Happy Halloween!

Here are some spooky cupcakes to put everyone in the mood for the big event! 

Devil's food cupcakes with vanilla buttercream
and semisweet chocolate

I got the idea for these cool Halloween toppers from the blog I Am Baker.  I made these cupcakes for dessert last night and even though the kids ate about 2 bites of their pasta (I am probably exaggerating - I bet it was more like 1 bite), they somehow managed to find room for a cupcake.  :)

To make the toppers, sketch out some drawings on a white piece of paper with a Sharpie marker.  Then place a piece of parchment paper on top.  (I put the paper on my toaster oven baking sheet so I can easily slip the whole thing right into the freezer.)

Melt some chocolate chips and put in a pastry bag (or use a ziploc bag with a small hole snipped in the corner).  Pipe out the chocolate over the design. 

Then just pop the sheet into the freezer for a few minutes so the chocolate can harden.

When they are solid, peel your design off the parchment and place on top of your frosted cupcake!  So cute!

A little 6-inch cake for my friend, Sue!

Happy Halloween!!

One of my little ninja turtles at Zoo Boo this morning!  :)

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Now that autumn is in full swing (it was a blustery 86 degrees today - brrr!), there's nothing better than a good spice cake! 

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I even gourd-ed the photo up a little to make it even more festive.  The poor gourds just sit there in the bowl or get used by the kids as pawns in their lego battles, so I gave them their 15 minutes (or at least 15 seconds) of fame in this photo... :)

This is a great, simple recipe that I tried for the first time today from countryliving.com (click here for the recipe).  The cake is super moist and so so so good with cream cheese frosting.  I didn't use their pumpkin cream cheese frosting recipe (although with pumpkin and orange zest it does sound good!), but instead used my favorite from my Baking Illustrated cookbook.

Just the topping and thin coating between the layers was a perfect amount of frosting - the cream cheese gives it a zing that can be overpowering if you use too much.

Enjoy!

Longhorn Football Pops

A fun post-game snack for your favorite football players!

Hike!

Devil's Food Cake

Just a fun design on a Devil's Food Cake for the school carnival tomorrow!

This is the best Devil's Food cake and my go-to chocolate cake.  Very chocolatey and not too sweet.  Yum!

Happy 60th, Jenny Lou!

White, lemon and strawberry cake pops...

6-Oh!  :)

S'more Pops (and lots of 'em!)

I spent last Friday and Saturday up to my elbows in marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers!

Last Saturday was the annual Fathers & Flashlights Campout at West U Elementary School benefiting the Friends of West University Place Parks Fund.  It was an amazing event and my son, Jackson, cannot stop talking about all of the cool events they had (fishing, archery, velcro walls, pony rides, birdhouse building and stargazing, to name just a few!)

All packed up and ready to go

I was so excited to be asked to supply s'more pops for dessert and spent 2 days making 800 s'more pops (yes, that's 67 dozen!).  All went smoothly and the kids and dads seemed to really enjoy them.  These delicious treats are marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate, then rolled in crushed graham cracker crumbs. 

All the deliciousness of a s'more
in a handy little package

So many thanks to Sara for thinking of me and to Annie and Dorree for delivering my creations to the party!

Yum!  :)

Argh!!!

Shiver me timbers!  Pirate cake pops! 

The lucky pirates who fit in the ship

The rest of the crew