This cake, exploding with sprinkles has been declared, by my son, "The BEST Birthday Cake Ever!" And I have to tell you that it actually isn't all that hard to make. A little putsy, but not hard.

What You Need:
3- 6" chocolate cakes
  - I used a boxed mix and doctored it, but you could also do my scratch chocolate cake. You basically want three 6" round by 2" tall cakes.
4-6 cups icing
  - I made Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing by adding an extra 1/2-3/4 tsp. of salt to my Caramel Buttercream Recipe.
2-3 cups mixed sprinkles
  - I bought 4 bottles of sprinkles, of varying shapes, sizes and types, and combined them in a jar to mix well. (You can buy "unicorn mix," but they are usually pastel, and 13-year-old boys don't love pastel.)

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My children are spoiled. Every time they return from any kind of trip -- camping, time with their grandparents, etc. -- they expect a new treat. I oblige. This time... homemade ice cream sandwiches made with peanut butter cookies, store-bought ice cream and mini chocolate chips. They were actually not that hard to make, considering how amazingly yummy they were!!

What You Need:
For the Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter

2-3 cups Store-bought or homemade ice cream
1-2 cups mini chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, rainbow sprinkles, mini m&ms, etc.

Yield: 5-6 2-3" ice cream sandwiches
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Baseball season is coming to an end... yet again.
This year, I decided to make some jersey cookies for my boys and their teammates.

The same weekend, my kiddos came back from Boy Scout camp. So, I made them some Scout Uniform Shirt cookies, as well.

I made all of these cookies using my favorite Chocolate Cookie Recipe and Royal Icing.

I made the t-shirt shape using a onesie cookie cutter that I purchased for a baby shower a few years ago, and just cut off the bottom part.
My photos for this post are lacking, I'm sorry about that. But the raspberry curd was perfect for a special cake I made for my director's retirement cake.

It is perfectly tart, rich, and maybe most fantastic, it's raspberry-- without the seeds!

What You Need:
12 oz. frozen raspberries, defrosted (or fresh)
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
2  Tbsp. lemon juice
7 egg yolks

Yield: 2 1/2 cups
adapted from Good Life Eats. (I wanted it to be thicker than the batch I made following her recipe, so I increased the butter and egg.)


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This Mother's Day weekend, I get the pleasure of spending my special day at a baseball tournament. So, I decided to make some "Baseball Flowers" for myself and the other Baseball Moms. I wish I'd had better flower cookie cutters, but these will do.

(I also did make a dozen regular baseballs for the players because, well, I want the moms to actually get to eat their cookies.)

If you're interested in making something similar... here are recipes and tutorials:
Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Royal Icing Recipe
Baseball Cookies

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Momma's out there!