new years eve

champagne cupcakes for our new years eve celebration

(adapted from betty crocker recipe)

used the champagne from last new years that was thrown off the balcony

and was recovered from the side of the street the next morning

melted purple and blue wilton melts in plastic bags to pipe out decorations

rolled the sides of the frosting in clear sugar crystals

did some mini cupcakes as well

happy new year!

darth maul dip from the star wars cookbook II

roasted red peppers, garlic, poppy seeds, etc.

Lauren put together a wonderful drink menu

with lots of options

loved the menu!

and the bartender...and the gingey whiskers...and the back porch...

merry christmas

mocha muffins for Christmas morning breakfast 

(recipe from betty crocker's 2010 holiday baking guide)

my dessert tray included a variety of treats

I made some pizzelles with Chad's pizzelle maker

these taste just like waffle cones and are absolutely delicious

pizzelles

3 eggs

3/4c. sugar

1/2c. melted butter

1TBSP vanilla

1 3/4c. flour

2tsp baking powder

beat eggs and sugar together, then add in the butter and vanilla

sift together the flour and powder and blend into mixture until smooth

drop about 1 TBSP of batter onto each side of the oiled pizzelle iron

bake for about 20-30 seconds and then remove from the iron with a fork

andes creme de menthe cookies made with andes baking chips

chocolate bark made with white and milk chocolate, and sprinkled with chopped almonds

mocha latte logs from the betty crocker 2010 holiday baking guide

my mother made a variety of cakeballs with chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter, and mint melts

Tim and I got the same size gifts Christmas morning...

 

best Christmas gift ever!

thanks mom & dad

christmas tree cakepops

here's another cakepop variation from bakerella's cakepops book

with these you have to shape the cake into cones before sticking and dipping

 

I created branches on some by using a toothpick before the coating dried

the rest I left smooth and used a variety of sprinkles as ornaments on all of them

along with a star sprinkle on the top

red velvet cakepop with vanilla flavored green guittard melts

these individually wrapped cakepops made great Christmas gifts for my co-workers

cookie decorating

I organized a cookie decorating station for the ugly holiday sweater party this year

there were sugar and gingerbread men to decorate

after the decorating, everyone voted on which one was their favorite

and the person with the most votes won a prize

 

Nicole's bathing beauty won the most votes

honorable mention goes to Peter's America shirt

another honorable mention to Andrea's gussied-up gal

snowmen cakepops

the idea and instruction for these guys came from bakerella's cakepops book

red velvet cakepops with white guittard melts
blue sprinkles, brown and orange jimmies, and an edible black marker

I constructed the pops by making two cakeballs and binding them with melts
you must work very quickly to get all the sprinkles on before the dipped pop dries
there were cracks on my snowmen because they came from the freezer
some of the pops cracked, which resulted in 'bleeding' snowmen
due to the red velvet cake

cupcake ornaments

these are my favorite new ornaments this year

halloween

a combo of all my halloween desserts at the hawthorne house party

I used fluffy stuff to fill in around the treats

wanted it to look like spider webs, but didn't quite get that effect

halloween cakepops

pumpkin cakepops for sister's kid party

ghost cakepops

made the mistake of applying the faces with black frosting from a can

it was really difficult to control the pressure from the nozzle

I tried getting a black edible pen, but they were all sold out at the store

so the ghosts were basically a mess, but they were for kids under the age of 5

so I figured they wouldn't know the difference...and they didn't

halloween trifle

I was given a trifle bowl just before halloween (thanks Kerrie!)

after an online search I discovered a Paula Dean recipe

for a pumpkin gingerbread trifle

the first layer is crumbled up gingerbread

the second is a mixture of pumpkin, vanilla pudding and spices

the third is a layer of whipped topping

then you are supposed to repeat all three layers again

looking back, I think Paula had a much larger trifle bowl

because after the first three layers, it was nearly reaching the top of the bowl

so I fit whatever I could in there, then sprinkled it with crumbled ginger snaps

once at the party I put the final dollops of whipped topping on there

and some more ginger snap crumbles

this dish was absolutely delicious...flavorful, yet light and not overwhelming

I'd recommend making this for a larger group of people so you don't end up

eating 1/3 of the bowl (like I might have done)

I plan on trying this one again for Thanksgiving, but eyeballing the layers

and probably using the leftover cake for gingerbread cakeballs

eyeball cakeballs

 

bloodshot eyeballs for halloween

devil's food cake, white melts, and blue & green M&Ms

used a tube of black frosting for the iris and a red gel writer for the blood

these were an easy variation of the standard cakeball

just be aware that the red gel never really dries, so it will get all over 

fingers, paper liners, and other cakeballs if you aren't careful

after running out of white melts, I dipped the rest of the cakeballs in dark chocolate

zombie cupcakes

my sister gave this kit to me...it came from cpwm

it made some sweet cupcakes

I love the bone sprinkles

BRAINS!

another handy store bought item is this orange frosting in a can

it made it super easy to frost mini cupcakes at the last minute for a party

 and putting them in a mini cupcake holder from the decorette shop 

made them look store bought

these plastic containers work great for cakeballs as well