Mint Brownies

Birthdays are synonymous with cake, but I think I’ve overdone it on cake recently, as noted by the last two posts about cakes. So when we had another birthday in the office, I knew I had to come up with something different to bake. I LOVE brownies and believe that my Mom’s fudge brownies are the best in the world. I think I’ve mentioned them before they are the infamous “Breakfast Brownies” that some of my SMC Gaels know very well. If you know me or read this blog at all, you know that I also love chocolate and mint together. Bringing those two loves together, I have come up with this recipe.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This delicious carrot cake was made for my principal’s 50^th birthday. Yup, I had the privilege of baking the cake for a very important person’s milestone birthday. Talk about pressure! As per usual, I discovered the recipe on Brown Eyed Baker around Thanksgiving. Her cake fell apart and she made it into a trifle, which impressed me beyond belief. Prior to that, Erin made a carrot cake for Dan (my brother-in-law) back in October, but she said she wasn’t impressed with the recipe. So, when I offered to bake this birthday cake, I knew it had to be perfect. If successful, this would be a recipe I would use for a long time to come.

German Chocolate Cake

My first German Chocolate Cake!

Back in September, I made my first German Chocolate Cake. It was the second cake I’d ever made from scratch and it was a serious process. At the time, I didn’t have this baking blog, but I did post pictures of my “Baking Adventures” on Facebook. Actually, posting all of those pictures prompted the creation of this blog/website. Anyway, I made my first German Chocolate Cake since my cousin Shannon loves it and it was right around her birthday. But this cake joins the blog today because I made it for my friend Chanel’s birthday at the beginning of February. It’s a great birthday cake because there is so much time and love that goes into making it. :) Okay, that’s cheesy, but it really is true!

Peanut Butter Cup Bars

Peanut Butter Cup Bars

This blog is long overdue, but it’s such a delicious recipe that it is worth the wait. I’ve had writer’s block for a few weeks. Okay, it could also just be exhaustion and lack of desire to sit in front of a computer any longer.

As most of you probably know, I started working full time as a middle school counselor on January 31^st. Hooray for me! I absolutely love my job and all of the people I have the privilege of working with. The downside to my amazing job is that it became available to me because the head counselor at this school moved to LA with her husband. Now this woman, S, is an incredible counselor. In the days and weeks I got to work with her prior to her departure, I was awestruck. S has this way of making everyone feel valued and important, and she never loses sight of the “big picture.” I really learned a lot from her and was just as sad as anyone else at the school to see her go. So it has been a very bittersweet transition into this new job.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Allow me to introduce my sous chefs: Miss Molly and Miss Caitlin. :)

Warning: this is probably going to be the most adorable post ever.

Back in January, we had a joint birthday and going away party for my cousins Molly and Caitlin and my uncle Sean. Molly just turned 5, Caitlin will be 7 soon, and Sean is heading out on deployment soon. Naturally, I volunteered to make the cake for the occasion. I babysat the girls on Saturday night and got their help to make this extra special cake.