Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

Today I made mini vanilla cupcakes to celebrate Summer birthdays at the school. All those poor kids that miss out because they were born during the summer months. These bite sized treats taste yummy but I forgot to add vanilla extract to the chocolate frosting. So the frosting is REALLY rich. I don't think the kindergartners will mind...haha. If I was putting the frosting on a full sized cupcake it would be to much but since these are minis I think it will be alright.  

Mustache Cake step by step

 Bake a round cake and cut it in half like a Ying Yang

 I used a fork to give the mustache texture.

I used the Buttery Cake recipe from The Dahlia Bakery cookbook. This cookbook is great because it gives VERY specific directions.

Texas Sheet Cake and Cinco de Mayo

 Cinco de Mayo is my birthday. I didn't want a party or anything crazy. I just wanted to bake a cake, eat  the cake and relax. I made the Texas Sheet cake again. You've got to have chips and salsa on Cinco de Mayo. We had a lot of running around to do on Sunday but we were able to relax together as a family. Which is always nice!

Corvette Diner is always fun for birthdays.  We went there for milkshakes. The waitresses all dress in 50's attire and sing Happy Birthday to you.  I think I gained 5 pounds this weekend.

Hello March, Baking & Books

I baked New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are delicious. You really can't eat just one! What makes these cookies different is you don't use all purpose flour instead you use bread and cake flour. Give them a whirl because they really are yummy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html?_r=0

My nails are ready for Spring. This mellow yellow is not my typical color...Not sure how long I'll keep them yellow.

 I am currently reading Lessons from Madame Chic By Jennifer L. Scott. Picked up this little nugget of wisdom from the library. We can all stand to be a little chicer.

We met the San Diego Chicken! Being a San Diego native this was a really big deal. As a kid I would see the Chicken at Padres games and he was always on the local news in the 80's. D was not thrilled about meeting the Chicken but both boys were good sports.

Smith Island Cake

Making the frosting 

 Each layer is about the thickness of a pancake.

For the Super Bowl Sunday I made Maryland's state cake. I wish California had a state cake! Maryland's state cake is the Smith Island Cake. It is a 10 layer yellow/vanilla cake with a delicious rich chocolate frosting. Everyone really enjoyed the taste of the cake and it looked beautiful with it's 10 layers. I think a Smith Island cake would be so cool for a child's 10th birthday. I will differently make this cake again.

I looked at a couple different recipes but this is the one I used.  http://www.grouprecipes.com/45284/smith-island-treasure-ten-layer-cake.html 

Last cake of 2012:Texas Sheet Cake

 Texas Sheet Cake
Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and roasted pecans on top.

For New Years Eve I made a Texas Sheet Cake from the Vintage Cakes cookbook. It turned out GREAT! So good and chocolaty! I am not sure why it is called a Texas Sheet cake but they say everything is bigger in Texas. This cake uses a lot of butter, Hershey's cocoa powder and sugar. Instead of icing a cooled cake you poor the warm frosting over the hot cake. This might be the cake I bake for every birthday in 2013...It is that good, people!

America's first Cathedral

  Under the Cathedral are the arches that hold up the dome. 

A view of the dome.

While we were in Baltimore we went to America's first Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was built from 1806-1821. It's a beautiful peaceful Cathedral. The East coast style is so different from California Missions.