YAY! for Cupcakes!!!

I got these yesterday and just HAD to get flowers to put in them.

They are SO CUTE I can hardly stand it!

YAY! for Angry Birds!!!

For this year's Scout Spaghetti Dinner and Cake Auction, Jonathan made an Angry Birds cake (with plenty of help and supervision) We used this recipe from epicurious.com, brushed it with a simple syrup soak, iced it with chocolate buttercream and covered it with marshmallow fondant.

YAY! for Papas Rellenas!!!

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

I made the Papas Rellanas, but changed the filling. Raisins and hard cooked eggs don't go over well in my house, so I made a filling of onions, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, and cheese. It was fantastic. I served it with sausages and homemade pretzels (I was recipe testing for something later in the week)

YAY! for food on a stick!!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I made my pound cake with hazelnut meal in place of some of the flour to match my chocolate hazelnut ice cream and then decided to put it on a stick! Everything's better on a stick. They were melty but yummy.

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

8 ounces hazelnuts, toasted and cooled
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces dark chocolate

Grind nuts with sugar in food processor. Place in saucepan with milk and salt and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let steep for 20-30 minutes. Strain in a fine sieve.

Pour the milk into a clean saucepan, reserving about 1/4 cup. Mix reserved milk with cornstarch, whisk into saucepan. Bring the milk to a boil and let boil a couple of minutes. Pour into a sealable container and cover the top surface with cling film. Let cool several hours or overnight.

Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

YAY! for Gingerbread Houses!!!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
I cut and baked 6 houses and my sisters and brothers and I put them together using both the caramelized sugar and royal icing methods. The dough shrank and bubbled as it baked which made for difficult assembly.