Cookies - a decorating journey...

I began decorating cookies with my paternal Grandma when I was very young.  I still can remember the wonderful smell of the sugar cookies baking in Grandma's oven during the Christmas Holiday.   I always spent a few days with my Grandma before Christmas and I looked forward to these fun and few days - every year.

We'd bake dozens of Christmas themed sugar cookies and slather them with frosting.  I got to put on all of the sprinkles and decorate them any way I wanted. I remember having frosting all over my hands and clothing.  I remember we sat for HOURS decorating cookies and talking.   Sadly, I don't remember what it was we talked about, but I do remember how much fun it was to be with her.

Grandma never corrected me or showed me how to decorate.  She loved me and what I did and that was that.   In hind site, I think that my Grandma gave me the license to "just do what comes naturally".   This developed my love for cooking and being creative with what I cook.

I  miss the days of decorating cookies with my Grandma.   Maybe that is why I love decorating cookies so much now.   How can you have a bad day when cookies are in the oven?  I LOVE filling my kitchen with those wonderful sugar cookie smells.  

Even the mess it left her kitchen is now my mess.  Funny, Grandma never made me clean up any of those messes I made as a child, but, I guess that is what Grandma's do! 

Making cookies is like having a little bit of my Grandma with me.  I know she'd be so happy to see how much

I have learned and how much of her "drive" I have in me.   I bet Grandma is saying at the end of a cookie making day "Okay sweetie, now it's your turn to clean up the kitchen". 

The butterfly cookies are one of the first cookies I tried to decorate.. These were done about February of 2010.  The cookies above were done at Easter in 2011.  

The graduation cookies are the most recent.

June 6, 2011 - Pink Champagne Cake

I remember as a young girl, always getting a Pink Champagne cake for my birthday.  My birthday happens to be on New Years Eve and quite possible one of the worst days of the year to have a birthday!

My Mom always picked out the cake and SHE loved the Pink Champagne cake (Which was also always decorated more like a New Years celebration than a birthday cake).  I kind of resented the fact that my cake didn't look very "birthday-ish".

Luckily, over the years I grew out of my birthday cake funk and appreciated this amazing cake.   Who couldn't LOVE a cake with white chocolate shavings, Bavarian Cream and the dense pound cake and layers of butter cream frosting?

I've spent several months trying to perfect this cake and was quite surprised to determine, there is NO champagne in this cake whatsoever!  I believe the original creators of this particular cake, named it "Pink Champagne" simply because of it's color and design.

First, on my trip to Napa's Buttercream Bakery - I bought ONE single slice of this amazing cake.   This single slice is what I slowly ate to figure out the ingredients.   It took me 3 days to eat the single slice, and I thought I had the ingredients.  But no luck.  I was close.... But something was missing - the key ingredient.   I didn't believe it was Champagne!

After seeking the help of a wise friend (Who used to work at Buttercream) I got my final and secret ingredient.  Viola!  Now I have the recipe for my very own~!   Now, with Pink Champagne Cake recipe in my signature recipe card file I plan to enter this amazing cake in the local fair this year!

Even more wonderful - I can make this cake for my birthday each year.. and decorate it LIKE A BIRTHDAY cake --- and I won't have to drive 10 hours to Napa to get one!