Spanish Honor Society Bake Sale

I am currently the standing Vice-President for the Spanish Honor Society Sorority at my school.

Although I was unable to man the table at the bake sale (hmmm...I was too busy making history at the Presedential Inauguration for Barack Obama in Washington D.C.!!!!, a difficult sacrifice I know !)

Well for the sale I made jumbo chocolate chip cookies and jumbo butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, a variety of cupcakes to adorn the table. (Coco Cabana-coconut, The Mambo-Tango- orange creamsicle, Chocolate Barcelona-snickers cupcake and Chocolate Chip Chihuahua-a chocolate cookie dough stuffed cupcake and Latin Elvis-a peanut butter dulce de leche and banana cupcake.Since it was a bake sale for a Spanish club I figured I should make something with a fun FIESTA!! feel.....so this is what I came up with. White chocolate tacos filled with chocolate cake (meat). Then topped with a vanilla cream cheese buttercream (sour cream) sprinkled with chopped Swedish fish (tomatoes) orange and green shreds of marshmallow fondant (cheese and lettuce). Still haven't heard the official word on the outcome of the sale, but I did do a little product quality control check while baking these yummies!! (u have to stay on top of your product! hahaha..) They seemed to be bake sale hits!

I have to give extra special thanks to my Mom for grabbing the wheel of the Chica Chocolatina xpress and delivering these goodies for me while I was busy celebrating victory in our nations capital. VIVA OBAMA!!

Gym Class Hero

Although the holidays have come to an end and many are preparing to take down their Christmas tree and other Santa Claus decorations the spirit of giving could not be lost in my little Bianca just because the official Christmas date had passed us. One day back in October I believe it was Bianca and I were discussing the upcoming holiday and I had mentioned to her that I wanted to give Mr Degnan her gym teacher a present (she is in Kindergarten) and if you can believe this Mr. Degnan was my gym teacher also!! And he has got to be the greatest gym teacher of ALL TIMES!! Well at least the two of us and every other kid who has been in his gym class and been present on the day he brought the PARACHUTES!!! Thinks so!!

Well anyway we decided that we wanted to make him a special treat for Christmas, but I have to take the blame and say I became too busy and never did get a chance to make his special treat. Well my Bianca upon coming upon her return to school from her Christmas vacation said " We can't forget Mr. Degnan's present! she said I wouldn't want him to think we remembered Mrs. Anderson (her Kindergarten teacher) and forgot about him. She decided her special treat to him would be chocolate-caramel covered candy apples and she requested to be able to decorate them herself and also send him a special card and that is exactly what I allowed her to do. She let me know that I could write her message to Mr. Degnan in the card but "she really really wanted to make sure she signed her own name.

After listening to what she wanted to write in the card my heart melted with her thoughtfulness and sensitivity at age 5 and I am going to secretly share what she wrote with you....shhhh don't tell her I told you.

Well here it is.

To, Mr. Degnan

I made you these candy apples, I made them out of love. I hope you like them and I hope you had a Happy Holiday!

Love, Bianca

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Feliz Ano Nuevo or Happy New Year for whichever way you call the start of 2009!! I am off to a good start, it was a very cold New Year's Eve and although I must say I was tempted to accept the last minute invite I received to ring in the new year at one of the "Hot Latin Clubs" in the area, I graciously declined because after my long shift at work (yes! I worked on New Year's Eve, until 9:30 p.m. to be exact.) I knew I had made a promise to 3 special people of a late night date starting around 11:59 p.m. which included- snuggly pajamas, fuzzy slippers, a great big bowl of fresh popped popcorn and a great BIG BOTTLE OF KIDS CHAMPAGNE!!!

There was NO Way I was going to disappoint and in the end, we had the time of our lives. We ate, We drank, We danced and were merry all the way into the wee night hours of 1:00 a.m. It was at this hour in which I returned from the kitchen with more kids champagne for everyone!! And realized that my 3 late night party dates had fallen fast Asleep! We were all safe, secure and together ready to take on whatever 2009 had in store for us

Gingerbread Muchacho (You Can't Catch Me!) Cupcakes

These are spicy gingerbread cupcakes dipped in semi-sweet chocolate ganache then topped with a mini-gingerbread boys. As I was baking these cupcakes my oldest daughter came into the kitchen and asked what kind of cupcakes that these were I told her that they were gingerbread and the next thing she said was " OU OU ! You should call them "You Can't Catch Me!" It's funny how now everytime I bake a cupcake the first thing that comes to my girls mind is a name for it. For them it has become one of they things that they enjoy about my baking, I guess for them it gives them a sense of belonging and part of my creations. And of course they also must take pride in picking a clever name that their Mom loves!

Feliz Cumpleanos, Bri'shauna!!

Today my oldest turned 12!!! Oh my goodness how the years fly by, well I decided to surprise her by bringing cupcakes to her school. This may not seem like a big deal but she is now in 6th grade which is the middle school and upon leaving elementary school she looked at me and said sadly " Now you won't be able to bring anymore cupcakes to my class".

She thought because there were no longer class parties and maybe because the other kids would think that it was "uncool" to have your mom make cupcakes for you on your birthday" that was going to stop Me! I don't thinks so!! I was set on making her day special "All Day" no matter where she was!

So this morning I marched right into that main office with sweet smelling cupcakes in tow, I proudly asked the secretary to please call my daughter down to the office ( I have to admit I was secretly saying to myself ...please don't let her be angry....Please don't let her be angry) But she walked through those doors and her response was PRICELESS!

When she saw her special birthday treat she exclaimed OH MOMMY, THANK YOU, AND I'M IN MR CHINERY'S CLASS! ( This is her favorite teacher who always uses her mommies cupcakebusiness as an example for the class, and in whose class I might add she received an A+!) Then she gave me a great big hug and kiss, I even heard one of the secretaries say I wish I had a mom like that!

Needless to say as I left the building I was floating on cloud nine and was happy I could make her day that much more special, and when she came home she said that all of the kids loved the cupcakes and they said that her mom was sooo cool!!

Ahhh!! Mission Accomplished!

Happy Birthday, Bri'shauna. I Love You!

They're One!!

Justin and Kyan (my little, little,cousins)

Time goes so fast, it seems like just yesterday my family and I were eagerly awaiting the arrival of these adorable twins, memories of the doctors whisking them past us in the waiting room so fast that we could barely get a glimpse of the hair on their little heads.

Well Now They're One and I couldn't be more excited to celebrate this day with them and even more excited to make their very First Birthday Cake!!

I can't forget to add that the entire idea for the theme of this cake came when my little one Bianca said "Mommy, you should make a cake with Kyan and Justin sitting next to each other in a basketball outfit and a football outfit, with candy and toys all around them" I told her that sounded perfect to me. So that is exactly what I did.....of course with Bianca right by my side making sure I create her vision the right way!

When Donut Meets Cupcake!

This cupcake is like a jelly donut within a cupcake swirled with buttercream topped with donut glaze. Well actually that's exactly what it is, Here are the details.....vanilla cupcake filled with raspberry jam swirled with coffee buttercream made with Dunkin Donuts Coffee (because we all know America runs on Dunkin!) then the cupcake is covered in warm vanilla donut glaze. mmmm.

Now for the name of this cupcake, a few ran through my mind Raspberry Rush Hour, Monday Morning Mantra..nahhh! One thing is for sure I have a fond affection for glaze donuts and Latin music and keeping with the theme of giving my cupcakes Latin inspired names the only logical name for this cupcake is ...ENRIQUE IGLAZESIAS!! I know, I know corny but cute.