Treats

First up - the MSC club cupcake of the month...S'mores cupcakes. They sounded so good and the picture looked terrific. However, I didn't love them, but some of that is my own fault. James and the kids loved them. I thought the cupcake itself was a little bit muffiny again. Obviously, it's supposed to taste like a graham cracker, but I thought it was a bit too dry and not sweet enough. BUT - to be honest I did OVERCOOK them a bit (read: black bottoms that had to be removed).

The toppings on the other hand were delicious. First you put on a coating of chocolate ganache. Need I say more? Then you are supposed to make a marshmallow topping from scratch that you then would pipe onto the cupcake in a big, huge, pile of yumminess.

However, I forgot until I was mid-making that I didn't have a candy thermometer anymore. I was still going to press on with the manual "Soft Ball Stage" crap until I read further and saw that you have to beat the topping for 10 minutes. This caused me to stop in my tracks because my KitchenAid was in the small appliance hospital. I didn't really want to stand there with my handheld mixer for an undefined length of time. So, instead, I opened up a leftover jar of marshmallow fluff and plonked it on top. And I was done.

But, while I was baking anyway, and since it was both James' bday and Valentines day this weekend, I made these:

James birthday cake - a spice cake - awaiting a cream cheese icing.



Heart Shaped Individual Pear and Blackberry Pies



A Chocolate Ganache Tart - shaped as a heart. The pink and purple white chocolate drizzle kind of melted everywhere. oh well.