Pig...In A...Cupcake?!


It has been some time since I last posted a blog.
I thought I would share an interesting item I experimented with.
For quite some time, my mom has been a Cupcake Wars freak! So freakish, in fact,
that she begged me to create a Bacon Cupcake!
At first thought, I was flabbergasted [lol] because I'm not a big fan of bacon [GASP!]
I know right?! Everyone I know, LOVES bacon! But, not I.
So the very thought of putting it into a scrumptious cupcake was, beyond yummy to me.
Well, what changed my mind?
I was bored [lol] I needed to experiment because I felt like I was going through withdrawals!
My oven broke and I was unable to bake for what seems like a century! Okay, okay, a week.
The weekend was long & full of makeup, hairdo & parties [conference weekend:)]
Sunday came & I was pooped! I planned to go out but instead raided my kitchen of things to experiment with, which brings me back to the pork. I came across some bacon and syrup and caramel, put on my thinking cap and went at it. It also worked out well because I had been creating some [from scratch] recipes lately as well, so I only saw it as a sign.
So, my mom won, I made the cupcake with both vanilla cake and triple chocolate.
I was able to caramelize the bacon bits to fold into my batter and also chocolatize the strips of bacon for the garnish. I was able to also whip up an amazing caramel creme that to me, made it superb!
The end product according to the consumers, was DELISH, I on the other hand, could do without the pig in my cake :) Just doesn't tickle my fancy, but it might tickle yours;)

Banana Cake!

One day rummaging through  my pantry, I came across a HUGE can of banana puree!
Eager to experiment, other than banana bread, I came up with a banana cake & cream cheese frosting!
I hope your family can enjoy this just as much as mine!

The recipe is as follows:

1 ½ cups banana puree

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup butter , softened

2 ¹⁄₈; cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cups buttermilk

 1/2 cup of sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275°.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix banana puree with the lemon juice; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, stir in 2 tsp vanilla, then fold in sour cream.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8. Stir in banana mixture.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
11. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
12. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla
13. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
14. Spread on cooled cake

Rainbow fruit kabobs!

I was recently called into the Young Women Program of our church as an advisor.

The first activity to attend was a health workshop.

I was asked to bring a healthy treat and again, I found this on pinterest and decided to imitate it.

I was actually shocked at the price. I bought one bundle, bag or container of each of the fruits shown below. It costs around $20 and made 40+ kabobs. Not to mention that the youth LOVED them.

To preserve the fruit, I basted the kabobs with apricot juice to keep everything from drying out...and it worked! ENJOY!

Kit Kat Kake!

For my brother's 11th birthday on Jan 11'th, I decided to think outside of the box and do a little something with his favorites; White chocolate kit kats and chocolate covered strawberries. This kid has the craving of a woman on the rag! LOL.

So here is what I threw together. I should have taken a picture of the inside but it didn't last long enough to do so! It was a layered white cake alternated with layers of strawberry cream cheese filling, ganache and vanilla mousse, topped with whip cream, sided with kit kats and finished with chocolate covered strawberries!

Oreo Tower Cake

I have a cousin that is an Oreo FREAK!
He begged for an oreo cake and to no one's surprise, all of his friends agreed, as they were also FREAKS...and oreo freaks too LOL.

This is what I came up with. Because oreo's cost more than they should, I wasn't able to build as high as I liked & my other concern was that the oreo's or cake would go to waste (that was a stupid concern), & I was also promised some sparklers from a friend of mine and that didn't happen lol so I had to compromise with the ugly swirly candles. Other than that, here it is.

Mark my words, this cake will be re-made and done ten times better LOL:)

Belly Cake!

I thought this would be neat to share.
For the longest time I have seen beautiful baby shower cakes shaped as a mothers belly.
Not too long ago one of my co-workers asked if I could make a similar cake for his wife's baby shower.
This is what I came up with. I know its not top notch like others I have seen, but for the first one, I am proud of my work:)

Happy Babies!

Magnetic Make Up Board

Recently I was trying to find out an easy way to keep all of my make up very well organized and on hand. I've tried the makeup bag, the pencil case (lol) & all the above.
Finally I came across the Magnetic board concept on none other than....Pinterest!
For a good while I searched at every store I went to just to find sheet metal to dress up. Little did I know, right under my nose and across my room, I came across 4 little boards that I had forgotten about. So, from my scrap sheets, some markers, magnets, hot glue and of course, my makeup, this is what I made of it!

Don't forget to keep extra magnets on hand, as they will occasionally fall off of some products!:)
Enjoy!