Retiring to the Beach

This cake was for a gentleman getting ready to retire and move to Florida, so his office asked me to make a cake for his farewell. It is a Darn Good Chocolate Cake with mocha icing covered in white chocolate marshmallow fondant. The sand is ice cream cones, Cherrios, Fibre 1, and brown sugar. (Normallt I just use graham crackers...there were none to be found in my pantry.) I painted the fondant with tinted piping gel for the water.

Some detail of the tree. Now, these were time consuming. Hours and hours of work. I covered a pillar with chocolate fondant and then cut individual pieces to make the bark. The leaves weren't so bad. After they had dried for a week, I glued wire onto them with royal icing. I then stuck the wires into the pillars. Voila! A palm tree. I wish I could take credit for their design, but I can't. It is from a cake on the Wilton site.

The detail of the people...I am by no means a sculptor and it has been awhile since I've actually made something out of clay, or play clay for that matter. But I don't think they turned out half-bad. I couldn't make them too tan...they are moving from the north.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

A friend had given me this recipe a couple years ago and, I'm sorry to say, I'm just now getting around to trying it. It smelled delicious. I've tweaked the baking temperature because the outer edges were much too done before the middle was barely set. I'd also recommend baking it with a flower nail in the center for the same reason. It was okay. I took it to a playgroup and it was a total hit with the kids.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
(Original recipe from Taste of Home)

3 c all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 c sugar
2 c canned pumpkin
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease two loaf pans. (I suggest greasing a flower nail and placing it in the center of each pan as well.) Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, suar, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.
Makes 2 loaves.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

Lots of evenings my husband snacks on the Reese's Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Baking Morsels. So last night at supper, he casually mentioned that wouldn't some cookies with those in them be good? Of course! (I've made them before, he just didn't remember...) There is a recipe on the package, but I thought that adding the morsels to a peanut butter cookie would be even better. This is what I came up with:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies
1/4 c softened butter
1/4 c shortening
1/2 c peanut butter (I really prefer to use Jif)
1 scant cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 pkg Reese's PB cup baking chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream the butter, shortening and peanut butter until smooth. Add in sugar and beat until fluffy. Add in vanilla and egg. Mix well. Add salt, baking powder and flour mixing until well combined. Add in the Reese's and mix by hand. (Mixing with the mixer breaks up the pieces. Of course, if you would like your pieces broken up, that could be really good, too, then by all means - mix with the mixer!) Roll into 1" balls (I use the Pampered Chef medium scoop) and place on your baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just golden brown on top. Let rest for 2 minutes on sheet before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

I can't give my own review...trying to lose that baby weight!...but Cyle said they were delicious.

Welcome to Baking at Huckleberries!

Welcome to my baking blog! I'm a stay-at-home-mom that loves to bake. Huckleberries is my kitchen. It's only right that it should be given a name as it's where I spend most of my days. This way, though I'm not leaving the house, I can say, "I'm going to Huckleberries!" and voila! I've stepped into a different place. Huckleberries is where I go to relax, to create, to spend time with and teach my children. It is a large, spacious kitchen that is terribly inefficient and has too little counter space, but it does have a nice large window that I can look out while I do dishes and lots of floor space for my little ones to play. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in cooking!