Cookie Dough Dip

This year for Christmas I wanted to bring something a little bit different! This dip isn't your regular party dip, this dip is sweet, delicious, and basically the best dip ever!!! I found this dip on my favourite site, Pinterest! Like I said in my last post on the Cookie Dough Pops, the best part of baking is eating the cookie dough! I don't think I've ever met a person who doesn't love eating cookie dough!

(Not the best picture as we were in a hurry!)

The recipe is simple and it certainly doesn't take long at all to make! You can check out the original recipe from HERE!

I whipped mine up and served it with Teddy Grahams and Graham crackers. It would also go well with Vanilla Wafers or Animal Crackers!

Enjoy!! 


Kaits :)

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Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

I found this idea in the summertime on StumbleUpon and thought it was so great. I completely forgot about it until just the other day when I was home looking through my StumbleUpon favourites and I saw it again! I thought there would be nothing better that day to make that bread and enjoy with a hot cup of coffee. So I made it!

I didn't get a photo of the final product as my mom
pulled it out of the oven and started munchin on it!

 This Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread is super yummy and super easy to make! I'm not the greatest at making dough, so next time I will use my bread maker thing for making the dough! This cinnamon bread is awesome because you can just pull it apart in little slices! It would be great for Christmas morning or a brunch item as it is easy to make and serve!


Here is where you can find the recipe and more pictures of the delicious bread.

I hope you try this recipe, and have a wonderful Christmas!!

Kaits :)

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Christmas Cookie Dough Pops

This is so exciting! I love having so much time off this holiday season to make so many goodies! I found this awesome idea online for Cookie Dough Pops. Similar to cake pops except they are made of cookie dough, obviously!
They are SO delicious, who doesn't love cookie dough? Its better than eating the baked cookies! They are also extremely cute and for the most part mess free when you are eating them!

The recipe is simple. Make your favourite kind of cookie dough. I used the Kahlua Chocolate Chip cookie dough. The only difference is you substitute each egg for 2 tablespoons of milk.

They are so easy to make, they look great, and they taste delicious!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!


Kaits :)

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Hot Chocolate on a Stick

For the Craft Sale that Seleena and I did as a fundraiser for our trip to Africa we made chocolate candies, candy bouquets, peppermint bark, and the best seller, Hot Chocolate on a Stick! These ended up being a gooey disaster, but we wrapped them up to make them look pretty for our craft sale. They still sold really well and we should have had more. 

I was thinking of something that I could make and take to my co-workers during the Christmas season, and I thought of making these again! The second attempt went much better once I learned how to read a recipe the right way! As it turns out we put wayyy too much condensed milk in the first time, that is what made them extra gooey. This time, sticking to only one can of condensed milk, they turned out fabulous! 

 Basically, you heat up a mug filled with milk and you drop these babies in a give it a stir. You will taste the best hot chocolate you have ever had! Rich, smooth, and creamy! If you prefer, you can eat it right off the stick as a delicious piece of fudge and marshmallow!

These turned out to be the perfect winter gift for anyone! Who doesn't like a warm cup of hot chocolate? 

Click for Printable Recipe
 

Kaits :)

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Craft Sale!

I have got so many views in the last while, but I haven't posted in what seems like forever. I also haven't done much baking or anything since school started again. It's hard to squeeze that in no matter how much I'd like to!

I have a table booked at the Candy Cane Lane craft sale in Regina for November 19th!  I have lots of great ideas and will be making lots of Christmas treats! I will be sure to take pictures and post them so everyone can see and try to make some holiday treats yourself! I am so excited and I can't wait to get going on this project!

All the money I make will be going towards my Africa trip. I am going to Africa May 12-25th and the money will go towards the volunteering I am doing with building facilities in the community, teaching children English and literacy skills as well as working in conservation of animals like crocodiles, leopards, and cheetahs. 

I cannot wait to get started and keeping everything posted, I feel like I've somewhat neglected this blog in a while, and I would like to keep it going. The holidays are coming up and there are so many things I am planning on making! Stay posted for lots of yummy treats to come! 

Kaits :)

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Mickey Mouse Cake!

Last weekend, I got a request for a Mickey Mouse cake for my boss's daughters birthday. I did a bit of scrambling and was able to find a Wilton Mickey Mouse pan in perfect condition on UsedRegina for SUPER cheap! I whipped up a quick vanilla batter and got him in the oven. Decorating was a bit more tedious. I used a star tip and piped that all over, it took a long time and I ended up with a very tired and sore hand in the end. The hardest part of this project was to make the black icing. I don't care what people say.. black is by far the most challenging colour to make, especially from the Wilton colour gels. Oh boy, I used almost a whole tube of black colour in my icing and it still looked green. After I gave up with trying to colour it to be the perfect black and started to pipe, it slowly turned in to a richer colour of black!

The good thing was the my boss thought it was awesome and said his little girl would think so too! I sure hope they enjoyed it as well!

Kaits :)

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Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

 

This is by far the biggest project I have taken on! Two-hundred cupcakes and a cake for a friends wedding. I was more than thrilled to accept the offer a while ago from a friend I have known all my life to make her wedding cake. I prepared for weeks to make these and I think they turned out awesome!

I took two whole days off work to bake and decorate all the cupcakes. I made One-hundred vanilla cupcakes and one-hundred chocolate. I made two-hundred gumpaste flowers, dusted them with pearl dust and finished them with pearl beads in the center. I got the petunia shape cutter and mould from Flour Confections. I have come to love that website, they have quick shipping and they are awesome people to work with. The icing is a traditional buttercream which I made myself. 

 I would do another project like this again. Although at times it is stressful, I think the fun factor of it all outweighs anything negative about the experience. I didn't get a very good picture of the cake, which sucks, because it actually looked awesome and I surprised myself even. I also missed out on the cake cutting, but I am really hoping someone else was able to snap a picture, I'm sure their photographer did anyways. Here is everything put together:

 Kaits :)

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Rubber Ducky Cake!

My sisters friend, Jenna, asked me if I would like to make her son, Keegan's, first birthday cake. Do I want to, umm, YES! So I asked what they would like. A rubber duck. I thought, I want to make this cake awesome! Keegan is the cutest little man! So I started looking at rubber duck cakes to get some ideas. Hmm, nothing seemed right until I found out Wilton made a 3D Rubber Duck cake pan, which, I had to get my hands on. I called around and no one seemed to carry the pan. Before leaving work one day, I told my sister, maybe I should check the North end stores. Sure enough, I came across the pan at the Rochdale Bulk Barn. I was so excited and after work we went to pick it up. Once I got the pan I wondered what I would make the rest of the cake look like since this little pan wasn't going to feed thirty five people. 

I got it. A bubble bath! The night before I wanted to bake the cake I went online and found a Wilton discussion form of people discussing how their experiences were with making this particular cake..the majority of the results were it didn't. So I thought "Oh Crap, I should have tried this out a few times." I came home from work and got at it, I measured what the pan could hold and did everything right. Twenty minutes into baking the cake I remembered, "Oh ____, I forgot to spray the pan with cake release!" I was in such a rush and my mom left the kitchen a mess when I got home that I completely forgot! What a rookie mistake though! I baked it nevertheless and the top came off wonderfully, the bottom not so much, so I did it a second time and it worked. The only flaw was that this time I didn't use as much batter as I had the first time because I ran out and it didn't fully rise, but I think it still looks pretty good! I used the marshmallows to make it look like the rubber duck was floating in a bath tub!

 

Kaits :)

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Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes!

These cupcakes are filled with a rich salted caramel center and surrounded by a brown sugar cake to add to the caramel taste. They are topped with salted caramel buttercream frosting. I got this wonderful recipe from SprinkleBakes blog, so you are welcome to go there and take peek at her recipe as it is posted. These are so yummy and I got many compliments on them, I ate quite a few myself! ;)

 All the caramel in this recipe is all homemade, which at first I was kinda scared because I know if you don't devote your full attention to the pot on the stove, you'll end up with one big chunk of goo. But I was very lucky and it was easier then expected. I find that I enjoy filling the insides of cupcakes. It adds to the whole experience!
I'd encourage anyone who is into baking or looking for any new recipes to visit SprinkleBakes Blog, she has a lot of great stuff on there!!

Kaits :)

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LADYBUG CAKE!

My cousin asked me a while ago to make her a cake for her daughter, Addisons, baptism which was on Saturday. She said I could do anything, but it had to have ladybugs! I had a couple different I ideas of what I wanted to do, but I think this one came out nicely. All the ladybugs are so stinkin' CUTE! I made a Strawberry Cream Cake, two layers with buttercream icing in between. The ladybugs are the tops Strawberry Cream Cupcakes. I then iced the cake with green buttercream then got started on the lady bugs using red and black icing. I used white chocolate chips for their eyes. After that, I went to town on making the grass. I've never made a cake this big before so it was so exciting and I had fun!
The day before I bought one of those cake turntables which made the job a million times more simpler! 

Everyone loved the cake and all the kids were grabbing at the ladybugs and wanting to eat them before the cake was cut. 

Here is the recipe for the buttercream icing which I used! It's really yummy and it works great for decorating! I got the recipe from Wilton!

1 cup white veg. shortening
1 teaspoon of Flavour (I used vanilla. You can use any flavouring you like. But if you want your icing to be white, make sure its a clear flavouring so that your icing doesn't turn a strange colour. There is clear Vanilla!)
10 teaspoons of milk
2-3 cups of confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon of meringue powder

Cream shortening, flavour, and milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until thoroughly mixed. If you would like a thinner consistency add more milk, if you'd like it thicker either add more icing sugar or less milk. A thin consistency you would use for icing your cake and doing writing. A Medium consistency would be used for decorating doing borders and flowers, and the thick consistency you could use for making upright petals and flowers! You can always find more info, if you need it at Wilton.com

Kaits :)

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Oreo Birthday Cake

For my sister's birthday she requested two things: Something I haven't made before and something that she will like. I've had this recipe for Oreo cupcakes for a while and decided to put it into play, but I just made it into a cake. I layered the bottom of the pan with Oreo cookies twisted in half. I crushed up the other half to put on the cakes sides. I iced the cake with cream cheese frosting, because really, who doesn't love cream cheese frosting! I decorating with her favourite colour, pink, and brought it to the party!
Everyone seemed to have like the cake, I liked that there were Oreos on the bottom and the cream cheese frosting tied everything together!
If you'd like to try making this, its easy! Take your favourite cake recipe or a box of white Betty Crocker and add crushed up Oreos and layer Oreos in the bottom of the cake pan! It's a pretty simple recipe for a great result!

Kaits ;) 

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Whats New!

Hi Friends!
I haven't posted in a while, and I really have no excuse. I have been baking but I have also been busy working late night shifts and sleeping in only to go back to work. On the day of my last final, I came home and decided that I wanted to bake after watching an episode of Cake Boss. So, I went to the kitchen and whipped up a batch of plain old Vanilla Cupcakes. Once they were in the oven, I decided I wanted to work more on my decorating. I worked on some spring looking flowers. I apologize as I do not have a great pictures as it was already eleven at night by the time I was finished, and I still had to clean up and I was tired!

All these pretty looking flowery cupcakes went to the boys at Enbridge, but I am sure it wasn't the decoration that they cared much about! 
I also made my homemade brownies with chocolate cream cheese icing this Friday for the staff at Brewsters and everyone seemed to have loved them. I took a large pan full and I don't think that was even enough. Next time, I will have to make much more!
I have a busy week of baking coming up so I will keep you posted. I will be making my sisters birthday cake (which I still have to decide on exactly WHAT I will be making) and my cousins little girls baptism cake! I am so excited and can not wait to make them because I am trying out more new recipies AND testing my decorating skills.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and best wished for the week ahead!
Kaits :)

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Apple Caramel Cupcakes

Apple Caramel Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Icing I wasn't 100% sure that this recipe would turn out, but did it ever! These are SO delicious. I made them for the Arbonne party I hosted last night as my wonderful sister is a consultant now. Everyone liked them and at the end of the night I had one for myself and my golly were they ever so yummy! The cake is pretty simple to make, it's just a yellow cake. You could use a Betty Crocker box if your not good at mixing, but I used my own recipe. So you whip that up and before sticking them in the oven put pie filling on top of the batter and push it into the middle with a Werthers Chewy Caramel.I made cinnamon buttercream icing but was thinking that a cinnamon cream cheese icing would make it even more yummy!!

mmmm.. just look at all the inside gooey goodness!


[Click for Printable Recipe]


Kaits :)

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Wedding Cupcakes

My mom's friend from work wanted me to decorate cupcakes for her daughters wedding. I had no idea what they wanted me to do to 150 cupcakes, but when I got there all they wanted was a quick swirl on the top of each one. I made my White Russian Cupcakes with Kahlua whipped frosting with mini-chocolate chips on top. They had made the rest. I believe there was banana, chocolate, and coconut. My mom went to the wedding and took the pictures. I think it only took me about forty-five minutes to do all the cupcakes. 
I will warn anyone who is making icing, if it calls for butter, please, please use butter! Not margarine. Actually this applies to any recipe but most importantly for icing. My mom's friend's son was making the icing and substituting margarine for butter. They are NOT the same. As I was icing the cupcakes, I could smell the grossness of the margarine and I am assuming people could taste it too! Whenever you are baking and the recipe calls for butter, use butter. If you don't have butter, make a trip to the grocery store and get a brick of butter! Trust me, it'll be worth your time!!

Kaits :)

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Dangerously Delicious Cupcakes!

I was invited to a little get together at my friends house and I thought I would try out the recipe that I've been wanting to try for a while. Now, the name "Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Center with Fluffy Peanut Butter Topping dipped in Chocolate" doesn't quite suffice, so why not Dangerously Delicious Cupcakes instead. 
I knew these cupcakes were going to be good once I whipped up the batter and realized its almost like a thick brownie batter, but more on the fluffy side. I then added Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to each cupcake! 
I am planning on making a recipe archive so that you can try for yourself the different recipes that I make. 

[Click for Printable Recipe]

Kaits :)

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Coca-Cola Cupcakes!

Coke, in a cupcake? You betcha. These little mini cupcakes are filled with Coca-Cola and chocolatey delight! The topping is Coke Whipped Topping with a sour coke bottle candy on the top. I can honestly say that I do not know what they taste like as I never even got the chance to try these guys. I also made these for my sister, but let me tell you, I don't think I will do mini-cupcakes again, or in the near future anyways! They are so cute, but they are a pain in the butt to make, especially when I don't own a small batter scooper! I found the recipe for these guys a while ago on the Coke website!

[Click for Printable Recipe]

 Kaits :)

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Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

  

My sister is taking a stab at being an Arbonne Consultant and tonight is her first night of it. She asked if I would make her some goodies to serve at her little get together, and of course, being the wonderful sister I am, I said yes! So, I made Kahlua Chocolate Chip Cookies, these cookies are soft and delicious! Next go at making them, I would include more Kahlua and more coffee or espresso powder in the mixture because the taste isn't all that distinct. You can basically make your favourite chocolate chip dough but before mixing add in about three table spoons of Kahlua or other coffee liquor and two teaspoons of instant coffee or espresso powder. Depending on what you like, you could always add more or less. There's nothing wrong with tasting the batter! ;)

[Click for Printable Recipe]

Kaits :)

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Homemade Brownies

I think Joel is quite envious of all the people I do baking for, although he usually gets his fair share, lately he's been feeling left out. He asked if I could make him some "really good, most delicious brownies," and so I did. I got up early this morning to make these homemade brownies with chocolate cream cheese frosting (as per request) before heading off to volunteer! I must say, these turned out wonderfully, and although I was a bit skeptical about the frosting (as I've never done chocolate cream cheese before) it turned out SO yummy! Together, it was rich, chocolatey, gooey and savory piece of brownie! MMM, just look at it! I think Joel, his Mom, and myself ate half of the 8x8 pan tonight!

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White Russian Cupcakes!

Today, I made White Russian Cupcakes topped with Kahlua Whipped Topping and Chocolate Chips. The cake is unbelievably moist and tastes SO good! I made these cupcakes for my co-workers as a "Just Because" surprise!

Here is the Recipe I used.. I found it in Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn.

Ingredients
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Kahlua
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Kahlua Whipped Cream
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy (whipping) cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon Kahlua
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate shavings, for garnish

Directions
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

Prepare the cupcake batter: Place the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, milk, eggs, vodka, 1/4 cup Kahlua, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Spoon or scoop1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 17 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the remaining 2 tablespoons Kahlua. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners. Lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting: Place a large, clean mixing bowl and electric mixer beaters in the freezer to chill for 1 minute. Remove the bowl and beaters from the freezer. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the cream has thickened. Stop the machine, and add the sugar and Kahlua. Beat the cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. DO NOT OVERBEAT OR IT WILL TURN INTO BUTTER.

Frost cooled cupcakes with whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Kaits :)

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Kaits Cakes

Hi! My name is Kaitlyn, I am starting this blog as a means of sharing my baking stories, showcasing my baking and decorating and to using it as a portfolio for the work I have done. I am a student at the University of Regina where I am studying Elementary Education with plans of becoming a teacher in the next two years! I've always been a fan of baking. Ever since my fourth birthday when I got a kids cookbook and wanted to make EVERYTHING in it, I still have that book today. When I was in High School I didn't subscribe to Seventeen magazine or other fashion and beauty magazines but rather food and baking magazines! Within the past couple years I have really enjoyed making cupcakes and cakes and just last month I took a Wilton Cake Decorating class. After working at Michaels for three years, I had already picked up a lot of tips when it comes to decorating, so that class was what I had already taught myself. I am hoping to take their Wilton Fondant Class so that perhaps I will be able to create more elaborate and 'fancy' cakes! For now, I am experimenting with different creative recipes of cakes as well as decorating them! I know my co-workers and friends sure enjoy the cakes I make! Here are a few things that I have done in the past. (Don't mind that poor photo resolution as most of these picture were taken on my Blackberry!)

I made this cake for Joel's birthday 2 years ago. It is a round cake and a smaller round cake that I cut in halfers for the ears. Chocolate icing for the fur and yellow vanilla icing for the ears and nose. The eyes are oreos with brown smarties and the smile and nostrils are those pull and peel thingers.

This is a ghosty I made one year for halloween for Joel's sisters family! It is a cupcake cake all iced together with oreos for the eyes and mouth.

These are cupcakes I made this year for Halloween! Vampires, Pumpkins, Skeletors, OH MY! The bottom right features my 'rocky road' cupcake. It is a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing topped with nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and caramel sauce!

These are the cupcakes my sister and I made for the boys at Enbridge. We wanted to go in for a coffee break one day to visit so we thought we'd bring along a treat. The boys LOVED it! The cupcakes are just have the Enbridge swirl on them.

A big hit this year for my co-workers at Brewsters is the wreath cupcakes. They are just vanilla cupcakes with white icing. I made wreathes around all of them and added holly berries and a ribbon to each one!

For Christmas, we have the Santy Clause cupcake cake! It turned out really awesome! I iced Santas face smoothly with peach coloured icing, 
his hat I iced in red swirls and his beard in white! His eyes and nose are smarties. Everyone loved him!

 

I made this cake out of boredom and putting off homework one night. Icing filling between two layers of vanilla bean cake! I decorated it with flowers and swirls.

I made these cupcakes the night before I left for Mexico, they don't look all that great because I was too tired, excited, and rushed to get them done. I was just trying out different styles.

 And, here is my Valentines cake. It's a zebra print heart, the boys at Enbridge sure enjoyed it since I didn't see my Valentine at all on the 14th. 

So that is what I have done so far..let's see what else I can do! Follow me through my adventures of baking!

Kaits :)

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