Adventures in Baking

One of my passions is cake and cupcake decorating. I love looking in magazines at the different decorating ideas. This Christmas Mike bought me my own set of tips and bags.

Of course I had to test it out right away and made a chocolate layer cake with a cheesecake center for our family bake-off. I was pretty proud of my first attempt at a flower.

These are Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cupcakes. The frosting is AMAZING! It is now my go to cream cheese frosting and it is so simple/low fat as all of Paula's recipies are. ;)
2 packages (8oz.) cream cheese softened
2 sticks butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
~whip the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and combine.

This is the second attempt at my coconut cake. The first attempt fell apart and we had cake cumbs instead. I bought the tropical pack from Bountiful Baskets and it had a coconut in it so I wanted to make a cake with it. As it turns out I didn't even have a piece but Mike and my other family loved it! My niece even helped me make and decorate it!