She's Gone Country

One of my best friends is getting married! Woo hoo! Can you tell I am excited? A few weeks ago, we celebrated her engagement with a country-western shindig that included yummy BBQ, line dancing, and lots of cowboy boots. It was such a fun night and I can't wait for all of the other wedding festivities to come.

For Julie & Weston, I made these adorable western-themed sugar cookies that were used as party favors. I just love those little cowboy boots!!

Here is the lovely bride-to-be showing off these adorable cookies...

John Deere Green

I was really excited when Christin told me about the John Deere cake that she needed for an upcoming birthday party. I am a Leesburg girl at heart, so tractors are not exactly foreign territory to me. I love bright and cheery colors on a cake, and the John Deere Green and bright Yellow are just that!

This cake is made up of three chocolate cake layers with cookies n' cream filling and white chocolate buttercream. I hand-piped the tracor on top and tried to make it as authentic as possible. I hope the birthday boy loved it!

Cookie Love

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so get out your heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and fuzzy teddy bears! I've had many fun Valentine's Days with Brian over the past 10 years... one year I even sent him on a scavenger hunt with clues written by the "unibomber of love." I probably should not admit that! I think we are going to keep it simple this year and just celebrate the many wonderful things that are happening in our life right now.

Check out these adorable Valentine's Day sugar cookies that are made with love. They were so soft and chewy and the royal icing added the perfect amount of sweetness to the cookie. Definately one of my favorites!

Peanut Butter & Chocolate

Okay, I know I have pronounced my obsession with peanut butter & chocolate on this blog before, but it certainly can't hurt to say it again! These chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting are unbelievably yummy, and they got even better when I added the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces on top! WOW!

I made the cupcakes for a fun office party and everyone loved them!

Blogging Break - I'm Back!

January flew by so quickly, but what a fantastic start to the new year! Over the past month, Brian and I took a week-long vacation to Chicago and spent time with our adorable nephews, celebrated Brian's 29th birthday with family, and closed on our first home! I'm so excited about the hustle and bustle of moving into our new house over the next few weeks, but I will definately need to get adjusted to my new oven!

I have lots of yummy cakes and sweet treats to share with you, but I couldn't wait for this one... sweet little Harrison turned one last week and we celebrated his birthday in style! The party decor matched his bedroom, pine trees and moose! So cute!

The bottom tier was chocolate cake and vanilla cake layers with whipped banana filling and chocolate fudge frosting. The top tier was banana cake with whipped banana filling and white chocolate frosting. Yummy!

Doodles

Cookies should be sweet and simple... and these snickerdoodles are just that! This holiday season has been very busy and wonderful, which unfortunately did not give me much time to bake Christmas cookies. I have a feeling that next year I will be baking enough to feed a small army just to make up for the lack thereof this year!

My Christmas present to you (sorry it's a day late!) is the recipe for these classic snickerdoodle cookies. Be sure to write this one down and save it for your Christmas baking next year! Yummy.


In a large bowl, sift together 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour with 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream together 2 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter with 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until combined. Cover dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and combine 3 Tbsp. of sugar with 1 Tbsp. of cinnamon in a small bowl.

Scoop 1-inch balls of dough and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture to coat. Place on a chilled cookies sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.

Look how cute these cookies are in gift bags!

Celebrate

Tis' the season to celebrate! Here are a few things I am celebrating right now:

My new blog design (isn't it FABULOUS!?)

My BFF Julie has a big rock on her finger!
I get to visit my nephews in Chicago in just 2 WEEKS!
My Cousin Harmony is having a baby boy in February
My FAVORITE Uncle is coming to visit on Saturday
I finally got my wedding album and it was worth the wait!
We actually purchased furniture... woo hoo!

... so much to celebrate!

To keep this party going, I want to celebrate 2009 by picking my absolute favorite cakes from the year. These cakes were so much fun to make and I can't wait to see what comes out of my oven in 2010!

Number 5 - Jenny's Black & White Birthday Cake

Number 4 - Handy Manny Cupcakes

Number 3 - Mason's Pumpkin Patch

Number 2 - Leanne & Reed's Wedding Cupcake Tower

Number 1 - Hailey's Under-the-Sea Birthday Cake

Gone Fishin'

What is it about a fishing trip that makes men so happy? Is it the thrill of the catch... the freedom of the open water... or the boyish desire to play with worms? Or, is it the excitement over a weekend with just the guys. Yep, that must be it!

I am not much of a fisherwoman, but I did earn some major bragging rights when Brian took me deep sea fishing 8 years ago and I caught more fish that he did. I will never let him forget it! Now that I think about it, he hasn't invited me fishing since!

This is a fun little cake I made over the Thanksgiving holiday. The cake is Red Velvet covered in Cream Cheese Frosting. I made the boat and cat-tails out of homemade marshmallow fondant and borrowed some of Brian's fishing line for the pole. Such a fun cake!

Go Nolan Go!

I love the fact that so many of our friends have kids... being around them just makes me feel so happy! And, Nolan is no exception. He is a super-cute blondie surrounded by a family that loves him more than anything. Remember his Curious George party last year?

For Nolan's 2nd birthday party, his mommy created an adorable jungle room complete with vines hanging from the ceiling for the big DIEGO birthday bash. I know I mention themed parties all the time on this blog... because I ADORE them! I made a small chocolate cake with raspberry filling decorated with Diego himself! Then I made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and vanilla cupcakes with fudge frosting. Wowsa!

Holly, this one is for you! I promised you a spot on the blog and here you go... LOVE you girls!

Pink Princess Party

Three year ago, our best friends welcomed their sweet baby girl, Raigan, into the world. Those days of diapers and cribs are long gone... now it's jewelry and power wheels for her!

For Raigan, I made a Vanilla Cake with Lemon Curd Filling to top off the tower. There were also vanilla cupcakes with caramel filling and chocolate frosting, lemon shortbread squares, cocoa cookies, and handmade chocolate truffles. YUM!


I can't believe she's 3 already! I'll be baking her wedding cupcakes before I can blink!

Pumpkin Patch Birthday

I have often wondered what it would be like to have a birthday on a major holiday… all the celebration and excitement just for you! Although I don’t really consider Halloween a “holiday,” the candy companies sure do!

This year, I made a special cake for Mason’s first birthday… on Halloween. His mommy dressed him as a pumpkin and decided to theme the party around that… how cute!

The cake was chocolate with caramel filling and white chocolate frosting. I sculpted the pumpkins and fence out of homemade marshmallow fondant. I am so glad that Heather trusted me with her sweet boy's first birthday cake!

Country-Western Couples Shower

Nothing says "FUN" quite like a backyard BBQ with good country music and great friends. In fact, Brian and I selected this no-fuss theme for our own rehearsal dinner... although some of you may want to avoid baked beans the night before your wedding :)

I love the way this cake turned out... it resembles red bandanas and yellow mums, the decorations used at the party. Both tiers of the cake were chocolate with whipped banana filling. I made the decorations with homemade marshmallow fondant and frosted it with white chocolate buttercream.

Punkins and Ghosts

There are so many things to love about Fall… football games, pumpkin bread, holiday excitement and cold weather… oh wait, I live in Florida. Forget that last thing I just said.

Punkins (that’s gibberish for "pumpkins") are indicative of the season. For my first Halloween, my parents dressed me as a punkin. A little, round, orange-cheek punkin. Since I don’t have any little ones to torture with punkin costumes yet, I figured I would dress my favorite sugar cookie as a punkin!

Check out these adorable Punkin & Ghost sugar cookies. Perfect for a not-so-scary Halloween! Happy trick-or-treating!

Shhh, My Oven is Sleeping

My oven is getting a well-deserved rest this week after several months of constant baking. Don't worry... it will be preheating for next weekend!

Audrey over at The [Artful] Abode recommended that I partake in the "Honest Scrap" post that is going around the blog world... and I have a problem saying no to really nice people. I'm not going to follow all of the rules because I like to be the person who deletes chain emails/forwards. Yep, that's me... a rebel rule-breaker. I'm simply going to tell you how much I adore Audrey's blog and proceed to torture you with 10 honest facts about yours truly...

10. When I was little, I ate the feet off of my Barbie dolls.I actually ingested their tiny, rubber, non-edible feet. There is something seriously wrong with that.

9. I label all of my photos with the date, location and names of those pictured before putting them into albums. Hello, my name is Andrea and I have OCD.

8. I have never eaten at Taco Bell. Never. Ever.

7. The Office is my all-time favorite TV show. Sometimes I wish Michael was my boss... afterall, he is the "World's Best Boss"

6. My brother and I have a secret handshake that takes 1.5 minutes to complete. If I showed you, I'd have to kill you.

5. I had a pet pig named Jimmydean for 8 years. He now resides at Uncle Donald's Farm.

4. I have a fear of carbonated beverages and going bald.

3. I can wiggle my ears.

2. I love to read anything that motivates me. Right now i'm reading "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson... I highly recommend it!

1. Baking makes me happy...

Inspiring Creativity

I know you all think i'm so cool and not-at-all nerdy. Well, think again. When I was younger I was part of an Odyssey of the Mind team... not just any team, but a two-time state champion team. I know you are jealous.

We spent our evenings problem solving, writing skits, designing props and letting our imaginations run wild. Oh to be 13 again. My team's coach, Gillian, inspired me to think outside of the box and taught me that no goal is too far out of reach.

Gillian's daughter, Leigh, planned the most amazing 50th birthday surprise party for her mom... and asked me to make the cake! I had so much fun making this zebra-print two tier cake for Gillian. I really think it reflects her anything-goes personality.

The cake was chocolate with mint filling on the bottom layer and vanilla with raspberry filling on the top. The brown zebra stripes were made with homemade marshmallow fondant. Yum!