Gone Fishin'

This post is going to be short and sweet. I just wanted to show you what I was up to the past couple days.

Christmas in October

Who doesn't like Oreos??

*crickets*

Exactly. Oreos are amazing, and so is Christmas. Put them together and you achieve GREATNESS.

Chocolate Chess Pie

It's been forever since my last post, and honestly, I have no excuse. Other than it was summer and I wasn't baking as much. Who wants to be in a hot kitchen when it's 100 degrees and gorgeous outside?! But the air has finally gotten a little crisper and even a few leaves are beginning to change so I thought I'd welcome the changing of seasons with some pie.

Rustic Bridal Shower

A friend at work emailed me asking about a wedding shower cake. She sent me a link to her Pinterest page which showed a rustic wedding cake with a burlap flower as the accent piece. She told me that she had already made the fabric flower so all she needed was my cake expertise.

Pretty in Pink Cake

I made a pretty pink cake this weekend, for a very girly 3 year old. It was her birthday on Saturday and she is the epitome of a girly girl. She wanted frills, lots of pink, and chocolate (a girl after my own heart). I love ruffle cakes, they are so easy, but turn out looking beautiful. I also did some cupcakes, which you can see below. I used a smaller rose tip for the cupcakes, and they came out sort of a mix between flowers and ruffles. The cupcakes would also work great for a baby shower, or engagement party, or any spring time event. Hopefully I'll get to post some of the pictures from the party. Happy Mother's Day!

Chips Ahoy

I am excited to say that I was asked to make the desserts for a client meeting this week. This was one of my first professional gigs, so I really wanted to wow the crowd. The client wanted something small (no one likes to stuff their face during a meeting) so I decided to do a Chips Ahoy theme trio of mini desserts. Up front are white chocolate trifles with cookie crumbles. In the middle are vanilla cupcakes with cookie dough frosting and at the top are cookie sandwiches with a dark chocolate ganache filling. 

Coconut Cream Pie

My friend Christina brought to my attention yesterday that I've been neglecting my co-workers a little bit lately. I've been getting a fair amount of orders for sweets, all from people in the office. So my desk neighbors have been seeing a lot of cupcakes and cakes, but haven't gotten to sample any. For a long time they were my guinea pigs, before anyone knew if my baking was good. That's why I decided to make them a pie today, because who doesn't love pie on a Thursday morning?

Pastry Cream Cups

One of my all time favorite desserts are eclairs. I get one every time I visit Amelie's Bakery in Charlotte. There is just something about the crunch of the eclair, coupled with the rich, creamy texture of the pastry cream that always seems to satisfy. I went to the bakery during Easter weekend and had my fill of french sweets, but then I came home and was still craving more.

Raspberry Jam Bars

I've always been big into breakfast. I don't know why, maybe it's the fact that you can combine savory and sweet flavors into one meal, maybe it's because hash browns always seem to cure a hangover, or maybe it's just because every breakfast food is DELICIOUS. In any case, one of my favorite breakfast items is a nice warm biscuit with jam. But last night at 7pm I wasn't really feeling up for making biscuits so I broke out my food processor and made these instead.

Coconut Macaroons

If you've read any of my blog posts you know that I have a slight obsession with chocolate. Well not far behind is my love for coconut. I've posted a recipe for my favorite French Coconut Pie and now, I'm writing about on of my favorite coconut + chocolate snacks.

Chocolate Stout Cake

Every St. Patrick's Day I see desserts incorporating stouts and bailey's and other Irish liquors. We all know that St. Patty's Day is pretty much all about drinking, but I never really understood the need to mix baking and alcohol. Until today.

Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!!! This is my first year celebrating and I am excited to share with you my completely homemade recipe. Since Pi Day was so close to St. Patrick's Day I decided to do a grasshopper pie to incorporate both. However, I slightly misjudged the amount of food coloring I needed so it is more of a hint of green pie, rather than neon green. But you live and you learn. In any shade this pie is extremely delicious and for those of you who are mint/chocolate fans this will be your new favorite.

Baby Shower

One of the creative admins at work is about ready to pop so we had a small baby shower for her this week. Her sister-in-law owns an online baby store so she has pretty much everything she could possible need, but we managed to pick out a few things we thought she'd like. I forgot how much fun shopping for a baby is, I went a little overboard.... Everything was just so tiny and soft, I couldn't help myself!!

Retirement Party

Having just begun my career, it felt a little strange when I was asked to make a retirement cake for a woman at work. It's one of those times when you realize that with every beginning comes an end. Not to be too much of a downer, but it really got me thinking about my goals, aspirations, and dreams. I want to look back on my 40 years of work and feel like I've accomplished something. So in a way, I think it was good for me to think about the end while I'm still at the beginning.

Chocolate Swirl Buns

It's been a while since my last post, sorry! I've been so caught up with my job and moving that I haven't had much time to blog. I've finally gotten settled in to my new place enough to start baking again and I'm pretty excited.