Baking with the Hamiltons!

I had a good weekend, a very good weekend indeed! It was a great joy to spend Sunday afternoon baking with our friend Heather and her kiddos. They were such great helpers and so fun. One of the things I love about cupcakes is that they make everyone a little bit like a kid again. Austin and Abbey helped measure, mix and of course taste test! And they were in charge of sprinkles!! We gave them each a bowl to sprinkle over to catch the extras. After all the cupcakes were sprinkled, I was planning on emptying the bowls into a canister to use another day. But, before I could they had planted themselves face down and were licking the sprinkles off the bottom. It was hilarious....and so fun, I just had to capture it on film. I hope that you all will take some time and bake with your kids. If you don't have any kids, have a baking party with your nieces or nephews or friends that have kids, it is so worth it! love ya'll....I'll have new cupcakes up soon. P.S. In all the cupcake baking of Sunday my mixer got a name: MAX. He's a Heavy Duty Kitchen Aid and lately I've spent more time with him than I would care to admit. haha.

Wales Cupcakes

I forgot to post about my experience in Wales and England with cupcakes! I had this grand idea that I would get to go to a cupcakery across the pond, but I searched and searched and never found the one in London. But I did go to Harrods and they have a huge bakery area and I found fairy cakes (the equivalent to cupcakes) They were more like a chocolate brownie and super rich. Definitely not awful.

Then I stumbled into a bakery in Cardiff, Wales and bought a pink Mother's Day cupcake. It had a strawberry poured fondant icing. and white cake. It was tasty but dry. I wasn't mad at it though.

I will be having some cupcakes when I go back this summer though. My friend is on the hunt there to find the exact location!

Back Again...

Ok, so I realize I haven't blogged in much more than a week...but I was just a little bit busy. But I do have two tasty treasures to share with you. First off, I'd like to say that nothing relaxes me more than baking up cupcakes and giving them to friends! This past weekend I had a retreat for work and I was really excited to see all of the students and leaders. I determined that I would make cupcakes for each person even if I had to stay up late. Right before the leaders arrived on Friday evening, I was baking cupcakes and had to run outside real quick. On the way back into the house I twisted my ankle, and passed out for a second. Thankfully, I had a friend helping me and she checked the cakes in the oven. But oh my the pain and timing of my injury was less than wonderful. I ended up having to miss the beginning of the retreat, BUT I made my friend prop me in the kitchen so I could frost the cupcakes. Needless to say, all 50 some odd people ate cupcakes and enjoyed them. And I am still icing my black and blue bruised ankle. Now on to the treasures...My cousin and best friend Britt had a birthday this past week! She has always had an aversion to chocolate cake but somehow now all she ever requests from me is chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and it had to be Pink!

Next, my friend Katelyn had a b-day and she requested Fuzzy Navel Cupcakes. I know, I know that's a drink, but I got the recipe here and tweaked it a little and it's very tasty! One of my favorites.

What I did last week...

OK friends so I find myself wanting to blog all the time but realizing that I really only have time to blog once a week. But it's worth it isn't it? If I had more time to blog then I would have nothing to blog about. First up we have a new cupcake flavor: Mom's pina colada. My mom has always loved pineapple and coconut so this is the perfect cupcake for her! It's a moist butter cake flavored with 100% pineapple juice and coconut milk, then it's finished with two kinds of frosting!: Pineapple butter cream and Coconut whipped cream. This might be my new favorite frosting. Originally I had planned to swirl them together but still separate but the pastry tip I was using got clogged with the pineapple so I just folded the two frosting's together and piled it on top with an open pastry tip. Next time I'll start that way first.

Next, I made some cupcakes for my friend Cameron for his birthday. Cam loves baseball so of course he had to have baseball cupcakes. I will definitely do those again if anyone wants some!

Then I went to North Carolina for a wedding and was able to visit Cupcake Shoppe Bakery in Raleigh. The atmosphere was great! The shop is downtown in the heart of coolness. And they stay open till 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights! I tried as many of their cupcakes as possible. I had, carrot cake with cinnamon cream cheese, chocolate cake with mint butter cream, strawberry cake with strawberry butter cream, chocolate cake with peanut butter butter cream, chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream and red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I did not eat a whole one, just a taste of each over the course of 4 days. Taste testing cupcakes is hard work! A box even travelled all the way back to Texas with me. I think, even with the days later testing that the carrot cake cupcake was the best, mainly because of the cinnamon cream cheese. However, I will say that this cupcake shoppe has the best chocolate cake I've had at a shop so far. The only negative at all is that the butter cream frosting's were overwhelming. They were too sweet and too much. I know, I know who ever heard of too much frosting. but coming from this frosting lover, believe it. They have the friendliest staff who put up with my ridiculous excitement and stupid questions. It is worth a trip to see them!

I'm going to be very busy over the next few weeks, but hopefully I'll have a little time to bake up some new flavors. Love ya'll.

Birthday Party Cupcakes and a 5K!

I just wanted to share two quick pictures of some lion and lamb cupcakes for a little girls' 1st birthday party. I'm going to admit that the lions are alot of detail work and I don't know if I'll do them again, but I'm sure if someone asks I'll say yes.

I also participated in a 5k on Saturday! I still am not sure I believe it. But, I did sport a running cupcake T-shirt and had a blast. I just stopped being sore yesterday.

If you have any ideas for either creative cupcake flavors or decor holla at me and I'll see if I can make it happen.

New Cupcakes!!

So as promised, I have tested two new recipes! Someday when I get to have a little store front and bake cupcakes all day, I hope that my friends and family will stop by and visit a little while. Each of you inspire me and I love you dearly. In that spirit, many of the cupcakes I make are named after someone. The first cupcake I tested is the oreo crazy cupcake (secretly it's named:Crystal because it's what I would choose to eat everyday if I could). It has moist chocolate cake that is piled high with "oreo mousse," well, that's what I call it anyway. It's a combination of whipped cream, cream cheese and oreos. Then it's sprinkled with more oreos. Yum!


Next we tried out Nate's pineapple right side up cupcake. Before I tell you about the cupcake, let me tell you about Nate. He is attending University of Texas in Austin and is one of the most fun guys I know! But my favorite thing about Nate is that he always has a hug ready when I see him and he calls me and my sisters "you girls." I love it! Now for the cupcake, Nate loves pineapple so it is only fitting for his cupcake to be pineapple right side up! It's a butter cake topped with crushed pineapples that have been slow cooked with brown sugar, then it's topped with a light whipped cream cheese frosting and a cherry.



I'll be working on more in the weeks to come, all of these of course include a lot of love!

Chocolate Overload!

I'm back, sorry there has been so much time inbetween blogs, I went to London and Wales (more on that later)! This past weekend was a big one for me. I gave a cupcake decorating demo at Lake Pointe Church for the girls chocolate festival. It was a blast. My assistant threw sprinkles at me the entire time and I had sprinkles places I never thought possible. Thanks Becca for asking me to be a part of it!
I also went to Austin and checked out Hey Cupcake!- it's a cupcake stand that I've been wanting to visit awhile. I had a red velvet cupcake on Saturday and a carrot cake cupcake on Sunday. I personally think their red velvet cake is a little dry and not very flavorful. But the cream cheese frosting with a hint of coconut was excellent. The carrot cake was delicious. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be trying out some new cupcake recipes and hopefully posting some pictures. I'm sure some of you will be the taste testers! Till then much love and frosting.

D period O period

I have been posting cupcake photos lately, but I wanted to share something very near and dear to my heart today. My friend D.O. is awesome. He hands down has one of the most interesting blogs on the Internet and I thoroughly enjoy reading it weekly. Well, he left Dallas to go to Philly for awhile and his iGo friends miss him a lot. Last week he read my story of overcooked cookies and requested some in Philly.....so here is what you get, the first ever D.O. cookie:

Real D.O. and Cookie D.O.

SAGE & Rambling

I was graciously asked to do a few cupcakes for a friend of mine who heads up an awesome girls' ministry called SAGE. I thought they turned out pretty cute! They were designed and made specifically for SAGE, so if you ever want some you will have to ask for the SAGE design. I handmade all the butterflies and the S's, but I was surprised by how well they turned out! I have no formal training on how to do anything, unless you count spending tons of hours bugging my mom in the kitchen asking to help and reading cookbooks. I can still remember the first time I really baked something. My oldest sister was away at college for her freshman year and I decided I would bake her some cookies. I made sugar cookies and cut them out. I overbaked them; of course and then made some homemade icing. Her school colors were purple and gold so in went lots of food coloring. I wish I had a picture of those cookies, I'm sure they were awful! But, my sister told me they were good anyway. I did put a lot of love into them, so maybe they were ok. Today while you have nothing to do, eat a cupcake and go check out SAGE.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that all of you who ordered cupcakes enjoyed every crumb! Thank you so much for allowing me to be a special part of your celebration on this day. It is a joy to serve you and I look forward to seeing you in the future. Remember, anything you cook tastes better when you add a whole lotta love.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Pre-order your Valentines Cupcakes today!

All proceeds go to support iWitness Ministries. Cupcakes and missions? Count me in!

*Please order in quantities of 4, 6 and 12. There is FREE delivery if you order by: Feb. 10th. Only local delivery available (Mesquite, East Dallas, Forney and Rockwall, Texas). All deliveries will be made on the evening of Feb. 13th and all day Feb. 14th. You may pick-up your order Feb. 13th: 3pm-7pm or Feb. 14th- 8am-6pm. All orders must be placed by: 2pm on Feb. 12th!

Here are the goodies:
Gourmet cupcakes handmade with LOVE.
"Heart Throb"
Lucious chocolate cake
topped with whipped
chocolate ganache. For
the chocolate lover, or
your main squeeze.

"Sweetheart"
Red velvet cake, piled high
with cream cheese frosting
and a white chocolate heart.
Sure to please your sweetie.

"Just Friends"
Sweet Vanilla cake finished
with fluffy vanilla buttercream.
Choose either manly sprinkles
for your favorite guy pal.
or

"Just Friends"
Girly sprinkles for your
favorite gal pal!

"Sugardaddy"
Vanilla cake drenched in
RICH whipped chocolate
ganache and sugar crystals.
For anyone who's ever needed
a little TLC.

Wedding Pie

My sisters' best friend got married this past weekend and I was honored to be able to fix the rehearsal dinner meal. The bride requested that I make my lasagna and lemon pie. While I was in college I picked up this lasagna recipe from my roommates mom. If you have ever wanted to make lasagna and not pre-cook the noodles here's a tip: Don't. I never have and I never will. Are you ready for the easiest lasagna recipe in the world? I usually add extra meat and call it Mansagna.

From American Beauty Lasagna

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 1 hr 20 minutes
Ready in a flash, there's no need to pre-cook the lasagna noodles in this crowd-pleasing dish.

Ingredients:

9 pieces (about 8 oz.) AMERICAN BEAUTY Lasagna, uncooked
1 lb. ground beef
3 cups (about 26-oz. jar) spaghetti sauce
1-1/2 cups water
1-3/4 cups (15-oz. container) ricotta or small curd cottage cheese
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella or Monterey jack cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350°F.
In 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, brown meat; drain. Add spaghetti sauce and water; simmer about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in large bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, one-half mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour about 1 cup sauce on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish.
Arrange 3 UNCOOKED pasta pieces lengthwise over sauce; cover with about 1 cup sauce. Spread one-half cheese filling over sauce. Repeat layers of lasagna, sauce and cheese filling.
Top with layer of lasagna and remaining sauce; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil.
Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake additional 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
10-12 servings.

Now for the very simple, lemony pie. My mom has been making this for years and gets requests for it all the time.

Lemonade Pie

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate

1 small tub of cool whip

1- 9in. graham cracker crust or 8 individual

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl combine sweetened condensed milk, thawed lemonade concentrate and cool whip. Pour into pie crust and let set for at least 30 minutes. Garnish as desired. I like to use another dollop of cool whip and sprinkles or lemon slices.

If you don't like lemon, you can make the pie with any kind of concentrate that you can find, so go nuts and try every flavor there is! So there you are, two of the easiest recipes I know. I'm always amazed that often the most satisfying and regularly requested dishes are simple things done well.

New Year, New Blog

I have decided to resurrect Cake Bake Farms. I want to have a way to chronicle my baking adventures and I have been taking pictures of pretty much everything I've been baking, so I thought would post them from time to time. I think I shall even post a recipe or two. To tell the truth I'm awful at passing on recipes because I so rarely use them, I tweak almost every recipe I get, not because I'm a master pastry chef (oh how I wish) but because I hate measuring and I love to go with the flow when I'm cooking. However, I love baking and that requires a little more precision. So I think I shall try to do better this year and write some recipes down! I will leave you with two individual dessert items I made over Christmas for your drooling pleasure.

Mini Cherry Cheesecake Tarts

One-bite Christmas Cupcakes

Face of CakeBake Farms

For All Cake Bake Farm Fans

Due to an overwhelming response towards the company.......we will be expanding and putting in place all the wonderful creative ideas we have received so far. Enjoy!
Cake Bake Farms! "It's my Flavorite!"