Apple Pies

It's been a while since I've updated. Summer weather doesn't exactly make me feel like I want to bake. However, now that Fall is upon us, I have a feeling I'll be baking a little more often. First project(s) of the season? Apple pie made from freshly picked apples.

Above: Dutch Oatmeal Apple pie. Made with Courtland apples, this pie has an oatmeal crumb topping and hand-formed crust.

Right: Caramel Apple pie. Made with a combination of Courtland and some kind of green apple (I can't remember the name, not Granny Smith though). The apples were tossed with cinnamon before being put in the store-bought crust and covered in a lattice. Then I made a caramel sauce and (carefully) poured it over the pie before baking.

Minion Cupcakes

Technically, I didn't bake these, just assembled. With 100+ degree weather and humidity, I wasn't about to turn on the oven. The picture quality is poor; I didn't have my good camera with me, so I snapped these pics with my phone. Anyone who has seen the movie Despicable Me will recognize these cute little Minions, in cupcake form. They were made from bought cupcakes, snack cakes, candy and frosting, and were a huge hit at my family reunion.

S'mores Cupcakes

I haven't been baking as often lately. It's been too hot, and I haven't really had occasions to bake for. However, I did make these cupcakes a couple weeks ago for a friend's going-away party.

Summer wouldn't be summer without s'mores, and this is my cupcake version of the classic summer treat. Graham cracker flavored cupcakes with bits of chocolate bars in the center and topped with marshmallow frosting.

 I had originally planned on finishing these cupcakes off with a butane torch, but it wasn't cooperating with me. So, instead, I broiled them a little bit in the toaster to get the toasted marshmallow look.

Father's Day Macaroons

For Father's day, I made my dad one of his favorite cookies: coconut macaroons. They're a relatively simple cookie to make, and incredibly delicious. It's hard to tell size in these photos, but they're a little bit bigger than a golf ball. The papers the cookies are sitting in are cupcake wrappers. I dressed half of them up by dipping the bottoms in chocolate and then drizzling chocolate over the tops.

College Graduation Cake

My boyfriend's sister graduated from college this weekend. As a gift to her, I made this cake for her graduation party. The inside of the cake is half vanilla, half chocolate. The frosting is buttercream, and the silhouettes are edible sugar paper.

The idea for the people came from a cake I'd seen on wilton.com. My boyfriend and I used their template as a stencil to cut the people out of the sugar sheet with an x-acto knife, and then placed them on the cake. The biggest challenge of this cake was baking it with two different flavors. It was easy enough to pour into the pan and separate, however one unexpected problem was that the chocolate side ended up cooking faster than the vanilla. It was hard to balance cooking the vanilla cake all the way and trying to not to overcook the chocolate side. Unfortunately, the chocolate side was a little more dry than I would have liked. Hopefully the fact that the cake looked so pretty makes up for it a little bit. Right?

25th Anniversary Suprise Party Cake

My cousin planned a surprise party for my aunt and uncle's 25th anniversary, and I volunteered to make the cake.



The cake is a super moist chocolate cake with a raspberry cream filling between the layers. It's frosted with vanilla buttercream icing and decorated with royal icing roses and rosebuds. The leaves, vines, and lettering are buttercream. 

It seemed to be a big hit at the party, people couldn't believe how moist it was. I've actually used this cake recipe before for other family events, but it's amazing how different it can taste depending on what filling and frosting it's paired with.

Mother's day/My Birthday cake

As much as I believe that one should not make their own birthday cake, and that food always tastes better when someone else makes it, I have a very hard time believing that a cake bought from the supermarket would even come close to something I would make myself. Considering my birthday fell on Mother's day this year, as it does every so often, I kept the mentality that this cake was for that occasion more than my own birthday.To be fair, my parents DID bring a little, chocolate, store bought cake to my birthday celebration. So technically, I didn't really make my own birthday cake, right?

I wanted to make something springy, so when I found the recipe for this lemon-marshmallow cake, I knew it would be perfect. I have a weakness for marshmallow and my mom loves lemon, so this cake was ideal for the occasion. I admit, I used a box mix for the cake itself. Didn't have the motivation or time to make a lemon cake from scratch. I did, however, alter it to make it a little healthier (though the filling and topping kind of cancel this out). The layers were brushed with a lemon/sugar-water solution, and then stacked with seedless raspberry preserves and a lemon curd/whipped cream filling. One thing I learned with making this cake: gravity + sugar solution= cake layers flattening out. All of the layers started out the same size, but the bottom ones got a bit squished from being so moist and bearing the weight of the cake.

My favorite part about this cake was the topping. Marshmallow cream, instead of icing, swirled on top. The best part? I got to use a tiny little torch to toast the marshmallow swirls. I absolutely love the presentation of this cake.

Strawberry-Chocolate Mousse Cake

May is going to be a busy month in terms of baking projects, and otherwise. So I'm going to try and be good about posting things in a timely manner. First project of the month is a Strawberry-Chocolate Mousse cake for my boyfriend's mother's birthday. She had suggested something chocolate and/or strawberry, so this is what I came up with.

The crust is chocolate graham crackers, crushed with a rolling pin by my boyfriend; the sides are lined with slices of fresh strawberries; the inside is filled with a semi-sweet chocolate mousse. The cake is topped with swirls of fresh whipped cream and more sliced strawberries.

Boston Cream Pie

For my dad's birthday, which was almost a month ago, he requested a Boston cream pie/cake. Therefore, I should have posted this a while ago; I blame the fact that my computer hates me and freezes constantly as the reason why I've been reluctant to do anything other than surf the internet lately. But I digress.

The cake is from scratch, a simple and fluffy white cake; the filling is vanilla custard. Custard is not the easiest thing to make, but it definitely adds something to the overall taste. The topping is chocolate ganache. 

Doggy Valentines

We recently got a new puppy, Moxie, and I was inspired to try and bake something that she, and her doggy friends, would like. As a project one afternoon, a friend and I made doggy cookies for some of Moxie's valentines. The recipe was surprisingly simple and easy to make. Because they're made from peanut butter, bananas, and oatmeal, they're technically fine for human consumption as well. From what I've heard, the dogs, even the very pickiest, gobbled these right up.

The icing on these is, in fact, sugar. Dogs are not supposed to have a lot of sugar in their diet, so these cookies are a special treat, not an everyday snack.

Needhams and Eggnog Cheesecake

As mentioned in a previous entry, I made Needhams for Christmas. For those who don't know what a Needham is, it's essentially a sweet coconut filling, coated in chocolate. The filling also has butter, salt, milk, and.... mashed potatoes. Don't knock it til you try it, they're delicious.

Last Christmas I made Eggnog Cheesecake for my extended family's annual party. People liked it so much that I was told I would officially be in charge of bringing it every year. So, of course, I had to make it this year. And, once again, it was a big hit.
The filling is eggnog flavored, the crust is made from crushed gingersnaps, and a sprinkling of nutmeg on top.

Messes and Marshmallows

Confession: I forgot to take pictures of the whoopie pies I made for family and friends. Also forgot to take pictures of the candy cane marshmallows that accompanied the whoopie pies in their boxes. I do, however, have a picture of some of the mess that making said treats. For the record, my hand mixer is normally black.

I've also been really bad about updating this thing lately; life's been busy and I've been forgetful. So now I have to backtrack a little bit to catch up on some recent projects. Let's start with the Maple Marshmallows I made over a month ago that I never did a blog post about.

Essentially, I just substituted Maple Extract where the recipe called for Vanilla. These marshmallows were a softer marshmallow, think Peeps brand. Next time, I might add more gelatin to get more of a standard marshmallow texture, and use a shallower pan to make them smaller. Regardless, they were really good.