Birthday Cake CakeBalls

I know, it looks like a typo in the title...but really, these are birthday cake cakeballs. As in, the cakeballs are shaped like little birthday cakes. See what I mean?

I made these for my good friend who teaches in Africa. Her birthday is today, but she had to leave for Africa a few weeks ago. We had a little pre-birthday party for her and celebrated with these birthday cake cakeballs!

To make these cute little things, all I did was scoop out some cake balls, then kind of smoosh them down into a cake shape. After that, I dipped each one into melted white chocolate and covered them with sprinkles and/or stuck a candle in the top!

  

You can even light the candles and sing Happy Birthday with these little guys!

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Cookie Dough Brownies

A while back, I found these AMAZING-looking brownies on pinterest (my latest obsession)...

Brownies layered with Cookie Dough topped with Chocolate = YUM.

(You can find the original recipe here.)

There are 3 steps to make these tasty treats...

1. Bake some brownies. They can be from a mix, or made from scratch. I used the recipe from the original post, and they were so yummy! Here's the recipe, in case you don't want to go looking for it:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1-1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt 

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and blend well.  Add vanilla, salt, cocoa, and flour.  Don't over-beat.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until done.  Cool completely.

 

2. Make some cookie dough and spread it over the brownies. To be safe, use this recipe without eggs:

3. Melt about 2 cups of chocolate chips and pour it over the cookie dough. Let the chocolate harden before cutting into your brownies, then enjoy!

Be warned: When I made these for my friends, I got a lot of comments about how sweet they are, so be sure to cut them into small pieces. Unless, like me, you could eat a whole pan of sweet goodness...in that case, cut them nice and big!

Bakery Buzz: Gelati

It's not technically a bakery, but it's close. Gelati is a cute little gelato shop in Naperville, IL. I have been a little bit obsessed with gelato ever since I spent spring break last year in Italy. I ate gelato almost everyday while I was there, and ate more than 15 different flavors. There are gelato shops everywhere in Italy and each one will give you samples of the different flavors and the best part is that you can get 3 flavors in one cup! There are so many different flavors, you can't possibly choose just one.

So when I heard about Gelati, I knew I had to find out if it could live up to my Italian gelato experience. And guess what? It was just about as good as in Italy! At Gelati, there were plenty of flavors to choose from. Lots of the flavors had Italian names, some of which I remembered! There were interesting flavors, like chocolate hazelnut, and regular ones, like chocolate chip. And, just like in Italy, you could get more than one flavor in a cup!

I think we liked it!

The next time you're in Naperville, check them out:

24 W Jefferson Ave
Naperville, IL 60540

Happy Blog-versary to ME!

Wow! I just (as in right now, today) realized that this is my blog-versary. I almost missed it! I should have a great giveaway or be baking something AMAZING to celebrate...But, this past week was the first week back to school and let me tell you, teaching has worn me out this week! So instead of a big bloggy celebration, I'll just post the top five of my favorite things I've baked this year. Here we go...

5. Nutter Butter Suprise Cupcakes (original post here)

4. Strawberry Yogurt Parfait Cupcakes (original post here)

3. Christmas Star Cupcakes (original post here)

2. Banana-Nutella Whoopie Pies (original post here)

1. Puppy Pops (original post here) and Easter Chick Pops (original post here) It's a tie for the number one spot, I couldn't pick just one!




 Hope you've enjoyed reading about my treats as much as I've enjoyed making them!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Mmm...these might be my favorite whoopie pies yet! My sister and I both LOVE the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, so for her birthday, I decided to make her some chocolate peanut butter whoopies. The pie part is peanut butter and the filling is salted peanut butter on one side, chocolate frosting on the other. Delicious!

And doesn't she look happy to be eating such a tasty birthday treat?!

CakeBall Truffles

Just a quick one to share these fancy truffle cakeballs...To whip these up, just make some regular cakeballs, then drizzle some of the leftover melted chocolate over them with a spoon.

Mmm...wish I was eating some of these right now!

Bakery Buzz: Flirty Cupcakes Food Truck

I'm kind of obsessed with Food Trucks right now. You know, the ones that drive around like the ice cream man, only instead of ice cream and an annoying song, they sell delicious food. I've been following all of the downtown Chicago trucks on twitter and trying to scheme a way to get some food truck food. I even put it on my list of summer goals: Eat from a food truck.

So imagine my delight when I read this tweet: Flirty Cupcakes now at the Schaumburg train station! Apparently this truck comes out to the suburbs on weekends. And Schaumburg - so close to me! Summer goal: About to be accomplished!

I convinced my mom to come on this adventure with me, so we hopped in the car in search of the cupcake truck. We got to the train station only to find out that the truck had pretty much been kicked out of the parking lot by the train station workers. Luckily the driver hadn't left yet, and she was nice (and sneaky) enough to drive around behind some trees and open up the side of the van so we could accomplish our mission. So even though we didn't quite get the full food truck experience, we still managed to get some tasty treats!

There were LOTS of different flavors to choose from, so we got 3 kinds: chocolate peanut butter, chocolate cheesecake, and banana chocolate chip. Hmm...do we like chocolate a little bit?

Yum! If you are also obsessed with food trucks, or you just love cupcakes, track down this truck! You will not be sorry, and will probably end up with a fun food truck adventure to share.

Follow on Twitter: @FlirtyCupcakes

Bakery Buzz: Sugar Fixe Patisserie

I've been visiting lots of bakeries lately...call it research?...and I decided to share some of my favorites here, with some "Bakery Buzz". That way you all can go check them out too! So here's the first one...
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I was in Oak Park the other day, just wandering around, and I stumbled upon the Sugar Fixe Patisserie. How could I resist these striped awnings and cute outdoor tables?

Inside I found a display counter filled with all kinds of delicious treats, including cupcakes, macarons, quiches, and tarts. There were only 3 kinds of cupcakes (chocolate, lemon, or vanilla) but plenty of other goodies to choose from. While I was there, I heard about a hazelnut tart that I would definitely look for next time.

I was greeted by a cheerful woman behind the counter, who recommended the chocolate cupcake and the limonta sparkling soda. Both were delicious and perfect for the blazing hot summer day!

Go check them out next time you're in Oak Park!

Sugar Fixe Patisserie

119 N Marion Street
Oak Park, IL 60302

www.sugarfixe.com