Friends Helping Friends

I have the best friends EVER! They're all great, but the one I'm talking about now is miss Stephanie Godfrey.

She's an INCREDIBLE photographer who agreed to take pictures of my creations. I'm so excited about these pictures. She just gave me the disc tonight, and I'm already here posting them! Make sure you check out her website and facebook page. She can take your senior pictures, photograph your wedding, take some "just because" model shots, and so much more! Really. She's so talented. Don't keep reading until you click on those links :)

Now for the pictures. First up are some generic cupcakes. These were made for teachers who helped with the Creative Arts Camp at church last week. Speaking of which, I'd like to give a shout out to the lovely Joy and Ashley Poole who made it all happen! It was wonderful! 

Next up are some Independence Day cookies. And what's the Fourth of July without some Atlanta Braves?! 

Steph also took some pictures of me actually decorating the cupcakes. It had been a very long day, and baking is always quite messy, so excuse my lack of beauty :) 

Family Fun Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! My family had a great weekend visiting my grandparents in South Carolina.

I made a carrot cake (Dad's special request) for the occasion, but it pretty much got devoured quicker than I could take a picture of it. Father's Day lunch today was at Hudson's BBQ in Columbia. It won multiple awards over the years, so I was really exciting about trying it. It had an awesome atmosphere and some pretty delicious food.

Anyway, I have quite a few desserts to show y'all that I've made over the past couple of weeks.

Number 1: Wedding Shower Cupcakes (Vanilla and Red Velvet)

Number 2: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes; This is a Chocolate Chip Cookie cake with a Cookie Dough filling and Brown Sugar frosting

Number 3: 5th Birthday Cupcakes (Vanilla)

Number 4: Bride and Groom Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I think I've caught you up on everything, so that's all for now!

Hope everyone has a happy, happy Monday tomorrow!

I Scream, You Scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM CAKE! 

Now, I'm not usually a huge fan of ice cream cake, but this one was pretty delicious. I included the recipe below, but basically, the bottom half of the cake is ice cream and cake combined, while the top half is just ice cream. And, of course, Oreos are mixed into the whole cake. If you're thinking, "That looks like too much trouble", don't think that! I promise it's not. Unless you want to make your own ice cream and cake (I made my own cake but not my own ice cream), you're basically using all pre-made desserts. All you have to do is combine them into one yummy, chocolatey, ooey, gooey, frozen treat. 

One quick tip for all you Georgians planning on making this recipe- the cake pretty much starts melting the second it hits the hot, humid air of your kitchen. Air conditioning is not enough to protect this bad boy. That being said, move quickly to cut and serve it and get that baby back in the freezer! 

Frozen Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream Cake

Frozen Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream Cake
16 ounces chocolate cake (you can use store bought cake or homemade)
2 quarts vanilla ice cream, very soft
1 cup chocolate sauce, warmed
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

One 13-ounce package Oreos or chocolate sandwich cookies, plus additional to garnish if desired

Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by greasing extremely lightly with butter or baking spray. Roughly chop or crumble the sandwich cookies into quarters or smaller bite-sized bits, and divide into three parts. Crumble the cake into a large bowl, and stir in about 1/3 of the crumbled sandwich cookies.

Dump in about 2/3 of a quart of very soft vanilla ice cream, and stir gently but thoroughly until the cake and ice cream are well-combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1 1/3 quarts vanilla ice cream with another 1/3 of the crumbled cookies. Swirl in about 1/2 cup of the chocolate sauce. Press this on top of the cake mixture in the springform pan; it will come nearly up to the top of the pan. 

Lightly cover the cake pan and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. 

After the cake sets in the freezer, press the remaining cookies into the top of the cake and drizzle the remaining sauce over top.

When ready to serve, run a knife around the inside of the cake pan. Open the springform mold gently; it should release easily from the cake. Re-freeze the unmolded cake while you prepare the dark chocolate.

Gently melt the chocolate with the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. When completely melted, drizzle over the ice cream cake and serve in big wedges with additional cookies to garnish.

Mmmmm good :) 

Under Construction

Hey everyone! Please excuse the lack of organization my blog has right now. I'm currently working on re-doing this blog AND creating a website! That way, I can use this blog specifically for recipes, pictures, and rambling, and I can use the website for business matters. I'm also working on a logo for Kristen's Cupcakery. It should make its premiere very soon. I have to thank my lovely mom for designing it for me. She's great!

Anyway, since it's been a while since I've posted, and because I promised you this recipe long ago, here's an appetizer to hold you over until I finish re-designing. Get it? Hold you over? Just as appetizers hold you over before dinner, this one will hold you over until my new look is ready. Ha. Ha. Okay...

EASY Guacamole 

Easy Guacamole 

Ingredients:

2 Avocados (very ripe...trust me on this one. Mashing rock solid avocados is no fun at all)

1 Small onion, finely chopped

1 Clove of garlic, minced

1 Ripe tomato, chopped

1 Lime, juiced

Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:

Peel and mash avocados in a medium serving bowl. Stir in onion, garlic, tomato, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Season with remaining lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for half an hour to blend flavors. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! I hope you all had a wonderful day being treated special by your children. We don't always show you the way we should, but we all love you so much!

My family spent this rainy mother's day lounging around, eating, playing Apples to Apples, and watching movies. We watched Moneyball and Ides of March. I would highly recommend both movies. Moneyball is a baseball movie and Ryan Gosling is in Ides of March. I guess what I'm saying is...why wouldn't you want to watch them?

Doing absolutely nothing today was JUST what I needed. I have baked over 400 cupcakes in the last couple of weeks, and as much as I love baking, it was so nice to spend a day watching movies and NOT decorating cupcakes.

That being said, here's a glimpse at what I've been working on lately!

First, these are individually packaged teacher appreciation cupcakes I made this week for teachers at church. They were given to the Wednesday night and Sunday morning teachers (150 total). Speaking of which, I'd like to give a shout out to all of the teachers and staff. I know how hard you work each week, and I appreciate the way you share your love for the Lord!

Second, here are some college themed cupcakes I made for a graduation party. Half are cookies and cream and half are red velvet.

Third, camping cupcakes for an 8 year old birthday party. One dozen are triple chocolate and one dozen are vanilla.

And finally, a mother's day dessert for my wonderful mommy! She would eat chocolate all day every day if that wasn't frowned upon (who decided to frown upon that, anyway?), so I made her triple chocolate cupcakes. The recipe for these was given to me by the lovely Ashley Poole!

If you're still with me after all of these pictures and ramblings, good for you!

Again, happy mothers day, moms!