What Miracles Taste Like ♥

Did you know that a herd of unicorns is called a *Miracle*?
This blog entry is dedicated to what I think *miracles* should taste like.

If you didn't already know this...
I've been this crazy unicorn loving tutu wearing woman for years now. 

(photo by Maison Meredith Photography)

♥

So, of course when I saw that Starbucks came out with a Unicorn Frappe this last week, I may have been the only person who was sad seeing articles about it! ...Because more than drinking the drink..I would have loved to be a part of that product development team! After all, I have years of expertise in the tasting of glitter & unicorn rainbows. 

Starbucks...why didn't you call me?

I am pretty sure that I would have suggested the unicorn frappe taste a little something like this though:

Cotton Candy ♥ (my cupcake recipe/tutorial for these here)

Fantasy vanilla rainbow with a hint of glitter almond ♥ (my cupcake recipe/tutorial for these here)

My Blue Moon Ice Cream Cupcakes ♥ 

My White Chocolate Unicorn Bark

....Swirled with Rainbows, bedazzled with Sprinkles & Sixlets!

See the video on how I made it on Fox 11 Living with Amy here!

Make your own little edible *miracles*:

White chocolate candy melts (12 oz bag)
Hot pink candy melts (12 oz bag)
Yellow candy melts (12 oz bag)
Purple candy melts (12 oz bag)
Sky blue candy melts (12 oz bag)
Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
5 medium sized microwaveable bowls

Have prepared in small bowls on the side:
-Confetti sprinkles
-Bugles (for unicorn horns)
-Silver dragees
-Edible glitter
-Edible sixlet pearls

Directions:
Bowl 1: Fill with white chocolate candy melts
Bowl 2: Fill with hot pink candy melts
Bowl 3: Fill with yellow candy melts
Bowl 4: Fill with purple candy melts
Bowl 5: Fill with sky blue candy melts

1. Microwave each bowl separately in 30 second increments until candy melts are smooth and melted.

2. Pour white chocolate candy melts onto the parchment paper lined pan, smoothing it out with a spatula until it is about 1/4-1/2” thick. 

3. Immediately start to pour each color of melted candy melts onto top of the white chocolate in little colored blobs.

4. Using a toothpick or a lollipop stick, create a swirling pattern of all the colors. Do not over mix or the colors will turn brown. I know it is fun to swirl, but the less you swirl the colors together, the better “swirly rainbow unicorn” look you will get.

5. Immediately sprinkle the confetti sprinkles, bugles, silver dragees, sixlets and edible glitter on top of your artistic creation. (Don’t wait too long or the unicorn bark will harden quickly and the sprinkles will not stick). 

6. Put your unicorn bark in the fridge & let it cool/harden for 15 minutes. After it hardens, break up into little pieces and enjoy filling your tummy with rainbows & joy!

What the unicorn bark looks like before you break it up!

Sweet with a little bit of crunch.
It's a miracle!


♥♥♥

I wonder what's next after Starbucks' Unicorn Frappe...

Chocolate Emoji Poo Frappes?! ♥

.....Recipe for this guy coming up on my next blog entry!

Sunshine Filled Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes!

My mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about 8 years ago now and was one of the biggest reasons I moved back to Wisconsin from California.

♥

This last January - very suddenly - we almost lost her. It was truly one of the hardest things I've ever been through.  I think what made it even harder is that I am pregnant with my first baby girl. And maybe in my own fairy tale mind, I've always dreamed of sharing this moment intimately with my mom. I just didn't know that I would need to share my baby bump with her to give her motivation to live.

Long story short, my mom was transferred to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee-they discovered the problem was that she had been retaining carbon dioxide, so her brain was starting to shut down. The doctors made the decision to hook her up to life support. I drove back and forth from Appleton to Milwaukee to visit and talk to her, just to be there for her. 

My mom and me on my wedding day ♥

photo credit to: Amanda Red Wedding Photographer

There were times at the Froedtert ICU when I'd succumb to weakness, lay my head on her chest and we'd cry together, I'd try so hard not to leave her shoulder wet with my tears. She needed me to be strong for her. So I'd explain to her that this wasn't going to be forever. That this situation was temporary and that all these tubes she was hooked up to were a way to help her recover from all she had been through. I stepped away from our hug to show her my baby bump and told her that she had a granddaughter to meet soon, and to use this as one of her big motivations to fight her way to recovery. Even though my mom couldn't respond through all the tubes, my pep talk about the baby moved her to tears so I  ran back to hug her and hold her again. This was one of those crazy life altering moments when I realized that between being a future mother myself, and caring for my mother, I was gaining enough strength to be the person I needed when I was younger ♥, For both my mom and my baby, and honestly...for myself too in the midst of all this.

(picture credit: sparksofhope.org)

When my dad, my brother and I made the difficult decision to take her off life support, we didn't know what was going to happen so we circled around her and prayed ♥. Miraculously, after the tubes were removed, she immediately started talking! The first thing she said to all of us is, "I just want you all to know how much I love you."

She had to have felt the love in that room, and that we were praying for a miracle. My mom is back. And she gets to meet my daughter in a few months. I have a lot to be thankful for. We still have some things to figure out, Parkinson's is a difficult disease and I hate it more than ever now!!! It can affect many people through many different random symptoms. And I still believe the issue with her breathing has something to do with it.

It's officially spring now, and we have a lot to look forward to. A June baby is coming! The summer, the SUNSHINE! 

So........I am dedicating this recipe to all who have had some dark moments this past winter, and desperately need some sunshine! Baking these brightened MY world!!!!! (and made baby dance in my belly when I ate them!)

Lemon Poppyseed SUNSHINE cupcakes!

I tell people that I pureed the sunshine and poured it into the center of each cupcake! The pureed sunshine filling and the lemon buttercream frosting are my favorite parts to eat!

Ingredients for a warm sunshine filled tummy:
(like a Care Bear?)

2 2/3 Cups Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

dash salt

3/4 cup softened butter

1 1/3 cups fine baking sugar

4 eggs

2 tablespoons lemon zest

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup chobani greek yogurt

2 tsp lemon extract
1-2 tablespoons poppyseeds (or more if you like poppyseeds!)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325. Line cupcake pan with 24 wrappers. In a stand mixer, cream butter until creamy & fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar for even more fluffiness! On a lower speed, beat in eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a liquid measuring cup, measure out the greek yogurt and set aside. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract. Gradually begin to alternately add dry ingredients, yogurt, and liquid lemon to the creamed mixture in the stand mixture until all is blended. Once batter is evenly blended, fold poppyseeds in with a spatula. Using a scoop, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 22-24 minutes.  (It is ok to fill the cupcake liners up pretty full! They will puff up very nicely if you are generous with the batter).

Optional: While baking, whisk sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl on the side (6 tablespoons sugar, 6 tablespoons lemon juice). When the cupcakes come out of the oven, use a small spoon to pour the lemon juice/sugar over the top of each cupcake to saturate with lemon flavor!

Ingredients for "pureed sunshine" filling:
1 box instant lemon pudding

2 cups cold milk

Follow the instructions on the box!

To fill cupcakes: Wait for cupcakes to cool. Core out the center of each cupcake with a spoon or a cupcake corer. Set the "cores" of the cupcakes to the side. Fill each cupcake with "pureed sunshine" filling. Put the "cores" back on top of the filling of each cupcake for a wonderful (and delicious) surprise!

Ingredients for Marshmallow Cloud Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
(the stuff dreams are made of!)

13-14 oz Marshmallow Fluff or Cream
1 lb softened butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2-3 teaspoons lemon extract
Dash salt 

8-10 cups powdered sugar (depending on how thick or creamy you want your frosting clouds. Use less for creamy frosting or more for thicker swirls)

For decor: Sixlet pearls!

Instructions:

Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer. Mix well until fluffy and well blended. Gradually add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, and lemon extract. Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency. The more powdered sugar you add-the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating!

Use a large open star tip to swirl dreamy frosting on top of each cupcake. Sprinkle edible sixlet pearls on top.

Take a moment to smile, enjoy this beautiful moment, let the sun warm your tummy as you eat your cupcake(s)...because life is short ♥.

Pinata Cake & Cupcakes

If you know me really well, you probably know that I get intimidated by making cakes.

I work day in and day out with little cupcakes most of the time. Super cute, mini little, transportable treats with dollops and swirls and fluffs of frosting on top that you can play with like play-dough. ♥  Cakes are intimidating to me because I feel like I have to add an architect/engineer hat to my artist brain.  I have to create a foundation so that the cake won't slide or fall apart. I am way better at creating textured, fancy flouncy frosting swirls on top of adorable little cupcakes than spreading on a perfect sheen of frosting to cake that is so polished it looks like fondant ♥

However...there can be exceptions made.....

When there are pinata cakes involved!!!!!!

A Pinata cake doesn't have to be polished or neat.

It is exploding with fun and celebration from the inside out!

The best thing is that you can fill the cake with any candy or treat you desire.

(I even thought of making a Mountain Dew cake with Doritos coming out of it, maybe I'll do that in the future).

I made matching Pinata Cupcakes to complete a whole "set."

I divided shredded coconut into ziploc bags and added a dot of Americolor Gel Paste to each ziploc bag (colors used here are Electric Pink, Sky Blue, and Electric Yellow). I sealed each baggy shut and danced a little in my kitchen to shake the color into the coconut. I piped frosting onto each cupcake and sprinkled with colored coconut. I piped pretty big fat swirls on top so that the cupcakes would look bigger and more full, but you can put on as much frosting as you desire.

Each Pinata cupcake is filled with Sixlet Pearls as a "SURPRISE"!

And look at how the shredded coconut colors the frosting!

It reminds me of one of those mexican hoodies you can buy at farmers markets.

I use a measuring spoon to scoop a hole out of the center of the cupcake. I keep the cake I scooped out and put it to the side. I fill the hole with pastel Sixlet pearls and cover it again with the the leftover cake from my scooping.

How did I make the pinata cake?

Using my favorite cake recipe, I baked four 8" round layers of cake.

I used a 4" biscuit cutter to cut a hole into the center of 2 out of 4 of my cake layers.

  

Cake Assembly Order:  

A.  Place 1 uncut layer on a cake stand/turntable and spread your favorite frosting on top using a piping bag or a frosting knife.

B.  Top this layer with 1 layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

C.  Top this layer with the other layer that has the center hole removed. Spread frosting on top but not over or inside the hole.

D.  You'll see a big hole in the center of your cake. Fill it with all kinds of goodies! I used Peanut Butter M&Ms, milk chocolate M&Ms, multi-colored gumballs, and chocolate coins in many colors! Can you imagine making a baby reveal cake like this too using pink or blue M&Ms and other colored candies?

E.  Place the final layer on top of the cake.  Using a large frosting knife and your favorite frosting (the more creamy & whipped the better), frost the outside of the cake!

You can even top the pinata cake with another mini sized pinata that is also filled with nummies.

Mind..blown!! ♥

I decorated my pinata cake all fancy schmancy.

Each layer was frosted with a different color before I stacked the cake layers on top of each other!

Just remember, the most fun part of the cake is the inside! Cut a BIG PIECE out of your cake using a large knife..or if you are feeling it, smash the cake.  Either way you'll find something you like, I'm sure of it. My favorite are the chocolate coins. What's yours?

♥♥♥