Happy holidays!!!

this was the gingerbread house that i made for the holidays. However, the only problem was, i didn't cut the sides properly so i couldn't add a roof to my house :(. to make the house hold its shape, i added a marble cake inside (my mom's favorite!). I decorated the house with skittles and frosting. I didn't have any meringue powder to make royal icing with, so i used a basic buttercream frosting.It worked fine for me!

1 stick butter, softened
1 shot (2 tablespoons) Baileys Irish cream
3 cups confectioners sugar (icing/powdered sugar)

Cream butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at the time until thoroughly combined. Add Baileys. Add food coloring if desired. Use immediately, do NOT refrigerate or it will become to hard to frost, and wont stick the gingerbread to the cake :)

These are my fudge-presents. i decorated squares (rectangles) of fudge and decorated them as gift boxes! i didn't have my decorating bags with me when i made them, so i used a Ziploc bag, cut one of the corners off and used those to decorate them. i used the basic buttercream frosting to frost them.

While i was making the fudge, the chocolate wasn't setting and it was very dripping, so i had to add cornstarch to allow it to set, which turned it crisp on the outside, but still very fudge-y on the inside!

There was a lot of gingerbread cookie dough left over, so i decided to make some Hanukkah gingerbread cookies for my best friends' Hanukkah party! I decorated them with the same frosting, and the same candy as my gingerbread house.

I felt bad that i was only giving them a few cookies, and they had given me SO MUCH during the year, i felt that i HAD to bake them more! so i baked them cupcakes! i made red velvet cupcakes with a failed Swiss meringue buttercream. After adding the butter to the egg whites and sugar, it came out curdled and liquidy even after beating. I added some icing sugar (didn't measure, maybe 2 cups?) and a tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it so i could spread it on my cupcakes. i served the cupcakes and the gingerbread cookies on a platter i decorated! Here is what it looked like:

Everyone was so pleased with what i made over the holidays! I was also really happy that i could put smiles over everyone's faces with pretty little cakes :')

hope everyone had wonderful holidays!

My 15th birthday

These are some of the desserts i made for my 15th birthday. Every year i do more, and more, and even MORE desserts! i cant wait until next year :)

What i made were devils food cupcakes (about 100 mini cupcakes!) topped with my special white-chocolate frosting, mini raspberry cheesecakes, a chocolate truffle tart, mini tartlets topped with raspberry granola-streusel, and, truffles rolled in white chocolate and cocoa powder.

The ones that went the fastest were the cupcakes and the cheesecakes!

my 14th birthday

These are the cupcakes i made for my 14th birthday (September, 2010).

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch process)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup warm (not boiling) water or milk
• 3/4 cup buttermilk OR 3/4 cup regular milk with 2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. line muffin tins with paper liners. In a bowl sift together dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, flour, cocoa), mix until combined. Add eggs, warm water (or warm milk), buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 4 minutes. Fill muffin cups until 2/3-3/4 full (for mini cupcakes approximately 2-3 tablespoons and for regular sized muffins approximately 3-4 tablespoons). Bake large cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes, and for mini cupcakes 10-14 minutes. To tell when finished, insert a toothpick down the center of a cupcake. If it comes out moist, it is not yet finished, if it comes out dry your cupcakes are finished :)

hi everyone! ok, ill be posting some pics of all my "creations" really soon :) just as soon as i figure out how to use "blogspot".

thanks for waiting!