Bakeover with Danger Kitten

Cheese Crackers
Originally uploaded by Cup O'Cake Designs

Life has been hectic for me this summer, I know I've mentioned that before. I've been very careful to leave time for baking because if I go too long without it, I start to feel like I'll never pick it back up again.

About a week ago, my husband made plans to attend a Beer Festival with Danger Kitten's husband, Brewfus. Danger Kitten & I had zero desire to attend said festival, but I thought a bakeover would be a great idea. I'd been wanting to get together with her for a while now that she's moved back to the state, but hadn't had the opportunity.

While the boys went off to taste who knows how many Belgian Ales, we baked our little hearts out. And it was fantastic.

I made Cheese Crackers, two ways. First I made them as called for in the recipe- with two cups of Cheddar Cheese. However, I love a little spice to my cheese, so for my second batch I used a Chipotle Cheese.

In the future, I think I'll roll the dough much thinner, because I prefer a crispy cracker. These were delicious, but a little soft for my tastes. The Chipotle crackers were addictive, and the Cheddar crackers were quite yummy as well.

Danger Kitten baked Black Bottom Cupcakes and Raspberry Lemon Thumbprints. I didn't have a chance to eat either fresh out of the oven- but they were both delicious. I had a hard time keeping myself from eating too much of the cookie dough. The addition of lemon (juice & zest) made them the perfect summer afternoon treat.

We also had our friend Linda along. She baked some wonderful peanut butter chocolate brownies. Mmm.

I had so much fun doing this, that I'm hoping we can make it a monthly event.

Looking to get out of a baking rut? Looking for an excuse to try out a recipe you keep putting off? Find some friends and host a bakeover. I promise you'll have fun.

You can see more pictures (mostly "in progress" shots) at my flickr.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

(click image to enlarge)

My husband had a beer bottling party a few weeks back (he brews and bottles his own beer). Everyone brought a different kind of beer to share. I figured it would be a good idea to have something more substantial than chips and dip for food. So, cupcakes it was!

I chose the Pink Lemonade cupcake because Pink Lemonade is one of my all time favorite drinks, especially in the summer. It's crisp and fresh, with just the right amount of sour taste.

I got the recipe online at the Foodie Bride blog. I ultimately cut the lemonade concentrate down (per the recipe) as I would rather have them less tart than overly tart. I think that was a wise choice and they came out perfectly. They were moist and had a great fresh taste- perfect for summer. I added a little bit of red food coloring to the dough to ensure that the cake would come out pink.

The Lemon buttercream was better than I could have imagned. I was worried that the lemon flavor would be strange in a buttercream, but I shouldn't have. It was great, and the perfect compliment to the cake. I added yellow food coloring because I thought the yellow frosting went well with the pink cake. I topped them off with pink sugar sprinkles.

If you like lemonade- these are the perfect cupcakes for you. I imagine they can also be made with limeade concentrate, which sounds delish.