Easter Cake: Carrot Cake Cheese Cake

Two of my favorite desserts are carrot cake and cheese cake.  When I came across this recipe from Wicked Good Kitchen on Pinterest I knew that I had to make it.  I thought that it would be perfect for Easter.

 Of course I had to find a festive way to decorate.  I wanted something "springy"  I came across this idea from Glorious Treats.  I decided to just do the top with the flowers.  I think I did a few too many.  If I do this again, I would put less flowers on it. 

It was delicious. Not all of my family are huge dessert eaters, but everyone tried this and loved it.  I thought that it would take a long time to bake all three layers, but it didn't take much longer than any other cake with a filling.  I will definitely make this again. 

Oreo Pop Cupcake Toppers

Uncle Kevin's birthday was a few weeks ago.  We were out of town right before his birthday, so I didn't have time to bake anything special on his birthday.  He organized a dinner with friends for the weekend after his birthday, so I decided I would make something for that night.

The problem was, I didn't know what to make.  He's not a huge cake person.  He loves gummies, but I've already done a gummy bear cake.  One night I was reading some blogs and saw this post from Bakerella on Oreo Cookie Pops.   I thought it would be fun to write Happy Birthday on them, but didn't know how I wanted to display them.  Then I realized they would make cute cupcake toppers.  So I made cookies 'n cream cupcakes with Oreo pop toppers.

I used my usual vanilla cupcake recipe, but added an Oreo Cookie to the bottom of the cupcake liner before I filled it with the batter.  For the frosting, I mashed up some Oreos and blended them in right at the end.

They were a hit.  Everyone loved them and the Oreo pops were an added treat. 

Stuffed Elephant

I've had elephants on my mind after I made the gift set for my friend. I wanted to find something else to make with the patchwork fabric. I thought it would be cute to make a little stuffed elephant. To go beyond just a stuffed animal, I decided to add some sensory elements. It took a little figuring out (and a late night run to Petco for a squeaker) but in the end it turned out better than I expected.

He has two different textures of fabric, ribbon ears, crinkle ears and a squeaky tail.  Bug was excited to figure out how to squeak the tail