Puppy cake!

My little Peanut turned 1 two weekends ago and naturally I had to bake him a little something special.  I made him a banana peanut butter cake with a honey cream cheese frosting and he absolutely loved it! I have to admit, I tried a piece and it was pretty good.  I didn't add any sugar since it's not healthy for dogs but the bananas were really ripe and added a natural sweetness. Check out the pic below!

Happy Birthday my little baby boy! I'm so glad to have such a wonderful puppy!

xo,

Daniella :)

Babies!!!

My coworker Cristina asked me to bake a cake for her friends baby shower.  Sounds easy enough but my meticulous planning and prepping did not include a challenge midway through the process.  Let's start.

I baked off my vanilla cakes, let them cool, and worked on making my colored buttercreams.  When it was time to fill the cake, I outlined the top of the bottom cake layer with butter cream to prevent my home made dulce de leche from leaking.  I noticed it was a little too runny after I let it come to room temperature.  I then added my top layer and began frosting the cake, half with pink buttercream and the other half with blue buttercream as Cristina suggested. I added some finishing touches when suddenly, disaster struck.  The cake started to leak! This was the first time I had a mini baker breakdown.  What was I going to do?!

In situations like this, you have to think fast.  I scraped the buttercream off of the entire cake, removed the top layer and started over.  I had some left over dulce de leche and thought it was best to mix it in with some left over buttercream.  The result was DELICIOUS! No leaking + no breakdown = a happy baker! :)

In the end, you can't always plan how things are going to turn out when baking since there are so many things that can go wrong.  The key is to focus and think of creative ways of fixing them.  After all, these experiences always make you a better baker! Check out the pic below!

Thank you for the opportunity Cristina and I'm glad everyone enjoyed it!

xo,

Daniella :)

Yellow Flowers

I have found that everyone loves a basic yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  It's the quintessential all American birthday cake.  

I made this cake for my friend's mom's birthday. My favorite part was creating the great color contrast between the chocolate frosting and yellow buttercream flowers.  Although adding little pearls to each flower takes a while, it's so worth it for a finished looked.  Check out the pic below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Barbie Pink

It seems like my friends and I have been celebrating my best friend Roberta's birthday all month long! Earlier in the month, we stayed the night in AC. We had such an amazing time getting all dolled up and dancing the night away.  She wore this fabulous pink dress which was the inspiration for her cake. 

Since we didn't have any cake for her birthday, I wanted to bake one for her.  She wanted a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting which is always one of my favorites to make.  I dyed the frosting to what I like to call Barbie pink.  To add a little sparkle, I sprinkled some pink sanding sugar.  It was simple, girly and really delicious! Check out the pic below!

Roberta, I hope you had the best birthday month ever! :D

xo,

Daniella :)

Coconut Macaroon Tartlets

I made these adorable little tartlets for Passover for my coworkers.  It's basically a shaped chocolate dipped macaroon except this version is filled with a rich bitter chocolate ganache. You can totally make these in any shape or size as long as there is tons of chocolate.

My boss Susie made her famous chocolate dipped macaroons and I have to say, you can't beat a family recipe.  While mine were good, hers definitely were the best.  Either way, I'm sure everyone was glad to have dessert! Check out the pic below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Red Velvet Brownies

I wanted to try something a little different for a brownie and I came across a red velvet recipe.  I was totally excited to try it out since red velvet is always delicious. 

I have to say, to my surprise, I wasn't that big of a fan.  I guess it comes down to preference and I definitely prefer my brownies to be a lot more fudgy as opposed to cakey.  The cream cheese layer was phenomenal and a perfect idea but it felt like I was biting into a cake.  Again, not my favorite but it's always good to try something new. Check out the pic below!

xo,

Daniella :)

Birthday Boy

I feel like I've been celebrating Jeff's birthday all month.  Actually, I think we have.  This year, I wanted to do something a little different since Jeff was turning 25.  We spent time with our families and friends and for each occasion, I baked something a little different. 

Jeff's favorite drink at Starbucks is their chai latte.  I thought, why not make it into a cupcake! The spice blend of cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger made for a delicious cake base and even better frosting.

The next batch of cupcakes were for Jeff's family.  I made vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting and topped them with these cute little chocolate skulls.  I found this skull ice cube tray and added melted chocolate to create these mini treats.  Once they were set, I sprayed them with black food coloring to give them a tarnished look.  They turned out awesome!

I also made a banana cake for our house party but totally forgot to take a picture! I think this will do for now. 

Hope you had an amazing birthday month Jeff! You are such an old man now! Love you!

xo,

Daniella :)