Boo!

Isn't it fun how adding a face to a treat instantly gives it personality and makes it come alive! This is a apple pie ale mode caramel apple.

Soccer cupcakes!

It was my son's turn to bring the snack for the soccer game. And if you know me I was happy for the excuse to make cupcakes (I did also bring apples so I wouldn't feel so guilty about our kids over dosing on sugar.) I used a chocolate cake mix and the regular cream cheese frosting tinted green, black, and white.

To decorate these I put the green frosting in a piping bag with tip 233 (grass tip) and piped on the grass and topped them with the soccer icing decorations. It was so much fun making the grass and my son loved helping me place the soccer balls on top. I love how easy these were.

For these ones I put the black and white frostings in separate piping bags. Using tip 3 on the black bag I traced the outline of the black design and then filled it in with stars (tip 16.) I copied the design from a cupcake I saw on Whisk This.com. She did all the hard work coming up with the design. I then filled in the remaining areas with white stars. For added fun I dyed some coconut green to put under the cupcakes.

More Raspberry Bites!

I made these again for a baby shower and I just wanted to show how different they can look without the flag tray.  For the recipe look under the 4th of July post.  I am so thankful for my sister-in-law sharing this recipe.  They are so delicious and I love how they are bite size.  You can go back for seconds a few times and not feel guilty. 

Caramel Apples

Patti and I are getting a head start on our fall treats. Isn't the fall such a fun time to make desserts? It puts me in the mood when the weather gets cooler, the leaves change colors, and whenever I see a pumpkin or an apple. We love making these yummy apples and will do them a few more times before the season is over.

I got my caramel recipe from Dena, my dear friend who is amazing at making candy. Since she sells these she has asked that I not share her recipe.

We use Granny Smith apples but our favorite is using the apples from our local orchard because the size is perfect, they are really tart, and of course they are fresh.

For the sticks we use the Skinny Sticks sold at Wal-Mart in the craft section. We spray the wax paper with Pam so the caramel won't stick as bad.

Before the caramel dried (which is pretty quickly) on these we dipped the bottom of the apple in either, crushed Reese's, M&M's, or Heath Bar. We have also dipped these in Milk Chocolate first before adding the additional topping. It is more beautiful that way but is also more expensive.

Once the caramel dried on these we dipped them in either melted milk chocolate and then crushed almonds or white chocolate and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar on top. The latter is my favorite, Apple Pie Ale Mode is what it's called. We have discovered that after we dip the apple in milk chocolate let it set up a little before adding the toppings otherwise it will just drip down the apple because of the weight. If you have problems you can always set them in the freezer for a few minutes to set up quicker, but don't let them freeze.

Happy Birthday Patti!

These were fun yet took a little time to do.  I do like how the 3 dimensional letters gave these simple cupcakes some personality.  I used Patti's chocolate frosting recipe with a triple chocolate fudge cake mix.  The girl does like chocolate after all!

To help with the chocolate letters I bought this pack of scrapbook stickers to trace so my letters would all be the same size.  I knew I couldn't do it by hand.  These are a great size letter to put on top of a cupcake.

The next step is to melt chocolate(they have several colors to choose from at Michael's or you can buy the oil based candy coloring to make your own colors) in a little squeezable tube like above.  I melt mine in the microwave.  Then I placed my sticker sheet under some wax paper and traced whatever letter or swirly I wanted.  Once they are dried completely you can peel them off very carefully and add to the newly frosted cupcakes.  The swirls were more fragile so I want to continue experimenting to see how to place them on better without breaking or falling.

I used my indulge sign above my cabinets for the platter (it was the only thing that would fit 8 cupcakes across.)  I covered it with scrapbook paper.

Cake Pops!

Danielle, Lisa, Patti, and I made these fun cake pops.  Cassie and I made some for the first time last week and loved how they turned out so I had to make more and try different flavors.  I love how the possibilities are endless with these things, I'm already planning my next ones.  I want to make some for a baby shower using pink and brown.  

We baked 3 different cakes, chocolate, white with about 3 teaspoons of coconut flavoring added to the batter (I just kept adding until it tasted good,) and lemon.  Once the cake was cooled we added 8 oz. of cream cheese to each one and mixed it well with our hands.  We then made balls (smoothing out any big cracks) and placed them on a cookie sheet.  We melted some chocolate and dipped the sticks into it and then pressed the sticks into the balls like above (don't press them all the way down).  We then froze the balls for 20 minutes.  

These are the chocolate cake balls dipped in milk chocolate (we used Wilton melts) and then dipped in crushed M&M's, Health Bar, or sprinkles (we wish we would have done Reese's.)  We then stuck them in styrofoam until they dried completely.

These are the coconut cake balls dipped in either white or milk chocolate and then covered in toasted coconut. 

Lemon cake covered with white chocolate dipped in crushed lemon heads.  These and the coconut ones tied for being my favorite.  Once they were all dry we put them in treat bags (3x5) and tied them shut with ribbon.  We then put them in cups to give away.

A is for Apple

Every teacher needs an apple on the first day of school, and this is my kind of apple. We made these for my son's kindergarten teacher for his first day of school. We baked chocolate cupcakes, frosted them with a red cream cheese frosting, used a pretzel for the stem and cut leaves out of fruit roll-ups. Don't you think the presentation of a gift is what makes it so cute?