Christmas Eve Cupcakes and Treats for Santa

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! I've spent the past few days enjoying the fact that I had absolutely nothing to do for the first time in about a month or more, and so I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from the cupcake order I had, as well as the treats that my cousins and I made to leave for Santa.

About a year ago, I made two cakes for a lady who works with my mom and has twin boys, and both of them wanted to have their own birthday cakes, of course. For Christmas Eve, she wanted to get her sons some cupcakes to wake up with on Christmas morning... but they didn't last that long! Mom said when she delivered them, they each had one! She wanted six Santa hat cupcakes and six Cookie Monster cupcakes. I decided to make the cookies be gingerbread men heads instead of chocolate chip, just to add a bit of festivity :)

On Christmas Eve, the Brascho family always attends the Candle Lighting service at church, then comes back to our house to have chili, potato soup, and grilled cheese. I have a lot of cousins, so this year I had the idea of getting all of the kids together in one place to decorate cookies and cupcakes to leave for Santa so that the adults could relax a little bit.

My cousin Blake turned out to be quite the little artist. He even made his own Cookie Monster cupcake!

All in all, this was a great Christmas. I can't wait for next year when we get to do it all over again :)

Graduation and Birthday Cakes

This past week has been crazy! Christmas shopping, baking cakes, getting my car fixed, family Christmases... I haven't had a lot of time to bake lately (seems like I say this every time I make a post) but I did have a cake order this past week for my brother's girlfriend, Lauren. She graduated from the University of Montevallo last Friday, and her birthday was last Saturday, so I made two cakes for her!

This is the graduation cake, obviously. Her school's colors are purple and yellow-gold.

For her birthday cake, she wanted me to make something that was purple and yellow pastel colors to kind of match the school colors, and this is what I came up with after looking for ideas for designs around the internet. It's really one of my favorite cakes that I have made so far, and I'm quite proud of it! :)

Today is Christmas Eve, and we'll be doing lots of cooking for Santa tonight, so hopefully I can post more later! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Skillet "Lasagna"

This post goes along with my momma's birthday, as well. Mom usually cooks each of our favorite meals on our birthdays, and so for her birthday, I decided to let her request a dish for me to make for her. A few weeks ago, I made a homemade lasagna in a skillet, a recipe that I found on foodnetwork.com, and it was veeeery yummy. We had the idea of changing up the same recipe by using a different type of pasta that we had bought at TJ Maxx in the imported foods section. Straight from Italy, the best kind! Ahh... I want to go back just so I can buy some more pasta, olive oil, and truffles. But, until then, TJ Maxx will have to do!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup EVOO

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, or one can of diced tomatoes

4 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 large egg

2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 lb pasta, cooked and drained, OR about 8 sheets of no-bake lasagna noodles

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 lb cooked ground turkey meat

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic slices and cook for about one minute. Add the tomatoes, 1 Tbsp of basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until saucy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a food processor and puree until smooth.

Mix together the ricotta, parmesan, the egg, salt and pepper to taste, and the remaining basil.

Place one cup of the marinara in the bottom of the large skillet and put the skillet on low heat. Form a layer of noodles over the sauce, then a layer of the cooked ground turkey meat. Add a layer of ricotta cheese and a handful of mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients have been used. On the top layer, put only marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. Place the lid on the skillet, and cook for 15-20 minutes, until all cheese is melted, ensuring that the bottom does not burn. Remove from heat and serve with yummy bread! :D

NOTE: I would advice that you double the sauce for this recipe. This was the second time I have made this recipe, and both times I have ran out of marinara before all of the other ingredients and had to revert to using Ragu to finish the rest. This marinara really is delicious, and makes this dish 1,000,000,000 times better, and Ragu just cannot compare!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yesterday was my momma's birthday! She loves carrot cake, so I decided to surprise her with a homemade batch of carrot cake cupcakes with her other favorite- cream cheese frosting. I found this recipe, and it is an old Betty Crocker. It actually made more cupcakes than I had expected, so I ended up with 16 instead of the 12 I was aiming for! Not that that is a bad thing...

Carrot Cake Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Carrot Cake Directions:

Preheat your oven at 375 degrees. Prepare about 16 cupcake papers in a tin. Combine the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the eggs and vegetable oil, and mix until the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the carrots and pecans. Fill papers 2/3 full, and bake for about 18 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Blend 1/2 stick of softened, unsalted butter, 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, 1 pound of confectioner's sugar, and 2 tsp vanilla. Ice cupcakes and top with additional chopped pecans.

Momma loved them, but next time I think I will either use more of the cake batter or less of the grated carrots because I like for it to have a bit more of a spice to it with the cinnamon cake flavor and less of the carroty flavor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMA!

This Week in Cupcakes

This week has been interesting, to say the least. I have been preparing for finals so much, which are still a week away, while also trying to balance my orders along with them. I don't have any cake or cupcake orders this week, and I'm actually glad for a break, despite the fact that I won't have any money.

This week started out with a Spanish test and these Chanel cupcakes for a friend who was looking to surprise her roommate on her birthday. This was my first time doing these kind of cupcakes, and I was quite happy with how they turned out. Perfect for any fashionista ;)

After that, I spent all day Wednesday in the library on campus writing my English research paper on A Streetcar Named Desire, which I made a 97 on, yay! I also got rear-ended on Thursday morning, boo :( Right on my brand new shiny bumper. But I made these camo cupcakes, which made me feel a little better. That, and a long nap. Basically you make these the same exact way at the Rainbow Cupcakes, just using various shades of green and brown.

I also added a bright neon orange to the mix. On top are chocolate crunch sprinkles, which are very yummy.

Lastly, I made these Christmas cupcakes for a Christmas party in Atlanta. They have almond flavor in them instead of vanilla, which tasted so yummy, in my opinion :)

So, I probably won't be posting for a little while due to finals. Hopefully the next time you hear from me I will be stress-free and well-rested!