Blackberries....yum

So every year or so, I go to the local u-pick-it farm and spend my Saturday morning picking blackberries and every time these are what I end up with, huge amazing berries just waiting to be put into a pie or cobbler.  After picking 4 buckets I decided to freeze them for now and will be making a pie with my sister when she comes to visit!   

 In the meantime I am still just amazed how big these are, I tried so hard to measure them, but I had a harder time doing it than I thought. 

 I tried several different ways to show the size of these berries.

Finally, my third attempt to get the size to show up for my photo 1 1/2 inches!!!  And, yes they are just as juicy and sweet as they look!....I'll post pictures of the pie later on.

Club-Baked Buttermilk doughnuts

So today for our Club-Baked group we are making buttermilk doughnuts and here is what mine turned out looking like.

If your interested in joining our group please go to http://club-baked.blogspot.com/

Pink Champagne cupcakes

So my Aunt Bonnie's 80th birthday is coming up and I am in charge of the cake/cupcakes!  My aunt is the most wonderful giving person I know and when it comes to what she wants in a cake, her words were "whatever is easiest".  I'm sure it would be easy for me to just make white and chocolate cupcakes, but she deserves so much more.  I'm on a quest to find the 4 best summer cupcakes I can find!  I found several Pink Champagne cupcake recipes and tried two of them, one from http://www.foodjunkie.com/ and one from youtube (I can't remember which one, but I'll post when I do)  The one from foodjunkie was a homemade from scratch and the other was from a cake mix.

The cupcake on the left "B" is from the cake mix and the one on the right "A" is from scratch.  The frosting was almost the same, but "A" was kinda runny.  I have to admit I really didn't care for the flavor, but this is not for me...., but if I had to choose I would choose "B".  On to the next one....

Club-Baked first recipe

So today is our first of many new recipes that Club-Baked are testing on the 1st and 15th every month and our host is Karen at http://www.karenscookiescakesnmore.com/.  Our recipe was for NY Coffee cake and boy did it make a huge cake.  Most recipes are for and 8x8, but this one made 9x13 (not good when your trying to diet).

Doesn't it look yummy?  Well, my family had a hard time waiting the 30 minutes it took to cool before digging into it.  Hubby, and both kids loved it!!!

It had tons of topping which we all loved.  I had made this last night and when I got up this morning to cut a piece for the hubby to take to work well, lets just say it didn't look like it did when I went to bed!!!!  I'm guessing this recipe is a keeper!

So, if your interested in making this NY coffee cake or any of the other recipes, join us at http://club-baked.blogspot.com/

Have a wonderful 4th of July!!! 

Father's Day Cookies

Well, today I finally got in the mood to finish decorating the cookies I made for Father's Day.  I'm sending half to my Uncle and the other half goes to the best husband around!!!  I still have my Aunts get well cookies before I can send them off to sunny California.

My hubby came home too early and caught me decorating these!!!!!  His favorite are the drills..(mine too!)
Happy Father's day to all those who are lucky enough to have a great dad or someone special!!!!

Another great day

So, I've been wanting to try so many new things lately I haven't been able to decide which one I do first.  I found this amazing rose on you tube and then on a cake and decided to try it.  I have been on the look out for something amazing for my Aunt Bonnie's 80th birthday in August.  I have looked at the cupcake bouquet and thinking that may be something special for her, so I am going to be giving that a try now that I know how to make the roses...too much fun!!!
                                

Here's the cake and next will be the bouquet.  Off to try and find a father's day gift for the hubby.  What do you buy the guy who has everything???

Classic Carrot Cupcake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I am a true lover of carrot cake and every birthday my dear sweet hubby attempts to make me a carrot cake, the only problem with that is he makes it from a box.  Which if you have ever made one you would know it taste more like spice cake than carrot, but kudos for him trying!!!
My late mothers carrot cake was handed down from my amazing grandmother (who by the way taught me a lot about baking), so I was a little leary about trying someone else's recipe.  I am amazed how well these turned out and I will be passing them around (that way there not too tempting).
Thanks to "the cupcake recipe" at  www.thecupcakerecipes.com for this wonderful cupcake

Ingredients
1 9oz pkg frozen sliced carrots
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tps. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (I did not use these)

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  cook carrots according to pkg directions until tender.  Drain & mash in a large bowl.  Add sugar, oil, & eggs, beat well.  Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt.  Beat into carrot mixture.  Stir in chopped nuts.  Pour batter into cupcak pan lined with baking cups.  Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool and frost

Frosting

1 pkg 8oz cream cheese, at room temperature
8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp grated orange zest (from 1 orange)

Bleand cream cheese & butter in a large mixing bowl on low speed until combined.  Stop the machine & gradually add the sugar, blending with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well combined.  Then add the orange juice & zest to the mixture.  Increase the mixer speed until the frosting lightens & is fluffy, about 1 minute.  Use at once to frost your cupcakes.

Note:  I added a little more powdered sugar so I could use a pastry bag to frost them.  Since I had more frosting than needed I decided to put some in the middle of the cupcake by inserting the tip into the top of the cupcake and filled, then frosted.

Hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!!