Beautiful Disaster

Ok, first off I would like to thank those that participated in my giveaway. And the winner is .....
Allyson Baird!! Just send me and e-mail with you info Allyson and I will send you your fun prizes!! Now on to today's recipe. So I was trying out a Paula Deen recipe for banana cake when I realized I had messed it up and put some of the frosting ingredients into the cake batter. After that I put the recipe away and threw a few more things in hoping for the best. Well, what I thought would be a disaster turned out mighty tasty and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. That is one thing I love about baking is you can throw in a little of this and that and make it your own. Now go out and make a beautiful disaster too!

Banana Cupcakes

3/4 Cup butter

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

3 Eggs

2 Cups Mashed Bananas

1 tsp Vanilla

2 1/4 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 Box Vanilla instant pudding (dry powder)

Mix until well combined. Scoop into cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting. Makes 24 cupcakes.

GIVEAWAY!!

WOO HOO! I finally got to my giveaway! So let me tell you about these things I will be sharing with one of you. The first is a set of Americolor gel food coloring. These are my absolute favorite. You can get a true red, black, or any color you need for that matter. The second is one of my favorite sprinkles to use. They are mini chocolate chips that are rainbow coated. They are bright, crunchy, and chocolaty. What more do you need?! So how do you get them? First sign up as a follower to my blog. Next leave a comment telling me what your favorite treat is and why (favorite ingredient or memory attached to it etc.) I will take your entries until Sat. April 24Th at 12:00 pm mountain time. Good Luck!!
* One entry per person and must be a resident of the United States to enter.

Harry Potter Cake!

Ok, I promise the giveaway is still coming, I just had to post this cake because it is sooo cute! I fell in love with this cake more and more as I worked on it. It is a simplified Hogwarts castle with Hedwig, Harry and a Dragon. It was really cool too, because I was able to achieve the brick look on the cake but only use buttercream frosting. I did sparkles on the name plate to make it look magical. Even the rocks around the edge were edible. This cake came together like MAGIC!!

Mr. Potter

I loved doing the flames coming out of his mouth!!

The little owl was cute too!

Spring Break Cake!

Happy Spring Break to all! We have been enjoying a week off and thankfully the snow that we started the week with is now gone. So I promised a recipe from my Mom and it is sure to be a hit. This recipe is simple, easy, quick and delicious!! The flavors are also refreshing after finishing a winter of heavy food. Give it a try and make your spring break even more SWEET!
By the way, stay posted for my very first GIVEAWAY!!!

Spring Break Cake
1 Pkg. White Cake mix
1 (8oz) Pkg. Cream Cheese (softened)
1 Large can crushed Pineapple (drained)
1 Small pkg. dry instant french vanilla pudding
1 (8 oz.) Container Cool Whip
Coconut (optional)

Prepare cake mix as directed on box and pour into a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until set in the center. Set aside to cool. In a bowl mix cream cheese and pineapple. Sprinkle in the dry pudding powder and stir in the cool whip. Once the cake it cool spread with topping. If you want a different flavor you can top it with coconut. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Hoppy Easter

Hello! Long time no post. Please forgive me. We have felt a bit under the weather for a while, but we are back up and running just in time for Easter. Since I left you all hanging for a while, I thought I would post two Easter ideas together to make up for it. For weeks, I have seen these chocolate eggs all over the place. You know, the ones you can buy and then they put someone's name on it for you. Can you believe how much they charge for these? It is crazy. So, I have three flavors you can make quickly, affordably, and personally for all your little honey bunnies. Have a wonderful Easter and come back soon. I have a spring cake recipe that will knock your socks off!! (It's from my Mom, so you know it'll be good!)

The large egg in this picture is filled with homemade marshmallow. You may remember that recipe from a Christmas post at http://rebeccassweetescapes.blogspot.com/2009/12/marshmallow-mania.html. I just made the same recipe and then cut out my eggs with a egg shaped cookie cutter. I sprayed the pan with Pam first so they would come out easily. THen I just refrigerated them until they were cool and covered them in melted chocolate. (Tip: Add a little bit of shortening to your chocolate chips when you melt them and it will coat your eggs thinner and more smoothly.)

The smaller eggs are my Oreo truffle recipe also from Christmas but formed as eggs. Here is the link: http://rebeccassweetescapes.blogspot.com/2009/12/cookie-dough-truffles.html.

The last flavor is peanut butter, which is definitely a favorite of mine. The only difference between these and the ones you get at the store is that you can make these as big as you want!!

Here is the simple recipe for those! (This recipe is from a Paula Deen Magazine from a few years ago.)

Peanut Butter Eggs

1/4 Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Butter

3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

Melt butter and brown sugar in the microwave until brown sugar is dissolved. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate until set. Shape into eggs and cover in melted chocolate.

One last tip: I use frosting to decorate and put names on these. Melted chocolate would be too hard to control.

Obviously, Dad's didn't last that long, but boy did he like the marshmallow!!

Easter Egg Pancakes

Ok, this is my other simple idea and the kids will love it! We love pancakes for dinner any day and if you are having any type of Easter breakfast or brunch you must add these to the menu.

All I did was make my favorite pancake recipe (a mix is great too) then I tinted some colors and poured them into these Wilton squeeze bottles. (You can find them at any craft store.)

Then we cooked them up in any design you want. They are tasty and adorable.