ooooooooooooooooh no.

oh no its been 2 weeks since i've blogged.  this should not be this hard.

SO.  update on my very exciting life.  piper turned 11 months old this week and FINALLY figured out how to crawl yesterday!  this was quite the event.  she would have gotten more crawling in if she didn't have to stop and sit so that she could clap every time we said "yay!", which was often.  the thing that finally made her crawl was the giant corduroy book i was reading her from across the room...she crawled to it and gave corduroy a kiss!  oh man.  is she amazing or what?

i got my business cards!!  they are way cute and i want to give them to every person i see...which i pretty much have.  a few people even asked if i had business cards...and i said...AS A MATTER OF FACT, I DO!  pretty soon i'll start leaving them with random boys at bars...helloooo...i am single AND i bake things.  here's my card.  smooth.  k, maybe not.

as some of you may know, sunday is valentines day...so people have been ordering things and i have been baking them!  the shortbread was the number one seller.....everyone loved them.  i shipped some things, and discovered that the lavender cookies are too fragile to ship....but still taste good as crumbs.  my mom group at my church ordered the red velvet cupcakes for our valentines meeting on wednesday morning...they looked great and tasted even better, if i do say so myself!  people raved and asked for business cards, and i even got 2 orders for birthday cakes from it!  gosh i would love to only bake and work on my PiperBellies all the time.  someday, someday.

i have been trying to work out after work in the afternoon while my mom is watching piper because i am fat from all this baking.  luckily there's a cute boy that works there who is pretty much the only reason that i go.  well, him and my love handles.

cake decorating class is way fun.  made a VERY chocolate cake last week with roses all over it.  it was kind of pretty, but kind of messy.  no pictures because i'm embarrassed...but it was DELISH.

i can't think of anything else exciting that has happened....not that all of these things are particularly exciting...but, ya know.  such is life.

i will be posting again SOON.  if i don't...call me and yell at me.  tell me to go to the gym, while you're at it.

brownie fail...again.

it seems that i have an enemy in making brownies.  first, it took me like a million tries to find a brownie recipe that i liked, and THEN i burn a batch of brownie cupcakes...gosh.  amateur move.  i just set the timer for the wrong time.  TWICE.  what was going on while i was doing this??  oh well.  now, as i wait for my second batch of brownies, which will not be burnt to come out of the oven...i have time to blog about a cake that i made for an order today.

it was a chocolate cake (my gramma's recipe....its perfect.), with chocolate ganache frosting...which is just chocolate ganache cooled and then whipped into oblivion until it become a fluffy, rich, chocolaty beauty.  THEN i made a simple chocolate buttercream.  THEN i sandwiched a layer of mini chocolate chips between a layer of chocolate buttercream and a layer of chocoalte ganache BETWEEN the 2 cakes 8 inch rounds.  THEN i covered the outside of that with the ganache frosting and kind of smoothed it and THEN  topped that with dollops of chocolate buttercream topped with those mini chocolate chips, and gave it a hem of the chocolate chips too.  oh man, did it look good!  it was the first cake i had made with some of my new cake decorating knowledge outside of class.  anywho.  now that i've probably bored most of you to death with a description of a CAKE....here's a few picture.  I HOPE THEY LOVED IT!!!

also....

i ordered business cards today.  woot!

extra cream cheese frosting is a gift from heaven.

SO i had some extra cream cheese frosting...and by some i mean A TON.  apparently i did some math drastically wrong.  i know...me?  do math wrong?  almost unbelievable.  anyways...so i decided that i needed to make something with them so i stopped eating spoonfulls of it when i remembered it was there.  solution?  carrot cake cupcakes.  martha stewart recipe...altered to my liking...and they were DELISH. coconut and craisins IN the cupcake...no walnuts...and toasted coconut on top of the cream cheese frosting.  yumm-o.  brought them to my friend tiffany's for a snack / after feast dessert, and THEN i ate another one to celebrate LOST with tracy.  so i ate 2 cupcakes in one day.  plus some cream cheese frosting.  totally worth it.  i took these pictures really quickly with a baby at my ankles, so ....ya know.

i'm back...and i brought cake!

helloo!  sorry for the sort of longish absence.  i could blame it on the fact that i live in the woods and haven't had internet for the past few days....but really its only been 2 days, and the real reason is that i kind of just slacked.  apparently its really hard for me to stay awake past 10 lately.  apparently not sleeping for the last year catches up to you...eventually.  and hard.

anywho.  i've been getting some valentine's day orders, thanks to you guys, which is VERY exciting for me!  i have so much fun making things for you, because i just know that you will enjoy eating them as much as i loved making them :)  "from my heart to your belly."  i think that should be my slogan.  what do you think?

anywho....i had my second cake decorating class today!  oh man, am i learning a lot already.  its going to be fabulous.  these are some pictures of my first cake in class!  its a white cake with Italian meringue buttercream frosting and apricot preserves.  its tasty, though i am not a HUGE fan of the frosting...it is very rich and tastes like butter.  which now that i type it, sounds DELICIOUS.  but...eh.  sure looks super pretty though, and is really great to work with...very smooth...see?

 

sorry about the lazy photography...these are my, "i get home from class at 10:30 and am sleepy..." pictures.

all together now....

PiperBellies

Valentine's Day Menu

"You Had Me at Cream Cheese Frosting..." Cupcakes

Red velvet...the perfect Valentine's Day cake.  Festively red, very lovable, and a little chocolaty.  Traditionally crowned with cream cheese frosting, and not so traditionally FILLED with the very same stuff.  Indulgently delicious.  Topped with paper conversation hearts...just in case your Valentine's date is lacking in conversation.

$2.50 per cupcake - $25 per dozen - $48 for two dozen

Very Very Extra-ordinary Shortbread

A beautiful array of both classic and chocolate shortbread, hand dipped in milk chocolate and white chocolate.  Each cookie is uniquely decorated.  No two cookies are alike!  Custom decorating orders are available if you would like your sweethearts name written in chocolate...who wouldn't want that?

$15 per dozen - $27 for two dozen - plus $5 for custom writing

Brownie Cupcakes of Love

Brownie cupcakes with a fluffy and festive pink frosting and topped with a little brownie heart.  Perfect for your kid's and their school parties filled with little valentines for all, or for your romantic evening with your sweetheart, or for yourself on the couch with a chick flick.

$2 per cupcake - $22 per dozen - $40 for two dozen

Lavender Heart Cookies

These are a sophisticated, light, and crisp sugar cookie, appropriately cut out in the shape of a heart.  They are subtly sweet and slightly savory.  The little lavender flowers give these cookies a unique and truly lovely flavor that are sure to make this Valentine's Day one to remember, just in case your significant other doesn't come through.

$12 per dozen - $22 for two dozen

Roses are Red, Muffins are Banana and Blue

Surprise your sweetheart with breakfast in bed, or treat the family or office to a special Valentine's breakfast with these delicious banana bleuberry crumble muffins.  Everybody's favorite muffin flavors combines into one crowd pleasing muffin!  These are very moist, sweet, but not too sweet, and can be made vegan upon request.

$13 for one dozen regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins

$24 for two dozen regular sized muffins or 12 jumbo muffins

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To order, email Courtney at piperlove@ymail.com, or call (603) 998-0439.  

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valentines day menu item #5

Roses Are Red, Muffins are Banana & Blue

surprise your sweetheart with breakfast in bed, or treat the family or office to a special valentines breakfast with these delicious banana blueberry crumble muffins.  everybody's favorite muffin flavors combined into one crowd pleasing muffin!  these are very moist, sweet, but not too sweet, and can be made vegan upon request.

$13 for one dozen regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins 

$24 for two dozen regular sized muffins or 12 jumbo muffins