Sweet Treats From Lady Antoinette's!

I had the special treat a few weeks ago of trying one of Columbia's newest bakeries, Lady Antoinette's!

They had TONS of fresh desserts, and y'all know that's right up my alley. For those of you who may not know, I have a HUGE sweet tooth! I also had never had a macaron before. I feel like they're the favorite food of most bloggers you talk to. Now I know why!

Lady Antoinette's is nestled inside a bridal salon actually. I got the grand tour by a friend of mine who works as a consultant in the bridal shop. It's beautiful, full of gold leaf wallpapered rooms and beautiful decor. There are marble floors, grand staircases and dresses galore! After making my way around Bella Vista, I made my way into Lady Antoinette's, the real reason for my visit.

I chatted with the friendly staff and they made their recommendations and told me what had been popular. Beignets and macarons were the hot ticket so I ordered a beignet and 2 vanilla and 2 lemon macarons. I couldn't help myself but to eat a vanilla macaron the MINUTE I got into my car!

These macarons are different than most because they're kinda big, but MAN OH MAN are they delicious. (As I type this, I'm thinking to myself about my next trip back...) I at the pink vanilla one first, naturally, and loved it! They're not too sweet and the cream inside is light and fluffy. I then ate the lemon one. To. Die. For. That was actually my favorite thing that I got! It was yellow, but not scary-highlighter-yellow. It was GREAT!

For those of you who are in Columbia, be sure to make your way down to Lady Antoinette's soon! 

xxKatie

Cakepops

I tried making cakepops for the first time during my birthday weekend!

They were fun to make, but not as easy as I thought!! I didn't follow any specific recipe, but instead, just went with a lot of the reading I did on everyone else's cakepop endeavors! 

We used one box of cake to one can of frosting. We used two bags of white chocolate to coat the pops and middle size skewers. I was the musher and combined the cake and frosting and balled them up for Miss Skyler to coat. They ended up significantly larger than we expected which is my fault and I just didn't realize how big they were!! Anyway, it was a blast to make!!

Got any cakepop making tips? Have you ever made them yourself?

xxKatie

Books Books Books

I wish I had (more) time during the school year to read books for fun. Actually, I wish I had more time during the school year period. I have many a-to-do-list item that could be checked off if only the day were a mere 4 hours longer. Namely sleep, but I'd have so much more time to get ahead instead of play catch up with assignments and reading.

Here are a few books I wish I could be reading:

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

I haven't read a Nicky Sparks novel recently, and this one come with decent reviews. Not to mention, the main character's name is Katie, so I was pretty much sold.

The Price of Everything by Eduardo Porter

I try to keep a business book on my shelf to stay "current" with business reading. I've read Nudge and Predictably Irrational over the summer so I think this is next on my list. I also think it'll be a good combination of the two that I read this summer!

How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal

I think this may end up being one of those silly ladies' novels, but I'm still interested in reading it nonetheless. I just like the title mostly...is there a rule of not judging a book by it's title? I don't think so...

Has anyone read these? Can you make any recommendations in general of books you've loved recently?

xxKatie

P.S.: Be sure to enter the Gybe-ho giveaway! Only a few more days!!

Sweet Tooth: Momofuku's

It's no secret I have a huge sweet tooth. Actually with all the sweet teeth I have, it's like I have an entire sweet mouth really. I love all things sweet. Just yesterday we got some caramels to get us through the rest of the workday! Candy and sweet snacks are an everyday occurrence for me (I know, all you dentists and health critics are shaking your heads in shame...). Just the other day I reblogged this from ichatblog on tumblr:

I think I've found the sweet find of a lifetime though! I was stumbling (via stumbleupon...yep) and came across these:

Momofuku's Birthday Truffles 

How GOOD do they look?!

I really want to try to make these on my own! With the rise of Cakepops and how everyone's attempting their own spin on those, I think Birthday Truffles could be the next big thing! Imagine how fun you could decorate these? Personalization? Everything! The possibilities are endless!!

The recipe for these Birthday Truffles is very elusive...you know what that means? That these MUST. BE. THAT. GOOD. It means that the recipe is vaulted somewhere with the likes of Coca-Cola, McDonald's french fries, and Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream...that good.

Anyone ever been? Let me know! I'd love to hear about it!!

xxKatie

Cupcake Creations

Foodgawker came up with a page of cupcakes called "CupcakeProject" and they're SO cute! I think this weekend will be dedicated to some fabulous baking. I'm thinking about giving them to some of my friends for the big day!! Some of my favorites were:

Cupcakes for only two! Perfect for the big night! Miss Paula Dean knows a good recipe!

Roses and Chocolate whipped into one?! How perf!

Self frosting Nutella cupcakes? YUM.

Cinnamon Chocolate Churro Cupcakes: say those 4 C's 5 times fast!

Anti-Valentine's Day Cupcakes too!

Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes...enough said!

Caramel Cupcakes inspired by The Help (definitely recommend that if you haven't read it!) by the Cupcake Project blog!!

Pink Frosting How-To

If you need any great Valentine's Day gifts, consider a great batch of cupcakes! In the words of Ted Allen on "Best Thing I Ever Ate", "You can't be unhappy with a cupcake in your hand!"

xxKatie

Disney + Princess + Baking

One day while I was shopping in Wal Mart, I stumbled upon the CUTEST baking set of sprinkles! It was a Disney Princess sprinkle set. It had blue glass slippers, pearls, red apples, and yellow crowns! There are a few different Disney Princess baking sets (most available at Wal Mart--check out their extensive baking department. I'm not at all kidding, it's GREAT). Wilton makes several different sets that are available widely at Wal Mart, crafting stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael's.

I want to track down this set of Wilton sprinkles:

I got a great princess cupcake wrapper and topper set from Wal Mart recently, so these would match perfectly!!

xxKatie

Girl Scout Cookies!

It is finally (almost) time for Girl Scout Cookies!! A big billboard was put up by my neighborhood on my way to campus and it put one heck of a smile on my face! I am a HUGE Thin Mints fan no matter what you say about Tagalongs, Do-Si-Do's, or Samoas, this girl eat Thin Mints and Thin Mints only! I always look forward to the beginning of Girl Scout season and that billboard told me that it must be right around the corner! Secret: a Medium Longchamp can hold 2 standard boxes easily with anything else that might already be in your purse #noshame. I can't wait to enjoy my two sleeves in my pretty green box! 

On this website, you can plug in your area code to find out when girl scout cookie season starts. I'm lucky enough that mine starts...TOMORROW! YES! 

What's your favorite flavor? Anyone else a Thin Mint fiend?

xxKatie

Monograms + Cookies

My birthday isn't remotely close to November, but how much fun would these be for a fun birthday celebration? I think I have a theme for my 20th birthday party (to be revealed at a later date...but it's good. I've leaked it to a few people...shh!) and this would be a fun addition! I might try to customize them with green or better yet, try to print my own. 

I love these cookies and they're so inspiring for more projects! 

I love the green with yellow! 

Look at how delicate these ones are!!

I'm not a big purple girl, but with that beautiful shade of blue I'm all about it!!

These ones are my favorites! I've love to find some way to personalize them with pink too!! They're so sweet! I would love to find a place that would print out the sheets on edible paper with edible dye and then try to make them myself!!

Has anyone ever personalized cupcakes or cookies like this? I'd love to know! Was it hard? I have some friends who's birthdays are coming up that these would be fun to make!!

xxKatie

LBP in a Halloween Costume...

This costume is featured at WalMart and I think I need to have it. If you look at the shape, it's pretty much a cupcake shift dress...I think it has my name written ALL OVER IT. I am absolutely in love with this costume, as long as it's long enough! I would be more than happy to wear this out to a party or out with my friends on the big day. Since Halloween is pretty much a 3-night event, I'll have lots of opportunities to choose different costumes.

I know College Prepster has some awesome costume ideas, but how about you all? Last year I went as Elle Woods one night and Vanna White (she's from SC--yay!) for another! My goal was not to spend anything on my costumes since I was living on campus, and I was very successful! Any ideas about what you wanna be?

xxKatie

Pumpkin Muffin Time

This Pillsbury Pumpkin mix is so good! And I have good news: it's back on the shelves. Just about as elusive as the Pumpkin Spice Latte, this muffin (or quick bread if you prefer) mix is so good!

I'm not big on pumpkin anything (sorry...) but it's not a consistency that I enjoy. The smells are good, but I also have a problem with getting the picture of the goupy insides out of my head. At one point, your pie was stringy goup. Ew. Anyway, my aunt Megan made us pumpkin muffins at her "little house" as it used to be named a few years ago at the urging of her beautiful daughter Trinity-my cousin-and man oh man, we've never gone back! These wonderful, spongy pumpkin muffins remind me of fall so much! Megan stocks up on this mix while it's still sold (I think they stop selling it around Christmas) so that they can have it throughout the year, or that was at least the protocol when we were there a few years ago! I highly recommend this little box of yumminess that you can grab while it's still being sold! They taste spice-y, cinnamony, nutmeggy, all the wonderful smells and tastes that go along with the holidays! Quick, go run to the store and snatch some up for yourselves!

xxKatie

Roommate Baking!

About two weeks ago my roommate and I did some DElish cupcake baking! I mostly did the actual baking, but she kept me company which is just as good! I loved the way that these turned out! All the letters were for our house: Katie, Megan, and Catherine and then the A at the bottom was for Megan's boyfriend Albert. She has such a fun tim decorating that for him. When I don't hand color/pipe my frosting (which is usually when I want brighter colors because I hate using so much dye) I use the Betty Crocker Easy Flow Icing:

I used the pink one and it comes with 4 tips: star, leaf, round, and ribbon. I used the star one the most often because it's the easiest and I think the cutest. I've used this decorating icing for Christmas wreaths in red and green and they came out too too cute! I would highly recommend using this icing, but definitely practice on a paper plate or other easy surface to get the hang of the nozzle. You can easily press too hard on a cupcake and mess it up (coming from LOTS of experience with that!!!). I also loved how the icing matched the pink sprinkles I have from Williams and Sonoma. One year for my birthday, I was given a decorating kit with purple and white edible glitter, flower sugar sprinkles and then pink and yellow sanding sugar. I still use the kit to this date and I love it! It even made it's way to my new apartment as you can see!!

Anyone do any recent baking/decorating?? I'd love to see!

xxKatie

Butch Bakery: Cupcakes for Boys!

A few weeks ago when I was getting my hair colored I was reading one of the gossipy lady magazines and came upon a place called Butch Bakery. I was intrigued by the name so I continued to read about this manly bakery located in New York.

They have very manly names with very manly ingredients (including some alcohol soaked flavors even!) and have no frilly decorations on top, but instead a chocolate disc with patterns like camo, plaid, and houndstooth. No girly flowers, pink sprinkles, or any pink!

Don't they look delish?!

Check out all their different varieties and fun names: where butch meets buttercream! I even love the words choice like "mouth-wateringly awesome"! Campout, Big Papi, and Tailgate are all my personal choices!

When you place your order, you can get all kinds of different options! Notice though, the small disclaimer (it made me laugh!):

If you live in NY and have a man who loves a good cupcake, you gotta grab these up and send him an order! It's perfect for a guys night in, poker game, birthday or Father's Day!

xxKatie

Housewarming Gift from the Fam

Last night my family sent me and my "new family" (a.k.a. my roommates) this cake. I mass texted a few of my friends telling them about the housewarming gift and two came over last night. I think a few others will enjoy it tonight at a Jersey Shore night that my friend Sara is hosting! It is oh so delicious and rich. The cake serves 14, but really could probably serve twice that since it's so rich.  There are 7 layers of both cake and caramel frosting which is so sugary and sweet and filling. Caroline's Cakes (the bakers) has even been featured on the Today Show and I completely understand why.

At my last birthday I had this cake and ended up taking more than half of it back home with me (which was sorta like a second birthday present if you think about it) since my group of about 10 friends and I were only eating teeny tiny slivers. I even featured the cake on my birthday Polyvore set! If you ate a piece like the one cut on the plate, you'd be pretty much dead and in a sugar coma. I was full from a 1/2 inch slice last night!

Caramel cake is a big Southern Tradition that has made it's way all the way up to Maryland, and coincidentally all the way back to me in SC! Be sure to check out Caroline's Cakes if you dare, I promise you'll be hooked!!!

xxKatie

Outfit of the Day: Running Errands Back on Campus!!

August 11 by letsbepreppy featuring Old Navy shorts

Today I wore a new shirt that my mom picked up for me from the J. Crew outlet. It's not exactly like the one pictured, but instead it has 3 faux strands of pearls and a few bows. I couldn't find it online, but I promise it's cute. I also wore a great pair of flats from the Miss Trish of Capri line of sandals from Target. They bend in a weird place, but are an adorable alternative to Jacks and add a splash of color. 

I haven't been regularly blogging because I've been moving into my new apartment. I'll be sure to get my bootay organized and snap some photos for here and my mom. She's dying to see the "final thing" even though it's not really close to finished. Unfortunately I've had to prioritize everything and blogging hasn't been #1. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated from here on after.

Onto the good news, I got the grade that I needed to get credit for my calculus class. I really believe that it's impossible to accelerate (as I think about the acceleration double prime formula...yuck.) an entire semester's worth of work into 4 weeks including the final. Yikes! But that is in the past and I can move on. What that good news means is that I can matriculate into the school of business normally and have lost little or no time. A good friend of mine has only taken 1 business class that I'll be missing, but otherwise my AP credit (thank God) gave me a boost. My life now has a plan and isn't as "in shambles" as I've been thinking for the last two months. We can now move on and continue with college. I've had the best support systems through this whole summer between my main student organization, friends, math tutor (shout out to Kate!), and family. 

I'm about to go cut up some DEEEElish caramel cake that my mom sent me as a deliciously sweet treat with some of the friends I invited over to "my place" to enjoy it too! Tomorrow look out for a post about the most darling penguin cupcakes that we made with marshmallow fondant!

xxKatie

Glitter...This Could Be Dangerous

This post may seem a little crazy since glitter isn't usually the preppiest (or classiest for that matter) of accoutremants, but hear me out...

I got a bunch of questions about these fabulous shoes from KS. The charm heel was the main focus of my polyvore set. Aren't these shoes to die for?? I have quite an ironic fondness of glitter. Although most view it as quite tacky, I love it. These shoes are just unbelievable, and KS does a great job of making them fun, classy, and perfect for a night out all in one shoe! The bow just makes it perfect in my book.

I've been lusting after the "Happy Birthday" color by Lippmann Collection (found at Nordy's) for quite a while. I have gold glitter nail polish (at Nordy's it's called nail color...) from CVS or some other drugstore that I like a lot for summer. I also have (dare I even admit it) some loose glitter that I've wore as eyeshadow for Halloween my sophomore year of high school. I was Barbie and the glitter was pink and very shiny. I also wore a pink shin-length evening gown. Needless to say I had glitter everywhere come November 1st.

I've also used edible glitter for cupcake decorations. White frosted cupcakes with white glitter looks so glamorous and fun. Edible glitter adds sheen and fun without looking childish or hokey like sprinkles can sometimes.

I do draw the line with glitter though. For instance, body glitter, is never acceptable, under any circumstances. It looks like those made-up cheerleaders on the ESPN shows or like you need to return to the 90's. Everyone remembers the Bath and Body Works roll on glitter, we all had them. Mine was like grape scented I think. Maybe the glitter was even purple too. Nonetheless, body glitter is in the past, where it belongs forever. Also where I draw the line: red glitter. Red glitter will always and forever be a part of the Wizard of Oz, will it not? One of the main parts of that movie are the Ruby Red (glitter) slippers. Everyone always thinks of those shoes when they think of the Wizard of Oz, I'm sure you did too!

Is anyone else out there a fan of glitter (in moderation...mind you)? You all know I certainly am!!

xxKatie

Adorable Baking Supplies

So I was indulging in some online browsing and found the most adorable Etsy shop called Lulu's Cupcake Boutique that has such cute baking supplies:

I think these cupcakes liners were made for me!

How fun would these be to make some Gamecock Gamecake (get it?!) cupcakes? Add a few black plain liners in and it would be perfect for a party of festive tailgate. (Hmm, that might have to happen!)

Everyone's seen plain silver foil liners, but GOLD? That means they MUST be good! These would be fun for watching the Olympics or something where there's a lot of gold!

I just love the polka dots! You could easily coordinate the decorations with the liners...too sweet!

Y'all know I'm totally a sucker for pink. How great would these be for a best friend's birthday or girl's only type thing??

How cute is this silicone baking set from Target? I haven't totally grasped the silicone thing yet (I'll admit to still using the disposables...and I love baking...I feel like that shouldn't mix?) but this set is too cute!

This giant donut set from Williams-Sonoma would be SO much fun to make and decorate!!

I have a pan like this for petit fours, but it has 24 spots instead of 6 and we use it for cake and pound cake when guests come over. It is so pretty and delicate!

Eventually I'd like to try this too! Make one gigantic cupcake, but I imagine it being very hard to split up and eat!

I have this book and the ideas in there are unbelievable. Not only are they crazy creative and adorable, but they break the recipes down step-by-step so that decorating novices like me can attempt the looks. I'm not bold enough to make these cute pups, but it would definitely be a fun project!!

Do any of you guys have these? I love to shop online for fun stuff like this since I don't know of any specialty cake stores around!!

xxKatie

P.S: My friend Kathryn is super passionate about commitinseptember, so college readers especially check it out!

Major Sweet Tooth

So just about anyone who knows me, knows I love a good snack. I'm totally a die-hard sweets girl though. I prefer a cupcake to just about anything else. Sweets make me happy (which sounds bad...), and I am generally always craving them. I love baking, which doesn't help my sweets affliction! Some of my favorites include:

Funfetti Cake is my absolute favorite! I'm very particular about icing too (I'm not really a fan of all the icing that boutique cupcake places put on their cupcakes...it's too much for me. I end up shaving about half of it off and then eating it like a normal cupcake instead.) I always use Pillsbury Funfetti mix with Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White frosting:

Don't get the vanilla kind, it's too thick. This "Fluffy White" is the BEST to use in my opinion. You can dye it and the consistency doesn't change. I've used this to pipe numbers onto cupcakes too and it works great for that. It doesn't really set (which is a plus in my mind) so you always get a fresh-tasting cupcake!

These are my favorite brownies for when you're making a lot/an entire pan/enough for a family. (I'll explain in a minute). They are gooey, which is a brownie trait I LOVE, and everyone can get the kinds of brownie they like: corner, middle, edge. I'm personally a middle girl, but my mom's a corner, and the edge is always a happy medium. I also don't frost brownies...ew. If you're going to serve them with anything, please make it vanilla ice cream!

Ghirardelli used to (maybe 2 years ago...but I'm going to look next time I go to the grocery store) make a box mix that had a recipe for 4 individual brownies in cups. I made them once with two girls while I was babysitting and then another time for my family and it was SO good. This recipe (if I can ever find it again) would be perfect for a date night or to control your portion, although I can't imagine it was good for you. Just like the picture above, it had a chocolate sauce that you put in the middle of the brownie so that you got molten cups instead of your typical brownie. They were very rich and decadent so you only ever wanted to eat one (with one BIG glass of milk!)

This box is my favorite for cinnamon muffins. I can eat these babies just about 24/7 they're so good! They're obviously the best when they come right out of the oven, but I also like them as a snack before I go to bed. They're not too heavy, and quite yummy! I don't usually make a cake with this mix because I'm not that good at dividing the batter in half so that the two layers are equal, so I stick with muffins!

Also as far as baking for breakfast, the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with the regular icing are delish too! Talk about being a middle girl, the middle cinnamon roll was always fought over in my house when we were little (and maybe now too...). A few years ago they came out with cinnamon twists which were also good too, but I haven't seen them in a long time!

I always used to be a loyal Nestle Break and Bake cookie kind of girl, but my mom isn't a huge fan of the amount of chocolate in those cookies, so we've converted. These Pillsbury ones are good and very easy to make. As you can tell, I don't really make stuff from scratch. Two of my great aunts make all their cookies/cakes/etc. from scratch and when they visit us, I get my "from scratch" quota filled. All the measuring and buying lots of ingredients that you only use once a year (corn syrup, chocolate chips, baking powder, and everything else will sit on our baking shelf for awhile.) is a little bit much for me.

I LOVE to bake and eat all kinds of sweets...the easy way! What are your favorites? Do you have any tried-and-true recipes that I can add to my collection (of saved online recipes that I'd like to try one day when I have a few minutes to spare...) of special ones? Please let me know!!

xxKatie