PBars

I love when we have meeting at work & I get to use it as an excuse to make something for people! I think I use this excuse rather often...but hey, why not?!

I only had a little bit of time after hitting the gym & going out to dinner the other night, so I needed to make something quick. Something I don't actually have to bake?! Ok, let's try it out.

Here we have a bottom layer made like rice crispy treats, but with corn flakes instead. This was the layer that required a little cooking, but not baking.

All it took was a little sugar caramelized, with a little butter poured over the corn flakes. Smoosh it down in the bottom of a pan & there ya go. Seriously, cutting the perfectly is more challenging than actually making them!

Fugly Flan

My friend requested that I make flan. I have never made it before, but whatever! I like trying new things! I went with this recipe as it was the first one that came up when I used the magic google searchy thing. Review seemed ok. I didn't read them all, though...

recipe for @potcallskettle

@potcallskettle asked if I had this recipe posted anywhere...I didn't, as I assume most people who look at my blog don't really go bake what I have made. However, if ever you would like a recipe for something I post here, let me know! I will happily post it in detail!

Brownie
3/4 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 T dark, unsweetened cocoa powder
5 oz dark chocolate
1/2 C butter
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
3 eggs
1 t vanilla

Pre-heat over to 325 degrees & butter and line a glass 9x13 pan. Whisk dry ingredients together & set aside. Melt chocolate & butter over a double boiler. Once melted, add sugars & whisk until combined. Let sit & come to room temp.

Brownie Coconut Chocolate Glazed Bars

I took a vote on Facebook...and even though most people votes for peppermint, the one person that works with me, who will be in the office on Monday, voted coconut!

An unusual post for me - Peach Coleslaw

Most of the time, I wouldn't bother posting my daily food makings here...because what I eat is boring. Eggs, chicken, broccoli...avocado, bacon, eggs, more eggs...some sort of egg/coconut flow pancake, protein shakes...yeah, it is pretty not exciting.

However, I like fruit a lot, so I decided to make this Stone Fruit Coleslaw. Since I was only able to find peaches that weren't perfectly ripe (slightly under-ripe is what is called for), that is what I used. It would have looked great to use plums, or nectarines, too.

the tiniest Green Tea Cupcakes w/Pistachio White Chocolate Frosting

Obviously, I like making cupcakes. I went to Madison today with my friend/co-worker and we hit up a cake decorating store. Much to my surprise, they had about a million things I needed! Most exciting?! Extra miniature cupcake liners!

Corn Flakes 'n' Stuff Cookies

I am kind of obsessed with baking a cookie that has a particular texture. It is sort of hard to describe, it came from the same place as yesterday's cookie inspiration, Milk Bar. Their chocolate chocolate chip & blueberries & cream cookies had this fudge-like, dense texture. Lots of butter & sugar should help with this. Almost like they weren't really baked.

CornFlakes, Marshmallows & Chocolate Chips

So, the Junk in the Trunk Cookies were YUM! But, not the texture I was after...these are much closer! I think my addition of corn flakes is what caused it to not be exactly what I was looking for - so maybe I just need to try this recipe with out the crunchy stuff!

Of course, I didn't follow this exactly as written - instead of dried blueberries, I added 1.5 C of corn flakes, 1/2 C of chopped marshmallows & 1/2 C chocolate chips.

I have to say...they taste pretty amazing! But, next time...(tomorrow?!) I will try this base recipe with out the extras and see how it turns out!

My real issue with this, is all of the stuff in the cookie is causing them to bake in somewhat random shapes! I need perfect circles! I can't help it. I just do.

Cheetos cookie, anyone?!

my compost cookie

Cheetos Cookie Junk in the Trunk Cookie (thank you, Leanna!)

Last week, someone at work brought in cookies from Milk Bar. Tons of weird, yet cool flavors. I loved the chocolate cookie, the corn cookie & the compost cookie. Of course I had to look for the recipe. I found something that looked like it could work here.

The Compost Cookie, which makes me laugh - because it is registered by Milk Bar, was what I was dying to bake! Why you ask? Because you get to throw in whatever stuff you want! Sweet & salty!

Tangled Birthday Cake

Rapunzel and her hair

My co-worker's daughter turns 6 today! And she requested a cake with Rapunzel, from the movie Tangled.

When I heard about this, of course I offered to make the cake! At minimum, it will taste better than a store bought cake! And, I think I made it look pretty cool...

My most FAVORITE cookie recipe ever (cause I can eat them!)

This is one thing I make that I will actually eat! I found this recipe in a magazine called Oxygen - a fitness magazine. So, of course it is a 'healthy' version of a cookie. but I SWEAR, try it...the recipe is as good as a regular cookie recipe!

Extra cake = more Cake Balls! Red Velvet.

Well, I've made a LOT of cupcakes this week! And often times a recipe that makes 24 cupcakes, actually would make more. But, I only have 2 cupcake pans. So, what do I do? Bake the extra batter any how...and make more cake balls!

This week, I had extra Red Velvet cake & extra cream cheese frosting. So, there it is! I think it looks kind of cool with the red inside:-) But, then again, I am easily entertained! I never imagined how popular they would be at work!

If you want to learn how to make these, visit my post from earlier this week here!

Father's Day means Cake!!!

First, Happy Father's Day to my dad! And everyone else who is a dad! And...seriously, if you are in my area, this cake is for the taking if you are or have an awesome dad and want a cake to celebrate with (message me).

I just frosted a Father's Day cake and it is 2AM! Like I said…disordered? Probably! Not to mention, my dad doesn't live here, so I can't even give him the cake!

I got a book called Baked. It was written by a guy who owns a bakery called Baked (visit the site). I saw pictures of this cakes and became obsessed with making this awesome swirl on the top of a cake like he does! Couldn't stop thinking about it…

So, having some extra cake batter from the last cupcakes I made, I just baked a cake. Had extra frosting…and just HAD to try it out. I was excited, because I emailed Baked asking them how they did the swirl. Matt Lewis, the creator of Baked, actually emailed me back himself letting me know how they did this! Just a spoon or spatula with a turn table. That is sort of what I thought…but, figured I'd ask for reassurance before attempting on my own.

Well low and behold…I am good at the swirl! This was my first try. Seriously, I know I can do this stuff! Why do I always think I won't be able to! Here is a view of the top! I was (am) SO excited about this! Now I can't wait to need to make another cake! Oh yeah...I didn't need this one...Ummm, let me know if you need a cake?! Please??

Designing a Cupcake

I haven't been able to sleep well lately, so what have I been doing while I should be sleeping? Googling cupcake companies to see what they make, how their cupcakes look and anything else I may not have thought about.

This is it...

A couple of successful cupcake companies have a signature look to their cupcakes. Regardless of the flavor, they frost them all the exact same way. I am not sure how I feel about that. I kind of like coming up with new ways to make things look! But, it got me thinking that I need to design my own signature cupcake look!

Cake Balls 2.0

So, because everyone at worked really seemed to like the Nutella Cake Balls I made the other day, I decided to do it again, but improve the process!

One cake recipe makes about 50-60 of these!

Because I cannot stand those candy-melt-fake-chocolate-crappy-things you find at Michaels or Walmart, I of course use real chocolate. On my first go-around, the ganache I made was good, but a little soft. So, at room temperature, I didn't think the coating of chocolate was hard enough. This time, I used less cream. Seems to have worked!
 
I also thought, since I am not sticking these in something so they stand up, some sprinkles on the bottom would also help keep the gooey balls of goodness from sticking to a serving platter or plate. I just dipped the bottom of the cake ball into sprinkles right after I dipped them in the chocolate. It should add a good crunch, too!

I guess I am kind of a dork, but I LOVE how shiny the chocolate is! Makes me happy!

Anyhow, here is my adjusted ganache recipe.

Ganache 
12 oz chocolate
8 oz heavy cream
                            
Melt chocolate over double boiler
Add cream
Gently whisk until combined
Allow to cool before dipping cake balls

FYI, allow enough time for the ganache coating to set up. You can put them in the fridge or freezer to chill for a few minutes, but if you leave them in there too long, the chocolate coating will crack.

Rum Cupcakes w/Salted Caramel Buttercream & Toasted Pecans

There was a meeting at work today with people coming in from out of town. PERFECT. Since our catering options through the cafeteria aren't particularly stellar, I offered my services up!

I decided to go with a flavor that was liked recently by all of my co-workers. My Rum Cupcake recipe is a slight tweak on a recipe from my grandmother. I remember liking this bundt cake so much as a kid. So, I got the recipe and just made more home made (ie, not using the box mix).

This is the recipe I got:-)

Cake
1 pkg Duncan Hines white cake mix
1lg instant pudding vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 c water
1/2 c dark rum
mix 1 at a time
grease and flour bundt pan
1/2 cup chopped nuts(walnuts) put on bottom of pan
pour cake batter over nuts
bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/4 hours
flip onto plate




Cake Topping
1/2 lb butter or marg
any questions call grandma.
1 c sugar
1/4 c rum
1/4 c water
bring to boil until foamy
pour over cake.

LOL. I adjusted this a bit to remove the boxed cake mix & replaced it with this cupcake recipe, I kept the pudding in from the original recipe, but used my standard butter cream recipe (obviously) minus one stick of butter and a little special caramel flavoring. 

After the cupcakes cooled, I carefully poured the butter mixture on each one. Then I let them sit over night so the frosting would not slide off due to the buttery goo. Once I frosted these, I topped them with a little toasted pecan (since I didn't put any on the bottom of the cupcake liners - see original recipe for cake) and some black sea salt. And that is it folks. Eat up!

JarPies! Of the Banana Cream kind.

Banana Cream JarPie!

So, again, it is someone's birthday at work! Yay for me. I cannot just bring one thing, apparently. So, I made mini banana cream pies in jars, of course. Nothing horribly stimulating to write about them, but here is the recipe (http://www.bakersroyale.com/cupcakes/individual-banana-cream-pies/) and I have to say, it seemed to turn out very well! The only thing I did differently was add ganache on top & make them in jars (obviously).

And now I am about to make some Rum Cupcakes & more Cake Balls on a stick! More stuff for people at work:D

moo.com - seriously sweet for biz cards

So, in a recently posted my new business cards here on the blog. The next day, moo.com sent me an email about their 'referral' program. I thought, why not share?! It is a pretty awesome company!

You can design your own business cards & upload them, use a ton of photographs or images and have a different back to each card, or use their designs. So simple!

Anyhow, if you are in the market for some business cards from moo.com, please use this link

http://www.moo.com/share/7sqcj6 so I can get credit! Much appreciated! I might even just make you a cupcake!

one of many possibilities from moo.com

Oh, and if you need a fabulous graphic designer to create a custom design for you, check out my friend Tracy @ http://www.decoridesign.com/. She can make the creation in your head a reality!

Posting of past things...

I don't want to be super obnoxious & re-post everything I have ever posted before I moved blogger...so I am going to attempt to do it in one, reasonably sized post. Mainly, so I have my pics archived for when my computer crashes (lets hope it doesn't though!).

candied bacon & maple cupcake

This was for a co-worker who had a birthday...something for which I am glad everyone has! More birthdays mean more days I NEED to bring something in!

This is a simple vanilla cake that I soaked with maple syrup, topped with a vanilla butter cream (my standard recipe), then topped with bacon that I coated in brown sugar and maple syrup right before I put it in the oven.

The nice thing is the bacon bakes flat! Which allowed me to cut each slice in 3rds, then cut each of those in half, making mini bacon slices - which is why there are 3 on each cupcake!

Candied bacon is everything delicious packed in a little meat strip. Sweet, a little salty an melts in your mouth. SO. GOOD.

New BIZ cards!

I cannot wait for these to arrive from moo.com! LUV!!!

the front

the back

So...ummm, let me know if you need cupcakes or any other cake-ish type things:D

JarCakes are the new Cupcakes.

I have a new obsession. Baking cupcakes in jars. Why? Why not?! Every time I bake something, I want it to be something I haven't done before. Not super realistic or practical of me, right? Well, I came across this when trying to figure out how I could ship cupcakes to friends with out some crazy, specially made cupcake shipping contraption. The JarCake is cute, portable, shippable and just kinda fun.

Here is my second attempt at this. Still figuring out just how full to fill the jars with batter...but it worked! Better to be a little under than over, or you won't be able to put the lid on!

red velvet cupcake (rvc) w/cream cheese frosting (ccf)

The recipe I used for this batch of cupcakes (made 36) can be found here. I have to say I am not personally a huge rcv fan, but apparently it is like, the thing to like. It has made a comeback - I read that somewhere. So, hopefully co-workers will tell me this doesn't taste like crap! It would be so unfortunate to make crappy tasting cupcakes for a co-worker's birthday!

sprinkled w/chocolate & cocoa crisps

At least I can always attempt to make a cupcake, regardless of the flavor, look decent! It is challenging to pipe into a friggin' jar - but practice...I will a lot, I am sure! So, let me know if you need any JarCakes as I am sure I will have more than enough to share with you in the near future!

all lined up!

Cake Balls on a Stick

So, due to my OCD with baking things, I made these last night. No real need for them...but when do you need cake on a stick? Probably not really ever. But what the heck?!

nutella cake balls coated in ganache

These are SO easy to make, people. 
1) Bake cake of your choice (you can use a box...but please don't say I said it was ok...)
2) Dump cake, right out of oven, into large bowl
3) Add jar of Nutella (or peanut butter or almond butter...cream cheese frosting...butter cream...) to bowl
4) Mix and squish together
5) Let cool, or you might burn your hands
6) Use ice cream scooper to make balls - any size you want
7) Put a stick in them
8) Freeze for at least an hour
9) Dip in ganache*
10) Put on tray & pop back in freezer to set

*ganache is 1 part chocolate & 1 part heavy cream. Don't know how to make it? google it:-) or let me know and I'll write it out!