

bye bye miss pecanican pie

i mades me a pie! i've only ever once made a pie and it was bad. i mean. BAD.

this pie is still cooling but i have a feeling its gonna be delishiousoooo!

please keep in mind this photo is NOT of the pie i made, it is of martha stewart's version...

image via marthastewart.com

THIS is my pie. not as pretty but just as sweet!

click here for the "easy as pie" (hehe) recipe.

cupcakes cupcakes everywhere!

i made more yesterday. the plan was to "make cupcakes with my mom" but my kitchen is small and i work best alone. so she sat and watched me. anyway, these are delicious i just did a regular vanilla cupcake recipe with mashed bananas, flour dusted chocolate chips (to keep them from sinking to the bottom), a little bit of cinnamon and poof! and again, the martha frosting! so easy it hurts.


look at my little cupcakes!

and we ate it too...

i made the rainbow cake! and it worked!

i used a yellow cake recipe from the new Tate's Cookies Cookbook and a Martha Stewart vanilla frosting recipe - and they were both great. I added some chocolate chips to the top of the cake and really, it was yummy!

you could easily do this with box cake too, and forget the gel colors, just use regular old food coloring works well.

Just blob the layers on top of eachother. don't mix them around, just blob, and it will settle correctly.

also this would work really cute with different shades of blue or pink, or something like that.

it looked so cool!!!!!

see pics below.





click here for Martha Stewart's Vanilla Frosting Recipe
(the frosting was so delicious and easy, I have no excuse
to ever buy a can of frosting again)
like, seriously.