Cherry Coke Cake

A Cherry Coke cake with Vanilla Coke buttercream and maraschino cherries. The cake is two layers, 8" round filled with more cherries. I followed this recipe  except that I used less coke and added vanilla to the buttercream.

Cherry Coke Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup Coca-Cola
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8" pans. Combine all ingredients in bowl of mixer. Pour into cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. Move to wire rack to cool.

Vanilla Coke Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp Coca-Cola
1 Tbsp clear vanilla extract

Cream together butter and sugar. Add coke and vanilla. Beat until combined.

"Sweet" 16 Candy Cake

This cake was so fun and easy to make!

I used store bought lollipops, whirly pops, swizzle sticks and gumballs, and add the 16 and name with fondant. The swirls on the fondant are handpainted with food coloring mixed in with clear vanilla extract.

How stinkin' adorable is that sprinkle lollipop?

The cake itself was a 10" round, two layer strawberry cake with white buttercream.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Who doesn't love white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? I followed this recipe and it was a hit! I believe that it was the almond extract that makes the recipe so good.

1 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup chopped white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and almond extract. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking salt. Gradually mix in. Add macadamia nuts and chocolate. Scoop onto baking sheet using an ice cream scoop for uniform sized cookies. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

It is especially careful not to over cook these as they should be golden brown around the edges and still a bit soft in the middle. The texture is just crunchy enough and just ooey-gooey enough to make the perfect cookie.