Happy Birthday, Rory!

Rory turns 8 years old today, I can't hardly believe it!

She got her very own birthday cake to celebrate, and of course, her friends were there for the fun too.

I posted her cake recipe over at the food blog!

Peanut butter tongues are hilarious!

Cooking with Sara: Pumpkin Praline Cake

I mayyyyyy know full well what I'm doing when I post a photo like that one above.  A shiny, perfectly dripping drizzle of homemade caramel sauce?  I mean, c'mon, that's just not playing fair! And yet, I post it all extra-large size anyway.  Devious, that girl Sara.

Pumpkin Praline Cake on From Blah to Ta-Daa

Aside from the pretty caramel drip photos, I do want to show you my new cake stand!  It's vintage milk glass, and I paid way too much for it at an antique store.  I bought it and another gorgeous stand to go with my plain-Jane Martha Stewart cake stands for the wedding last weekend.  I'm head over heels in love with both stands, and I'm already scheming ways to get my other stand into a recipe post.  (And figure out why it's got a mysterious brandy cup?  That's another story for another day, and I definitely need your help with it.)



Cooking with Sara: Chocolate Truffle Cakes

This yummy little recipe posted last week to the food blog, but I was so busy posting Savannah photos here that I didn't get a chance to share it with you.  It was part of that haul I made for a wedding last weekend, and I'm hoping to get the others recipes posted during the next few weeks or so.  Assuming that I can muster up the motivation to make them again.  I'm partly traumatized by the whole experience, so please don't hold your breath.

Anyway, back to this recipe! If you like brownies (and what sane person doesn't?), you really need to scoot your tush over there to check out the recipe.  With only one tablespoon of flour, it's almost entirely chocolate, with a little sugar and butter thrown in for good measure.  And to tell you the truth, I love it way better than the brownie recipe I've been swearing by for years.  It has the crackly, lightly crusted outside of a brownie, but with a gooey chocolatey center.  My oh my, it's just so, so, so good.  Trust me on this one.  

And scoot!:

Chocolate Truffle Cakes on From Blah to Ta-Daa!

Peace, Love, Cupcakes

image source

It just came out in the news that British spy agents were able to hack into an al Qaida electronic magazine and replace bomb making instructions with..... cupcake recipes.  Ohhh, how I love that.  Apparently, the title of the article was, "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" and included recipes featured on the Ellen Degeneres show.  

Cupcakes helping to create world peace.  That's the kind of politics I can absolutely get behind :)



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Cooking with Sara: Buttermilk Chocolate Sheet Cake

I'm sorry.  It's barely Monday morning, and look what I'm doing to you.  I'm posting extra large photos of an extra delicious chocolate cake.  I truly didn't mean any harm by it.  I just love sharing so, so much that I couldn't sit still until I got these pretty photos here for you to look at.  Because nobody likes a recipe that doesn't come with photos, am I right?  Yes, I thought so. 

Buttermilk Chocolate Sheet Cake on From Blah to Ta-Daa

But take heart, my dears.  This cake recipe is so easy and so quick that throwing it together on a weeknight is - to quote my piano teacher from years past - "completely within the realm of possibility."  Actually, it's not just within the realm.  It's pretty much smack in the middle of the do-ability and not somewhere hovering around the perimeters of maybe.

I would mention that it's the most delicious while still warm, but that might push over the edge into the realm of unforgiveability.  So I'll just be quiet and let you mosey on over as best you can on a Monday morning.

Spanking New Blog

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to chat about my new blog.  Yes.  Another blog I'll be writing for.  We're up to 3 now, folks.  This new blog is a companion to my Sarandipity website (that's coincidentally undergoing a major facelift with a sprinkling of Botox here and there).  I'll be using the Sarandipity blog to post photos that don't make it into my shop and to make announcements.  Oh, and to host giveaways, weeeee! 

Both the blog and the website are still getting updated and squished around and second coats of paint, but please swing by and let me know what you think!

Ze New Bloggity Blog: 
SarandipitySweets.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday: Fruity

Monday Show and Tell

Some of you have already seen all these photos, but I thought I'd post them anyway.  Sometimes, I need to look back and remind myself what I've accomplished over the past month or week or even day, so that I don't start feeling so overwhelmed with life.  It's like, "Oh yeah!  I forgot I did that!"  It also helps remove a tiny bit of the blur that seems to encompass my life. 

This past month has seen oodles of custom requests come through for Sarandipity Sweets, and I still have another list of shapes to mock up.  It's crazy how creative and imaginative you all are!  I love it!  It pushes me to try things I never thought I could, and it makes me feel artistic for the first time in my life.  Artistic.  To say it out loud even feels foreign :)

The month of September will hopefully yield some behind-the-scenes biggies for me too.  I'm in the process of finding a graphic artist to work with (hurrah for logos and website images!); I'm working with a supplier for preprinted bags (hurrah for my new logo on a printed bag, all fancy-like!); and I'm mulling over the idea of hiring an assistant.  Ack!  That part alone scares the heck out of me, and I don't even see how it's possible, but it's something I'm rolling around in my brain.  It's getting to that point where I'm seeing the value in having someone take over some things for me, even though the control freak in me doesn't want to let go of her white-knuckled grip on every aspect of the operation.  Ha!  We'll show her! :)

Cupcake Poll

[ image credit ]

I'm taking a poll!

Why?  Because I'm about to delve into the world of cupcake-baking, and I'd like to know where I should start!  I've already found a killer Strawberry Cupcake recipe, but I need at least a handful of other flavors to add to my go-to list. 

Tell me what your favorite cupcake flavor is!

Wordless Wednesday: I'd Like This Delivered, Please

image courtesy of designsbygollum

Twilight, Sunset, Moonbeams, Whatever

So, I went ahead and joined the ranks of crazy Twilight fans.  Ok, maybe not reeeally, but I was asked by the lovely Tara to do an item for her Twilight (I've typed that word incorrectly 5 times already, and it's only the second sentence!) giveaway.  Since I've never read the books, the only thing I could come up with is that apple on the cover.  And since my house now has a fridge - hallelujah! - I was able to make up some sample Cake Pops yesterday for a photo session.

As annoyed as I was with the tricky lighting, I have to say that

I l-o-v-e how the photos turned out!

If you'd like to enter her giveaway to win a dozen, go here:

Tara's Twilight Party

Cooking with Sara: Pass the Champagne, Please

This week's recipe is a celebratory Pink Champagne Cake.  What are we celebrating, you ask?  Well, today is Blah author Mellisa's birthday!!!  And...tomorrow is mine :)  Plus, any of you who've spent any New Year's with me knows how much I love champagne.  (I may or may not have vague recollections of forcing my beloved raspberry champagne onto random strangers at a New Year's Eve party.)

And, to please the mobbing crowds, I'm posting my out-takey, behind the scenes pictures here.  We should definitely toast to ridiculous photos made public.  Raspberry champagne anyone?

Cheers!

Yours truly in action.

I wasn't lying about making messes every. freaking. time.

Ever wonder what happens when you turn the mixer on to whip heavy cream and then get distracted by the huge pile of dishes in the sink and only come up for air when your friend starts saying, "oh! oh! oh!"  No?  Just me?  Well, you make butter.  For seriously. 

We taste tested for you.  We really are that generous in real life.

I'm that much of a dork in real life too.

Only my sister shares my love of ugly face photos.

Someday, I'll get one of the both of us doing them together.

The Sarandipity Giveaway

Alrighty!  As promised, I'm doing a Sarandipity Sweets giveaway - right here and now!  The details are few, because I'm pretty sure we'd all rather see pretty photos than read lots of tiny little fine print. 

Drumroll, please:

2 lucky people will each receive a box of Sarandipity Sweets* Cupcake Chocolates.  A box exactly like this one:

(Because the first winners of my last drawing never responded, we're doing an opt-in version this time.)

To be eligible, you need to be a Facebook Fan of Sarandipity, and then leave me a comment here on this blog.  And in your comment, please make sure that your email or blog or name is linked so that I can contact you!!

NOTE:  If you're getting a red error message with your comment, just hit the Post Comment button again.  The second time will go through.  Sorry for that screwup!!!

The drawing will be held on Friday, January 15 at 8am PST.

And...that's it!  Good luck! 

Oh, one more thing - these little puppies freeze awesomely, so if you win, you can pop them into the freezer to save and gift to someone for Valentine's Day.

* No idea what Sarandipity is?  It's my little side business, baking and shipping custom treats all over the country.  You can visit my shop for more info!


UPDATE:  We have winners!!!

So that means a big congratulations to #37 - slk  and to #18 - Yani! I'll email both of you this morning to get shipping information from you.

Thanks for playing along, everyone!  I'll definitely be doing more giveaways in the near future!

Greetings, From Your Lazy Blog-Friend

Sooooo, the onslaught of excuses:

I was awesomely swamped with orders during the month of October. We're talking a gozillion more than in previous months. Hurrah!! And, whoah. Like, no sleep for 3 weeks straight. Not that I'm complaining. But, if I don't have time to sleep, I most likely don't have time to focus a thought long enough to blog something up :(

And then. Then! I got sick. I still kinda am, actually. And my cough is the opposite of pretty and nice.

But, I'm back. And hopefully not awol to that extent in the future. So, for now, here are photos of one of my projects this week. (I have 2 others I'm currently working on, and I can't wait to share photos!)

The one.... the only... Gobble Pops!