Another decade, another slay! I know the typical misconception is that women lie about their age. Well, surely not this one because I am elated to celebrate my 40th birthday today. I can honestly say that I am full of joy and truly blessed to be here for another momental season. As a little girl,I had other thoughts and ideas of where I would be at this age, but I wouldn’t change a thing about where I am.
I am grateful for every twist, turn, hill, valley and path my life has taken me. I can say I’m excited to see what this new decade will bring. Every decade seems to get better, so why not enjoy a new one? My thirties brought me a new city, my first home purchase, new jobs and career opportunities. I have been able to travel to more than 30 countries in my thirties and do things I only dreamed of. Most importantly my 30s brought me a closer relationship with God, a closer relationship with my family, mental and physical health with growth, peace and a true understanding of happiness.
This year I will of course be celebrating this majestic celebration in a new country. My BFF, Meisje (who is also turning 40 this year) and I decided to travel to Belize for relaxation and jubilation. Before I left, I wanted to start and share my birthday with everyone who continues to support me and who happens to be reading this. I love each and every one of you.
No one knows how much time they are given on this earth, but each day should be considered a blessing. I am also blessing you with a little fashion and food for my birthday. Check out the details below.
Cheers to 40. PEACE and LOVE.
Also shoutout to my amazing photographer, Brian Freeman. Would you believe it if I told you we went to high school together some 20+ years ago?
I love to consider myself the hostess with the mostest. I thoroughly enjoying having my friends/ family over my home and treating them like queens/ kings. It could be something as simple as a movie night or a bit more extravagant, like a New Year’s Eve party. It truly doesn’t matter, but I’m going to go all out and make sure the ambiance stays on point.
I recently had my friends from the United Kingdom in town for a visit. I decided one evening to host a little catch up with them at my house. I thought since my friends are from across the pond and are used to an English breakfast, I would serve an American breakfast/ brunch for dinner. I went for a ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ theme, but added my flare of course.
I love to keep fresh flowers in my home. I had some old flowers on my kitchen counter that were past their prime. Before I threw them away, I got the idea to use the old flowers to upgrade my “Breakfast at Tamika’s” décor. I cut off some of the flowers and added them to my ice tray. I then added more flair by adding Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Cosmic Shimmers to the ice cubes. The ice cubes came out super classy and cute. I will definitely by recycling this idea and making more fancy ice cubes this summer.
I decided to share this cute and simple DIY with you, so you can kick your decorations up a notch as well.
See my video and step by step decorations below.
Snazzy ice cubes
Materials
Extra Large Ice cube tray. Purchased from Nordstrom. (purchase here)
Happy Cinco de Mayo! I was looking back at some of my recent previous bake recipes and realized that I never made anything for May fifth. As an Los Angeleno for almost a decade I am way past due for a Mexican inspired treat to celebrate today. We are all familiar with churros, fried ice cream and flan but I wanted to do something different with my kind of razzle dazzle in the recipe.
Last year I made some Dulce de Leche Bars for a spring afternoon tea. Dulce de leche is a popular type of caramel used in Latin dishes. I will admit that I used store bought dulce de leche in my recipe that I made last year out of convenience (pun intended). This year I decided that I wanted to make my own homemade dulce de leche. What better day to celebrate homemade canned caramel than Cinco de Mayo.
I had some extra buttermilk in my refrigerator after making my favorite red velvet cake and I wanted to put it to use. I thought the best utilization of both my homemade dulce de leche and buttermilk would be a scrumptious fresh pound cake. This simple yet indulgent cake came out just as I planned, perfect! The tangy buttermilk balanced well with the sweet caramel and the pound cake was not too heavy or too sweet. I added a little festive flavor to this cake by topping it with dulce de leche cookies covered in Kaleidoscope Sprinkle Cosmic Shimmers.
I decided to share this simply satisfying cake with you to make the next time you decide to celebrate Cinco de Mayo or just want some really good cake.
See the complete video and recipe below.
Dulce de Leche Buttermilk Pound Cake tutorial video
How do I make dulce de leche?
The best way I have found to make dulce de leche is on the stove top.
Remove labels from sweetened condensed milk cans. (Cook 2-3 cans at a time for more caramel).
Place cans into a large saucepan or dutch oven and cover with 1-2 inches of water.
Cover, turn heat on medium/high and allow water to boil, turn heat down to simmer and allow milk to cook for 4-4.5 hours.
Remove cans from heat and allow to cool completely
Tada you now have dulce de leche just like that!
Homemade dulce de leche
Dulce de Leche Buttermilk Pound Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2- 8 oz. can homemade dulce de leche, room temperature.
Prepare bundt pan by greasing and flouring thoroughly.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt together until combined. Set aside.
Using an electric or hand mixer, on medium speed beat butter and sugar together until creamed and doubled in size, approximately 5 minutes. (Butter should be pale yellow and sugar almost dissolved).
Turn down speed to low/ medium and add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture. Beat together until fully combined and no visible egg is seen.
Add vanilla extract to the buttermilk.
Turn mixer down to low speed. Beginning and ending with flour, slowly add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Add half of the buttermilk. Repeat with flour and buttermilk. Finish with last third of flour mixture. Slow mix until fully combined, be careful not to over mix.
Pour half of batter into bundt pan. Add one can of dulce de leche into center of bundt pan. Add the remainder of the cake batter to the bundt pan. Use spoon or butter knife to swirl caramel into cake batter.
Bake cake at 350F for 55-60 minutes until cake is gold brown and slightly jiggles to the touch.
Allow cake to completely cool to room temperature. Invert cake onto a cake board or cake pedestal.
Cover top of cake with other can of dulce de leche. Use spoon or butter knife to spend evenly over the cake. Cover dulce de leche cake with chopped and Cosmic Shimmered dulce de leche cookies.
As a child, my world was centered around Barbies. I looked forward to playing with dolls and creating different adventures every day. My cousin and I would play for hours and hours. For my birthday and the holidays I couldn’t wait to see what I would hopefully be adding to my colorful collection. I still remember as a kid one of my favorite gifts for Christmas was the Barbie motorhome and Splash Fountain Pool with working lights. One of my favorite things to do with my Barbies was also make new clothes for all their enterprises.
Barbies were so influential in my adolescence and continue to influence me today. By the age of 13 I transitioned from Barbies to more fashion, but the Barbie impact remained at the forefront. A few months ago I heard about the World of Barbie, an interactive, immersive experience for Barbie lovers of all ages. Once the World of Barbie was here in the Los Angeles I quickly purchased my tickets and got to planning my Barbie ensemble.
This past weekend I was finally able to participate in the World of Barbie and it was incredible. The experience brought back so many childhood memories. I loved all the interactive exhibits and as much Barbie pink as my heart could take.
Please see the highlights from my World of Barbie visit and Barbie OOTD inspiration below.
Here we are in our second annual quarantine Resurrection Sunday. Last year I honestly kept my pajamas on and enjoyed virtual service from the comfort of my couch. Although this year again I will still not able to attend church services in person, I decided to at least dress up. I bought this gingham jumpsuit over a year ago and sadly it still had the tags on it until this morning. (I’m trying to do better, I promise). This jumpsuit and my mother’s favorite fabric pattern inspired me to get into the Easter festive fashion spirit. I created my DIY Easter basket fascinator and I am quite pleased with the results. Since I didn’t get an Easter basket this year, I can at least look like one.
Spring has sprung upon us once again. This season is always filled with flowers and pastel decorations. This season to me always is represented by Easter or Resurrection Sunday as well. Lent the time before Easter/ Resurrection Sunday is the time to reflect inward and purge those things that cause our faith to waver. I always enjoy Easter Sunday because I feel that it is definitely a time to celebrate after a new awakening.
The best way I know how to celebrate is with a new recipe. In the previous years for Easter I have constructed a fabulous layered Carrot Cake. There is also my well known and favorite Carrot Cake Bread Pudding, which is a definitely a must try. This year I decided I wanted to make something a little more simpler. I wanted a recipe that represented Easter flavor and looks without all the steps, pomp and circumstance. I decided on some delicious Carrot Cake Cookies as my contribution to the holiday.
These super delectable cookies are easy to make and still have all the flavor of carrot cake in each bite. These cookies are hearty and somewhat healthy since they’re filled with carrots, oats, raisins and nuts. The tasty cookies are then topped with a smooth and tangy cream cheese frosting and decorated for said occasion with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles My Mama’s Biscuits Sprinkle Mix and candies. Definitely give these cookies a try if you’re looking for a way to switch things up for your Spring/ Easter celebration this year.
You can find the recipe and complete baking video below.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, almond flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves . Set aside.
In a large bowl, using a stand or hand mixer cream oil and brown sugar together. Beat on medium speed until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add egg to the mixture. Mix batter until fully combined but be careful not to over mix. Add vanilla extract. Add grated carrots and oats. Add the flour mixture. Fold in raisins and nuts until combined.
Using spoon or cookie scoop, place cookie dough onto parchment or silicone lined baking sheets. Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes until cookies are slightly firm to touch. Do not over bake to keep cookies chewy.
While cookies are baking, make cream cheese frosting. In a medium bowl, whisk cream cheese. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Once cookies have cooled completely, top each cookie with cream frosting. Add shredded coconut, sprinkles (optional) and candies (optional) to each cookie for decoration.
While I was visiting Singapore during the New Year I had to opportunity to experience some incredible foods. After reading Crazy Rich Asians before my trip, my expectations for Southeast Asian food was very high. After I ate my way through both Thailand and Singapore I was not disappointed one bit or bite. From the fresh produce, the Singapore Slings, tons of noodles, all the hawker stall restaurants and delish sweet treats, it was hard to pick my favorite food. One thing that definitely stood out to me on my palate and during my reading of Crazy Rich Asians were the pineapple tarts. These simple and yet sweetly satisfying treats were so memorable to my trip that I ate several during my stay and even brought some home with me.
After being back in the States, I tried to savor every pineapple tart I had and make them last as long as I could. My pineapple tart souvenirs lasted probably a good month before my supply ran empty. Thankfully my tastebuds remembered every bite, so I could recreate this delicious dish for myself and share with you. Instead of making tarts I decided to create a pie form. This pineapple pie was easier to make than tarts, but still had all the flavors I remembered in Singapore. I also thought that a pineapple pie would add a little western flare to the southeast Asian treat.
You can find the complete recipe and video below. Give this scrumptious and original tropical treat a try and let me know what what you think. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Pineapple Pie
Pineapple Pie
Crust:
2 cups All- purpose flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp of salt
¼ cup of melted coconut oil, cooled to room temp.
¼ cup of cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes *
2 tbsp. of vodka
2-4 tbsp. of ice cold water
* (for vegan crust, use ¼ cup of vegetable shortening or vegan butter instead of regular butter
Pineapple filling:
1 large fresh pineapple (approx. 2.5lbs), peeled, cored and cut into small cubes
2 tbsp. of unsalted butter *for vegan pie, use vegan butter
Directions
For the crust:
In a food processor, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Add in coconut oil and butter to the flour and pulse the processor until mixture is texture of course wet sand. Next slowly add vodka and water until the dough comes together in a ball and peels off the side of the bowl. Take the dough out of the bowl and lightly knead dough into a smooth disc. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
While the dough is chilling, make the pineapple filling. In a large saucepan, stir together fresh and dried pineapple, brown sugar and water on low heat. Slowly cook down pineapple filling for about one hour until liquid is reduced by half and sticks to the back of the spoon. Once pineapple filling is thickened, add rum (optional), vanilla, salt and melted butter. Cook for an additional five minutes until sauce re-thickens and sticks to back of the spoon. Use an immersion blender and coarsely chop mixture. Take the filling off the heat and allow it cool completely to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 375F. Take dough out of the refrigerator. Let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes. Divide dough in half. Roll first half of dough out into a 10″ diameter circle about 1/8″ thick. Place the dough in a 9″ pie pan. Spread pineapple filing evenly into the pie dish. Roll out the second half of dough and gently place it on top of the pineapple filling. Seal up edges of pie dough. Cut slits into middle of pie to allow steam to escape. Brush with egg wash (or vegan milk) and sprinkle with turbinado sugar, optional. Bake pie for 25-30 minutes until crust is golden brown. Allow pie to cool to room temperature. Cut into pie and top with ice cream or whipped cream. Devour and enjoy!!
You know how the saying goes, “when life gives you lemons…”. Well instead of making lemonade or limoncello as I’ve done in the past, I decided to do things differently. With all this rain in Los Angeles my meyer lemon tree has been in full blossom and full of citrus. Every year I pick the delicious lemons off my tree and make some sort of sweet treat. (Check out my previous recipes for my Limonc”hello” and When Life Gives You Lemons Cake.) This year I wanted to use another famous saying to inspire my recipe. “April showers bring May flowers,” except now because of climate change LA showers are happening earlier than usual.
I love being surrounded by fresh or faux flowers. After spending six weeks in an arm sling and not being able to do what I love, bake, I was too ready to turn my oven back on. Blossoming after surgery and ready to see some sun inspired a new idea for use of my freshly picked lemons. I came up with the concept of lemon poppyseed cupcakes that look like sunflowers. Sunflowers represent vitality and adoration, so they were the perfect recipe to restart my post surgical baking journey. I decided to brighten up these Sunflower Cupcakes even more with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Lemon flavored Sprinkle Mix. These Sunflower Cupcakes looked and tasted amazing in the end.
See how I created these lemony flower cupcake masterpieces below.
Sunflower Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1 ¾ cup All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
½ cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp. of lemon zest (approximately zest of 4 large lemons)
¼ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed, equal to 4 large lemons
Yellow, green and black food coloring, for decoration (optional)
Pirouette wafer cookies or pretzel rods, for decoration (optional)
Directions
For cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tin with liners.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppyseeds. Whisk until all ingredients are combined and set bowl aside.
In a separate large bowl using either a stand or hand mixer cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy and doubled in sized. (Approximately 3-5 minutes). Add lemon juice and zest to the creamed mixture. Add eggs to mixture one at a time. Add sour cream or yogurt. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Using an ice cream scoop, place cupcake batter into cupcake tins. Bake cupcakes at 350F for approximately 20-22 minutes until tester comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to completely cool.
While cupcakes are cooling make buttercream frosting and meringues.
For the buttercream frosting and sunflower meringues:
Using a hand mixer or whisk, in a heat proof bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar.
Place the bowl over a double-boiler (saucepan of simmering water). Continue to gently whisk the mixture until it is hot to touch (130F on a candy thermometer).
Transfer the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and, using the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium- high speed until they have tripled in size and are thick and glossy and hold stiff peaks (like meringue).
Divide egg whites in half. Set one half aside in a large bowl for sunflower meringues.
Turn the mixer down to medium-low speed until the mixing bowl is cool to touch, approximately 3-5 minutes. Kick the mixer back up to medium-high speed and add the butter one piece at a time.
Stop the mixer every so often to scrape down the butter caught on the side of the bowl. Keep whisking buttercream until it comes together.
Once all the butter is incorporated and the frosting is light and fluffy, add your salt and fresh lemon juice. Set aside until ready to frost cupcakes.
With other half of meringues in the bowl fold in fresh lemon zest. Be careful not to knock out the air of meringues.
Turn oven down to 200F. Divide meringues into 3 small bowls. Fold in food coloring into each bowl.
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pipe out meringues into sunflower shape (over Pirouette cookies, optional) on parchment paper. Sprinkle poppyseeds onto meringues.
Bake meringues for 45 minutes to one hour. Allow meringues to completely cool and harden.
Place buttercream into piping bag to decorate cupcakes. Frost cupcakes with buttercream. Top cupcakes with Sprinkle Mix and sunflower meringues.
Today is officially the last day of Mardi Gras season. Even though I wasn’t able to visit New Orleans this year to celebrate, I had the opportunity to ritualize this occasion. Every season I, of course, make a King cake to share with my friends and family. (See my King cake recipe here). Other years, I have made some other Mardi Gras treats as well as thrown a party.
Mardi Gras season not only represents a time to eat good food and thoroughly rejoice, it also represents the beginning of Lent season. Lent season is a time of reflection and sacrifice prior to Resurrection Sunday. This year since I’m still in recovery from my surgery I decided to keep it low key but fashionable. I still haven’t decided on what I’m giving up this Lent season, but I’m definitely not sacrificing fashion.
This cake is definitely kismet. I had no idea that when I decided to create this amazing confection two weeks ago, a few short days later Rihanna would share her baby secret to the world. We can say unofficially that ANTI will probably be RiRi’s last album, so it should be cherished even more. Kiss It Better off that album has always been a vibe for me. The heavy electric guitar rifts against Rihanna’s smooth melody still keeps this song on heavy rotation.
One day while I had this song on repeat, just flowing to the words and chords, I became inspired with a new recipe. The idea of chocolate covered strawberries danced around in my head. I thought how could I take this classic aphrodisiac and make it even more sensual yet scrumptious. I decided to make a rich chocolate cake and fill it with a bright, tangy and sweet creamy strawberry filling. I then thought I would decorate it to my heart’s delight in the shape of the same name. I then covered it with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Kiss It Better Sprinkle Mix for even more thrills.
I will be honest and say that after I tasted this cake I surprised myself how mouthwatering it was. I only planned on eating a sliver of this cake, but I ended up going back for seconds and thirds. Don’t judge me. Make this cake for yourself and I bet you’ll be devouring it just as I did.
You can find the recipe and decorating video below.
Kiss It Better Cake decorating video
Makes two 9″ cakes or 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake: (adapted from Vintage Cakes Mississippi Mud Cupcakes recipe)
1 cup old brew coffee, heated
¾ cup Dutch cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup Greek yogurt
½ cup milk
½ cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Strawberry Filling:
8 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup freeze dried strawberries, grind into fine powder (makes approx. ¼ cup)
In a small bowl, whisk hot coffee into the cocoa powder. Set aside and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add in cooled cocoa mixture.
Add wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients. Gently stir ingredients together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake cakes at 350F for 25-30 mins. (Until tester comes out clean). Allow cakes to cool completely
While cupcakes are baking make filling and frosting.
For filling in a medium bowl, or stand mixer, whisk together cream cheese. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add freeze dried strawberries. Add lemon juice. Add vanilla extract. Slowly add liqueur. Fold in chopped strawberries. Place filling in refrigerator and allow to set for 20 minutes.
For frosting, in a large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add heavy cream. Add vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add salt. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Take cooled cake and cut in half, through the middle of cake. Evenly spread strawberry filling onto bottom half of cake. Cover filling with top half of cake. Spread cake with buttercream. Decorate cake with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Kiss It Better Sprinkle Mix.
I absolutely love New Orleans! I mean how could you not love a city full of such history, culture, music and amazing food? This is the birthplace of Jazz and the epicenter of melodic cuisine. I was fortunate enough to spend four years here during undergrad and I try to get back there as often as I can.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, New Orleans and Louisiana culture runs deep in my blood and spirit. Both sides of my families have roots in Louisiana so I don’t play when it comes to representing the authenticity of its traditions. Every year during Mardi Gras, whether I visit the boot shaped state or not, a King cake is an absolute must. The further I travel outside of Louisiana the harder it becomes to obtain one of these delicacies. I took my frustration and turned it into a recipe. I have been tweaking my King cake recipe over time to keep it fresh and also classic. Check out my King cake recipe below that comes with the options of two fillings: the customary cream cheese filling and also banana foster praline filling.
If you are frustrated in the ability of getting your Mardi Gras King Cake or have never had one, definitely give this recipe a try. Nothing beats a fresh King Cake! I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow yeast to activate for at least 5 minutes. Using hand or stand mixer, add sugar, butter, milk, egg yolks, salt, lemon peel, nutmeg and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky and form around dough hook).
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and proof/ let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 and a half hours.
While dough is resting, make your filling. Cut up bananas into ½ inch cubes. In a large skillet cook bananas on medium heat until they began to soften. Turn heat down to low-medium heat. Remove pan from heat and add your bourbon or whiskey. Flambé bananas by lighting liquor on fire. Continue to cook until flame has extinguished. Whisk in flour. Cook until sauce begins to thicken. Add the prepared caramel and milk. Lightly stir together until caramel is incorporated and smooth. Allow filling to simmer for approximately 5 minutes until it tightens. Turn off heat and fold in pecans. Allow filling to completely cool. Set aside.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar; sprinkle over dough over all of dough. Do not leave a border. Fold dough in thirds lengthwise (like a letter). Roll out dough again into a 16 x 10 inch rectangle. Place filling on top of dough, leaving a ½ inch edge. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet; pinch ends together to form a ring. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush with beaten egg.
Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. For glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, milk, salt and enough water to achieve desired consistency. (Glaze should be tacky glue consistency). Spread over cake. Sprinkle with Sprinkle Mix while glaze is still wet. Allow glaze to set.
Devour and Enjoy!!
*for optional cream cheese filling: In a medium size bowl whisk together cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar and egg whites on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Set aside. Once cinnamon and brown sugar have been applied to dough and dough has been rolled out again into a 16 x10 inch rectangle, place cream cheese filling on top of dough. Smooth out cream cheese on top of dough evenly leaving a ½ inch border. Continue to roll up dough jelly-roll style. Continue remainder of directions above.
It’s a new day and a new year! The new year also brings to me a sense of rebirth and rejuvenation. For the past few years I have purposely been taking a trip at the end of the year to prepare my mind for the next year ahead. At the beginning of the year I’m not one to set resolutions for myself, but I definitely do set goals for myself.
I love the inquiry and enchantment that the new year brings. I usually spend the first few weeks of the year working on a vision board or writing in my journal. I have always felt like seeing my goals in real life is an important step in manifestation and accomplishment for the year. I honestly am not a big believer in horoscopes or wizardry, but I definitely do believe we create our own magic.
I thought I would use the allurement of the new year to create a fabulous new recipe. This recipe is based on the classic seven layer bars but even better with an extra layer of sparkle. I decided to add some pizzazz to the bars by topping them off with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Tina Snow Sprinkle Mix. The sorcery of these bars is that they are super easy to make, delicious and disappear right before your eyes. Definitely save this recipe for now or later.
See the super delicious, easy recipe and step by step video below.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper and set aside.
Melt butter in a small saucepan or using the microwave in a small bowl. Remove the butter from heat and stir in graham cracker crumbs until throughly combined. Press evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking pan to form the crust.
Evenly sprinkle remaining ingredients one by one over the crust to form layers, beginning with the chocolate chips, followed by the butterscotch chips, coconut and walnuts. Pour the condensed milk evenly over the top, and spread with a rubber spatula to make sure it’s evenly distributed.
Scatter the sprinkle mix evenly on top of the bars.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown and the middle is set.
Allow bars to completely cool to room temperature before slicing.
It’s December, which some consider “the most wonderful time of the year.” As you should already know my absolute favorite time of the year is fall. I do agree that December is wonderful for the celebration of our Lord and Savior and also for, Christmas cookies. Jesus will always be thee reason for the season, but there is nothing wrong with getting a little into the commercial spirit of Christmas.
I absolutely adore making Christmas cookies. I love to create simple yet satisfying warm bites of cookie goodness. I make many varieties of cookies throughout winter and pass them out to family, friends and coworkers. I try and make classic Christmas cookie staples like sugar cookies and gingerbread, but I also like creating new flavors as well.
This year I was inspired to make a brand new cookie recipe dedicated to the classic combination of chocolate and mint. These two flavors always remind me of this holiday season, so I felt that they should be celebrated in cookie form. I decided to create these chocolate mint cookies using crushed up classic peppermint and spearmint candies. I added even more minty flavor and Christmas spirit by using Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Candy Cane Slayin mint flavored Sprinkle Mix inside the cookie dough.
These Mint Condition Cookies turned out super delicious and easy to make. The tender cookies are rich with chocolate flavor but balanced well with soothing mint flavor. The cookies are not overly sweet, so they are a great pairing for hot chocolate or eggnog. They are also great to place on your buttercream board (See video below). Give these festive flavor bombs a try today. You can even make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for fresh cookies later.
See and save my recipe below.
Christmas buttercream board featuring Mint Condition Cookies
In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, tapioca flour or cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large separate bowl, using either hand or stand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Cream mixture together until butter is lighter in color and doubled in size. Add egg. Mix until smooth and combined. Add vanilla extract.
Add half of flour mixture to cream mixture and stir until incorporated. Add second half of flour mixture. Stir until incorporated.
Add white chocolate morsels, mint candies and sprinkle mix to batter. Slowly fold in until combined.
Cover cookie dough and refrigerate the dough at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, place cookie dough onto sheets about 1.5-2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies are firm to touch.
Remove cookies from oven and allow cookies to slightly cool.
A few weeks ago while I was scrolling on social media I came across a delicious recipe for a new kind of cinnamon rolls. In all my years of baking I had never thought to combine my favorite fall pie with my favorite brunch dish. The concept seemed so simple and yet sounded immaculate. I was super enthusiastic to make these new sinfully delicious autumn delights.
I decided out of consideration of my goddaughter’s food allergies and per request to make these cinnamon rolls completely vegan. I also wanted to challenge myself to make these vegan rolls just as good, if not better than regular cinnamon rolls. I wanted to make these rolls even more suited for fall, so I decided to decorate them with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Mellow Leaves from Heaven Sprinkle Mix. (Although the Sprinkle Mix isn’t completely vegan it still made these rolls stand out in all the best ways.)
I must say after tasting these circumferential confections, I’ve had a taste of heaven. One bite of these warm wonders had my eyes rolling into the back of my head. The combination of the sweet potato filling and the tangy cream cheese glaze was on another level of satisfying. I honestly will say if I had to choose between a sweet potato pie or cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving or any fall festival, I’m choosing the rolls!
Definitely save this recipe and give these rolls a try, you won’t regret it one ounce. You can find the complete recipe and step by step video below.
Ingredients
Rolls:
1 cup vegan cream (I used Country Crock brand)
4 tbsp. (¼ cup) vegan butter (I used Violife brand)
2 ¼ tsp. (1 packet) active dried yeast
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
4tbsp. (¼ cup) vegan butter, melted (I used Violife brand)
½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 tbsp. cinnamon
Filling:
2 cups pureed sweet potatoes
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. egg replacement (equivalent of 2 eggs. I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
¼ cup water, for egg replacement
½ cup of vegan cream (I used Country Crock brand)
½ cup of plant based milk (I used almond milk)
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg, fresh is best
¼ tsp. orange zest
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Glaze:
8oz. vegan cream cheese (I used Simple Truth brand)
2-3 tbsp. plant based cream ( I used Country Crock brand)
In a large saucepan on low heat, warm up cream, butter and yeast. Stir together and allow to heat up until lukewarm. Remove mixture from heat and allow the yeast to bloom.
In a separate medium bowl mix flour and salt together. Using a stand mixer with dough hook attachment, add cream mixture and sugar together on medium speed. Turn hook speed down to low and slowly add 3 cups of flour mix until flour is incorporated. Continue mixer on low speed until dough is easy to handle and comes off the side of the bowl. Remove dough from mixer and knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place dough in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
While dough is proofing, make sweet potato pie filling. In a medium sized bowl mix together sweet potatoes and brown sugar using hand mixer. In a small bowl stir together egg replacement and water and allow to rest for one minute. Add egg replacer to sweet potatoes and mix on medium speed. Add remaining ingredients of vegan cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange and salt. Mix on medium speed until all ingredients are combined. Set aside.
When dough has doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 12 by 18-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough using pastry brush. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over buttered dough. Cut dough into 12 slices.
Using pastry brush or spoon, spread sweet potato pie filling over each slice of dough. Roll up dough slices and place into buttered dish. Cover rolls with kitchen towel and allow to proof again for another 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Bake rolls for about 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned.
While cinnamon rolls are baking, make glaze. In a small bowl whisk together vegan cream cheese, vegan cream, vanilla and confectioners sugar. Continue to mix together until all the ingredients are combined and glaze is smooth. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.
A few nights ago I had the opportunity to return to the LA Opera for another fantastic performance. In September, when I was in Paris I stayed in the Ópera district again, but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to go. The last time I went to the opera was for my birthday to see the well known, Aida. That experience was incredible as expected with the music, the costumes and overall atmosphere.
This time around I went to LA Opera to see, Omar. This spectacular performance is based on the true story written by Omar Ibn Said. Omar was a Senegalese Muslim man who was captured and enslaved. He was able to write his autobiography in Arabic that detailed his entire journey of his life. He unfortunately died an enslaved man, but the beauty of his unwavering faith and strength continues on as his legacy in the opera. Omar was an incredible production. What I most enjoyed was seeing all the melanin on stage and behind the scenes. The conductor was even a Black man. I also thoroughly enjoyed the colorful costume ensembles of the entire cast. I highly recommend that you go see this performance. It is an incredible story to see sung and portrayed with passion and heart.
For this evening, I decided to wear one of my favorite thrift finds from years past. I actually first wore this sultry sweater dress the first time I went to the LA Opera in 2013. I decided to rebirth this frock this year since I was finally able to fit it again. I love thrifting and I decided to share the details of this dress and some helpful hints below.
Try to avoid thrift shopping at chain thrift stores. The prices are usually higher and the merchandise has been picked through by the employees.
Shop for classic pieces for your wardrobe not things that are “in fashion.” This will keep your finds more sustainable and you’ll get more use out of your pieces.
Find clothes that are made with quality fabrics. That means natural or heavier fabrics.
Look for clothes with older labels, but have not been worn down.
Remember fashion repeats every 30 years. Just because your thrift find doesn’t seem fashionable now, doesn’t mean it won’t be later.
Buy clothes that fit your personal style. If something unique catches your eye then buy.
When shopping wear undergarments you don’t mind being exposed (ie. sports bra/ biker shorts), so you may try on clothes before you buy.
It’s Halloween, that time of the year where celebrating, costumes and candy are on full display. I have explained already in previous posts, that when growing up Halloween was not really emphasized. I can probably count on one hand how many times I remember dressing up on Halloween and trick or treating. October to me always represented the first full month of fall, which was reason to celebrate enough.
As an adult I have come to appreciate Halloween a bit more. I enjoy being creative and being able to relive favorite childhood characters via costumes. Living in Los Angeles for the past few years, Halloween has risen to another level. Angelenos take Halloween very seriously and I’m not just talking about the clothing.
This year I wanted to take my Halloween celebrating up another tier with my confections. After indulging in way too much candy I wanted to enjoy something sweet and unique. I came up with an idea to make a treat that I could not only enjoy Halloween night but also the next morning after my party hangover.
Check out these delicious Shock Tarts also known as Halloween breakfast pastries. These flavorful, flaky pastries are filled with a fresh, fruity and delicious filling. These tarts are then covered in a sweet glaze and decorated with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles DRAKE-ula Sprinkle Mix for even more flavor. This recipe is super easy to make and bake. Definitely give this recipe a try today or save it for another celebration. I will surely be enjoying these Shock Tarts this evening while passing out candy to the kiddies.
You can find the complete recipe and step by step video below.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Makes 8-10 pastries
Ingredients
Filling:
2 cups (16oz.) frozen mixed berries
1 cup (8oz.) fresh berries of your choice, I used blueberries
½ cup four fruits preserves
½ cup granulated sugar
Juice of whole lemon, approximately 2 tsp.
1 tbsp. vanilla lemongrass tea or any tea you prefer, (optional)
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. activated charcoal
½ tsp. salt
1 stick (½ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
¼ cup (4 tbsp.) vegetable shortening or coconut oil
For the filling: In a large saucepan add frozen berries, fresh berries, preserves, sugar, lemon juice and tea. Stir all ingredients together and allow to simmer on low-medium heat. Cover filling and allow sauce to reduce by half, approximately 15-20 minutes. Once sauce has reduced. remove filling from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Once filling has cooled blend ingredients together using immersion or stand mixer. Once well blended, pass filling through a kitchen strainer to remove seeds and tea leaves. Set aside.
For the dough: Use food processor and pulse flour, sugar, charcoal and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and vegetable shortening. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand. With machine running, add yolk, vodka and ice water, and process until dough just comes together. (It should not take longer than 30 seconds.)
Shape dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. (You may refrigerate overnight)
When ready to make pastries: Preheat oven to 350F. Take dough out of refrigerator. Divide dough in half. On a flour surface roll out half of dough into a rectangle. The dough should be 1/8 to 1/4 inches thick. Cut symmetrical rectangles into your dough using pizza cutter (you can also use cookie or biscuit cutters). Place bottom side of pastry onto cookie sheet. Place rounded spoonful of filling in the center of pastry dough. Pat filling down. Make sure to leave approximately a 1/2 inch border around the dough. Roll out remainder of dough into same rectangle. Cut rectangle into similar sizes as previous. Place top side of pastry on filling. Press top and bottom of pastry together. Use a finger or fork to crease the seams together. Repeat process until all your dough is filled. Brush egg white on top of pastry. Use fork and poke holes on top of pastry for steam.
Bake for 20-22 or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely
While tarts are cooling make glaze.
In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt and milk. Mix until glaze is smooth. (Glaze should be thick enough to coat back of spoon). Using a knife of off-set spatula, glaze completely cooled pastries. Top with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles DRAKE-ula Sprinkle Mix. Allow glaze to harden.
I have explained before that I get baking recipes and inspiration from everywhere. Usually, most of my ideas come to me in my dreams when my mind is free to roam in candyland. During this season, the shorter days and longer nights give me more time for more enticing inceptions. I also get concepts from remixing other recipes that I have or others have already created.
A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation via social media about fall recipes. One of my social media friends was discussing these popular pumpkin cheesecake cookies. She, being a fan of these favored fall cookies, suggested that they might taste better if they were sweet potato based. Although I had heard of these cookies before, I had never actually tried them. That was enough incentive for me to get started on experimenting on a new autumn treat.
I started out by buying and trying the original pumpkin cheesecake cookies. The cookies were pretty satisfying. They were soft and filled with notes of pumpkin and spices. The cookies had morsels of white chocolate that represented the cheesecake flavor. After a few cookies, I knew exactly how I was going to make my version even better tasting. Not only was going to make some delicious sweet potato cookies, but I would accompany these cookies with some ice cream. This was not going to be an ordinary ice cream but an extraordinary sweet potato ice cream filled with cream cookie butter and cinnamon cookie bits.
The sweet potato cheesecake cookies and sweet potato cookie butter (no churn) ice cream were very easy to make and turned out better than I imagined. This may sound biased, but these were probably the best ice cream sandwiches I treated to myself to. The cookies were perfectly soft and flavored. The ice cream was not overly sweet and complimented the cookies perfectly. The ice cream sandwiches were even more magical as they were decorated with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles new fall Sprinkle Mix, Mellow Leaves from Heaven.
Definitely give both of these easy recipes a try this season. Both are great for indulging, cooking with kids in the kitchen and/ or impressing family/ friends.
Both recipes and step by step video can be found below.
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Cookie Butter (No churn) Ice Cream:
1 pint (16 fl. oz.) of heavy cream, keep very cold
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup pureed sweet potato
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg (fresh is best)
¼ tsp. orange zest
½ cup cinnamon cookies, crushed into bite sized pieces.
Start by making the ice cream. In a medium sized bowl, using a spatula mix together sweet potato, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest until mooth. Set mixture aside.
In a large bowl, using a hand or stand mixer add heavy cream. Whip heavy cream until it doubles in size and soft peaks form.
Add sweet potato mixture to heavy cream. Using spatula, lightly fold sweet potato mixture into heavy cream until completely combined. Be sure not to over mix or cream will deflate and ice cream won’t be airy.
Place ice cream mixture into a loaf pan. Cover ice cream with plastic wrap and place in freezer overnight to harden.
To make cookies:
In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Set flour mixture aside.
In a large separate bowl, using either hand or stand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Cream butter and sugar together until butter is pale yellow and doubled in size. Add sweet potato. Add eggs one at a time. Mix until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Add half of flour mixture to cream mixture and stir until incorporated. Add second half of flour mixture. Stir until incorporated. Add white chocolate chips and cheesecake bites (optional) to batter. Slowly fold in until combined.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and place cookie dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes to overnight.
Once ready to bake cookies, remove dough from refrigerator for at least 20-30 minutes before baking.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using cookie scoop or ice cream scoop, place cookie dough onto sheets about 1.5-2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies are slightly golden and firm to touch. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely to room temperature.
Remove ice cream from freezer. Use ice cream scoop to place ice cream on top of cookies. Cover ice cream with additional cookies.
*For pureed sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400F. Clean and dry 3-4 medium/ large sweet potatoes. Using a cookie sheet, bake sweet potatoes until fork tender (approximately 30-35 minutes.) Remove from oven and allow sweet potatoes to complete cool. Remove skins from sweet potatoes. Place sweet potatoes in large bowl and use immersion blender./ or counter blender to puree. Blend sweet potatoes until texture slightly chunkier than baby food.
It’s here, it’s finally here! Well technically its not, but I have already made the transition in my mind, so fall is here. I am already overloaded on thoughts of apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin spice everything and comfort clothing. My morning coffee has been switched from my usual creme bruleé creamer to pumpkin spice since September 1st. I can never get enough of this season. I love that I get to repeat this fabulous fall sensation every year, like it’s Groundhog Day. I have been concocting some new pumpkin and fall-filled recipes since last year. There is something about those warm fall spices that keeps me motivated.
As a child, one of my favorite fall activities I have mentioned previously was a visit to Apple Hill. This magical apple orchard was my fall timestamp every year. It served as a pinnacle moment of the season for me because of all the wonderful foods that I was able to savor. Fresh apples off the tree, fresh warm cider, homemade apple butter, and of course the apple donuts. I looked forward to the cinnamon crusted fried fritters and cake donuts at the start of Labor Day weekend. Even though I haven’t visited Apple Hill in several years the memorable donuts still inspire my fall recipes. (Check out my recipe for Apple Cider Donut Bread Pudding with Caramel Glaze.)
Every year I still look forward to all the spectacular fall treats, but now I try to opt for healthier yet flavorful options. The last few years, I have made some delicious autumn apple recipes. (Check out my recipe for Sparkling Cider Cake and The Perfect Fall Cupcakes). This year I made a decision to switch it up and make some delicious pumpkin baked donuts reminiscent of all my favorite fall flavors. Check out my recipe for my Pumpkin Patch Donuts which are in oozing with pumpkin flavor and covered with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Orange Jevarius Sprinkle Mix for more fall color pop.
See the complete recipe and step by step video below.
Store bought caramels for pumpkin stems, for decorating (optional)
Green fondant for pumpkin leaves and vines, for decorating (optional)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease donut pans.
In a medium separate bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, milk, vanilla extract, beaten egg and lemon juice and stir until just combined. Set Aside.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, superfine sugar, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Add cubed butter using a fork or potato masher to press butter into flour mixture, until combined and it resembles course sand.
Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Mix slowly until dough is combined, smooth and thick. Be careful not to over mix.
Use a piping bag or spoon to fill each donut cup about half full, making sure the center area is clear of dough. Bake donuts 6-10 minutes until they are done and spring back when touched.
Let donuts completely cool to room temperature.
While donuts are baking, make the glaze. In a medium sized bowl whisk together pumpkin puree, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin pie spice, salt and confectioners sugar until smooth and completely combined. (Glaze should be thick and coat the back of a spoon.)
Use spoon to drizzle donuts with or dip donuts into the glaze. Cover with sprinkles and use caramels and fondant to decorate.
It’s almost September, which means it’s almost time for my favorite time of year. You already know what I’m talking about, fall! We are currently in a time of season transition. I like to incorporate fall colors and themes into my end of the summer wardrobe to make the seasons click like my heels. This is the perfect time to reuse summer fashion staples, but put a fresh autumn spin on them.
A few months ago, one of my favorite cutout dresses sustained some water damage. I believe I’ve mentioned this before in my others posts, but I’m going to reiterate the fact that I love a good cutout dress. A dress with some simple missing fabric in the right spots can turn a bland frock into over the top. For someone who is curvy such as I, it’s a great way to accentuate the gifts God created. This brightly colored orange dress was now covered in random mildew stains. At first when I discovered the damage on my dress I was devastated. I washed it and soaked it, but I was not able to remove any of the mildew stains. I refused to give up on this dress and came up with another plan.
I absolutely adore this dress because it’s light, bright, it fits me wonderfully and it has pockets! I also didn’t mention the fact that this dress is made of 100% recycled materials. As an environmentalist, I could not let a few stains allow me to toss this perfectly wearable and fabulous frock. After evaluating the dress and the stains I was reminded of Jackson Pollock and a Rorschach inkblot test. With fall approaching on the horizon I became inspired and found a way to salvage and upgrade my dress with a unique abstract print, aka tie dye. I went to my neighborhood craft store and purchased a tie dye kit. Once I arrived home I prepped my dress and went to work.
The project was super simple to do and the results turned out amazing. Here’s how I recreated my new upcycled fall cutout dress.
Here we are in 2022 and 3 years into celebrating Kobe’s heavenly birthday. Kobe would be celebrating his 44th birthday this year. It still amazes me how much he accomplished in his short period on this earth. I strive daily to be the best version of myself and continue Kobe’s Mamba Mentality legacy.
As I expressed in my previous Kobe Day post, I have been celebrating August 24th as Kobe Day since 1996. I honestly celebrate daily by living my best life and striving to leave my own legacy. After Kobe’s death, I have been doing some deep self reflecting and trying to discover and implant my own legacy. I have been striving to be the best version of myself daily and have learned that the only way I feel accomplished is through love and creativity. My Mamba Mentality is to encourage others to love themselves first as well as others. Also my legacy is to strive to incite all forms of creativity in others. I believe that we are created to create and make this planet somehow better than we arrived.
I made this delicious Pineapple Right-Side up Cake for Kobe’s birthday cake. This four layer pineapple cake is filled with a delicious fresh pineapple filling and frosted with a tangy yet sweet cream cheese filling. I decorated this cake in stars representing every year that Kobe shined on this planet. The yellow stars serve as the first half, ‘#8’ of Mamba’s career. The purple stars of course serve as the second half of Kobe’s career, ‘#24.’ The five sparkly balls on top of the cake covered in Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Cosmic Shimmers, embody Kobe’s championships. I then covered the remaining top of the cake in Black Mamba Sprinkle Mix.
This Kobe Day I ask that you consider how do you love and how do you create to inspire? Also examine what do you want your legacy to be? Kobe has shown us that life is way too short to not live our daily legacies. Happy KOBE Day!
Complete recipe and decorating video below.
KOBE Day 2022 Pineapple Right-Side up Cake
Make two 8 or 9″ cakes, four 6″ cakes or 24 cupcakes.
In a medium sized mixing bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
In a large bowl or using a stand mixer cream butter and sugar together. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to the mixture. Add vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour mixture one third at a time, alternating with pineapple juice. After each addition, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix batter until fully combined but be careful not to over mix.
Transfer batter to the cake pans and smooth batter evenly in the pans. Bake cakes for approximately 20-22 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Place cakes onto cake rack and allow to cool completely to room temperature.
While cake is baking make the pineapple filling and cream cheese frosting.
For pineapple filling: Add crushed pineapple and juice into a large saucepan. Add brown sugar, salt and ginger. Stir everything together and allow mixture to simmer on low-medium heat. Cook filling down until reduced by half and juice can coat back of spoon. Allow filling to cool to room temperature. Use hand mixer or food processor to blend mixture into smooth/ slightly chunky spreadable mixture. Set aside.
For cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk together cream cheese and butter. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add vanilla extract. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until vanilla extract combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Frost cakes with cream frosting. Decorate with fondant and Sprinkles.
I posted on my social media a few weeks ago that it is a known fact that fashion repeats itself every 30 years. That means that we are currently in a 90s fashion renaissance. I recently started re-watching A Different World in the mornings when I work out. This series has served as a great reference to all the fashion inspiration the 1990s brought us. The structured suits, oversized pants and jackets, belts, crop tops, biker shorts, bold prints, slip dresses, etc. I especially love all the color blocking in the 90s, (ie. Cross Colours) which is a reference to the 1960s mod fashion.
This summer I have been going hard on all the 1990s fashion since I was definitely too young to rock some attire properly. I decided to piece together one of my favorite thrift store finds with some other ensemble pieces to create this fabulous casual fashion outfit.
Summer is steadily winding down and finally coming to a close. As a lover of pumpkin spice and everything nice, I am ecstatic to see fall roll on through. Before we officially call it quits on summer, I had to address another important component of the season for me.
In the summer, the warm weather drives me and most people outside for activities. In the summer I especially love outdoor movies, picnics, brunches, barbecues, rooftop and day parties. The most important experiences of summer above all are the music festivals. Summer is simultaneous for music festival season and this year served as a rebirth for most major music venues. I was super excited after a two year hiatus to return to music festival season. Nothing beats (pun intended) being outside with fellow music lovers in warm weather dancing and vibing out.
In the summer there are many popular festivals across the globe. I appreciate that music festivals try and incorporate a variety of cuisines to suite different tastes. I have been to a few different festivals internationally and had the chance to enjoy food from the South to Singapore. Even though there is so much food to choose from at these fun-filled festivals, I never can seem to find the one thing I’m looking for.
Macarons are the missing piece to a perfect festival cuisine. These French invented cookies are super flavorful and colorful. These naturally light, gluten-free cookies would be the best accompaniment and contrast to all the heavy and probably greasy food that is consumed during the day. My summer sweet tooth has found ice cream, cupcakes, dessert empanadas, etc. to munch on in between music sets, but never macarons. Since I have not been able to find any of these French fantasies during music festivals, I decided to make my own to enjoy. I made the decision to make these macarons even more special by combining two desserts into one. These Music Festival Macarons are cotton candy flavored and chromatic. I took these cookies even further with flavor by decorating them with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Cotton Candy flavored Sprinkle Mix.
This macaron recipe is the classic French style and is easy to make using a stand mixer and a kitchen scale. I absolutely loved how these macarons tasted and looked once they were finally completed.
You can find the complete recipe and step by step video below.
Music Festival Macarons, Step by Step video
Recipe adapted from La Cuisine Paris
Makes about 20-30 cookies
Ingredients
French Macarons:
90g ground almonds
75g egg whites
50g granulated sugar
135g confectioners sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. cotton candy flavoring (I got mine from Michaels)
Buttercream:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. heavy cream, at room temperature
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½. tsp. cotton candy flavoring
pinch salt
Cotton Candy flavored Sprinkle Mix, for decoration (optional)
Pink food coloring (optional)
Blue food coloring (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 160C or 320F.
For macarons: Sift the ground almonds into a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.
Measure out egg whites into clean mixing bowl. Using hand or stand mixer whisk attachment, start whipping egg whites on medium speed. Slowly start to add granulated sugar one spoonful at a time.
Gradually increase speed, slowly add the confectioners sugar one spoonful at a time. Continue to whisk egg whites until they form glossy stiff peaks and the sugar is dissolved. (Approximately 10-15 minutes). Add flavoring.
Carefully fold the ground almonds into the meringue one half at a time using a spatula. Be careful not to over mix.
Divide macaron mixture into two bowls. Add food coloring into each bowl. Carefully fold in coloring to the macaron mixture until even. Be careful not to over mix.
Put the mixture into a pastry bag. Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Pipe and form small even similar sized rounds on the parchment paper. Allow macarons to. rest on the counter for 15 minutes. Bake at 160C or 340F for approximately 12 minutes. Allow macarons to completely cool on cooling rack. Once completely cooled, remove from parchment paper. (Cookies should come off paper easily if cooked enough and completely cooled.)
While cookies are baking make buttercream frosting.
For frosting, in a medium bowl, or stand mixer, whisk butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add heavy cream. Add vanilla extract. Add cotton candy flavoring. Add salt. Add food coloring (optional). Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Pipe buttercream onto macarons and sandwich cookies together. Roll macarons in Cotton Candy flavored Sprinkle Mix.
Devour and Enjoy!
*to make sure stiff meringues form in your recipe, make sure all your utensils are completely fatless. Wipe everything down (mixing bowls and whisk) using a paper towel and white vinegar to remove any oil from baking supplies.
You can never have enough strawberry recipes, especially in the summertime. The berries are bountiful this time of year and I take advantage. This summer has been even hotter not by surprise, thanks to global warming. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to save the planet and scraps from our previous recipe to create something new.
The last recipe that was posted was a scrumptious Strawberry Crunch Cake. This cake, although super delicious and worth the sacrifice, required turning the oven on. The oven was needed not only to bake the cake, but also to make the yummy strawberry crunchies to top the cake. The recipe for the cake made an abundance of strawberry crunchies and I refuse to let them go to waste.
I came up with the idea of using those crunchies to make a strawberry flavored, and also perfectly textured crust for a No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake. This is not your basic strawberry cheesecake. This cheesecake doesn’t just have strawberry flavor in the crust, it also has strawberries in every ounce of the filling. This cake is light, creamy, tangy and tasteful. This haute recipe is super simple and doesn’t require turning the oven on during these continued hot days. I also made a vegan/ plant-based recipe if you want to make your cheesecake even lighter. I decorated the cheesecake using the same Kaleidoscope Sprinkles mix combination from the Strawberry Crunch Cake recipe. I love how the cheesecake turned out.
You can find both cheesecake recipes and the video below.
No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake step by step
Use 8 or 9 inch springform pan for recipe
Ingredients
Strawberry filling:
2 cups heavy whipping cream, very cold
3- 8oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature
2 tbsp. confectioners sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup (approximately 2 oz.) freeze dried strawberries, ground to fine powder
Extra whipping cream and strawberries, for decorating (optional)
No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
Directions
For the crust: In a small bowl, mix together strawberry crunchies and butter until combined. Press strawberry crust in 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Use back of measuring cup to tightly pack crust into pan. Place crust in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes and allow to set.
Make filling by placing very cold whipping cream into large bowl. Whip cream on medium speed for approximately 5 minutes until soft peaks form. Add confections sugar to whipped cream. Turn up speed to high and whip cream into sift peaks. Set heavy cream aside and place into refrigerator while you finish making remainder of the cream cheese filling.
Using another large bowl whip together cream cheese and granulated sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Using a food processor, add freeze dried strawberries and grind into a fine powder. Add strawberry powder, gelatin, lemon juice and extracts. Whip on medium speed until cream cheese mixture is combined.
Take whipped cream out of the refrigerator. Using a rubber spatula, add half of the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and fold in gently until combined. Add the remaining half of the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream. Continue to gently fold together until cream cheese mixture. is fully combined. Combine slowly as you don’t want to deflate all the air out the whipped cream.
Take crust out the refrigerator and spread filling onto the crust. Use spatula to smooth down the top of the cheesecake. Cover cheesecake tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours and up to 2 days. For best results, refrigerate overnight.
Once ready to serve, use paring/ small knife to loosen cheesecake from rim of springform pan. Cut cheesecake into desired slices.
Devour and Enjoy!
*For a plant based/ vegan recipe: Use vegan butter or coconut oil to make your strawberry crunchies, following the same directions. For cheesecake filling: use 2 cups of plant based cream, 3- 8oz containers of plant based cream cheese, 2 tbsp. confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup (approximately 2 oz.) freeze dried strawberries, ground to fine powder, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 tsp. lemon juice and one serving (I used 2 scoops of Orgain Strawberry & Cream powder) plant based strawberry flavored protein powder. Follow same directions above for filling. Refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours. Better if refrigerated overnight. Top with plant based whipped cream and fresh berries.
I have always appreciated the season of summer. Summer to me means annually indulging in fresh and abundant produce. From the fresh vegetables and array of fruits, I definitely keep my plate colorful during this time of the year. By now I’ve expressed my love for my favorite fruit, watermelon, several times. Although I love a good melon, it is not the only fruit that gets my attention.
Strawberries are in second place when it comes my favorite produce confessionals. I have always loved a good, sweet, ruby red, perfectly ripe strawberry. Strawberries, although small in stature stand out when it comes to fruit. When I was in elementary school, I wrote a short story on a strawberry character for an assignment. The point of the story was that this cute strawberry finally recognized and understood her uniqueness and wore her seeds on the outside proudly, unlike her other fruit friends. My teacher loved it and ate the story up (pun intended).
Strawberries are tasty on their own, fresh out the carton, but even better when baked. I have created several strawberry recipes because magic happens when these delicious berries are heated. From shortcakes, cupcakes, biscuits, cobblers and more, I usually find ways to incorporate strawberries. This summer, I decided to take on another recipe and make an exquisite Strawberry Crunch Cake. I have always enjoyed strawberry cake, but why not make it better with more texture and flavor. I made some homemade mouthwatering strawberry crunchies for the outside of the cake. I also decorated the cake using Kaleidoscope Sprinkles. I combined the AKA and DST Sprinkle Mixes to make the perfect strawberry blend of sprinkles. I wanted this cake to be bursting with strawberries, so I decorated the inside and outside of the cake. I love how the cake turned out. This Strawberry Crunch Cake is definitely tastefully and visually gratifying.
You can find the complete recipe and step by step video below.
Make the crunches first. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
Using two small bowls, add ½ cup of flour to each bowl. Add ¼ cup of sugar to each bowl.
Using a food processor, add freeze dried strawberries and grind into a fine powder. Add powder to one of the small bowls for strawberries crunchies.
Stir both bowls well to combine. Add 4-5 tbsp of butter to bowl for the strawberry crunchies. Add 3 tbsp. of butter to the small bowl for the vanilla crunchies. Add vanilla extract.
Using fork, combine butter into each mixture until dough combines together and forms crumbles.
Lay each crumble evenly onto separate cookie sheets. Bake each of the crumbles for approximately 5-10 minutes until slightly golden brown.
Let each crumble cool completely on cookie sheets. Once cooled, break crumble into smaller bits using your hands (if needed).
Combine both flavored crunchies into one bowl and set aside. *
For the cake:
In a medium sized mixing bowl mix together 2 ½ cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using a food processor or blender, beat strawberries (frozen work best) until pureed, consistency of baby food. Set aside.
In a large bowl add butter, sugar to the mixture and continue to mix until creamed together. Add eggs to mixer. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is fully combined. Add vanilla extract. Add strawberry flavor.** Slowly add the flour mixture one third at a time with half of buttermilk. Beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until fully combined but be careful not to over mix.
**(If you don’t plan to make cake strawberries for inside the cake. Add strawberry pureé to large bowl. Add additional ½ cup of flour to flour mixture. Slowly add the flour mixture one third at a time with half of buttermilk. Beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until fully combined but be careful not to over mix. Transfer batter to the bundt cake pan and smooth batter until even in the pan. Hit cake pan onto the counter a few times to knock out air bubbles. Bake cake for approximately 40-45 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. )
To make cake strawberries:
Using medium bowl, add 2 cups of cake batter to bowl. Add strawberry purée, any remaining strawberry powder and red food coloring to bowl. Mix until combined. Fold in additional ½ cup of flour. Combine until batter is thoroughly mixed but not over mixed. Set aside.
In a small bowl, add 1 cup of cake batter to bowl. Add green food coloring. Mix until combined and desired color is achieved.
Using piping bag or small plastic bag, pipe green cake batter into strawberry cake pan. Place pan in freezer for 10 minutes to set cake batter. Once batter has set, spoon strawberry cake batter on top of green cake batter.
Bake strawberry cakes for approximately 8-10 mins. (Do not bake cakes completely). Allow cakes to cool in pan until slight above room temperature.
Add remaining strawberry cake batter to regular batter into large bowl. Fold batters together until combined.
Pour third of cake batter into bundt pan. Remove strawberry cakes from their pan. Place strawberry cakes upside down into the bundt cake pan. Cover cakes with the remaining batter. Bake cake for approximately 30- 35 mins. until all the cake has set and tester comes out clean.
While cake is baking make the glaze. In a medium sized bowl whisk together confectioners sugar, cream/ liqueur and salt until smooth. (Glaze should be thick enough to coat back of a spoon.)
Place cake onto cake rack and allow to cool completely. Invert cake onto cake plate or board. Spoon glaze onto cake.
* This strawberry crunchies recipe makes an abundance. You may use the additional crumbles on top of your ice cream or yogurt bowls. You may use them to make crunch muffins, donuts or a great topping for any fruit crumble. You may also eat them with fresh fruit for a light snack or dessert.
It’s Paris Fashion Week! You all know that I absolutely adore both Paris and fashion! Sadly, I have yet to attend Fashion Week in my favorite city. I would love to be invited and sit at a couture fashion show. It’s actually one of my lifetime goals that I am continually trying to bring to fruition. Fashion week for fall/winter season happens in the heat of summer, so the apparel must be governed accordingly.
This year since I was stuck stateside yet again for the shows, I decided to create Paris Fashion Week here in Los Angeles.
We have finally made it to the second half of 2022. Month number seven means we are in the full swing of summer. This season brings us the hottest and longest day of the year with Summer Solstice. All this sunshine provides more opportunities to be outside, show some skin and burn some calories. During this season you can usually find me in somebody’s pool or poolside with a drink in my hand.
I love a good summer drink. A lovely warm evening basking in my backyard with a drink in my hand is bliss. I love that summertime comes with its own cocktails. I am usually a “rosé all day” kinda gal, but this summer, I decided to add a little more flavor. July 10th is National Piña Colada Day, which serves as motivation for a new recipe.
I adore a good tropical cocktail. Last summer I actually discovered a new cocktail while I was perusing the aisles at BevMo. I purchased this Colada liqueur, threw it on some ice and had a wonderful evening swinging in my hammock. This year I wanted to try and use this liqueur to serve piña coladas in a new way. I took my classic cupcake and buttercream recipes and infused this delicious drink inside. I decorated these cupcakes using some fondant pineapples and Kaleidoscope Sprinkles. The cupcakes turned out sizzling and sensational.
You can find the complete recipe and decorating video below.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tin with liners.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until all ingredients are combined and set bowl aside.
In a separate large bowl using either a stand or hand mixer cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy and doubled in sized. (Approximately 3-5 minutes). Add eggs to mixture one at a time. Add buttermilk and liqueur. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Using an ice cream scoop place cupcake batter into cupcake tins. Bake cupcakes at 350F for approximately 22-25 minutes until tester comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to completely cool.
While cake is baking make the buttercream frosting. In a large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk together butter. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add Colada liqueur. Add vanilla extract. Add salt. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until vanilla extract combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Juneteenth in the Black community historically has been a time for celebration. This special day has served as a community monument of freedom. For Black people in the US, Juneteenth has been a long standing tradition. I remember as a child going to parades, festivals, and of course celebrating with delicious dishes of food. This year marks the second year that Juneteenth has been recognized as a national holiday. Even though it took much longer than it should have, progress is still progress. What better way to keep the party going than with great music and a delicious dessert.
Not only do we celebrate the freedom of Blacks in June, but also the creativity of self expression through music. June also represents Black Music month. I must say 30 days is not nearly enough time to honor and appreciate the contributions of blacks to music. Music has always been a huge aspect of my life. I started playing piano as an adolescent. I then went on to play the clarinet, soprano and alto saxophone, which I still play. I also started writing and singing songs as a child and continue to do so currently. Music, especially Black music, has always been influential to every part of my life. I could not let this music fete or Juneteenth go on without a unique sweet.
In April while attending a music festival, I came across this stand out sweatshirt. The garment itself was quite bland, but what caught my eye was the message inscribed across the front. “Love Black people like you love Black music.” The message, so simple and yet so strong, spoke to me instantly. I knew at that moment that I wanted to continue to spread the words through my culinary arts. June represented the prime opportunity to pass on the message deliciously. I used Kaleidoscope Sprinkles new Sprinkle Mix, Donut-cha No No No Good and Cosmic Shimmers to decorate my amazing musical confections. I loved how the cake and cupcakes turned out.
You can find the complete recipe for the cake/ cupcakes and decorating video below.
Chocolate Cake decorating
Black Music Month cupcakes
Makes 13″ x 9″ cake or 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake: (adapted from Vintage Cakes Mississippi Mud Cupcakes recipe)
Preheat oven 350F. Grease and flour cake pan or line cupcake tins.
In a small bowl, whisk hot coffee into the cocoa powder. Set aside and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add in cooled cocoa mixture.
Add wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients. Gently stir ingredients together until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Fold in crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.
Pour batter evenly into cake pan. Bake cake at 350F for 25-30 mins. (Until tester comes out clean). Allow cake to cool completely
While cake is baking make buttercream frosting.
For frosting, in a large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add heavy cream. Add vanilla extract. Add salt. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Frost cake once cooled with frosting. Decorate with Sprinkles and Cosmic Shimmers (optional) .
Happy June! I am always excited to welcome the sixth month of the year with open arms. June is the halfway point of the year and serves as a point of reflection. Not only does this month mark a pivotal point in the year, it is also filled with celebrations. Of course we have Pride Month, a celebration of love and acceptance for everyone. June also is historic for Black Music month, summer solstice and more birthdays.
I, of course, am a May gemini. Would you believe that both my best friends are also Geminis and their birthdays are a day apart? My best friend, George, celebrates his special day on the 16th of this month, so I decided to make something spectacular for him.
I predetermined that this cake should be as unique and incredible as my best friend. One night a few weeks ago, while comfortably in my REM cycle, an idea came to mind. I quickly woke up from my slumber and jotted down my brainstorm and went back to sleep. Once well rested and ready I got to work on my birthday cake design.
This past weekend was the perfect opportunity to make this fabulous Rainbow Birthday Cake. This spectrum confection was made with love and of course Kaleidoscope Sprinkles for decoration. The Wizz Sprinkle Mix was the perfect Pride accessory for this cake. I enjoyed every part of making this cake for my amazing friend, so I decided to share the fun and love.
You can find the cake recipe and step by step decorating video below.
Rainbow Birthday Cake decorating video
Vanilla Cake Recipe (Makes 2 8″ or 9″ cakes, 4 6″ cakes or 24 cupcakes)
In a medium sized mixing bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
In a large bowl or using a stand mixer cream butter and sugar together. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to the mixture. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Slowly add the flour mixture one third at a time, alternating with buttermilk. After each addition, be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix batter until fully combined but be careful not to over mix.
Divide cake batter evenly into six small bowls. Add food gel to each bowl and gently fold in color until evenly distributed.
Transfer batter to the cake pans and smooth batter evenly in the pans. Bake cakes for approximately 20-22 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Place cakes onto cake rack and allow to cool completely to room temperature.
While cake is baking make the buttercream frosting. In a large bowl, or stand mixer, whisk together butter. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar using mixer on low speed until frosting is smooth. Add heavy cream. Add vanilla extract. Add salt. Whisk frosting on medium-high speed until vanilla extract combined and frosting is light and fluffy.
Frost cakes once cooled with frosting. Decorate with Sprinkles and assorted candies.
Once again it’s May, which means it’s time for month long birthday celebrations. I have always believed that your birthday should be treated as a holiday. My birthday month promises to have lots of laughter, a parade (just kidding), gifts and delicious food. I, of course, also plan an amazing personal vacation to celebrate. Nothing is too outlandish when it comes to enjoying my special day.
This year before hopping on a flight to continue my birthday extravaganza, I decided to indulge in a fabulous birthday brunch. Brunch is my absolute favorite meal of the day. I’ve always enjoyed brunch because it allows you to partake in both sweet and savory dishes. Brunch also allows you to drink champagne in the middle of the day with any side eyes. As a gemini, I am always indecisive in choosing what I want to eat for brunch. I usually end up ordering both something salty and sweet with way too much food for me to eat.
Last month I had the opportunity to enjoy a delicious brunch in Palm Desert, CA. The atmosphere was lovely and full of belly laughs, as was my stomach. I, following my own traditions, ordered way too much food. I was able to enjoy my omelet and Bellinis that I ordered, but the head-sized cinnamon roll had to be taken to-go. Once my brunch digested and I was hungry and few hours later, I thoroughly enjoyed the tasty pastry.
I decided this year I would use my favorite meal as inspiration for a new birthday recipe. I took my traditional cinnamon roll recipe and upgraded it for celebratory purposes. I wanted my birthday brunch full of color and flavor just like me. I infused Kaleidoscope Sprinkles rainbow sprinkle mix, The Wizz, into the dough, so each bite of this cinnamon concoction would feel like a party. I also used the delicious pineapple Bellinis from my Palm Dessert meal to elevate the glaze for my Rainbow Rolls.
Check out this one of a kind recipe and video of Rainbow Rolls below. I guarantee it will have you celebrating any occasion with a smile.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and allow it to set for at least five minutes until the mixture starts to bubble.
In a separate small bowl mix sugar, melted butter, salt and egg together. Add egg mixture to large bowl while yeast hook is going on medium speed.
Turn hook speed down to low and add 2 cups of flour and mix until flour is incorporated. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle and comes off the side of the bowl.
Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
When doubled in size, punch down dough. Add sprinkle mix to bowl and fold sprinkles into the dough.
Roll out dough on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle.
Spread softened butter all over dough using pastry brush. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal.
Cut into 12 slices.
Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until nicely browned. Allow to cool.
While dough is proofing, in a medium sized bowl mix together cream cheese, juice, champagne, powdered sugar and vanilla.
Spread glaze over slightly cooled rolls. Cover with more sprinkles (optional).
Guess who’s back, me of course!! Today is Easter Sunday which means my fast from social media is over. I thought I’d come back with my outfit for today. This outfit was inspired by all the wonderful colors and blossoms of spring. Enjoy!!
It’s Spring! I love Spring because it always represents growth and beauty to me. First comes April showers then May flowers. As Miranda Priestly famously said from Devil Wears Prada, “Florals for Spring, groundbreaking.” Not only do flowers come with Spring, but also so do pastels, new love and afternoon teas.
I love a great tea time. Getting the chance to get all dolled up and eat cute little dainty foods is the bees knees. Not only do I love sipping on tea, but I love spilling some tea with my girlfriends as well. An afternoon tea is the quintessential female fellowship time. I’m not sure if its the warm relaxing drinks or the atmosphere, but its all about hones-TEA.
I thought that this year for Springtime I would create a delicious new teatime treat for the season. Since I usually enjoy a light herbal or fruit tea in the afternoon, I thought a decadent, buttery confection would be the perfect accompaniment. My inspiration for these Dulce de Leche Bars is from one of my favorite cookies made at a local bakery here in Los Angeles. I wanted all the taste without all the time consuming work in the original recipe. I then decided to decorate these fabulous bars for my tea with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles My Mama’s Biscuits Sprinkle Mix, which was also inspired by teatime.
Check out this easy recipe and step by step video below.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Butter and parchment paper bottom of 9 by 9″ baking pan.
In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer cream together butter with granulated sugar until blended. Scrape down mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time. Scrape down mixing bowl again. Add vanilla, almond extracts and lemon zest. Add flour mixture to bowl. Mix cookie dough until just combined. Be careful not to over mix or dough will be tough.
Divide dough into thirds.
Spread two-thirds of mixture into prepared baking dish. To help even out the dough, I like to press evenly with greased hands (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).
Bake in preheated oven for approximately 5 minutes until dough is warm and slightly baked
Using spatula place small dollops of dulce de leche on top of dough. Spread dulce de leche evenly onto top of dough using the spatula.
Using remaining thirds of cookie dough, cover top of dulce de leche.
Last month was a truly incredible month of appreciation and celebration of Black history. Besides learning more amazing information about the contributions of African Americans to this country, I was busy planning my absolutely unbelievable, once in a lifetime trip to Egypt. My 8 day/ 7 night trip to the origin of ancient civilization was a great culmination of pioneering Black culture and livelihood. I soaked up every ounce of ancient Black history that I could visiting museums, temples, booking Egyptology tours and shopping of course!
Before my amazing international excursion, I had to clean up my kitchen and dispose of some food. I had some produce that needed to be used before my trip in a few days. In my fruit bowl were some seriously ripe bananas. I thought about making a classic banana bread, but I decided that a celebratory trip required a celebratory send off cake. I pondered about what would complement this popular fruit for my cake. I decided to parallel the ripe tropical fruit with some mellow cocoa notes in the form of white chocolate. This cake put a huge smile on my face, so I decided to decorate with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles S Glee Rho Sprinkle Mix for even more celebration. The cake turned out perfect and was a great send off to my incredible trip.
After returning from my Egyptian excursion I had a greater appreciation for International travel and culture. I was looking forward to planning my next trip when things in Europe began to shift. Ukrainians were left with the heavy and gut wrenching decision of fleeing or fighting for their country. Blacks in the Ukraine were unfortunately experiencing racism at the borders trying to escape the war stricken country. This war further exposed the continued mistreatment of people of color no matter the circumstance. Racism doesn’t stop at wartime. War is fueled by hate, as is racism. In order to stop further conflicts across the world we cannot continue to allow the inequality of anyone.
It is no coincidence that this confection I made last month just so happened to be covered in glee and the colors blue and gold. This cake is all about the love and cultivation of crops and culture. A cake can turn out in so many flavors and tastes but basically is made of the same ingredients. The same stands true for humanity. We come in different colors and flavors, but are all created with the same things and made to love.
You can find the recipe for this Make Love Not War Cake below:
Finished baked cake
Its all about the glaze!
Ingredients
Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
5 medium or 3 X-large very ripe bananas
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup of white chocolate chips
Glaze:
3 tbsp. white chocolate liqueur, I used Godiva brand
In a medium sized mixing bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl or using a stand mixer or hand mixer beat bananas until pureed, consistency of baby food. Add oil, sugar to the mixture and continue to mix until creamed together. Add eggs to mixer. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is fully combined. Add vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour mixture one half at a time. Mix until fully combined but be careful not to over mix. Fold in white chocolate chips.
Transfer batter to the cake pan and smooth batter until even in the pan. Hit cake pan onto the counter a few times to knock out air bubbles. Bake cake for approximately 40-45 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
While cake is baking make the glaze. In a medium sized bowl whisk together liqueur, confectioner’s sugar and salt until smooth. (Glaze should be thick enough to coat back of a spoon.)
Place cake onto cake rack and allow to cool completely. Invert cake onto cake plate or board. Pour glaze onto cake.
I have been really into oversized sweaters/ jumpers lately. It is a really simple concept and outfit to assemble. Simply throw on an oversized sweater and some leggings and you’re done. Simple and yet so chic! A couple of weeks ago I was doing my normal Target stroll, when I came across some mens sweatshirts that were on sale. I quickly bought one and the wheels began to turn in my head. The fortunate and somewhat unfortunate (for my wallet) thing about my local Target, is that is located adjacent to a fabric store, yikes!! I went in and bought some fabric and came up with a super cute way to jazz up my basic sweatshirt. Enjoy!!
Materials
1. Cotton sweatshirt
2. 1/4 to 1/2 yards of fabric
3. fabric pen/ white eyeliner
4. Tape measure
5. Fabric shears
6. Needle/ Thread
7. Iron
8. Clothing pins
9. Sewing machine (optional)
Instructions
Hold sweatshirt in half, length-wise. Cut off collar and bottom hem off sweatshirt. Try sweatshirt on. Stretch collar to your desire. Remove sweatshirt. Lay sweatshirt flat. Take your tape measure, measure shirt from collar to bottom of shirt. Divide measurement by the number of bows you plan to place on your shirt, to determine the approximate size your your bows. (For my sweatshirt, I measured 24″ and wanted 6 bows; therefore each bow should be around 4″ long). Using your tape measure again, start from the middle of your sweatshirt and mark down your sweatshirt approximately the width you want your bows to be. (I wanted my bows to be approximately 5″ wide). Take your fabric shears and cut out the center portion of your sweatshirt.
Turn your sweatshirt inside out. Pin down your top bow. Pin down each side of the bow onto each side of the sweatshirt, making sure the top bow aligns with the collar. Repeat the same steps for the bottom bow, making sure the bottom bow aligns with the bottom hem. Take the remaining bows and place them evenly between the top and bottom bows. Pin down bows onto the sweatshirt. Sew down bows onto the sweatshirt. Turn sweatshirt, right-side out. Tada!! You have yourself a brand new original bow-utiful top
I have been looking this past year for a cute bralet that I can wear under sheer shirts. I have been having some difficulty because all the ones I seem to find are made for women with a smaller bust. I felt that this was fashion unfairness and I decided to do something about it. My girls (my boobs) and I decided to make our own bralet using and old bra that no longer fit. (Bra band was too big. Cheers to weight loss without boobage loss!! I wanted a bralet that would standout no matter if it was under a shirt or not. Here is how I did it.
Materials
Old bra of your choice
Fabric glue (I used e6000)
Clear plastic gems (in shapes of your choice)
Black Elastic in 1/2 inch and 1 inch diameters
Fabric scissors
Needle and thread
2 Swimsuit hooks (clear)
Tape Measure
Sewing pen
* I chose to have my bralet close in the front. If you would like to keep your bralet with the traditional closure you will not need the elastic or the swimsuit hook
Instructions
Take tape measure and measure your chest diameter (approximately where your bra will fit.) Take your measuring tape and measure bra band diameter where it is 1 or 2 inches in width (2 inches will give you more back support) . Mark place with sewing pen.
Take old bra and cut off back band on marked lines. Measure your old bra width with the back band portion removed. Take your chest diameter and subtract the bra diameter. This will be the length of your elastic.
Cut two pieces of the 1 inch elastic the length you measured.
Sew elastic onto sides of bra cups on the remaining portion of your bra band.
Now here comes the tedious part. Take your glue and working in small sections, glue gems onto bra cups.
Once you are finished gluing on all of your gems, cut piece of fabric between bracups. Sew swimsuit hook onto one side of bra cup. Take 1/2 inch elastic and sew onto the other bra cup. Make a small loop with your elastic and sew into place. Cut off remaining elastic.
Using measuring tape measure from armpit to armpit going around your neck. (Like a halter top). Take your other swimsuit hook and sew into one top of bra cup. Take remaining 1/2 inch fabric and cut it the length that was measured for your halter strap. Sew one side of the elastic onto the opposite bra cup top. (The bra cup without the swimsuit hook). Sew a small loop into the other side of your elastic.
Tada!! you know have a gorgeous, one of a kind custom made bralet that will fit your girls!!
This past week I had the fabulous opportunity to return to my treasured favorite city in the world, Paris. After a two year hiatus due to the never-ending story called COVID, I was able to book myself a flight and make my way overseas. As previously told in my other posts, since my 30th birthday a trip to Paris has been an annual excursion. There is just something about that city of love that lifts my spirits and recharges my batteries. Besides the culture, the history, the food and the overall atmosphere, the Parisian fashion has served as motivation to return yearly to cherished city. For this trip I definitely had more time to plan and prepare my own fabulous fashion choices. I became even further inspired after my most recent bag purchase to add to my collection. I love a good animal, more specifically leopard print ensemble. Check out all my fabulous fashion choices during my excursion and details below.
Also don’t forget to checkout and subscribe to my travel blog, TMCLLC Life, for details about my whereabouts and more travel information.
I was scrolling through Instagram the other day and I saw one of the cutest sweaters on someone’s fashion account. It was a simple sweater but what made it stand out was the shoulder embellishment. There were spikes on the shoulder, which brought a new flare to a basic top. I thought to myself “this is so easy, I can do that!” Thats exactly what I did and here is how I did it.
Materials
1. Sweater, tight knit (this one was purchased at Goodwill)
Make sure your sweater is washed and ready. Turn sweater inside out. Try sweater on. Mark on sweater approximately where spikes would sit on center of your shoulder. Take sweater off. Keep sweater inside out. Fold sweater down center so that sleeve is in the center of sweater. Place access fabric or paper between sweater to prevent bleeding of pen through fabric. Take your ruler and your pen, start from shoulder seem trace 2″ vertical line above and below shoulder seem. Starting from top center of vertical line, mark dot approximately 0.5″ apart horizontally. Move down 0.5″ from first row and mark dots again until your reach shoulder seem. Repeat the step twice on vertical line below shoulder seem. On second to last line. Draw two dots, each about 0.5″ away from vertical line. On last line, place mark in center of two dots above. Turn sweater over and repeat marks on the other side of the sweater. Try to keep both shoulder marks as identical as possible.
Keep sweater inside out, place spike screws through each mark on shoulder seem. Screw on spike. (Make sure not to complete screw down spike in case you have to reposition your spikes.) Once every spike has been screwed on, turn sweater right side out. Lay sweater flat on floor. Adjust spikes if need be. Once satisfied with spikes, using screw driver, completely screw spikes into place. Your sweater is now ready to be rocked!!
Last week I was doing my usual perusing on Pinterest when this gorgeous designer beanie popped up on my screen. It was a simple beanie but it was adorned in crystals creating a unique head ornament. I clicked on the link to the hat to possibly purchase the item. The item was not only sold out but I was a bit overpriced. I knew that could create something very similar for way less. The craft wheels in my head started turning and I went to work. I must say that I very impressed with my results.
My beanie cost me less than $30 as compared to the $155 designer beanie.
My finished beanie was very easy to create. I am keeping mine but you could easily make several for Christmas or Kwanzaa gifts. Here is how I did it:
Materials
1. Large beanie (large enough to fold over brim)
2. crystalized gems (I bought all of mine from Hobby Lobby)
3. Fabric glue (I used E6000, pictured above)
4. Wire Cutters, pictured
5. Tweezers
6. Needle and thread, match sure the color is as close to the hat as possible
Instructions
Try on hat to determine how wide you want your brim on your beanie. (Make sure that brim is at least wide enough to place your gems on. Remove hat. Use needle and thread and loosely sew brim into place, make sure you leave enough thread to allow hat to stretch around your head. Use wire cutters to remove any backing from your gems so they may lie flat against the hat. Place all your gems onto the brim in the approximate desired position. Once you are satisfied with the look of your hat, glue the gems in place. Once everything is glued down, place a large object onto top of your hat to secure gems. Allow glue to dry overnight. Once glue is complete dry, remove heavy object from hat. Take needle and thread and sew gems in place (optional). Put on your beanie and enjoy its fabulousness or give it away as a gift. Believe me, you wont want to because its way too fly!!
I love this time of the year when it’s super chilly outside and it’s warm, fuzzy and festive inside. Every chance that I can, I throw on one of my onesies and curl up with a big mug of apple cider, hot cocoa or eggnog. Although some people don’t enjoy the later, I have always been a fan of eggnog. Whether it’s cold or heated, this winter drink continues to warm my spirits. I may not be able to drink the original formula thanks to my being lactose intolerant, but thank goodness for milk alternatives. I appreciate that eggnog is also super versatile and can easily be placed into recipes.
A few winters past, I was on a super eggnog kick. I was incorporating eggnog into as many recipes as possible. From pancakes to pound cakes, I couldn’t get enough. It was during this same season I came up with the recipe for these Scrumptious Eggnog Bars. I brought these sweet treats to a Christmas kickback and they were definitely a hit. I had several people ask me for the recipe. These bars are a personal favorite of mine because the eggnog flavor is intensified with nutmeg and rum. Also the bars can easily be switched to adult-friendly bars by using spiked eggnog in the recipe.
These bars are very easy to make and a great recipe to make and decorate with kids. Check out the recipe and complete step by step video below.
Directions Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour or parchment paper 9x 13 pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the egg, eggnog, and rum (optional) and beat again.
Slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture until thoroughly incorporated and dough has come together. Press dough into a greased 9×13 pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool completely. While bars are baking, make the frosting.
Beat the butter until creamy. Add the rum, eggnog, and salt and beat again. Slowly add the powdered sugar until frosting is creamy and stiff. Spread evenly over the cooled bars.
Top with sprinkles and Cosmic Shimmers. Cut into 24 bars.
I find inspiration for baked goods in the oddest places. During last seasons South Park, one episode in particular caught my interest. All of the kids were different superheroes. There was one super hero whose super power was to shoot cereal out at villains. Although I found this super power useless it did sound quite delicious. His name was Mint Berry Crunch. As soon as I saw him, I knew what I wanted to do. I was going to make some delicious cupcakes out of this strange super hero’s power. This is the recipe I came up with, and I might say it is quite delicious!! MINT-BERRY CRUNCH!!
Makes 22- 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1 cup of butter
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups of crunch cereal (ground)
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of buttermilk
Frosting:
8 large eggs whites
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
3 cups (6 sticks) of butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp of mint extract
1 tbsp of peppermint schnapps
Berry crunch cereal for decoration
Green food coloring (optional)
Directions
Separate crunch and berries from approximately 5 cups of crunch cereal with the berries. Set berry cereal aside. Grind up crunch cereal into corn meal consistency.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a small bowl mix together flour, cereal, baking powder and salt, set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add eggs to creamed mixture one at time. Add vanilla. Next add flour mixture and buttermilk to mixture, alternating, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Place mixture into lined baking cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow to COMPLETELY cool.
For frosting: Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Add cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes. Add the butter, one tbsp at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Add mint extract and food coloring, beat just until combined. Using piping bag with tip of your choice, frost cupcakes. Once all cupcakes are frosted add crunch berries.
The season of fall definitely comes with a variety of sweet treats. Besides everything pumpkin spice and an array of apple confections, let’s not forget the abundance of candy that comes with Halloween. As an adult, I have thoroughly enjoyed buying all my favorite candies to pass out to the kiddies on October 31st. I always end up buying way too much candy in fear that I’ll run out in the midst of trick-or-treaters. Let me be honest, I don’t just buy the candy to pass out. I usually end up stuffing my face full of fun size candy bars and feeling guilty about it later.
This year I decided to try a different approach to my endless supply of chocolate. Instead of tearing through a bunch candy wrappers and calories, I thought I would find a different way to get rid of the temptation. I decided to turn that gluttony into inspiration for a new recipe.
Check out my latest recipe, Chocolate Hangover Cake. This delicious chocolatey recipe is full of yummy candy bar bits and rich cream cheese filling. The cake is then covered with a white chocolate glaze. The cake is then decorate with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Why Iota Sprinkle Mix and more candy bar bits. This cake is incredibly delectable and decadent. It’s a great way to use up all that let over candy and makes a great gift!
You can find the complete recipe and step by step video below.
Unwrap and roughly chop 12 oz (approximately 20 fun size) candy bars. Set aside.
Make filling. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and egg whites until smooth. Using a spatula fold in approximately 8oz. of candy bars. Place filling in the refrigerator. Set remaining candy bars aside for decorating.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour bundt pan.
In another medium sized bowl mix together granulated sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using either a stand or hand mixer, mix together eggs, yogurt, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and coffee until combined. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in thirds.
Once cake mixture is throughly combined slowly add boiling water.
Pour half of cake batter into bundt pan. Remove filling from refrigerator and add filling into middle of bundt pan using spatula. Cover filling with the remainder of the cake batter. Bake cake for 50-55 minutes on 350F until cake tester comes out clean. Allow cake to completely cool to room temperature.
While cake is baking make glaze. In a small bowl whisk together confectioners sugar and liqueur.
Once cake has completely cooled, invert cake onto plate. Cover cake with glaze. Cover glaze with sprinkle mix and remainder of candy bar pieces.
This Fall, elaborate and ornate sweatshirts are trending. Whether its bedazzled or there is huge embroidered kitty on the front, a sweatshirt can make your outfit. This type of clothing, that used to be reserved for a super casual relaxed looked has now been jazzed up so that it can now be considered a more dressy statement. These designer sweatshirts can costs hundreds of dollars. I refuse to pay that much for something you can easily make yourself and also make more GLAMOROUS!! I saw an inspirational pic. on Pinterest and I got to work. Here is what I did
Materials needed
1. Sweatshirt, I purchased mine from the mens section of Target for $7.49
2. Two yards of ribbon, width of your choice. (I would not go any small than a 3/4 inch)
3. 1/8 yard of silky fabric (Mine is a polyester blend)
4. Fabric glue
5. Fabric scissors
6. Hem iron on adhesive tape. I purchased mines from Joann Fabrics
7. Cloth/ fabric pen
8. Measuring tape
9. Iron
Instructions
Using your fabric scissors, cut off collar of sweatshirt. Turn sweatshirt inside out. Have back of sweatshirt facing you. Draw horizontal line from armpit to armpit. Measure center of line. Mark center of line. (this will be the apex of your back). Fold your sweatshirt length wise, making sure the center mark is visible and all the seams line up on each side of sweatshirt. Cut from Top arm seam to the apex mark. Unfold your shirt. (You should now have a low v-shaped cut in the back of your sweatshirt.) Clean up the edges, using your scissors, making sure the sides are as symmetrical as they can be. Set aside
Take your piece of fabric, hold it in half, the cut the ends at an approximate 45 degree angle. Unfold fabric. Fold and iron down a 1/4 inch hem around all the edges. Once hem is ironed, place adhesive tape under the hem line and iron tape in place.
Using your fabric pen and measuring tape, measure out 1.25 inch lines around the entire collar of your sweatshirt. (Make sure to leave about a 0.5 inch space between the collar and your mark). Once all your lines have been marked, cut lines the width of your ribbon on all the places you made marks around the collar. (Once again, make sure your cut lines do NOT intersect with the actual collar point). Once all lines have been cut, take your ribbon and basket weave it through your cut lines. Make sure the beginning and ending of your ribbon are at the apex of your back collar. Take your fabric glue and glue your ribbon in place. Trim off excess ribbon. Turn sweatshirt right side out. Take 3 inches of your excess ribbon and glue the ends together, (this will serve as the middle of your bow). Once ribbon has dried, slide ribbon piece over fabric and place it in the center of the fabric. Glue ribbon piece to the apex of back of the sweatshirt. Fold one side the fabric over, so it resembles a bow. Glue the side of fabric to the back of the sweatshirt. Repeat this on the other side of the piece of fabric. Now glue the hanging fabric pieces by the apex of the collar so that they are able to stay in place but are still free flowing. Allow sweatshirt and glue to dry over night.
You now have a FABULOUS, super trendy sweatshirt that it is super chic!!
Popcorn has always been one of my favorite snacks. As a kid, growing up my mom was known as the queen of popcorn to all my friends. When my friends would come over after school or on the weekends my mom always made a huge tub of fresh popcorn from her Stircrazy machine. Her popcorn was always perfectly seasoned and buttered. She still makes the best popcorn I’ve had to this day. I may not be the queen of popcorn, but I definitely come in second place. I now have my own Stircrazy machine and make my own savory, bougie popcorn covered in truffle oil and nutritional yeast.
For this season I decided to try my hands at some sweet, delicious caramel corn. I couldn’t just have ordinary caramel corn with my love for everything pumpkin spice. I thought this additional boost of flavor would make the caramel corn even better and was I right. This recipe of caramel corn is honestly some of the best popcorn I’ve tasted. Not only did I add pumpkin spice, but I also added some additional pizzazz with Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Sweet Potato Pie Sprinkle Mix. I also added some of my favorite fall candies like Reese’s Pieces and Sconza Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Caramels.
This recipe is simple to make and a great recipe to make with kids as well. If you’re not buying Halloween candy to pass out consider making this sweet treat, stay in and watch some scary movies. This popcorn is the best accompaniment to any movie night. Give this recipe a try, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.
Pop popcorn kernels using your style preference. ( I used my StirCrazy popper but stovetop works as well)
Preheat oven to 250-degrees F.
Add popped popcorn to a large bowl and set aside.
In a large saucepan, add butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir ingredients together on medium heat until butter has melted. Allow caramel to boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat.
Carefully stir in baking soda, salt, pumpkin spice and vanilla.
Pour mixture over popcorn and fold to coat and combine. Divide popcorn onto two large baking sheets and spread evenly into single layers on sheets. Bake at 250 F for 1 hour, rotating pan and mixing popcorn every 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and immediately add sprinkle mix. Allow mix to cool. Add additional candies and goodies.
Break apart. Serve right away or store in airtight containers.
Tis the season of costumes and characters. Since I will be working on Holy-ween this year, I decided to play dress up in another way. I took inspiration from my Minnie Mouse shirt and updated her look. Check it out
If you have been following me on social media you’ll know that a few months ago I got the great idea to hang some fabulous decorations over my stove. I became inspired after seeing a post of a super chic wreath hanging over someone’s stove during the holidays. I went to my local Michaels store during the summer and found this basic ice cream shaped wooden sign. As soon as I saw it I brainstormed the idea of covering the sign with paint and sprinkles. After finishing my project I was quite impressed with the results. The decor over my stove just added an extra element of pizzazz to my kitchen/ home decor.
Here we are in my favorite season and I am even more inspired to decorate for fall. I love all the colors, fabrics, flavors and smells that are associated with autumn. I went back to my neighborhood Michaels store to peruse the aisles for more craft inspiration. I found another simple wooden sign, this time pumpkin shaped and took it home. I knew that I wanted to experiment with a new color palette rather than my usual fall colors: red, orange and gold. I went back to Michaels yet again and found some fantastic fall ribbon. This ribbon was the perfect inspiring color palette. I gathered up the rest of my craft goodies and got to work. I finally finished my pumpkin sign and I absolutely love the results, so much I decided to share this DIY with you.
All items can be purchased from Michaels Stores. See my results, step by step video and instructions below.
Here we are finally in the month of October. Fall is moving full steam ahead and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. There are so many joys that come with autumn it’s hard to keep track. One of the wonderful things I love about this season is the array of yummy drinks that accompany it. There are of course pumpkin spice lattes, mulled wine, hot cocoa and most definitely apple cider. Honestly it’s a tough call between PSL and fresh apple cider, on who takes the cake for fall (pun intended). I can never get enough of both drinks during the season.
A few years ago I used pumpkin spice lattes as inspiration for a delicious cake recipe. This cake was as scrumptious as it sounds covered in butterscotch frosting. (Once I find the recipe in my archives I will post it to my blog.) I have also previously made plenty of apple cakes and concoctions, but never an apple cider based cake. I thought that this year would be the perfect opportunity to let cider shine in cake form. I busted out my favorite sparkling cider and brainstormed a winning cake recipe. Check out my recipe below for Sparkling Cider Cake. This cake is light and airy from the cider effervescence but full of flavor from all the spices of cider and apple butter. The cake is then covered in Kaleidoscope Sprinkles Sparkling Cider Sugar Crystals for the best autumn decorations for this cake. It is definitely the complete essence of fall in a baked good. You’ll surely want to save this recipe for now and later.
In a large sized bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment cream together butter, oil, sugars until light, fluffy and double in size (approximately 10 minutes. ) Add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Add apple butter Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Add apple cider. Combine last of the flour mixture. Mix well until all ingredients are incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350F for approximately 55-60 minutes (Bake until tester comes out clean). Let cake cool on wire rack until at room temperature. While cake is baking make the glaze.
For Glaze: Whisk together apple cider and confectioners sugar. Whisk until glaze is smooth, about one minute. Pour glaze onto cooled cake.
Fall is here and its absolutely the best time of year! Now I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the long summer days and nights, but nothing compares to an autumn day. There is something about this season and time of year that just makes my smile a little wider. I’m not sure if its the cool nights leading into crisp, comforting days. It might be the color change of leaves, pumpkin spice everything, all the fabulous apple and squash recipes, sweater weather, fall fashion or the culmination of everything, but I can never get enough.
As a child my autumn wasn’t complete without a visit to Apple Hill. A day spent at the apple orchards was heavenly accompanied with fresh cider and doughnuts. I loved picking all the fresh apples and then as a family coming home to make pies or other original recipes. With all the apples that were brought home from Apple Hill high levels of creativity and consumption also became a fall tradition.
Between all the warm spices and bountiful harvest, fall evenings just make me want to rush home to turn my oven on. Not only are the evenings the perfect weather to warm up the house, but I also love filling up my home with all the smells of the season.
This year after reminiscing over my previous autumn memories in the kitchen, I decided this year needed a special memory of its own. I haven’t had the opportunity to make my way to apple picking yet, but I wanted to create the ultimate fall r
