Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?

I went to see Alice in Wonderland at the Moolah Theater last weekend with Angela, Melissa and the Nancy's. In 3D no less.

(Miss Melissa Tull pretending to drink wine)

(Angela with our SUH-Weet! drink me tags - provided by yours truly)

The movie was wonderfully weird and the lovely Helena Bonham Carter's character, the Queen of Hearts, inspired my cupcakes for the week.

Supplies:

- Cupcakes (I used red velvet...obviously - the Queen of Hearts would stand for nothing else I'm sure)

- Wilton Ready to Use Fondant

- Red & Black Food Coloring

First I colored two sections of fondant, one red and one black. I then rolled them out with a fondant roller (essentially this is just a rolling pin, but the fondant is less likely to stick to it). Once they were rolled out very thin I cut out circles with a cookie cutter in the black fondant and hearts in the red. I just placed the black fondant circle on top of the cupcake and then wet the back of the heart with a tiny bit of oil and put it on top of the black fondant. And then I was done. I wish it was more exciting than that.

Anyway, I hate big cupcakes so I only made a few large ones and then used the rest of the mix for mini-cupcakes that I decorated with red/pink icing using a large star tip.

I'm ready for the Mad Hatter's tea party, if only I could get Johnny Depp to invite me...

If at First You Don't Succeed...Move On to Something Else

That seemed to be the theme last week when I tried to make my Upcakes. I visited Bakerella's site and saw the cutest cupcakes themed after the movie Up. I thought it was fate being as I had just watched the movie with my sister. But...not so much. I made one, didn't like how it looked and then just frosted the rest and threw on some sanding sugar. Not to say they didn't taste delicious either way, I am just really picky about how my desserts turn out. If they aren't cute, they're not going with me to work.

So, since I was without a dessert to blog about I found a new recipe to try. Vanilla & Sparkling Wine Pound Cake. Gooooooood Lord it was good. Of course I ate a few pieces and then shared the rest, but really... yum. The recipe is HERE. Another brilliant case of baking something and have alcohol left over to enjoy on your own. Instead of making mine in the 10" loaf pan I used a bundt pan. I just feel like everything turns out prettier when you use a bundt pan and it takes no effort at all.

See? Pretty.

This is a really short blog, but you'll have to forgive me because I wasn't very creative this week and I am WAY behind on the blogging.

Here's my lackluster attempt at an Up Cupcake.

Not so pretty.

I haven't forgotten!

I just haven't had time to post. Will be posting TWO, count 'em, posts tonight in order to make up for my negligence.

The 4 Major Food Groups: Chocolate, Caramel, Coconut and Rum

Yay! More cake balls! I know, I know...enough already with the cake balls. This is the last you'll see of them for awhile, I promise. These were pretty awesome though, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I totally rocked them.

I got the idea to make chocolate, caramel and coconut cake balls partly from Samoas (or whatever they're called now), my favorite girl scout cookie, and mostly from Melissa, one of my co-workers. She loves Malibu, they even call her Malibu Mel. Catchy name, right? So I'm sitting around thinking about how I can work Malibu into a recipe. Of course I google it _when in doubt I always turn to google) and I came up with THIS fantastic recipe. Then I think, why not make it into cake balls? Brilliant, I know! Here's what I did...

SUPPLIES:
- Malibu Rum Cake (ex-nay on the Rum Glaze, that does not help us here...unfortunately)
- White Frosting
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate to Melt
- Sweetened Coconut Flakes
- Caramel to drizzle

Treat this like you would any other cake balls. After making the Malibu Rum cake and letting it cool completely, go ahead and crumble it up in a big bowl and mix it with a can of white frosting. Form the mixture into ball shapes and throw in the freezer for a few minutes until firm. Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and place on wax paper - immediately decorate with sweetened coconut flakes (otherwise they won't stick). After they've dried, you can drizzle caramel to your heart's desire. I put the caramel in a Wilton Candy Squeeze bottle to make it a bit easier. It drizzled just the right amount in my opinion.


Here's the kicker...I don't even LIKE coconut, but I love these things! They had just a taste of coconut to them and I left coconut flakes off about half the cake balls to keep it from being too overwhelming. I think everyone was happy with the result and Melissa - lucky her - gets to drink the leftover Malibu Rum. :)

Next Week: I make a dessert in honor of an Oscar Nominated Movie. I'll let you guess...but if you want to cheat, I found the recipe on bakerella.com.

PS - I also made some Brookie this weekend...for those of you not in the know, this term was coined by one Miss Brittany Rowan whose blog is located here. She is hilarious. She is also a walking, talking version of Twitter. If you have a term you need shortened, there's no need to go to bit.ly or tiny.url ...Brittany will think of a way to shorten it within seconds. Before it was Brittanized, Brookie was known as chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. The recipe is on Betty Crockers website, I highly recommend it.

(as Melissa would say - "Come to Mama!")