Roasted Bananas and Cookies Galore

Mmm... Banana cupcakes! I made these because my brother loves banana stuff. 

Honey Cinnamon Frosting!!!

I also decided to try my hand at cookies again. I'm always having problems with them spreading properly, but this recipe and this day, I got them right. 

Chocolate and Butterscotch Chip Cookies:

They SPREAD!

Triple chocolate chip cookies (Dark, Milk and White..):

Pecan and Butterscotch Chip Cookies:

All of my baked goods together... For the most part.

I ended up making 150 cookies and 19 cupcakes (standard size this time!).
Pretty impressed with my spreaded cookies :D
xoxo

The Busiest Weekend Yet...

So I didn't go back to trying out my sponge cake... instead I made CUPCAKES!

In honour of Valentine's Day, I decided to give my baking a slight "red" theme (for love, of course!) and made Red Velvet mini cupcakes. At first I was only going to make red velvet, but then my mom suggested that I do something that I know how they're supposed to turn out to test out our new oven. So I made vanilla cupcakes as well, as it is a tried and true recipe for me.

New Oven!

Vanilla cupcakes!

My awesome mixer

Saturday:

I woke up shockingly at 9 am. I actually got out of bed and made tea, ate some quick breakfast and immediately started baking. I had made vanilla cupcakes before, so I knew what I was doing. I had the first batch in the oven less than 30 minutes later.

 I had wanted to make tea biscuits (scones) all week, so while I was waiting for my cupcakes to be finished, I started working on those. I think I overworked my dough a bit, because I don't think it rose as much as it should have but it was so good! I put raisins in half of them, because my brother won't eat raisins. I was so impressed with my tea biscuits. Something that I'll actually eat! I didn't make any icing because I was still making cupcakes the next day and would ice them then. I was shocked when I had completely finished all my baking and all my clean up by 12.30...

Although, then I decided to go out that night and my friends had me bring some along! So I had to make some icing, and decorated some of the vanilla ones. They were a hit!

Sunday:

Since I went out the night before, I didn't get up the until 1pm. I know... such a difference from the day before. It totally affects my baking though. It seems to take me sooo much longer to do anything! I was making the red velvet cupcakes today, and if I had time, homemade cream filled cupcakes (like the Hostess Cakes). I need to get a few more muffin tins because the amount of time I spent waiting for the tins to be done so I can use them again was getting a little ridiculous. Anyways, I was so tired, and I was so sore but I got them done. They looked amazing. I even got to the Hostess cake look-a-likes. People at work said that the Hostess cakes were probably my best thing yet.

I'm super excited because I actually made my own icing this time. And it was soooo goood. Yummy! Smooth and creamy, but not overwhelmingly sweet. Just perfect for me.

Next week, I'm thinking that I'm going to try my hand at cookies again!
xoxo

Sunday Sponge

Yes! I found a recipe that's both quick and easy, and turns out really well!! I made some changes to the recipe as it called for lemon and lemon zest, but just turned that into vanilla. Who doesn't love vanilla? I think the best thing about this recipe is that it doesn't use butter. No butter = no waiting for it to get to room temperature. I'm thinking that I'm just going to cover with raspberries and strawberries with a little raspberry jam. I made 2 cakes, one for home eating and then one whole one for work. My dog is totally eyeing them for herself though. I keep on having to tell her to leave them.

They looked so good and smelt so good when they came out of the oven!! I was so excited, but then it went downhill from there. When I cut off the tops to start decorating them, I noticed this:

 Random uncooked like holes in the batter. It was so bizarre and disheartening. So I cut them in half to see the extent of the damage.... And it wasn't reassuring at all. Pretty much I had to toss them because throughout the WHOLE cake it was like that. Rubbery and uncooked, or overcooked. I'm not sure. But I do know that it's freaking weird. How can the top and edges be cooked properly but the insides be over cooked? I don't know how it happened.

My cinnamon buns from yesterday are all done and gone now. My brother picked the wax paper clean. He told me that the first one wasn't good, but by the time he tried his 2nd, 3rd and 4th piece they were amazing. No need for icing. He told me that it tasted like Chinese bakery goods. I'm excited about that. Maybe next time I'll just try to make some of those delectable treats.

Sigh. It was an utterly depressing end to an otherwise great baking day.
xoxo

This Morning...

Mmm... I was in the mood to make some cinnamon buns, so I made the dough up last night, let it rise more, and then made the buns this morning.

They turned out so much better than on Christmas morning!!!! Definitely had to leave more time for my dough to rise. Makes all the difference. I didn't burn them as much either.

Mmmm... so yummmy!

They tasted amazing even though I didn't have any icing for them. The bread, by accident, put too much sugar in it, so the dough itself was sweet that you didn't really need any. So yummy!! I think I have gotten this one down right. I do, however, definitely need a rolling pin. I've been using one of my tallest glasses. Which does the trick, but it's so much easier with an actual rolling pin. 

Some other good and cool news, I'm getting (or the family is) a new stove/oven!!!! Maybe this one will cook correctly at the right temperature. I always have to have the oven like 25-50 degrees lower than what the recipe says otherwise it cooks to fast. It still cooks fast, because it took 10 minutes less than what the recipe said, but maybe this will be something good. I'm excited, but it does mean that it'll take some getting used to for new temperatures. 

I also plan on trying my hand at making another sponge cake this weekend, so until then,

xoxo

I'm Back in Business!

Last weeks baking endeavours:

Victoria Sponge with whipped cream and 

raspberries!!

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Icing Sponge:

This one got rave reviews at work. They

loved it!

xoxo