Piggies, Pandas & Patriotic Pops Oh My!

A childhood friend asked if I'd make some cake pops for her family reunion!  Her older brother got back from his overseas deployment so the whole family was getting together to celebrate his safe return.  Such a sweet family!  

I shipped two dozen pops to North Carolina and they made it!  (I had done a pre-trial with her a week earlier to Colorado.)

One dozen red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

And one dozen double chocolate.

 All boxed up and tied with a pretty ribbon!  

Welcome home Dan!

My first Wedding Cake!

    I had the honor of making a wedding and grooms cake for Jodi and Andrew, an amazing couple who tied the knot this past Saturday!  Andrew was stationed on the USCG cutter Juniper with Beau back in Newport a couple years ago and now he's in flight school too!  And Jodi is a sweetheart from Pensacola.  They are so in love it's adorable  :)


  This wedding was also super special to me because it was my first wedding cake I've ever done!  And it went so smoothly and although I guess I'm biased, it looked so pretty!

three layer white wedding cake filled with strawberry, chocolate, and strawberry filling and covered in marshmallow fondant

full sheet cake made with yellow cake and vanilla buttercream

love sparkly luster dusts

I'm still nowhere near perfect at smoothing buttercream, but this is my best attempt yet

gold aviator wings made out of fondant and brushed with 24karat luster dust

cutting of the cake

Beau said I had to prove I made the cake so we took a pic of me with it!

Us all fancied up.  I loooove the white uniform.  Yum!

Something Swanky Sweet Treats Thursday

Valentine's Cookie Pie

Warm, chocolately cookie pie.  And it's healthy?

Um, yes please!

I recently discovered a blog called Chocolate Covered Katie which is amazing!  She makes the most scrumptious desserts using healthy ingredients such as stevia, nuts, and chick peas.  Seriously, you have to check it out.  Low sugar, low fat, and added nutrition means I can have more dessert.  Right?  Right!

Anyways, this cookie pie here is a version of the Tollhouse Cookie Pie, but a lot healthier and flour free (yippee!)  I pretty much followed her recipe to a T except I don't have a food processor so I used my electric hand mixer.  It was the perfect Valentine's treat to surprise my hubby with after his long day of flying.

Here is the link to the exact recipe: "Deep Dish Cookie Pie".

this was my version...

     2 cans garbanzo beans (drained)

     1 cup sugar (or brown sugar)

     3 TB vegetable oil

     1 egg

     1 cup quick oats

     1/2 tsp baking soda

     2 tsp baking powder

     2 tsp vanilla

     1/2 tsp salt

     1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1)   Preheat oven to 350 F.

2)   Blend all ingredients except for chocolate chips as smooth as possible (this is where a food processor would come in handy!)

3)   Stir in chocolate chips then press mixture into greased 10 inch spring-form pan.

4)   Bake for about 40 minutes!

So simple and so yummy.  And doesn't taste beany at all.  I pinky promise you because I hate bean flours and beany baked goods!

FYI:  I just bought six more cans of garbanzo beans today in anticipation of making more cookie pies hehe  :)

I also wanted to share what my sweet hubby did for Valentine's Day.  First off he surprised me with roses.  

*swoon*

Have I told you about the last time he gave me flowers?!  

Well, I can't quite remember when... ha ha.

Well anyways, he and two other flight hubbys teamed up and sent us wives on a scavenger hunt.  At each location we had to walk in with a rose and get our cute little goodie bags waiting for us.  Each bag had sweet love cards from our guys! We had such a wonderful girl time together talking about where we're moving, family life, and of course how sweet our guys are!  Love my friends!  And our wonderful hubbys!

Happy very belated Valentine's Day!  xoxo

Something Swanky Sweet Treats Thursday