Hey guys! It's been a long time since my last post because of school starting and me being unable to get into my account... but anywhoo.
     For my friend's birthday I made red velvet surprise cupcakes. Each one had three Starburst candies decorated to look like gifts on the top around a central candle. (Really cute idea for birthday  or surprise parties!)
     Also, I made watermelon shaped sugar cookies. Green food coloring dyed dough surrounding a tube of red food coloring dyed dough in the freezer and then cut into slices, and into fourths. Baked with mini chocolate chips inside for charming seeds, this treat can be perfect for any season, especially summer, when you cannot get your hands on a fresh watermelon.
   
      Until next recipe...
            ~Ally~

Watermelon cookies and snakes with the extra green!! 

         I love cheesecake, but it's not the healthiest dessert in the book. Plus, once you eat one small slice because you're being "good," you just have to have another one; saying the first one was "small." With these facts in tow, I made personal cheesecake cupcakes. I swirled some cherry preserves through the filling and made a concentrated cherry sauce to put on top. This recipe is easy and fun to make, with a browned sugar cookie for a crust. Each person gets their own, and it is already portion controlled.

Until next recipe,
~Ally~

P.S.  These would be a great idea for a party!

I made lemon cheesecake. Yes, CHEESECAKE! It was a huge success. I used a Williams Sonoma cookbook with a recipe for Lemon Cheesecake. The crust was half gram cracker crumbs and half lemon square crust crumbs. The filling was thick and I added extra citric acid to make it super citrusy. Then I refrigerated it overnight. My family and my neighbors loved it! Shirley, my neighbor, said that it tastes silky but was disappointed that I only made one. I definitely recommend making this great summery treat. 

Williams Sonoma; Cakes and Cheesecakes

Until next recipe...

~Ally~

P.S.  If you enjoy this blog, comment and follow it! 

Today, at 2:00 in the morning, I decided to bake tiramisu cupcakes. Half of the batter was made with coffee and the other without coffee, and then I marbled them together. When they were done baking, I filled them with a mixture of mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract, whipped cream (In which I made myself), and powdered sugar. Then, I made my frosting with cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and some more whipped cream to make it light and fluffy. Using a spatula, oppose to piping it on, I added it to the cupcakes and sprinkled on some shaved dark chocolate. All in all, a pretty tasty cupcake. Trust me, it tastes as good as it looks, (If not better.)

Until next recipe...
~Ally~

Chocolate Mousse

     Chocolate Mousse today! I just bought a new recipe book with Everything; All the basics. And in this nifty little book was a nifty little recipe for Chocolate Mousse.
     I used a makeshift double-boiler to melt the chocolate and butter together. I whipped all of the other ingredients to either soft or stiff peaks. I poured the fluffy mixture into small wine glasses and put them into the refrigerator to set up for a few hours. ~ About 3-4 hours later, they weren't really cold enough, (Or at least as cold as I wanted them), so i put them in the freezer. About 20 minutes later we took them out and served them with raspberries.
     And let me tell you, Delicious! I think the key is to make everything well "fluffed." It'll make for a lighter mousse. Without being too dense, this recipe is chocolaty enough to not be overpowering. I defiantly recommend making it.

Until next recipe...
~Ally~  

You can fin the recipe that I used in this book: How to Cook Everything: The Basics. All You Need to Make Great Food by Mark Bittman

I liked how I made the last cake with the fondant, so I decided to make another cake similarly. It has chocolate and vanilla layers like the last one, but it is one tier and is decorated for Summer. Orange butterflies and polka dots make it as nice to look at as it is to eat!! (My camera wasn't working, so I'll try to upload some new pics tomorrow if I have time.)

Until tomorrow's recipe...
~Ally~

This pink lump is- in fact- the first tier of the
 cake.  (Sorry about the bad picture quality)

~Part 2 of 2~
The cake was a success! Even though the fondant was rather difficult to work with without the proper tools, I made it work.  I made my own dowels because all of the shops in town were closed today. (Memorial Day) Eight layers of cake? Yum!!

This cake was a lot of work, but it was so worth it! I have eaten enough sugar for the whole week, but, Until tomorrow's recipe....
~Ally~

Fondant Layer Cake      ~Part 1 of 2~
    I decided to fancy it up this time around. I'm making a two tier cake, with four layers each. On and off chocolate and vanilla cake. Sandwiched between the layers is my very own butter-cream icing. As if that didn't sound delicious enough already, I'm going to cover it with colored homemade marshmallow fondant. (My first ever batch-and definitely not my last!)
    Today I completed the first tier and crumb coated it. I used two batches of icing and two sheet cakes. I also successfully dirtied every dish and tool in the house with frosting and runaway pieces of cake.
    Tomorrow I plan to complete the second tier and cover it all with fondant and Spring decorations. I'll include some pictures of the finished cake and the process, too.
    P.S. (This cake has many 'firsts' for me. It's the first time I've made fondant a cake with more than one tier. )
    Until tomorrows recipe, and part 2,
    ~Ally~
 

Raw Cookie Dough!

Today I made the most simple recipe in the kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookies! I tried a recipe from Cookies! but found that it wasn't very flavorful, even with an added splash of vanilla extract and a dash of cinnamon. So, I tried a Nestle Toll House recipe. This time, it was thick and buttery. It held the chocolate chips well, but needed to stay in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking. Without the cooling in the refrigerator, they spread out too much while baking and the cookie was made very thin.

Until tomorrow's recipe...
~ Ally ~                                

I am 13 years old and my hobbies are baking and writing, so this blog should be great! This is my first blog, but people have been telling me to start a blog for some time now. "They're all mommy blogs now! There should be more blogs by kids." Over this summer, I have designed a challenge for myself. I will use my baking cookbooks as guidelines and my readers for inspiration. I am going to bake simple to complex recipes and will write and provide pictures of them in this blog. My sister will take pictures and I'll bake the goodies! Give any suggestions or recipe recommendations in the comment box. I'll be baking as soon as I can!