Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you spent Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones and yummy food.

Here's a peak into my day:

My mother in law's pretty Turkey Day tablescape.

A cute husband carving turkey.

My favorite little beggar. 

 The feast.

I am so thankful for all my readers! Thank you so much ~today and everyday!

My Iron Cupcake Entry: Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cupcakes

Hopefully you have your Thanksgiving dessert planned by now. But if you happen to be a procrastinator, I have a great cupcake recipe for you!

This month's Iron Cupcake challenge was Thanksgiving.

My entry was Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cupcakes, with Chocolate Orange Frosting.  Yummy!

Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cupcakes (based on this recipe)

3/4 Cup unsalted softened butter

1 Cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 Cup granulated sugar

4 Eggs

Zest of two baby oranges

6 Tablespoons of orange juice

2 Cups flour

2 Teaspoons baking powder

1 Cup fresh, chopped cranberries

1/2 Cup chopped semisweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and sugars together.

 Add eggs, orange zest, and 3 tablespoons of orange juice and mix.

 

Add baking powder and flour and mix well.

Fold in cranberries and chocolate chunks.

Bake mini cupcakes for approximately 15 minutes.  Makes ~50 mini cupcakes.

Chocolate Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (based on this recipe)

8oz Cream cheese

1/2 Cup butter

1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound powdered sugar

Zest of one orange

1-2 Splashes of orange juice

Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add cocoa powder, vanilla, and powdered sugar and mix.  Add orange zest a orange juice (to reach desired texture).

Viola!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Iron Cupcake Challenge: Thanksgiving

See this post for the details on this monthly event. 

This month the challenge was to make your interpretation of a Thanksgiving cupcake. 

Here's a few of the entries: 

 

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Marshmallow Frosting

Cran-Orange Cupcakes

Cranberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting

Marzipan Wishbone

Candied Yam Cupcakes with Pecans and Marshmallows

Brown Sugar Glaze with a Dollop of Lemon Buttercream

Cranberry Orange Cupcakes

Brown Butter Frosting

Topped with a Candied Cranberry

And, here's my entry:

Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes

Chocolate Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

To.die.for.  Seriously.  Come by tomorrow and I'll share the recipe. I think these were better than my previous entries.

I am seriously ready for Thursday's meal after this night!

DIY Idea: Housewarming Cake Pops

Oh how I admire Bakerella, the inventor of the cake pop...Doesn't all of blog-land?

She is shear genius, with both her goodies and her photography.

I love her new website also, with the little menu on the side for easy searching.

I wanted to bring something a little different to a housewarming party that we were attending this weekend. So, I attempted to make little house-pops.  They were quite tasty, and pretty cute.  Wouldn't you love to see a version of this by the Queen of Baking herself?  I can only imagine the detail.  How does she get her chocolate so smooth? Sigh...

Anyway, here's my little creations before dipping, with pretzel chimneys:

And after dipping:

One of the pesky little pops migrated in this picture.

It says: Congrats Steve & Carol on your new home. 

Bakerella's cake pop instructions are here. 
For the houses I used the stem of a big pumpkin cookie cutter, and the tip of a big heart cookie cutter.  I smashed the two pieces together and added a pretzel chimney.  The salty pretzel covered in chocolate was divine.
Maybe Bakerella will make gingerbread house cake pops this year? hmmm...

DIY Idea: Thanksgiving Frames

You may remember my Halloween frames from a few weeks ago. 

Well, they've been updated for Thanksgiving:

This is such a easy and cheap holiday decoration.  I reused my Halloween frames, and bought 3 fabric remnants and 1 sheet of paper. Check out my post on the Halloween frames for all the how-to details. 

You can download the file I used to make these here: 

Thanksgiving

Check back! I'm planning my Christmas versions already!

I am Loving: Wedding Pie

For a fall wedding pie is a great alternative to a traditional wedding cake. 

Even with this nontraditional dessert, couples can still do a traditional cutting. 

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Pies can make such a beautiful, slightly rustic, display. Perfect for a fall celebration.

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 Pies make cute favors for guests too.

I am Loving: Popsicle Maker

I am dying over this new gadget.  While popsicles might not be on your mind this time of year, I think its never too early to plan ahead for spring and summer.  

Note - I am not being compensated for writing about this product. I just really think its great and worth sharing.

When I was young, we had to wait hours and hours (overnight even) for homemade popsicles to harden in our freezer.  No more!
This cute little machine is used to create popsicles or creamsicles in as a little as 7 minutes. I actually got to play with one of these, and it was so much fun.

I think anyone with kiddos should have one of these.
What a fun addition to a summer pool party: Made-or-order frozen treats!

Aren't they fabulous?! It would make a great gift too. 

Read more, or get one here. 

Giveaway: Holiday Gift Tags

The talented Kim, of TomKat Studio, is doing a giveaway!

Go here to enter to win some of her fabulous Christmas gift tags. 

Hurry, you have until Monday!

Invitations: Farm Animal Baby Shower

Over the weekend I shared my inspiration board for the farm animal baby shower I am working on.

I'm happy to report that the invitations are finished, and ready to ship.

(Click on the picture for a closer view)

 

And the matching envelopes, of course! 

Stay tuned for more details to come over the next few weeks!

DIY Idea: Thanksgiving Place Cards

One of my favorite catalogs came in the mail recently: Paper Source.

I love the kits they are selling to make your own Thanksgiving dinner place cards:

Wheat bundles!

Pumpkins! 

Acorns! 

How did I not realize that one of my favorite stores has a blog?  Full of fun ideas, of course!

I guess won't have to wait for their catalog anymore.  :)

Inspiration Board: Farm Animal Baby Shower

Oh Baby! Custom Shower Decor has a new customer, and I am busily working on putting together a shower kit.  I am also making the invitations for this hostess. 

First step, as always, was to gather inspiration.

My only instructions from the hostess were:

1. farm animal theme

2. pastel yellow & green as the color scheme (with a little blue and pink welcome)

Here's my inspiration so far:

1. Nothing says barnyard bash like hay bales, burlap and sunflowers

2. Poms are a shower must!

3. Baby shower appropriate serving ware. To die for, no?

4. Yellow ribbon, in every style imaginable.

5. Galvanized buckets for drinks definitely say "farm" to me!

6. Could these farm animal cupcakes be any cuter?

7. Another easy must-have: ball jar vases

Please stay tuned over the next few weeks. I will share all the details of the party decorations as they come together. 

Birthday Cake: Chocolate Raspberry

I made this cake for my friend's birthday over the weekend.

It was YUMMY, and suprisingly easy for how fancy it looks.

Here's the details:

Chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling

Chocolate frosting

Vanilla rolled wafer cookies (chopped in half, and applied to the sides of the freshly frosted cake)

Fresh raspberries

White chocolate shavings (made with a regular vegetable peeler)

White chocolate heart with piped chocolate frosting letters

The most exciting part of this cake was the white chocolate heart.  I tend to be a procrastinator.  I had big plans of making or buying fondant, rolling it out, letting it harden over night, etc.  But then suddenly it was the last minute and I had scrap that plan.

Instead, I just bought a chocolate bar from the grocery store.  I put my heart shaped cookie cutter in the oven at 350 degrees for ~10 minutes.  I gently put the warm cookie cutter into the chocolate bar, and let it melt its way through.  I pulled the scraps away and carefully removed the cookie cutter.  After a little time in the fridge to harden back up, it was good to go.  Easier and less mess than using candy molds.   I will definitely do this again.

Halloween

 

I was asked to make a Halloween banner this week.

How was your family's Halloween?

I participated in an awesome trick or treating adventure with some friends who have kids.  There is a street in San Francisco that closes down to traffic and goes all out.  And "all out" is an understatement. 

There are people of all ages in amazing costumes everywhere you look.

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Dozens of garages are converted into haunted houses.  

Every surface of the houses are decorated.

  There was no shortage of candy!

The highlight?

The characters of Madagascar doing a live dance show in the windows of one home. 

I thought my friend's son might die of excitement at this scene.

Hope your Halloween was fun, with equal parts spooky & sweet!