Banal Wedding Cake

Alright, time to catch up on some posts. 

Little Bit Sweet business has picked up quite a bit! (Thank goodness, because it’s helping this artist pay for her own wedding cake.)  Which means I’ve been doing a lot of baking and not so much posting.  I’ve vowed many times to get better, but let’s be honest here….it’s not happening. 😉

 

As a matter of fact, this blog will turn into more of a “life and times” blog with a focus on Little Bit Sweet creations and the occasional recipe post.

 

So today I’m posting a cake made for a dear friend’s wedding from June 14th.

                                                       Bridal Cake Display

Here’s the story:  The bride and I were in high school band together. (Insert jokes about band nerds here, but really our high school didn’t conform to the standard stereotypes.) Anyhow, it was a huge honor for her to ask that I make their wedding cake, and she had a beautiful inspiration cake to recreate.  Another challenge for this order: a Seattle Seahawks grooms’ cake. Fun!

The wedding was back home (2.5 hours from where I currently live) so it was a bit of a delivery. Which always turns into a fiasco for whatever reason.  This time, the bridal cake made it just fine. Whew! The grooms cake decided to get a little crazy.  About 40 minutes into the drive, the Seahawk decided to slowly jiggle off of its cake board. My fault for not putting icing underneath it to secure it down… rookie mistake!  So for the next couple of hours, I cringed with every bump in the road and keep looking in my rear view to make sure it wasn’t falling apart.  As if I could do something about it if it had. Luckily, it made it just fine…ish. The fallen cupcakes were easily jiggled back onto the board and another smooth out with a Viva towel covered all of the evidence.  🙂

 

New site!!

 

Extra, extra, read all about it!!!

Hot off the press…er, computer….Little Bit Sweet has a new website!!

Now you can go to http://www.littlebitsweet.co to see a gallery of all cakes and desserts, contact Little Bit Sweet for orders or questions, and link back to this blog for recipes, etc.

Exciting, yes?!

Of course, I’ll still be on here to update the blog with new recipes, pictures of the latest cakes, and general musings. But the new site is for the business side of things.

Unfortunately, I can’t ship any baked goodies or cakes. (Trust me, I wish I could!) But give me a shout if you’re in the north TX area.

More exciting things to come and new pictures of the latest cakes.  In the meantime, check out the spiffy new site!

Today’s question:  Anything in particular you’d like to see on the site, cake design, or specific recipe you’re looking for?  Comment below! I love hearing your suggestions.

Wedded Bliss

So you know how time kind of gets away from you when you have back-to-back tasks and it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day?  Yep, that’s been my life lately.  I know I’m really bad about saying that I’ll post more often, but it just hasn’t happened lately.

 

Anyways, a few weeks ago, I got to celebrate the wedding of my future sister-in-law and her now husband! Yay! And I was honored to be a part of their day by making their wedding cake.

The day proved to be quite the adventure. Originally an outdoor wedding, the entire ceremony and reception had to be moved to another location when west Texas decided it wanted to become a wetland. In 2-3 hours, one ceremony and reception area was moved 30miles to an indoor location.  But it was gorgeous!! And such a testament to what great friends and family they have beside them. 🙂

This was a carrot cake, and is one of my favorite flavors!!!

Funny story:  I start to make this cake with the email my mom sent to me, and noticed it didn’t have any fat in it. None. No butter, no oil, no replacement. Thinking this was strange (because usually carrot cake has LOTS of fat), I called and asked my mom to clarify. She said she thought she’d sent the recipe as is, but would check.  An hour later, I get a call….there’s supposed to be a cup and a half of oil per batch!!! Mom said, “Dang that wouldn’t have been good!”

Talk about a sabotage! But it turned out great! …even if I used a little less than called for because 1.5 cups of oil pained the dietitian side of me.  Even if it was canola oil, that is an insane amount of fat. But hey, the batch makes quite a bit and it was a very special occasion.

I wonder, if oil floats on water, could we have used the cake as a floatation device in the torrential downpour??  Hmm…

Belated Mother’s Day

Mother’s day and Father’s day have always been special holidays for me. After all, I’m celebrating the two people who (with God) brought me into this world.  And I have amazing parents.

So, in honor of (belated) Mother’s day, here’s to my mom! An amazing woman who cares so much for her girls and grand-girls, her parents, sisters, and everyone else in her life. Who worries a lot about us because she wants for everything to be right in our lives. Who is truly one of my best friends and someone I can go to with anything and everything. The person I call for advice in life, financial tips because I have NO idea what all of the technical financial terms mean, to share happy moments, and to calm me down when I feel like my world is falling apart.  Yes, I have my fiancee to do many of these things as well, but there’s just nothing like a mom’s advice.  After all, she’s seen me grow up, helped me pick up the pieces after my mistakes, and griped at me to clean my room more times than I can count. (I thank her for this now because my apartment is typically very tidy.)

Another great thing about my mom is she’s always there to help in any way she can.  She’s saved me from many cake disasters and helped with a bunch of deliveries.  Fixed the cage of my UFC cake when the sun melted it. And drove 2 hours after work on a Friday to help me finish 300 cake balls for a friends’ wedding favors.  All because she knew that, despite my claims, I couldn’t handle it alone.

So here’s to you, mom. A truly amazing woman and even better mom!

 

Also for Mother’s day, a friend ordered these cake balls from Little Bit Sweet for her mom.  I’m rather pleased with them! Strawberry cake balls with white chocolate coating. Yummy!

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

Special announcement from the Little Bit Sweet baker.

….wait for it…..

I’m engaged!!!! I don’t typically talk about my personal life on this blog, but this deserves a special announcement and shout-out to my wonderful (now) fiancee. 🙂

Funny thing is, the first question that almost every person has asked me is “are you going to make your own wedding cake??”

They laughed, but I’m considering it. Though it would be nice to eat a cake I had no part in baking. And the stress may not be worth it.

 

Anyways, now that that big news is out it’s time for today’s post.

It’s spring time and I’m getting tired of the same old cupcakes.  Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, plain, plain, plain…..

Time to switch it up! Or, rather, flip it upside down.  Introducing pineapple upside down cupcakes!

Pineapple upside down cake was my grandpa Bart’s favorite dessert. I used to watch as my mom made it for him for his birthdays.  It always seemed like such a tedious process and quite the gamble because you never knew if it would come out of the pan.  Gooey mess stuck to the cake pan and then slopped onto the cake just wasn’t as appealing.  And yet, she made it perfectly every time.

Yes, it’s even more of a gamble trying to get these little guys out of the cupcake pan. But it’s so worth it! A crowd pleaser AND I didn’t have to make buttercream frosting. (A process that, honestly, I hate doing.)

Makes 24 cupcakes

• Cooking Spray
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, not packed
• 24 maraschino cheeries
• 1 (20 oz) can pineapple slices in juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1  3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup canola oil
• Juice from pineapple can + enough cold water to equal 2 cups
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray cupcake tins with nonstick spray.
2. Spoon 1 scant teaspoon melted butter into the bottom of each cupcake cup.
3. Spoon 1 scant, unpacked tablespoon brown sugar into each cupcake cup.
4. Place a maraschino cherry in the middle of the brown sugar mix in each cupcake cup.
5. Drain pineapple juice into a measuring cup. Set aside.  Place pineapple slices onto cutting board and cut each slice into 6 pieces. Place 3-4 pieces of pineapple around the cherry in each cupcake cup.
6. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
7. Grab your measuring cup with pineapple juice and add cold water to equal a total of 2 cups liquid.
8. In a large mixing bowl, pour juice/water mix, oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar. Whisk to combine.
9. Add flour mix to liquid ingredients, whisking until combined.
10. Pour cake batter into the cupcake cups, filling just to the top.  Do not overfill!
11. Bake at 375 F for approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick stuck into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
12. Let cupcakes cool at least 5 minutes. Lay out a piece of wax paper on the counter and carefully flip cupcake pan onto wax paper to release the cupcakes.  Tap on the bottom of the pan to help the process.  For really stubborn cupcakes, may have to loosen a bit with a knife before inverting.

I haven’t calculated nutrition info for this recipe.  It’s a “sometimes” food.  😉

These are definitely best (in my opinion) served warm.  So yummy!!

 

 

Almond-crusted Chicken Tenders

Ready for a new recipe??  I know, I know, it’s been a WHILE!

But I’m back with a good one! I’m biased, of course, but I think these chicken tenders were yummy.

With a coating made of bread crumbs and chopped almonds, the fat that is in this recipe is a healthy, unsaturated fat. And by baking the tenders, they’re a more healthful alternative to their frozen, pre-fried counterparts. Simple, fast, healthy, and delicious!

Here’s the recipe:

 

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken tenderloins
• 1/4 cup whole, raw almonds
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup 1% milk
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place raw almonds on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for a few minutes, until slightly toasted. Once toasted, finely chop almonds.
2. Increase oven temperature to 400 F. Place a cooling rack (like you’d use to cool cookies) on top of an ungreased baking sheet. Lightly spray cooling rack surface with nonstick spray.
3. Set out three shallow bowls. In one, place whole wheat flour, salt, and black pepper. In the second, scramble egg and milk together. In the third, mix together the breadcrumbs, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and chopped almonds.
4. Trim fat from chicken tenders and pat dry with a paper towel.
5. A few strips at a time, very lightly coat the chicken with flour. Shake off excess flour. Dip in egg mixture and shake off excess egg. Then coat with breadcrumb/almond mixture. 
   

   This part gets a little messy…

6. Place coated chicken tenders on cooling rack-lined baking sheet.
7. Bake at 400 F for about 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside and outside is golden brown.

 

Pair with a starch and veggie of your choice. 🙂  I chose carrots with yogurt ranch dressing and broccoli. (Ok, so I didn’t have a starch at this meal, but the broccoli was on borrowed time, and I couldn’t let it go to waste.)

 

 

 

Bump Ahead

Pinterest creation came to life! (But altered a little bit)

 

This creation was inspired and modified from a Pinterest pin.  Such a cute design!!

When my client originally asked me to do this cake, I had to figure out the best way to make the bust and bump.  When talking about it at lunch with my fellow dietitians, the conversation was hilarious!

“How’re you going to make the figure on the cake?”

Me:  “Not sure. Probably just sculpt a round cake and 2 cupcakes.”

“You could use rice krispie treats!”

Me:  “True….but then they’d be lumpy!” <laughter>

“Might be more realistic that way!!”

 

I love my coworkers! Now I laugh ever time I see a picture of this cake. 🙂  So fun!

And yes, I DID end up using cake instead of rice krispie treats.  Lumpy bump and bust didn’t seem to fit the bill of a cute baby shower cake. 😉