Chocolate Dessert Cups

I was playing on the internet and discovered this fun way to make

elegant chocolate dessert cups and thought I would share.

You need:

small to medium sized balloons (not water balloons, they pop in the chocolate :)

favorite brand/flavor of chocolate for melting, I used Guittard extra dark chocolate here

Cookie sheet covered in wax paper/parchment paper

scissors

1) blow up balloons to the size of an orange

2)melt chocolate & remove from heat

3)Dip balloon in chocolate, roll on 3 sides for tulip effect

4)lift from chocolate and let drip then place on paper to cool

Place in refridgerator to harden for about 10 minutes.

Then set out for a few minutes after hardened.

Snip the top of the balloon, let it deflate then pull out of shell.

These are great for icecream, fruit, sorbet, mousse...
pretty much anything cold you can think of.
(Vanilla icecream and strawberry pictured here.)


Enjoy!

Cake doughnuts

She was so careful with putting on the right amount of sprinkles.

Very proud of herself, as she should be!

My 4-year-old wanted to make some donuts the other day. We found a recipe in the Family Circle magazine and they were really cute. Savannah decided she wanted both chocolate and vanilla donuts (chocolate were softer) and that she would decorate them with purple frosting and pink sprinkles. Not too bad for a 4-year-old I must say!

Easter Eggs

I made these for our Sunday Easter dinner. They are vanilla cake balls, my first try at them.

Vanilla is not my favorite, and I think I added too much frosting.

They turned out cute, but next time I think I'll use chocolate cake. :)

Alfredo Pizza

I'm venturing out of my cake zone to add some PIZZAzz to my blog. I made this for dinner the other night and absolutely loved it!

You'll need:

Your favorite pizza crust (homemade or bought)

1/2 jar garlic parmesan alfredo sauce (I like Ragu)

2-3 grilled/seasoned chicken breasts diced into 1in chunks

1 1/2 - 2 C shredded mozzarella cheese

1-2 fresh diced tomatoes

dried or fresh parsley

*Roll out your crust and let rise on a pizza stone.

Spread with 1/2 jar of alfredo sauce. Top with chicken.

Cover with mozzarella, and sprinkle with parsley.

Bake @400 for 15-20 min or until done.

Then top hot pizza with fresh diced tomatoes!

(Not everyone in my house likes tomatoes, so I went skimpy on them :(

It tasted like a gourmet pizza from my own kitchen.

Enjoy!

White Cake

I am not a fan of most 'from scratch' recipes for vanilla cake. A friend of mine sent one to me to try and I love it. I'm need to figure out how to get it to work for a cake that I would tier. This one sunk in the middle (my fault) but it tasted delicious. It's a little thicker than a box cake and a little softer than a pound cake, great flavor & moist. I made some thick cream cheese frosting and decided to serve it next to the cake like icecream. Thanks for the recipe Jenna... it was great!

Carrot Cake

This was a carrot cake for a RS birthday party we had at church. Very moist with crushed pineapple added and cream cheese frosting topped with chopped pecans, mmmmm!

A lot of people signed up to make cakes, and I thought I wouldn't do anything to fancy...

I didn't want to feel like a show-off!

Silly me, my cake was probably the least fancy one there!

How cocky of me to think I'm the only one I know who can decorate a cake and make it look store bought. The cakes there were all beautiful & delicious.

I award the best looking cakes there to:

Lisa Chin, because I have a bias to the cake she made ;)
Markae Evans, even though she bought it- it deserves and award for looks & taste!
AND the top award goes to....
Jaime Anderson for her Lemon Cake, it was amazing...candied lemon slices on top, wow!

Krispie Love

I made these for a few great men in my neighbor hood that served in my church as a thank you from the kids.

They were actually pretty easy. I made my usual rice krispie recipe, sprayed a heart shaped mini cake pan generously, pressed the rice krispies in it and then turned out the treats onto wax paper. Then I melted some white chocolate & drizzled it back and forth across the hearts. Way easy to do and cute!