Epic Dessert Creation: The Recap

Let's just start by saying that cake-baking don't come cheap.  I think I spent at least $45 on butter, cream cheese, eggs, etc etc etc.  Still cheaper than ordering one, but still.

Since we had company in town, I divvied up the extravaganza into two days: Friday or the baking of cakes and cupcakes and Saturday for the frosting and presentation.

And now, let the photo tour of my baking extravaganza begin!

Project One: Operation 4-layer Cake and Dexter-esque Cupcakes

Greasin' my $0.97 pans

Using Melania's tip to fold the parchment paper and make a circle via the "snowflake method"

Rookie Error #1: Misunderstood directions, so I put parchment paper ALL over the pan, not just the bottom

Batter.  Since I'm unmarried and do not own a stand mixer, note the epic splatter on my microwave.  This repeated with every new mixing session.

Chocolate Batter

Finished, unnecessarily curvy cake layers #1 and #2 (there were 4 total)

Irregularities that will make icing fun... and that could have been avoided.  #CakeRookie

The cocoa/food coloring paste looked like blood.  

And stained my fingers.  

And then reminded me of the opening credits on Dexter.

Replacing buttermilk with regular milk + 1 tbsp of lemon juice.  Who knew?

Finished cupcakes.

Operation Baking : Completed.  

Project Two (the Next Day): Let's Frost that!

First time I have used my Tupperware manual food processor. 

Tough at first with the whole cookies, but worked great.

Cookies and cream frosting... Would you like some cake with your frosting?

Amber helps prepare my new cake stand

And voilà!!!

Success!

Jon was impressed.

Overall, this bout with dessert making has taught me a few things:

1. The sheer amount of butter, sugar, and cream cheese that goes into baking

2. Don't bake the cake-y parts the day before (they'll dry out)

3. Put parchment paper down on your cake stand before icing

4. It's going to be awhile before I perfect desserts.  TOO much sugar.  My body isn't used to it and Jon and I could certainly feel our poor food choices the following day on our run!

Still, I'm proud of my pretty desserts and I'm really happy that Jon really appreciated them for his bday!  

Do you guys make any fun desserts?  When you bake, do you try to lighten the recipe, or do you indulge on the buttery/cream cheesey goodness from time to time?

Pumpkin Grilled Cheese (and other weekend shenanigans)

As I've mentioned before, I have a slight problem obsession with Fall squash recipes.  So, of course, when I saw Hungry Girl's recipe for Pumpkin Grilled Cheese, I *had* to try it.  It didn't hurt that I'd made us Pumpkin Waffles for breakfast and had half a can of pumpkin left over that needed to be used either.  I won't post the waffle recipe because it wasn't stellar (needs some work), but the grilled cheese will definitely be repeated.  I sadly, didn't have all her ingredients so I improvised like this:

Ingredients (makes 2!):

-4 slices of bread

-buttery spread 

-2 slices mild cheddar cheese

-1/4c shredded cheddar cheese

-1/4 onion finely diced (my onion pieces weren't as small as I now wish they'd been)

-1/2c pumpkin

-cayenne pepper

-black pepper

-red pepper

Directions:

1. Heat up that skillet to optimal grilled cheese temperature--add in a tsp of olive oil and your 1/4c onions and sauté them until the onions are nice and soft.  

2. In a bowl, mix the pumpkin, spices (to taste), onion, and 1/4c shredded cheese.  Keep the pan on the burner though so it keeps heating up to that optimal grilled cheese temp!

3. Butter your bread as normal.  

4. Now, it's grillin' time!  In addition to the slice of cheese, also scoop half the pumpkiny mixture onto the sandwich as well before placing the other piece of bread on it, and throwin' (i.e. gently placing) the grilled cheese in the skillet.  Be careful when you flip it because unlike with melted cheese who holds the slices together, the pumpkin just kinds of hangs out!

5.  Enjoy your cheesy, pumpkin-y goodness!  

Jon and I really liked this recipe.  It was hearty and more filling than a regular grilled cheese, that's for sure!  Plus, it's a great way to use up any leftover pumpkin you might have from another recipe.  If I ever get the Laughing Cow cheeses, I'll be really interested in trying the actual HG recipe to see how we like that!

Aside from eating pumpkin-inspired recipes this weekend, we also finally semi-finished our patio!  We've been storing things (tailgating chairs, AU tailgating tent, coolers, yard tools, etc) out there out in the open since we moved in (which is unsafe for your stuff when you live in a city) and have been trying to decide what to do to store it.  Thankfully, we found a storage closet on an end-of-season sale at Sears and got it all set up this weekend!  We also got rid of a rose bush that made our patio look tiny (and kept poking us when we moved things) and got some of the digging ready for our garden we hope to plant in the Spring.  Check it out!

A photo from a few weeks ago when a squirrel decided to use our piled stuff as a perch:

Pre-digging, post-moving everything inside:

Future home of the storage unit:

Jon 1-Rosebush 0!

 Voila!  We'll do some gardening where the rosebush was in addition to that little strip there under the window.  So excited!  Not only is it cleaner and more open, but our stuff is safe!

What did you get accomplished this past weekend?   Not going to lie, there's just something really satisfying about getting jobs done around the house!