a humble thanks...

I had a bride call to thank me this weekend. It was so humbling. I hung up and felt overwhelmed by it because the whole time I was thinking "I want to thank YOU." I said it to her, but I wanted to tell you as well.

We live in such a self centered world. Everything in our culture seems to point to our wants, our opinions, agendas and what we need at the moment. In such self focus, we often lose appreciation for others and gratefulness is rare.

Thank You. Just two little words, but they mean a lot. When was the last time you thanked someone?

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I wonder if it would be a good idea to take these coming weeks and reflect on all we are thankful for. Maybe try to change our perspective. See the good and positive things in our life and stop taking people we say we love for granted.

When this bride called me, it took me by surprise. I didn't expect it. After all, I was a vendor. She hired me. But she said thanks. It spoke a lot to her character and it reminded me of the importance of a thank you.

So I wanted to make sure that I don't take you all for granted.

I get to work. I get to have the distinct privilege of working from home, and still pursue a passion of mine.





I love what I do and I am humbled every day that God has given me the opportunity to do it. Therefore, my first Thank you goes to Him.

Also, a huge thank you to my husband of 15 years and best friend, Phil. Without his support and help, Frosted wouldn't be possible.

To all my customers who have ordered cakes, allowed me to have a part in your wedding day or special occasion, to my friends and family who have supported me and helped me in this cake venture... THANK YOU. I will be forever grateful.

I can't wait to see what the future holds in store for Frosted.

Cupcake Bling!

Stumbled across cupcake jewelry today by designer A. Jaron.

This ring was designed wtih antique sterling silver and an 18k gold flower atop a 30mm Labrodorite stone:



This collector's piece comes at a price tag of $595.00.

Craving Chocolate?



Donella's Closet featured this Jaron Chocolate Cupcake Ring. It's sterling silver setting frames a clear checkerboard cut quartz gem which covers a dark chocolate enamel. Beautifully priced at $59.99





For those who love to have their cake... why not wear it too? ;)

Cake Comedy

Eat Cake

Yes, another book review.

Yes, another book review on a work of fiction.

Yes, another book review on a work of fiction that includes cake in it's story line.

Hungry yet? ;)

Eat Cake, A Novel by Jeanne Ray was sitting on a shelf at my local library. It beconed me with the name and the strange picture of a woman hiding behind beautiful hat boxes.

Looking for another good summer read, I decided to try it out.

Also, on the inside flap was a card that had been inserted. It read: In Memory of Doris Winters. Given by Sonia and Carroll. I love that. If a park bench has a plaque on it that reads "In Memory of..." I will often pause for a moment as I pass it by. I took the book in part because of the "In Memory of".

But I digress...

Eat Cake began with a wonderful chapter. I was pulled in right away.
"Cakes have gotten a bad rap. People equate virtue with turning down dessert. there is always one person at the table who holds up her hand when I serve the cake. No, really, I couldn't, she says, and then gives her flat stomach a conspiratorial little pat. Everyone who is pressing a fork into that first tender layer looks at the person who declined the plate, and they all think, That person is better is than I am. That person has discipline. But that isn't a person whtih discipline, that is a person who has competely lost touch with joy."

It is the story of how the main character "Ruth" had her life saved by cake. Ruth finds herself surrounded by dysfunctional family members and needs to save her family and herself.

The first few chapers were well written and I liked the way the author created each character so independently yet each relying on the other characters to be able to come alive to us, the reader. One negative thing I have to say, is that the book hits a lull in the middle chapters as page upon page contains dialogue between dysfunctional family members.
I was so over it, I almost quit the book.
Not only did i find those portions un-funny, I found it to compound my own stress about my real life dysfunctional family.
Really people, isn't fiction supposed to be an escape for us from real life? But the writing was still well done and characters are colorful and varied. If you get a kick out of watching an old lady spew out bitterness against an injured old man who can't even pee himself, then by all means, go right out and get a copy.

All that being said, I found that when I had about had it and was going to quit reading 3/4 of the way through, the book suddenly redeemed itself. With the introduction of a new character, the story line takes a turn for the better. I really enjoyed the last several chapters and was glad for the happy ending.

Best of all, the cake includes recipes!! Throughout the story, the main character, Ruth, bakes cakes. Several of her recipes are included in the back of the book. (score!)

One of the cakes she makes is called The Scarlet Empress. I was intrigued. It sounds A-MAZING. Unfortunately, the recipe was not included, but I found it easily online. It appeared in Rose Levey Bernenbaum's The Cake Bible. I can't wait to create my own Scarlett Empress!

Nicely done, Ms. Ray! I think Eat Cake is a great read.

Now, I think I may be on a fiction kick after all (but only if cake is in the pages some how). ;)

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

I never imagined that I would be writing a book review on my Frosted blog, but since I read a book that involved food I am thinking that it is fine and you will bear with me.

I have always loved to read. I don't have time for it as much as I used to, so I have found myself limited to my priority reading. This includes the bible, cook books and baking how to books, food magazines, books on parenting, marriage and other books that help or enhance where I am at in life. Fiction, although entertaining, had fallen off my radar and with no time to devote to escaping in the pages to some made up place or fall in love with made up characters, I had neglected any and all fiction for years.

Until...

I spotted this book by Aimee Bender at the local Borders.



I opened it up and read the first chapter.

"The room filled with the smell of warming butter and sugar and lemon and eggs, and at five, the timer buzzed and I pulled out the cake and placed it on the stove top. The house was quiet. The bowl of icing was right there on the counter, ready to go, and cakes are best when just out of the oven, and I really couldn't possibly wait, so I reached to the side of the cake pan, to the least obvious part, and pulled off a small warm spongy chunk of deep gold. Iced it all over with chocolate. Popped the whole thing into my mouth."

I loved Bender's descriptions. Her words came alive and I was there in the kitchen with the nine year old character. I bought the book and have looked forward to my moments of reading before bed time.

My own days are filled with baking, so a book with a story about food enchanted me. I found the book to be relatively clean. That is to say, no sordid sex tales or violence. No horrific human behavior. I felt myself pulled into the tale woven in the pages and hanging on to find out if the mystery of the main character would be revealed.

But, I will warn any would-be readers that you may get sucked into a seemingly normal story with a normal family who just happens to have some abnormal abilities. And then *Bam* 3/4 of the way through the book the author hits you with a scene like something out of a sci-fi film. I have to say, that if I had read that chapter in the beginning I wouldn't have finished the story, because I would have been too weirded out. (I prefer more realistic or idealistic interpretations of life in fiction.) But because I was already engrossed in the character and the story itself and because of an unquenchable curiosity to see how the story would find resolution on the pages ahead, I pushed past my uncomfortable shock and read on.

The last few chapters of the book offered some resolution. But it didn't have the ending I would have liked. I analyzed this for a bit after I finished the book. Perhaps I would not be happy with any ending. I guess I don't like endings.

Cakes come to an end. A rather swift end, I must add. At least with Frosted, I do my best to offer a happy ending...

Deep Fried Cake

There I was minding my own business... just perusing some favorite blogs.

Maybe it was the picture that got me. The crumbly cake texture with a flaky sugary coating.

Maybe it was the recipe. It seemed easy enough and I had all the ingredients.

But whatever the reason, I began to have a sudden craving for chocolate glazed donut holes. And who said donuts had to be for breakfast anyway? They are just deep fried cake, ya know. ;)

I usually don't need an excuse to bake. I love it so much, that the concept of just getting in the car to drive to dunkin donuts' never crossed my mind.

I rallied my favorite miniature baking assistant (She has some MAD stirring skills and is an accomplished taste tester) and we got to work.

After a short and easy mixing of the ingredients, we rolled out the dough and my little four year old assistant helped make the donut holes.





One, by one, they dropped into the deep fryer. A small while later, we coated them in the sugar glaze and let them set.

If you have yourself a deep fryer, try the recipe:
(found at smittenkitchen.com)

Chocolate Donut Holes

Yield: 4 dozen 1.5-inch holes. You can half the recipe and used a 1.25-inch cutter to make a little over 2 dozen.

2 3/4 cups (12 3/8 ounces or 352 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (3 ounces or 90 grams) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons (about 3/8 ounce or 10 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (about 1/8 ounces or 4 grams) salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 (10 5/8 ounces or 300 grams) cups sugar
1/3 cup (2 7/8 ounce or 84 grams) sour cream or buttermilk (what I used)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces or 42 grams) butter, melted and cooled a bit
Your fat of choice for frying (solid vegetable shortening or canola, peanut or vegetable oil are popular choices)

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium one, whisk eggs, sugar, sour cream or buttermilk and butter. Stir wet ingredients into dry until well blended. Chill batter until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 3. (I put it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes and it worked just fine.)

Flour your counter generously and scrape dough onto it. Flour dough. Flour your hands. Gently pat or roll dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick. Dip a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch round cutter into a dish of flour and cut rounds from dough. Pat scraps of dough together and roll or smooth with floured hands to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut them again. If your dough or doughnut holes have gotten too soft to easily pick up, put them on a floured or parchment or waxed paper-lined tray and put them in the freezer for a few minutes, until they’re firm enough to gently handle again.

Prepare your fryer or fill a 5 to 6-quart with 4 inches of oil. Heat to 375°F (190°C). You can fry 6 to 12 doughnut holes at a time, about one full minute on each side. The trickiest parts will be visualizing when the doughnuts are done — since they’re chocolate, the color change will be subtle; I suggest practicing with scraps of extra dough first — and keeping your oil at an even temperature, if you’re not using a deep-fryer. Make sure you bring the oil back to 375°F after each batch.

Drain doughnut holes on a stack of paper towels. Once cool, roll in glaze (below) and let drain and dry on cooling racks.

8 ounces powdered sugar
3 tablespoons water, milk or buttermilk (what I used, highly recommended)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract




I'll admit that I have eaten three by the time this photo was taken.

I'm eyeing a fourth.

Guilt may set in tomorrow, but for now I'm happy that I got my baking fix for the day and never had to turn on the oven, this hot summer day.

Time to rest outside in the hammock with a good book, a cool glass of milk and another one (or two) of these chocolate goodies.

Cake Batter, Batter, Batter...

In a discussion about ice cream this morning with my friend Heather, I explained that I preferred frozen yogurt because of the low calories. We talked about favorite brands and then I made a confession.

I have a new weakness for ice cream that is definitely NOT of the low calorie kind. My dear husband brought home a tempting treat from a local Cold Stone Creamery recently and I knew he was thinking of me when I saw the flavor: Cake Batter, Batter, Batter.



Yuuummmmmm!

check it out HERE.

The fact that it also has chocolate brownies and cookie dough inside was just enough to push me over the edge. I dug right in!

Sometimes, you have to just live life and worry about the baggage later. (In this case- the many pounds I most certainly gained in that little tub of rich-n-creamy goodness).

But I will run it off... and run right over to Cold Stone again the next time I get a craving.

...

Which is about NOW. See ya!

I have a blog crush. And it's on a much younger blogger.

I couldn't believe it when I stumbled on it the other day...

The Whisk Kid marries her love of baking and writing with her love of photography. She is charming and funny. She mixes it up with sentiment and then practical tips and oh-so-yummy recipes. Yes, recipes! She publishes the best recipes with AMAZING pictures of her baked creations.

ahhhh... I am drooling just thinking about it.

I could keep the Whisk Kid to myself. I have been known to be possessive of certain things (close friends, my own original recipes etc.)

But, I am also generous. I love to share cake. I love to share time with others, and to offer a hand. And I love to share a bit of happiness along the way.

Consider the whisk kid your bit of happiness for today. At 19 years old, I think she is a baking blog genius!

What I love most about her is that her recipes aren't just a two step process. I'm in love with the art of baking from scratch, and she is mastering the art. This girl knows her stuff!

To all of you who commonly dump-the-box-mix and add a few other ingredients to bake, this blog probably isn't for you. And lest you feel offended, I've tried some of your quick and easy takes on dessert and I'm still a fan! BUT I've moved on... My companions in the kitch now are heavy duty mixers, old - very old - cookbooks. I love wooden spoons and flour sifters. I love the whole baking process and taking a short cut may take some of the joy out of it for me.

I think Whisk Kid feels the same way. Perhaps, in that way, she is a baking kindred spirit.

I have her strawberry rubarb pie recipe in the oven now. It's my man's favorite and this summer day has pie written all over it.

The Love of a Mother...

I have so many wonderful people that I get to cross paths with due to my cake business. Most are just polite people who I know very little about but get the pleasure of providing a cake for their event.

Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and graduations. Just recently a lady called me to order a cake and cupcakes for her daughter's first communion.

The conversation began as usual, with the exchange of information. Erika was friendly and we hit it off as I told her about my cake business. She opened up a little and shared that she was in school for nursing. She explained that she had lost her husband not long ago, and was now a single mom.

Her love for her daughter, Lauren was so evident to me. I knew without her saying so, that she would give anything for her little girl. I kept thinking about Erika and Lauren long after I got off the phone.

Erika explained the close relationship they had. I thought about the fact that Erika has to work and go to school, she is working hard to give her daughter the best life she can. She isn't thinking about herself. Not all mother's love this way. But there are those rare few, who love because they see their child as a precious gift they have received. I know that this is how Erika views Lauren.

I heard a quote once; "To have a child is to have your heart go walking forever outside your body." - unknown.

When Erika showed up to pick up the first communion cake, I was so pleased to see that she had brought Lauren with her. Out of the vehicle bounced a beautiful bright eyed girl who "oohed" and "ahhhed" over the cupcakes and cake. I decided that kids are my favorite fans. (they gush unabashedly) ;)

In the end, I'm so blessed to have met Erika and Lauren. Beautiful reminders that I shouldn't take anything for granted. And an even more important reminder to focus on what is REALLY important this Mother's Day.






Happy Mother's Day!

What Remains...

I have many forms of inspiration. I enjoy looking at current trends and cake styles on the internet. I read a lot about cakes, their origins, the science of baking and what is happening in the industry.

A favorite past time is to watch the food network and reality cake decorating shows and contests. I met Brenda and Mary Maher that way. Two sisters, who worked hard to build their now famous cake business in Chicago. I was so inspired by their story. They built their cake business from nothing. With no professional training, they are self taught and create masterpieces every day. They are respected by their peers and I love watching them work.



"As sisters growing up in Rochester, Mich., Brenda and Mary Maher shared a bedroom and a Hasbro (HAS) Easy-Bake oven. As college students, they shared a passion for baking elaborately decorated cakes. And since 2000, the Maher sisters, now 37 and 39 respectively, have shared a thriving Chicago-based business, Cakegirls, which sells some $300,000 worth of specialty cakes a year. Though they have perfected their ability to craft scale replicas of such cultural artifacts as Wrigley Field and the Sony (SNE) PlayStation—sold to celebrity clients, including Bono and Jim Carrey—and they appear on WE tv's Amazing Wedding Cakes and the Food Network's Last Cake Standing, their biggest business accomplishment to date is their nine-year-old partnership." - Business Week, June 30, 2009





Sadly, I found out today that recently their cake business burned to the ground.



Fire destroys Cakegirls bakery: 'Devastating' March 29, 2010
Chicago Tribune

"Brenda Maher was about to drive to work at Cakegirls early this morning when her sister Mary called sobbing. The upscale Lake View bakery that the pair launched from scratch in 2003 was engulfed in flames.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Maher, who rushed to the store from her home in Portage Park. "When I saw it I felt like I was going to throw up. I just felt nauseous."

"We put a lot of work into this business," she had said hours earlier. "Now in a flash it doesn't exist. This is devastating. This is our livelihood. We built this from nothing."

The building at 2209 W. Belmont Ave., with Cakegirls on its ground level, was judged a total loss, with firefighters battling the blaze only to keep it from spreading.

By the time the Maher sisters arrived on the scene, they said water was pouring out of the charred structure, carrying blackened debris and cake frosting into the street.

A Chicago fire department spokesperson said the fire started on the residential second floor of the building shortly after 5:30 a.m. Fire officials have told the sisters the building is a total loss and will be condemned.

Julie Thomas, who owns a 24-hour dog care facility two doors down from the fire, said that she was awakened by the sound of sirens and helicopters. Running outside, she watched flames shoot through the nearby building's roof and into the lightening sky.

"It was a huge fire," said Thomas. "It was scary."

Fire officials said the fire was brought under control about 6:50 a.m. They said that the roof had collapsed and there was extensive damage to the whole building. The fire closed Belmont to traffic between Hoyne and Oakley avenues.

No injuries were reported, but one of the tenant's cats is believed to have died.

Throughout the morning Monday, the Maher sisters camped out at a neighboring Starbucks, fielding calls from worried friends and family and wondering how they were going to start to piece their business back together.

"We worked so hard to make our business grow. This is our blood and sweat," said Mary Maher, tears filling her eyes. "It's like our baby -- every inch of it we made. To see it today is so hard."

The Maher sisters grew up in Detroit sharing a room and an Easy-Bake oven. After they moved to Chicago they ran a cake shop out of their apartment until they could pull together enough money to rent a shop.

The spot they rent on Belmont wasn't ideal, they said. But they made it their own, redoing the floors, lugging in the necessary baking and decorating equipment, and fashioning the outside metal sign.

"We worked to the bone," said Brenda Maher.

And it paid off. Cakegirls has received national attention. It embarks Wednesday on its second season as one of four bakeries on the WEtv network's "Amazing Wedding Cakes" series. Fortunately, that film is already in the can. And Mary Maher is a former winner of the Food Networks' "Last Cake Standing" challenge, taking home a $50,000 prize.

Cakegirls' cakes are pricey. According to the company's Web site, wedding cakes start at $600 and specialty cakes at $900. Customers have included Bono, Queen Latifah, Ashlee Simpson and Jim Carrey, among other notables.

In the coming weeks and months they said they had multiple wedding and Easter orders and an assignment to sculpt a T-Rex cake for the Field Museum.

Now, they worry how any of that will get done. In the hours after the fire, offers of help poured in from around Chicago, but the sisters said they have not made any decisions. They did say that they had insurance.

The bakery has been open for seven years and has six employees on staff, Brenda Maher said. "More than anything, it breaks my heart that for now, they will be unemployed," she said.

With the wedding season fast approaching, the bakery has up to 500 outstanding orders, she said. Firefighters this morning were keeping the sisters out of the building, so they were unable to retrieve any computer records -- or know if there are any records left to retrieve.

The Mahers said that anyone who has paced an order can e-mail mb@thecakegirls.com with questions.

"Please apologize on our behalf to our customers," Brenda Maher pleaded shortly after the fire. "We are going to do our best to reach everyone."

Later this morning, staring toward the charred remains of the business, Brenda Maher said the last several hours have been surreal.

After teaching two cake decorating classes Saturday, the last day the shop was open, Maher said she closed up as usual, finishing the remaining paperwork and wiping the counters clean.

"I just closed the doors and turned off the lights," she said."

-- Cynthia Dizikes and Deanese Williams-Harris

A new light vanilla cake, with a delicate and fluffy texture. A layer of smooth lemon curd in the middle. Frosted in a lemon infused vanilla buttercream and generously coated in flaked coconut.

I made this for a dear friend as she hosted a luncheon with a few of her friends. I may need to make another one for myself. A yummy way to celebrate Spring!

Be Our Guest!

"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test!" I hummed this little tune from Beauty and the Beast as I created a very special Princess Belle cake for a little princess I know. The family who ordered the cake will be moving out of the area and has had a very big impact on the church I attend. They selflessly serve others and give so much of their time and energy. They also have the best attitudes. It is a joy to be around people like that. They will be missed!

Their little girl, Kaylee, was turning four and I was excited to get the call to create a special cake for her birthday.

Here is the result:

Belle's dress is made of cake and fondant. She is standing on a square vanilla cake with vanilla pastry creme. The little characters around her are all made of fondant and gum paste. Their features were drawn on with food coloring so that they are completely edible. I loved creating these!

Happy Birthday, Kaylee! We will miss you and your family!

Randomness is often genius in disguise...

When I saw my chocolate cupcakes all ready to go into the oven, something came over me and I impulsively threw in some chocolate chips and coconut.

"What could this hurt?" I thought. The combination of flavors and textures at the very least would be interesting. But the end result was all that... and more!

Delicious perfection. A new Frosted flavor is born! Double chocolate coconut. Then I invented a gooey toffee frosting with toasted coconut and pecans.

It was love at first bite.

I have no words.

Wait. yes I do.

YUM!

German Crumb Cake

I was minding my own business and watching The Cake Boss on TLC when all of a sudden I see Buddy (the owner of Carlo's Bakery and star of the Cake Boss) putting together a German Crumb Cake for one of his customers.

I began to have this craving. A craving for a crumb cake I had never tasted. And I had this urge to make it myself, from scratch. And I had never made crumb cake before in my life.

This is not unusual for any of you who know me. I often get urges to do things that seem ridiculous or impossible and I have virtually no fear in trying. :) How can we ever know what we are capable of if we don't try? And, the way I figure it, at least I will have a blast, even if I fail in my effort!

So, to the kitchen I went, with an assortment of recipes I found in cookbooks and on the Internet. I collaborated with myself and decided to tweak a few I found and merge them into one.

German Crumb Cake take one was "OK", but certainly nothing to write home about. "Well, this is boring." I thought. "Maybe crumb cake is supposed to be boring? hmmm.."

But I wasn't giving up.

German Crumb Cake version two was better, but too 'bread like' and it was WAY too thick.

But I had hope! the crumb topping was PERFECT and I had an idea of what I could do to get the perfect cake.

The magic number was three for this cake and I'm hanging up my apron for today and enjoying my own piece of the sugary, crumbly comforting goodness:

It's Going...

Going...

Gone!

And for one of the rare moments in Frosted history, I will share with you the recipe. :) Enjoy!

Frosted's German Crumb Cake:
Loosely adapted from Gourmet 2005, Buddy Valastro of Carlos Bakery and "tweaked" by me.

*You will need a bread machine to make this recipe. (Unless you want to be adventurous and attempt the yeast cake part on your own in which case, please post here how you did and let us know how it turned out!)

Cake:
1/2 cup sour milk (1/2 cup whole milk and 1/2 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 stick butter (6 tbsp.) softened slightly
1/8 oz. (about 1 1/4 tsp. ) of rapid rise active yeast

Crumb Topping:
3 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups white granulated sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 sticks butter, softened slightly
3 tsp. vanilla

Powdered (confectioners 10x) sugar

Mix egg and warm milk together. Stir in vanilla. Pour egg mixture into bread machine pan (already positioned in machine). Carefully pour in flour, making sure it covers all of the liquid. Make an indentation in the middle of the flour, making sure that the indent does not reach the liquid. Put the yeast in the center, in the indentation. Pour sugar carefully in one corner of the pan, and salt in the opposite corner. Place tablespoons of butter in the last two corners, opposite of each other. Close lid and start bread machine on the basic setting. Allow it to go through one stage of mixing, then a stage of rising, then another stage of beating/mixing and a second stage of rising. (My machine ends this at 1:55. In other words, you only want your dough to be beaten down once in the machine, but able to rise that second time.)

Remove dough from bread machine and unplug your machine.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Using your hands, spread the dough in the pan. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap. (I just lay down saran wrap and spray it with non stick cooking spray). Do not press the wrap onto the dough, just cover the pan itself and seal the edges- give the dough room to rise. Place in the oven on the warm setting (about 100 degrees). Place a pan or glass dish filled with boiling water on the bottom shelf. Allow dough to rise 1 1/2 hours.

Mix the dry ingredients of the crumb topping together until evenly blended. Add vanilla and cut up the butter. Using a food processor, or your hands, mix together until the topping looks like crumbs.

Remove dough from oven. It should have almost doubled in size. Remove the pan of water and preheat oven to 350. Take off plastic wrap. Grab clumps (handfuls) and gently press into top of dough. Then sprinkle topping over dough so that the entire top is covered.

Bake for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean and top is nicely browned.

Allow to cool. Sprinkle generously with powdered sugar. Cut in squares and serve with your favorite coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Lisa called me to order a cake for her daughter's baby shower. She was creative and fun and when we met together to discuss the cake over coffee with her husband Phil we collaborated on an idea that would make the cake unique and special for her daughter.

We didn't just talk about cake, we ended up chatting about raising kids and the excitement of a new baby on the way. There was some confusion at first because I thought Sarah (the mommy to be) was her sister, not her daughter! Lisa was so pretty and looked so young that it took some explaining for me to get that she was going to be a grandma! It was a pleasure to meet Lisa and her family.

I have to say again that I think I have the best customers! They are the most delightful people and it is a pleasure to be part of the happy events in their lives in this way.

I have this thing for aprons. LOVE them! I recently stumbled onto this site, featuring an apron giveaway: http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/index.php/2010/flirty-aprons-giveaway-so-feminine/comment-page-5/#comment-12857

Check it out!

And I love www.flirtyaprons.com niiiice!

Now, I'm in the mood to bake something... but what?

I love my customers. They are such cool people!

I just met Laurie and her sister and even though it was only for a minute I totally thought "OK. They would be cool to hang out with."
I absolutely LOVED making their cupcakes too!

It was for a baby shower, and I designed them based on the invitations and colors of the shower.

I am ready for the cold harsh reality of winter to move on.
I love Christmas, but I am glad to have my routine back and the quiet of a simple evening at home.
I don't miss the holiday traffic or the packed aisles in the stores.
I don't miss the pine needles on the floor.

However,
It may be weeks after Christmas but I am STILL craving Frosted's new Egg Nog Spice Cupcakes!

mmm, mmm, good!
Now where can I find some egg nog this time of year?

It would be a bummer to have to wait another 10 months for it...

I was craving pumpkin scones.

There is nothing like the warm crumbly texture of a scone to go with your coffee. :)

A yummy distraction from the cold outside!