The Drum Shake!

Well, If anyone noticed, it's not Wednesday... I made smoothies Wednesday! But it didn't exactly make the blog... My excuse? Yes, I have an excuse. It's actually Wednesday to me because there was no school on Monday... I think it's valid. If you disagree, keep it to yourself. Haha. You might be wondering about the lack of smoothieness going on here. Good. because I actually made a shake, not a smoothie. I call it... The Drumshake! It involves Drumstick Ice Cream and Milk. That's it. 

Yum! 

See you all soon, for Sweet Tooth Saturday! Let me know if y'all have any suggestions! Adios!

Dulce de Leche Cupcake Saturday!

            Happy Sweet Tooth Saturday to you! Today, I thought I'd talk about some delicious treats... Dulce de Leche cupcakes from Joy the Baker!

            What a great way to start off a three-day-weekend? Yum! The frosting is awesomely rich and when you put a little warm caramel and rock salt... Oh yeah. I can't describe it. If you like salted caramel, you'll love Dulce de Leche cupcakes. If you try them out, tell me how you like them! I doubt you'll dislike them unless of course you are crazy. Heehee...

            See you Wednesday for Smoothies- I think a watermelon smoothie might be delicious... Thanks for the idea, Shelby! :)

Wednesday's Smoothie- Banana Blueberry Blitz!

Hooray for Wednesday! Only two more days til the 3-day weekend! In celebration of such awesomeness, I made another purple smoothie- but this one was better. The Banana Blueberry Blitz was delicious and quite a hit!

Pretty purple, huh? Can you tell purple's my favorite color? The siblings loved it too, almost as much as they love their Cupcake Wars.

We love our Cupcake Wars. Today's was about "The Closer's" 100 episode. Anyways, the smoothie was pretty easy- these were the only ingredients (except the milk. I always forget something for the ingredients picture!) 

I didn't use my Smoothie Guideline for this, I found it in a smoothie recipe book. Here's the recipe up close.

I actually used 1 cup of yogurt and one cup of milk, i wish I hadn't because I love my smoothies thick. All in all, the Banana Blueberry Blitz was delicious, and super easy to make. 

Thanks for tuning in to my blog, Shakes and Cakes! See you Saturday!

How in the world did these cupcakes turn out okay?

So, today's Sweet Tooth Saturday, and I made the most amazing and messy cupcakes ever with my sister Tatum ... Cookies and Cream Cupcakes! Yumminess! 

Thanks to my lovely baking assistant, Tatum, it was fun, but not much faster! 

First we okay, I misread the recipe. It showed all the dry ingredients to pour in but the wet ingredients were directly underneath. So the eggs and the oil might have ended up in the dry ingredients, but it tasted delicious so um... i guess it's okay to mix wet and dry ingredients? Not sure... Ha! And did you know that a 1 lb. of powdered sugar looks very much like 1 cup of it? Just saying... the frosting tasted only of shortening until Mom was curious why it didn't make so much... yep, apparently a cup of powdered sugar doesn't make as much as a pound. Well, in the end Mom fixed it and Saturday was quite tasty. Because you put a whole Oreo cookie at the bottom of the cupcake liner, you get a little "oreo" logo pop out of the bottom of the cupcake. Don't believe me? I took a picture!

Pretty awesome, huh? Carter really loved the batter...

Oh yeah. Yummy. I had to protect the Oreo's on Friday so I left a little note...

If you can't read it, it says "Don't even think about eating/opening these cookies or else you don't get a cookies and cream cupcake* -Hannah P.S. I'm watching you..." You really have to guard something like oreo cookies in a healthy family. *I just noticed i wrote 'cookies and cream cookie' instead of cupcake. So, all in all, I learned i should really read recipes better and all the way through, and they were pretty fun to make. I think the whole family will like them, but it was super easy to make. Here's all the ingredients I used just for the cakes. The frosting had shortening, powdered sugar, milk, and cookie crumbs.

Have a great weekend everyone, and thanks again Tate for the help! Here's the recipe from Bakerella.com.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup hot water
24 Oreos, plus more for crumbs

Frosting:
1 cup shortening
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-6 Tablespoons milk
2 or more teaspoons Oreo cookie crumbs

For the cupcakes:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line tray with 12 baking cups.
• Place one whole cookie in each cup or break apart at least 12 cookies and place the broken pieces into each cup.
• Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl using a wire whisk.
• Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and milk and mix well until thoroughly combined. Add the hot water and mix until combined.
• Transfer the batter (it will be very liquid) to a large measuring cup and then pour batter into each baking cup so it’s about three quarters full. You should have a little left over.
• Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Makes at least 12 cupcakes

For the frosting:

• Beat the shortening in a mixer until smooth.
• Add vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the powdered sugar in three additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
• Add a Tablespoon of milk at a time and mix together until you achieve the consistency you like.
• Add the cookie crumbs and mix until completely combined. You can add more if you like, but I just wanted a light speckling to show off the white frosting.
• Place frosting in a decorator bag with a 1M tip and swirl on top of each cupcake.
• Insert a cookie on top of each cupcake.
• You can also apply frosting on each cupcake in a mounded shape. Turn upside down and roll the top around in a small bowl of cookie crumbs to coat.

Note: If you choose to pile the frosting on high like I’ve shown here, you should double this recipe to make sure you have enough.

Wednesday Smoothie... The Strueberry!

To complete this wonderful Wednesday, I thought a fruity smoothie might be appropriate for this week's delightful drink! I don't know about you, but school is back in session for us and I'm grateful for barely any homework today! Today's grand smoothie is.... (if the title didn't give it away)... the Strueberry!

Ta-da! I love using blueberries in my smoothies because it has tons of antioxidants and the color purple it makes is my favorite! From the title, you could probably tell what was in it- strawberries, blueberries, apple juice, milk and ice! It's that easy! And delicious! I used the "Quick and Easy Smoothie Guide" for this smoothie and pretty much all my smoothies. Here's how I made this one-

<- Lots of ice!

                                                                                

Here's all the ingredients- frozen fruit, apple juice, ice, and milk!                                                              ->

                                                                                        

<- I can't get my smoothies to look awesome and layered like Missy's, but here's everything in the blender.

Almost mixed up, but I needed more liquid to make the strawberries go down ->

<- Here's the smoothie- all mixed up!

They were really yummy! ->

                                                                                      

<- You know you want a sip...

Well, everybody loved the smoothies, but I think I'm going to try a "Green Machine" (kind of like the Naked juice brand one) next time. If any of you guys have a recipe to try I'll make it next Wednesday! Don't forget- Sweet Tooth Saturday is coming up! Can't wait! What do you think of Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies? Yeah, my mouth's watering. 

Quick and Easy Smoothie Guideline

* = optional

1/2 cup of ice

2 cups of juice

1 1/2 cup of frozen fruit

1/2 cup of yogurt or milk

*sprinkle of spinach (don't worry, you can't even taste it!)

*sherbet (for a creamier smoothie)

1. Just throw in all the ingredients in the blender

2. The blender will do the rest for you, but it might take longer because of the frozen fruit. If it won't budge, stop the blender and add more liquid, probably juice.

3. Serve in cups with straws, enjoy!

I use this recipe for all my smoothies and make a different kind every time. All of these measurements are just what me and my family prefer, you may find you prefer more liquid, less ice, or more fruit and and way less yogurt. It's up to you, and the combinations are totally endless. A strawberry blueberry smoothie comes from the same recipe as a carrot-spinach booster smoothie. Have fun smoothieing! 

Post 1, And Hopefully Many More to Come!

Hooray! I'm an official blogger! My name is Hannah, I'm 13 years old and I finally started my blog. For the blog, I'm thinking Sweet Tooth Saturdays and Wednesday Smoothies, and a little bit about me and my crazy family and friends in between. I love cupcakes thanks to a giant sweet tooth, and I love smoothies for the vitamins and all the awesome combinations. Some other things I do to burn off all I eat with my time are running, weight training, and I'm attempting a short triathlon next month. I also love to hang out with my silly family. I would love for you guys to tell me about some of your smoothie and cupcake recipes as I'd love to try them out! Thanks for hanging around at Shakes and Cakes!