Busy Birthday Baking

I know it's been a long time since I posted anything, and except for a delicious batch of brownies I made from scratch, I went quite a while without baking. But with my dad's surprise 60th birthday party in the works, I knew my no-baking streak would come to an end. And I did enough baking in two days to make up for the couple of months I spent out...

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Birthday Cake

I'm a bit late in posting this, but last weekend and this week have been pretty busy! Last Saturday, my old department from John Wieland got together, and I was asked to make a birthday cake for a former coworker's wife, whose actual birthday was that day. This was the first cake I've made for anyone outside the family, so I was pretty nervous. Last...

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Fun with Fondant

It's been a while since I baked, and I've been wanting to get back in the kitchen lately. I have a request in for a birthday cake next week, and I've been nervous about making the cake, so I wanted to practice. I also really love the look of fondant and even though I haven't made it to the fondant class yet, I've been wanting to play with it....

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To: Me, From: Me

Okay, so I don't have any baking to share with you this time. But I just had to post the really cool present I bought for myself! It's impossible for me to bake without making a complete mess, and there are so many cute apron designs out there, I decided I needed one for myself. I was browsing etsy.com one morning and ran across an apron I HAD to have,...

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Wilton Final Class

This week, I took the final class in the Decorating Basics course. For class, I had to bring in an assembled and iced cake. This time, I went back to my tried and true Pilsbury box mix and was pleased with the results. Baking and filling the cake went well. For the filling, I used a lemon pudding mixed with icing to thicken it up. Then cake time to...

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Wilton Class 3 - Cupcakes (And More Cupcakes!)

This Tuesday, I had my third session in the Wilton Decorating Basics class. We were concentrating on cupcakes, so I felt much more in my comfort zone this time. I had baked and frozen a dozen cupcakes the week before out of the same Duncan Hines cake mix that I wasn't so crazy about. Freezing made them a little on the dry side, but the class was mostly...

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Wilton Class 2 - Icing Fiasco

I had my second Wilton class on Tuesday. We were supposed to bake a one layer (one cake pan) cake to take to class. I bought a Duncan Hines cake mix because they were on sale (I don't have time to bake from scratch AND make icing on a work night!). I have to say, I don't think I'll be using that again! I'll probably stick to Pilsbury from now on. The...

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Wilton Class

I finally decided to go for it and sign up for the Wilton cake decorating classes. I've been envious of Ginger and the fun she's had in her classes. Still, cakes intimidate me. That's why I usually stick to cupcakes - they're easier and way fun! After my first Wilton class this past Tuesday, I'm wondering if I could possibly feel the same about cakes...

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Stars and Stripes

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Minus a batch of cookies I made for some very over-stressed co-workers of mine, it's been equally long since I've baked. But a holiday weekend with a cookout extravaganza was enough to bring me out of culinary hiding! For the second year in a row, my brother and Bryan planned a colossal Memorial Day...

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My Goodness, My Guinness

A few days before St. Patty's Day, I saw this recipe on the food network website. I knew I would be out of town the weekend after St. Patty's so I probably wouldn't have a chance to bake. We were planning to celebrate Bryan's brother-in-law Robbie's birthday the following weekend (this weekend!), and Bryan thought this would be the perfect recipe to...

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When everything sucks except the vacuum cleaner...

Okay, so it's really my washing machine that I was having problems with, not the vacuum. Even so, Thursday night was just one of those nights - the kind of evening when nothing goes as planned. My washing machine had been broken for over a week, and I desperately needed to do laundry before going out of town for the weekend. Bryan had met the appliance...

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A Baking Weekend!

I knew this weekend would be busy - a long-awaited BFF baking day plus a birthday. But baking is fun, right? And I'm all about the fun! Bryan's mom's birthday is tomorrow, but we decided to celebrate a little early and get together on Sunday. I knew I needed to bake something fun for her birthday, and when I saw this design on Betty Crocker's...

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Better Late than Never

This weekend, I baked Valentine's cupcakes. I know Valentine's was last week, but these weren't baked for Valentine's; they were received for Valentine's. As one of my Valentine's Day presents, Bryan got me a Pillsbury funfetti cake mix and icing set. And since my family was coming over this weekend to celebrate Bryan's birthday a little late, I figured...

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Snow Day Means Valentine's Cookies

I woke up this morning to an icy winter wonderland. I figured what better way to warm up both myself and my house than to turn on the oven and bake! Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so that provided the perfect theme for a batch of tasty treats. Because the roads were iced over, I was limited to ingredients I had on hand in my pantry. I...

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A Bikini Bottom Birthday

For Bryan's birthday, I had known for a while that I wanted to make him Sponge Bob cupcakes. The week before, I decided that instead of tinting the icing blue, I would use spray coloring instead to make it look more like water. The cupcakes were just a yellow cake mix. The icing was Wilton buttercream with Wilton blue color spray and blue sugar sprinkles....

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Silicone Liners - A Sucess!

For Christmas, Bryan gave me a set of Calphalon silicone cupcake liners. This morning, I put them to the test. I decided to make apple cinnamon muffins for breakfast. (From a mix... I know...) Whenever I use my muffin pan without any cupcake liners (usually for muffins), the Pam spray leaves a sticky residue on the pan, even after...

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Holly Hobby?

A few days ago, I came to the realization that I do, in fact, have a hobby. For as long as I can remember, I would get interested in a new activity, buy all the fun equipment, and passionately pursue said activity for, oh, a couple of months at best. Then I would lose interest. Tennis, step aerobics, scrapbooking... While I have enjoyed all of these, none of them held my interest for the long term. I've been searching for the one thing that I will continue to enjoy year after year, something that...

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