Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with German Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and German Chocolate frosting

Dense, chocolaty, made-from-scratch mayonnaise cake with chocolate buttercream and German chocolate frosting.  An indulgent celebration cake for sure! For as long as I can remember, I’ve baked birthday cakes for my family. Of course, back in the day it was a plain 9×13 inch cake from a box with a can of frosting slathered on top. (My sister and I … Read More

Black Bottom Cupcakes

black bottom cupcakes with chocolate buttercream

Black bottom cupcakes are the perfect combination of chocolatey cupcake and decadent cheesecake topped with a swirl of fudgey buttercream.   I seem to have a real problem with the concept of en mise.  For those of you not familiar, en mise is the French cooking term for “everything in place.”  Basically, it means, get all your crap out on … Read More

Makes My Life Easier-“Fix It” Kit

Cake Decorating Tip: Bring a Fix It Kit When Traveling With Cake

It took a long time, but I have finally gotten smart.  When traveling a distance with a decorated cake or cupcakes, I have started bringing a little fix it kit with me. Now that I seem to be the designated “cake maker” in my family I always end up traveling a minimum of 30 minutes with my cake or cupcakes. … Read More

Pink Ruffle Cake

Pink Ruffle Cake

  Happy Birthday to my wonderful, amazing baby sister.  You are an incredible woman and I am lucky to have you in my family.  I am so glad that my nephew is getting a baby sister, because really, a little sister is the best gift I have ever gotten. How to make a ruffle cake: This ruffle cake is really … Read More

Sunflower Oreo Cupcakes

How to make sunflower cupcakes

Even though as I sit here writing this post there is snow on the ground, we are past the first day of spring.  And spring means…flowers!  My aunt posted a picture of these cute cupcakes on my facebook page awhile ago and I thought this weekend would be the perfect time to try them.  I believe the picture that she … Read More

How to Pipe Basketweave

step-by-step tutorial on how to pipe basket weave

Being so close to Easter, I thought now would be a good time to have a little tutorial on how to pipe basketweave.  It is a fairly easy decorating technique that visually packs a lot of punch.  First, you want to start off with a basketweave tip 🙂  I use mostly Wilton tips and so the Wilton basketweave tip is tip number … Read More

Rainbow Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Buttercream

Easy Rainbow Swirl Frosting

Rainbow swirl cupcakes are the perfect way to easily add color to cupcakes without having to mix a million colors of frosting! I have been wanting to try this swirl technique for awhile, but was a little bit intimidated.  I thought that it would be much harder than it actually was.  It was actually quite fun.  Each cupcake turned out … Read More

What Is Meringue Powder?

what is meringue powder

It came up over the Christmas season, from a good friend of mine, that not everyone might know what meringue powder is.  Considering it is a key ingredient in royal icing, it would probably be useful information to have. What is meringue powder? Meringue powder is basically powdered egg whites.  (Not powdered egg yolks, which are also available in stores, … Read More

How To Freeze Leftover Frosting

How to freeze leftover frosting

For some reason, it took me far to long to realize that you can freeze your leftover frosting.  I would bake cakes and cupcakes and I would find myself frustrated with having a dab of this kind of frosting or a bit of that kind of frosting leftover.  I first read about freezing your leftover frosting from Rose Levy Beranbaum … Read More

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Chocolate stout cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

These chocolate stout cupcakes are, hands down, the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. The cake is moist and chocolatey and the buttercream is smooth and sweet and just the right amount of peanut buttery. This recipe makes a million cupcakes (or like 48) but also bakes nicely into a bunt cake or a 9 inch 2 layer cake. … Read More