Peanut Butter Brownies

I made a new recipe to take to the NYE party this year...it was a spin off your traditional peanut butter brownie...it was so delicious! All the guys were having fits over it and the kids kept getting in trouble for stealing them off the food table! I didn't get to take a picture of the end result, but still wanted to share the recipe with everyone.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients: Your favorite brownie mix (and whatever it calls for), creamy peanut butter, peanut butter chips, & semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

First, prepare your favorite brand of boxed brownie mix. I used the Ghiradelli brand this time. Mix and bake according to the directions on the box, but use a tiny muffin pan that is heavily sprayed for easy removal. Each box usually makes about 24 or more of this size muffin.

Once the muffins have cooled slightly remove them from the pan. Next, use your thumb or a small measuring spoon to make an indention in the brownies. The brownie should now look like a small bowl.

Melt some peanut butter for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave until it is really creamy and not as thick. Spoon ~1/4 tsp. of peanut butter into the center of each brownie.

Next, sprinkle the brownies with peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Finally, ENJOY!!!

On another note, I'm so excited about the new year...I got engaged on New Year's Eve and will be planning a wedding during 2010! I can't wait to get started planning...if you know me at all you know how much I love planning big events! I've already made plans to attend a bridal show this Sunday to get some ideas on what I want. If you have any wedding planning tips let me know!

Reindeer Cake Pops

I made red velvet cake pops/balls to take to the family Christmas get-togethers this year. I used cream cheese icing with the red velvet cake. The balls dunked in milk chocolate were made into reindeer using buttercream icing details. The rest of the balls were dunked in white chocolate. They turned out really cute and yummy! They are really easy to make and really delicious. You can make them with any flavor of cake and icing that you like.

Cake Ball Recipe

***Instructions for making reindeer pops included***

Ingredients: 1 cake mix (boxed or from scratch) and 1 cup icing

Bake your cake as directed on boxed cake mix or follow your recipe for a cake. I usually do mine in a 9x13 cake pan. Allow cake to cool.

Crumble cake until there are no chunks of cake. Mix in icing a tablespoon at a time until cake mix is able to easily stick together when rolled into a ball. It usually takes about 1/2 a can of icing if I am running in a hurry and need to use canned icing.

Roll cake/icing mixture into desired size of balls. Place on cookie sheet and put into the refrigerator.

Once the cake balls are firm you can melt your chocolate (milk or white). Dip cake ball into chocolate and allow to dry. This usually makes a good many balls, but it wouldn't be hard to do several batches at once if you needed more.

***To make reindeer: Once your chocolate has dried, you can use buttercream icing to make your eyes, nose, and mouth. I stuck them back into the refrigerator to allow the buttercream to crust slightly. If you want to place the cake balls on lollipop sticks you will need to do this when you are first forming the balls and placing them in the refrigerator.

Merry Christmas!

I made a Christmas ornament cake for Dusty's mom this week. I wasn't really happy with the way it turned out...I was in too much of a hurry the night I was trying to get it decorated. I didn't think it would be as hard as it was to ice and decorate a spherical cake. I just made it a buttercream cake with almond/vanilla buttercream icing and filling. I did use a little bit of fondant for the hook part on top of the ornament.

I'm also making some red velvet cake balls today and some reindeer cake lollipops. I'll be sure to post pictures of these in the next few days. Hope you have a Very Merry Christmas!

Ladybug Cake

I went home this past weekend to make a cake for a 1st birthday party. The theme was ladybugs and everything turned out really cute! I made the shaped cake and also LOTS of ladybug cupcakes. Luckily, my mom was able to help me out since I also needed to get out of town for a Christmas party the same evening.
The mom posted pictures online, and it was so nice to see how much the birthday girl enjoyed her cake!
I've got at least one more cake planned in the next few days, so there will be more pictures coming soon.

I've been absent pretty much all semester, but the good news is I have officially finished my last class ever...a clinical is all that stands between me and a much anticipated graduation in May. I'm hoping that now I will have a little more free time to get back to my baking. I've got plans to make a cake and some cupcakes for a 1st birthday party this weekend, and a cake for Dusty's mom for Christmas. I'll make sure to get pictures up as soon as I finish these projects! Stay tuned...

Mom's Birthday Celebration

Mom's birthday was this past weekend so I made her a birthday cake. I wasn't really feeling well on Friday night while I was baking it, or on Saturday when we went out to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Atlanta to celebrate her birthday. It still came out pretty I think. I went to the doctor yesterday, and apparently I have this flu bug going around....by Sunday I could barely get out of bed for more than 5 minutes at a time. I was so upset because we were supposed to enjoy the
Braves game on Sunday and I couldn't go. Anyways...its finally back to classes for me today...hopefully I last all day.
The cake was a chocolate cake like the birthday "girl" wanted with buttercream icing.

Quick Update

I just wanted to post a quick update with few of the cakes I've done lately. The first one was a cake for my Wilton Course 3. It was my first fondant cake and I think it turned out pretty cute. Unfortunately, the bow ended up drooping before I could snap a picture because of the crazy humidity.

That same week I had to make a birthday cake for Dusty. I used my oval pans to help shape a football and then added the UGA symbol in fondant. The outline on the symbol got messed up slightly, but it still turned out pretty good and he was very happy with it.

Last night I finished my Wilton Course 3 and made the final cake...a 2 tier wedding cake. I spent about 8-9 hours making fondant roses in 3 shades of pink to cascade down the side. I also hand-painted the roses to make them look more realistic. I wanted to cover the cake in marshmallow fondant, but it was my first time making it and I didn't like the way it turned out. I ended up just using buttercream icing and making a pearl strand border using the marshmallow fondant. The bottom layer of the cake is a fudge marbled cake and the top layer is a Devil's food cake. Both layers have fudge sauce in the middle. I was very pleased with the way it turned out. I think if I had had a little more time during my class I could have made it looked even better, but I was rushing to get out of there and finished with the cake in time. Hope you enjoy!