The Adventures of a Frustrated Baker

Each year for our family reunion, everyone brings a side dish to share with the family.  I always love Saturday lunch because that is when everyone reveals what they brought for the weekend.  There is always so much to try and so many yummy things!  In case, you hadn't figured it out, mostly our family reunions are about two things, the ring toss tournament and FOOD!!  (Some would probably add wine to that list too...but what can I say, they are Italian! : D)  Anyway, since I was already bringing the cucpakes I decided to go with something simple for my savory side this year and stumbled upon this recipe from Buns In My Oven when looking for sides for my bestie for her BBQ.  I thought it looked delicious and super easy.  And it promised on both counts!  Of course it took me about 15 tomoatoes to get the hang of scooping out all the seeds before it became quick and easy, but now I know and I'll remember it in the future! Sorry about the lack o...

For months I have been contemplating pastries in hippo form.  This year I had promised my daughter and a cousin who both had summer birthdays that I would make a hippo cake for the family reunion.  Of course, the whole family knew and we have been discussing what it would look like since before Easter.  That being said, I had to nix the whole cake idea a couple of days before the reunion cause I just wasn't going to have enough time to put the cake together the day we left with everything else I had to do and my work schedules.  Instead, I made hippo cupcakes and I must say I think they turned out great!  There are a few things I feel I should mention though...be sure to try the batter.  It seemed way to bright to me and not very "red velvety" in color and when I tried it, all I could taste was red food coloring so I added more cocoa.  Also, don't be disturbed by the color of the batter...as long as it tastes good it will be fine! ...

This weekend my baby girl turns 5 and in honor of the occasion I made her a super yummy cake.  She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Hello Kitty on top.  Big surprise...so I found a super easy and delicious devil's food cake recipe on the Food Network's website, through together some melted chocolate with some cream and butter to make a fudge filling and crumbled up some Oreos to sprinkle between cake layers.   The complicated part came when I was making the marshmallow fondant for the top of the cake and for the Hello Kitty.  I found a recipe from Wilton for the fondant, which does taste loads better than traditional fondant.  Biggest hints here, use a stand mixer if you've got one and read the comments left on the recipe reviews.  That is a good tip for any recipe, but particularly for this one.  I ran into some issues getting the consistency right, and although it worked out, I think I pro...

Now that it is finally summer and the weather is beautiful here in Southwest Washington, that means it is time for camping and cookouts to begin.  The most important food item at these events of course, being s'mores.  Who needs the hot dogs, burgers and steaks...I'll take s'mores please!  : D For our family camping trip I decided to mix it up a bit and feature some new candy bars besides the Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars.  I hit the candy aisle at the grocery store and looked for every flat-ish candy bar available.  I ended up with a Hershey's Symphony bar, a Hershey's Cookies n' Cream bar, a Mr. Goodbar (my family's personal fav) and a Reese's Peanut Butter bar.  Time for the fun to begin!   We all had a blast trying the different bars and although they were all delicious, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law liked the Mr. Goodbar best, where as I LOVED the Reese's Peanut Butter bar.  I ate way too many after white water rafting...but I figure...

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the show Masterchef, but I am in love with it!  I could watch it everyday...as a matter of fact I kind of do.  After I missed an episode cause I had to work, I looked for it online and in the process found out that there is a Masterchef Australia, which is on like everyday!  It is also addictive and awesome, as a matter of fact I like it more than Masterchef US.  Mostly cause they do Masterchef class, where they teach the students and the viewer a few recipes.  The one I watched last night featured Vincent Gadan, who is an amazing pastry chef.  After watching that, I HAD to bake, I just HAD to! So I opened the fridge this morning, and what do I see?  A big tub of leftover chocolate frosting from my brother-in-law's birthday cake last week.  I knew that I couldn't waste it...so what to do with it?  I know, combine it with oranges in a mini cupcake.  Low and behold, the chocolate ...

A few weeks ago now, our family had two graduations on the same day...my little one graduated from preschool (I feel so OLD) and my brother-in-law graduated from high school.  In honor of such wonderful occasions I decided to make some cupcakes.   For my daughter's, I made mini cupcakes with blue and pink graduation hats since those are the colors she and her classmates wore from graduation.  Then for our little BBQ at home, I made big cupcakes with green hats (that was my brother-in-law's school color) and pink ones for the graduation girl.   Now, I must confess, that with all the things going on that week and the fact that I had to bake goodies for the end of the quarter parties at the college I work at, I cheated on these cupcakes.  Yup, that's right, I used box mixes.  See, I do it sometimes...not often but every once in a while you just don't have the time or energy to bake from scratch.  I do it, you guys do it...we all do.  So do y...