baking Archives - Life's Tidbits

30Mar 2015

The Cake Smash That Wasn’t

First birthday cake smash photos are just the cutest! Little hands and smiles covered in frosting just melts my heart. As Jellybean’s birthday approached I got increasingly excited at the idea of her cake smash. On her birthday my parents entertained Jellybean while I got to baking. I made the vanilla cake and pink buttercream frosting {from scratch} and anxiously awaited the hubby getting home from work so we could sing to the birthday girl and then watch Jellybean get her cake smash on.

I envisioned how cute Jellybean would look covered in pink frosting. I hoped I would snap a really cute photo that could be used on her birthday ‘thank you’ cards. The camera was set out on the table, charged and ready to go!

We took some ‘practice’ shots of Jellybean with her princess birthday hat on while she ate her dinner.

The hubby, my parents and my husband’s parent (via Skype) sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and Jellybean just looked at us with that little furrow brow she has when she’s unsure of what’s happening. With the cake in front of her I stepped back to snap what one would only assume would be an adorable face and then …

We realized she didn’t like the cake. No, it wasn’t that she didn’t like the cake, but instead she was afraid … Yup, completely terrified of the cake! We all started pontificating what might be the matter. She was tired, wasn’t hungry, and so on. And while we discussed her face said it all, “someone to make that cake disappear … STAT!

Completely baffled, we took the cake away, put her on the floor with the cake and then my baby girl cried. It’s my cake and I’ll cry if I want to! It was hard not to laugh at how much she most certainly did NOT like the cake. For a child who has never shown any signs of fear, is was a strange sight!!! All I can think when I see this picture is ‘no one puts baby {and a cake} in the corner”. Tee hee hee =)

We tried again a few days later at her winter ONEderland birthday party and met with similar results. A little scrunched up face, followed by some crying and no cake smash.

Despite there being no cake smash for Jellybean’s 1st birthday; we did get one hilarious story to tell over and over again. I’m sure we will embarrass her at some point when we whip out these photos in front of her friends, or better yet a future boyfriend hahahaha {pending Daddy’s approval for her to date, of course}.

Anyone else’s baby not like cake?!

08Jan 2014

Most Popular Posts of 2013

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

As 2014 kicks into high gear I thought it would be interesting to see what posts were most popular in 2013. I was a bit surprised by the top 5, however maybe I shouldn’t be. No two post were from the same category. which I was pretty happy about. I think it helps “prove” sharing different types of tidbits is working out well for the blog!

Without further ado, here are the 5 most popular posts of 2013 …

Number 1 – {Recipe} Cracked Sugar Cookies

These cookies really are A-MAZING!

Number 2 – DIY Wedding Envelopes with Calligraphy

This post is read consistently each week. It was a pretty easy DIY wedding project and saved us a good chunk of money as well!

Number 3 – French Dresser – Inspiration / Mood Board

The first purchase we made for the nursery was the dresser (and nightstand). Everything else we selected was based on the shabby chic / french inspired dresser.

Number 4 – One Year in a Flash – Birthday Party

The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects. As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss Kia made all her own cupcakes for the party!

Number 5 – {Pregnancy Tidbits} The 5th Month

I really enjoyed blogging about my pregnancy. It’s fun to go back and read how each month went! Some tidbit I remember so clearly and others I had kind of forgotten about. I’m glad to have the pregnancy log to help me reminisce.

I’m looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for Life’s Tidbits. I hope you will continue to follow along and share your tidbits!!

What was your favorite blog post in 2013?

Happy New Year!!

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19Sep 2013

{Recipe} Chocolate Crumb Cake

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

Admission – I am a sweetaholic! Always have been and probably always will be. I’m starting to believe Jellybean, like her mommy-to-be, has a wicked sweet tooth as well. Yes, wicked … I am from Massachusetts and wicked is an adjective, promise! I’ve been tried out a lot of new baked good recipes over the last couple of months. Two of my favorites are classic brownies from Smitten Kitchen and white chocolate brownies from Bake or Break.

Recently I’ve been looking for new bloggers to follow when I stumbled upon Tin’a Chic Corner. The chocolate crumb cake recipe immediately grabbed my attention. Last weekend the husbands were away for a boys “football” weekend so the girls and I decided to do a dinner/game night! I figured it was the perfect time to give this new recipe a whirl.

Ingredients Needed:

white sugar
dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar since that’s what I had in the cabinet)
ground cinnamon
salt
butter
all-purpose
unsweetened cocoa powder
baking powder
baking soda
egg
skim milk (I substituted 2%)
oil (I think vegetable … at least that’s what I used)
vanilla extract
boiling water
miniature chocolate chips (totally forgot to put these on the cake and it was still delicious!)

Get the recipe and directions from Tina’s Chic Corner here.

Although my crumb topping didn’t come our nearly as pretty as Tina’s the cake was absolutely DELISH! The girls all loved it. We even had seconds. The husband, who isn’t a big chocolate fan (seriously, what’s wrong with him?!), really liked the piece he had when he returned from his trip. I will definitely be making this chocolate crumb cake again … and soon!

Any recipes you’ve tried lately that you’d recommend?

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17Apr 2013

{Recipe} Raspberry-Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with making truffles. Right before Easter my friend came over to hang out and was interested in learning how to make truffles. I had been dying to try out this new truffle recipe and decided it was the perfect time. I told her we had to document the process as this was a recipe I had been planning to blog about. So …. we collected all the ingredients, got the camera ready and the truffle making began!

Although I do really enjoy cooking by myself, having someone to chit chat with and lend that extra hand makes the process that much more fun! I’ve been trying to think of a clever/fun name for these truffles, but haven’t come up with anything good yet. I was considering PB&R, but that reminded me too much of the beer PBR … pout. Any good name suggestions out there?

If you decide to go for the larger portion of peanut butter these truffles kind of become a fancier and more decedent version of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups with a hint of Raspberry. Either way the feedback on this little dessert was very positive so it will definitely be staying in the make again (and again hahaha) pile of recipes.

Here we go … it’s truffle yummilious time!!

Ingredients
10 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
1/4 cup peanut butter (if you are peanut butter LOVER do 1/2 a cup)
10 oz of chocolate for coating like melting chocolate

Directions
Chop the chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl.

Bring the heavy cream and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.

Pour cream/butter mixture over the chocolate and let sit until melted, about 10 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula or whisk until smooth. (If necessary, microwave in 20-second intervals until the chocolate melts.)

Stir in the vanilla and raspberry extracts.

Then stir in the peanut butter. Stir until the ganache is smooth and shiny.

Pour into a shallow baking dish (or leave in the glass bowl as I did) and refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours or overnight.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the ganache into 24 balls, then return to the refrigerator for at least an hour. Heat your melting chocolate in a double broiler or in a chocolate melting pot. Drop each truffle into the melted chocolate and cover completely. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerate until firm. Store is airtight container until ready to serve. I like to let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving to ensure the center is nice and gooey!!

I hope you like this new tidbit!!! I’ve created an easy print recipe card for this recipe.

Click here for a 3×5 index card recipe card.

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Happy Cooking!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below. Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

13Feb 2013

“Little Man” Baby Shower Brunch

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

After getting the DIY baby shower invites out the next thing to tackle was the menu and the decorations. The mom-to-be and I have always joked that she is never lacking black and white outfits. I figured a black and white color scheme would be perfect and wouldn’t you know it my friend wore a black and white outfit to her shower without even knowing the color scheme!!! I guess I know my friend pretty well. =)

The brunch menu came together quickly. Although there was definitely too many sweets in the end with a good amount of left over, but who doesn’t like left over Oreo truffles?!?! I was pretty pleased with the variety of options for the brunch. Everyone came hungry so there wasn’t a crazy amount of left overs.

Little Man Brunch menu included:

Egg Soufflé
Pumpkin Bread
Fruit Platter
Cheese Plate
French Toast Casserole
Turkey Meatballs in red sauce
Oreo Truffles
Cigars (aka chocolate covered pretzels)
Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

We kept the party decorations pretty simple. A bunch of black and white balloons, two flower vases, onesies and then a few little mustache details to bring everything together.

Unless otherwise noted all pictures were taken by Sara from Photos from the Harty.

Initially I bought some 3-6 month onsies and quickly realized they are SO tiny the iron-ons wouldn’t look so great on them. I used one 3-6 month onsie for the bow tie (middle) the other two are 12 month onsies.

To supplement the balloons, onsies and mustache details there were two hydrangea flower arrangements. I feel like I somehow involuntarily collect vases so it was easy to find two that were pretty much the same. Put some white and black decorative stones in the bottom, add water and the flowers … voila a “DIY” center pieces!

The paper straws and mustache cups were a big hit. These were probably my favorite detail. I’ve become slightly obsessed with the paper straws. There were purple barbershop straws at our wedding and yellow ones for the husband’s 30th birthday party. The truth is I might never throw another party without them hahaha. Seriously all parties will have barbershop straws!

We played two shower games. The first was “How big is mommy’s tummy?”. I look awfully serious measuring how many toilet paper squares Rebecca’s belly is. I love the picture to the right as she counts the square … all smiles!!!

Next up was the poppy diaper game. I was surprised at how stumped everyone was trying to figure out what type of candy bars were in the diapers. The hardest one was the dark chocolate milky way … apparently the dark chocolate really threw everyone off. And let me just say that the butterfinger game me a run for my money. That candy bar was HARD to melt!

Thanks to all the beautiful ladies who came to shower the mom-to-be and her little man!

I put the party favors (with the DIY tags) on a platter and placed them by the front door. I had to remind people to take them as I didn’t want 14 lollipops for myself! I think they were a big hit and displaying them during the party added to the decorations.