Butterbeer Cupcakes

A while back my best friend Jordan came across a recipe for Butterbeer Cupcakes from the blog Amy Bites.  She took a trip to the Harry Potter theme park and sampled the Butterbeer, then formulated her own interpretation via cupcakes!  Genius!

So for Jordan's annual Halloween party, she requested I make these cupcakes.  Always up for a challenge, I happily obliged.  While these cupcakes were incredibly labor intensive (just look at Amy's blog for all the detailed photos!), they were absolutely delicious and well worth the effort.   There were only a few ingredients involved that I didn't have on hand (cream soda, heavy cream, and butterscotch chips).  A must for Harry Potter fans...give them a try!  Thanks Amy Bites for the recipe!

Banana Nut Bars

My Mom recently got me this amazing cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Bridal Edition. I loved reading it from the beginning, because there is so much information. Even though this book is geared for the new bride, one that has never cooked before or even lived with her significant other, I still enjoyed it. My husband Alex and I lived together before we got married, so we had a well established kitchen long before we got married.

So I had a bunch of bananas that needed to be used up, and I thought the recipe for the Banana Nut Bars would be a perfect way to go.




I thought this recipe was very simple and easy to make. The icing glaze on top really made these bars great. Since my co-workers are usually my baking guinea pigs, they got to enjoy these the next day. I would certainly make these again.

My Brother's Decorating "Lesson"

I had made an extra layer cake iced with buttercream for my cake decorating class, but I ended up not going to class that week. I brought along the cake to my parent's house on New Years Eve in case we got the urge to decorate it. My brother Jeff decided to have a go at it.

Here I am showing Jeff different tips and what they do...



And here he is watching intently.....



And he's off! (Under my watchful eye, of course.)





Well, after much effort and thought, here is Jeff with his creation.



Well, I guess I taught him well....here I am with Jeff's masterpiece.

Cake Decorating Class Final Project

Sunday was the last day of my Cake Decorating Course number one. I start course number two on Sunday and I can't wait. Even though I am a complete cupcake person, I have really enjoyed learning how to decorate cakes, since they better my cupcake decorating ability at the same time! Here are a few pics from my final class.



I am so excited about what I have learned! I start the new class on Sunday, and it looks promising!