Pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream...oh, and some veggies

Today it is raining sideways. Perfect day to stay in my yoga pants (don't know why they're called that.... I never do yoga in them) and bake. I pinned this recipe forever ago, and it was just what I was hoping for on a day like today. Pumpkin, since halloween is tomorrow, and salted caramel buttercream! Because there is no better combination. Here is the original recipe. I sprinkled some with cinnamon and some with my gorgeous pink sea salt from hawaii. Also I used fresh pumpkin instead of canned. For the first time this year I made a pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin~ and it yielded about double what I needed for the pie. So I froze the rest and it came in so handy today!

I've somehow resisted eating one (so far) but I did lick a bit of frosting off my finger... so scrumptious.

I think they'll be perfect after our chili feast and trick or treating tomorrow! 

Again, click here to visit made in melissa's kitchen for the recipe!

And to balance the cupcakes.... something healthy. But still delicious! I know I've said this before, but roasting veggies is the absolute best. It really brings out their flavor, they stay firm but tender (no mushy, soggy veggies in this house!), and it is so simple! Roasted broccoli is my favorite. Roasted red potatoes are a close second. This fall combo of carrots, fingerling potatoes, purple potatoes (from a friend's garden- gorgeous, right?), and garlic is as delish as it is pretty!

Just chop veggies, toss with olive oil and whatever seasonings you like. I think I used an italian blend, some sea salt and fresh ground pepper for this. Honestly just salt and pepper is wonderful though! Toss 'em on a pan (this is my favorite pampered chef baking stone~ It's very well seasoned from all this veggie roasting I tend to do!), then roast in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Sometimes more. Stir them around now and then. 

Serve as a side dish, toss with pasta, or just eat it straight off the pan as your dinner! That's my favorite way. :)

So there ya go! A healthy dinner so you feel better about eating all those pumpkin cupcakes.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing some of the crafts I've been working on for my bazaars! One is coming up next weekend... hope those that are local can stop by and visit!

Peacock cake

This last weekend I celebrated my 32nd birthday (on 9/11... ) and decided to make my own cake. I just finished the third session of cake decorating classes at Michaels, which focused on fondant and gumpaste, so I was itching to practice! I knew there would be some birthday festivities, so I could serve the cake to friends and family. I have a horrible sweet tooth, but ironically don't enjoy cake all that much. Oh, I'll eat it- I'd rarely turn down sweets! But give me ice cream any day. I had to bake a cake to decorate for our final night of class, which was super fun. I enjoy the baking, but especially love the decorating. I brought it home afterward, hubby admired it, I posted pics on facebook, then had a little slice. The cake sat in the fridge for a week before I threw it out. Still just once slice gone. Hubby doesn't have a sweet tooth at all, so cake doesn't go quickly in our house. As long as the kids don't know it's there... and I made sure they didn't. ;) Otherwise they'd be hounding me day and night for more cake!
So anyway. I was thrilled to have an occasion to make a pretty cake where it may actually get eaten! Even though it's a bit... sad? pathetic?... to make my own cake. I didn't really care. It was mine and I got to do whatever I wanted- so I went for a peacock theme.

Feathers and all. 

My original design called for a third layer, but then I thought, "that's a ton of cake...and a ton of work". Two was plenty.

I covered the whole thing in fondant, then made the decorations out of a combination of fondant and gumpaste, plus the little edible pearls. 

You can really see the gold shimmer dust I added to the chocolate layer in this photo!

Oh, and those are supposed to be mums. Apparently they resemble either pinecones or artichokes. I may just make them green and do a vegetable theme cake someday. 

On the inside I attempted doing a zebra cake! You basically just alternate layering small amounts of chocolate and white cake batter into your pans, no swirling or mixing- then bake. It really did look like zebra stripes when we sliced into it! Too bad I forgot to take photos.

This was (obviously) my first attempt at quilting the fondant. I love the look, but need some practice! I used my clear fabric quilting ruler and a butter knife! There must be a better way. :)

I sort of wish I could just decorate cardboard boxes in the shape of cakes. The baking is alright, but wasteful if there is no occasion! And I really just want to practice! I'm thinking perhaps a halloween cake?!

Barbie cake

First, let me apologize for the horrid quality of these photos. I snapped them quickly with my phone and meant to take more with the good camera... but never did. So this is what you get. 

Last weekend we celebrated my husband's and my sister-in-law's birthday. Their birthdays are actually three days apart, so we just did big fun weekend sleepover at my parents. Beautiful weather (finally!!), great food, lots of playing and relaxing. I love spending time there. It's almost like going on vacation. 

So, this SIL of mine (my brother's wife) loves barbie. Can I just say how stinkin' lucky I got with my two SILs?! Growing up I only had a brother (whom I absolutely adore- but I always wanted a sister too!). So when I married Mike I inherited his brother and his brother's wife- Ruby's mom. LOVE her. I was so excited to finally have a sister. Then my brother married his love, and I got another sister! Two fab ladies that I can't imagine not having in my life. 

So. My brother suggested the idea of making a barbie cake for birthday girl last week, and I was instantly thrilled by the idea. It's like designing a dress and decorating a cake all at once! Luckily Ty's awesome teacher happened to have a barbie skirt pan, so I borrowed it and got to baking.

I wanted to use a real barbie instead of those barbie torso-on-a-stick things you can buy in the cake aisle. But sadly she was too tall. So an amputation was necessary. 

I made a bunch of roses with royal icing to sort of match the painted-on bodice barbie is wearing. Then did her skirt in fondant layers. I added some white "beads" around her (tiny. kinda hate her.) waist, then had some fun piping a "pearl" ring and bracelet on her. Of course she needed an icing flower in her hair. 

Oh, my this was fun.

I don't see a lot of barbie cakes in my future, so thank you sister, for your endearing barbie obsession that allowed me to have some girly fun with edible gorgeousness. 

Speaking of girly fun, I am in the midst of planning, with my barbie-loving SIL, a baby shower for a friend who is having a GIRL! I am ridiculously excited. We are full of ideas and can't wait to put them all together. I've been working on a super simple, but so pretty craft that I will share soon!

The big Wonka day

Today we celebrated Ty's birthday with 12 of his friends. At our house. It was chaos!

But so fun! And the Willy Wonka theme was a blast to plan around. We had more ideas than we had time or resources. You could really run wild with this party theme. We kept it fairly simple, since it was for a group of 4 and 5 year olds, many of whom hadn't seen the movie. 

It all started with the candy bar invitations, complete with golden tickets.

I am realizing as I post this that I'm missing tons of photos. We just got busy with the party and forgot to get pics of so many elements.  But this is the Wonka Wash (hsaw aknow, for those who know the movie... we just thought that might be confusing). The guests walked through as they entered the party.

And the contract signed by the kids in the movie as they entered the chocolate factory. Mike customized ours with each guest's name. He used the wording from the movie, but needed to fill more space.... so at the very bottom in the tiny, unreadable print is the Declaration of Independence, along with some lyrics from 'Baby got Back', by Sir Mixalot. A little throwback to our jr high years, apparently. 

Here's one angle of the dessert table. A cake pop (of course) "river", with my attempt at a fondant cake in the background.

I used my new Cricut Cake to cut the 'W' and all the little circles on the cake. The top is supposed to be Willy Wonka's hat. Hmph. Good thing I signed up for my first cake decorating class next month! Super excited about that.

I really did have a ton of fun decorating this cake. Fondant is tricky! But super fun! I can't wait to play more. 

I'm sad that I don't have pics of the rest of the dessert table. We borrowed a chocolate fountain from a friend and I made bouquets of treats to dip. Doughnut holes, strawberries, marshmallows, then plates of mini oreos and nutter butters (mmmm), bananas and pretzels. It was yummy and super festive! Very wonka.

Yep. Here's my dorky painting of an oompa loompa. And oh, that blasted song! I can't even think the words 'oompa loompa' without it getting stuck in my head.

oompa, loompa, doopity do...

I've got another 

puzzle for you....

Aaarrghh!

Please excuse the chocolate all over my son's face. It was a wonka party after all.

I managed to snap photos of most of the kids as oompas, which I plan to print and send along with the thank-you notes. They were hysterical.

I can't believe that's all the photos!

We played the ole "pop a ballon to get the prize inside" game... but used gold balloons in the shape of a 'W'. Also did a 'golden egg hunt', but each egg was labeled with each child's name to be sure everyone got one.

And this idea I loved... I read it somewhere... 

I got 12 boxes of Everlasting Gobstoppers and wrote each guest's name on one, then placed them all in a bowl near the gift table. At gift time, Ty pulled a box from the bowl, read the name, and traded the gobstoppers for the gift from that particular child. This cut down a bit on the frantic "open mine next!!", which gets confusing and frustrating for the birthday kid.

We also made candy necklaces with fruit loops and plastic cords... but again, no photos. :(

Oh, and my husband printed coloring pages with scenes from the movie and we set up a coloring station in Ty's playroom for something to do as guests arrived.

It really ended up being a fun day! Ty had a ball and loved all the wonka stuff... and especially having all his friends to his house to play. Something about that just thrills kids. And wears out parents. :)

Check back in the next day or two... I've finally taken some pics of Ty's room makeover that we did for his birthday surprise and I'll be posting!

A very Wonka birthday

This weekend is Ty's birthday party with all his friends. We've been discussing it for months- it's necessary to plan ahead since his birthday falls three weeks after Christmas and neither of us have a creative bone left in our bodies. 

Ty himself came up with the idea for a Willy Wonka theme. He loves the movie. Both movies, really. I prefer the original. Mike wanted to make candy bar invitations with a "real" golden ticket inside, so this post is all his creative genius. I had nothing to do with it. Except cutting the edges of the tickets with my decorative scissors. 

He designed and printed "Tilden bar" labels in Wonka font on nice, thick paper. We had a tough time finding chocolate bars that are still wrapped this way, with the foil and separate paper wrapper. These are king size Hershey bars. 

The golden tickets are tucked inside the foil and printed on shimmery gold paper. Mike wanted to use gold foil. He likes everything to be authentic. But I love the way they turned out. 

He used the exact wording from the movie, and added Ty's "signature" to the bottom. 

Ty was insanely excited about these bars. Mike made him his very own and it just thrills him. He can hardly wait for his party. I'm so lucky to have such a creative husband!

We have some super fun things planned, and I have lots of baking and creating to do this week. I just love doing birthday parties for the boys! I'm excited to share it all with you! 

Leave a comment if you have any great Wonka party ideas! I'd love any suggestions!

I need a bigger kitchen

Oh yeah, baby. It's mine. The KitchenAid stand mixer. 

I've wanted one of these forever. Isn't it gorgeous? I broke it in right away. Making a cake. A boxed cake. It was all I could come up with on short notice and of course I had to play with it. But I think I'll crumble that cake right up and whip up some cake pops. 

Part of my motivation to bake a cake immediately was so I could decorate it...

...using this!!

It's my new Cricut Cake! Thanks to my super rad hubby. 

If you don't know what a Cricut is, you are missing out. Seriously. One of my favorite toys ever.

Hubs bought me my first Cricut, four years ago... it's the original one, for cutting paper. Basically a digital die cutting machine. But the possibilities are endless! There are zillions of 'cartridges' you can buy, each with zillions of images or fonts that you can cut. In any size. So awesome. I've gotten a crazy amount of use out of that thing. 

So, Cricut has now created the Cake, which cuts fondant or gum paste. Using the same cartridges as the original Cricut! So I can interchange them all! Plus this baby came with a way cool cartridge of it's own called Cake Basics, filled with cool designs!

Now, I have zero experience with fondant. Or gum paste. Or cake decorating, really. I throw sprinkles on my cake pops and that's about as creative as I've gotten. I've always left the cakes to the pros. But now! I wanna play with this baby! But I seem to have no fondant lying around. 

Who can help me? I don't really want to buy the premade stuff. I found a couple fondant recipes... Marshmallow fondant intrigues me... Any advice or tips? Any recipes you can share? I think I'd like to take a cake decorating class, but only modern cakes. I don't really want to make icing roses. Has anyone local taken a cool class?

I can't wait to open this can of worms and get to decorating! But then who will eat the cakes? Not I. Then I wouldn't be able to fit into my new yoga pants. 

Wait, yoga pants are stretchy. That's the appeal.

Bring on the recipes please!

Cake Pops!

Here is a disclaimer before I post these:

Many, many bloggers have posted cake pops before me, and probably all are better than mine. As far as I know, the original, inventor and reigning queen of cake pops is Bakerella, and you must click over and look at all her gorgeous creations. Wait, don't click yet. You'll never come back. But she does have a book out now! How cool is that? And her pops are amazing!

These are my lame interpretation. They are improving but I've discovered there is a bit of a learning curve with these. Fortunately they are super fun to make and unfortunately really, really delicious. Somehow a few of mine always seem to fall off the stick while dipping and I am sadly forced to eat them. 

Ok, here's my little photo tutorial...

You will need:

Cake mix

Container of frosting

2 bags of Candy Melts (I buy Wilton brand at Michael's in the cake/candy making aisle)

approx 50 lollipop sticks (any length, but I prefer the longer ones)

Styrofoam or floral foam blocks

Sprinkles, if desired

Bake a cake. Any cake. Homemade, from a mix... whatever suits you. 

I made a chocolate cake from a mix. Well, actually hubby made this. While babysitting my friend's two kiddos. And taking care of ours so that I could have kid-free shopping day. Is he amazing or what??

Let cake cool completely. This is important. I usually bake it the day before I actually make the pops. Then dump the cake into a big bowl. Break it up a bit if needed because you are just going to crumble it...

...like this. Nice and fine. A few bigger bits are ok. I use my hands for this part- gets pretty messy but it's oddly meditative. 

Now grab your frosting- any kind. The pops themselves are a bit of a process so I just use store bought. But you can make homemade. If you're an over achiever. 

Now scoop almost the whole container into your bowl. I use a big spoon to stir it all up. Add a little more frosting if needed to make a rollable but not too gooey texture. They need to roll up into somewhat firm little balls. Like cookie dough. 

I place them onto a huge cookie sheet covered in wax paper. I usually get 40-50 pops from one cake, depending how big I roll them. Here's a little tip: roll them smaller. The bigger they are, the heavier they are. And heavy cake pops fall off the sticks while dipping. Then you have to eat them.

Now put your candy melts in a bowl, or two bowls if you are using two colors. I've discovered a shallow bowl makes it easier to dip. Melt them in the microwave according to package instructions. Stir and microwave more until creamy and pretty thin. The candy in the photo above is too thick. Heat more. 

Dip the tip of each stick into a little of the candy and stick into each ball, about 3/4 of the way through. 

Then take your cookie sheet and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. I always have to clear a space big and tall enough. If you don't have space, do these in batches on smaller trays. You can remelt the candy as much as needed. 

Once chilled, it's time to dip! You may need to melt the candy a bit more at this point. Make sure to cover the ball all the way, so the candy touches the stick. This keeps them on the stick a bit better. (I accidentally dropped some sprinkles in my bowl of candy melt... oops.)

I love they way they look with matching sprinkles on them... almost like glitter. If you use any sprinkles, do it right after you dip each pop while the candy is still wet. 

Then stick each pop in the foam block to harden. I find that I sometimes have to stick the un-dipped pops back in the freezer once or twice during this process... if they get too warm they start to fall off the sticks while dipping. Then, again, you have to eat them.

I got a bit inventive while making this batch and crammed some floral foam into a couple cute, tall containers I had. Then covered the foam with tissue paper, and stuck my finished pops into that. It looked so cute! 

These were for a baby shower, to celebrate my cousin's baby boy arriving in January. I love the blue and teal together. 

I did not, however, love the brown. Most of the candy melt colors are flavored vanilla, but the brown (naturally) is chocolate. YUM. But just not as pretty. So I set aside these four for momma-to-be. Or her kiddos. But pregnant mommas sometimes need four double chocolate cake pops. 

Click here to see my bee-shaped cake pops for Beckham's first birthday party. They were my first batch ever. I think I'll be sticking with these round, solid color ones. :)

These red ones I made for my sister-in-law's baby shower... the theme was Ruby, so I used red velvet cake. :) And speaking of Ruby, she arrived 11 days ago and is the most adorable, perfect, sweet little girl you could imagine! Love her. 

Notice the foam blocks covered in tissue paper? Sure wish I'd have thought of the foam-in-a-cute-container idea sooner.

This batch was for a friend's daughter's birthday party, and I decided to keep it simple and do them upside-down to avoid the whole foam block situation. They still looked super cute on a fun platter, and this was definitely easier. But I do love the way they look standing up.

Don't forget to make your laundry detergent to donate to a shelter and come back and enter my giveaway!!

Apple butter

While on our apple picking excursion last month, I knew my ultimate goal for many of our apples was apple butter. Having never made it before, I searched online for tips and suggestions. I didn't really follow a recipe, just added some suggested spices and sugar, and cooked it for about 5 hours.

We picked mostly empire apples for the apple butter, which I loved for their sweetness.

I peeled them (mostly...) and chopped 'em up. Man, I wish I had one of those apple peeler devices. Peeling by hand took forever.

I added water to the pan and simmered them until soft.

Then used my immersion blender to blend 'em up into applesauce. You could stop there and just can or freeze your homemade applesauce, but I really wanted apple butter. I added cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, sugar and honey. Only about a half cup of each sweetener though, since all the cooking concentrates the natural sweetness of the apples. 

To go from applesauce to apple butter it needed to simmer and sputter for a few more hours.

I kept in on low heat and stirred every 15 or 20 minutes. 

It got really messy, splattering sticky goo all over my stove top, despite the splatter shield I used.

But it was worth it! After about 5 hours it got nice and thick, sweet and spreadable. I used my immersion blender once more to ensure a smooth texture, then canned it so I can keep it in the pantry for cold winter days. 

I really enjoyed the process! Next year I want to try pear butter- anyone have suggestions or recipes?