Let the Graduation Parties Begin!

First up, here's a cake pretty similar to the one I made Drew. The only difference besides the name and color is that I did stripes on the side instead of polka dots. I thought it seemed more masculine.

The next pictures are of some simple purple and green cupcakes I made for a meeting at church.

Here's an interesting fact. I decided to add up the amount of baking I've done over the past week. Since Sunday (and today's Saturday), I've made, decorated, and delivered 152 cupcakes and a cake. That's insane. I LOVE doing this, but it'll be nice to have a break for a little while :)

Cupcake Mania

Last Tuesday, I was able to make some cupcakes for a wedding shower. Thanks to some decorating skills (of those other than myself) and elegant plates and platters, I thought the cupcakes looked really pretty on the table.

And we can't forget the rest of the wonderful food that was made. Really though...that was some good food. Just to be clear, I DID attend the shower...I didn't just steal the food :)

Next up...soccer cupcakes. Since the Lady Hoyas won state, I told my class (which I have with a friend of mine who plays soccer on the team) I would make soccer cupcakes. My intention was to put fondant soccer balls on them, but that was WAY easier said than done. I ended up just making them look like a field. It wasn't what I had hoped for, but they still tasted good!

To finish up the post, I also made cupcakes for yearbook one day. These are really simple, and I don't really like the color combo (they matched the liners...I had to), but I figured I'd post them anyway.

I just took advantage of the small break in the celebration of my last day of high school EVER to post these. I've been meaning to do it for a few days. Anyway, it's time to continue celebrating!

Graduation Day

I'm not making my own graduation cake due to complete lack of time, so I decided to make Drew one for graduating from grad school at Georgia State.

After the family eating a piece, Drew taking about half of the cake home, and the three of us having just one more piece, it was sadly gone in no time. What's the next event? Memorial day? I need another excuse to bake. I have so many awesome recipes I want to try. On the agenda for this week, though-- shower cupcakes (just finished...pictures soon!), another graduation cake, cupcakes for a couple of classes at school, and more cupcakes. There are about 100 cupcakes in various containers in my freezer right now. There are cupcakes EVERYWHERE! Speaking of which, I need to go decorate. Off to the kitchen!

Decadent Desserts

Okay, i found a new blog that I'm LOVING. Each time I look through the blog, I find a million new recipes I want to try. They were all piling up, so I figured I ought to test a couple of them out :) Anyway, one of the recipes was for Red Velvet Cake Balls. These things are AMAZING. And poppable...which is dangerous when something tastes this good.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Red Velvet Cake Balls

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13x9 cake

1 can cream cheese frosting (16oz)

1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)

Directions: After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. It should make 45-50. Chill for several hours (or speed this up by putting them in the freezer). Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. Roll balls in chocolate and la on wax paper until firm. 

NOTES: 

-White chocolate tastes MUCH better than regular chocolate on these...although it doesn't look quite as pretty since red velvet crumbs can be seen.

-Only melt a few squares of chocolate bark at a time. Not only does it harden quickly, but it is much easier to work with when it's hot. 

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The other recipe was for Peanut Butter Cake Cups. Basically, these are GIANT Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. These were great, too. And I mean great. We have to get these things out of the house!

Peanut Butter Cake Cups

Peanut Butter Cake Cups
1 box white cake mix
Oil, eggs, and water as called for in cake mix
1 cup peanut butter
4 (12 oz) bags milk chocolate chips
24 foil cupcake liners

Bake cake according to package instructions in a 9x13 inch cake pan. Allow to cool about 15 minutes; crumble cake with hands. Add peanut butter to cake crumbs and mix until completely blended. Form peanut butter cake mixture into 1 and 1/2 inch balls; set balls onto parchment paper. Lightly press each ball to flatten slightly. Microwave chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl one bag at a time, about 1 minute, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Pour about 1 tablespoon of melted chocolate into bottom of each foil cupcake liner. Use a spoon or small rubber spatula to spread and smooth chocolate. Place one peanut butter cake ball into each cup, on top of chocolate. Lightly press cake into chocolate. Pour chocolate over cake until completely covered (this should be flat). Allow cups to set about 2 hours at room temperature.

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Who knows when I'll have time to make the next recipe on my list, but I should probably go run a few hundred miles to work off all the calories from these two desserts before I make a new one :)

Racecar Cake

Here are a couple of cakes I was asked to do for a 7 year old boy's birthday party.  They're both vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, and they each have quite a few pieces of fondant decoration on them. These were both really fun to make. I love trying new things. Hope you like them!