Wedding Cake and Cupcakes

Here are pictures of my first wedding cake that I made along with cupcakes and I was so pleased with how everything turned out and I thought the cake looked absolutely gorgeous! What do you think?

I was both excited and a tiny bit nervous about making this cake because although I love baking and have the perfect chocolate cake recipe to go along with the perfect creamy vanilla frosting, which is what they requested, I lack a bit of experience in the decorating and creative aspect of wedding cakes. And they wanted a two-tierd cake with pink and green flowers on top that flowed down the side. I have never been the creavtive one in my family, unlike, my mom and sister who are both very talented!  So, with my mom and sister's creative brains and help, they thought it would be a great idea to use my mom's pink hydrangea flowers from her garden. Then we looked around at hobby lobby and found the pretty green ribbon to tie around the cake and the pearls are those sixlets chocolate candies...do you remember those?! They had them in all different colors!

Here are the cupcakes; simple, yet elegant and beautiful.

Let me know what you all think!

Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle

This is a dessert I made yesterday for a family get together that was just really quick and simple to put together. My mom and I didn't have very much time to make anything because I was busy making my very first wedding cake and my mom was helping me with the finishing touches and then we had to deliver it. (I will post pictures of the cake later...it was simply gorgeous and I was oh so proud of my first cake)! I had some leftover chocolate cake so I decided to make a trifle with the leftover cake, cream cheese filling, cool whip, raspberry preserves, and fresh raspberries. It was chocolatey, dense and moist, creamy and cool, sweet and slightly tart, simple and delicious and everyone loved it and hey said I could definetly make it again!

Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle:

- 1 recipe of your favorite chocolate cake or a boxed chocolate cake mix (for a 13x9-inch pan)

-2 (8-oz.) containers cool whip

-12 oz. prepared cheescake filling (from a 24.3 oz. container), softened

-1 cup raspberry preserves

-1 pint fresh raspberries

1. Prepare cake according to recipe or cake mix directions for a 13x9-inch pan. Cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, stir together cool whip, cheesecake filling and raspberry preserves.

3. After cake has cooled, cut or break into chunks. Layer the bottom of the trifle bowl with a layer of cake, then layer with half of the cheesecake mixture, and then with half of the raspberries. Repeat layers once more.

Happy 4th of July; And a few Patriotic Dessert Ideas!

Happy 4th of July! I hope that everyone has a great weekend  that is fun-filled and relaxing with family, loved ones and friends. Here is just a fun and simple 4th of July recipe along with a few patriotic dessert ideas to take along with you to any get togethers you may be going to this weekend! Enjoy and have a safe holiday!

White Chocolate covered Oreos and Peanut Butter Cookies:

-Oreos (I used strawberry creme milkshake oreos!)

-Peanut butter cookies (Magical Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe)

-1 bag white chocolate chips

-2 tablespoons shortening

-red and/or blue sprinkles

-red frosting

Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper. Melt white chocolate chips and shortening over a double boiler until smooth. Dip or drizzle cookies with white chocolate and decorate with sprinkles and frosting as desired.

Patriotic Dessert Ideas:

1. Patriotic No Fail Sugar Cookies-make star shaped cookies and deorate with red, white, and blue frosting and sprinkles! (Leenee's Sweetest Delights)

2. Red Velvet Cake Balls-dip them in white chocolate and decorate with red and blue sprinkles etc. (Bakerella)

3. Patriotic Cookie Pizza-I love fruit pizza-so simple and so delicious and it is always popular at get togethers! (Pillsbury)

4. Red Velvet Sandwhich Cookies-I made these last year for the 4th and they were a big hit! I put blue frosting in the center! (Paula Deen)

5. Sweetest Delights Seven Layer Bars-use only red,white and blue M&M's! (Leenee's Sweetest Delights)

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

You won't believe how oh so simple this cookie is to make and how easy it is to eat if you enjoy peanut butter! This is a good peanut butter cookie with slightly crisp edges and a soft and chewy center. They are pure simplicity with their crisscross design, shiny sugar sprinkled on top, and small cracks running all over.

You can also press a Hershey's Kiss down into the center of each ball of dough and omit the crisscross design to make yummy peanut butter blossoms!

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies: (Paula Deen)

Yield 18 cookies

-1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy

-1 1/3 cups sugar

-1 egg

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1 cup of the sugar, the egg, and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork, press a crisscross design on each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining sugar. Cool slightly before removing from pan.

Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie

My sister Diana has been making requests for me to bake her some sort of sweets when she comes into town, and of course, I am always willing and very happy to do that for her! This time she asked me to make her a Kentucky Derby Pie without bourban.....I had never had a Kentucky Derby Pie so I did a little research and found out that a Kentucky Derby Pie is a chocolate and walnut tart in a pie shell usually with a pastry dough crust. It is also commonly made with chocolate chips, pecans and Kentucky bourban, it is much like a chocolate pecan pie.

After I did some research I knew that I had the perfect recipe for her. It was this Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie recipe that I have been wanting to bake and try out for a while from Baked New Frontiers in Baking cookbook by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. It is a really great cookbook and I definetly reccomend getting it if you are a dessert lover!

They state that "the pie which is almost always served warm and a la mode, is a cross between a pecan pie and a chocolate chip cookie-a very good, gooey chocolate chip cookie." And it was! Everyone loved it and Diana said it was "heavenly" and kept raving about how good it was, even served at room temperature.

Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie: (Baked; adapted by me)

Yield: 1 (9-inch) Pie

 -1 ready to bake pie crust for a 9-inch pan, chilled 

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

-2 large eggs

-3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes

 -2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-3/4 cup pecans, chopped

-1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put ready to bake pie dough into a 9-inch pie dish, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and sugars until combined. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs on high speed until foamy, about 3 minutes. Remove the whisk attachment and add the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Turn the mixture to high and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add the butter. Beat on high speed until the mixture is combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the vanilla, and beat the mixture on high speed for 1 minute.

Fold the pecans and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into the filling.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and spread it out evenly. Top the filling with the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, then cover the edges of the crust loosely with aluminum foil and bake for another 25 minutes (this will prevent the crust from browning too quickly). Test the pie by sticking a knife in the center of the filling. If the knife comes out clean, the pie is done. If the knife comes out with clumps of filling sticking to it, bake for another 5 minutes and test again. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool before slicing.

The pie can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 2 days.

Hershey's Thick and Fudgey Brownies

As you know, I absolutely love brownies...they are my favorite dessert.....EVER!!! And, I hate to admit it, but, I could live off of boxed betty crocker brownies! I think that they are some of the best brownies because they are always dense, chocolately, fudgey, and moist and they just produce the perfect kind of brownie for my liking! I am always a little apprehensive about making brownies from scratch because I don't want them to turn out cakey because to me that is just a waste! I hate cakey brownies....if I wanted cake I would make a cake, which Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake is my go to chocolate cake recipe!

I decided to make these Hershey's Thick and Fudgey Brownies from a Hershey's cookbook that I have because I have had them bookmarked off for a while and I seem to have good luck with hershey's recipes. The name of the brownie being "thick and fudgey" made me want to try them out and the picture of the brownies in the cookbook looked absolutely delicious.

And let me tell you, these brownies did not dissapoint me at all and they tasted excellent. They were everything the name said and more! They were very thick and had a crispy and shiny top that combined so well with their inside texture which was very dense and oh so moist, chewy, and fudgey inside and they had the added bonus of chocolate chips running throughout them....YUM!

Hershey's Thick and Fudgey Brownies:

Makes 24 brownies

-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

-2/3 cup HERSHEY'S cocoa

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1 teaspoon salt

-3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted

-2 1/2 cups sugar

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-4 eggs

-1 3/4 cups (10-oz. package) HERSHEY'S Mini KISSES milk chocolates (or chocolate chips)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (325 degrees F for glass baking dish). Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. With spoon or whisk, stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Stir in chocolate pieces. Spread batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. 

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp

Today is my Uncle Jim's birthday and he is also my Godfather so he has a very special place in my heart. He is always there for me and always gives me advice (whether it is good or bad) but, one thing about him is that he is very blunt about everything and tells you things how they are! I love and respect him and really care about him! So, Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!

 I wanted to make him something a little bit different from cookies or a cake and since he has a summer birthday I decided to use fruits that are in season right now. The combination of strawberries and rhubarb is so good together; it was both sweet from the strawberries and tart from the rhubarb and had the perfect crunchy, golden brown, and sweet oat crumble topping. 

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp:

8 servings

Ingredients:

-1 cup rolled oats

-1/2 cup all-purpose flour

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-1/2 cup cold butter or margarine, cut into chunks

-2 cups rhubarb

-3/4 cup granulated sugar

-2 tablespoons cornstarch

-4 cups strawberries, rinsed and drained

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. With your fingers or a pastry blender, rub or cut butter into oat mixture until coarse crumbs form. Cover and chill.

2. Rinse rhubarb; trim off and discard green parts of stalks. Cut red parts into 1/2 inch-thick slices. In a large bowl, combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, strawberries, and rhubarb and mix gently to coat.

 Pour into a shallow 2-to-3 quart baking dish or into 8 individual ramekins and sprinkle evenly with topping mixture.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 45 minutes for a 2-to-3 quart baking dish and about 25 minutes for individual ramekins.