Simple Yet Gourmet

While I love my Scrumptious Sugar Cookie frosting , Royal Icing is the way to go for decorated cookies that harden enough to stack and package. It definitely takes more time and patience, but the end result is so satisfying! You can make such fun cookies without having to worry about the frosting coming off.  Royal Icing can get super hard, and while this is perfect for building Gingerbread Houses, it’s not so great when you want to actually eat the cookie. Not to worry though- adding in a little corn syrup helps the icing dry firm without being overly hard.  I also like to add in my favorite butter vanilla emulsion to make the icing extra yummy, cause at the end of the day it’s not enough to just look pretty!  There are a few different ways to make Royal Icing. My favorite method is using Meringue Powder. If you can’t find this or don’t want to buy it, you can use egg whites instead. Or, if you’re in a pinch you can make some with just powdered sugar and water. You can f...

Easter Egg Cake Balls are such a fun little treat! With a Robin Egg blue coating, they just scream Spring and new beginnings.  Cake balls have been around for awhile now, but in case you're not familiar with them, they are just cake crumbs mixed together with frosting and formed into balls (or in this case eggs), and then dipped into chocolate or candy melts.  I used up some leftover vanilla cake and strawberry buttercream I had in the freezer and they turned out so delicious!  However, any flavor of cake and/or frosting can be used to make these, so don't feel like to have to make the same exact ones I did.  That being said, these Strawberry Vanilla Eggs turned out so yummy! The Vanilla cake crumbs were moist and buttery, and the strawberry frosting is scrumptious so I knew this combo would be a winner.  I loved the color of the Candy Melts I used as well, and the malt flavor was a nice addition to the overall taste.   I'm including instructions both ...

Sugar cookies are one of my favorite things to make with the kids! It's tradition to make them for a few different Holidays including Valentine's Day. While decorating is the usually the main purpose in making these, over the years I have tweaked the cookie recipe and frosting to make them absolutely scrumptious as well! So much yummier that buying a store-bought mix and canned frosting.  I would even be so bold as to say I think they are every bit as good, if not better, than Swig and Crumble! Give them a try and see if you agree.   My Scrumptious Sugar Cookie Frosting is an ultra creamy, cream cheese frosting with a few extra additions that put it over the top! Sour Cream adds to the creaminess and takes the sweetness down a notch.  The frosting is still plenty sweet but not sickeningly so.  Butter Vanilla Emulsion is my other secret weapon that really elevates the flavor of this frosting! It can be found on Amazon, or in a craft store like Michaels,  but...

I haven't made cupcakes in so long! When Valentine's Day was right around the corner I decided that I wanted to make some cupcakes to send into work with Aaron.  Just for fun! It seems like in the past I've always done some sort of chocolate so this year I decided to mix it up with a fruity frosting.  It ended up being amazing! I came across the idea of using Freeze Dried Strawberries for the flavor and it worked like a charm. The frosting is bursting with strawberry flavor, but without the moisture, and I even got this beautiful color to boot!  Although I made these for Valentine's Day, I'm thinking they would be perfect for Spring/Summer.  I paired these with some lemon cupcakes but they would be delicious with a variety of cakes.

A few months ago we celebrated my husband's birthday.  Last year all he wanted for his birthday were his beloved chocolate chip cookies, but this year he said I could surprise him.  I had a lot of fun looking up different cakes and trying to find the perfect one for him.  Aaron loves chocolate but doesn't like it to be too rich so this Oreo cake seemed like the perfect solution.  The cake itself is fudgy and studded with chocolate chips, but the frosting is light and not as sweet as most.  It's still plenty sweet, especially with the Oreo chunks in it, just not sickeningly sweet.  I had my doubts about this frosting seeing as it starts out with a flour base (what?) but I was really pleased with the outcome.  Overall, this cake was really fun to make and we all loved it!

For Brynlee's 5th birthday (I still can't believe I have a 5 year old!) she wanted an actual cake. I've gotten away with just doing cupcakes up to this point but no longer. So after throwing out several ideas she decided on this one. I'll admit, I wasn't too disappointed :). She is definitely a girl after my own heart. For the cake I chose a classic chocolate layer cake with the chocolate frosting from the Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes . After frosting the cake we just stuck the whoppers on. So easy but oh my gosh, so GOOD!! Extremely rich and fudgy. I could only handle a small sliver at a time, but you better believe we were slicing pieces off for the entire next week. It was that  good.

Don't you just love the color of this frosting?  So beautiful! It reminds me of Spring. Anyway, when I decided to make these cupcakes,  I was going to just make the Luscious Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream and then I remembered I had leftover raspberry syrup in the fridge and decided to throw that in too.  Worked like a charm and we got this color to boot!  I am typically not a fan of buttercream but I actually did like the taste of this one, and you really can't beat buttercream for piping frosting.  It holds it shape and stays soft for days!

Today we celebrated Brynlee's 4th Birthday!!  I wanted to make her something extra special for her cake, so I made a batch of these butterfly cupcakes.  You can use any type of cupcakes and frosting that you like, as long as the frosting is thick (in order to hold the wings in place).  Brynlee requested strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, so that's what we had.  I made the   Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake s from a few weeks ago and the Cream Cheese Frosting  from   the Lindt Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes.    For the Butterfiles, I followed the instructions found in the book Hello Cupcake  for Monarchs.  Brynlee loved these and thought they were so beautiful!  Perfect for a spring birthday.

Okay, so I felt like you guys needed a little dessert this week so here is Mike's new favorite cinnamon roll recipe.  I will have to agree with him on this one, these are the best rolls I have made yet.  I have seen this recipe all over the place, but never cared to try them because I like my own recipe.  But I was feeling a little bored with my recipes and decided to give this one a try.  You actually make pudding and add it to the dough, which makes is extremely soft and pliable.  Now you have a soft, moist roll covered in cream cheese goodness, what more can you ask for in life!  I'm glad I was bored!   Enjoy. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture with the frosting on them, but they were yummy!)

For Tyler's birthday this year I tried a new frosting recipe. Most frosting is heavy and very sweet. This recipe is light in texture and just the right sweetness. It would be great for those Halloween Sugar Cookies! This frosting takes some advance planning since the frosting needs time to cool so plan ahead!