YUMMO!

Support this family owned business! Owned by a wonderful family in Santa Cruz; this store guarantees satisfaction on baked good, breads, sauces and so much more!

Don't be shy.... go splurg!! I just did  ;)

http://www.normsmarket.com/store/



Pony Crazy!

So my husband and I have a friend who LOVES My Little Pony. Apparently My Little Pony is a craze amongst older men for some reason..... most likely because their daughters or nieces watch it and it is probably an addicting show. Well, it was his birthday and I decided it would be fun to surprise him with magical My Little Pony cupcakes!!

There are no party stores in our area that sell anything related to this show so I decided to make it all myself. Knowing he likes Rainbow Dash, I developed "double rainbow" cupcakes with a My Little Pony theme. I created my own colorful cupcake toppers and the rest is pretty much explained in my pictures. Enjoy!

Olive Oil

Ferg and I stumbled upon this little treasure earlier today. It's an olive oil lovers dream! They also sell different balsamic vinegars, olives, martini mixes, pastas and jams. 

Support local family owned stores in camarillo!

Check out the site!

http://www.epicureanoliveoils.com/

Neat Chart

If you like making crafts as much as I do, you always get stuck thinking what is the best adhesive for the materials you are using. My husband stumbled upon this and I figured I would put it on here because it's very helpful. Sorry this isn't food related, but I just had to share!

German Chocolatey Goodness

I'd never made whoopie pies before so I was a little intimidated to try it out. My first batch of the cookies came out great. My second batch came out a little flat and I figured it may be because the butter softened too much or the oven was already too hot.

These german chocolate whoopie pies were made with a simple basic soft chocolate cookie, an extremely easy coconut filling and a chocolate ganache. Putting them all together was like a fun little puzzle.

I had also made a mint chocolate whoopie pie which I was slightly dissapointed in. the peppermint filling was seperating and I contribute that to my butter. It seems like it needs the top quality unsalted butter with quality powdered sugar in order to not seperate. I always have the same problem when making buttercream so hopefully I can perfect that this year as well.

Tres Leches

I've tried tres leches before and it usually involved baking the cake section in a Pyrex, poking holes in it, pour the milky goodness over it and smothering it with a made from scratch whipped topping. I found a recipe in my Bon Appétit book for a round tres leches cake. Its a lengthy step by step process so I was a little intimidated but i went for it!

I baked the cake in one single round pan and slowly cut the round in half horizontally. I then did the milk/caramel process. Long story short... it was a hit. The time frame was definitely worth it. One thing I did do differently was I pre-cut my strawberries and put them in a Tupperware with my black berries and coated them with sugar for a night in the fridge. My strawberries were a little tart so this helped sweeten them up a little.

Neapolitan!

I decided to make this post short and sweet. I went out on a limb and tried something different. I made strawberry, vanilla and fudgy chocolate batters. I plopped a heaping spoonful of each in baking cups and then baked them. Neapolitan is one of my favorite ice creams. I topped it off with a cream cheese frosting but I made it fluffier and creamier by adding partially melted vanilla ice cream in it.
Enjoy!