A sign from Julia

I just finished reading The Julie/Julia Project about this girl named Julie that decides to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" book in one year. It is a true story. While I was reading this, I started thinking about how I should do something like this. A couple weeks ago, while I was at my parents house I found a stack of old cookbooks that my mom didn't want anymore. Cookbooks that were so close to my heart as a young child because of the magnificent pictures of perfect set meals. You know what I'm talking about...The Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks that woman of the 70's/80's all possessed. It just so happened that on the top of the pile was a small, old, slightly yellowing paperback book called, "The French Chef Cookbook" by Julia Child. Holy Moly! It was like a sign from Julia herself urging me to go for it! There are so many sweets and desserts that I would love to make and try out but there never seems to be enough time. The truth of the matter is that I just DON'T make enough time. So after realizing this fundamental truth about myself (that I can be somewhat lazy), I am challenging myself to bake one new recipe a week. No ifs, ands or buts. This will equal 52 recipes for the year. I will post the recipes in case any of you out there would like to go on this baking adventure with me, which I hope you will. So to kick it all off, I am going to start with Le Marquis au Chocolat from Julia Child's, "The French Chef Cookbook".

Stay tuned...

The Incredible Reeces Cupcake

One day I got to thinking, "Hmm, I wonder if I could bake a Reece's peanut butter cup in the middle of a cupcake?" During the same week that I had this thought, my sister's boyfriend, Jason sent me a text asking, "Can you make cupcakes for me with Reece's peanut butter cups inside?" For some strange reason we both had the same brilliant idea! Jason's birthday was a couple weeks later so I decided to make these cupcakes not knowing if and how they would turn out. The cupcake was a fudge cake with peanut butter frosting and a Reece's baked in the middle. Lo and behold they turned out so yummy and were a complete hit, especially if you are a chocolate and peanut butter lover!

Candies and Colors

Last week I made cupcakes for my friend Kait's daughter's birthday. Her little one LOVES candies! So we thought it would be fun to do a sort of Willy Wonka theme for all the cupcakes. Bright colors and of course...Candy!






































































The best part...eating them!

Black & White

This June I worked on cupcakes for a wedding. It was a pretty big project, 5 different flavors and I had to create a tier for the cupcakes to be displayed on. The Bride's wedding theme was black and white which I always think is classy and elegant.

So, 240 cupcakes later, here's the final results.