Father's Day is a Bakerella Day!

My favorite blog to follow is http://www.bakerella.com/. She has some super cute ideas and this is where I learned to make the cake pops. She has a whole book of cake pops coming out in September and I can't wait! :) For Father's Day I tried a couple of her recipes I had wanted to try for a while. She does such a good job of documenting the recipes step by step, so I am just going to give you the link for each one.


Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls looked so good that I just had to try them. Although I did think twice after I saw the recipe called for "plenty of melted butter" rather than an exact measurement. Considering 6 out of 7 of us at the table were in a wedding party 3 weeks later, it probably wasn't the best thing to make, but they were SO good! And the recipe does make a TON. I had either 6 or 7 pans of rolls, but they are freezable. Here's the recipe/instructions: http://www.bakerella.com/swirls/


Congo Bars

I love chocolate chip bars and these looked delicious so I made them to take to my grandma's house. I think I overbaked mine a little, but they were still good and the plate was empty at the end of the afternoon, so I guess they were a hit. Here's the recipe/instructions: http://www.bakerella.com/i-hope-you-have-chocolate-chips-handy/


Mini Maple Pancake Muffins

I also recommend this recipe: http://www.bakerella.com/mini-maple-pancake-muffins/ Laura made them for our brunch and they were very tasty. She used regular syrup rather than pure maple syrup (which is pricey) and it worked fine. I would recommend the mini chocolate chips rather than the regular ones because it was a little too much chocolate for me. Next time Laura said she wants to try blueberries.


Homemade Almond Joys

This recipe was not from Bakerella, but it was part of my dad's Father's Day present. They were pretty easy to make, but were time consuming because you had to wait after each step. I followed Variation 1 in the recipe below.

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
3/4 package flaked coconut (14 oz)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, or vanilla

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a large saucepan.
Cook, stirring constantly, just until sugar is dissolved.
Cook without stirring to 236 degrees (soft ball); remove from heat.
Stir in coconut and flavoring; cool.

Variation 1: Chocolate Coconut Almond Drops (otherwise known as Almond Joys)- Shape cooled coconut mixture into 1-inch balls, flattening bottoms.
Top each with a toasted almond. (Toast raw almonds on cookie sheet in oven for about 10 minutes)
Chill at least 1 hour.
Dip in melted chocolate.

Variation 2: Acorns- Shape in balls, tapering one end to cone shape.
Chill 1 hour.
Dip large end into melted chocolate.

Lots of Cakes

Believe it or not, I made all of these cakes in the past week...


For the Hello Kitty fanatic:



For a company's 15th anniversary:



My very first hat cake, I even made the logo by hand:

Cards jersey, I ran out of time on this one, so the logo is paper, but I made the buttons:

For the Cardinals fanatic:

For the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fanatic:

Cake pops for favors for a baby shower:

Baby Shower cake, my first half white, half chocolate half sheet cake: