Paula Deen: Round 4 (Finally Dessert Round is Here!)

Finally! Dessert Round has come!! Luckily, I got this one up! Technical difficulties seem to be like a bee that is buzzing around me head! Hope you enjoy my zebra-licious fruit tarts!

See the video at this link:

http://www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com/user_recipe/view/11551/2551/1

Momma's Birthday Blow-out

So I bet your wondering why I would show you this cake AGAIN! Well, if you must ask, I will tell. My mommy's birthday was this week, and she wanted just one little teeny tiny thing for her birthday...THIS CAKE. Yes, behold, the Double Chocolate Buttercream Cake. I actually drool looking at it. So, I figured that I would please her, mini style. Yes, mini style. I think I have found my new passion, and it's called mini cakes. This stinking cake was the cutest thing that I have ever seen! So, if anyone would like to help me with sampling my new mini cake love, I'd probably find it in my heart to hook you up big time!

I also thought that my mother needed some matching baby cakes, you know since that is how I roll and all.

But, I had a mini Lauren attack while I was making this delightful dish. As you very well may know, the chocolate buttercream icing (which is actually like licking heaven's floors) calls for cocoa powder. I ran to the cupboard, yes ran. Guess what? NO COCOA POWDER! I had class in an hour and a half and there was no time to run to Weis and fufuill my cocoa powder desire. So, I needed to think, and I needed to think quick. Ahh-HAH! I've found the solution! Melted unsweetened baking squares! Let me just say folks. Heaven in a package right there! All that I did was add as much melted chocolate to make it chocolatey enough for me. (I used about 2 1/2 ounces)

If you are up to making this fabu-lash cake, click on the link below!

themisscupcake.blogspot.com/2010/03/double-chocolate-buttercream-cake.html

Mommy also requested my peanut butter explosion cake (mini style) for a fellow co-worker who shared her birthday, so I couldn't resist. Another picture of cuteness. But wait.

Ahhh, now it's perfect.

Last but not least, this. This would be my mother's office. Yes, it was vandalism. Yes, Jared and Blake helped. But we just wanted to show that our mommy is the best! I think we got the message across.

And thanks to Blake's words of advice, I didn't have to write happy birthday 100 times on all those papers like I orginally had planned to do. In the words of Blake, "Use the copier, stupid." My greatest thanks to you, kind brother.

At Last My Love Has Come Around: Wedding Cake!

I've been waiting for this day for just short of forever! My wedding day! Ok, well not my wedding day....but my first wedding cake day! I've already shared with you the cake samples, so this might be nothing new to you...but here is the finished product!

I would just like to point out that there WAS an IMMENSE amount of butter used in this project. This is a time where we pretend that we have never seen this picture. Just forget it, it will make the cake taste much better in your mind! Heck, who cares, just enjoy the butter.

I'd just love to share this special part of the cake. The mini "groom's cake." See, the groom is an absolutely outstandingly fanatical Gator Fan, he just needed a little tiny cake just for him. Here is the funny thing, it went on TOP of the cupcake tree....well you'll see....just keep scrolling.

Along with the mini groom's cake, there were cupcakes! Lots and lots of cupcakes! 200 mini cupcakes and 50 large cupcakes. Ontop of that, there was the little wedding cake to cut!

Some of the baby cakes!

Here they are all ready to go! I'm so glad that they were delivered ok and they didn't fall! Yay, that would have caused a Lauren sized problem, and we really don't want that to happen!

Here's to the cake! I think the picture explains it quite well!

The monogram was just icing and edible pearls! Everything else was fondant and delicious! (The bride was quite a fan of that!)

Here is the cake on the cake table, all ready to go and unbroken! Wooo! (Tigerlilly was their flower of choice)

and here! Lo and Behold...the cupcake tree! It looked so wonderful! I was so proud of those baby cakes, they grow up so fast!

And here, the top of the tree...and according to the groom, the most important part of the wedding....well, maybe.

I must tell you a little something about the wedding receptions. There were these butter mints on the table. I saw them and got slightly excited, considering I love both butter and mint. So, I popped one in my mouth. It was chocolate flavored. Let me just say, they were absolutely amazing. Twenty seven mints later, and I had had my fill. I even stole some off the other tables...shhhh...don't tell! I MUST find out how to make them! It's imperitive! I'll get back to you on that one!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Reichenbach!

Cinnamon Chippers and Some Lonely Bunnies

This is where is all begins. The dough. The dough is the route of all hapiness. The dough will make you sick, the dough will make you happy. The dough is often the happy, mushy substance that comes before the cookie. But here's the wonderful thing. These cookies actually taste BETTER than the dough! I know, right? Amazing! Absolutely stinking amazing!

I must introduce you to the flavor of these outstanding wonders! Well, I'm not going to lie about this one. I actually wanted to make these chocolate, but by the time I had added the dry pudding mix to these cookies, I realized my fault. Then, I had a bit of a hissy fit, threw the box across the kitchen, and my wheels went'a'turning. I decided upon cinnamon chocolate chippers!

So I'll share the prized recipe. These are my prizes choco-chip cookie recipe cookies, just tweeked a bit. But, I'll share the recipe again...it's really that good.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chippers

Items Needed

• 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks) softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) packet of vanilla instant pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Any amount of chocolate chips and cinnamon chips that you so desire!

1. Preheat oven to 350 *F.
2. Cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with electric mixture until creamy and deeeeelicccciousss! (I would eat it just like that if it wasn't so utterly bad for you!)
3. Beat in packet of vanilla instant pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract until creamy.
4. Combine flour and baking soda in separate bowl. Add mixture slowly to the sugar and butter mixture. The mixture will be slightly sticky, but it's ok!
5. Drop by heaping teaspoons full onto parchment paper lined baking sheets (this will ensure even baking and easy clean-up....woo!)
6. Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until light golden brown on the bottom. The cookies really won't look done on the top, but they are! Take those puppies out! Don't be afraid!
7. Enjoy!
   

Take them out, and let them cool on a cooling wire rack like the one above. I would be alarmed, however, this allows for bystanders to "help sample." Watch out!

And then, there is my disfunctional creative side. Hey, I saw those poor bunnys in my Easter basket, and I felt the need for them to be the famous bunnys of Miss Cupcake. Need I say more?

Hehe, I couldn't resist, yet again!

The real reason behind these cookies was for the Junior class of Meadowbrook Christian School. See, every year they depart for a mission trip. (I did as well, two years ago) This year they are going to Guatemala! My bestest friend was going on the trip, so I decided to reward the class for their efforts with some Miss Cupcake creations!

Adios Juniors! Bien Viaje!

Paula Deen Round 2: Outstanding Asparagus Crunchers!

Remember these? Well I do! I definitely do! Tweaked them juuuuust a bit, so they are still new and exciting! So, this week...my goal is to NOT get disqualified from the contest! I think I'm safe this time.

I decided to do these delightful aspragus appetizers for this week. I mean, they are super yummy, easy, and adorable! I think you will enjoy the film. Some interesting things happen to pass in the movie. Smoke Detectors, Facts about asparagus, and more. I can only give you those hints...you HAVE to find the rest out yourself!

Here is the link! Do it! Go! Click it! Click it and win 10,000 and a monkey will sing to you! Well, maybe..you never know!

http://www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com/user_recipe/view11551/1287/1

Satisfaction Through Disqualification

So, I found out today that I was disqualified from my Paula Deen Casting Competition. I was a little down, but then I realized that I had many more weeks of lovely competition to act upon.

Then i found a message in my email inbox. Someone saw my video and sent an amazing email thanking me for being an inspiration! That nearly brought tears to my eyes. I love the fact that God has blessed me with the opportunity to bless others through simply doing the things I love.

At the end of the email, she congratulated me for being featured on Paula's website. I was like, WHAT!!!! Then I searched on the website thinking that this woman was misunderstood. No SHE WASNT! my video was right there, right on her website! PAULA DEEN SAW MY VIDEO AND NOTICED ME! SHE KNOWS MY NAME!

Now, you, go and check it out! This is oober exciting. When I say oober, I mean SUPER OOBER!
www.realwomenofphiladelphia.com/post/more-amazing-side-dish-videos

Easter Goodies and Cake Ball Favors!

Yummy, yummy, yummy. I just love these. I mean, I just can't get over how cute they are! The Easter table seemed very very bear, so I thought that something needed to be done about that.

Strawberry Vanilla Easter Cake Balls were in order! Simply made too. All t hat I did was bake two cakes. One strawberry cake and one vanilla cake. I kept out two layer (to make a cake that you'll see in just a bit!) and I crumbled the rest into a bowl. Then, I used my favorite magnolia icing recipe that I use for absolutely everything. When I say everything, I actually mean EVERYTHING! Then I dolloped a cup of icing into the crumbled bowl, rolled them into balls, cooled them in the freezer, and dipped those babys in chocolate! Simple! So easy, you can do it too! Any cake mix, and any icing!

Food Porn, but don't worry, it's ok to give in to it! I love how the one I chose to cut in half had a big chunk of magnolia icing in the center. Ohh la la oh la la!

The two other layers I saved? This is what I used them for!! An Easter Egg Cake! Yayyyy! Vanilla bottom and Strawberry top! (Cake Mix..shhhh...don't tell!) Covered with some of my sweet Magnolia fluffy stuff and covered in fondant decorations and sugar pearls!

I know it's a little after Easter, but cake balls are any occasion, and you can have an after-Easter cake party! Sounds like a good plan to me!

Some Traditions are just THAT Important: Eastery Eggs

This is probably one of my favorite traditions EVER! Not only do these consist of my three favorite things (peanut butter, coconut, and powdered sugar), but they are super cute! I can't wait to show you this!
Now I thought that I would first show you the disturbing Easter Egg Scene that we made. My brother, Jared, and I were getting a little fatigued and cutness was far far behind us. We started going gorry. I think it has class. In case you were wondering, the large disturbing Easter egg was my brothers responsibility (no surprise there).

Also before I lay down the coveted family recipe, I thought that I would also say that Jared Smith is responsible for many of the decorations as well. (Must give credit where credit was due!) Thanks mom and Blake too!

Here we are! My favorite favorite favorite favorite Easter reipe for peanut butter eggs.

Crispy Peanut Butter Eggs

Items Needed:

• 1 stick of margarine or butter (softened)
• 2 cups of peanut butter
• 3 cups 10x sugar
• 4 cups rice krispies
• milk or white chocolate melting chocolate

1. Combine peanut butter and margarine until smooth. Mix in the 10x sugar and rice krispies(must use hands, and they MUST get dirty...or they just won't taste as good!)
2. Squeez into balls or eggs or place into molds (like we did in some of the pictures.) You can also just stick them in your mouth and eat.
3. Cool in the refrigerator, and coat with milk or white chocolate.
4. Store in the refrigerator (makes about 20-25 eggs per batch)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Look at that. Look at that and tell me that they don't look like a bite out of heaven. I'm pretty sure that if heaven was made of this stuff...I would be a happy camper.

We pushed some of the mixture into mold and coated them in chocolate. We poured chocolate into the mold, let set. Then we pushed some of the mixture into the mold, and covered the top with more chocolate. Let cool, them pop them out and enjoy your cuteness!

Bunnys! Oh dear, more cuteness! Thank you to Jared for trying sooooo hard to make those eyes stick on there perfectly.

A pink chocolate drizzle and some sanding sugar! Any idea to why the sugar seems clumped on the eggs? Well, you can thank Jared's moist hands. I think you can figure it out from there.

Yeah, more cuteness!

Next, on to the coconut eggs! (We made them into balls so that you could tell them apart from the peanut butter) Also, it makes for a delightfully cruel joke to those who don't like coconut. Tell them that the egg shaped ones are coconut and the ball shaped ones are peanut butter. hehehe!



Coconut Cream Eggs

Items Needed:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 stick margarine
• 4 c. Angel Flake coconut
• 8 c. 10x sugar
• melting chocolate for coating

1. Combine cream cheese, margarine, coconut, and sugar. Mix well.
2. Shape into eggs (or balls as we did). Cool before coating.
3. Cover eggs with melted chocolate. Let set.
4. Enjoy right away because you can't wait...or store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 30 eggs.

Here they are all dressed up and ready for the Easter Table. I must tell you, see my mother is the beholder of this recipe. She placed it in a special church cookbook. The recipe was doubled in the cookbook because she usually doubled the recipe. Unfortunately, she didn't remember that she had doubled the recipe in the cookbook, and well...yes....we made a quadrouple batch. Let's just say....we had a dusting of powdered sugar ALL OVER. It really didn't quite make it all in the bowl....but it worked out for the better. We had so many extra of these that we HAD TO EAT THEM! It was unfortunate....yeah...actually not so much!

And then, I packaged them all pretty, and off to some of our loved ones! (I stored a few secret ones in the refrigerator...don't tell!)



The great thing is that you can make these into any shape that you so desire. Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, President's Day, Easter, Christmas, whatever you desire. Actually, just make up a holiday..and you can have these whenever you would like!