Kitchen Bewitchin'

Cake Addiction continues...

2012-08-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hahahaha! Yes. Another cake. It was for my birthday [MY 21ST!!] so I feel like it was justified!!!!

This one I LOVED making! The outside decorating was super fun and turned out totally adorable!!

The inside was just two funfetti cake mixes (I know I know. Not enough time for making my vanilla from scratch) and I attempted to do a strawberry poke cake variation on it....but I underdid the pouring and so there was really no strawberry pockets to this cake. Sad day.

The outside was created with a base of vanilla butter cream frosting. The flower was achieved with coloring the same frosting orange and yellow and adding each alternately to the same piping bag. The effect was an awesome two-tone petal! For the center of the lovely flower, I utilized chocolate malt balls. I sliced them in half (well TRIED to slice them in half lol) and placed them in a circular patter :)

Around the base, I alternately placed full malt balls and strawberry slices. As you can probably see in the picture, the straweberry juice started soaking into the cardboard circle. I'm not sure how to fix that...or if it's even possible to haha. If YOU know, please SHARE!! :D

Funfetti inside.

attempt in the very front and the lower right corner

You can sorta see the strawberry poke

The pics are a little blurry. Bad camera plus bad lighting equals bad picture.

BUT it was still waaaay delish!! Perfect celebration dessert for my 21st!

Happy eating!
~MollyMarie

It's...............ANOTHER CAKE!!

2012-08-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

So when we last checked on me...it appeared to the world that I had an incurable case of bread baking addiction. I mean, I made my fantastic rolls about 300,008,332,091 times, tried a variety of other roll recipes, made sweet bread, savory bread, and cinnamon rolls...and loved them!

Today, I realized as I have looked back on recent posts...I am suffering from cake addiction. It might be that there are a million birthdays and celebrations come summer, but regardless, I have made so much cake that I think it may be coming out of my ears.

But...like the bread baking...I LOVE IT! I get really attached to my cakes.

This cake is no different. A "Mountain Dew" cake masked in Legend of Zelda decor for my little brother's birthday!

Now I write "Mountain Dew" as such because this cake was for my 9 year old brother and my mother drew the line at incorporating the actual soda into the cake...which I'm sure would have been delicious. BUT I'm glad she didn't let me, because THIS cake was absolutely FANTASTIC!!!

I used a lemon cake mix (I'm the QUEEN of lazy baking haha) and a lime gelatin mix to create a lemon-lime poke cake!

You bake the cake according to your package instructions and let it cool. Use a fork to poke holes in the cake but don't poke all the way through! Stop the poking before you hit the pan :)

Mix the 3oz package of gelatin with 1 cup boiling water. Stir. When gelatin is fully dissolved, add 1/2 cup cold water and mix well.

Pour the gelatin over the poked cake and let it soak in. Cover and refrigerate. I let mine sit over night.

Decorating cakes is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART of making cakes!! This one uses my lovely and reliable butter cream frosting (I gave the recipe in this past post) as a cover base. I lined the outside with Heath and used an orange food coloring with the same base frosting for the writing.

Now...Link looks amazing! You know why?? Because he isn't made out of frosting :/ I'm a little saddened that I "cheated" and printed him out. *sigh* I ran out of time. But it turned out looking better than any measley attempt I would have made anyways. For someone else's birthday, I guess that's more important than my wounded pride haha.

The cake was rich. Rich rich rich. It's the billionaire of cakes lol. But it was soooo delicious. I felt like I was eating gold. Ok. I'm on the money metaphor and tooting my own horn...but it really was very tasty. I plan on trying many more poke-cake variations with different gelatin mixes. We'll see how it goes!

STAR WARS!! (...more cake lol)

2012-08-07T15:07:00.001-07:00

I am a nerd. I accept the title willingly and proudly. I AM A NERD! And so I spent one Saturday at a Star Wars marathon(it's been a couple weeks since...I know. I AM SUCH A TERRIBLE BLOGGER)... Of course I couldn't arrive empty handed...so I brought these beauties...

Just a basic chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting with food coloring paste for decoration. Her side buns are made from an Oreo cookie with black colored frosting piped around to disguise the white Oreo filling :)

Princess Leia's lookin' mighty fine!

Love me, my friends do :)

May the force be with you
~MollyMarie

A Spoonful of Sugar...and Some SPRINKLES!

2012-06-26T22:18:00.001-07:00

SWEETS.
I think it's my favorite food group. Actually, scratch the think. I KNOW it's my favorite food group.

And there's always one sweets recipe (okay okay...like every recipe) online that just inspires you to create...or recreate. And as I was searching online for a quick and easy donut recipe...I came across these...donut-pancakes!! And so I made 'em!

I modified the original recipe a bit.

Batter:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups milk
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar

The only difference between these and regular pancakes is in the shaping! Use a decorating piping bag (or make one using a plastic bag!) to form the "donut" circle. Use the same rules for cooking normal pancakes-wait for the top to get a bit bubbly and then flip. [For the fluffiest pancakes, don't flip more than one. They'll get flat and won't look as pretty! Or taste as wonderful]

Glaze:

1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
SPRINKLES!!!

Melt butter in a saucepan (medium size) over med. heat. Once butter has melted, stir in powdered sugar, salt and milk. Whisk until sugar has dissolved completely then stir in baking soda and whisk for about 30 seconds.Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

To be honest, they are just regular pancakes with a glaze. So in reality, you should use your favorite pancake recipe and favorite glaze recipe! These were VERY sweet. So if you don't like sugary stuff in the morning, or you're watching your waitsline OR you just plain don't have a sweet-tooth (who ARE you? And WHY do you call yourself human??? lol) don't make 'em.

Pre-sprinkles and glaze

Jon, however, would highly encourage you to make them :)

May your day be as SWEET as today's recipe!
~MollyMarie

Graduation Celebration Cake :)

2012-05-31T11:12:00.001-07:00

What begins with college and ends with graduate??

MEEEEEEE!!!!

That's right my lovely readers. I have graduated from college! Crazy crazy crazy. I actually graduated two weeks ago and things since then have been mighty hectic. Which is why I haven't posted in a while. I'm still thinking about my Avenger's dessert (the avenger promise). It's HARD! I'm just not on that level if creative genius quite yet...

BUT I did make an awesome cake (yes I made my own graduation cake lol)...and by awesome, I mean totally fantastic...if i do say so myself.

CHOCOLATE CAKE, VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING, RED M&Ms

the frosting recipe: HERE

The cake was made from:

two 18.5 oz devil's food cake mix pckgs

4 eggs

3 cups water

1 cup oil

red M&Ms

I used two 9x13 cake pans and stacked the cakes on top of eachother to give it about 4" heighth. I used the frosting as a layer filling instead of making an entirely separate concoction. (Less work AND it tasted PERFECT! I win.)

The pictures aren't too spectacular, but in real life, this cake looked and tasted GREAT!!

Life is just the best!
Keep baking, keep creating, and keep reading! :)

~MollyMarie

The Avengers!!

2012-05-04T03:56:00.000-07:00

OK ok...I know. It's a food blog.

But...

I just went to the midnight showing of THE AVENGERS!!!!

Oh gosh and golly, by the name of miss molly...I LOVED it! It was just enough over the top to be fantastic and it was so funny!! Much funnier than I expected :D

It was pure bliss watching Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evens and Robert Downey Jr. for 2 1/2 wonderful hours. Especially Chris Hemsworth! It made me want to run home and watch Thor...and then see the Avengers like 50 more times lol.

And so. I just had to blog about my excitedness! Hopefully I haven't made you expect more from this movie and therefore ultimately disappoint you...but I love action movies. Anything with good fight scenes, nerdy one-liners, and dramatic climaxes is a win in my book!

But...the movie has inspired me. Soon some baked something or other will be revealed. Totally inspired by my lovely and epic Avenger experience...

So stay alert!

One hammer to rule them ALL!
~MollyMarie

Molly Marie Plays Catch-up...again...

2012-04-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

It's another catch-up day! (I think the theme of this blog could very well be, "better late than never!" Blog title change? haha maybe...) I think so far, I have promised you cake, sugar cookies, and frosting. (If there is another unfulfilled promise floating around on one of my posts, you'll have to let me know!) So, let's not waste any time here!

Cake!

I wasn't lying when I told you I used a cake mix. Just a plain, store-bought vanilla cake mix. I find they make delicious cakes and they don't cost a lot AND I save time (which I can use for making better designs). A small exception with this cake is the strong splash of cinnamon I added. And when I say strong...I mean too strong. I think a teaspoon would have been wonderful. My heaping two...not so much. Haha. When I use spices on the fly...I tend to over do it. Don't make my mistakes. If you want to experiment with strong flavors, just be warned haha.

Wow. I sound like this cake turned out disastrously. It didn't!! But it would have been more pleasant if the cinnamon had been more subtle :)

you can see here the mass of cinnamon lol

I think it turned out GREAT!! Only...like I said...it was a mite bit too cinnamony for my tastes. Next time I'll measure before thinking I can just wing it with spices lol.

As you can see, I have two layers. One the cinnamony cinnamon flavor, and one I kept just vanilla

It'd look mighty pretty in one of these :)

"Simplicity Cake Plate with Dome"

SUGAR COOKIES!

Let me just quickly say this: I LOVE sugar cookies!!! And you will too with the cookie/frosting combo I'm going to give you!! Sugar cookies are THE BEST for a recipe that always tastes delicious, but you can easily tweak to fit the occassion! If you take a look at an earlier Christmas post (here) you can see that by just using different cookie cuttuer shapes and food coloring, you can acheieve fantastic results!!

But enough of me going on about how great they are. Nothing I can say will convince you as much as tasting these cookies will! You'll have to make 'em to believe me!!:D

SugarCookieDough:

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, and flavoring thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Blend the dry mixture into the wet. Chill at least 1 hour.

Heat over to 400 deg. Roll dough out (1/8" thick) on a lightly floured board. Cut with cookie cutters (3"). Place on an ungreased baking sheet. BAKE: 6-8 min. (I always go for the lower time) You don't want these cookies golden. They should be a bit puffy when they come out of the oven. If you over bake, they'll be hard. (But don't stress if they do get over done...the frosting fixes EVERYTHING! I'm not even kidding. at all.)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups shortening
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water
3 pkgs (16oz) powdered sugar
Combine shortening, salt, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat at med speed of an electric mixer until blended. Alternately add small amounts of water and powdered sugar, beating constantly at low speed, until all blended. Beat 8 minutes at medium speed. (I chill the frosting to let it set more, but it isn't necessary).
This can be stored at room temp for several days or in the refridgerator for 2 weeks! NOTE: Prepare icing twice if you want to double. (If you double it will be enough to frost a 3-tiered cake! A LOT of frosting!)

These are so kid friendly it is ridiculous! I mean, as a kid, nothing is more fun than drawing with frosting. It's a bit messy, but in the messes of life we find ourselves. The same is true of sugar cookie messes!

I hope this post has filled you with a desire to make messes in the baking of life!
Sincerly,

One who has found herself within the mess of a kitchen

~MollyMarie

Easter Weekend

2012-04-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Oh Easter weekend :)
It's one of those times when a smile follows a little sigh of satisfaction. Not only is it a time to reflect on the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (which really should be a thing we do EVERY day...but not the point) but it's a time to bake! (which also should be a thing I do every day...haha)

Right up there with Christmas, Easter is a holiday that involves a lot of sugar. And butter. And sugar. And umm a lot of eggs haha. I mentioned sugar right??

I know it's a week after the fact, but I wanted to share with you some pictures of the stuff I made!

The Recipes, like seemingly always, will have to wait until next post. I am going to friend's wedding today, so I'm a wee bit crunched on time. I'll have to be posting the recipe next time. But, to keep you interested...here are the yummies I made!

Exhibit A: SUGAR COOKIES

Seriously the best and most adaptable cookie for any holiday! It's all in the frosting baby!

Honestly. People are ALWAYS impressed by these cookies. They can be as time consuming or as easy as you choose. The more intricate the design on top, the more time. BUT these taste amazing. So regardless of whether you replicate Picasso and Rembrant with your frosting, or just slather on anice spoonful, they'll be a hit!

And I can GUARANTEE, you'll have people praising the ground upon which you walk...especially if you accidentally drop some crumbs.

Exhibit B: PEEP WARS

I have been wanting to try this for years. I don't know why I never did. Sometimes, I'm not a very logical person.

But whatever.

I did it this year.

Haha, it didn't exactly go as smoothly as I had hoped it might,

BUT. I had a lot of fun. And so did my little brother. (I can't say the same for our Peep warriors unfortunately...)

Aaaaand the end result was delicious!!

I guess that's all that really matters, right!?

Exhibit C: CAKE

I LOVE decorating cakes. I LOVE eating delicious cakes. And so occassions that allow me to do both...oh beautiful times!

She turned out purdy, didn't she! And really, all this consisted of...

-a box cake mix (Vanilla!! my absolute favorite!)

-buttercream frosting (I posted the recipe yesterday which you can find **)

-food coloring (for the diff colors of frosting)

I know, I use cake mix. Sue me. I never said I was Betty Crocker. Or Mary Poppins. Besides, cake mixes taste amazing AND are less time consuming. I'd say it's a win-win.

AND

Exhibit D: (D for DELICIOUS) PEANUTBUTTER COOKIES.

Honestly, is any ~~holiday~~ weekend complete without these?? Not in my home. Not in my stomach.

they just look gorgeous. With their peanutbuttery color and their peanutbuttery taste. And their peanutbuttery smell. Oh the peanutbuttery heaven!! It's quite easy to obtain this peanutbuttery bliss...and I've already posted this recipe!

(click here to begin your quest of peanutbuttery heaven attainment)

I wish you and your loved ones a very delicious and delectable day.

Keep dreaming, keep baking (really it's all the same)

~MollyMarie

April Fools Day!

2012-04-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have never been one to really get into April Fools Day. I mean, there are only so many times one can say "April Fools!" before your pranks/jokes/whatevers don't work anymore...and I've never been a very clever pranker.

That is, until I discovered the world of April Fools food pranks. Genius. GENIUS!

I really got into the holiday this year!

[*now, you are never supposed to start presentations or conversations or blog posts with disclaimers or apologies because then the audience is already judging you negatively...whether they mean to or not. But I MUST start this off with a lament. I'm still taking pics with my camera phone. And let me tell you. It's hard! Not only am I an amateur to begin with, having the right equipment DOES make a world of difference. That being said, please continue reading and now judging the pictures lol]

Starting with breakfast burritos.
What's so April Foolsie about plain breakfast burritos? you ask with your eyebrows furrowed. Well nothing if they really were plain. Unfurrow them eyebrows my friends! because my burritos weren't plain... they contained green eggs. Haha. Ok. Not so original. But it was fun to see my family's reactions to something they just weren't expecting!

For the next part of our April Fools fun...
I put together a little variation of this wacky meal idea.

Instead of having an entire meal, Jon and I decided to do sandwiches. So we both started with two slices of bread. In a cup we put slips of paper with different sandwich fillings. (peanut butter, jam, mayo, mustard, pickles, bananas, honey, pepper, etc.) Each of us drew 3 slips and had to put those fillings together on our sandwiches.
Lucky Jon ended up with something edible. Me on the other hand...
... not so fortunate lol

Jon's: Peanut butter, honey, and turkey lunch meat on toasted white bread
Mine:...shredded chicken, honey, and pickles on soft white bread
Uhg. It was disgusting lol. But fun! :)

Next: Cake in an Egg.

For this lovely little trick, I baked cake INSIDE an egg shell and placed the shell back into a carton. So when my dear daddy went to make us some dessert for after watching General Conference (which was FABULOUS by the way!), hahaha he ended up cracking a cake shell!

These weren't even that difficult to make! All you need:

about 12 eggs

a cake mix

muffin baking tin

aluminum foil

you can find the directions here!

AND

For the FINALE: meatloaf cupcakes!

Using Pioneer Woman's Recipe for meatloaf with some little tweaks, which you can locate here, these turned out DELICIOUS!! (The tweaks: instead of wrapping the entire loaf in bacon, we put the meat mixture in large cupcake tins and put slices of bacon on top).

After cooking the meatloaf, we used Pioneer Woman's mashed potato recipe (located here) for our "frosting". Oh so goooood!!!

And of course. A cameo appearance by my delicious rolls!

The end result...

A wonderful April Fools Day Dinner :)

I suppose the moral of my story is this...there is no such thing as too much butter. Or don't cast judgement on a holiday that you just don't understand. I think each lesson has its own merits.

The Sky is FALLING!!!

April Fools!

~MollyMarie

You're the Snicker to my Doodle

2012-03-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

Here it is. The long awaited "catch-up" post!! Get yourselves ready for two scrumptious recipes!! The lemon-coconut frosting....aaaaaaannnnddddd....SNICKERDOODLES!!! I am so happy for two reasons. First: Sharing these recipes is like sending little bits of joy into a world. Second: I made and ate said recipes :)

This frosting recipe really was a bit of an experiment. I started brainstorming by a typical icing base-powdered sugar and butter. Add honey and milk and a squirt of lemon and you are well on your way. The frosting this way was delicious...but needed something. Coconut, shredded sweetened coconut.

1/2 cup butter
1 TBS honey
3 TBS milk
*combine these ingredients in a suacepan over medium heat. When simmering remove.
2+ cups powdered sugar
*When contents of saucepan are simmering, remove from heat and sift in powdered sugar.
*Add squirt of lemon to taste
*Add coconut (as much or as little as desired. We put in about a cup)
I found that adding the lemon required adding more powdered sugar to thicken the frosting.

This tasted fantastic over a strawberry cake :)

...
!!!!!!!!
The best cookies deserve the best names. And how can anyone say that "snickerdoodle" is not the funnest and coolest name for a dessert??

Fer realsies though. I LOVE snickerdoodles! If made right, they top chocolate chip AND peanut butter cookies.

Not even joshing you on this one.

I mean, one of my favoritethings to do is make snickerdoodles and sit by a fire. In fact. I think I'll be taking the snickerdoodles I just made and going to sit by the fire with some hot chocolate as soon as I'm done posting! ...well maybe it's a bit warm for that here in sunny San Diego on a March afternoon...but still, don't think I'll be sharing these!!

Snickerdoodles
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
*cream shortening, sugar, and eggs together
* in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
*mix wet and dry mixtures together.
BAKE @ 350°F for 8 min.

~The baking part is always the tricksssiest part of this cookie. Don't leave them in too long or they'll be too hard and stiff. You might have to experiment a bit to find the perfect timing for your tastebuds :)

Happy snickering to you!
~Molly Marie

Stromboli Yum-oli!

2012-03-26T21:04:00.001-07:00

I know. I promised you the Snickerdoodle recipe. I lied. Shame on me.

But to be fair...I didn't intend to lie! Honest! I fully intended to make and share said recipe!! Buuuuuut...a couple things got in the way...

Firstly: a cake.

If you're thinking, Death by Frosting...you'd be correct

My mom and I just HAD to have cake. I'm sure you understand. Strawberry cake (just a mix) with lemon coconut frosting! (I'll be posting the recipe later in April...AND I fully intend to KEEP the promise!!)

Secondly: jelly beans.

It's almost Easter. Starburst jelly beans have appeared on the scene again. And although I'm addicted to sugar like no other...even a sugar-addict can lapse into a sugar coma...we aren't immune. (I wish we were though!) So Snickerdoodles just didn't make it this week....HOWEVER.

Stromboli did.

It's my first time making this...so it doesn't look like it should. I rolled it the wrong way lol. BUT the taste was mighty fine. Mighty fine indeed!!!

And these were so simple! All you need:
*your favorite pizza crust recipe (or just a store-bought frozen pizza dough)
*"toppings" of choice
*olive oil

Really it's that simple.

For this recipe, you'll preheat the oven at the temperature indicated on your bread recipe.

1.Make the dough.
2. Let it rise until doubled.
3. Punch it down. Roll it out (15X12).
4. Brush 1 1/2 tsp olive oil over crust
5. Customized topping placement
Now, I made a pizza-like stromboli. So I sprinkled 2 TBS parmesan cheese before I added onions, salami, and cheese.
6. Starting from the long end, roll up like a cinnamon roll. Pinch the seams shut and then pinch the ends and tuck under.
7. Place seam side down on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
8. GENTLY cut 3 slits along the top of the stromboli and bake for 15-20 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Simple and delicious. And...it doesn't have to be perfect to taste extraordinary!!
Happy eating :)
~MollyMarie

Happy St. Patty's Day Snickerdoodle Style!

2012-03-17T00:50:00.001-07:00

I just had to make a quick post in honor of the greenest holiday of the year!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! :D

I just love St. Patrick's Day! Every year the Leprechaun visits and leaves us gold wrapped candy. Yummy yum yum!

This year, Jon and I made a little treat to thank him...Snickerdoodles!! But not just any snickerdoodles!!!

GREEN snickerdoodles!

They are quite simple to achieve and don't take any special ingredients. Just a good snickerdoodle recipe (which I'll be posting next week, so stay tuned!) and some green food coloring :)

These are kid friendly too! Rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture is one of the best parts and is super easy for a child to help :)

These snickerdoodles are easy, fun, and a GREAT way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

Patrick O'Leprechaun's Snickerdoodles

We didn't catch Patrick this time...maybe next year lol

Keep searching and someday you'll find your gold at the end of the rainbow :)

~MollyMarie

Mt. Chocolate Monster

2012-03-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

I just avoided cake disaster. And by avoid, I mean Matrix like action maneuvers Oh man. It was bad. I have never really messed up a cake before but I guess when I do things...I go all the way. All or nothing. And this time, it was an all out FAIL!

This cake was for my brother's birthday party. We had invited extended family, so my reputation was on the line. I don't know if anyone realizes how much effort went into getting that DISASTER to look not so DISASTROUS.

Meet...

Mt. Chocolate Monster!!

Chocolate fudge cake, a creamy Peanut Butter-esque filling, about every frosting you can create as an attempt to fix this sucker and Reese's Cups (chopped and whole).

THE STORY:

First: For the first time EVER...the middle of my cake sunk.

I thought it had finished baking. I had inserted my toothpick and IT CAME OUT CLEAN!! Silly me. My toothpick wasn't long enough to find the patch in the middle bottom that was still a pool of batter. Ugh. So, it sunk. AND I didn't want to put it back in because I was scared of burning it. This is why I HATE baking with chocolate stuff. I can never tell if it's burned or not :/ So i had a sunken-top cake. Fantastic.

But I wasn't too worried. I would just put a little extra frosting to fill in the top and make it appear even. Oh gee. How I wish it had been that simple.

For this cake, since my brother adores Peanut Butter so much, I wanted to incorporate it into the cake. A Peanut Butter filling! Genius. *sigh* Using my fishing line...I made a nice, straight cut (the best cut I've ever done) separating top from bottom. But upon lifting the top off, I discovered not only the pool of batter mentioned above...but that the middle of the tope had not accompanied the sides in removing itself nicely from the bottom. Oh, well. No biggie. And even when the top managed to break itself into four awkward pieces, I wasn't sweating it.

I continued to fill my cake splendidly and placed the four pieces back on top. Yes, there was still a gap from the removed middle...but I thought "I'll just fill it with more frosting" If you haven't caught on, I view frosting as a cure all for cake mistakes. *stupid*

EQUALS HERO!!

FROSTING

Now I bet all of you cake experts are asking yourselves when I flip the cake to hold the broken pieces in place.

I don't.

Not for a while anyways. BUT I continue to frost a thin PB crumb coat...and here's where it get messy. The pieces kept sliding, the cake was ripping and the more frosting I added to attempt to "glue" it together just made it worse and worse. I had frosting pushing the pieces further out, I had frosting in my hair and I had frosting in my mouth a good portion of the time. DISASTER. (there are no pictures of this. I was a bit preoccupied. When saving/destroying a cake, one doesn't usually reach for a camera...or at least I don't haha)

Now, by this time it is 2:00am and I'm staring at the most horrendous chocolate mess. The top is in all reality a warzone of frosting. I have no more chocolate cake mix, no energy to make batter from scratch. I'm tired, frustrated, and sick from all the frosting I've consumed. And so...I go to my mother.

My dear, wise, loving, all-knowing and beautiful mother tells me to flip the cake. Flip it. And that, my lovely readers, is what mothers do best. Give what should be obvious advice to dim-witted blonde children.

I flipped my cake, frosted the top, decorated with Reese's Cups and compared to what it could have been...ended up not so terrible.

So now, I have a cake sitting in a pool of warring frosting stabilizing on four awkward sliding pieces of top layer, and covered with a "ganache" frosting which I experimentally created.

Yup. Many would still consider this ^ the epitomy of a "cake disaster". In fact, this would probably be the picture in the dictionary next to the term...but I consider it slightly less. More like a cake flop. Eh. you'll have to decide an accurate title.

Mt. Chocolate Monster...Death by Chocolate!

My Family's Reaction: I offered this cake unapologetically. I wanted themto think I made it like this on purpose! It's SUPPOSED to be lopsided with bumpy layering and uneven frosting!! It's a volcanoe of chocolate!!! Lol.

Top view :)

AAAAANDDD!! It was a SUCCESS!! They didn't even suspect that the cake wasn't supposed to look or taste like that. I got sooooo many compliments on it! I told you. FROSTING IS THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Reese's crown this epic disaster!

Mt. Chocolate-Monster-PeanutButterLava-Volcano was a BEAST to create. Happy Birthday Brother!! Enjoy the last cake I EVER attempt to make at 2am in the morning!!

Ah, but what is life? Is it not a testing ground? A time to learn and grow? In the kitchen of life, it's necessary to mess up a few cakes to gain experience for our masterpieces :)
~MollyMarie

Recreating Glory

2012-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

So. Confession time. Man vs Food makes me feel like I can take on anything! Most of my family gets grossed out watching that guy eat...me? Yeah, sometimes it hurts me to watch him...but other times he inspires me!!

Adam traveled to San Antonio in a rerun that was shown recently. And this particular time watching the episode, I was inspired to bake.

I was inspired to attempt a recreation of glory...otherwise known as the cinnamon rolls from Lulu's Bakery and Cafe.

(skip to 1:15 for the glory)

Now. As a disclaimer, I did not actually make a 3 1/2 lbs cinnamon roll. I DID however, make some pretty ginormous ones! Aaaaaaannnndddd. THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!!! Can you guess what recipe I used?? Just take a wild guess, and if you have no clue, you need to read my previous posts. :D

**SPOILER**

I used the best bread recipe in the world as the roll part.

THE LIFE OF A CINNAMON ROLL

starring: a ginormous cinnamon roll

directed by: Molly Marie

Prior to Baking

In the Oven!

Beautious!

The frosting looks fantastic! :)

It's not 3 1/2 lbs...but it's close!!!!

It seems to have a heavenly glow...

The last bite

Bread recipe can be found at: Our Best Bites

for the filling:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

3-4 TBS gr. cinnamon

for the frosting:
2 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

The very essence of heaven. No joke. I wouldn't lie to you.

Enjoy!
~MollyMarie

Back to My Bread

2012-02-15T10:22:00.000-08:00

*sigh. Sometimes I wonder if I should just turn this into a bread blog. I honestly LOVE my bread recipe so much!! And since I didn't have time to try making anything new for Valentine's Day. . . I decided to put a twist on a recipe that I know EVERYBODY loves!!

So it's really just a normal bread braid using the dinner roll recipe from previous posts, but instead of leaving it in a line-braid, I connected the ends and then pushed the middle in the make a heart shape. Easy, delicious, and PERFECT for Valentine's Day :)

This idea could be used for any holiday or just for fun! A four-leaf clover for March? Maybe an oval shape for Easter? even a Mickey head? This recipe is quite delicious in whatever shape you eat it!!

~Molly Marie

(the roll recipe can be found at Our Best Bites Seriously, check these guys out. Everything they make looks FANTASTIC!)

If you missed me, clap your hands! (can I get a *clap clap!)

2012-02-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

NEVER promise anything when it comes to blogs!!! That's my lesson for today. I promised you all a post about the Gingerbread War and I have put off writing because I've been waiting for pictures! So as a result, I didn't post AT ALL in January. I'm a terrible blogger. I should have at least posted about the delicious stuff I was making as I waited for pics. . . And guess what?? I still haven't gotten around to getting the pictures. So. Not only did I not post in January, I still haven't come through on a promise I made to you guys. So basically. . . I FAIL.

This is an apology post. No food. Which might be counter-productive lol. Apologizing always goes over easier with something tasty to accompany it. But, though I AM NOT making any promises. . . I will post a Valentine's food idea/treat soon!!

Thanks for those who are mad at me for not posting haha. It means you guys actually read my blog enough to want the next post!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and New Year! (Even is it was Molly-less lol)
~Molly Marie

Visions of Gingerbread

2011-12-21T23:17:00.000-08:00

Oh me gee! I seriously have been meaning to post a lot more frequently during this month!! There are so many fun fun fun fun fun things happening that I could honestly have something new to post about each day!! BUT that's kinda the problem! I am so busy there aren't enough hours in the day to blog like I want.

Since I'm pressed for time, I won't update you on the gingerbread wars quite yet. I want to do that justice...so. What I'm going to do, is tell you about the Christmas Spirit. A lesson I learned through this year's gingerbread house.

I, as you will know if you read previous posts, love gingerbread houses. They are FANTASTIC. And so, naturally, I was very much looking forward to making a crazy cool one for the gingerbread season! Alas. It was not to be. The visions of gingerbread beauty and gumdrops which danced in my head were not to be.

Though still a bit saddened at the outcome and truly trying to see the inclusion of my brothers as a wonderful family bonding time...I give you...

this year's gingerbread house.

She's a real beauty ain't she? Hold on, got some more pictures for you...

The fact that my brothers had such fun making the gingerbread house was really great. I'm happy when my family if happy. And honestly as far as family gingerbread houses go, this is a rather good one. Crazy, insane, and not aesthetically organized. . . but still good.

Jon is quite the decorator. And the wall he and Joe did is very. . . .colorful and Van Gogh like.

I guess I just wanted my gingerbread house to be a bit more. . .organized. And with a lack of the gingerbread man crime scene we ended up with. Classic boy's touch.

But I can say this. When I look back, I'll remember that this is really what Christmas is about. NOT the crime scene lol but the fun and loving aspect of the Christmas season. So I didn't get to have the perfect gingerbread house I was looking forward to. BUT for the past couple years no one really helped me with the decorating when I wanted them to. This year, Joe and Jon helped and had a lot of fun. That's more valuable than a good-looking gingerbread house and I'll take it!

Culprit still at large

As a side note...I went walking the Christmas lights!

Yes. Where I live we have the BEST Christmas lights! I just had to take a picture by a Super Mario Bros themed house. It was a must.

I hope to blog again before Sunday...but if I don't...

Have a Wonderful Christmas!! Remember that without Christ, there is no Christmas!!

~MollyMarie

Christmas Timeeeee

2011-12-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

Holy toledo and two gingersnaps!! Seriously December has been soooo crazy!!

The Gingerbread House War was last Friday. . . and boy was it STRESSFUL to put together!! But the results were FANTASTIC! Everyone seemed to have a ton of fun and we had a lot of people participate. I'll be putting up a post dedicated solely to the War so I won't say too much more about it, except that it went SO MUCH BETTER than I thought it was going to turn out!! :D

But other than that, I started doing "24 days of Fun" with Jon. Each day of December I'll make a little card-type-thing and have planned some fun craft or project to do together.

I found out my phone does this neat little collage shot. . . so i had to use it! lol. But so far there have been 14 Days of Fun and Jon is in the Christmas Spirit!

I on the other hand am still trying to get myself to feel the holiday cheer. I just finished my last final of the Fall 2011 semester!!!! So I'm headed in the right direction. I mean, honestly. This semester, 15 units of 500-level history courses was TOUGH!! The sheer number of books the professors required me to read. . . .INSANELY RIDICULOUS!!

After looking back at finals week: a 9pg paper, a 12 pg paper, 2 in class essay finals [cumulative], and a presentation. . . i realize I'm lucky to be alive!! haha

But now that school is over until January 18th, I can focus on CHRISTMAS!!! Gingerbread house here I comeeeee!! (haha told you I was addicted!!) I'm so excited for all the baking I get to do!

-gingersnaps
-peanut butter blossums
-russian snowballs
-gingerbread men
-sugar cookies
-snicker-doodles
-chocolate chip cookies
-almond rocha
-peanut brittle
-magic cookie squares
-rice crispies
-cinnamon crackles
and all the other regulars!!

Oooooh I think I'm getting the Christmas Spirit just thinking of all the baking!! :D

Cinnamon Tortoise Shell Muffins (DELICIOUS!)

just the beginning of my Christmas baking adventures

Sugar cookie decorating station

Me at the Tree Farm!

This'll be the BEST Christmas ever!! I'm sure of it!

Keep loving, keep living, keep baking!
~MollyMarie

Gingerbread House WAR!!

2011-11-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

I told you already. I'm addicted. Therefore I offer this next post with no apologies!! Especially since it's gingerbread season!

I organized a Gingerbread House War/ Competition. Girls versus Guys. . .yeah, a little unfair. . .but still extremely fun!

On Sunday, we (the girls) issued our Declaration of War. We set up a poster and set out some cookies. . .

Pre-plated (oh so cute!)

and plated (they looked great!!!)

Along with the cookies and poster we sent. . .

a written declaration

and the rule sheet...

The challenge was taken up with enthusiasm. The girls are getting WAY into it. We have some super cool planning ideas going on...the guys really don't stand a chance! haha :) But it should be an interesting fight. The guys seem pretty stoked as well and I've heard some talk that since "canons" and not "cannons" were included in the restricted items...that there will be some actual weaponry. It's gonna get INTENSE!!

I can't wait until the 9th!! I'll post pictures and results. Too excited to contain myself!!!!

Life's the GREATEST!
~MollyMarie

Day After the Feast

2011-11-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

All went well! My rolls were received with much love and the meal was FANTASTIC!!! I found a new adoration for sweet potatoes, I found out that just because my stomach couldn't fit anymore turkey or stuffing didn't mean that cookies and pie could not be consumed, and I found that even when your pants no longer fit your waist. . . one can still be quite content.

My Aunt decorated the house so cute and being around family was seriously the best! The food was aplenty the football was a playin and we skyped with family from Idaho. . .which included my sister this year!! Since she's up in Idaho for school (I know, poor poor child lol) she spent the holiday with my cousins. I really do miss her (but shhh. don't let her know! haha). AND Uncle Danny and Aunt Rachel skyped from Australia! They're doing swell and are coming over to the States soon to spend Christmas with us!

Speaking of Christmas. . . . . . .

It's officially the season!! We started decorating!!

Christmas Oh Christmas. The best time of year.

The piano is one of my FAVORITE things about our house. . . and come Christmas, I love it even more!! :)

An awkward angle. . . but the houses really look cute! Go Mom for your creativity! The house looks great so far!!!

Life is just the bees knees! And come December 1st, Jon and I are starting the 24 Days of Fun! Each day we will make a craft, make a treat, or do something special (like playing at the Christmas tree farm.. . yeah you read right! There's a Christmas tree farm by our house!). It'll be very memorable for Jon and for me. . .and as he grows up I want him to have those good memories of his sister! :)

I'll keep you all updated on the crafts and awesome Christmas shenanigans happening throughout the month. . . so just stay tuned!!

Keep Happy!!
~MollyMarie

THANKSGIVING!!! the day of reckoning...

2011-11-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving FINALLY came!!

Last night was spent in the kitchen...and I mean ALL last night...AND ALL yesterday morning...or as I so intelligently called it a few days ago "last morning." (Yeah. I got teased for that one! But the more I think about it...the less wrong it sounds lol. I may just go with it haha.)

As you may have guessed. . . . I didn't go to Magic Mountain. My responsible side won out. But I'm glad I chose to stay home. Not only did I finish the rolls, which turned out splendidly, I went to class, which was super good because even though the teacher said that not coming wouldn't penalize people. . . we ended up learning A LOT! I'm pretty sure that if I had missed, I would have come to class Monday and been completely and utterly lost. BUT I went and so I'll be great and good on Monday :) Also. I ended up making cookies!! Peanut butter for my Mom and sugar cookies for Thanksgiving night.

ADORABLE right?!? haha follow the link to see where I originally got the idea! Only thing I changed is due to laziness! Instead of using icing for the beak and feet and M&Ms for the eyes. . .I just stuck a candy corn on for the beak and used some leftover candy from my gingerbread kit for the eyes. It doesn't look quite as good as the original, but I'm still pretty happy with them!
http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/2009/10/thanksgiving-treats.html

Yeah check out my other post
for the recipe and better pics!
nutty for my peanut butter

BUT I KNOW THAT YOU ARE WONDERING ABOUT. . . . . . THE ROLLS!!!!

Well. Here they are :) My babies. . . .

There are sooooo many. I think I've made my quota of rolls for the next decade!! lol. But I did enjoy perfecting my own roll recipe!

Only a few of the batches...

They LOOK SO GOOOOOOOD!!!! And they taste even BETTER!!! Huurrraaaahhh for perserverance and hardwork! Go Me...and of course all those who helped me succeed!

We'll see how it goes!!
MollyMarie

PS: I wrote this BEFORE our Thanksgiving Feast...But IT WENT SPECTACULAR!! My next post will include comment on people's reactions and on just Thanksgiving stuff :D

Thanksgiving Fast Approaches

2011-11-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

The big day is almost here!!! Aaaaaaaaand life has just put me in a crunch : / While my siblings get the week off for the holiday, I have school until the bitter end. School on Thanksgiving Eve!! SO UNFAIRRRRR!!! I had hoped my teacher would be really nice and graciously cancel class. . . I found out today that he was not as great as I had originally thought. I mean really?? Doesn't my teacher want an extra day of break?? I kow I would! I had super hoped class would be cancelled. Not only just for Thanksgiving Eve. . . but because a group of my friends planned a Six Flags trip that day. I LOVE 6FLAGS! I WANT TO GOOO!!!! But missing a 500level college course isn't the most ideal thing to do. . . So now I have to decide whether or not to be responsible. . . bleck. BUT on top of that:

The Rolls

When would I have time to make my rolls? It's an all day thing for me to make just one batch. . . but to make multiple batches to have enough for our Thanksgiving feast. . . it's gonna be crazzzieee. If I went to class like a good child, I'd have to make the rolls in the afternoon and into the night. Deciding to go to Six Flags means I decide to make the rolls into the wee hours of the night. . . after walking all day and wearing myself out. People are counting on my rolls. I'd have to REALLY commit to staying up if I did go, even if I felt like my feet were going to fall off and my brain slip out through my ear holes. Blah de blah humm. What to do. I have no clue.

BUT. On a different topic.

From the Front

I finished my gingerbread holiday house! :D

Scarecrow?
(my mother informed me
it looked like a sheep...ah well)

Haha! My TootsieRoll Turkey!

The Back Yard

only pure talent lets you make a car out of mini 3muskuteers, milkyways, and gum drops!

and the final touch : Melt chocolate chips with peanut butter and then GLOP IT on the roof!!

Holiday Houses!

2011-11-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

I AM ADDICTED. Not only to peanut butter, sugar, and singing at the top of my lungs when no one is around . . . yeah, don't judge haha. . . .but I also am quite thoroughly addicted to making holiday houses. Holiday houses as in gingerbread houses and their knock-offs. What are these knock-offs, you ask. They are the other types of bread houses used to create gingerbread house look alikes for other holidays.

FOR EXAMPLE. . .
Halloween:
chocolate bread house.
Thanksgiving:
chocolate bread house (an adapted version of the Halloween kit which I got on sale for $2.50. Score. . . cuz i would have bought it at full price lol. Mwhahaha! They lost potential money!!! ha. . . . .ok I'm done being awkward)
Other holidays:
I plan on buying extra christmas gingerbread house kits for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. . .but the other holidays. . . I might end up making from scratch. . . addictions are addicting, so i will definitely, maybe end up going all out on these things!! haha

Over the years I have made many a house . Christmas and Halloween are the main ones . But this year, my Thanksgiving house is looking mighty legit!!

Holiday House: Thanksgiving (incomplete)

Ain't it just lookin prime?? Haha. A mixture of cereal, leftover Halloween candy and candy that came with the kit, this house is my most creative!! See the car on the left?? Milkyway body, gum drop wheels, piece of cap'n crunch for the front fender thing (believe it or not I'm not a car person and don't know everything!! lol), and a mini 3musketeer for the top part. I'm cool, I know.

I'll definitely post more pictures once I've completed it!!

Here's my Halloween House project! I did a lot of it with Jon so it's pretty darn awesome and a bag and a half of extraordinary!!

He's a master! Such Concentration!

that's a spiderweb on the back. Jon threw (literally!) green-colored sugar on it to put in a "haunting effect."

i love the candycorn walkway...it's sooo pretty!

haha...those are sugar cookies in the back. Thing about me is that I have to be working on multiple projects at the same time or my life is just not crazy enough! Aaaaand, I forgot to take a picture of the end product of the cookies : / but they were suuuuuperrrrr cute and went suuuuuperrrr fast!

I just LOVE making these houses! Can't wait to be able to work more on the Thanksgiving House! ALSO! Watch out for my post with the legit Christmas gingerbread houses!! They're gonna be great!

Stay Happy. Feed your Tastebuds.
~MollyMarie

....... No. Way :O

2011-11-10T23:39:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe it. And you won't either. Which is why I'm posting pics.

Ready?

Jordan made cookies.

I KNOW! It's unbelievable. He made some chocolate chip cookies and I have to admit. . . the kid is a natural. They were perfect. Am I jealous? Eh. Only when my mom said "these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!" implying that the countless times that I made them didn't measure up. So maybe just a tad jealous lol. But not nearly enough to kick him out of the kitchen haha. Benefits of someone else making the sweets far outweighs the negatives!

Jordan is in a cooking class this semster, and he is really getting into it! They don't actually start cooking/baking until next week...but after his teacher's chocolate chip cookies demonstration. . . the first thing he wanted to do upon reaching home was to bake. Wow. That teacher is good.

The picture quality is no bueno...but these cookies really were delicious!

Such a stud! I mean seriously. Bieber hair AND cookies?? Pretty irresistable ;)

He is going to make some girl very happy!

~MollyMarie

Oh my GOODNESS!!

2011-11-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

HEY!!! GUESS WHAT???????

I re-tried Danny's Dinner Rolls!. . . . . . . . . . . .AND. . . . . . . . . . . .the recipe WORKED! Haha. Apparently, someone wrote the recipe down wrong. Too much salt. So now, my lovely blog readers, I can make Danny's Dinner Rolls. I am not going to sugar coat the raisin too much, so I have to say, I actually like my new roll recipe better. . . but these are still so very very delicious.

Eh. The phone camera doesn't capture the full essence of the magnificence of these beautiful rolls. . . . . . .I think I'm going to invest in an actual camera! The food must look as good as it tastes!

So. Even though Danny's Dinner Rolls won a whopping three times. . . . I emerged VICTORIOUS!!! :D

Keep living, keep loving, keep baking!

~MollyMarie