Fred Flintstone Cake!

In addition to it being his grandmother's Birthday last weekend, it was also my boyfriend's Birthday - it was a very busy weekend for me!

Nothing slips by him so I didn't even try to hide the fact that I was going to make him a cake! Especially since he requested one... a 4 tiered one.... featuring the Ninja Turtles, Transformers, G.I. Joe and The Flintstones! Reliving his childhood memories as he was about to turn another year older I presume : P

Anyway, with 2 Birthday celebrations in one weekend and only small gatherings planned for both, that 4 tiered monster would have gone to major waste. So I picked ONE theme and sent my boyfriend out for the day and I got to work!

I kept the cake on the dining room table in a closed cake box until we went to his parents' house for dinner.... I can't be sure he didn't peek, but I don't THINK he did!

So, with all of my options, I went with The Flintstones. Fred Flintstone. THEMED! I'm not crazy into character cakes so I figured this was a good compromise!

I covered the cake in the orange and black print of Fred's "dress" (excuse my ignorance, but I'm not sure what that article of clothing is called!),  topped it off with his raggedy jaggedy blue tie, and finished it off with a boney border - it IS the stone age after all!

Everybody, especially the Birthday boy, loved the cake! Even his dog enjoyed some birthday cake crumbs - it was vanilla! :)

Yummies!

As I mentioned before, it is currently gain-a-little-weight season!

Last year I stumbled upon a killer peppermint bark recipe. I'm generally a chocolate purist. I never had the taste for chocolate & (pepper)mint. Give me a bar of plain old milk or dark chocolate, and that's all I need to be in my own personal heaven!

I somehow got into the smell of chocolate & peppermint and decided I LOVED peppermint bark and NEEDED to make it. Tons of it. Without ever having really tasted it.

So last year I bought out aaaaallllll the candy canes I could find and I recruited my Grandmother to help me unwrap them and I went forth with my peppermint bark mission. Boy was it a success. Months after the holiday season I was dreaaaaaaming of that bark and waiting for the right time to bust out that recipe yet again!

Here it is, in all it's addictive delight

Pretty & packaged with a bow!

After the peppermint bark, I had a brilliant (or horrible) idea that I wanted to try out. I have, and I can say with 100000000% assurance, the BEST and most famously sought after cookie base recipe. I have addicts banging on my door. Not actually. But I do get MANY requests when I'm having people over or going to someone's house to bring my cookies. I decided I'd make some changes and turn those devine devils into Skor cookies.

Oy.

Good thing there aren't cameras in the kitchen. I told my boyfriend I only ate 3. But that's just actually when I lost count.

New favourite thing in the world.

Good idea gone horribly wrong!

Guess who'll be avoiding the scale for a while? This girl.

Pretty Flower Cake!

My boyfriend's grandmother's birthday was this past weekend and of course I was designated to make the birthday cake!

Given carte blanche I immediately took to the drawing board! Having creative control over a cake is the best and worst thing -the world is your oyster but then narrowing down an idea can be tough...

Here is what I came up with:

The cake came out perfectly, just as I had imagined it! Everyone loved it, especially the Birthday Girl!

Another success in the bank! :)

Bakin' Up a Storm!

It's that time of year!

I'm not talking about 8 nights of Chanukah, Christmas Spirit or a snowstorm. I'm talking about those few extra pounds I tend to gain every year around this time. What follows is the reason behind the extra poundage!

First of all, we have the cookies...the MAIN culprit!

Delicious as is, but ready to be baked!

Packaged and ready to go. On the left are those delicious devils - chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies. On the right are chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.... I come from a long line of chocoholics...

Up next is what I call Scone Madness....

Raspberry scones being prepared...

Raspberry, Berry Burst & Blueberry Scones....

Ready to go...

... in a pretty box of course!

Next is sugar cookies.

Too pretty to eat?

...Maybe..

..Meh, not quite!

I feel like this will most likely be juuuuust the tip of the iceberg...

On that note, I'm off to the gym! (But not really... you can find me in the kitchen!)

Snowman Sugar Cookies!

As I mentioned before, my boyfriend owns a landscaping & snow removal company that services both commercial and residential properties.

To say thank you and happy holidays, he asked me to make yummy sugar cookies to give out to the home owners!

Since my boyfriend is, after all, the snowman in winter, I went with this:

Not only did they take a long time to make and decorate, but packaging them also took forever!!

In the end though, with a neat little bow, these cookies looked adorable - well worth all of the effort!

Winter Wonderland: Snowflake Cake & Snowflake Cupcakes!

Although we haven't had a major snowfall yet here in Toronto, I've certainly been getting into the winter spirit!

My boyfriend owns a landscaping & snow removal company and he had asked me to whip up something special to give to one of his biggest clients to say thank you and happy holidays!

Here's what I came up with:

I also whipped up some snowflake cupcakes as well!

Everything turned out perfectly!

Hopefully these will be the only snowflakes we'll see for the rest of the season! :)

Scrumptious Treats!

I was taught that when invited somewhere, never go empty handed! Being the baking fiend that I am, I usually end up bringing something sweet.

Even though these aren't decorated fancily, I thought I'd share these most recent delicious treats that I've been baking up!

A few weeks ago when I was invited to my aunt's house for dinner, I decided to try a new recipe! It is DEFINITELY a keeper! :)

For all the chocoholics out there (I am one as well). Chocolate brownie cookies studded with white chocolate chips. No more words are needed here.

Last Friday night, my boyfriend and I were invited to his parents' house for dinner and of course I couldn't let them down! So I brought these!

My malt chocolate cupcakes! A classic among family and friends back home in Montreal!

Even though these aren't usual Cakes by Jess creations, I thought you should all know what I'm getting myself (and family & friends!) into when I'm not knee deep in fondant! :)