Think Pink!

Not for me, or my little boy bun in the oven. We are all blue over here, but my friend is having a baby girl. Last weekend I was able to go to her shower and got to make some yummy little treats. I went with some cute sugar cookies and mini spice (sugar and spice, and everything nice!) cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Oh cream cheese! You are delicious!

Here are some photos. I have a habit of forgetting the camera, and so my sister’s had to do. My friend’s shower/baby nursery colors were brown, green and some pink. I got a little carried away with the pink. Oops!

I promise they looked much cuter at the shower, but again, I forgot the camera!

 

 

To frost the cookies I used royal icing. It works best when stacking cookies. To do the polka dots, you use a wet on wet technique. You pipe the edges of the cookies, and then fill with icing. While wet, add in your alternate color dots and then let dry. So easy and so cute! If you want a similar top to the cupcakes, roll out fondant, cut into the desired shape and press with an acrylic stamp. Its incredibly simple to do, I promise.

The shower was so much fun and I can’t wait to meet the sweet baby girl. It also made me even excited for my own baby. I cant believe he is going to be here in only a few months!

It’s Game Time!

Do you have your Super Bowl treats ready?

 

Who’s gonna win? Saints or Colts?

Lemony Sunshine

It has been raining here in San Jose, or at least it was raining. For over a week. We had a tornado watch. Its been dreary and gloomy, and I have missed the California sun. I decided to bring some sunshine into my kitchen by making lemon bread. Nothing screams sunshine like lemons.

I have several new recipe books that were given to me over the Christmas holiday, one being a Williams Sonoma baking cookbook. So I thought I would test Mr. Williams, or Mrs. Sonoma, or whoever managed to create such a name for themselves, and try their lemon bread. The recipe is pretty basic:

Cream shortening and sugar.

Add eggs.

And lemon zest.

Add dry ingredients followed by wet ingredients.

Bake for an hour.

And devour!

Congrats Mr. Williams or Mrs. Sonoma. You make a mean Lemon Bread!

**Note: Williams-Sonoma was founded by Charles E. Williams, though I am not sure this is his actual recipe.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mama had birthday. She is 29 again, and looking fabulous! I decided I wanted to make her a special cake for her birthday. She has a favorite truffle from See’s Candies. Key Lime. Its delicious. Key Lime buttercream coated in white chocolate. Sounds kinda cakey. So I thought I would make a cake that had some of the same flavors.

I made a simple white cake. I should have added a bit of lime zest, but I didn’t want to overpower with lime. The cake was filled with a lime curd. Oh my goodness! Lime curd is fabulous. Don’t buy it. Make it! I used Alton’s recipe again, but changed a couple things. Here is the recipe:

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

4-5 limes, zested and juiced (It’s about 1/3 cup juice, its ok if its not enough, and wont hurt it if there is too much. Don’t add extra water…bleh!)

1 stick butter, cut into 8 pats

In a small saucepan, boil a small amount of water. In a metal bowl (that will fit over the saucepan without the water touching the bottom), whisk egg yolks and sugar. Add lime juice and zest and mix well. Place over boiling water, and reduce heat to low. Stir until yolk mixture has thickened. It takes longer than you think, about 10-12 minutes. It need to get thick, especially for a cake filling. I didn’t cook it long enough, and had to start over. Once it has thickened, remove from heat and add the butter, one pat at a time. Stir each pat until its melted and then add another. Cover and refrigerate your curd for up to a week.

To cover the cake I made a white chocolate ganache with 1 cup cream and 1 1/2 cups white chocolate, just to thicken it a bit. I didn’t frost the cake, but rather let the ganache fall over the top. Photographically, it was not the prettiest. But it tasted really, really good. Next time, more ganache to cover the cake well.

 

Happy Birthday Mom! Love you!

It’s about time…

I admit it’s a little sad that I lasted for 2 months with my little blog, and then suddenly stopped. Let’s just say that things have been a little out of the norm for the Goody Goddess. My desire for cooking and baking and eating hit an all time low when I discovered I was baking something extra special…a baby!

After what felt like an eternal hiatus, as I have been horribly distraught that I have no desire for sweets, I decided it was time to return to the baking.

I made a few things in December that really deserve some posting. My grandparents celebrated their 50th Anniversary with their children and grandchildren in mid December. It was a perfect opportunity to make a cake. Here are a couple shots of the German Chocolate decadence: That’s my sweet grandma and the love of her life. They are a wonderful blessing in my life. The magnolia flower is handmade…a first attempt. It gave me some struggles, but I am determined to conquer the art of sugar flowers!

Right before Christmas, I had another project. My mother-in-law has started a catering business, and I was able to help out with one of the events. She catered a luncheon for about a hundred missionaries from our church serving in the area. There were a lot of hungry young men, and she did a great job. I was assigned to make a cake to look like the badges that the missionaries wear. Apparently the newest missionary, and probably one of the oldest since he has been around for a thousand years or so, is Santa Claus.

It’s a little more embellished than the traditional badge, but it desperately needed some Christmas cheer. Sadly, I left the good camera at home. My dear sister-in-law was kind enough to take a picture with her phone. Technology is amazing!

That is pretty much the Goody Goddess up to date. I made some fleur de sel caramels for Christmas that were pretty delightful, but forgot to snap a shot. Next time I will add my own flair and make sure to post the recipe!

Happy Halloween!

Make yourself some delicious sugar cookies today…or just pig out on all that candy! But, I would certainly go for the sugar cookies!

 

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Sometimes you feel like a nut…

I decided I wanted make something special for my mom. She is a great gal and always deserves something sweet. Its odd that the title for this post is “sometimes you feel like a nut”, and I am making something for my mom. She is a little nutty, and I always laugh the hardest when I am with her. For a while now I have thought about making some Almond Joy cupcakes for her, as one of her favorite candy bars is the Almond Joy.

We made a plan to meet last Wednesday, and I was going to present her with her treat.  I baked the cupcakes, and shortly after got the sad call that she was sick. No more meeting, and still all of those cupcakes. I decided to finish them off, as a practice run. The Momma deserves the best anyway!

I used Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes recipe for coconut cupcakes, exchanging almond extract for the vanilla. I wanted to give a nice almond flavor. I also used a cream of coconut, since I had it on hand, and lessened the sugar.

For the frosting, I used Martha’s dark chocolate frosting, but added cream of coconut, and some extra powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit. I have to say, it was delicious. I love frosting.

I toasted some coconut and topped the cupcakes with some sliced almonds. They were really cute, and tasted pretty good too. I think next time I will do half coconut extract and half almond extract in the cupcakes, just because I LOVE coconut.

 

  

Next post, I will try to remember to include pictures along the way. I always forget that part!