My sista from anotha mista (or, freaky motha focka)

It all started with this...


which turned into this:




This seemed to be the next logical step....



And, I thought this worked too....



pause for some metal working....
then I added some magic:







SEVEN hours later, a half hour LATE to the party :( I got to share it with my Bestie!



Yes, I blocked out faces. But I realize not everyone wants to be 'out there' and since I don't have permission from either person in the photo besides myself, I felt it was the appropriate thing to do. But, can you see the cake in the background? It made my bestie smile. Promise!
ugh, and now you know how short Sweet Sandy B. really is. Yeah, I'm hobbit sized. lol

Happy Birthday my friend! My sista from anotha mista (seriously, do people say these things? guess so, I just did...)

Dear Blog, I've been missing you!

A week away from my manifesto and I have been missing it so...
I have a lot of random thoughts that I'll put in the other normal spot- go look! But, have some quick pictures to get up here.

FIRST, here is a little tease of my bestie's 30th birthday cake:



My camera is M.I.A. and it has the real deal pictures of this cake. Silly Rebel, where did you run off to??

This was a BIG cake. Bottom tier was chocolate banana cake and banana cake w/ a malted chocolate ganache. Middle tier was ALL yellow cake w/ chocolate frosting (Bestie's FAV), and top tier was chocolate and yellow cake with the chocolate frosting.
All covered in Swiss Buttercream frosting and fondant designs. The top decoration was wire with beads on the end.

I drew up the design on a 'break' from my class last week, and got giddy excited to make it. It took quite a bit longer than anticipated- I felt REALLY out of practice, I haven't done a cake in a while... wait... scratch that-I DID make a cake last Tuesday! Yipes, how did I forget!? I had the FAIL with frosting. oooh, more on that in a hot minute...

You know how some people remind you of a color? (lol, remember the move Baby Mama where Amy Poehler says your aura has a color? wow I love that movie). So, my bestie's color is yellow. I don't know why- I think or brighty, sunshine-y yellow when I imagine her 'aura'. So that's how the color theme came about- sunrise colors.

Now, back to the frosting fail. We had a brief spring warm up last week. We got to EIGHTY on Thursday, and starting Tuesday afternoon/evening the house started to warm up. I didn't think it was that warm, but as I was making the buttercream I noticed it wasn't setting up like it normally does. Something was AMISS! But I kept whipping it and slowly it cooperated. hmph... I didn't give it too much thought.
THEN I started to frost the cake (I don't have pictures of this cake EITHER, as it's on the pesky little missing Rebel)... the dirty frost went on ok... It was a chocolate cake which I don't like frosting because it's so messy. But, it seemed to be going ok, and I put it in the fridge to set up.
queue music as I take a break to go and pack for my class for the rest of the week...
I come back downstairs, take the cake out and start to do the second layer of frosting.
THE FROSTING WOULDN"T STICK TO THE CAKE. It became too warm, the house was too warm, it didn't want to cooperate. I freaked out. I thought I did something wrong w/ the frosting. I took a big spoonfull and tasted it. It seemed fine, what was going on?!

I feel bad admitting, I seriously gave up on this cake. We got in a fight, the cake won. I did what I could, but I was in a rush to get it delivered- no excuse, I realize. But it wasn't my best work and not until I was packing it up did it all dawn on me that the temperature in the house played a huge role in the cake fail.

I totally blocked that from my mind. weird.

OK, wait here is something good to end on until I get the Rebel back and can post pictures of the Bestie Birthday cake:




Libby, I <3 you!! Didn't she do a great job? She is the cutest pregnant person I have ever been around, she was so sweet and I can't wait to do more business with her. We are crafting up an evil genius plan to help promote each other, and frankly- the idea is SWEET. PLEASE, go check her out: Elizabeth K Photography and become her fan.

All in a days work...

Saturday a.m. I turned the oven on, oh, around 8:30 a.m. It didn't get shut off until about 7 p.m.... It was one of those days.

I was running out of cake and I have two cakes to deliver this week so I figured I'd get those going. And I also had some requests for cookies, so I figured I'll just do it today- you know, get some dough made, whip up a few cakes. Well, a few turned into THIRTEEN, six batches of cookie dough, one tray of chocolate chip cookie dough brownies and a loaf of banana bread.
I'm now wondering about my sanity...

Friday night was a good night at home w/ the kiddies- we had a chill dinner, watched some Yo Gabba Gabba and bed time was pretty easy. Played some Rock Band and avoided blisters (thank GOD!) and went to sleep at a fairly reasonable time. I woke up on Saturday a.m. to find my little #1 fast asleep next to me in bed. It melted this mama's heart. He looks so sweet when he sleeps, so calm and quiet... the calm before the storm. I cherish his sleeping moments when he is still my sweet little baby boy. :)

but then he wakes up and the chaos ensues! He is ALL boy and I love it... He even helped me mix some cookie dough! mostly because he wanted to eat the dough, but still!
SO- the six batches of dough ready for the fridge for a cool down....



Mooch decides to get in on the kitchen action and wants to help me by cleaning out the tupperware drawer...


and leaves this in her wake....


Time to go outside I think! I put the banana bread in the oven and we went for a bike ride/walk. #1 has a Like-A-Bike and he is amazing on it. Have you heard of these before?? They rock! Balance bikes are such a neat idea and I love that he gets to zoom around on it like a 'big boy' and also prepares for other activities that require a lot of balance- i.e. skateboarding, snowboarding! :)


We come back, eat some lunch, and take naps. Let me clarify, MOOCH took a nap. #1 negotiated his way OUT of a nap and I therefore didn't get much cake baking done. But, we managed... and somehow ended up with THIS:



and then, after a good chill in the fridge I baked all six batches of cookies. I found boxes to ship them in and wrapped them up... Here they are ready to go



These cookies are making their way to California, Georgia and various places in Michigan. the thought makes me smile, but I'm nervous about how well they will travel. I hope they taste delicious upon arrival, as good as they do now... I hope to get feedback from the recipients..
AND, hey- if you didn't get a sample of Sweet Sandy B goodness, it's not too late! Send me an email and I'll see what I can do..

I won't be baking much this week- I have a really REALLY big day tomorrow and then I'm going to be in class for work the rest of the week.
If you get a chance, keep me in your thoughts. Tomorrow, the rest of my life changes.

more carrot caking

I can't get enough... I'm addicted... and have 5lbs of carrots still in my fridge.
I ran to the store to buy more pecans and decided to turn this third batch into cupcakes...

Here is the batter in the mixer. (this is not a shameless plug for a kitchen-aid) but seriously, if you don't have one- go get one. I love it and want another...



I've been traumatized by my bundt cake experience so I've been overdoing the greasing and flouring lately. I sprayed Pam in each of the cupcake cups before I baked... that's why they look greasy, but this cake really isn't greasy... it's actually pretty decent for you...



It's the frosting you gotta worry about! yum yum... it doesn't look so pretty in a cupcake form, but it tastes darn good.



and these are coming to work tomorrow for a happy end to the work week. I think I deserve an award for best co-worker... Just sayin'

Beautiful Failure (aka GET READY part II)

Yesterday I talked about my epic FAIL of a pound cake and promised you the story... Here it is in all of it's gruesome glory.
The recipe name is what got me- it stated that it was THE BEST pound cake you had ever had. It also had some interesting secret ingredients and I became more intrigued. It also required the use of a Bundt pan..I was hooked- this recipe was going down.
I never ever use my Bundt pan, ever... I actually can't think of a time I have used it since I received it five years ago... I've shied away from it because I've had issues in the past with my mini bundt pans and getting the cake to come out cleanly. But this recipe sounded good, it had secret ingredients and required the never used Bundt pan. I was scared, I'll admit. But, this is an adventure so I felt I should be brave and what the heck?

I followed the instructions to a T. In the recipe it states "grease your Bundt pan". I greased. I greased a lot. In fact, I think I over greased! Not anywhere did it say "grease and flour". Just "grease". So, I didn't flour.

I went for a run and left instructions w/ Nanny J to pull it out of the oven when the timer went off if it wasn't 'jiggly'. Let me tell you about Nanny J- she has 6 kids and lives on a farm. The woman knows how to bake better than I can ever dream of. I'm embarassed when I bake around her because she probably is mocking me internally. But she is so sweet and kind she would never criticize me. She just won't eat what I bake! lol.. One day I will have to tell you all about her, because you will be amazed I found this gem of a woman and you will try to steal her from me. But, she's loyal! she won't leave. So try as you may, you won't succeed. So there!

anyhow, I come home and the cake is on the counter turned upside down still in the Bundt pan on top of a cooling rack. The recipe had indicated that the cake would 'plop' out of the pan, easy-peasy. With excited anticipation, I go to lift the pan and am surprised AND DISMAYED that the cake doesn't budge. It didn't plop and it's not moving at all. I look at the cake with disbelief- WHAT is going on? I GREASED!

My evil genius mind gets going and I proceed to BANG the pan on the counter top on all sides in hopes of releasing the suction like grip. Nothing...I'm about to reach for a knife to help loosen it, but think, I'll just bang a little longer. (GET your minds OUT OF THE GUTTER NOW!) It seemed to work, I turn it over onto the cooling rack and this is what happens:


FAIL, FAIL and FAIL. half the cake in the pan, half the cake crumbled onto the rack. stupid cake. stupid pan. stupid grease without flour.

what am I going to do? I despise throwing away treats. Hate it. It still tastes good, it just doesn't look good. *SIGH...sad...

I stared at the crumbled cake. For a good long time I stared, in a standoff with this failure of a cake. Mad that I didn't flour the pan like I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE and mad that the recipe didn't explicitly say "grease and flour". And mad that I failed AGAIN with a Bundt pan. insert explitives here.... *cleansing SIGH...
Then I got my camera and took some pictures... because along with the good I have to share my failures so we can all learn... As I was snapping away, I thought about my proverbial sack of lemons and making lemon bars and realized I could still use the cake and no one would know it was a failure.
I can make strawberry shortcake!
AND!!!!!! and, I have a freaking Trifle Dish. how many people do you know have a Trifle Dish? This is too perfect! I just had to remove all of the sea shells I had in it, wash it out and use it for it's intended purpose...

I got excited- I was turning my FAIL into something awesome. Here is what I did:

put pieces of the failed cake into the dish:


top with a layer of strawberries and fresh whipped cream (2 batches whipped cream = 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 10 teaspoons of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, chill mixing bowl and whip attachment in freezer for half hour, then pour all ingredients into bowl and whip on high until soft/stiff peaks form) and, don't leave it unattended because you might walk up on this....





then repeat layers until you get to the top











And there you go. That my friends is how you turn an epic fail into something beautiful.

carrots are veggies and veggies are good for you.. carrot cake is better though

To celebrate the Spring and Easter I wanted to make Carrot Cake. And my trusty ol' Pioneer Woman, Ree had a recipe that seemed easy. She also used the word "faint" in the description and I'm all about fainting as a result of good food.
My intent was to make it for the family I was spending Easter afternoon with (my Bestie's family), but that didn't happen. SO I had this HUGE sack of carrots and a handful of packages of cream cheese that I still needed to use on Monday. I didn't have a choice in the matter- this cake was going to be made.

Ree was right. It apparently IS material for fainting. It got such good reviews I had to make it twice. You heard me- TWICE. The employees of both Schaefer & Bierlein and Citizens Insurance got a taste of it and I don't know what it is about this recipe, but I haven't received this much positive feedback on a cake before. It was a simple cake with simple ingredients...

I promise I took some good pictures. But I lost them in the download process :( so, here are the ones I DO have...

This is the cake right before I popped in the oven... it holds 2 cups of carrots- no raisins, no pineapple, no nuts.. CARROTS (also, see the perimeter of the pyrex dish? I buttered the HECK out of this and floured it pretty good too. DO THIS if you want to serve it on a platter, not out of the pyrex.. learned that after the first go-round).




K, this is the cup of pecans I chopped for the frosting. I'm not usually a pecan person, but DO THIS. Pecans in the frosting = amazing.



This is the frosting sitting and waiting to be used on the cooling cake. I made the frosting while the cake was baking (33 minutes at 350 degrees). It has ONE POUND of powdered sugar. ONE POUND. lots of butter and lots of cream cheese. and those glorious pecans.... You could seriously eat this frosting with a spoon in front of the t.v. and you would be happy.



SO, here is what you miss... I took the cake out and let it cool completely. Then I turned it over onto a platter and frosted all sides of it. It's much better this way then in the Pyrex dish. And looks prettier, in my opinion.

Then, cut into small pieces so you don't feel so guilty when you have three or four... five or six pieces. :) And maybe share with your co-workers or your ex. This cake is so good you want to share. It causes niceties you didn't think you were capable of.



and then this is what you have left at the end... Everyone loved.

Get ready! (part I)

This is gonna be a long one! And will have to be in two parts... Part 2 will have to come tomorrow because I just realized I didn't download all the pictures.. dang!

SO, FIRST- had a very last minute cake to make at the end of last week. My dear friend at work decided to leave and follow a new adventure with another company. My dear Miss Marsha bid us farewell and I made her a BIG square cake. I wanted to practice covering a square cake again so this was a good opportunity. It was a simple affair- (5) 8" square layers. 4 layers were marble cake and 1 layer was strawberry, just for fun. There was either strawberry ganache or amaretto ganache all covered in the usual Swiss Buttercream and then chocolate fondant over the top.
Check it out:



Then... Then I had a very important date on Saturday with a new friend, Libby. She and I are hatching up an evil genius plan together and the first step was to get her stellar photography skills over to my kitchen to snap some of my attempts at greatness and me attempting to make them great. ;) Here is the cake I made and one of the cupcakes I made for the photo shoot :




You can check out one of the pictures she took of me on my facebook fan page, look for Sweet Sandy B and become my fan if you aren't already. I can't WAIT to see the rest of the pictures. giddy!
**Cake was 3 layers of Chocolate Creme de Menthe w/ a mint ganache and covered in Swiss Buttercream. The cupcake is Clementine Creamsicle w/ Swiss Buttercream.**

Then, Easter... It was a beautiful day- just gorgeous out. #1 and Mooch had a fab time hunting for eggs, and thankfully the kiddos don't like looking at the camera for pictures so I have a few to share of them hunting for those eggs left by that pesky Easter Bunny:




And, like a lot of American homes, we had ham for dinner.. lots and LOTS of ham. and lots of LEFTOVER ham... I found a yummy recipe for what to DO with all of that leftover ham and made some Scalloped Potato and ham gratins in my muffin tins. Seriously, they are delightful and nothing but BAD for you... butter, cream, cheese, ham, potatoes... sigh.. heaven in a muffin tin.




and then... I wanted to make carrot cake and try out this recipe for "the best pound cake ever". My idea was to do it on Saturday or Sunday, but that didn't happen (as things often DON'T go as planned lately). And then I started to feel under the weather and tired... so, they kept getting put off.

But then, a few twists and turns later, THIS was created:




And I'll tell you MORE about it tomorrow when I have the pictures lined up to tell you the story.. it's a good one! :) Happy Hump day! (ew, I HATE that saying. yuck and YUCK)

get ready! gut bomb coming at ya

I felt so refreshed and good about my refocus on my dieting after eating the lemon bars that I thought I could be a little diet dangerous today. I stumbled across an easy recipe on Bakerella's website. It combines two of my favorite things- brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

I love chocolate chip cookies. They are like syrup to my soul. A warm blanket out of the dryer, a hug from your mama.
But brownies... they are my kryptonite. My personal downfall and totally my achilles heel. We have a true love/hate relationship because I can never EVER get the recipe just right. I love to bake them because even when they don't come out right, the crumbles are still delicious. But I get incredibly frustrated as I try to cut into the pan and realize the top is crackly, but the bottom is runny. It is seriously my constant battle.

This recipe from Bakerella uses a boxed brownie mix (gasp, I know, I know) but I figure for a first run recipe, I'm OK w/ using the mix to see how it all goes down. And I figure the brownies will set up properly because it's a box dangit and they just better!

I'm not putting pictures up of me mixing a BOX MIX of brownies. You know what it looks like. So, lets fast forward to where I got creative.
I made a chocolate ganache! yuuu-uum

whipping cream and almost a full stick of butter... melt....

a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips waiting to be smothered


douse the chips w/ the creamy butter mixture and let it sit for about 20 seconds


then stir until it is all combined


take the pan of brownies and chocolate chip cookies out of the oven (after about 40 minutes of baking in a 9x13 pan)


and while it is still hot, dump the ganache over the brownies and evenly spread it around



and then, let it sit. and sit... and sit until the ganache sets up. You have to wait AT LEAST an hour. If you can manage let it sit for a couple of hours because the ganache will still be runny. THEN you can cut into it. and the ganache will still run down the sides a little but, but it just adds to the perfect bite.

so... there was some craziness that went down in my house today and I got too.... distracted shall we say, to take a picture of the brownies cut up. But, they looked WONDERFUL and tasted even better.

Do yourself a favor and whip these up. If you use ALL boxed ingredients, this will get done in no time and you can just use frosting out of a can to put on top and everyone will love you just the same. Do it now I say and you will not regret it.

mmm... crumbly lemon goodness

Last night, I whipped up a monster breakfast for dinner feast for the kiddies and my bestie and we watched New Moon (side note, Taylor Lautner = HOT... hot DAMN is he good looking. I became a fan in an instant). It included 'fluffy' french toast, home fries, crispy bacon and scrambled eggs. I haven't eaten that much since... last weekend... :) I forgot to take pictures because I'm a nightmare at getting everything to the table at the same time- I'm a frenzied mess when I cook. It's total chaos and not in the least bit controlled. Miracle the food got to the table so picture taking was not even an option. But, trust me, it was yummy. Just ask the bestie!

I followed that up this a.m. with some cinnamon rolls w/ cream cheese frosting. De-light-ful (I've already bored everyone with those pictures, so I didn't take any more). And then took #1 to see his FIRST movie in the theater (How to train your Dragon= MUST SEE! super cute) where we proceeded to have a picnic in the theater at 10:30 a.m. The menu consisted of buttered popcorn, m&m's and raisenets. oh, and some soda. am I a terrible mother? At least he had a banana with breakfast.

SO, how does one top all of this il advised diet crashing food?? Make something psuedo good for you of course! Here is the back story-

While driving home from work this week, my carpool buddy ("son of a preacher man" or SOAP-m) helped me come up with some ideas for what to do with those pesky egg yolks aka the 'yellows'- that I have left over when I make the Swiss buttercream.
The tastiest option was lemon bars. sigh... Lemon Bars remind me of my mom, of Spring, of fresh goodness that you imagine is somewhat good for you, but really it's just an excuse to eat more than you know you 'should'.

I present you with Creamy Crumbly Meyer Lemon Bars....

This is the crumbly goodness that makes up the top and bottom of the bar


This is the goodness tamped down in the pyrex dish... You are supposed to use an 8x11 dish, but I only have 9x13, so these aren't as TALL as they should be. darn.. just stack two on top of each other, ok?


Then you whip up the lemon-y filling. It includes a few tastey items, one of which is the juice and zest of Meyer lemons (can you see the flecks of zest? so pretty)


Dump this filling on top of the first crumbly layer. Spread it out evenly...


Then you add the remainder of the crumbly goodness, but don't tamp it down. Just sprinkle it evenly over the top... and then look at the pretty layers from the side!


Throw it in the oven for about a half hour until the top turns a golden tan...


and then cut it up and without removing it from the pan, put it in the fridge for at least an hour! it needs to set up, and these truly taste better cold. trust me.



And then set them out on a pretty platter. But they won't last long, trust me. People don't feel guilty eating these so they eat them willy-nilly. Yes, I said willy-nilly. But it's the truth!

Enjoy! so, tomorrow I'm coming up with something ridic. Seriously, ridic. Wait for it...