Baking Bucket List

I read many other food blogs and Google lots of recipes that peak my interest. I came across one baking blog the other day who had a baking bucket list on her blog and thought it was such a great idea as there are a ton of recipes I have been wanting to make for a long time and I either email myself ideas or just keep a mental list (which we all know how bad of memory I have!). But starting a baking bucket list would put all my ideas in one place and help achieve my goal of making everything (eventually) I've always wanted to try. So I've starting making my list and added it as it's own page (up above) to keep track and refer back to. It's hard to think back and remember everything I've wanted to make, so this list is not final and will always be adding new items to it.


Feel free to give me ideas to add to my Baking Bucket List.... and friends you can always request me to make something off the list for one of our next parties or gathering :)

My Baking Bucket List

1. Chocolate Croissants
2. Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
3. S'more Cupcakes
4. Cherry Coke Cupcakes
5. Rocky Road Popcorn
6. Valentine's Day Popcorn
7. Sangria
8. Churro Cupcakes
9. High Hat Cupcakes
10. Cannoli's
11. Chocolate Mousse
12. Baklava
13. My Grandma's Kolaches
14. My Grandma's Rohlicky's
15. Vanilla Chai Cupcakes
16. 100 Grand Cupcakes
17. Espresso Cupcakes
18. Whoopie Pies
19. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese
20. Red Velvet Cupcakes
21. Pumpkin Roll
22. Monster Cookies
23. Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
24. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
25. Neapolitan Cupcakes
26. Margarita Cupcakes
27. Macarons
28. Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
29. Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
30. Banana Split Cupcakes
31. Homemade Donuts
32. Tiramisu
33. Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes
34. Strawberry Lemon Granita
35. Salted Caramel Cupcakes
36. New York Style Cheesecake
37. Something Vegan
38. Something Gluten-Free
39. Caramel Apple Cupcakes
40. Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

More to come!!

Double IOWA Birthday

For a joint first birthday and 50th birthday party Jackie and Matt wanted to have a Iowa Hawkeye theme for their son Charlie and Matt's father.  

 For the main cake they picked a Iowa Hawkeye helmet and football.

To go along with the theme I matched Charlie's Smash Cake with Hawkeye colors.

I think this is my favorite smash cake so far!!

For the 50th birthday cupcakes they requested chocolate cupcakes with half peanut butter frosting and half chocolate cream cheese.

Topped with marshmallow fondant black and gold circles of "Happy", "50" and the tigerhawk.

Thomas the Train

Last week when I brought my latest cake creation from the cake decorating class to work my coworkers were all very impressed. One of them, Mary, had a vacation planned for this week  to drive down to visit her daughter's family in St. Louis and thought it would be a fabulous idea to bring a cake with them. So Mary got to thinking what kind of cake, what flavors to pick and what to put on it. Then she thought of her grandson.....he just LOVES Thomas the Train so she requested Thomas.

This is a chocolate chocolate chip cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and I even sprinkled chocolate chips between the layers.

I got a call at work today from Mary who is currently down in St. Louis, or I should say her grandson. When I answered he was on the phone telling me "Thank you"....he's 2 years old and it was the cutest thing!!! Mary said as soon as she opened the box for him to see the cake he yelled out "It's Thomas!" She took a video of it to saw me when she gets back and on the video he also say "Thank you Brenda", I love it! Now that makes me feel awesome and is a major reason I love doing this!!!

Airplane Birthday

This past weekend I got the pleasure to be able to make my nephew's 2nd birthday cake. I can't believe he is already two! It was so much fun watching him . He is so much more active than his first birthday, running around everywhere non-stop. I didn't see him sit still till it was time to open presents and have cake then he was off again.

The birthday theme was Airplanes so of course Carter needed an airplane cake.

Flying through buttercream clouds

 I tried to match the birthday invitation as best as I could

 With matching cupcakes topped with marshmallow fondant 2's for some.

 The Cupcake Tower! Steph had matching cupcake toppers for the rest to follow the theme

 Cake Time.

 Singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy!

 Carter loved the frosting more than the cake

 "Carter is two"

Happy Birthday Carter!!!!  We love you so much!

Cake Class

Did I mention I finally enrolled in my first cake decorating class. 

I've always wanted to take one but just have never gotten around to it. Some people are surprised that I have never taken any classes yet but I know there's a lot I don't know and many things I can improve upon. Plus no matter how good, how much experience or how long you've been decorating it's always good to learn new techniques. I enrolled in a 4 week basic cake class to improve my piping skills.  

My first cake

IOWA Football

My dad's birthday is this Friday and he requested a IOWA football cake for him to take to dinner tonight with his friends. Every Wednesday night my parents get together with friends of theirs at a local restaurant for burger baskets. They usually take turns bringing a treat to share. This week, in honor of his birthday he wanted to bring a birthday cake.

It's a chocolate cake frosted with chocolate frosting (I cheated and used the canned version for this one, shh). I used a vanilla buttercream for the laces and "I", which is homemade to use for my cake decorating class tomorrow night.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!  We love you!

Star Wars and Hawkeyes

You might not think they have anything in common but a 7 year old boy would tell you different. Our friend Annette's son is turning 7 this weekend and having an Iowa Hawkeye themed birthday party. Although his mother thought he would want an Iowa cake and cupcakes for his party when she first asked me, turns out Linkin's final request was a Star Wars cake with Hawkeye cupcakes instead. Love it! The birthday boy gets what the birthday boy wants!

Dave was pretty excited about this cake (as he is about most character cakes I make). He made sure he asked Linkin who he would want most from Star Wars and he stated Chewbacca. I tried looking for ideas on-line but most of the Chewy cakes just looked like big blobs of chocolate frosting. I did find one good cake for my inspiration and think I came pretty close to getting it.

I used a Lemon cake (per request) in a 9x13-inch cake pan. Once cooled I rounded the top for Chewbacca's head and used those cake scraps to build up a little dimension around his eyes, nose and mouth so he wasn't so flat looking. I used a Lemon Cream Cheese frosting that I tinted and used left over marshmallow fondant pieces for the eyes and teeth. I drew the eyes on with edible marker.

May the force be with you Linkin! Happy 7th Birthday!

The Birthday Boy