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Ombre Ruffle Cake

If you read my post from earlier in the week then you saw the outside of this adorable cake, but I think the thing that makes this cake so cool is the inside! Ombre colored layers of white cake sandwiched with buttercream frosting gets covered in “ruffles” of buttercream giving it a really whimsical look. This cake is amazing because you can customize the colors to make it perfect for any occasion… I think it would be perfect for a gender reveal party, a kids birthday, valentine’s day, etc. The best part is that it looks unique but is really easy to make, you could even use a box cake mix to speed things up even more! I made a small 9″ cake with four layers but you can make it any size with as many layers as you like! Click here to get the recipe and see how it’s made!

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Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting

Just when I thought I’d found the best recipe for a blueberry cupcake, I played around some more and came up with one that was even tastier! Since the baby shower was a brunch theme, I wanted to keep dessert on the same track so I wanted a cupcake that would be more like a pancake. These are pancake cupcakes with fresh blueberries folded in just before baking topped with a maple syrup buttercream and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar…. they’re like a whole pancake breakfast in just a few bites!  Click here to get the recipe and see how they’re made!

Snickers Cupcakes

 

Snickers Cupcakes

Last weekend our family and lots of family friends had a big golf outing and then headed back to my parents house for a party afterwards. My dad’s birthday was this past week so I wanted to make him something special to have that night. His favorite dessert is Snickers bars so I decided to make a cupcake that incorporated all the key ingredients from that: chocolate, caramel and peanuts. I made chocolate cupcakes and filled them with caramel, swirled the tops with peanut butter buttercream and topped them with chocolate curls, a drizzle of caramel and chopped peanuts. The star of the show for me was the homemade caramel, which takes a lot of practice to perfect but is so delicious that it’s worth it. The first two pictures were taken the night of the party on my iPhone and don’t do the cupcakes justice, the third one is a clearer view of them! Click here to get the recipe and see how they’re made!

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

If you read my post last week, then you know about the bridal shower at Peek N Peek from a couple of weeks ago. It happened that the bride-to-be’s birthday was the day after the shower, so I wanted to make her a little birthday treat that everyone could enjoy at the shower. I’ve been trying out different blueberry cupcake recipes to try and find the perfect one to go with my lemon buttercream frosting, and I think I’ve finally done it. I found the recipe for the cupcake part at this blog here, and if you’ve never seen it before her stuff is amazing! These cupcakes scream summer… vanilla cupcakes with plump fresh blueberries folded into the batter and topped with a perfectly tart lemon flavored buttercream frosting. There was a floral theme to the shower, so I also made some flowers out of homemade fondant (which I did a separate post on here) to top them off!  Click here to get the recipe and see how they’re made!

Anniversary Dinner: Last Three Courses

This is my last post about our Anniversary Dinner and it has been really great to relive it with all of you! The last three course were “Le Trou Normand” (which is a palate cleanser), the cheese course and the dessert course. These were so easy because it was all either bought prepared or ordered from somewhere else. We had an apple and calvados sorbet for Le Trou Normand, assorted cheeses with crackers and baguettes for the cheese course, and a red velvet cake and macarons for dessert! On a side note before I forget, I wanted to give you all a little weekend treat so now through Sunday if you use coupon code FREESHIP in my Etsy Shop, you can receive free shipping on all orders!  Click here to read more about the last three courses!

Caramelized Lemon Tart

If you ask me you can put just about anything in pâte sucrée (french for sweet pastry) and it will taste amazing. It’s an extremely versatile base for a tart shell and with the addition of a couple simple ingredients you can make all kinds of variations on it (citrus, poppy seeds, chocolate, cornmeal, etc). The best part about it, is that one recipe makes enough for two 8″-9″ tarts (or 2 dozen mini tarts) and that it can be frozen for up to 3 months. This tart is filled with an incredibly flavorful lemon mixture that is then dusted with sugar and torched to caramelize for a delicious crackling topping. This one is nice because all you have to bake is the tart’s shell… the filling sets up in the refrigerator making it pretty low maintenance.  Click here to get the recipe and see how it’s made!

Alice in Wonderland Cookies

Yesterday one of my moms co-workers (and friend) had an Alice in Wonderland themed baby shower and I was asked to make the cookies. The shower was wonderful… her mother, mother-in-law and friends put so much thought and detail into the tea party idea that it felt straight out of the movie! I had originally planned on doing a cake or cupcakes, but what I love about sugar cookies is that you can work on them at your leisure so far ahead of time, freeze them and then just take them out the day of the party. These were a little more tricky than normal just because I didn’t have character shaped cookie cutters so I had to design my own. I hadn’t seen the movie in years so when I watched it I made a list of who I wanted to make cookies of, took screen shots of them on my computer and then used those to sketched out the characters and come up with a plan. The key to making really impressive looking sugar cookies is to build up with two layers of icing: the bottom layer is the foundation that lays out the key parts of the character and then the second layer adds on detailing and outlines. This was a fun project because the characters are so silly they had me cracking up while working on them and it was nice to be able to add a special touch to such a great day! Click here to see more pictures and get the tutorial so you can make them!

Rosemary Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

Continuing my posts to help prepare everyone for Memorial Day weekend, here is the perfect dessert! Homemade rosemary shortcake stacked with fresh whipped cream and strawberries… whether you’re hosting people or invited to bring a dish somewhere, this is the perfect one! The best part is that you can make the shortcake and whipped cream ahead of time and pre slice the strawberries so all you have to do is build the trifle on the day! These can easily serve 10 people and even more if you build individual trifles in small clear plastic cups!  Click here to get the recipe and see how it’s made!

Citrus Meringues

citrus meringues

I love, love, love meringues. They’re probably my favorite of all french cuisine. I love them poached, I love them baked, I love them as the base for a macaron or a great chocolate cake. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a form of meringue that I don’t love. I like to play around with different flavors depending on the season and these are an amazing way to get you in the mood for spring! Whipped egg whites and sugar infused with vanilla bean and the bright flavor from the zest of citrus, these desserts are not only sensible they are melt-in-your-mouth good! The way they’re colored and then piped also give them a fancy look, and they package up really nicely which makes this a great gift if you’re invited somewhere. After separating the eggs, use the leftover egg yolks to make crème brûlée! Click here to get the recipe and see how they’re made!

Crème Brûlée

This was the final course in the big dinner I cooked for my husband and I a couple weekends ago (First course can be seen here, second here and main here). I’ve gotten a lot of really great feedback from all the recipes and posts from the dinner so I will try to do more like this! I’m all about really simple and understated desserts and this is one of my all time favorite. A thick and delicious vanilla bean infused custard hiding under and crackling layer of burnt sugar, this is the perfect dessert. The greatest thing about it is that it can be prepared the day before and then all you have to do before serving is torch the sugar on top! I’ve also gotten a lot of inquiries about our china from the past posts… it is our wedding china, Vera Wang’s Gilded Weave Collection. This recipe makes 4 servings but can easily be doubled for more. Click here to get the recipe and see how it’s made!

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