Tie Dye Birthday Cupcakes

Hello again, everyone!  It's Tuesday again, and as some of you know, my daughter's 4th birthday was this past Sunday, and her birthday celebration at school is tomorrow, so, I made up some surprise tie dye cupcakes that I think the kids are going to love!

These cupcakes are made using a white cake mix, because I just didn't feel like making a batter from scratch, and cake mixes come together so quickly!

Chocolate surprise cake

Hello, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  I'm not sure if you were are, but this weekend is Valentine's Day!  Surprise cakes are all the rage right now, and the best part is, they're exceptionally easy to do!  This is a lovely chocolate cake with a perfect little heart in the middle; this can be done with any shape, and any flavor, of course; however, with the upcoming holiday, I figured a heart would be the best way to go.

Flourless chocolate cake

Okay, okay, confession time!  I wasn't going for a flourless chocolate cake, I was working on a chocolate souffle.  This is a beautiful cake that did rise, but since I don't have a true souffle dish, it didn't rise as much as I would have liked.  The rest of the cake did preform like a traditional souffle, so I really can't complain too much!  

Souffles get a really bad reputation, people say that they are too fragile, easily fall, and are too difficult to make all around.  The only thing that is remotely true is that they easily fall, but really, that's only as they cool.  You don't have to walk around on egg shells as they bake, and all it takes is a souffle dish, and some very basic know-how, and you have a beautiful dish that people will be astounded that you made.  At home.  By yourself.  And, if you're like me, and don't have a traditional souffle dish, you can just call it a "flourless chocolate cake", and it is still impressive!

Banana Pudding Cake

Hi.  I have something that I need to admit.  I love baking cakes.  I may have mentioned this here in my Chocolate lavender cake, and here in my Nana's carrot cake  They are so much fun!  Once you have the base recipe down, you can change things up any way you want!  A couple of weeks ago, my sister tagged me on Facebook about a banana pudding cake, and, as a good Southern girl, I knew this had to be in my life.  

Marshmallow Fondant

Okay, this is the third (and final) installment of my mini series on my Chocolate Lavender cake how-to!  I broke this up into three posts, because each of these items on their own would be great!  Or mix and match for an entirely different taste!  Do a store bought frosting on the cake, or use the Earl Grey buttercream frosting on a different cake (a spice cake would be lovely!), and this marshmallow fondant would be great on any cake, cupcake, or even cookie!

Earl Grey Buttercream Frosting

Alrighty, today we're going to continue with our cake building posts, picking up from baking our chocolate lavender cake!  We're going to make a really lovely, smooth Earl Grey buttercream frosting!  This frosting would pair beautifully with any cake, really, and while there are a few steps to it, it is pretty easy (especially if you've made any of these ice creams, like my Brown sugar peach ice cream or Caramel ice cream....the process of making the base is the same!)  Are you ready to get started??  Let's go!

Chocolate Lavender Cake

Okay, I've been on a bit of a lavender kick lately.  First, I made lavender tea scones, and figured since I had so much lavender leftover, I would make a chocolate lavender cake!  I also figured I would go ahead and post it, since the coupon code so generously given to me from Herbs & Everlastings, for 10% off of your total order of $5 or more (not counting shipping), good through 9/30/2014, so if you need to get some lavender, this is a great place to get some, and you may as well use the coupon code and get a discount!
This chocolate cake is so moist, and decadent!  It is rather time consuming, but its really not too bad!  This cake process I'm going to break up into three segments, because there are quite a few steps.

Nana's Carrot Cake

I love cake.  Who doesn't?  However, I don't make cake all that often, mainly because my husband is very particular about desserts.  There are only a couple of desserts that he likes to eat, and goodness knows I don't need a whole cake staring at me after I bake it, begging me to eat it.  Normally, when I get a hankering for cake, I just go to the store and buy a slice.  And it makes me sad.  So, since today is my sister's birthday (happy birthday, Laura!), I'm going to make THE birthday cake that my family uses.