Back in the Swing of Things - Happy Birthday, Izzy-girl!

Baby Michael is 3 months old now and loving his play mat! This gives Mommy some time to start baking again - yay!

A couple months ago, I committed to making my friend Katie's daughter, Izzy, her first birthday and smash cake. So our July included Izzy's birthday, Jason & Jen's wedding, Brock's birthday and Kylee's graduation. As it turned out, EVERYTHING fell on July 12th. Yeah.

I'd do anything for our Izzy, so I wasn't going to back out of making her cake. After all, I made a commitment and Izzy had never had chocolate. This situation needed to be addressed ASAP.

Izzy has had a nautical style ever since she was born (Katie isn't a pink-and-frilly kind of mom), so Katie and I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for a nautical first birthday cake. Found it! (Look for post "Ahoi!" on 11 Oktober 2011 - cake inspiration from across the globe!) But not fondant - seriously, only my friend Jennifer likes fondant.

Fast forward to making the cake...as you know, we had a busy weekend ahead of us and I had a lot to do to get ready. All preparations were to begin on Wednesday when I would 1. Take care of the root situation on my head 2. Pick up Jason & Jen's wedding gift (that I had ordered to pick up in store 2 days before) and 3. Bake the big cake for Izzy's first birthday!

Well, the hair appointment took longer than I had anticipated. Dan had Michael and was calling on a regular basis to ask me how much longer until I came home. I sent Ellen over to the house to help him so I could run out to pick up the wedding gift (he sent Ellen home, though). One of the gifts I had ordered online went to that store, but the other went to the store across town - seriously? Fortunately, they had the second gift in stock, so we had to take the time to straighten that out. Long story short - I didn't get home until after 9:00. I decided I would wake up at 5:00 the next morning to bake Izzy's cake and decorate it Thursday night after we had a mini birthday party for Brock (since we couldn't make it to his real party).

5:00 am: I'm up. Michael's sleeping peacefully. Let's bake! Katie had given me the cake mixes, so I was good to go! Except when I pulled out my eggs and only had 2 when I needed 3. Off to Cake Central! A banana instead of an egg? I had a banana. Done.

So I reached for the oil. I didn't have vegetable oil. But I did have olive oil. It tastes a little stronger, but hey, the banana should cover that, and I added some good Mexican vanilla and a little almond extract. No problem.

After all of that, the cake turned out ok. It didn't raise as much as normal, but oh well, the crumbs tasted pretty good!

8:30 pm: We celebrated with Brock and gave him his gift (he's 4 - all he wants is the present anyway). On the docket when we got home 1. Bake the smash cake and cupcakes 2. Decorate the big cake while those are cooling and 3. Decorate the smash cake and cupcakes.

Did I reference the inspiration blog post when I decorated the big cake? Of course not. Katie had already given me the ribbon (TIP: put tape on the back of the ribbon so the grease in the icing doesn't seep through) and I knew how it was supposed to look, so I did it from memory, see:

Happy Birthday, Izzy!

It didn't turn out exactly like our inspiration photo. I forgot the light blue circle under the anchor and the rope around it, but I did pipe the anchor freehand! Overall, I don't think it was too bad for my first time out post-Michael. And we made it to the wedding and we celebrated Brock's birthday. The only thing we missed was Kylee's graduation. (Sorry, Ky, but we're really proud of you!)

The smash cake you see in the picture was actually the second option. The first was really cute...until I tried to put it into the box. Oops! Both were filled with chocolate pudding (a lot of chocolate pudding since I used these pans). And this is what happened to the smash cake anyway:

Isn't she a sweetie? My girl likes chocolate!

From what I understand, only two cupcakes made it to the party. Izzy's daddy apparently thought they turned out alright, too ;)

So what's next? Are we looking at another long lag between posts? Probably not. My friend Erica just had a baby, so she'll need some cupcakes to get her through those long nights. We also have a family reunion next weekend and the invitation says "bring dessert." On that note - any suggestions for Italian cupcakes? Send me pins or leave thoughts in the comments!

Let's catch up...

Hello there! It looks like I've been neglecting you for quite some time. I'm sorry, but I promise I have a great excuse:

See? I told you it was a good excuse.

And so here we are with 10 weeks to go until our little MVP arrives. So have I stopped baking completely while tending to the bun in the oven? No. Here's a look at some of the prenatal projects:

Pinterest Project: Homemade egg rolls - AWESOME!!! Just leave out the potato.

Cake pops that actually worked! Thank you to my brother- and sister-in-law. They turn out much better using the BabyCakes cake pop maker instead of the crush-up-cake-and-mix-with-icing method.

Happy 1st Birthday to my adorable nephew! He obviously couldn't wait for that chocolate bear :)

Follow up from Spooooky Halloween - chocolate cupcake, filled with chocolate pudding, topped with chocolate ganache and crushed chocolate fudge stripe cookies with creepy gummy worms. One of my personal favorites!

And the second Spooooky Halloween option...these went fabulously with my friends' daughter's Dorothy costume!

Have I shown you these before? Typically, these are my dark chocolate cayenne minis, but for my co-worker's baby shower, we skipped the heat and stuck with chocolate, caramel, pecans and dark chocolate ganache. And let's face it, those duckies are adorable!

Also for my co-worker's baby shower, lemon minis topped with lemon curd mascarpone frosting. Ummm...YUM!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY KOBE!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY KATHY!

See? It's been a busy seven months. I'm not sure what's next right now as far as baking goes, but there's a lot to do in these last 10 weeks as we prep for our little man :) Wish me luck!

Spooooky Halloween...mwahahaha!!!

Ok, I know it's only early September, but I just got a message from my friends Rob & Sara requesting Halloween cupcakes for their kids' party. This marks the second year in a row and I'm SO EXCITED! I was just checking out the new ideas for Halloween on Pinterest today!

Their kids are adorable and they love "spooky" cupcakes in kid flavors - meaning I get to do funfetti! Who doesn't love funfetti cake? It just makes you happy.

In celebration of last year, and preparation for this year, I thought you might appreciate a look back at the creepy creations of Halloween 2012.

Bloodshot eyeballs and bats and spiders and dismembered witch fingers oh my! Let's take a closer look at the witch fingers because they were pretty cool.

Complete with oozing, red, sparkly blood...these had to be the spookiest treats on the block!

What to do to top these for 2013? Oh the options! Check these out:

• Pudding Filled Dirt Cupcakes from Inside BruCrew Life
• Vampire Bite Cupcakes from B for Bel
• Pumpkin Cupcakes from Whisk Kid

I also found these really cute ghost cupcakes using marshmallow frosting from The Frosted Cake Shop on flickr, but the page wasn't found. Don't you hate when that happens?

At any rate, this Halloween is going to be just as good as - if not better than - 2012.

Thanks for the opportunity, Rob & Sara!

But Grandma Used Tapioca!

We're having the in-law's over for dinner tonight. It only seems right, seeing as this is the first time Dan's using the smoker that they got for him last Christmas. I'm excited to see how the ribs turn out!

Dan sent me up to the local grocery store to pick up some potatoes to make a side dish. It just so happened that the grocery store had a pretty large selection of fresh peaches right next to the potatoes (or maybe an aisle over - I may have been distracted from my primary task). The peaches looked so good and I hadn't had a peach in a long time, so my thought process went something like this:

• I want a peach
• Dan's parents are coming over
• Naturally, they would expect to have dessert when they come to our house for dinner
• They would like a peach pie
• I'll make a peach pie

There are two things that I need to get off of my conscience right now:

• Dan's parents like desserts about as much as he does (meaning they eat it to be polite)
• I've never made a peach pie

Three minutes later, I had 8 peaches and 2 potatoes in my bag.

After I got home, I mixed up a pie crust, helped Dan stare at the smoker, clean up the yard, finish staining our new fence and stare at the smoker again. Around 3:00, I decided it was time to tackle my first peach pie.

I can make apple pie. I make good apple pie. I thought you made a peach pie the same way you made an apple pie, but I forgot the right baking temperature - Mommy! I called her at camp, knowing she wouldn't have any of her pie recipes with her, and expected her to answer all of my peach pie questions.

She told me that peach pie was SIMILAR to apple pie, but you really need to up the thickening ingredient and Grandma always used tapioca and hers were the best! There's no doubt that my grandmother's pies were the best. The woman could look at an oven and a perfectly baked pie would pop out, but I don't like tapioca. I told my mom I didn't like tapioca, to which she responded, "but Grandma ALWAYS used tapioca" and - paraphrasing here - "if you don't like it, look it up online yourself!"

So I did. And three tablespoons of corn starch later, I sent her this picture:

After all, the in-laws probably expect cupcakes!

And 50 minutes later, at 400 degrees:

Now I love my grandmother more than anything. I'd be lucky to be half the woman she was. But as much as I love my grandma, I don't need her tapioca!

I know, I know...such a rebel!

UPDATE: Dan - yes, DAN - has told me three times tonight how much he liked my peach pie! And I quote, "You knocked it out of the park, babe!"

My Mommy's So Talented!!!

Way back in my original post, Welcome to Bake My Dream Come True, I mentioned that my mom was a huge influence in my baking obsession. She and I have baked almost anything you can think of together for what seems like my entire life.

This weekend, we had planned to bake for my niece's 13th birthday together, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it home. I felt terrible leaving her to prep for the party alone, but she's a trooper!

I can't tell you how many times people have recommended the high-heel cupcakes to me. You've probably seen them all over Pinterest. I've been waiting for the perfect occasion and Mom and I had decided that Bug's birthday was just that occasion. Even though I wasn't there to help, my mom went ahead and took the challenge head on! After all, our Bug has always been the fashionista niece and I'm sure nothing less would do for her ;)

Check out the result:

Personally, I think these are much better than the ones I've seen online. Great job, Mom!

I'm so proud :)

Jello Frosting???

Some of my favorite recipes on Pinterest are for frosting. That's where I found These Peas are Hollow's Swiss Meringue Buttercream base recipe for the peanut butter version that my sister-in-law eats by the spoonful...YUM! (For the peanut butter version, I replace the melted chips with peanut butter.)

I look for occasions to try new frosting recipes whenever I can, so when my darling mini-me niece said, "Aunt Lacy, I want cupcakes" while we were at my mom's, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try the kid-friendly Jello frosting from Coleen's Recipes. We used strawberry banana Jello on a white cupcake with strawberry jam filling.

Jello Frosting

The frosting was super light and airy; it felt like the pastry bag was empty while piping it onto the cupcake, but, as you can see in the photo, it stood up nice and tall!

That's about where the appeal ended for me. It really did taste like Jello. Light, airy, Jello fluff. As a 30-year-old aunt, I wasn't a fan of the taste at all. It didn't set well either. Since we are in a humid climate, I tried to store the cupcakes we didn't send home with the kids in the refrigerator. The next day, it was just an unappetizing, gummy blob on top of the cupcake.

From a 5-year-old perspective, the frosting was awesome! The twins ate the frosting off of two cupcakes each and then wanted to take as many as they could home to share with their friends.

Final verdicts? 1) I'm old. 2) I'm not going to make it again. 3) It really did look pretty! 4) I love my nieces and nephews.

Are you following Lace of Cakes on Pinterest? Which recipe do you think I should try next?

Thank You, Aunt Carmella

When we lose someone special, it's hard. I don't like to cry, so I'll do everything I can to push back the tears. Big girls don't cry, right? I try to focus on the good memories, especially the ones that make me laugh. Examples: When my cousin Mike passed, I kept thinking "ribbit-crunch" (When I was little, I accidentally said "froggy" instead of "foggy" while riding in the backseat of his car.) and when Gram passed, I kept thinking about how she was so concerned about getting a new dress and new shoes for our wedding which was just three weeks later.

We recently lost Dan's Aunt Carmella. She was a lady in every sense of the word - not the boring kind, but the feisty kind! She was always involved with everything we did as a family. She made biscotti for my bridal shower. She made my brother-in-law's favorite cookies for their couple's shower. She even kept all three of her brothers in line - and that's saying something!

When I first started taking cake classes, Aunt Carmella was all excited because she had taken classes, too. She said she would be my first employee whenever I decided to open my little shop. She would make all of the Italian cookies that I didn't know how to make and I would handle the cakes and cupcakes. The next time I was at my mother-in-law's, she handed me Aunt Carmella's old decorating kit with a note that said "I hope you can use these."

I had so many of my own tools already that I didn't need to even open the box, so I put it in the cupboard, note and all.

The family met at my in-law's after Aunt Carmella passed. While we were there, Dan's cousin Carol's husband pulled me aside and let me know that Carol's birthday was that week. Carol was very close to Aunt Carmella, so obviously they wouldn't be celebrating her birthday on her actual birthday while she was mourning the loss of one of her closest friends, but her husband didn't want to forget about her. He asked me if I would bake her a small cake that he could pick up that weekend as a surprise. I couldn't say no to that.

I knew Carol's favorite cake was almond with strawberry filling, but while I was thinking about how I might decorate it, I was at a loss. Then I thought about Aunt Carmella's decorating kit and I knew that she would want me to use her tools for the first time on Carol's cake. That made the cake design so much easier - after all, we both took the classes, so why not go classic Wilton?

Simple, classic. Just like Aunt Carmella :) Miss you so much!