Christmas Cookies

Every year at Christmas, I make cookie plates for our closest friends. I pack them full of about 5 different kinds of cookies (heavy on each family's favorites!) and also some of my famous chocolate chocolate chip mini cakes - regular and peppermint! This year's cookie plates also included the previously blogged about Peppermint Pinwheel Lollipop Cookies.

This year, I made 32 dozen cookies and about 4 dozen mini chocolate cakes. The leftovers went home with us to Pittsburgh for the Fleming family to munch on.

Lemon Coconut Cake

The Flemings love that I experiment when I'm with them (or at least that's what they say!!!). I made this towering 3-layer Lemon Coconut Cake with fresh lemon curd (which Chris helped make!) for Christmas dinner in Pittsburgh. The general consensus was...it was pretty good. :)

Gingerbread Men

I made some "blank" gingerbread men for my co-worker Marie. She took them home over the holidays and the kids in the family decorated them. They turned out so good!

And the artists!

Peppermint Pinwheel Lollipop Cookies

These yummy, fun cookies made the Christmas cookie rotation this year after a brief hiatus. And I have to say it was all because of a little boy named Matthew who kept asking his mom, "When is Aunt Melinda going to make those lollipop cookies again?"

And here's Matthew (on the right) and his twin brother Jack, enjoying their cookies yesterday. Love you boys!

Happy National Cupcake Day!

Not to be confused with National Chocolate Cupcake Day or National Vanilla Cupcake Day. :) I wish it didn't fall the week before Christmas, because I am too busy with cookie baking to devote extra time to cupcakes, just for National Cupcake Day! I wish I could, but even this crazy amateur baker has limits!

I mixed up my final cookie dough tonight. I have a triple batch of sugar cookie dough in the fridge for use on Friday night and made a double batch of Peppermint Pinwheel Lollipop cookie dough tonight - which I'll make on Saturday because they are so labor intensive. Once those are done, the cookie plates for friends will be assembled and delivered.

Oh - and I guess I have to bake one last time before we leave for Pittsburgh - a couple of co-workers need mini cupcakes for the holidays! I'll be baking in Pittsburgh too...making a gorgeous (hopefully!) Lemon-Coconut Cake for the Fleming family for Christmas dessert!

Cookie plate pictures to be posted soon!

Candy Cane Cookies!

I may bake a gazillion cookies for the holidays, but the one I don't make - just came via mail from my mom. These are my all time favorite: Candy Cane Cookies. Sounds kind of boring, but wait...they have almond extract in them. Pure. Pieces. Of. Heaven. I love them. Thanks mommy!!!

(And I do believe it is the first sighting of a WHOLE candy cane that made it via mail - ever. They are very fragile and always break, so this is noteworthy!) :)

Wyatt's 3rd birthday

Here is my mischievous little friend Wyatt, who ordered the chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles.

Sweetest Thing Cupcakes (Newberg, OR)

My best friend Heidi, took me to the Sweetest Thing Cupcakes in Newberg, OR while I was in town over Thanksgiving. I neglected to take a picture of my cupcake - which was chocolate pretzel with a peanut butter center. Oh my.

This was the cinnamon cupcake I brought home for Chris, it was also delicious.

Garrett's 10th Birthday!

My first foray into edible images! I ordered some for my nephew Garrett's 10th birthday. They worked well, but I do think they'll look better on lighter colored frosting after they've "absorbed" the moisture. Overall - I'd use them again.

The birthday boy!

Birthday cake

This is a birthday cake I did for a co-worker's family member. The cake is yellow/chocolate marble.

Who could possibly resist this face?!

I think this is easily my favorite picture since I've started this whole baking adventure. Look at the sheer joy and straight leg excitement! This is little Charlotte, for whom I made the owl cupcakes. She is just too sweet.

And to close the week out...

I experimented and used some leftover batter I had from two different jobs this week. The week old batter still worked fine - just didn't rise much, which wasn't surprising. The 2 day old batter worked much better - so good to know! I sent these with Chris since he was going to a friend's house to watch the Steelers game. Yeah, yeah - I know the pink cupcakes weren't very guy-friendly, but at least I used black & yellow liners!!!

This is a chocolate chili cake with chocolate ganace I made for my friend Tracy's birthday - at her request. We used to get a great chocolate chili cake at a restaurant here before they took it off the menu, so I hope it comes close!

Her birthday was Friday, but since she was out of town - we're celebrating tomorrow night. The cake has quite a kick to it - I hope she likes it!

And now I shall rest...until Thursday, when I have a 60th birthday cake to make!

It has been one busy week!

I have had one wild baking week. It's amazing what you can get done, even when you work full-time!

The week started off with some mini cupcakes for my friend Melissa's physical therapy peeps. She broke her leg about 6 weeks ago and they are doing a fabulous job of helping her recuperate.

Next up: "Chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles" requested by Wyatt (my co-worker's son) for his 3rd birthday party. Hope to get pictures of the birthday boy and will update soon!

And the biggest job of the week: 4 dozen owl cupcakes and a smash cake for Miss Charlotte. I work with her mom Ashley and they were throwing her a big bash for her 1st birthday. I'll post pictures of her soon!

The cupcakes are made with Golden Oreos and Junior Mints for eyes, and banana Runts candies for the nose - turned out so cute!

And the last gig - 2 dozen chocolate chocolate chip cookies for my friend Matt's mom. Delish!

And I'm still not done - I've got a birthday cake for my friend Tracy's birthday to make tomorrow...so stayed tuned!

My youngest taste-tester!

This is my "niece" Carrigan. She's munching on a homemade doughnut last night on Halloween. Gotta love that face!

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

Yes - it IS a real holiday. At least a food holiday. :) In honor of the day, I made some S'mores cupcakes. I'd been wanting to try this for a while & when I saw the cute ghost shaped marshmallows at Publix, I was sold. Graham cracker crust on the bottom, chocolate cupcake w/a marshmallow inside, chocolate buttercream with crushed graham crackers & another marshmallow on top! Totally delicious, especially when you put it in the microwave for just a few seconds - it melts the marshmallow!

Homemade doughnuts!

This was my first crack at homemade doughnuts. I got some new doughnut pans and have been anxious to try them out - and so was Chris! I bought the mix that goes with it for the first try, but will definitely be making them from scratch the next time. We used the cinnamon sugar that came with the mix and also powdered sugar. Some of the little ones turned more into muffins because I put too much batter in the tiny wells, but they still taste delicious!!!

Coleman's 9th Birthday

My friend Heather's son - Coleman - had his 9th birthday party today...a skating party! That sure brought back memories, I loved me some skating back in the day!

New apron!

The hubs got me a new apron for our 2nd anniversary - isn't it cute? My kitchen is deep red - with all the matching red KitchenAid appliances, tools, etc. I used to wear an old red apron that I got as an amenity in Fort Worth, TX when I was a meeting planner. This is so much better!

Steelers' Season Opener

A few football cookies for the Steelers' first game of the season. Yellow frosting was obviously a bit too thin, as it spread out as it set. But they are still yummy! (And the Steelers managed to squeak out a win in OT - yay!!!)

Follow-up picture from Isabel's birthday party!

Here is the birthday girl, blowing out her candles with the help of her little sister!

Another "new" stove

Yesterday - we had another "new" stove delivered. Same model, same color... We discovered about a month ago that the temperature in the lower oven didn't seem to be holding steady. And by holding steady, I mean - going 75-100 degrees ABOVE where I set it. Not good! Of course, it wouldn't do its thing for the repairman the first time around, so he told us what to look for and write down. So...last weekend, we did some testing and come to find out - BOTH ovens were doing it and the top, smaller oven - 100+ degrees above the set temp.

Repair call #2, declared the entire control panel fried and had the Sears outlet authorize a replacement (thank goodness we bought that extra protection plan!). So, we ran over there after work on Friday and got the same one again, got the balance of the old price vs. new price applied to a longer maintenance plan, and somehow managed to walk out the door with cash in hand. Still not sure how that happened, but I'm not arguing! We love the Sears outlet customer service!

I put the new "new" stove to work quite a bit today, 3 loaves of homemade wheat bread and a double batch of cinnamon rolls! It seemed to behave, but I'll be watching you...

Isabel's 5th Birthday!

Miss Isabel is turning 5 & commissioned another pink princess cake from me. She looooves the Disney princesses & picked out these toppers. I got to play with my new "grass" tip - the path is crushed graham cracker crumbs. She was very pleased with the cake - I'll hopefully post a follow-up picture of her with the cake from her party this afternoon!

Monika's 30th Birthday!

My friend Monika ordered up this Triple Layer Strawberry Cake with fresh Strawberry Buttercream for her 30th birthday. Fresh strawberries in both the cake and frosting - delicious!

Happy 30th Birthday Cupcakes

I made the Chocolate Malted Milk Cupcakes again - this time for my friend Kim's

30th birthday yesterday...

...along with some yellow cupcakes w/chocolate buttercream and light pink pearl sprinkles!

Storm Troopers!

These chocolate cupcakes w/dark chocolate buttercream were for one of my "oldest" clients, Zac. He turned 8 on Sunday and he LOOOOVES Star Wars!

That's the old venerable Pooh who's just as old as Zac!

My birthday cake!

This is my awesome husband, Chris - who is practically a chef - but so not a baker. He bakes once a year, and it's my birthday cake! He was pretty handy with the sprinkles this year! (By the way, this is my favorite cake - yellow with chocolate frosting.)

Yes, I even bake on vacation!

This is the strawberry swirl cake I make every year in Cape May, NJ for my Fleming family. I think I might be sent home if I didn't make it - it's tradition! It's a white cake w/strawberry gelatin in it, to make it swirly and yummy. Frosting is Cool Whip, a little sour cream and powdered sugar. And of course - fresh strawberries on top and in between the layers!

My first order as Lala's Confections!

Thanks to my friend Monika's mom (thanks, Grace!), my first "official" order as Lala's Confections! Two dozen chocolate (half with walnuts mixed in and as garnish) and one dozen banana.

4th of July...noodling around with color

These were 4th of July cupcakes (french vanilla cake), just tinted various amounts of batter red and blue!

Happy National Sugar Cookie Day!

If I'd known...I would've baked up some fun sugar cookies! I need to find a good food "holidays" list...

Where "Lala" comes from...

I must give credit where credit is due. My nephew, Garrett - gave me the name Lala when he was about two years old - the summer he and his parents came to visit me. Aunt Melinda is quite a mouthful, so that's what he came up with. He's the only one who calls me that - and I love it!

Even though he's approaching 10 (wow....), I hope he'll continue with the name, just like we all did with our grandmother, Cuddy. She got her name when my brother (Garrett's dad) came up with "Cuddy" when HE was about 2 years old, and everyone called her Cuddy after that - never grandma.

So, a big shout out to THE GARRETT for giving me such a cool name. Love you!

Welcome to Lala's Confections!

Hello friends!

By now, you know I like to bake. No, let's try this again. I LOVE to bake. Many of you have already sampled my work, my overruns (even my mistakes!) and after selling a few of my creations to friends and co-workers, I'm officially branching out and starting a tiny little side business.

You'll notice my blog postings started back in April. I was ready to go back then. But we had a slight issue with some flood waters on May 1-2, 2010 and we are still in the process of getting put back together. But...one good thing that came out of the flood? Our new double oven! It has been the only thing we've said, "Thank you flood!" I've been baking in a tiny, drop-in oven that was a one-tray/one-pan at a time, for the past 5 years. While we had the contractor in-house, we upgraded to a fabulous Maytag Gemini and it's the best thing we've done.

So now, with all this new technology and all kinds of oven space - the sky's the limit! I've made birthday cakes, cupcakes, wedding shower cupcakes, baby shower cupcakes, holiday cookies, bread (from scratch!), all sorts of cookies...the list goes on.

My motto is simple: Handmade...Homemade...So good. Simplistic quality is what I'm all about.

I'd be happy to craft something special for your next family gathering, school party, birthday party - or just for a Wednesday night! :) Please take a look at my price list (see the link to the Pricing List under Pages to the left - or email me for a hard copy or email copy) and let me know how I can share a little "sweet tooth joy" with you!

Thanks -

Melinda Fleming

Smash cake and princess cupcakes for my "niece" Carrigan's FIRST birthday! June 2010.