Baking Stuff

I love to bake!  I get that from my mom.  She loves to bake too.  The problem?  Then I end up eating it!  Ha ha ha!  I didn't actually do too much baking over the past few months just because I have been trying to eat better & if sweets are around, I will eat them.  Luckily we have many neighbors & friends who enjoy being the recipients of the baked goods.  

I made this simple bundt cake for my hubby's birthday:

 Luckily his birthday cake requires very little fuss.  He requests this chocolate chip bundt cake every year.  It is easy & it is so good!  What I also love about this bundt cake is that it's dense which makes it sturdy so it travels well too.  I can't do bundt cakes too often because they are just so heavy, but I'll make this recipe a couple times a year.  If you are in the mood for chocolate, lots & lots of rich chocolate, then this cake is the one!

Here's another pic of the apple decorated cupcakes we made for our annual back to school dinner:

 I saw this idea on Pinterest & they were so easy to decorate-red buttercream, green fruit slice cut in pieces to make leaves & a pretzel rod for a stem.  The girls loved helping with these too!

For Thanksgiving this year I made some pies:

 I'm not a big pie person, but my absolute favorite kind is the Apple Crunch pie (above right).  That's actually the only kind of pie I usually make.  So for Thanksgiving I thought I would branch out & also make a pumpkin pie & cherry pie.  Yum!

We went to my parents house for the actual Thanksgiving holiday & my mom made cupcakes with our girls:

 She had bought one of those little cupcake decorating kits & they turned out really cute!

For some sweet treats for friends during the holidays I dressed up my chocolate chip bundt cake & made them mini:

 Why are they just so cute when they are mini?  And they looked pretty with the powdered sugar "snow" & holly berries.

In January our baby turned 2!  She is SO into Monster's Inc. & Monsters University.  It is so funny!  She drags her little Mike & Sulley stuffed characters everywhere.  So it was just the natural choice for the theme for her birthday party this year.  I saw this Monsters inspired cake on Pinterest & decided to give it a try myself.

I think it turned out pretty cute:

Quinn loved it & that's all that really mattered!  Oh & it tasted pretty darn good too!