I had a fun and relaxed month of baking in February. I was able to work on a range of baked goods, including an old favorite muffin recipe, some fondant work for cakes and cupcakes, and a new brownie recipe with coconut. I also worked on some amazingly fun cookies for Super Bowl and almost 200 Mardi Gras cookies!
Breads & Muffins
A few years ago, someone shared the recipe for some amazing bran muffins on a recipe forum, and I remember being so incredibly happy to have finally found a bran muffin that tasted so good. Roy was always a big fan of bran muffins, but I never was able to find one that I really enjoyed. I made them again yesterday, and immediately wondered why I haven’t made them in a few years. These Roxie’s Bran Muffins will definitely be placed into my regular muffin rotation from now on (especially because I now have an open box of All Bran that needs to be used up!).
Brownies & Bars
I love coconut, so when I spotted this recipe for black bottom coconut brownies, I pinned it and decided to make it a couple days later. Roy had a lab meeting, and I was stuck in the house with a feverish child, so I decided to tear myself off the couch from yet another episode of Doc McStuffins and bake something quickly to drive over to him. These were quick and easy to put together, and even though I had to cut them while they were still warm to get them to Roy in time, they held together well. It was successful mission to give us a fever-friendly errand, and rumor has it the treats were a success with the lab, as well.
Cakes & Cupcakes
When Judy asked if I would make the Daniel Tiger themed cake for Emma’s 1st birthday party, I was so excited to work on a theme I haven’t done yet. Judy had found a photo online of a cake she liked, and she wanted to match the colors to the invitation they had used (I am not sure if they ordered from this etsy seller, but I found this image on etsy that matches the invite exactly).
Kaitlyn didn’t have a theme for her party, but her mom bought some decorations and plates with some really bright colors on them, so I used those as inspiration for the sprinkles on her bright sprinkle cupcakes.
As I shared in this collection, Melana hosted play date to celebrate Max’s superhero powers when it came to his recent battle with cancer. I thought the primary colors looked really sharp and thought she found some great inspiration photos for me to work from.
Cookies
For the Super Bowl this year, I decided on these simple shape field and ball cookies because I was so pleased with the simple shape cookies I made at Christmas. I then made all of the Super Bowl snack food cookies (nachos, pizza, and deviled eggs) because I was so thrilled with the cookie deli tray I made last year.
This year instead of Valentine’s Day cookies, I got to make lots of Mardi Gras cookies for the first time. This collection shows off cookies from both sets I worked on. The first was for Malley’s ‘Malley Gras’ birthday party and the second was for the school auction. Everything was in green, golden yellow, and purple and I made cookies shaped like Mardi Gras beads, fleur de lis, masks, and crowns. I wrote Mardi Gras on some of them, and for personalization I also wrote Malley Gras and Auction 2015 for the individual events.
Decorations & Toppers
For Emma’s cake, I tried my first happy birthday banner. I loved the colors! At first I wasn’t sure about using the letters since they were larger than the triangles making up the banner/bunting, but I was very pleased how it turned out. I had seen this tutorial on how to quickly cut out the triangles. I also used this brilliant tutorial for making the chevron for the top tier. At first I had thought to use edible images for the balloons and bunting/banner, but I couldn’t find a free downloadable pattern that matched the invitation well enough. I almost used this one, however.
I made three different styles of toppers for Max’s superhero celebration: POW and ZAP toppers, Super’M’an toppers, and star toppers.
Other Goodies
As a dessert to a big Indian meal I made for friends who came over for dinner, I made this recipe for malai kulfi. It was super easy and really, really tasty. I don’t think there needed to be any added sugar, as the sweetened condensed milk was plenty sweet. I froze some in individual popsicle molds and some in a container. When we ate it that night, it was nice and creamy, but after it had sat in the container a couple days, it got a bit icy, which you can see in the photo of mine. I have looked at a recipe for a mango kulfi that I am excited to try next time! And I highly recommend this method for making a homemade ice cream substitute for anyone without access to an ice cream maker (ahem, Hannah!).
pollysplayground
i totally love the superhero celebration (and congrats to max and family for putting the “POW” “ZAP” to cancer – super.)
i really will make the malai kulfi! two questions though – you refer to the sweetened condensed milk as being plenty sweet but the recipe calls for condensed milk (not sweetened) as far as i can see. since i can’t get sweetened condensed milk (unless i make my own.. which i actually have done!) and i happen to have 2 cans of evap milk here (thanks to sascha’s sister who sent some recently) i will make it without the ‘sweetened’. would you suggest that i add some extra sugar or just go with what’s on the recipe? second question… i can’t get powdered milk – do you think it makes a difference? is there something i could add instead? i guess anything i do will end up tasting yummy… it’s just a matter of will it taste authentic 😛
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
I completely forgot to mention the milk powder in my post! Oops! I had it in my hand at the grocery store, but I didn’t end up bringing it home in my shopping bags, so I am not sure where it ended up! Someone had suggested I could try rice flour instead, but I didn’t have that either. I just skipped it and it worked out fine for me in taste and texture, but possibly it makes it more authentic in some way that I am not familiar with.
As for the condensed milk, I am not sure you can use evaporated milk instead. When I read the recipe, I took it to mean sweetened condensed milk because I’ve never seen unsweenetend, and I’ve come across this in recipes before where it is clear that sweetened condensed and evaporated are not interchangeable and anytime you see ‘condensed milk’ it assumes ‘sweetened condensed milk’. Also just 2 tsp of sugar by itself would likely not make it sweet enough, I don’t think. In addition, I am not sure how the difference in consistencies between evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk would impact the recipe. I just looked at some other recipes quickly, and they used sweetened condensed milk together with milk and/or cream and/or evaporated milk.
pollysplayground
ok – that helps to clear it up. i will make my own sweetened condensed milk for the recipe and not worry about the powdered milk – yay! i’m excited (: i promise to let you know how it turns out.
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
Can’t wait to hear how it works for you! Did I tell you I also made homemade samosas that night, too – including the dough!
pollysplayground
mmm! we are having friends over for dinner next weekend – i planned to make chinese but maybe i’ll go indian instead!
Pauline
Your mardi gras cookies were a big hit at the auction!!! The looked amazing!
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
Thanks, Pauline!
Monica Meyer
The auction cookies were delicious and SO detailed! Each one was a work of art!
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
Thanks, Monica. I loved decorating those cookies, especially the masks. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to make them again!
Melana
Becky, your cupcakes were EXACTLY what I was hoping for 🙂 The ‘Super Max’ theme totally represented my little hero, and I absolutely loved how the cupcakes perfectly matched our theme, and adored the pop of all the primary colors. And, most importantly, the cupcakes tasted amazing. In fact, we had a couple leftover after the party and I must confess we did not share them with our toddler, but ate them ourselves!! Big thanks!
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
I am so glad I could be a part of Max’s special day. And I am even more glad that you & Brian indulged in the leftover cupcakes. You deserve to kick back and have some treats together!
Kim
Beautiful Becky! All I had on Auction night for dinner was your cookies and Tito’s; that may explain my extreme dancing confidence- nothing like a yummy cookie to make you wanna shake it! Those black-bottom coconut brownies look amazing and I love the banner with that lettering- very pretty!
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
Thanks, Kim. I think I will be making those brownies again, so will be sure to send some your way!
Anthea
Hi Becky, Loved the superhero cupcakes you did for max! Delicious and looked amazing! It was a great reason to be celebrating and eating cupcakes too! Anthea
Becky {Rebecca Cakes & Bakes}
Thanks, Anthea! It was a wonderful reason to be celebrating!