beach cupcakes

Sand = Gram-crackers
After frosting the cup cakes dip them into a bowl of crushed up gram-crackers.

2 Flip flops = 1 Starburst
Cut in half almost diagonally, shape using powdered sugar on fingers to keep from sticking. Pipe V shape with frosting using #2 tip then place 2 (snowflake) sprinkles at base of V.

PB frosting

My friend, Sabrina, told me about this Peanut Butter cake at the Smitten Kitchen and I knew I had to make it for my husband's birthday. I didn't have time to make a cake from scratch so I cheated and used a box mix*, then topped it with the homemade PB frosting and ganache. It was INCREDIBLE! My mouth is watering just remembering.

The ganache was scary because I'd never made it before. After melting the chocolate a bit (I just used chocolate chips), I added the half and half, but it was all watery and separated looking. After a lot of mixing, and a little reheating (probably should have warmed the half and half before adding it) it came together and looked pretty good.

*I don't have a problem with box mixes, but both my husband and I agreed that in this case it wasn't dense enough. The massive frosting needed a heavier cake, but it was still delicious.

pepparkakor

Pepparkakor

300g margarine
5 dl sugar
1 dl corn syrup
1 Tb ginger
2 Tb cinnamon
1 Tb cloves
(2 tsp cardamum- we never use this)
1 Tb soda
2 dl water
1 1/2 L. flour

=

2 2/3 stick margarine (butter doesn't work as well)
2 c sugar
1/2 c syrup
1 Tbsp ginger
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp cloves
1 Tbsp soda
less than 1 cup water
6 1/3 c flour
Cream together margarine, syrup, sugar. Mix in spices. Add water. (It will look funny until you add the flour.) Add 4 cups of flour and mix. Then add rest of the flour slowly until it comes together (little less than you need cause you'll be adding more when you roll it out).
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in fridge overnight.
Flour surface and the rolling pin liberally to keep from sticking. Roll out portion of dough very thin (1/6 inch?) and use cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Carefully transfer to cookie sheet. Bake at 425-450 degrees for 4-5 min.

(This is after the flour has been added. I forgot to take pictures when I rolled it out and baked them, here is a picture from years ago of my nieces cutting out the dough so you can get an idea of how thin it should be... THIN.) 

Giving Thanks

So I haven't posted in a while, sorry.

But I wanted to say that I am thankful I decided to start putting recipes on this blog. As I was looking through my binder of recipes I've collected I started to panic as I realized I couldn't find the recipe for delicious (soufflé like) yams that I made last year. Luckily, I thought to post about them on here, so we will be able to carry on the tradition.

I might also try adding brussel sprouts this year (my husband HATES brussel sprouts... maybe this new recipe will change his mind).

Happy Thanksgiving!

birthday cupcake

So here's another cake I did recently. I couldn't find a jumbo cupcake pan so I improvised and baked this giant cupcake in a Pyrex 2 cup glass measuring cup filled about to the 3/4 cup mark. I was very happy with the shape it gave me.

The frosting was delicious! I used the recipe on the back of the Hersey's Cocoa canister. None of that decorative "buttercream" stuff made with crisco. This is real butter, baby. Yum!

buzz birthday cake

I was really struggling to figure out how to make a Buzz cake for my son's birthday. I was looking at all kinds of pictures online. I stumbled across one with a picture of Buzz on it and read in the comments that it was "BCT... Buttercream Transfer". I googled it and found this helpful video (which I watched in fast forward). And thought, I can do that. It was fun to try a new technique. I might do a few things different next time, but I really like this for doing a character (I wanted it to actually look like Buzz, and I new that wouldn't happen freehand).

After mixing up all the colors I would need and putting them in bags. I taped the picture I printed from the internet (kids coloring pages) to the table, then taped wax paper over that.

Then I traced all the black lines in black (which I bought from the store- don't try to make your own, it's not worth it). I simplified some of the designs as needed, and started to fill in the colors.

Here he is with all the colors- including white teeth and eyes. He's starting to look a little sloppy cause some of the frosting is overlapping, but you'll see it from the other side so it's okay.
Added the white to the rest.

Then started covering the whole thing in blue (color I planned to frost the cake).

All covered.

Then I smoothed it out, just 'casue that's what the video said to do.

Then I untaped everything, held a book up next to the table carefully slid on the book and put it in the freezer over night (video said 45 min).

After I frosted the cake. I peeled back the wax paper and flipped him over onto the cake. Ta da! The edges weren't quite flush with the rest of the frosting, but still, I was quite pleased with the result.

Mint Brownies... update

I thought I'd share this link to the recipe for BYU Brownies. I can't wait to make these and be taken back to my days at the Y. Mmm

Update: Made 'em...

They were delicious. The brownie part was a little more cake-y than I prefer but they were still great. The directions (measurements, especially) were kind of a pain. This version hasn't made it into my recipe book yet. I'm still looking around for my favorite, so if you have a great mint brownie recipe let me know.