Playing Catch-Up

I'm sitting at my kitchen table right now waiting on a cake to come out of the oven, so I figured, what better time than now to update the blog I rarely keep up with?

I have had the BUSIEST week in terms of orders. I won't go into detail on each and every one of them, but let's talk numbers. By this coming Monday, I will have made, decorated, and delivered 451 cupcakes, 2 cakes, and 40 cupcakes in a jar in the preceding week. In one week! Not to mention I took two finals this morning and I have another one coming up on Tuesday.

Now, I don't say all of this to complain or brag about all of my orders. I say it because I'm explaining (or making an excuse for) how behind I am on my blog posts. But let's be honest, I'm always behind. Moving on.

Here are some of the projects I've been working on.

Peace sign and heart cookies as a party favor 

Lingerie cake and cupcakes for a bachelorette party 

Art themed cake for a birthday party

Nautical themed cupcakes for a birthday party

Gender reveal cupcakes for (you guessed it) a gender reveal party

It's a BOY! 

Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

I love breakfast.

It is by far my favorite meal of the day...if I have something delicious.

Pancakes, waffles, muffins, scones, donuts, bacon, grits, biscuits, CINNAMON ROLLS.

I love all of it. Especially cinnamon rolls. That's why I decided on cinnamon rolls for our Easter morning breakfast. I'll take any chance I can get to make them. But this time, I decided to put a little bit of a twist on them and turn them into NUTELLA cinnamon rolls.

How delicious does that sound?!?

I promise you...they taste equally as fantastic as they sound.

Please ignore the TERRIBLE quality of the pictures. It was still dark outside, so the only light I had was the one right above the table, and it caused an awful glare on the cinnamon rolls.

Also, I'm just really bad at photography.

But don't let my poor photography skills keep you from making these!

Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
For the Cinnamon Rolls
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup hazelnuts, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (optional)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Nutella Ganache
6 tablespoons Nutella
1/4 cup heavy cream (I used a lot more than this)

Directions:
For the Cinnamon Rolls
To make the filling, combine all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture looks like wet sand. Set aside.
To make the dough, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush a 9-inch cake pan with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. 
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, hazelnuts, sugar, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Add the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, and stir until just combined. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth. If the mixture is too sticky or wet, place in a lightly floured bowl, cover, and chill for 20 minutes.
Flatten the dough into a rectangle about 12 X 8 inches. Pour 2 tablespoons of the melted butter on and spread around with your fingers. Pour the filling over the dough an spread it evenly over the top, leaving about a 1/2 inch or so border around the outside edge. Press the filling down to pack it on top of the dough. 
Starting on the short side of the dough, roll the dough up, pressing as you go, to create a tightly rolled log. Pinch the seam closed and lay the log seam side down. Cut into 8 even pieces, and transfer each roll to the prepared cake pan. Brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. 
Allow the cinnamon rolls to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack set over parchment paper. 

For the Nutella Ganache
In a medium bowl, stir the Nutella with 2 tablespoons of cream. Mix until the mixture is smooth. If it is too thick, add more cream, a tablespoon at a time, to loosen it up. Pour the icing over the rolls and serve them warm. 

Easter Sweets

Happy day after Easter!

I'm sitting outside on this BEAUTIFUL day as I write this post. Spring is actually starting to make its appearance, and I couldn't be more thankful. If I have to endure another day of 35 degrees and rain (like last Monday), I might go crazy. Literally. And moving to Florida will be the only logical solution.

It would have been fortunate if we had this beautiful day yesterday, but we weren't so lucky here in the Atlanta area. It was pretty gloomy, but the rain only lasted a few minutes, and we got to get a couple of pictures on the deck in front of the pretty cherry trees!

Our Easter was wonderful! We had a delicious breakfast of Nutella Cinnamon Rolls (recipe coming soon), followed by church, a steak lunch, and an afternoon of games and an Easter egg hunt. Which brings me to my question...how old is too old to hunt Easter eggs? Answer: you're NEVER too old! I even got to finish off my Easter Sunday with a game of tennis with some of absolute FAVORITE people. I am so thankful for friends and fellowship.

Now onto the sweets. I have multiple recipes to post soon. I know it's been a while since I've done that. But in the mean time, here are some of the Easter treats I made this weekend!

And non-Easter related, here are some Minnie Mouse cookies.

I hope you all had a great weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of our Savior!

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." 

Isaiah 53:5

L-O-V-E

Now that Valentines Day is behind us, I am officially ready for spring and all that comes with it. Warm weather, sunshine, flowers, colorful clothes, sundresses. It all sounds so perfect (yet so far away) as I'm sitting in my accounting class on this rainy Tuesday morning. Though the heart of spring is quite a few weeks away, my spring will begin during the first week of March when I start my Spring Break. I'm heading to Florida and praying for warm, beautiful weather. The beach, Aunt Catfish's, and Harry Potter world are calling my name. Just 10 short days. 10. Days. I can do it!

Before I get ahead of myself, let me show you a photo summary of my Valentine's Day.

And now for a little encouragement. Tuesday is definitely my least favorite day of the week. It just seems so blah. It's not Monday (which, might I say, is one of my favorite days of the week because of the time I spend with some of my favorite people watching The Bachelor), but it's not Hump Day, either. It's just uneventful and boring. Especially when it's raining. BUT, that being said, we have a reason to smile! Let this be your driving force today--

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

This is one of my favorite verses. It's also one of my most common prayers. However, it is so often misinterpreted. Many people take this verse to say "if I 'delight myself' in the Lord, he will give me everything my heart desires and my life will be perfect." This is far from the truth...kind of. No, God will not give us one million dollars just because we want it. God will not grant us every wish we have just because we read our Bible. He is not our Genie or Fairy Godmother. Instead, I believe God will begin to change our desires to align with His desires for us as we delight ourselves in Him. The more time we spend in His word, in prayer, and simply kneeling in His presence, the more we will want for us what God wants for us. Once this happens, the Lord WILL give us the desires of our heart because our desires will be for God's will to be done in our lives. This is a somewhat complicated concept to explain in writing, and I can only hope I'm getting my point across. The point is not that The Lord gives us anything and everything that we want. The point is that the more time we spend with Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we obey Him. 1 John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." The more we obey Him, the more we will see God work and move in our lives, and the more we will delight ourselves in His presence.

So this is my prayer for myself and for each of you today- delight yourselves in The Lord. Pray that He will change your desires to align with His. What better way could we live our lives than to desire what The Lord desires? Imagine what we could accomplish for the Kingdom!

Just a thought. Just a long, rambling, random thought. I hope that gave you something to think about today, and I hope it was an encouragement to you.

Have a wonderful day!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Phew. What a busy, busy, busy weekend I've had. BUT...I am so thankful for it! And for you all! I hardly had a moment free from baking this weekend, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Thank y'all for ordering from me and keeping me in business. I love what I do and I love who I am able to do it for.

Moving on. Here's a glimpse at what I've been baking over the past couple of weeks.

Again, y'all are the best and I couldn't thank you enough for considering me for your kids' parties, your baby showers, and your everyday cupcake needs :)