A Rebel Alliance Birthday!

Hello Sweets,

Only a few more days until I get the keys to my new place, which means I am in full on packing mode.  I am excited to be back in my own place, but I will miss my fun little conversations with my roomie.  But it was time for me to get back into my own space again, I just wish someone could do my packing for me lol.  I don't have much left to pack, but the way I've been feeling I might as well be packing a 30 room mansion :p  Which in turn mean I am exhausted, so I thought I would do a quick little post about Nathan's birthday :) 

Nathan's birthday almost always falls on Thanksgiving, and anyone who has a birthday near a holiday knows that combining the two is never fun for the birthday celebrator.  Knowing this, I decided that I would separate the two and make sure Nathan felt very special.  Luckily for me Nathan loves shrimp almost as much as I do, and Nathan's parents hate any seafood so it's never made in the house.  I decided to make him my Spicy Shrimp Linguine, and when I showed him the pictures he was sold on the yummy dinner.  When it was just the two of us, I surprised Nathan with a sweet little card and some paintings that I did just for him :)

Texas flag for my Texan man

A memento of our love and anniversary

Then on the first day we had just the two of us, I decided to make him a delicious dinner complete with wine and garlic french bread.  Lets see handsome and his satisfied smile;

Happy birthday boy!

Look at that beautiful delicious dish

 Of course I also made Nathan a delicious cake, chocolate of course as that is his favorite, but we decided to keep that for the family celebration on Thanksgiving.  Since I had created Star Wars themed cupcakes for a birthday a couple months prior, it was quite obvious what the theme was going to be.  We decided to go with a "rebel alliance" theme, and he let me run with my imagination.  He told me (repeatedly) that I didn't need to make the symbols because he knows how temperamental marshmallow fondant can be, but I am both stubborn and determined lol!
 

chocolate cake with chocolate icing and marshmallow fondant

I used blue coarse sugar to emulate a starry background :)

 Needless to say he was extremely happy and grateful with the results, and nothing makes me happier than to see him smile.  I think now I have created a bar for myself when it comes to his birthday cakes, and knowing me I'll raise that bar every year from now on!

Well I really should get back to packing, but first I need to make some dinner.  Thankfully I made a couple of chicken breasts the other night, purposely, so I'd have a quick meal option :)  Yup, not just a pretty face over here lol ;)  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

My Perfect Birthday

Hello Sweets,

So this post is wayyyyyy over due lol, by two and a half months!  But since it's about my birthday I figured better late than never right?  I am going to write yet another short post, but only because I'm having bouts of writers block, so instead of not writing at all I figured 'short and sweet' until I get my groove back ;)

As usual Nathan chose to keep my birthday celebration to himself, he loves surprises lol.  So I was wondering all sorts of things, but what he actually did I didn't even consider.
If I come to Texas for any holiday (that is specific to Nathan and I), you can bet that I won't know much, if anything about it lol.  Of course my birthday was no different, thankfully I am okay with this fact and don't get frustrated.  All Nathan told me was that I could get dressed up, because I don't ever have a reason to do so lol (thank you chiari/fibro!).  We got into his truck and started to drive, and I was still in the dark about where we were going.  Then we made a turn that I recognized and said "I think I know where we are going!".  He let me guess and when I did he told me I was correct :)  What Nathan did was so thoughtful and amazing, he recreated one of our first and very romantic dates.  We went out to P.F. Chang's, and just talked and laughed all night long.  And this time was no different, here's a few shots of our food, drinks, and fun!

My delicious drink, mmm tropical

Salt and Pepper Calamari

Delicious Wonton Soup, Nathan's favorite!

Yummy Seafood Pad Thai, extra spicy lol

 Nathan's Mongolian Beef, yummy!

If you've never been to P.F. Chang's, you should check it out.  The atmosphere, service, and food are amazing.  When the dinner was all said and done, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert.  Now their fried banana's with coconut pineapple ice cream is to die for, but I had a delicious 'The Cheesecake Factory' original cheesecake waiting at home.  She seemed to understand lol, all in all it was a great couple of hours.  Then we came home to watch a movie and cuddle, yes we're cheesy and okay with it lol.

Happy birthday to me!!

Birthday kisses!!

All in all a great way to spend a milestone birthday!  Which birthday you ask?  Well, you never ask a lady that lol!  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Darth Birthday

Hello Sweets,

Today was the big day, the big unveiling of my first paying job :)  Since I didn't have a very long post yesterday I was hoping to get a decent one out tonight, but we will see how my pain tolerance goes.  I had to whip up a dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (yes, us Canadians do it in October), and now my feet are killing me :/  But I'm going to do my best to push through to bring you some fun decorations!

So I've been building up to this post all week, cupcakes were baked for little Jacob's birthday all that was left to do was to decorate them.  Nathan is my go to guy for anything Star Wars so I had him help with the brainstorming process, and he was indeed helpful :)  Since the cupcakes for the kids were going to be decadent chocolate I decided to make the icing with a dark cocoa to get it as close to black as possible.  If you have ever had cake with black icing you'd know why I wasn't making it black to begin with, it turns your whole mouth black and that just doesn't look good on anyone lol.  That of course was the easy part, that hard part was the decor and I of course put lots of pressure on myself lol.  I chose to use the marshmallow fondant in three colors and silver balls for accents.  I looked at all sorts of different pictures from the Star Wars series for inspiration and continued with the Darth theme, specifically Vader and Maul :)  Of course there had to be light sabers, but the rest was left up to mine and Nathans imagination.  Take a look at the fun cupcakes made for the special birthday boy, and a fun pictures of my nephew Miguel :p

 

started with a delicious deep chocolate icing

 

I used a smooth, slanted icing tip

 

First cupcake design was the imperial logo

 

 Light sabers, dark vs. light

 

 Vader's respirator box

 

 another Imperial logo, not as pretty as the first one

 

 A dark side light saber for Jacob

 

 outline of Darth Vader

 

 Darth surrounded by stars

 

 Darth Maul's "tattoos"

 

 Star Wars, 8th addition for Jacob

 

 big birthday boy turns 8!!

 

 Star Wars :)

 

 dark vs. light

 

 New sticker labels!!

 

 2 dozen delicious treats!

 

Miguel and his "top hat"

 

 party time!!

 

 

 

 

you know cupcakes are good when they're all over his face!

I am also happy to report that Christina (Jacob's mother) just emailed me to let me know that everyone enjoyed them, and there wasn't a single one left lol.  That is the best thing I could hear from one of my customers, and I look forward to many more!

Tomorrow is going to be a day full of family and food so it will be a post of deliciousness, also known as "I will be so full there won't be much energy left to think" lol.  Until next time....


Stay sweet,




Jennifer xoxoxoxo

That Nutty Monkey

Hello Sweets,

Sorry for the post being so late today, but I could not sleep last night which threw my whole day off :(  My roommate encouraged me to eat an apple to help with my stomach pains, did you know that apples help with stomach issues? I didn't.  Low and behold my stomach pains got less and less, and now I am feeling well enough to write a post!  I even had to cancel a get together with a fellow baking enthusiast which really broke my heart, thankfully she is very understanding to the saga that is my health.

Yesterday I wrote about the candied pecans that were adorned atop Dan's birthday cupcakes, today we are going to get straight to the cake!  When planning what type of cupcakes to make I asked my mother what are some of Dan's favorite flavors in a dessert.  He is very similar to my nephew because he loves banana type desserts, I had made a banana cupcake before but wanted a more moist cupcake than previously produced.  I found a recipe that had a good amount of bananas in the ingredients so I knew it wouldn't be dry at all, and of course it also included another delightful ingredient, pecans!  Tomorrow's post will include the icing so you can recreate this delicious treat yourself, but for now we'll focus on the foundation of any cupcake ;)

Pecan Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2C butter, softened

8oz cream cheese, softened

1C brown sugar

1C sugar

2 eggs

1/2C oil

1/3C applesauce

2C flour

2tsp baking soda

2tsp baking powder

1Tbs cinnamon

1/2tsp salt

3C bananas, mashed (approx. 6)

1tsp vanilla

1C pecans, chopped

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Line muffin tins and set aside.  In a large bow, beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy.

 

2)  Slowly beat in sugars until light and fluffy.

 

3)  Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.

 

4)  Stir in oil and applesauce; mix well.

 

5)  Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until just combined.  Stir in bananas and vanilla.

 

6)  Fold in pecans.  Fill cups 2/3 full, baking for 28-33 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

7)  Allot to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack.  Allow to completely cool before icing.

These cupcakes are very moist and full of flavor, there wasn't a single bad thing said about these bad boys.  They may look like muffins, but they are sweet like a cake.  I personally like unusual cupcakes, so naturally these are a permanent fixture in my recipe book.  Here's a sneak peak of what was taken to the party;

 

Hahaha, you though I was going to show you a snippet of the finished cupcakes didn't you?  Y'all should know better than that!   Trust me when I say these are worth the wait, and it's less than 24 hours before you can create a frosting that is perfect for this cupcake :)

I know yesterday I said I was hoping to have my website up and running today, but I'm a perfectionist so it's still in the works lol.  It's close to being done, I just want everything to look well and for it to be easy to navigate.  Maybe by tomorrow night I will be able to share it with everyone, but I promise it will be worth the wait :)  Until next time......

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Cola and Baking; The Forbidden Love Story

Hello Sweets,

Well with Monday under our belts it's only four more days until the weekend, but who's counting lol?!  I hope y'all had a wonderful day, mine was less then enjoyable and that is because I had a doctors appointment.  I know what you're thinking "doctors aren't that bad" and it's true, he's super nice and very personable which makes him really approachable.  My problem is the type of appointment it was, I had to get injections in my shoulders, neck, mid back, base of the skull, forehead, and temples :(  I know it sounds like a lot and it is, but it helps my quality of life while waiting for surgery.  I wouldn't wish this treatment on my worst enemy, that's because it is very very painful and I cannot wait for surgery so I never have to get them again :D  My doctor speculates that I will be one of few patients he will never see again, and as much as we like each other we're okay with that.

So yesterday I told you today's post will be a recap of a friends birthday we celebrated while I was in Texas, and as the title of the post shows there will be a very unusual ingredient involved.  I've talked about Dave before and would normally link you to his blog but he hasn't posted in eight months lol (finally someone worse than I haha jk), and he is also responsible for the cute little caricature of me specifically made for my blog.  This last trip Dave asked if I would make his birthday cake for the celebration he invited us too, and of course I said yes but I told him I had a new recipe that I think he'd enjoy and not to mention possibly the best chocolate icing I have EVER had.  I came across this recipe on Facebook (although I don't remember how) and as soon as I saw the title it had me intrigued, and now y'all ;)

Double Chocolate Cola Cake

Ingredients

1 can of cola (not diet)

1/2C oil (I used olive)

1/2C butter

3Tbs cocoa

2C all-purpose flour

2C sugar

1/2Tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/2C buttermilk

1Tsp baking soda

1Tsp vanilla

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  In a sauce pan; mix cola, oil, butter, and cocoa and bring to a boil.

2)  In another bowl combine sugar, flour, and salt.

3)  Pour the boiling cola mixture over the flour mixture and beat well.

4)  Add the eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla making sure to mix well.

5)  Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 13"x9" pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from pan, cooling for about 10 minutes before frosting.

 I did a test run and made cupcakes first, needless to say they were yummy

Superman colors for the birthday boy :)

Chocolaty Frosting

Ingredients

1/2C butter

3Tbs cocoa

6Tbs cream or milk

1Tsp vanilla

3 3/4C confectioners sugar

*I must apologize for the lack of pictures, I only have the final product :(*

Directions:

1)  In a sauce pan combine the butter, cocoa, and milk.  Heat until the butter melts.

2)  Beat in the remaining ingredients and spread on the cake while it's still warm.

So as I am sure you noticed this is not your typical chocolate cake recipe, this was actually the first cake I ever boiled any ingredients for.  It's a really light and airy cake, which I think is caused by the carbonation in the cola.  It's not too sweet but it's very chocolaty (in a good way), this is definitely a keeper and will be made again most likely for Nathan's birthday (he loves chocolate cake).  The frosting is soooo good, I couldn't believe how delicious it was as I have made other chocolate icing before.  Needless to say these two recipes take the cake, see what I did there lol?

Well I am slowly getting through my back logged recipes that need to be posted, and I am really excited for the next few posts.  Why you may ask, well I am finally up to my fourth of July treats and I am really proud of one.  That one recipe forced me out of my comfort zone and to try something new, and I am proud to say it was a success but I will not be supplying clues to that one ;)  All I will say is that if you're afraid to try something new do it anyways, you'll thank yourself later.  Until next time........................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo