Halloweeney Cakey Goodness

I love this time of year.  I hate the weather, the shorter days, and the constant rain.  But I LOVE the holidays.  They are the perfect excuse to try new recipes and bake something good.

Since Halloween falls on a Monday this year, we are having some office fun tomorrow.  So I got started early this morning to create some fun goodies.  First up - Pumpkin Spice Vampire Bites.

Next I needed to make chocolate chocolate chip spider cakes, to showcase my super cute spider leg cupcake holders from Crate and Barrel.

And last but not least, my lemon Mummy cake.

Happy Halloween Ya'll! :)

Fuzzy Buzzy Limoncello

A couple months back I posted about some of my boozy infusions...Blueberry Vodka.  Cherry Bounce.  Raspberry Liqueur.  A couple are still doing their boozy thing, holding tight for holiday time, when they should come right into prime time.

But after two months of infusing, my Honey Limoncello was ready to shine.

I strained the lemons out, and ran it thru cheesecloth.  Gorgeous.  Then I placed the lemons and water in a pan over medium heat and mashed the hell out of them, extracting more pulp and lemony goodness, and strained the liquid into the liqueur.

Next I added a simple syrup made with honey, and poured into the cutest flask jars.

Now, full disclosure on how I achieved this deliciousness.  There are many recipes out there for limoncello.  Past experience has produced an overly sweet liqueur, too over-powering to consume.  Just not good.  I am happy to report this process was a happy mistake.  When mixing everything together, I had forgotten that I doubled the recipe when infusing the lemons, and only made a single batch of the honey simple syrup (roughly 1 cup honey simmered in 1 cup water).  The result was delightful, and those who have tried it concurred, so I think I have a winner.  This produced a dozen flasks, which are stored in the fridge for gift-giving time.  Assuming it lasts that long. :)

Punkin Jars!

Every so often, you need to get your hands dirty and create something.  I don't feel like I've had much opportunity for that lately.  But in the interest of the upcoming Halloween, I needed to make some decorations.  Naturally my eye fell on some empty mason and pickle jars...and then my orange craft paint.

A black sharpie for some faces...

And some battery operated tea lights...

 Instant punkins!! :)

Kona Bliss...a Swing and a Miss!

The past few weeks have been a crazy hectic mess around here, with two injured dogs, and out of town work trips.  Work took me back to Hawaii this week, and though I didn't get much free time, the sun, sand and scenery inspired me to get back into the kitchen and try to create a taste of that warmth.

My favorite part of going to Hawaii - apart from the sun - is the coffee.  I absolutely LOVE Kona coffee.  So I dreamt up these little gems.  Mocha cupcakes with macadamia nuts and coconut, topped with a mocha frosting and toasted coconut.

These were a total dream, so I kind of "winged it".  I started with some high-quality dark chocolate and butter, melted together.

I whipped together the eggs and sugar, then folded in the flour and cocoa.

Before folding in the melted chocolate and butter, I add a little instant coffee, to incorporate that coffee flavor.  (Side note: I LOVE these Via packets!  I travel quite a bit for work, and these little gems have saved me from bad truck-stop-style coffee on more than a few occasions.)  I then added some coconut and macadamia nuts.

I opted for a denser type cake base, to support the macadamia nuts and coconut. As they cooled, I whipped together a mocha buttercream.

The flavor on these is unbelievable.  I'm really happy with the flavor combo, but I still give these a B-.  In retrospect I would have gone with a lighter cake base and chopped the macadamia nuts even smaller.  But I would certainly make these again, adjusting as noted!