I'm a finalist!

Just heard that I'm one of the finalists in the baking contest I entered. The pessimist in me is thinking that they only had a couple entries to choose from, but who cares!!! I'm a finalist. Woo hoo! Check out the prizes. Sarah R. just gave up coffee but said that if I win something she'd come over an have a cup with me!

Recipe contest

Brownies and coffee
Originally uploaded by the schneider clan

I entered TheKitchn's bittersweet recipe contest this week - made the brownie recipe off the back of the King Arthur Flour bag but added cocoa nibs - my new favorite ingredient. More photos can be found here.

cupcakes for Anna's dinner

vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate decorations
Originally uploaded by the schneider clan

I used the left over decorations from Lindsay's cake to top these.

Lindsay's cake

Lindsay's cake
Originally uploaded by the schneider clan

This weekend I made this cake for Lindsday. Red velvet with vanilla bean buttercream. Made the letters and decorations from colored white chocolate piped onto parchment (thanks, Whimsical Bakehouse Cookbook!) Realized when it's 32 degrees outside, who needs a fridge - just chilled the cake outside.

The end of the line? (or at least a while?)

IMG_0940
Originally uploaded by the schneider clan

Here's a picture of our "new" fridge. Actually, it's our crappy beer fridge from the garage in its new home in the kitchen. Our other one died a couple days ago and because we're remodeling soon it didn't make sense to buy a new one now. Anything we'd get for the new kitchen would probably be too big to fit in the current space. So, long story short - it's the only fridge we have for a while which means most of my cake baking/decorating will be on hold until said kitchen remodel is complete (3 - 4 yrs from now??). I say end of the line because this little guy was where I'd put my crumb coated cakes before finishing them. Without a back up fridge, I'm lost!

Contractors promise it's a 4-6 week job, max, but I tend not to believe them.

So, no cakes for while, but that doesn't mean no cupcakes!!!!