Valentine Cupcakes

Valentine Cupcake Special!  $20/dozen.  Order now!  DarlingDesserts@yahoo.com

Groundhog Day

I've only been thinking about Valentine's Day so I almost forgot about Groundhog Day on Feb. 2nd.  I googled for inspiration but groundhogs aren't that inspiring.  I couldn't come up with any cool cookies.  Then I searched on Pinterest.  Oh, Pinterest how I love you.  I spend [waste] so much time on Pinterst.  Find me and follow me so I can follow you.  I'm using my name over there so search Emily Cattell.  Thanks to the Cake Mix Doctor at www.cakemixdoctor.com for the idea.  But I didn't use that recipe.  I never use cake box mixes.  Never might be too strong a word but I would NEVER sell cake mix cake.  I want to be cool and say there is nothing wrong with selling cake mix cake but I have been so disappointed so many times when biting into a cute cupcake to discover Crisco frosting and cake mix cake.  Ick.  Here is my cupcake with real butter frosting:

If you would like to order some of these cuties let me know.  $20/dozen.  Vanilla or chocolate cake only.  I'm hoping "winter" ends soon.  It's hitting 80 today and I'm hoping to get to the beach this weekend!  



Cupcake Special!

Back to school special!  $15/dozen for rainbow surprise cupcakes!  Ready on Friday for a nice end of 1st week of school special.  Or a nice end of summer treat if you start next week!  Email me   darlingdesserts@yahoo.com   I’m going to make a limited number so get your order in now to reserve a dozen (or more!).

Cupcakes for Teachers

 

 

1st grade is right around the corner.  On Friday Weston and I went back to school to meet his teacher.  I’m ready to get back to the school routine but am also a bit sad to see my baby boy grow up a little bit more.  I also have been worried about our decision to send him to this magnet school that is 30 minutes from home.  Is this school really any better?  According to the state grades, it’s not.  What about neighborhood friends?  He’s the only kid at his bus stop.   It was wonderful on Friday to get back in the school and FEEL the reason why I want to continue there.  We got to see friends we have missed this summer and I think we both left feeling reconnected.  I’m excited to see what the year holds for us.   No need for me to think about it for one more second.  Fast forward to today on our way home from Target which takes us by our zoned school.  “Mom when will I be allowed to go to that school?  I really want to go there.  Last year some kids left in the middle of the year to go to another school so I could do that.”   Too late kiddo.  Might have had a chance last week but now you’re stuck!  Oh, and I made these cupcakes for the back to school PTA lunch for the teachers.  I’m loving the fondant toppers and I hope they did too! 

Rainbow cupcakes

These might be my favorite cupcakes yet. Everyone seems to love seeing a rainbow in the cupcake. I had a helper for these.

You can make these yourself. I use super power color from the cake shop to get the vibrant colors. Just mix up, divide into cups to color, and layer spoonfuls into the cupcake pan. Doesn't sound like fun to you? I'll do it for you.

New Cake Pop

My testers say this is the best yet. I should say the testers that like coconut say it's the best. If you don't like coconut your out on this one. I did have one tester say he would like all the little pieces of paper taken off before testing. But he's 4.

These are coconut cake from scratch, vanilla buttercream from scratch dipped in chocolate from the store and sprinkled with toasted coconut (little pieces of paper). I love this cake. Next time I'm doing these dipped in white chocolate.

I've also been working on football yummies for football season. I know I won't have much time once August hits and school starts. Fall is always so busy around here. I haven't had many orders and I'm really enjoying just playing in the kitchen. It's a nice refresher. Nice, but I'm going to need some orders soon to pay for these experiments.

July = Cupcakes

We have been eating lots o' cupcakes around here in the past few weeks. I'm searching for the *perfect* cupcakes recipes. No mixes for my cake and Crisco in my frosting are my general guidelines. So far I've got my regular and chocolate buttercream down. Notice I concentrate on the frostings first. Found my regular, old fashioned vanilla cupcake recipe today. Chocolate is a bit harder. I've got one that is pretty good. But the batter is too thin. I must have a chocolate batter that I can add goodies to including, but not limited to, chocolate chips, heath bar chips, coconut. I've got a good Heath Bar cupcake. Take a look:

Yes that is a little Heath bar and Heath bits (don't ask what happened to the rest of that big bag of Heath bars). And it's loaded with bits in the cake. Good stuff.

Other than that it's been business as usual for summer in Florida. We've been to lots of beaches, done some gold mining, swimming, tennis camp. I don't even want to think about school starting. Of course I can say that right now because both my kids are in bed and I have a glass of wine in hand!

Logo Cookies

I've been practicing my piping skills with these!

Guess who is 3...

I'm still waiting for the terrible twos to leave. It was a fun birthday other than the stupid Barbie/Princess cake she picked out for me to make for. That and the cake pops and the cookies and the cupcakes. Guess what she ate. Store bought ice cream and the package of Peeps her Uncle Andrew gave her. Stinker.

Cake Pop Experiment

I've been busy experimenting with chocolate, cake and frosting. This is dangerous work. I rarely am tempted to eat a cookie but chocolate gets me. I've even started eating the cookies again after I dip them in chocolate. Ack! The real purpose of the chocolate is to make the perfect cake pop. What is a cake pop? It is cake and frosting mixed together, formed into a ball, stuck on a stick and dipped in chocolate. Take a look at the 1st run:

All kinds of problems: chocolate cracking, pops jumping off sticks, ugly drizzle. But still yummy. Very yummy. So I kept trying and eating. How about the cake and frosting in a chocolate mold instead of a stick? The first of those. See those sad cake pops in the background?

These are fun to make and fun to eat and really fun to decorate. In case you are wondering they are white cake and strawberry frosting dipped in chocolate. Kind of like a chocolate dipped strawberry but with absolutely no nutritional value at all. That's why they taste so good. Here are some all dressed up and ready to go:

And now back to cake pops. I think I've got the cracking problem figured out. The last batch were good enough to send to work with Danny.

Cake pops have not taken over the kitchen. I'm trying to figure out ways to package cookies that allows people to give them as a gift. I am not entertaining cookies on sticks. Cake on sticks, yes. Cookies on sticks, no. These cookies found a home in a 1lb. candy box with a clear lid. So instead of boring candy for Valentine's Day you could give them a box of delicious cookies.

Can you tell I got a new camera? I love it! It's not super fancy, just has a big zoom. Check it out:

Big, old Mr. Alligator at Blue Springs.

Cute mommy and baby manatee. The animal that evolution totally missed.

These 2 wild monkeys were running all over the place disturbing the peace.

Late Xmas Cookies

Happy New Year! I love the idea of fresh starts even if it comes from just the turning of a calendar page. My fitness resolution is to run a 5k each month. And by run I mean cross the finish line on my feet. I've picked my 1st race for the last Saturday of January and they allow for a 20 minute mile which means I am almost guaranteed to finish. That's mall wander walk speed.

I have some xmas cookies to share but most are stuck on my camera. My computer is so full that it can't accept one more picture. My new computer is on it's way from China as I type (I love online tracking tools). I also have a new fancy camera headed my way from Georgia. Fancy for me means a 26x zoom. Both due to arrive tomorrow so by tomorrow night I'll be super mad that I've spent all day with electronics and still don't have them figured out.

For our dog groomer:

For a client who had these delivered to the hospital for the nurses:


Christmas morning before they were allowed to touch anything. Mom and Dad need coffee before chaos.

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Stay tuned. I'm working with chocolate and cake for my next new products. Which leads right back to the top and my fitness resolution.

Thanksgiving

I know you all are shocked that I'm late blogging my Turkey Day cookies. I'm skipping Weston's 6th birthday-and all 6 cakes-for now. My computer misunderstood "Cyber Monday" and decided to quit on me. It's at the computer ER (my dad's) and I've taken over Danny's.



How was your Thanksgiving dessert? I'm sure it was yummy but was it this cute?

Now, think about December and how super cool you would be if you took some delicious and beautiful cookies to a holiday party or had them on your buffet or gave them as favors. Stay tuned. The next post will be soon and will feature holiday cuties!

Wedding Time

We are packing for Denver! We are going to see my dear friend Erin get married and then stay a few days to enjoy the place. I made her a few wedding cake cookies to enjoy before the big day.

Erin and I have been friends for what seems like forever. With our big teased up bangs. Learning to drive. All sorts of high school mischief that will now go unmentioned (even though I found one of our journals in the garage just a few weeks ago ). Erin was dramatically swept away to Michigan and since that was waaayyyy before email and such, we lost touch. But her brilliant parents bought FL Prepaid so we both ended up in Tallahassee where we had a little college mischief. Oh, and she's the reason I have the cockatiel that will live forever. I also sent her a copy of Bobby Bowden's new book- signed and all. I had hoped he would write some lovely note inside. Oh well.

Can't wait to see you Erin and to meet Chris! I'm so happy for you!

What have you been doing?

It seems like it's been busy since my last post. I guess I haven't posted anything because I haven't baked hardly anything for the past few months. I just shipped off some cookies to a friend but I don't want to post them until she gets them. Our family is still adjusting to the new fall schedule. We have to get up much earlier to get Wes off to kindergarten and it's been taking it's toll on all of us. Wes loves school. So does Kate. She is disappointed on the days she doesn't get to go to school.

Weston's 1st day. I think Kate asked me 50 times "Where Wessy?"

Kate's 1st day. Weston wearing his school uniform (love it!).

Thanks for checking in. Baking stuff next time!

A late 4th

So much for my commitment to blog at least once a week. I didn't make once a month. It's summer. That's the excuse I'm going with for now.

I made another cake for the 4th. Cakes are fun to make but so expensive! I've got to figure out how to make my own fondant. I think I figured this cake cost about $30 in supplies to make. Gotta have a decent cake under all that work so that costs more. Same with the frosting. Then I was out of coupons for Michaels so I had to pay full price for fondant. The woes of a baker.

I also made some cookies for the occasion. I like how these came together on a platter. Most of the time I am asked to individually bag them so I never see them all piled up and yummy looking.

A little more sweet:

Kate ready for bed with the dolls my mom made me. Don't know how she sleeps with all that stuff crammed in her bed but she loves it as you can see.

Happy July!

Ladybugs

I loved making these cookies! They were made to match the plates and napkins at a little girl's 1st birthday party. The green looks a little more obnoxious in the picture than it did in real life. I think I did a better job for this girl's 1st birthday than I did for my own daughter's 1st! The problem with doing cakes and cookies for my own kids is I have to do all the other stuff too. For Kate's last birthday I didn't even do the cake. Just got it at Sam's. But you won't find personalized cookies like this at Sam's!

Graduation

Here are some of the cookies I made for a very important 4 year old's graduation. First time I've decorated the sandwich cookies. Actually, it was the 1st time the sandwich cookies left the house:) It's dangerous for me to have homemade buttercream frosting laying around. Yummy.

Family picture on graduation day. Time flies! I can't believe I'll be sending him off to kindergarten in 2 months. We shopped for a desk for him because "big kids have lots of homework". Yesterday he easily agreed to doing some reading and math because "I have to practice for kindergarten." I would love to know exactly what he thinks is going to happen in kindergarten!

Hello Kitty Cake

My 1st carved cake covered in fondant. I love Hello Kitty so I was very excited when I had the chance to make this for my class. I have my final exam cake left to get the very valuable Wilton certificate that I can hang on my wall. Or fold up and find in my car a few months from now.

Camping Cookies

I made these camping cookies for a 5 year olds end of year party. Weston thought these were cool which led to a LONG discussion about camping. Discussion=whining about why we don't camp more. More is a stretch since his camping experience is a tent in our backyard. This from a kid who wouldn't go on our porch or in the backyard after seeing a 1 inch frog out there. I will be kind and not describe in detail what happened when he saw a snake in the yard recently. It involved tears and screaming. I think we'll stick to camping cookies and backyard camping for now. Especially since backyard camping is a daddy activity and I sleep in my comfortable bed in the air conditioned house.

1st Fondant cake

I'm taking a fondant/gumpaste class at Michaels. It's so much fun to get to talk to other women about cakes and decorating ideas. This is my 1st cake for the class. We aren't allowed much creativity. It's a Wilton class and we have to follow the guidelines. Not sure why anyone would have a drape like this across a cake unless it was covering a baby but whatever. Hopefully I will look back at this one day soon and laugh.

This was our last week of school. My baby graduated from preschool yesterday! As my neighbor so sweetly put it, "You're old now that you have an elementary school kid." I'm proud of him. But none of that kindergarten talk for a few months. We have summer to enjoy!