Recent Baking Endeavors...The Calm Before the Storm.

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered my baking services for a couple of special occasions. I was getting together with some college friends one night, and the next night was a Tepe birthday celebration. There were a couple of recipes I had been wanting to try and these opportunities presented themselves. (Little did I know that this very weekend would be the calm before the storm.)

I receive weekly emails from Pillsbury which include everything from recipes to coupons. A recent email included the recipe for Grand's Little Pies. They looked simple enough so I decided to give them a try. (My friend Alecia referred to these as "Barbie Cups.") They are simply biscuit dough placed inside a muffin tin, filled with a fruit filling, and topped with a pecan crumble.  I chose to fill mine with an apple filling; they were a big hit with my college buddies.

These little pies were quick and simple, and very tasty too. Would be great with ice cream!

My second baking endeavor came after I found a recipe for homemade Funfetti cake. I follow a few baking blogs and Sprinkle Bakes is one of my favorites. She posted a recipe for the cake several weeks ago and I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to give it a try. My father- and sister-in-law were both having October birthdays and the family was getting together to have a dual celebration. And after finding out that Jess had a personal love of Funfetti, I knew that this cake was destined for the occasion.

The recipe was a simple white cake with lots of colorful sprinkles added right to the batter! These sprinkles are made to add to ice cream and worked perfectly in the cake.

See all those wonderful sprinkles??!!

I made the mistake of skipping the step where I was supposed to line my baking pans with parchment paper. Did I learn my lesson? I think so.

I was left with one cake that was salvageable, and one pile of cake pieces. So instead of a beautiful two layer cake, I had to settle for one and hope it would be enough to feed everyone. But those scraps were happily eaten by Dan and I throughout the next several days.

The final product turned out well, complete with homemade buttercream frosting and more sprinkles on top. It was a perfect birthday cake.

The very day that I spent baking, having a relaxing time in the kitchen, was the day that I received the call from a principal offering me a job teaching 6th grade math! So I now refer to this weekend as the calm before the storm. It was my last weekend before starting a full-time teaching job, which I knew would change my life dramatically. I was terribly excited and nervous at the same time, but knew that I was up for the challenge!