S'more Cones

S'more Cones mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, fresh bananas, fresh strawberries in a waffle cone. Wrap in foil and throw on the bbq on low for 10 min. Yum!

 My husband added coconut and toasted almonds to his. Double Yum!

I was MIA...but now I am back...

A few of the things I made in the last year!

Red Velvet Cake for Jake's 16th Birthday

Panda Cupcakes for Jake's Birthday

Go Cougars!

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Stars and Stripes Cupcakes

Cookies on a stick for AHS Cheer

Mast 2010 Open House Bake Sale

Mast 2010 Open House Bake Sale

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Cupcakes

Momona Pie

I was given a challenge by my favorite co-worker about 24 hours before he needed a homemade pie. He didn't want an everyday pie, as he was attending a Pie Party. He has lived in Hawaii for several years and brought up Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie. We looked few several and couldn't find one that fit within our time restraint and seemed delicious. After much searching, we took a few recipes and combined them to make our very own Momona Pie.  The crust is a macadamia nut short bread crust and the filling is infused with coconut milk to bring the tasty tropical delight through out the pie. It is not overwhelming, I typically do not eat coconut, and I loved this!

Ingredients Pie:
2 cups of mashed Okinawa (purple) sweet potatoes
1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature (not melted!)
1/4 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of honey
2 room-temperature eggs
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1 tsp of vanilla
1/4 tsp of salt

First, peel the potato and cut it into chunks about the size of a small egg. Boil the chunks until they turn soft, then drain and mash them until they're smooth.  If you don't have a mixing machine (and I don't) you can smush the potato chunks through a mesh strainer with the back of a spoon. It's a workout for the arms, but it gets the job done. However you do this, at the end you should have two cups of potato.
Preheat the oven to 325. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. If the butter is at room temperature, it'll easily be soft enough to mix up. Add the honey, mix it up, then add the eggs and mix some more. When that's smooth whip in the potatoes, Again, mix until smoothish. Finally, add the vanilla, salt, milk, and cream, and mix yet some more, until it's pretty smooth.

Ingredients for Crust
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/8 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and flour.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Add chopped macadamia nuts and mix well.  Press lightly into a 13" x 9" baking pan.  Bake at 350°F for 12-17 minutes, until lightly browned.  Set aside.
Topping 1/2 cup non-sweet toasted shred­ded coconut.
However you've made your pie crust, put it into your pie dish. Pour the mix gently in, then bake the pie for 45 minutes. Let the pie cool to room temperature.
Serve with whipped cream, or some other cream topping if you want to get fancy...and you do. Whipped cream really brings this all together.

Happy Day to all you Mothers

This was my second attempt at a Red Velvet cake...this time sans the food coloring. I did add about 2 tablespoons of beet powered for color but that seemed to only add a pink tint. Luckily, this cake was not for a customer, but for family. I explained to my family that I am seeking a Red Velvet recipe without food coloring, since so many people object to red dye #40. This recipe tastes the best I have ever tasted... but did not come out red in the least. My family was just as pleased NOT to have the food coloring, so it was all good.
 The buttercream rose was left over from another cake, so since I was a little short of time and creativity, I plunged into my drawer of flowers I have made previously... and put together this cake. It was a huge hit...and by far, my favorite tasting from cake to frosting!

Time out for a shameless plug

Check out this awesome blog...and Give A Way!
http://jadoreparisboutique.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-first-giveaway.html

Bobby Flay's Red Velvet Cake

I made this cake last week for a dear cousin of mine.
I used Bobby Flay's recipe from FoodNetwork.com.
The only change I made, was I did not use red food coloring, instead I used beet powder. The cake did not taste like beets what so ever. This frosting is more difficult than a basic buttercream but is well worth it.

Cupcakes Galore (and cookies too)

Just a few pictures of cupcakes/cookies that I forgot to post.

I call the chocolate cupcakes... Mostess Cupcakes instead of Hostess. :)

Birthdays at Thanksgiving

I forgot to update my pictures here... This is a Chocolate Caramel Cake with chocolate fondant. The leaves are a gumpaste/fondant mix dusted with petal dust.

Red Velvet

This is a cake that I frosted and decorated in under about 30 minutes while teaching course 1! This is a Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting. The roses are made of chocolate buttercream. Had I had more time I could have cleaned up the edges a bit... made it all a bit smoother, but over all I am pleased. Cream cheese frosting is very temperamental...melts very quickly! My mother in law and the family ate the cake tonight... they LOVED it. By far one of the best tasting cakes I have had! :)

Dusting & Steaming Roses...And flower Cupcakes today!

These are the same roses from my earlier post. Today I brushed them with petal dust and steamed them. I love the way they look, the pictures do not do them justice.









Vanilla cup cakes frosted with Swiss Meringue Butter Cream...Yummmy!

Gumpaste Roses

I bought a cool Rose petal cutter set from England a few weeks back and tried it out the last few evenings. I am pretty pleased with how the roses turned out, although I still need to brush them with luster dust and steam them a bit. I may do that tonight or tomorrow.























http://www.orchardproducts.co.uk/ref1---rose-set-in-a-petal-box-r1-r10-15-p.asp

Berry Bonanza

Inspired by cousin Julie... I brought it to Nate's graduation celebration yesterday. Was a big hit.
Vanilla bean cake, chocolate butter cream and raspberry filling with an English butter cream frosting on the out side.

Relay for Life & Cupcakes

FREMONT RELAY FOR LIFE 6/27- 6/28

Yummy Cupcakes


Yummy Cupcakes


Hope for a CURE


The Survivors Lap


Purple People Walkers


My son dressed as the Purple People Walker

We did it! We made it! 24 hours in the 100 degree weather was a small price to pay for all the good that comes from these relays. We arrived at 7:00am Saturday and were packed up and back home about 11:00am Sunday. We walked a lot, helped fundraise at the event and had a chance to catch up with some old friends. My team was made up of 3 of my best friends in high school and our friends and families. We never would have imagined 20 years ago that our friendship would bring us together for such a worthy cause. We will be back as a team and also as committee chair people next year. We had an amazing fun filled 24 hours. I think Jake and I actually dozed off about 3:30am and were back up and out of the tent at 7:00 am for the Lions Club pancake breakfast. Adam thankfully was at the event most of the time but stayed home over night with our dogs.

We are all mentally and physically exhausted, and also extremely over come with gratitude. Thank you all for your love, support and donations.

My son and I made 70 cupcakes with the Relay for Life Logo on them. 1/2 chocolate with a vanilla English butter cream and 1/2 natural vanilla bean cupcakes with a vanilla Swiss Meringue butter cream. The fondant logo cut outs are Satin Ice white fondant that we tinted purple and flavored with blue raspberry flavoring. They were a bit hit with all the Relayers!