Local Yummies: Nothing Bundt Cakes

This post is waaay overdue. Due to wrapping up summer school, there was no time for me to blog or bake. *Gasp!* I apologize for the short hiatus, but two 17-week classes crammed into 6 weeks? Yeah, I was working my butt off. But I'm done with school (for now)! You know what that means...YUMMIES!!! Woo!

So, here's the skinny: I don't really like red velvet cake all that much. I know, that's such a freakin' travesty. My problem with it is...it just tastes like chocolate. I mean, really, I've bought that Duncan Hines box of red velvet cake mix a few times, in hopes that maybe it'll turn out different, tasting like something AMAZING.... No dice. Tastes like chocolate, sorry.

And the thing is, I always try it at different places in hopes of finding one that I actually like. Red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory? No thanks. Red velvet cupcakes from Icing on the Cupcake? I'll pass. Mini red velvet cupcakes from my work? No. Just...no. You'd think I'd learn by now, right? My problem is I want to like it, really I do. But nothing I've tried so far has lived up to the hype.

Until recently.

This my friends, is the red velvet cake in question. And not just any red velvet cake. No, this is a baby bundt red velvet cake. AKA- "Bundtlet". Freakin'. Adorable. My family got free bundlet coupons from running our first 5K back in April, for a local bundt cake shop called Nothing Bundt Cakes. Apparently they have stores all over the states, and let me tell you, you MUST  give them a try because their cakes are soooo TASTY. And the shop itself is so quaint and adorable, I could spend FOREVER in there. 

Gah, they're just too cute! Here are the red velvet, marble and chocolate chocolate chip bundlets we got, and boy were they all delish! Too good not to share with you guys!

There you have it, witnessing my change from red-velvet-skeptic to "believer" in the tasty red velvet....however rare such an occurrence may be. If you come across a local Nothing Bundt Cakes, stop in and give them a try!! I totally recommend the red velvet bundlet!

Doesn't hurt that it's cute. ;)

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Independence Day, America!! It's time for fireworks, nice cold drinks, BBQ, and, at my house, patriotic ice cream sandwiches! I've seen these pinwheel cookies on Pinterest and I've been DYING to try them out myself. So I made them with two bags of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (yes, I totally cheated, sorry), following the directions on the bag, but adding Wilton food color gel to each batch of dough, one red, one blue. After letting it chill in the fridge, I rolled my dough into little balls. I then rolled one blue ball and one red ball together and rolled them into about a 12 inch cane. then you twist them into coils and bake for about 10 minutes (Or whatever...the directions said 5-7...I had to eyeball it because that just wasn't cutting the mustard). And the fun doesn't stop there. Oh no. I had to put some softened ice cream between those bad boys to make them into ice cream sandwiches. Hello, this is sunny California. It's like, 93 degrees outside, people. Cold treats are a MUST.

They turned out a bit "Seussical", but that's totally fine. You know why? Because they're freakin' ice cream sandwiches (I like to bake, but ice cream is my weakness).
Until next time-It's time for me to go eat these bad boys! Everyone have a fun, SAFE holiday!

Kae's "Pur-tle" Cake Pops

My cake pops are pretty popular at my house. I mean, I think they are. This is just a shot in the dark, but I think it means they're pretty popular when one of the two-year-olds my mom watches comes up to me and demands purple cake pops for her upcoming birthday. Of course, I was happy to oblige, especially since it's so cute when she says purple, or "pur-tle." And perhaps it's genetic, since her mom (the recipient in this post) is freakin' obsessed loves my cake pops too. So here they are, pur-tle cake pops, just what the birthday girl ordered. They have pink and yellow sprinkles. But wait. There's MORE.

They have tags!! TANGLED tags!! When we found out she was having a Tangled party, I knew the purple pops would go PERFECTLY. So this is what we did. My mom bought some Tangled stickers at our local Wal-Mart. Then, she and I cranked out these bad boys. She cut out the stickers into circles, I cut out the purple scallops and slapped the stickers on, and she punched holes into the top and bottom. INSTANT. CUTENESS. They totally tied the pops in with the theme of the party. And now I have so many opportunities!! Want Mickey Mouse & Friends pops? Done. Want Disney Princess or Tinkerbell pops? Done!!

These were a huge hit at Kae's Tangled party. And the birthday girl totally approved of her pur-tle pops.

Happy Birthday Kae! <3

Congrats Class of 2012!

I put myself in the most ridiculous situations sometimes, I swear. I think it's my tendency to want to please everyone. For example, when my next door neighbor asks me to make her graduation cookies for her graduating kindergartener, instead of just saying yes right off the bat, I may want to take a few things into consideration first: Do I have the right supplies? Or: Do I have anything else planned for that week? Because the thing is...I don't own any graduation cutters. AND I had my Mike Wazowkski pops and a different batch of SEVENTY cake pops (post to come soon!) due the same week. BUT, I said yes. Because that's why I do this stuff. I love making stuff for other people. So, I consider this a learning experience that: 1. With enough preparation, I can TOTALLY handle 3 baking orders/projects in a week and 2. I can freaking MacGyver any cookie shape I want if I don't have the proper cutter. Here's one of my finished subjects:

See that? Can't even tell I didn't have a cookie cutter for it. What I did was print out an image of a grad cap cookie cutter, trace it on an old plastic lid, and cut THAT out...and when I made my cookie dough, I just traced my template with a paring knife. That's right, these babies are HAND. CUT. I used my usual cookie recipe and icing recipe. And I don't know what I did differently with my icing, but my thin icing was the smoothest I've ever been able to get it. No weird color swirling, no weird sinking in, very few bubbles. I'm not complaining but, what the heck??

Here they are, packaged and ready to go. I did them in the elementary school's colors, and tied them with a matching ribbon. My neighbor was thrilled! See? I agreed to do them and I didn't even need a game plan. Learning experience totally paid off. =)

Congrats on graduating kindergarten, Ciara! And congrats Class of 2012!

Monsters, Inc. Pops!

Well, I guess if we're getting technical, they're not really Monsters Inc. pops per se...seeing as I don't have the skills to make Boo pops or Sulley pops, BUT I did make pops of not only my favorite Monsters, Inc. character, but one of my favorite Disney characters. I bring you....Mike Wazowski!!

Awww...Cute little Googlie-Bear. =)

These were SUPER easy to make. Actually the most time-consuming part of this process was the making of the eyes. I originally wanted to use a white meltable chocolate for the eyes, but in proportion to the cake pop, the eyes would've been HUGE. So instead, I melted the white chocolate, piped smaller circles on a piece of wax paper, and after they dried, went over the white with some melted green chocolate, making the irises. At this point they looked like green eggs sans the ham. Perfect little treats for Dr. Seuss's birthday next year! Anyway, I used an edible ink marker on the dried green eggs to turn them into eyeballs. Then it was just your usual dipping of the cake balls in green meltables and holding the eyes in place until the pops dried. White chocolate chips were perfect for Mike's horns, which I attached with some leftover melted green chocolate. Just add a smile with a black candy writer, and you've got yourself some cute little Mike Wazowksi pops!

Cupcake Pen

Alright guys...I have another confession to make (Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I am honest to a fault? Seriously, It gets me in trouble sometimes). I...well...my least favorite treat to make is cupcakes.  I know. Freakin' blasphemy. My friend Hayley (The Domestic Rebel) is probably shaking her head right now in shame/disgust (sorry).  Look, it's not that cupcakes don't TASTE delicious. And it's not that they aren't often freakin' ADORABLE. Seriously, can I get an amen on that one? Cupcakes. Are. Adorable. BUUUTTT...I hate MAKING them. I find it to be messier than making a cake or cookies or even cake pops. One of my pet peeves of baking is when you're baking muffins or cupcakes and while you're spooning the batter into the baking cups, it gets all over the side of the cups and the muffin pan. It happens every time and I find it SO. ANNOYING.

But there's good news!! I may have found a solution to my problem! While shopping with my dad a while ago, we stumbled on THIS bad boy at our local JC Penny:

THIS, my friends, is the Tovolo Cupcake Pen. I knew I HAD to have it when I saw it, in the hopes that it would make cupcake-making more enjoyable. Now...I haven't actually made any cupcakes since purchasing this, but I HAVE made cake pops. This tool is life changing, I tell you!

My cupcake pen with my Babycakes. It's like they were made for each other. =) So if you find cupcake making (or even cake pop making, for that matter) to be annoyingly messy like I do, I suggest you give this a try!!

Butterfinger Cake

Alright guys, are you ready for one of the yummiest posts ever? I bet you are. This is hands down the easiest cake I've ever made, and one of the tastiest by far!! My mom found this recipe for Butterfinger Cake on Pinterest (love that site!) and requested that my sister and I make it for her for Mother's Day. My sister and I made a sheet cake with a box of yellow cake mix,, followed the instructions for the rest of the cake on this site, and there you have the most DELICIOUS cake. EVER. I'm not a huge fan of eating cake (I'm more of an ice cream or cookie girl, myself), but I could have eaten this ALL. DAY. LONG. And my mom LOVED it. Like, we could have just given her the cake for Mother's Day and she would've been stoked. My favorite part about this cake was the caramel cake itself. It makes it so easy to make other kinds of candy bar cakes with it. For example, I really want to make the caramel cake with a MILKY WAY topping. Yum, YUM!

Hop on over to the site, and give this cake a try. You will NOT regret it!!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!! =)