♡ Father's Day Weekend: Chocolate Covered Vanilla Cake ♡

Hello everyone! And yes, I AM ALIVE!!! Well, my SUMMER BREAK started on the 14th so of course I have been lay and relaxing all day. But I did make a cake over the weekend. SO this weekend it was Father's Day. My dad is on deployment but I still wanted to make a cake to celebrate. I ended up with the creation above. it was a struggle! I really had no idea how to decorate this cake. I was "winging it" the whole time :) I shared this cake with my friend and his family, my friend said this was the most delicious cake I have made so far! It was really fluffy, I used my Vanilla Cake recipe and it was so amazingly awesome...

 

1. Well.......I AM NOW GOING TO HIGH SCHOOL!!! Yes, I graduated Middle School with high grades (Honor Roll) and I ended up getting the Presidential Award. Now I have two because I also got one in 5th grade. It was so unexpected, I really had no clue whatsoever :) It feels so weird that I'm done with Middle School. It's like a part of me grew up and is moving on to bigger, an better things. Time flies by so fast!

 

Chocolate everywhere......yum

 2. I realized about 1 hour after school finished that I was already missing all of my friends! I mean, they are like family and I can't wait to see them in High School. I took the notes that some of my friends wrote in my planner during the year, and made them into my new jewelry holder. So I will always remember our great memories, and start new ones.

 

3. YES I am going to  bake! Although I can't tomorrow because I am babysitting. It is really good for me because I get money to buy new clothes and baking supplies. So I have a pretty good summer job right now :) And all I want to say is that I'll be writing soon!

♡ Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake ♡

Hello there! Yes, I finally had the chance to write again :). Anyways, this week I made a Cookie cake! It was really good...I received great feedback so it must be good. This Cookie Cake is huge and thick, so you can have a small slice and it is very filling. Also, many people can eat from just one of these so they are great for events/parties. I decided to decorate the cake with pink frosting to add a lighter look to the huge cookie. It's the biggest cookie I've ever made/eaten that is 100% homemade!

(I adapted this recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything, but I did change quite a few things!)

 

1. I FINALLY finished all of my testing for the school year! I really can't believe it, I am almost finished, just a few days left. I really wonder what I'm doing this summer. I mean I know that I will have a lot of time to bake new things, and swimming is always an option. But I tan so easily that I am thinking this year I should make a swimming schedule so I won't get way too tan haha!

 

2. Well of course when I was taking pictures of the Cookie Cake, Pounder found it in his interest to try and eat it. He wanted to smell it so I had to be fast before he actually noticed the cake on the table.  But when I lifted the cake off the table, this is the face I got from him:

 

I mean he makes himself look so cute. But I had to say no to him of course, he can't have cookies or chocolate. Oh! I almost forgot, here are some pictures I took of him the other day, they are too adorable.

 
 3. I really want to make Ice Cream this Summer. Theres just something about the idea that makes it seem so cool. And once I get Ice Cream off my list, then I will try Ice Cream sandwiches. Oh how much I want to make Ice Cream! But I need an Ice Cream Maker attachment for my KitchenAid. I also really want to make Macarons. They are so delicious! So it would be really cool to be able to make them.

Yield: One 9x2 round cookie cake

Ingredients:
2-2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 cups of light brown sugar
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 teaspoons of cornstarch
3 tablespooons of vanilla extract
1 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of milk chocolate chips

Buttercream Frosting:

 5 cups of powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x2 round cake pan with parchment paper.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter.

3. Slowly add in the sugars and the egg.

4. Next, add in the flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.

5. Finally, mix in the vanilla extract and chocolate chips. (The dough will be very sticky)

6. Pour the cookie dough into the cake pan.

7. Bake the cookie for 28-34 minutes.

8. One the cookie cake has finished baking, let it cool for 20-30 minutes.

To make the frosting:

1. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until it is at a fluffy consistency.

2. Add in the heavy cream,, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar.

3. Beat the frosting until it is smooth and creamy.

4 Decorate the cookie cake to your liking.



 5. ENJOY the Cookie Cake!!!!!!!!!!!!

♡ Memorial Day! : Red Velvet Mini Cakelets ♡

Hello there lovelies! Well today is memorial day, so why not make a red, white and blue cake? I decided to make a red velvet cake and decorate it with blue and white. So that way when you cut into it you would see red, white and blue! Anyways, I have really been wanting to make little Cakelets because they are just oh-so-adorable. So I went shopping this week for more baking supplies and I got two 5x2 mini cake pans! This recipe actually makes 2 mini cakes, each being 2 layers. I also bought fondant because I wanted to make bows for the top of the cakes. And this being the first time I have handled fondant, I did a pretty swell job :). (I used my Red Velvet Cake Pops recipe to make these little cakelets)

 

1. So when it was time to take pictures of the cakes, Pounder kept trying to eat it. As you see in the pictures below, he's watching the cake. It's like he was waiting for me to turn around so that he could quickly jump up and snatch the cake. So that is my explanation to why he is in the pictures below :)

 

2. This cake is so deliciously-amazing-in-every-way-possible-it-is-crazy! It is sweet but at the same time holds a soft bitterness to it. Just the description of a delicious Red Velvet Cake. When you first bite into it, the fluffiness is sweet, but not too overwhelmingly sweet. Then as you almost swallow, you experience a slight, bitter but nice taste of the cocoa powder that sends you too a cake overload!

 

 

 

 

3. Yesterday I went bathing suit shopping! My neighborhood pool finally opened again and it was time to get a new bathing suit. Well I don't really like bikinis so I ended up getting a cute 2-piece bathing suit that covers me up like a one piece. I don't know why, but I feel half naked in a bikini and I feel like I'm way too overexposed. My mom always tells me I have the perfect body for a bikini (I'm a size x-small to small). But I never feel like wearing one. So I went to target and found the perfect bathing suit! Anyways, I love my new bathing suit, it's blue with white polka dots!

 

 

 

 

 

                                         Memorial day colors..............

 

The second cake.....Look out for Pounder!

 

He staring at the cake! But look at how cute it is!

 

Aww I wanted to give him a piece, but I can't :((

Yield: two mini cakelets, each being two 5in. layers

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2 cups of sugar
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of Buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of  vegetable oil
2-3 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste (or 3 tablespoons of vanilla extract)
5-6 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of red food coloring
1 tablespoon of distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Buttercream frosting: (good for ONE mini cake)

1 cup of butter
5 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease and flour four 5 inch cake pans. (Place parchment paper on the bottom  of each pan.

3. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the eggs with a whisk.

4. Add in the remaining liquids (except the vanilla bean paste and the red food coloring) and place the mixture into another bowl. Set the bowl aside.

5.  Now place all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and whisk them until they are well blended.

6. Slowly add in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Then, add in the red food coloring and the vanilla bean paste.

7. Keep mixing until the batter is well blended.

8. Evenly pour the batter into the four cake pans. Drop the pans onto the counter a few times (about 4 inches above the counter) to release any air bubbles.

9. Bake the 4 cakes for 35-45 minutes.

10. Place the cake pans on a cooling rack.

11. Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes.

12. Take the cakes out of the cake pans and wrap them in plastic wrap. Let the cakes cool inside the plastic wrap (this takes about half an hour).

13. Serrate the tops of each cake and place 2 of them on separate cake boards.

To make the Buttercream Frosting:

14.  Frosting: using a stand mixer or hand mixer, add in all the ingredients into the bowl and mix until the frosting is at a creamy but not too thick consistency.

18. Place about 1 cup of frosting onto the first layer and spread the frosting over the top.

15. Place the second layer on top of the first layer.

16. Cover the cake with a thin coat of frosting. Then, place the cake in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

18. Take the cake out and finish frosting the cake. Then, decorate the cake to however you want it to look like.

19. Re-peat this process for the second cake.

 .

20. ENJOY the cakes!!!!!

♡ Tuxedo Cookies ♡

Hello! Well as I promised, I baked this week :) My friend ordered one dozen cookies from me and she wanted White Chocolate/ chocolate cookies. So, I whipped up a batch and earned $6.00! These cookies are actually an Amanda's Little Bakery original! I am so proud to say that I did make these up on my own wth no "adaptations" and "inspired by". And these cookies are so good, and chewy just perfection in everyway it is ridiculous! SO I hope you enjoy making them :)))

 

1. My friend well "manager" bought t-shirts to make Amanda's Little Bakery official! SO hopefully we will get more people to order from us, that would be my dream....Anyways, we want to get business cards too so right now we're saving up money to buy some!

 

2. Well, today I did my SOL and I only have to do one more tomorrow and I am done for the week! Anyways, we watched Ninja Turtles in my Civics class today. What does it have to do with Civics? That is unknown but we all had a pretty good laugh. It also surprised me that my big, curly hair was once a famous hairstyle....... haha

 

Just wrap these cookies up and serve them as party favors.....SO CUTE!!!!!

 

Yield: 20 cookies

 

1/4 cup of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

4 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1/3 cup of white chocolate chips

1/3 cup of milk chocolate chips 

 

 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together.

3. Add in the egg and mix well.

4. Next, slowly add in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

5. Finally, add in the vanilla extract, white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Mix well until the cookie dough is sticky.

 6. Place the cookie dough onto the baking sheets (1 tablespoon for each cookie)

7. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.

8. Let the cookies cool on the cooling wrack fro 10 -15 minutes.

9. ENJOY the cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :))))



♡ Mother's Day Weekend: Birthdays and Presents ♡

 

 

Well I hope you had a Happy Mother's Day! I treated my mom to a mani/pedi and I bought her a bracelet, and made her a bracelet! My brother on the other hand bought my mom red roses and her favorite chocolate. So you can say that we have a tendency to treat my mother like the queen she is on Mother's Day. Anyways, it was my friends moms birthday on Saturday. So his dad asked me if I could make a cake for them. Of course, I was more than happy to bake, and I was getting paid $25! So I happily made them the cake they ordered; a vanilla cake with pineapple slices and buttercream frosting in the middle. I used my Vanilla Cake  recipe fro this cake. And I worked my best to make the cake look as beautiful as I could. And (drumroll...........) it was a HUGE success! Everybody absolutely loved the cake! It was quickly devoured and no one could believe that I made it from scratch. They were even more surprised to find out that I have only been baking cakes since January. So I say that this weekend was a good one :)

 

 

 This cake was the first "real" looking birthday cake I have done. It actually looks almost like a simple, but beautiful birthday cake you can buy at any local bakery! And to make a confession; this was the first time I have ever made a border around the bottom of a cake! But while people said it turned out beautiful, I still need to practice in making different borders... Oh! And I took these pictures on my iPhone haha, well except for the last picture.

 

Sorry the picture is a little slanted, I couldn't get a good shot, there were people in front of me. And a little short person like me couldn't get past them..

 

 I am so happy that I got to bake this weekend, because this week is going to be a stressful, and grueling week. It's the time of year when us students have to take our.....SOLs!!! *AHHH!!* Everyone seems to be stressed, especially the teachers. I mean received an 8 page homework assignment today and it's due tomorrow (did I mention this homework is for geometry?) And tomorrow is my Band Concert, so wish me luck! We are playing the Star Wars theme song, Duel of the Fates, the Jurassic Park theme song, and the E.T. theme song (and this is only one of our music pieces!) But I am pretty excited, I mean this is the last concert of the year, and for me, in this school. I'll be moving on to high school  (FINALLY!).

 

 

But while I am going to be busy this week, trust me when I say that I will try my hardest to bake this week! I will take any opportunity I can to post new recipes. But until I post again, have a great day!!

Here's a view from the front of the cake :)

♡ Soft Lemon Cookies ♡

Why hello there! Wow it has been such a lonnng time! How have you guys been? Well I've been ok I guess, it's just that school is drivin gme insane! My teachers are forcing all of this information in us because our SOL's are next week. So that means one thing: I don't have alot of time to bake. But when I finally got the chance this week, I took it with full force. Since it's Spring, I decided to do cookies that would match this weather. So I picked to make Lemon Cookies. I adapted this recipe from two peas & their pod,  but I did change quite a few things. And wow were this cookies amazing!

 

 

1. These cookies are so good! They are light and fluffy. The nice lemon flavor is not too overwhelming, but sweet and remind you of the beautiful Spring weather. You don't even have ot make the glaze because they are delicious by themselves! I got many high praises from these cookies and I am going to bake them more often. And to top it all, they are so fast and easy to bake! If you love lemon cake, lemon bars, or lemon ANYTHING, you will fall head over heels for these cookies! I might even admit that they are my new favorite :)

 

2. Well my week has been so busy! All of the students look like little bees scurrying through the halls and quickly writing all of the note we can. I have been so exhausted this week, that I fell asleep in class on Monday for a good 5-10 minutes! And they are giving us so much homework, it's just driving me insane. On the bright side, I was on Instagram, and I found an Instagram that is just too adorable! Its called "worldfullofbows" and they post just the cutest pictures of anything that has a bow on it! You should go check it out, they are amazing....

 

Look at how cute these are....

I could probably eat all of them, they are lemon drops from heaven :)

 

 

Yield: 15 Cookies

 

1 1/4 cups of sugar

2 cups of flour

3/4 cup of butter

1 teaspoon lemon extract

4 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

 

Glaze:

2 cups of powdered sugar

3 tablespoons of milk

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract



1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter until it is fluffy (3-5 minutes)

3. In a smaller bowl, add together the lemon zezt and sugar. Using your hands, mix the sugar and lemon zest together until it is well mixed together.

4. Slowly add in the sugar/lemon mixture with the butter and mix together until creamy.

5. Beat in the egg. And slowly add in the flour.

6. Add in the lemon extract, vanilla extract, and the baking powder into the cookie dough.

 7. Drop the dough onto the baking sheets (each cookie should be 1 tablespoon). You should floour your hands while doing this.

8. Flatten the cookie dough balls on the top a little. And bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes.

9. Place the cookies on a cooling rack and leave them to cool for 15 minutes.

To make the glaze:

1. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whisk all of the ingredients together until the glaze is smooth and creamy.

2. Spread the glaze over the cookies.

10. ENJOY the Cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



♡ Amanda's Little Bakery: My First 2 tiered Cake! ♡

 

Why hello there...yes you! So this weekend my brother was throwing his girlfriend a surprise Birthday party. So he asked me to bake her a Birthday Cake. I used my Chocolate cake recipe, and it came out so delicious and moist. Everyone at the party was raving over how delicious it was! They were surprised that I made this cake and it is all from scratch. SO I wanted to do something different for this cake and so I chose to do a 2 tier cake. After looking at a whole bunch of videos on how to assemble a 2 tier cake, I felt a little confident. The problem was the frosting! I kept messing up the frosting so many times, I ended up making 3 batches! But it was fine because the cake ended up looking pretty cute. But I do feel like I could do better so I am definitely not done with 2 tier cakes :).

 

1. I am happy to say that I know have an iPhone 4s! My mom, brother, and I all got iPhones on Sunday :). Since then, it seems as if my family cannot get off their phones . I already customized my phone to perfection, all I need is a giftcard for iTunes so I can buy music. But of couse I was different and ended up with a white iPhone and my mom and brohter got the black iPhone. My case is a cute pink with flowers on it, but I'm probably going to get more! I am going to be honest to say that I do mess around with Siri...well it's super fun....don't judge.

 

2. Don't worry, a new recipe will be posted soon! I am just a little preoccupied with my phone but not too occupied to stop baking. That's just insane! Baking is my number 1 thing I love to do :)

 

Oh my all the hours I spent on this cake was worth it!



Awe well have a great day!

♡ Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins ♡

Why hello there :) Do you see these muffins? They look delicious right? Well they are utterly amazingly delicious and super fluffy. And in the inside there is a perfect combination of milk chocolate chips and chopped semi-sweet chocolate. And you can just have them straight out of the oven....You know, they are just amazing in everyway and you should try them.

 

Was I descriptive enough on how awesome these muffins are? Yes?

 

Well I am being 100% honest! My friend gave me the idea on Friday to make Chocolate Chip Muffins. So pretty much the rest of the weekend I was looking at recipes. I finally settled on one (two peas and their pod, but I did change a few things). So yesterday was "lazy day" and I decided to bake muffins. To be honest I didn't know how they would come out. But when I took my first bite, I was sold! These muffins are just too good to true!

1. This week is my brothers girlfriends Birthday. He wants to throw her a surprise party on Saturday and asked me to bake the cake! Of course, it's going to be a chocolate cake (she loves chocolate) and well I already have ideas......But I must say no more! I will post the picture of how the cake turned out later on this week :)

2. I take ballet class (I started in January) and we're having a recital in June. So my class has to dress up as dolls! We also have to dance as if we are dolls. I'm a little bit afraid of what the costumes will look like. I don't want to be a crazy looking doll! And my teacher put me right in the middle. I mean I am the biggest klutz ever and I'm going to be right in the center for everyone to see? Oh my what have I gotten myself into!

Yield: 16 Muffins

2 eggs
2/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of light brown sugar
2 teaspons of baking powder
1/2 cup of butter, melted
2/3 cup of buttermilk (I didn't have buttermilk, so I got 1 cup of milk and put 1 teaspoon of white vinegar in it. I let the mixture sit for 5-8 minutes and then used 2/3 of he mixture for this recipe.)
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips
1 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together the eggs and the melted butter together.

3. Slowly add in the sugars and the buttermilk.

4. Next, pour in the flour, baking powder and the vanilla extract.

5. Finally, fold in the chopped chocolate and the Chocolate Chips into the batter.

                                                      6. Fill each muffin cup with the batter (about 2/3 of the way full).  

7. Bake the muffins for 17 minutes.

8. Once the muffins have finished baking, carefully take out the muffins and plce them on a cooling rack and let them cool for 5 minutes. (Or you can just eat them straight from the oven!)

9. ENJOY the muffins!!!!!