Whitney and Joey's Wedding Truffles

Last August, I got to attend my beautiful sister's wedding in the Palmyra Temple.
I am so happy for Whitney and Joey, and grateful to have a new awesome brother-in-law!
They are so great together!

It started raining while they were having photos taken outside after their wedding…
But, those two wouldn't let a little rain spoil their special day!
They are the cutest couple and so happy!

I can't help thinking of a certain musical every time I see these photos.
Can you guess which one?
These lyrics might give you a hint...

The sun's in my heart...

...and I'm ready for love.

Did you guess it?

It's...

Singin' in the Rain!

Now that you've got that song stuck in your head, let's talk cake!

Whitney asked me to make their wedding cake, and her one request was that she wanted it filled with chocolate chip cookie dough filling. Unfortunately, there was no way I could transfer a wedding cake from two states away in the heat of the summer, so we decided I would make truffles instead.

Their last name begins with a "W," so I decorated the truffles with "W" drizzles.

...and tiny hearts. :o)

The white truffles were filled with a peanut butter Buckeye filling.

You might want to warn people beforehand that these things are addictive,
and they also come with a little kick...No, it isn't alcohol. :o)

The "kick" is cayenne pepper, and it's amazing. Trust me.

These chocolate ones are filled with the eggless chocolate chip cookie dough.

I will link to the recipe at the bottom. It's great as a cake filling, but if you want to be able to roll the dough into balls for dipping, you will need to eliminate the frosting base.

Congratulations, Whitney and Joey! And Happy 1st Anniversary!

STATS: 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling

http://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/7600/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-icingfilling

Peanut Butter Buckeyes - with a kick!

(The cayenne is listed as an ingredient at the bottom, under "Variation."

http://www.jif.com/recipes/peanut-butter-buckeyes-392

Guest Sweet: Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods for Valentine's Day

My friend Holly made these pretty treats for a Relief Society teacher workshop we attended recently.

They were delicious, and I love the tiny heart sprinkles she used!

I also love how she packaged them. She folded cellophane around four pretzel rods (two chocolate and two white chocolate), and taped it in place. Then she tied a ribbon around the neat package.

I thought these were so cute and a great idea for Valentine's Day, so I had to take some pictures before my family and I could dig in. Thank you, Holly!

Donations for the Local Food Pantry

Our church has been working with a local food pantry to serve the community. In October, the members of our Relief Society decided to donate baked goods to the pantry.

I made Coconut Pumpkin Snack Cake. The food pantry asked that the donations be individually wrapped in plastic sandwich bags. This cake is delicious and holds together well when packaged.

 

Some of our members were able to assist at the pantry by organizing food and helping people collect and bag their groceries to take home. Since I have young children at home, I am not always able to help with this kind of service project. I was happy that, even though I could not assist inside the pantry, I could still serve by baking treats to donate.

My house was the drop-off point for the donations last year. I just had to take a picture with all of the donations together. This is what 21 1/2 dozen baked goods look like - all packed up and ready to go.

Pumpkin Coconut Snack Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

8 oz. pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

6 oz. white chocolate chips

2 cups shredded coconut

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

-Line the bottom and sides of a 9x13" baking pan with foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

-Combine cake mix, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and cinnamon in a mixer on medium speed until well combined 

  (about 2 minutes). 

-Stir in white chocolate chips.  

-Pour cake mixture into prepared pan and spread evenly across pan.

-Sprinkle coconut over the top.

-Bake for 30-35 minutes. 

-Check to make sure the middle is done by inserting a toothpick and making sure it comes out clean. 

-Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy!

Flower Cookies

These are white cake mix cookies, covered in melted white chocolate and decorated with fondant flowers. To ruffle the edges of the flowers, I rolled a toothpick along the edges to thin them. Then, I used extra balls of fondant to prop up the frilled edges while the fondant dried.



For the blue flower, I wanted an ombre effect, so I colored three small pieces of fondant different shades of blue. Then I layered them, darkest to lightest. I used sugar pearls for the centers of the flowers. Here is the royal icing piping before adding adding luster dust.



Here it is after. I used a tiny paintbrush to paint the writing with gold luster dust mixed with a little water.



STATS:

Cake Mix Cookies
http://letsgetcaking.blogspot.com/2009/10/cake-mix-cookies-recipe.html

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Peanut Butter Bites

I made these for a friend at church. They're peanut butter balls coated in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles. The peanut butter center is the same as the peanut butter mixture in Buckeye candies. I just used white chocolate instead of regular chocolate to dip them.



I found a cute box at the store and lined it with plastic wrap before adding the peanut butter bites. Pretty and delicious!



STATS:

Buckeye Recipe
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buckeye-balls-ii/

A good chocolate dipping tutorial:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/cake-pop-lesson-1-the-cake-ball/