Celebrate Spring with Baskin-Robbins

Finally the weather is warming up and we think an ice cream cake is a perfect way to welcome the warm weather. This spring Baskin-Robbins Canada launches three new flavours - Breakfast in Bed, Ube Coconut Swirl, and Non-Dairy Mint Chocochunk. We tried their Tall Stack Cake with the Breakfast in Bed flavour. 

Afternoon Cake

This delicious Afternoon Cake recipe from Small Victories cookbook by Julia Turshen is easy to make and tastes fabulous on it own or with a cup of tea or coffee. The author has plenty of recipes perfect for home cooking, and suggests variations within the recipes.

My Son's BB8 #StarWars Birthday Cake

I made this Star Wars BB-8 inspired birthday cake for my son's 7th birthday. We named it BB7! We are excited about the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie coming to theatres next week. 

Our Summer Ice Cream Bar

This Ice Cream Bar my family and I enjoyed is a sponsored post for #CollectiveBias using ingredients I purchased at Walmart. In my family ice cream is associated with warm sunny days! Although, we enjoy licking our ice cream on a cone we always lean more towards having ice cream with other desserts. Every time I make our favourite pineapple upside down cake, apple pie, fruit salad, or a milk drink with rose syrup known as Falooda, a tub of ice cream disappears in no time at all.

Cassava Cake

We enjoyed this flavourful, textured cassava cake that is sticky and slightly chewy. 

1 cup coconut milk (1/2 can or 200ml)

1 cup condensed milk to taste (1/2 can or 200ml)

1 lb package of frozen cassava 

1 egg

pinch of salt

Feel The Tropics As You Enjoy Baking and Eating This Aloha Bread

April showers are ending and May-flowers are blooming, which excites my family and I, as we have been waiting for the weather to get warmer and soak up some sunshine and enjoy the warm outdoors. Many of you like us are probably waiting for the upcoming celebrations, the long weekend and the school holidays for the summer, which will be here before we know it :) Since I am missing the warmth of the sunshine with the cold rain and wind we are having these days, I decided my family and I need to taste something tropical to lift our moods up. 

Win a copy of Big Book of Kids' Birthday Cakes

It doesn't matter how old we get, our birthdays remain to be a special day. For a child celebrating their birthday with a beautifully structured cake with something they like on it such as dinosaurs or castles will make their day even more special. Although my family and I don't do big birthday celebrations, each year for my children's birthday I enjoy making a cake with their favourite character or liking that tends to change each year. 

Warm French Molten Chocolate Cake With Whipped Cream

February is a month where love is celebrated, and many of us are looking for delicious recipes that we can make to impress our loved ones. I think topping our desserts, special breakfasts and beverages with whipped cream makes it extra special. My family and I enjoy whipped cream and use it a lot during the cold months over warm desserts and hot beverages like hot chocolate.

My Pirate Found Treasure Island By Sailing On His Pirate ship

For my son's birthday, I made a Pirate ship and an Island. For the base of the pirate ship, I used the recipe from here and decorated the cake with buttercream icing and whipped frosting.

Tasty DK Books

I really enjoy DK cookbooks because they have step-by-step instructions that benefits all those who enjoy baking or cooking. Whether we are planning a menu for a multi-course party, or thinking of making a quick tasty meal the Tasty DK Boutique has us covered with a variety of books, take advantage of their limited time 30% off sale. 

Dinosaur park 4th birthday cake

I made this cake to celebrate our dinosaur fan's birthday as he turns 4 today.

To make this cake I used...
1 box of vanilla cake made in a 9"x13" pan
1 box of chocolate cake made in a 9"x13" pan
1 container of frosting
Wilton ready to use rolled fondant
Blue, Green and Brown Wilton gel colours
Wilton buttercream icing*

I covered the cake with the rolled fondant by kneading the fondant with blue food colouring to get a marble texture I didn't knead too much. 

*Wilton buttercream icing
2 cups icing sugar sifted
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp butter flavour
2 tbsp cream

Beat the shortening and butter then add the icing sugar, butter flavour and cream to make a medium consistency icing.

To make the leaves, grass, and branches I used the Wilton tips 16, 233, 352 and 366. 

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Cheesecake made with yogurt

I tasted the delicious variety of The Greek Gods yogurt.  This yogurt is tasty just on its own.  It is also delicious in dips, soup, main course, with vegetables and in desserts.  There are lots of recipes on their site for us to try.

The higher milk fat and the manufacturing process makes this yogurt to have a smooth creamier texture that is different from the other traditional yogurts.  The yogurts are made with organic ingredients.  My children felt as through it was frozen ice cream because of its delicious texture and flavour.

We liked the taste of the traditional plain, honey flavoured, honey strawberry and honey vanilla yogurt as it was unique and flavourful.  This yogurt is a good source of calcium, which is made with fresh pasteurized milk and cream.  The active cultures, probiotics, calcium and vitamin D makes the yogurt a good source for everyone.  Numerous scientific studies have shown the live and active cultures are beneficial bacteria that naturally resides in our digestive health and protects us against number of ailments.  This yogurt contains 5 active cultures; S. thermopiles, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus, Bifidus and L. case.
This yogurt is available at Whole Foods Ontario, Highland Farms Ontatio, and 98/155 Metro ON stores (in the Natural Dairy Section).

Yogurt is more easily digested even by people who are lactose intolerant.  If people have stomach discomfort, yogurt will ease their stomach.  Children who suffer from diarrhea recover faster when fed yogurt with probiotic cultures.  Research shows yogurt helps reduce the risk of cancer.  

Yogurt Cheesecake
For the crust
1 tbsp melted butter
crushed oreo cookies or graham crackers

Mix the crushed cookies with the butter and refrigerate it for about 10 to 15 minutes or longer until the cheesecake filling is ready.

For the cheesecake
1 1/2 cups Greek honey vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp baking powder

Beat the sugar and egg till creamy, then add the yogurt and flour baking powder mixture.  Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes in a 350F preheated oven.  I kept a bowl of water in the oven so the  cheesecake wouldn't dry fast.
Chill overnight or over 3 to 4 hours before serving.

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Cupcake flowers and nutella cupcake

To make these fun cupcake flowers you will need...

different size coloured cupcake liners *

paper cut for leaves in an oval shape

paper cut for stems in a rectangle shape

marker

glue

scissors

* If you only have white cupcake liners you can decorate and colour it.

Let the children stick the leaves anyway they like on the stem. Attach the cupcake liners onto the top of the stem. They can decorate and draw to put details with markers.

Here is a recipe to make Nutella cupcakes in 10 minutes with only 4 ingredients

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Decoration for a dinosaur cake and birthday card

This is made using fondant mixed with a little bit of gum paste. If needed use a toothpick to support the back of the tree. To get this colour of the trunk I used neon orange fondant mixed with a little bit of Wilton brown food colour.

For the leaves I used neon yellow with a little bit of Wilton green food colour. The number placed on top of the tree is cardboard.

This birthday card is made with brown felt cut into a dinosaur shape and glued on to a white cardboard. The grass is green felt cloth cut and glued. Crayon is used to decorate the card.

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Brownie treats fun to make kit and giveaway

Brownie kit from Me Myself and Us includes directions, activity ideas, a baking pan, brownie mix, frosting, 3 primary colours of gel, colour wheel and brush. It is a very simple to use kit. This is a lovely idea to spend time with children.

I like that they included the primary colours, so we can teach our children the basic concept of colour. And learning to use primary colours to make secondary colours. Children from any age can help create beautiful art work on the cake as it is edible.

After painting the delicious treats and having fun; I did remove the top part of the icing and colour before giving the kids to eat :) This is just because I am not big on too much artificial colouring and unnecessary sweets. It would be nice if the colours were derived from natural products like vegetables or the like. The colours did leave some stain on the fingers.

We were so eager to make these brownies and made it right after school :) All of us loved the brownie so much that it disappeared within a few minutes before I even had a chance to save some for after dinner :)

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Cake boards

It is easy to make these cake boards which can be reused or tossed away after using.

All you need...

heavy cardboard from boxes

aluminum foil

I cut heavy cardboard from boxes and covered it with aluminum foil. It can be cut into any desired shape.

A cake I made using an homemade cake board.

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Ice cream cone cupcakes review and giveaway

Yummy ice cream cupcakes that are easy and delicious to make. I received these lovely box full of fun products from Me Myself and Us, which we had loads of fun making and eating.

We had a fabulous time making these cute cupcakes. The children were excited from the time they saw the box. This is a very good product to spend time together, bake, become creative and have fun while learning.

The presentation is really cute, the best thing is the silicone cones can be reused. The cake is very soft and delicious, which makes it hard to remove from the cones. All the packages have information clearly written with step by step pictures.

The cupcake mixture is a vanilla cake mix, in which we add 2 egg whites, 1 cup water and 1/4 cup vegetable oil.

For the vanilla frosting we add 1 cup icing sugar, 4 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp milk.

The cake mixture is filled up to the first line and baked in a preheated oven for 18 to 22 minutes at 325F by placing the cones on a baking tray. Let it cool completely. Then put the icing and sprinkle over it and serve.

We were so excited we couldn't wait to put the icing and sprinkles, so it started dripping like real ice cream :)

These creative baking kits from Me Myself and Us are available at Mastermind, Party Packagers, Hallmark, Toy stores in USA and Canada.

Review of the brownie mix and cookies are coming soon... There is also a giveaway of one of these products so do look at Me Myself and Us and leave a comment here to win.

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Banana cereal cookies

These cookies are made with the same recipe as the banana cereal muffins.

Bake the cookies 2" apart on a 375F preheated oven for 10 minutes. Test with a skewer in the middle of the cookie to make sure it is done. Don't over bake the cookies will be golden in colour. Keep in the baking sheet for 5 minutes before cooling in a wire rack.

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Raspberry picking and jam

2 cups raspberry

1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar or more to taste

1" vanilla bean optional

Heat the raspberry, sugar and lemon juice together in medium low heat and simmer till the raspberry becomes syrupy and thick.

Remove from heat and leave the jam aside till it is cool. Once it is cool put it into a clean jar. The jam stays well in the fridge.

When using the jam use a clean dry spoon.

This jam can be used to make raspberry chocolate cake, smoothies, frozen yogurts and much more.

Our visit to pick raspberries this Summer. The tall bushes are loads of fun, however children should be supervised and taught how to easily remove the raspberries so they don't get hurt by any small thorns.

Some tips:

Pick only berries that are red.

Gently take the berries with fingers and thumb. If it is ripe the berry will come off easily into the hand.

Place the berries slowly into the container and don't over fill the buckets as the berries will get all squished.

Children will love the experience. They will eat the berries they pick more willingly, than when it is store bought.

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Strawberry streusel cake

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 tbsp melted margarine
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

For the streusel topping
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cashews optional

In a medium bowl mix all the dry Ingredients, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir these ingredients with a whisk.

Add all the wet ingredients, vanilla, margarine, milk and egg. Beat this till it is well mixed.

Pour the batter into buttered and floured pan. Arrange the sliced or chopped strawberries on the top laying them evenly over the batter.
For the topping in another bowl combine the flour, sugar and nuts with the butter use your hands to make the mixture into a crumbly texture. Sprinkle the topping over the strawberries.

Ask an adult for help with the oven and to check.

Bake at 350F in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes till the cake is done, test with a skewer in the middle. Let the cake cool before serving.

This recipe is from here.

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