Mother's Day Tea Cupcakes

Every Mother's Day at my church we have a Mother's day tea for all the ladies. And every year everyone brings a different dessert for the dessert platters. This year I brought miniature lemon and chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing and violet flowers for decoration. They were a lot fo fun to make and took a long time. But I think all the things that I make take a long time, well only if they involve icing that is.

So here are some pictures of the process and such, I really like little things so these were very fun to make and also very cute.

Enjoy!

Cake for Baby Lilyan's Baby Shower

This past monday I made a cake for baby Lilyan's Shower. She is one of the most beautiful little girls that I have seen in a long time. I really enjoyed doing the cake for her shower. It took me about 3 hours or so altogether. It was a white cake with raspberry mousse filling and cream cheese icing to decorate. There are lilies and other little flowers on top.

Funny story.... I brought that cake down to the church after my mom left as it was not done, so I dropped it off after she left. As I was coming into the church with the cake my sister comes out really fast to help me (which I didn't know) and scared me so bad I basically dropped the cake and caught it is midair. She couldn't have picked a better time to come out. I was just really glad that I didn't actually drop the cake on the ground. Otherwise that would have been a disaster. But I didn't so that was good.

Here are some pictures of the finished cake.

Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Dessert

I made this dessert for our mothers day dinner that my brother and I made, it was very simple and took about 12 minutes to put together. A very easy and simple dessert but it was very good. It does melt fast though so make sure you freeze it for a good 5-6 hours before you serve it. We had some left over so my brother and I brought it over to their neighbors house, they were very happy.

1 Pkg. (18 oz.) cream cheese filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 gallon cookies and cream ice cream, softened
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup hot fudge ice cream topping
23 cup caramel ice cream topping
1 carton (8 oz.) whipped topping.... or you can make it your self!

In a large bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter; set aside 1 cup. Press the remaining crumb mixture into an un-greased 9x13 pan.
Spread with ice cream. Layer with peanuts. toppings and whipped cream. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Cover; freeze until firm.
Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Do be careful not to overbake these brownies. It’s normal for the edges to get quite dark, nearly burnt but the inside should be very moist in the middle and if you insert a toothpick into the center, it should come out with soft, almost-liquid batter still attached. (It should not come out clean.) If it’s getting too dark on top, you can drape a sheet of foil over the top to finish baking.



8 ounces (225g) unsweetened chocolate
8 ounces (225g) unsalted butter
5 large eggs, at room temperature (I also added some meringue powder to the egg white to get them a bit stiffer, you don't have too. Just if you wanted too!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups (700g) sugar
1 2/3 cup (170g) sifted flour
about 2 pounds (1kg) chocolate-covered thin mints (peppermint patties)

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC).
2. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil, shiny side down. Smooth the foil then butter it lightly or coat it with nonstick spray.
3. Chop the chocolate and cut the butter into cubes, then warm them together in a medium bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat as soon as both are melted and smooth.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or by hand, whip the eggs, vanilla, salt, instant coffee, and sugar on high speed for about ten minutes until foamy and stiff.
5. By hand, stir in the chocolate mixture, then the flour followed by the nuts, if using.
6. Smooth half of the batter into the pan. Place a layer of thin mints over the chocolate, breaking the mints into pieces to fill in any large gaps.
7. Pour the rest of the batter over the mints and smooth the top.
8. Bake the brownies for 35 minutes, rotating the brownies midway during baking.
When the brownies are done, they will have a firm crust on top but a toothpick inserted into the center should come out wet. Do not overbake the brownies.
9. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan and slice into rectangles.
Storage: The brownies will keep at room temperature for up to three days. They can be frozen, well-wrapped, for up to two months.

Enjoy!

Mother's Day!

This Mother's day I wanted to do something I bit different. Every year I always buy my mom something and this year I decided to make her something instead. So I decided to make her a Fruit basket. (Well it was in a bowl instead) I just made up some different skewers and put them all together in a styrofoam ball and made it look nice.

Supplies:

Bowl
Short skewers
Styrofoam ball (smaller than the bowl)
Honey dew melon
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Pineapple
Strawberries
Kiwi

Use a melon baller and make lots of melon balls with the different melons that you have selected to use. Put lots of different things on lots of different sticks and stick them into the styrofoam! Thats all you need to do! Pretty easy eh? It just takes a bit of time.

Enjoy your fruit Basket!

Mini Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes

4 - 8oz pkg. Cream cheese
250 g caster sugar
6 medium eggs, beaten
1 vanilla bean
1 capful vanilla extract
2 TB icing sugar

Base:
260 g graham wafers. or about 2 packages
1/2 c butter

Topping:
260 g creme fraiche
25 g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean


Preheat the oven to 350. Line the base of a 10 inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Or you can make little ones :D
First make the base. Place the wafers in a large plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs. Melt the butter and combine the crumbs with the butter until fully coated. Press firmly into the bottom of the pan and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until firm and a little bit of colour. Remove from oven and let cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 300. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the sugar and beat until smooth again. Then slowly add the eggs a little bit at a time. Beating in between each time you add them and scraping down the bowl.
Cut the vanilla bean in half length wise and use the dull edge of a knife to scrape out the vanilla seeds. They are very small :) scrape the seeds into the cream cheese mixture. Add the vanilla extract and the icing sugar. Beat until blended.
Spoon the mixture over the base of the cheesecake and level off with a spatula.
Bake in the center of the oven for about an hour. Or until a knife comes out clean.
Check after 30 minutes and if the cheesecake is rising lower the temperature to 275 and continue baking.
Take the cheesecake out and let sit on counter for 10 minutes.
While it is resting make the topping. Mix the creme fraiche, sugar and seeds together and spread onto the cheesecake, level with a palette knife and return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Leave the cheesecake to cool at room temperature and then put in the fridge for about 2 hours. To remove from tin run a small knife close to the edge of the tin then open the spring form. To cut the cake take a knife and warm it up in warm water. The cheesecake will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Tastes better the day after it is made. Keep in the Fridge and serve cold, If desired.