Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

I saw some lovely women on a cooking show a few weeks ago and they inspired me! They make up cookies in all shapes and sizes, with lots of extra touches which make each cookie unique and special to the buyer.

My nephew's Birthday party was coming up soon so I asked my sister if I could make up some cookies for the loot bags, which she very quickly said yes to! I was so excited I rushed off to the store and got all the stuff I needed and got busy. I had so much fun making them up, each cookie was something new I could decorate it to whatever style I wanted. I used nice bright colours for the icing and got some adorable sprinkles and decorations to make them special.

Just before Easter my friend asked me if I could make her up some Easter cookies for her to give away to her family. I got out my pastel icing colours and set down to work. I wrapped each cookie in a clear plastic Easter themed bag and they were perfect.

My Best friend asked me to make up her Birthday cake this year. She has the pleasure of sharing her birthday with her youngest daughter, they also share a love of all things Disney! So there really was no other cake that could possibly be made for the two of them, but Tinkerbell! She asked for a Banana Cake, since that was their favorite. I had made plenty of Banana Breads over the years, but I have never made up a Banana Cake. I got out my recipe books, went to the Library and searched the net and found a good recipe that I wanted to use. Since I had never made the recipe before I made it up into Cupcakes, which were fantastic, so I knew it would work out wonderfully as a cake.

I went to my local store and picked out the cake pan I'd need and got started. Once I got ready to ice it, I have to admit that I was nervous about it. Her eyes are such a huge part of the cake, and I wanted to get it just right-and perfect. I think I got it just right judging by the expression on the Birthday Girls face when they saw it!

My Nephew's Baptism Cake

I recently had the honour of making my newest Nephew's Baptism cake. My sister-in-law asked me to make it Chocolate with Orange Buttercream filling. It was delicious!! This is the second Baptism cake I've had the honour of making, and I look forward to many, many more.

Little Sweets

As I've said before I am so lucky to have an extended family that is large. My Mom is one of 5 and over the years my cousins and I have spent many, many good times together. My maternal Grandma has 5 children, 19 grandchildren (including their spouces), and 9 great-great grandchildren with one more on the way! Needless to say we're a big, loud, happy, funny, family. When my cousins and I were smaller it was much easier to get together for anything, now that most of us are married and soon all of us will be there are so many more schedules to consider. What we do each year in the summer is all collect at my Uncle's house, and have our own Reunion. We spend most of the day swimming in his pool, eating, drinking and having a fantastic time catching up on each other's news. Since there are so many of us we all contribute to the family dinner, and each year we take turns on what we bring....this year it was my turn for sweet stuff! So I grabbed the opportunity to make up a bunch of squares so I could take pictures of them to show you. In the picture above there are from top to bottom; Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Chocolate Confetti, Toffee Peanut Squares, and Chocolate Crinkle Cookies again.

In this picture there are from top to bottom; Lemon Squares and Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies.

All the squares were such a big hit that I didn't bring many home with me!! One of my cousins has a peanut allergy so that is why I placed some of the squares on one tray and some more on another to ensure that he could at least have some dessert.

Baby's 1st Birthday

One year ago in June my sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl. It is so hard to believe that our sweet Lauren is 1 already. My sister, Corina asked me to make up some cupcakes for her first Birthday party. I wanted to do something light but also something that I've never done before. I've done the vanilla, chocolate, orange, and carrot type cupcakes. I happened across this recipe for Lemon Cream Cupcakes that sounded just too good to resist!! I ran it past Corina to see what she thought, and off we went!

Normally I wouldn't dare make a new recipe for someone that I've never tried before, but since the recipe made up 30 or so, I thought I'd give myself enough time to make a new batch just incase something disastrous happened. I really shouldn't have worried, they were fantastic!!! The cupcakes themselves were so moist, and had just a hint of lemon. But the best part as always is the icing...it was so perfect, just enough sweetness but not too much and the lemon was just right! My husband Ryan & our boys couldn't stop eating them :)

I decided to go for pretty sprinkles on the icing. I was thinking of making little faces to put ontop of each one, but after some consideration I realized that Lauren would really not mind if I didn't do up a face for each one...maybe with her next birthday!

When the big day arrived we were blessed with a day that started out great, not too hot, just enough wind to keep it comfortable at the Lake. Well, then the skies opened up!! My Dad grabbed the tarp from his trunk and he and my Uncle managed to string it up and presto, we had a roof!! We all ran under the tarp and I huddled under an umbrella and BBQ'd along with my brother-in-law Ian. Despite the rain it was so much fun!!! When the moment arrived for Lauren to eat her cupcake, I was so nervous. I wanted her to be happy with what I'd made especially for her, didn't have to wait too long...she started to "Yum" virtually right away and didn't stop until she'd eaten the whole cupcake.

My Son's 7th Birthday

Our oldest son turned 7 at the end of April, we can't believe how much time has flown by. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing this little baby boy home. I'm not sure if you would consider a 9lb baby "little" but we sure did! LOL On that day our lives changed so much, he has and continues to give us many laughs, joy, pride all of those emotions all you Parents will understand.

So when he asked me to make him his birthday cakes I was so thrilled! My husband and I come from wonderful families, and our son has made some fabulous friends at school this year! So on the closest weekend we could arrange we threw a party for his friends on the Saturday afternoon, for 13 children no less; and then on the next day we had both of the families over for a huge party! And of course just one cake wouldn't do...he had to have 2 different cakes. Since I couldn't figure out a way to make one cake work....I got busy in the kitchen :)

He was so excited to go to the store and pick out a cake pan for each of his cakes. He already had a good idea of what he wanted before he walked in the door, and it didn't change when we got in there. He picked out a Sponge Bob Square Pants cake for his "friend" party and a "Superman" cake for the family party. I thought it would be great fun and I couldn't help getting just as excited as he was about the cakes. He helped me pick out the cakes & the fillings for each one. I'm not sure who was more proud of the cakes, he, my wonderful husband or me. He almost brought me to tears when he proudly told all of his friends that "My Mom made this cake".

I was so honoured to make this cake for my new neice. It was a layered Carrot cake, with flowers on the sides and shell details at the bottom. It was delicious and beautiful!