Feeling A Little Angry?

We aren't but we sure do love Angry Birds in this house! For Red's birthday he asked for an Red Angry Bird Cake (he loves everything red!)

For the cake I used rice crispies for the bottom half for support, I pressed the rice crispie treats (home made) into a glass bowl the size I wanted the cake to be and let harden. Then I turned it out frosted and put layers of cake on top and sculpting the cake to make a sphere. Frosted the entire thing, used straws as supports, and used my homemade marshmallow fondant to cover (red fondant is chocolate fondant). Red wanted a picture with the cake when it was half done...guess he was really proud of it that far :)

Right before guests come  I add the finishing touches, the beak, top feathers and tail feathers all had gumtex added to the fondant an were let to harden on tooth picks so they would hold their shape when put on the cake.

We celebrated Red's birthday by going to the splash park with a big slip and slide!

Chocolate Nutella Cupcake with Caramel Frosting Filling

I made cupcakes the other day for a neighborhood party and wanted to experiment, I decided on making a chocolate cupcake with a filling, I noticed that we had a bunch of Nutella that needed to be used up soon and decided to try making a Nutella chocolate frosting to top the cake, it was SO yummy! Sam helped me put the pearls on and mix the ingredients it was lots of fun to do together!

The Nutella made the frosting a little grainy but it still tasted really good, I just made a basic butter cream frosting added 1/2 cup Nutella before adding the milk and added just the right enough amount of milk to make it smooth, I did add a little cocoa powder to make it more chocolaty.

For the cake I just used a chocolate cake mix, and added cocoa and sugar because it was really bland. Now the filling is the best part of this cupcake, but sadly I didn't get any pictures of it! I made a creamy caramel frosting, the caramel sauce made by this recipe is amazing, and once you add the powder sugar it is even more amazing. It was really hard to throw away the extra (the recipe made lots more than I needed) but after a few naughty spoonfuls I tossed the rest.

You can follow the recipe here I followed it all except I let it boil a little over the 2 min, a reviewer said it would give it a stronger caramel flavor and it tasted great so I would recommend giving it another minute just don't let it burn!

Enjoy!

Let Them Eat Cake!

Last week I taught the sisters in my ward how to work with fondant for our weekly meeting. It turned out to be a really fun class with a good turn out.

I showed them how to trim the cake, make a dam to keep the filling from spilling out, and how to do a crumb coat. I have taught a class like this before and somehow I made the same mistake of not taking my frosting out of the refrigerator early enough to let it warm up so it was a little hard to use at first but once I got it going it worked out great.

Here are the ladies, more showed up as the demonstration went on, I didn't get a count but I felt like it was a good group of ladies.

My mom was a great help, you can see her sitting with Colten to my left, Sam was in the nursery playing with the big kids, it was nice to know I didn't need to worry about the boys while I worked.

Here I am showing them how to roll out the fondant and cover the cake, I was working fast and talking as I went so it didn't turn out as smooth as normal but it was good enough for a quick cake.

After I finished my presentation the sisters were given the chance to ask questions, taste the fondant, and decorate a cupcake how ever they wanted using my icing, fondant and tools.

Even some of the kids got in on the fun, we had lots of beautiful cupcakes and lots of fun!

Below is the handout I made with my Fondant recipe and butter cream recipe.

Marshmallow Fondant

Tasty Treat Tuesday: What To Do With Extra Hot Dog Buns....

In our house we always have extra hot dog buns that don't get used. I don't really like hot dogs but my husband loves them, so when he buys them he gets WAY to many and the buns always go bad. A friend of mine showed me how she uses the leftovers she has, and I had to try it out!

Take your extras and lay them out on a pan (I covered mine with foil for easy clean up) butter, add garlic and salt to taste, you could probably add Italian seasoning for extra flavor..

Broil in oven, I check mine every 2-4 min to make sure they don't burn.

Serve with yummy pasta and enjoy!

These have been a big hit with Sam! Next time I think I will try adding Parmesan cheese or some other cheese.

Winterhawks Cake

Its been a while since I made a cake, so when my uncle decided to have a birthday party and asked if I would bring desert, I knew it was time for another fun cake!

My uncle is a big Winterhawks fan so I knew I had to make a jersey.

It took two days of working, the logo took the longest time, but I am really impressed with how it turned out!

Here is a close up, don't mind the holes left from the candles.

Family Friday: Birthday Cupcakes

We celebrated my brothers birthday the other weekend, and I was asked to make cupcakes.

He asked for chocolate cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting with crushed butterfingers mixed in.

And filled with a mixture of vanilla butter cream and caramel 

Lets just say it was heavenly!

Yummm....

Family Friday: Decorating Cupcakes

I made cupcakes the other week and had several left over, Sam loves helping in the kitchen so I figured we could have a fun decorating day!

He had a hard time squeezing the frosting out so I helped squeeze while he moved it around.

His favorite thing was putting on all the sprinkles, he felt he needed to hand place each one!

They turned out really cute in a messy kind of way! He also loved eating them!!

Click here to see where I link!

Tasty Treats Tuesday: Cilantro Lime and Pulled Pork

I have two very yummy recipes for you, sadly I didn't take pictures as I made this the other night but I had to share it anyways!

First off is a sweet and spicy pulled pork recipe, I have had this with pork before but I made it with chicken the other night and it was just as amazing!

Pulled Pork/Chicken

3-4lbs meat

12oz can tomato sauce

8oz can El Pato Sauce Mild (in yellow can)

1 C brown sugar

1-2 cloves of garlic minced

½ C water

Cook and shred meat, add ingredients and cook in slower cooker high 1-2 hours.

Next is a Cilantro Lime sauce which you eat with the meat, they are a perfect pair.

Here is my yummy sauce, its pretty runny at first but becomes creamier after a night in the refrigerator.

Cilantro Lime Sauce

1 envelope o buttermilk ranch dressing mix

1 C Mayo

1 C Milk

½ bunch cilantro

2 tomatillos quartered

1 clove of garlic minced

Juice and zest of 1 lime

  Put in blender and blend until smooth.

Yes I know it sounds fattening with 1 cup of mayo but I use about a tablespoon of it in my taco so a little goes a long way!

I hope you enjoy!

Tasty Treat Tuesday: Lion House Rolls

The other day I made these rolls, I wanted something as close to the yummy Lion House Rolls I had while living in Utah, and this recipe was amazing! I made a double batch and by the time dinner was over there wasn't a roll left!

I found the recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe I haven't had the chance to look at all the amazing recipes she has but just from browsing I know there is a lot more I want to cook from her! She also takes amazing photos of her food.

I followed her Lion House Dinner Roll recipe for my rolls and they turned out wonderfully fluffy and buttery. She has great photos at the end showing how to make them and a link to a video about how to roll them and a wonderful link about the difference in active dry yeast and instant dry yeast, I thought they were the same...but they aren't : ) My rolls look a little funky because I was in a big rush and put them on the pan wrong, but they still turned out very yummy.

Tasty Treat Tuesday: Baked Lemon Pasta

This last week I tried out a new recipe I found from The Pioneer Woman 

I changed a few things I added my parsley to the sauce, and baked it all together and added pepper. I tried it both baked and not; right off the stove the sauce is a creamy heaven, out of the oven the sauce is a little thicker and not as smooth, but the contrast of the crunchy Parmesan cheese is amazing! So either way is yummy!

Tasty Treats Tuesday: Chocolate Letters and Linky Party!

Last week I went to my wards Relief Society birthday party! Knowing how much I love to make fun cakes they asked if I would be willing to make cupcakes. I was so excited to try out a new decorating style!

Pretty hu? I love how it turned out!

Here is the finished product, and this post is going to tell you how to make those pretty chocolate letters on my cupcakes.

Tasty Treats Tuesday: Rainbow Cake Bites

So I saw these amazing yummy Cake Bites at http://www.sugarderby.com/blog/2011/3/5/i-wanna-know-where-tha-gold-at.html I had to give them a try. Well lets say it didn't turn out as beautiful as Sugar Derby's and I was in a huge rush and didn't realize I started with the wrong color so I didn't have enough for very many and I started way to big! So I would follow Sugar Derby's tutorial and I wish you better luck! Even though it didn't turn out how I wanted it to look, it did taste amazing!

Pretty colored cupcake batter

Crumbs

mixing yummy cream cheese frosting into the crumbs

Rolled in melted Reese's peanut butter and chocolate chips, the store didn't have Almond Bark so I had to improvise.

The finished product! They were really big, and going the wrong way but turned out really yummy

Molten Lava Cakes

This week I made Molten Lava Cakes

The cakes were very yummy but very hard to get just right, but when done right it's like chocolate heaven!

I found the recipe at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Molten-Chocolate-Cakes-With-Sugar-Coated-Raspberries/Detail.aspx

but changed it a bit