Office Space

I haven't blogged about decorating in a long time...and I've been in this house for a little over 6 mos. now. Guess it's time to get my act in gear??? This is one of the areas that attracted me to this rental. The little desk/office space at the top of the stairs. Since I don't have a room available that can be dedicated to an office, this is the next best thing.

The Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

Today must have been Birthday day :) It was my mom's birthday, and also my good friend Charlotte's Dad's birthday. I made my mom a lemon meringue pie... still trying to perfect my pie crust. I was having pretty good luck with Barefoot Contessa's pie crust, but the last couple of times not so much. I'm positive it's me, not the recipe... so my search/ technique continues. Anyway I have been wanting to make The Pioneer Woman's Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. for sometime, and when Charlotte asked me to make a chocolate cake for her Dad I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I have used the cake portion of this recipe for cupcakes before, and they were delicious, but had not tried the frosting portion of the recipe yet. Lets just say you have to make this cake... even if it's just to justify the frosting haha! And an added bonus, it has to be one of the easiest cakes I have ever made. Good thing because it looks like I'm making another one this weekend ;) The only alteration I made to the cake was adding instant espresso coffee powder to the frosting mixture, yum!

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

The Pioneer Woman

For the Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons (heaping) cocoa

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 whole beaten eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter

4 Tablespoons (heaping) cocoa

6 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 lb (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder (optional)

In mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, salt. Set aside.

In a saucepan melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture and stir lightly to cool. In measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda , and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into ungreased sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

while the cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, powdered sugar and espresso powder if using. Add the pecans, stir together, and poor over warm cake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Today my daughter Melissa and I were watching All Star Chocolate on The Food Network. All of the recipes looked delicious... and I will definitely make several of them. But Tyler Florence's Flourless Chocolate Cake had to be the first one to try.

The baking time in the directions is definitely off, I think this cake takes a good 30 min, but check it with a tester. Ours came out a little gooey, but for my family, that's a good thing.

Valentine's Day Baking

The perfect Valentines Day cupcake... Red Velvet with Cream cheese Frosting. I used the Magnolia Bakery recipe, with a simple Cream Cheese frosting. They were delicious, and I loved the way they baked up. And the recipe ended up making about 3 dozen.

I also made Barefoot Contessa's famous Coconut Cupcakes. These turn out perfect every time. Earlier in the week I was able to stop at Corti Brothers, an italian gourmet grocery store in Sacramento. I love browsing the aisles, I can always find something different that I want to try. This time I found V. Alisios sweetened large shred coconut. What a difference it makes...definitely worth the splurge.

I have also been trying to perfect these mini lemon meringue tarts. I have been trying to come up with a good crust. So far I've used Fillo, and this shortbread based crust which really didn't turn out well. It was delicious, but broke apart easily... I will come up with something. The curd and meringue came from Baked. So simple, and melts in your mouth.

Citrus Kitchen

bhg

I came across this picture while looking for "white kitchen" inspiration.

I love citrus green and yellow in the kitchen, so fresh and clean. And in anticipation of spring...it just makes me smile.

Valentine Sugar Cookies

I had an order for two dozen valentine sugar cookies... I ended up with extra so I thought I would play around with it a little... Sugar Cookie Sandwiches, just in case one cookie isn't sweet enough :)

Filled with raspberry jam, and bottom row filled with frosting and sprinkles.

Check back later this week, I promise to bake something besides sugar cookies.

Girl's Night

Tonight was Girl's Night at my house. We try to get together as often as possible... good friends, good food and definitely good times. Tonight was no exception...although we missed you Emily! This is the before picture.

We had so much fun decorating cookies and chatting. It's hilarious where our conversations can go!

Nice Lips Dana!

Nice arm Andrea haha! Told you it was going on the blog :)

And after...

I had a great time ladies... can't wait to do it again, you guys are the best!

Diet starts again tomorrow!