Rice Krispy Bundt Cake and looking forward to a great 2012!

My husband's birthday is on December 23rd and mine is the next day, so our birthdays are usually a busy, fun celebration that involve many Christmas festivities thrown in with the birthday stuff. Neither of us mind this at all.

Last year I spent way too much time in the kitchen on Matt's birthday making these totally decadent, divine Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. This year I wanted to keep it simple and so when I saw Mary post this fun idea for a Rice Krispy Bundt Cake a couple of months ago, I knew it would be the perfect birthday treat for my hubby. One of his fave treats happen to be rice krispy treats, so he was very excited. The preparation was easy. The celebration was simple and there was absolutely nothing fussy about this fun birthday treat. We decorated the top with Christmas shaped marshmallows and each enjoyed a slice after going to a basketball game.

I am excited about 2012. I think it is going to be a great year. I am looking forward to fun, challenges, growth, excitement, laughter, hard work and much more. I'm not sure what exactly that means for my blog, but I have made some changes to my diet over the past 2 1/2 months and I don't know for sure how that is going to translate to what goes on over here.

On another note, I saw this Food Lover's Cleanse on Bon Appetit last year and really wanted to try it. I am thinking about starting it within the next day or two, but I'm pretty sure the only part I will include my family in is the dinner portion. Maybe I will choose the best 7 days of it and do it for only a week. I hope you all had a great holiday and are as excited about the new year as I am!


Here is the post about the Rice Krispy Bundt Cake from the Food Librarian
* I made a double batch of rice krispy treats so they would fill a normal sized bundt pan and
made sure to use lots of baking spray so the cake would come out easily

TWD 2nd Anniversary !!!! Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake

2 years ago, Laurie started Tuesday's with Dorie. Please go check out her blog to get the recipes for this week's anniversary and also to read about how she started this wonderful group.

We voted on what recipe we wanted to make for this years anniversary. It came down to Tarte Tatin and Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake. Laurie decided to let us make either one or both if we wanted too. (Last year Dorie chose the recipe for the 1st anniversary and it was one of my favorites ever! Check out the French Pear Tart. It is absolutely fabulous.)
I have to say I am a little burnt out from Christmas vacation and traveling, so I took the lazy way out on this one since I have made this cake twice already.
Yes, twice. I made it in the spring as a full sized cake and also last year as cupcakes.
You can read more details about this cake from when I posted about it HERE.

Both times I frosted it with The Barefoot Contessa's Peanut Butter Frosting instead of the options given in the book, just because it is really a perfect combination.
I also used Reese's Peanut Butter cups to decorate it.
It is a great cake.
Go check out the other b-day celebratory posts by visiting all the great blogs on the TWD Blogroll!
And enjoy a few pictures from our recent trip to DisneyWorld. It was soo much fun!!

TWD- Lemon Ginger Sables

This week's TWD recipe, Sables, was chosen by Barbara, who blogs over at Bungalow Barbara. You can find the recipe by going to this post on Barbara's blog or by turning to page 131 of Baking: from my home to yours, which I am sure you have a copy of by now.

This is a basic butter cookie that can be made with many variations. I decided to make a lemon-ginger version. I added the zest of 2 lemons to the sugar and also added 1 1/2 tsps of ground ginger to the cookie dough. These tasted really great.
You can make them any way you want, with any spice, any zest, any nut and also savory, if you desire.
This is the perfect cookie for this time of year. You can share and send these and the people who are so lucky to receive them will be very grateful.

Go check out the Tuesday's with Dorie Blogroll to see what other variations people came up with this week!
I also just wanted to share some pictures of a cake I created for my friends daughter's 8th birthday party.
This cake was supposed to be decorated with candy, but when I was out shopping, I saw these little Christmas ornaments and the idea popped into my head to try decorating the cake with them.
It worked.
The cake looked so cute.
The birthday girl was happy with her cake and so was I. I have made the cake before, about a year and a half ago, so I knew it was a good cake, with great flavor. Orange cake, raspberry jam between the layers and then a Swiss Meringue Buttercream to finish the whole thing off. Delicious.

Recipe for Orange Butter Cake

Spiced Pecans, S'mores Cookie Bars, Chocolate Gingerbread Bars, and Peppermint Brownies, oh & a Birthday Cake

I had so much fun this morning helping one of my best friends with her daughter's 8th birthday party. It was a tea party, very fancy. The cake I made was so cute. I had a great idea and it worked. Can't wait to get photos up of that cake.
I haven't yet, so these delicious treats will have to do.
The first thing here is Spiced Pecans. I made these a couple of weeks ago, along with the Holiday Biscotti as an idea for a Holiday Gift.
They were a big hit. They are coated in a sweet/spicy mixture. Mostly sweet, because of the cinnamon, sugar but also spicy because of the cayenne pepper and ground ginger.
Delicious. We couldn't stop munching on them. I am making a big double batch next week to send out with some cookies in the mail. Yum...
Next, is a treat that I made for one of the Thanksgiving Dinners we went to. I was asked to bring a kid-friendly treat and remembered some S'mores Cookies that I had seen awhile ago.
What is more kid friendly than something covered in marshmallows and chocolate?
I thought I would turn these cookies into bars and just made them in a 9x13-inch pan, instead of making individual cookies. I let the pan of cookies bake for about 23 minutes or so, and then I dumped on an entire bag of mini marshmallows and some chopped Hersheys milk chocolate.
Put them back under the broiler and let the marshmallows get really toasted.
These were very sweet (not like that is a surprise or something) and had to be eaten in small doses. They were good. The graham cracker crumbs in the cookie base made them taste like a real S'more.
Ooey and gooey, which is a great combination for kids, even if parents might not agree!
Next are Chocolate Gingerbread Bars. I threw these together for a potluck over Thanksgiving weekend. They came together really quickly and disappeared just as quickly. I think most people probably thought they were brownies, so they must have had a little surprise when they tasted the molasses/ginger. A great christmas treat.
Then we had some Peppermint Brownies. I saw this idea in a Holiday Baking magazine, but can't remember which one it was. My sister was visiting for Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun with all these marshmallows.
We just made basic brownies and then covered them with marshmallows, chopped candy canes and drizzled melted milk chocolate over the top.
Gooey and delicious.
The last thing I wanted to share was a picture of the birthday cake my little girl got to share with her great grandpa. They share the same birthday, November 27th and we decided to celebrate with a sheet cake at our Thanksgiving Dinner. My mother-in-law requested the same cake that I made for her birthday back in July, so I just doubled it and tried out a new frosting recipe. The frosting recipe was really great to decorate with. It also had just a hint of cream cheese that was really delicious. I am definitely going to be using the frosting recipe in the future. You can find the frosting recipe at the bottom of this post. My sister helped me come up with the design for the cake. It was fun. The birthday girl and grandpa were very happy to share the cake and their birthdays with everyone.
Recipe for Spiced Pecans

Recipe for S'mores Cookies

Recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread Bars

Recipe for Vanilla Buttercream

B-day stuff: Chocolate Cake with Whipped Frosting and brunch from The Pink Princess Book

Here is my little Ry-Bear. She turned 5 on October 25th. She loves the carousel, animals and dinosaurs, but sometimes has a thing for pink and princesses, too.
When we discussed her b-day cake, her first choice involved pink and princess, but she quickly changed her mind to dinosaurs and green frosting. I asked her multiple times and the dinosaur/green frosting combo was the winner.
She wanted to decorate it, so I let her put the little plastic dinos on top and then all the kids help throw the dinosaur eggs (candy-coated chocolate covered sunflower seeds) on top. Kind of relaxing to let the kids do all the work.
I had no problem getting rid of the extra frosting. The recipe for cake and frosting are below. Nothing too spectacular, but good enough for a birthday.
For her birthday brunch, the birthday girl flipped through the pages of Pink Princess Cookbook and chose a menu. The kids helped me prepare all of the food for our brunch.

I was not planning on taking pictures of this brunch, but my mom and husband both protested when I told them I was just going to have a relaxing time with no pics. They insisted. So, I grabbed the camera when everything was on the table (not the usual place for taking pics of food in my house) and I tried to get a decent shot of the brunch. Bear with me on these :-)
Ry chose Mini-Marshmallow Smoothies to start us off. I adapted the recipe from the book and placed 1 sliced banana, 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup vanilla yogurt, and 1 1/2 cups skim milk in the blender. I blended it well, then poured it into glasses and added the colored mini-marshmallows. (The adults enjoyed smoothies w/out marshmallows).
Next up
Blackberry Biscuits
1 can large-size refrigerator biscuits
1 cup canned blackberry pie filling
1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed w/ 1/4 cup sugar

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Slice or divide each biscuit in half. Press one half in the bottom of 8 of the muffin cups, covering bottom completely. Leave 4 of the muffin cups empty.
Spoon 1 Tbls pie filling on top of each biscuit half.
Cover pie filling w/ remaining biscuits halves.
Sprinkle tops w/ cinnamon-sugar mixture. I used decorating sugar too
Bake for 15 minutes.
Serve warm.
Fairy Tale Fondue
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla

Heat the cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until hot, about 2-3 minutes.
When hot, add the chocolate and stir until it is just melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Serve with your choice or fresh strawberries, banana slices, pound cake, pretzels, grapes, etc. for dipping
This was Ry's fave thing to help make for the brunch.

Little Ladybugs
12 seedless red grapes
12 toothpicks
12 whole strawberries w/ stems
1 package mini chocolate chips

Place a grape on a toothpick, sliding it all the way to the end of the stick. This is the ladybugs head.
Place a strawberry on the toothpick, stem end first, and slide it down to touch the grape. This is the body.
Lay the ladybug down and carefully push the pointed ends of several chocolate chips into the strawberry to make the spots.
Raspberry Tea Sandwiches
8 slices white bread
1/2 cup soft spread cream cheese
1 Tbls raspberry preserves
1 pint fresh raspberries

Cut bread into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. In a bowl combine cream cheese and raspberry preserves. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on each bread cut-out and place raspberries on top.

Classic Cucumber Sandwiches
1 English cucumber, sliced
8 slices whole wheat bread
2 Tbls softened butter
salt and pepper
cherry tomatoes for garnish

Cut crust off bread and cut into shapes with cookie cutter.
Spread butter on each cut-out. Lay cucumber slices on top.
Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with cherry tomatoes


The whole brunch was really fun to prepare and even more fun to share. It was a great birthday!

Recipe for Chocolate Cake

Recipe for Whipped Frosting

Peach Frozen Yogurt and Georgia Peach Buttercream

I have been playing around with my photos a little bit. It's pretty fun.
I don't really remember how it came up, but some of us were talking about making ice cream and Nancy mentioned how delicious David Lebovitz's Peach Frozen Yogurt was and since I had peaches, I made it.

I didn't weigh my peaches (mistake)- I just assumed that my peach mixture was the perfect amount, but when I churned it, I realized I should have just measured the darn things. My frozen yogurt yielded way more than 3 cups and it was really peachy, which was fine with me, but I don't think it turned out exactly how the recipe wanted it to. We still enjoyed it. My youngest came in and saw me taking pictures and snatched the cone from me- so I let her hold it for the pic.

My mother-in-law had a birthday at the end of July and I decided I would make her a little cake. She had a really busy day, so I just made it, took it over and put it in her fridge, and she was surprised later, when she came home.

I saw the recipe for Georgia Peach Buttercream in the June issue of Southern Living and it sounded like a perfect, summery frosting. Plus, I live in Georgia, so I pretty much had to make it.
The frosting is a basic buttercream with peach puree added to it, to give it a light peachy flavor. I read a couple of the reviews and one of them said that the peach flavor was really light, so I added more peach puree than it called for. It did add a little extra flavor, but made the frosting extra hard to keep on the cake. I think this frosting would work great on cupcakes or a 9x13-inch cake. Maybe it was just really hot- once I put the cake in the fridge it was all good.

I used this cupcake recipe, which uses a white cake mix, but adds buttermilk, butter, and almond extract, which all give it a great texture and flavor. I made three 6-inch cakes and my mother-in-law called me later raving about the cake. She said it was her new favorite. Yay! for birthday success!
Here are all the links to the recipes

David Lebovitz's Peach Frozen Yogurt

Georgia Peach Buttercream Frosting

Basic White Cupcake

One Year Ago-Greek Chicken Pizza

Dorie's Tiramisu Cake with Mixed Berries and Lime Curd

Back in May, Megan chose Tiramisu Cake for Tuesday's with Dorie and I didn't make it for some reason or another, one of the reasons being that I don't drink coffee and didn't spend the time trying to figure out some kind of flavor substitute. Then, a few weeks later, the June issue of Bon Appetit arrived in the mail and it had a recipe for Mixed-Berry Tiramisu with Lime Curd. As soon as I looked at the recipe, I knew I would be making Dorie's cake and the berries/lime curd from Bon Appetit and somehow combining these 2 recipes for an awesome cake. I just didn't know when.
Fast forward a couple of months. My mother-in-law asked me to make a cake for her mother/my hubby's grandma's 89th birthday.

Without thinking twice- I knew this was the cake.

I made the cake and filling/frosting from Dorie's recipe (subbing 1/3 less fat cream cheese for the mascarpone because someone mentioned that it worked great when they did that for TWD) and the mixed berries, lime curd, and lime syrup from the Bon Appetit recipe.

The lime curd and berries are made the night before and then they sit in the fridge to chill.

The cake baked up perfectly. I soaked it with the lime syrup, then filled the middle with the lime curd, and frosted it.

It sat in the fridge for a couple hours and then everyone came to our house to eat the cake. (I was too scared to transport it in the heat/humidity-no one wants a melting cake!)
Everyone loved it. There were even a few requests that it be made again in the future. It would be great as a trifle too.

I am so glad my recipe mixing turned out so deliciously!

Tiramisu Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours

For the cake:
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk

For the espresso extract: I didn't make this
2 tbs. instant espresso powder
2 tbs. boiling water

For the espresso syrup: I didn't make this
½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy

For the filling and frosting:
1 8-oz. container mascarpone cheese
½ cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy I didn't add this to my frosting
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 ½ oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about ½ cup store bought mini chocolate chips

Chocolate covered espresso beans, for decoration (optional)
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To make the cake: Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in three additions and the buttermilk in two (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.Bake for 28-30 minutes(I baked my cakes for 27 minutes and they were perfect!), rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool then for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To make the extract: Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.

To make the syrup: Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.

To make the filling and frosting: Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth. Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

I used the lime curd, lime syrup, and mixed berry recipes below

Recipe for Mixed-Berry Tiramisu with Lime Curd from Bon Appetit

Recipe for Lime Curd from Bon Appetit

One Year Ago- Peaches and Cream Chiffon Cake, Raspberry-Lime Sorbet, and Vanilla-Raspberry Ice Cream

TWD- Perfect Party Cake

(Photos updated July 2009)
Dorie's Perfect Party Cake. It is what it says.
I made this for my brother's birthday last summer

Last year I made it with blueberry preserves and added a layer of fresh bluberries and sweetened whipped cream in the middle.

I made it for Father's Day last weekend, but I can't download any of my pictures yet, since my computer is not set up. I will update this post with pictures in a couple weeks when I am able to get my pictures downloaded.

This week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, Perfect Party Cake, was chosen by Carol of mix, mix, stir, stir,.
It was also done by the Daring Bakers last year in March, so you have probably seen some version of it. You can find the recipe on Carol's blog, from the post I did last year, or on just about any other food blog out there. I promise.
I made it again because my sister-in-law wanted a white cake with raspberry filling for our Father's Day dessert.
The cake is flawless. I haven't had trouble with it and I always use buttermilk, which goes well with the lemon flavor.
This time I used a different frosting because the original frosting is too loaded with butter for me and last summer when I made it, none of us really cared for the frosting.
This time around, I used this basic Vanilla Buttercream from Southern Living. I also made up my own raspberry filling and everyone really loved the results. Go check out the TWD Blogroll to see the other party cakes!

Coming Soon- An Olive Garden pasta recipe