One Fish, Two Fish, Pink & Blue Starfish

I love bridal showers. They are a great excuse to get together with your best girlfriends and close family members and just spend time with each other. I will never forget the amazing cupcakes that Mrs. Wiggins made for my bridal shower, and I hope that Monica won't forget these! For Monica's shower, I made Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. I topped with cupcakes with Tiffany blue and salmon pink white-chocolate starfish. Yum!

Congratulations Monica and Greg... I wish you guys a long and SWEET marriage! Thanks again to Lauren for trusting me with this opportunity. Here is a photo of the cupcakes ready to be picked up. Enjoy!

Perfect Pineapple Wedding Cake

There was a lot of love and do-it-yourself projects that went into our wedding day. We painted wooden table numbers, hand-sewed the ring pillow, made the veil, dug holes for the 10-ft bamboo poles around the dancefloor, and selected each song to be played by our cousin and brother-in-law on the guitar during our ceremony. The entire planning process itself is a wonderful memory.

One of my absolute favorite elements of the day was - of course - our cake. A few people asked me if I made it... and I probably just looked at them with one of those "are you crazy" kind of looks. We selected an island pineapple cake from Cakes by Carie in Eustis. It was simple, elegant and delicious.

My uncle Bill spent hours in his workshop making the special wooden box that our cake was displayed on. I now use the box for wedding keepsakes such as invitations, pressed flowers, etc. I know this sounds cheesy, but I hope my daughter will want to use this cake stand for her wedding one day.

Now, if only our one year anniversary would get here ASAP... I am having trouble staying away from the cake in our freezer!!

PB&Yay!

Alright, I know what you are thinking... what is it with me & peanut butter? Well... taste one of these cupcakes and you will find out!! I was testing recipes a few weeks ago and found this oh-my-goodness-rock-your-world recipe for Peanut Butter Cupcakes. So yummy!

I shared these cupcakes with my mother-in-law and she loved them just as much as I did!

He sure is a handy man...

This weekend, I was asked to make "Handy Manny" themed cupcakes and a cake for a little boy named Brock on his 4th birthday. For the party, I made Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla-Marshmallow Frosting. I topped the cupcakes with handmade fondant "tools," which were characters from the Handy Manny cartoon. So cute!

I also made a Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream frosting...

Here are the cakes ready to be picked up. I wasn't there to see his reaction when he first laid eyes on the cake... but I was so happy to get a phone call from Brock's mom later that day expressing how yummy everything was. Brock even got on the phone to say thank you!

Fight for the cure!

I am a firm believer that every little bit helps. I joined a Relay for Life team at work this year... and we raised almost $2,000 to help find a cure for cancer! To raise money, we had a bake sale (of course!), yard sale, and sold candy bars at the hospital for Doctor's Day.

For the evening of Relay, I made these Strawberry Cake Pops and Chocolate Cake Pops. They turned out really yummy... the strawberry was my favorite! Take a look...

MMMMM... the Strawberry pops were coated in crunchy white candy coating.

The chocolate cake pops were good too... covered in red candy coating.

Did you really make these?

About a week ago, we invited my mom and Mimi over for an evening of dinner and browsing through wedding pictures online. My Mimi is 84 and adores chocolate even more than I do... now that is a true love affair! She is always saying something funny and typically mentions Johnny Depp at least twice a day.

To prepare my house for Mimi's visit, I knew I needed CHOCOLATE. I decided to make these Homemade Peanut Butter Cups... and boy was she happy I did!


After she ate peanut butter cup # 1, she said to me, "Did you really make these?" After she ate peanut butter cup # 2, she told my mom "chocolate is healthy, Shannon." After she ate peanut butter cup # 3, she asked for a ziplock bag to pack a few for the road. Are you inspired? You should be... she still weighs 120 lbs! CRAZY!

They go together like peas & carrots.

Brian and Phil have been attached at the hip for longer than I can remember. They are obsessed with grilling rib-eye steaks, target practice with their bow & arrows and reminiscing about the years-gone-by when they were roommates. They both stood by each others’ side on their wedding days and they share common goals in life.

This year on Phil’s 28th birthday, we celebrated with friends at a local restaurant. I made Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for dessert. The cakes were light and fluffy, not like a typical carrot cake, which can be very dense.

As with any gathering that includes the Egner family, there was not a crumb left in sight. Here is a picture of the birthday boy with Brian and Kenny. (notice my lovely cupcakes on the table in front of them!)

You've got to know when to hold em'

Have you ever woken up on a lazy Saturday morning and felt the desire to bake? If you answered "yes," then welcome to my world. Some days, all I want to do is stand in my kitchen and whisk things. The word "obsession" doesn't even begin to describe it.

On Saturday, my husband invited the guys over for a game of poker. Always looking for an opportunity to test a new recipe, I wandered out of bed into the kitchen to try my hand at Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies... and I knew the guys would help me eat them. These cookies are moist and flavorful. Best of all, you don't have to jump off the healthy train to enjoy them.

I set out a platter of the cookies and went to spend the evening with Lauren, Raigan and Harrison. When I got home later that night, the pile of cookies had disappeared, leaving only a trace of crumbs in its place. Well, in my world an empty cookie platter only means one thing... SUCCESS!

May I borrow your can opener?

Being a newlywed is exciting. You learn that a dining room table isn't a necessity, borrowing a couch from friends makes a house feel like a home, and that Wusthof Blackwood Knife set from Williams Sonoma isn't the key to happiness.

One of the first dinners that I made for Brian after the wedding was chicken tortilla soup, which called for a can of tomatoes. The soup was on the stove and almost done... and that's when I realized we didn't own a can opener! Luckily, Aunt Nancy down the street let us borrow hers. Well, the same thing happened the other day while I was making Classic Banana Bread. Realizing that we don't own a loaf pan, I decided to bake the bread in a bundt pan!

The bread turned out delicious and the bundt pan worked great. My recipe has brown sugar and sour cream, two ingredients not typically found in banana bread. Next time I make it, I will try adding pecans or walnuts to add some crunch.

I guess it is time that we use all of those Williams Sonoma gift cards we got at the wedding to buy a loaf pan and a can opener!

The Easter Bunny Likes Carrots.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. And not for the obvious reasons of sugar consumption and chocolate bunnies. I love what the day represents and the time that we get to spend with family.

Brian and I had Easter dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Sellers' house and I made a fresh Carrot Cake to complete the traditional meal. This cake has a full pound of grated carrots, chopped pecans, and lots of homemade cream cheese frosting on top. Eating vegetables should always taste this yummy!

While I was baking, Brian asked me why I decided to make carrot cake. [He always asks me weird questions.] So I told him that the Easter bunny likes to eat carrots. He responded by saying "You're wrong. The Easter bunny likes Easter eggs." Yes, my husband is twisted. At least the cake had eggs in it... that made him happy.

Pretty In Pink

Birthdays are momentous. I think they are so important, they deserve an entire week of celebration. To put it lightly, I LOVE birthdays.

Today is Mandi's 26th birthday and we are all a little tired from the super-fun-filled weekend we just had! Mandi is more than amazing. She has such a good heart and understands the true meaning of friendship. She has an obsession with Gatorade, loves watching re-runs of Newlyweds, has more white shirts than anyone I know, adores her niece & nephew, and believes in the power of prayer. Best of all, she has a contagious laugh that I always catch. My husband says when I am with Mandi I act like a "goofball." Need I say more?

What is a birthday celebration without cake? For Mandi, I made a 4-layer Fluffy Lemon Cake with lemon curd filling and pink lemonade frosting. She was so surprised when we brought out the cake and all of the colors came together so perfectly... it looked like a celebrity birthday bash!

This Cake is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Brian and I eat alot of bananas. In fact, my grocery cart seems to magnetically attract bananas everytime I am in the store. I guess I'm afraid there will be a banana shortage or something.

I rejoice on those rare occasions when several bananas don't get eaten and begin to turn brown. Over-ripe bananas don't last long in my kitchen... they quickly turn into quickbread or these amazingly wonderful cupcakes.


One of my best friends, Lauren, just celebrated her 29th birthday and I wanted to make her a sweet treat. I took the same recipe that I used to make her daughter's first birthday cake back in 2007 and made these delicious Banana Cupcakes. The cakes are light and fluffy with intense banana flavor. I topped them off with cream cheese-peanut butter frosting to satisfy her sweet tooth.

When I delivered them to Lauren's house, Raigan (her daughter) instantly licked the frosting off of one and wouldn't even share with mommy! That is a good sign...

I Love You Blue

Will Farrell said it best in the movie Old School when he expressed his love for the old man named Blue. Well, I am in love with Blue too... blue-berries, that is. Earlier this week, Brian and I joined the Moser family for dinner and I made a fresh Blueberry Streusel Cake for dessert. I feel so blessed to have many different families that love us and make us feel at home. The Moser's are no exception. I have always been inspired by Cheryl's passion for baking. In fact, everytime we visit their house, I catch up on several months' of Taste of Home magazine!

The term "streusel" is a German word that means something scattered or sprinkled. The crumb topping on this cake has cinnamon and nutmeg, two of my favorite baking spices. The topping becomes crisp after the cake cools and adds a nice contrast to the lemony cake underneath.

While eating his second slice, Blake asked me if chocolate would be good in this cake. I am a firm believer that chocolate makes everything taste better, so I will definately try adding a drizzle of chocolate on top next time I make this cake!

Every teenage girl needs a pink party cake!

I remember turning 13... I drove my mom crazy about finally being a teenager. This is a milestone birthday for every little girl because it marks the beginning of such a fun part of life.

I recently made this two-layer stacked cake for Morgan, my best friend Lauren's little sister. She had a 60's themed party and the black & pink colors blended so well with all of their soda shop decorations.