Wedding Cake

May 1, 2012 By

HEY! What did y’all do this past weekend? I made my very first wedding cake!! And then on Sunday I took a much needed two hour nap. Ahhh. I have been stressing about doing a wedding cake since the bride contacted me months ago. Granted, I grew up with her and she knew it was my first wedding cake… plus she’s super laid back and cool. However, it was still her big day and I didn’t want to be the one to eff it up.

The weird thing was that all last week while prepping I was completely calm. I didn’t even stay up past 10pm on ANY of the nights I worked. That NEVER happens. I’m usually up until 1am finishing up cakes. I was able to get everything done and all I had to do on the day of the wedding was stack the tiered cake. (She also ordered two huge sheet cakes).

The only time I was stressed was driving the cake to the venue and then carrying it up to the cake table. I just had visions of tripping or something going horribly wrong! But thankfully, I had Ben to help me with his strong arms! (Big shout out to my sister for watching Molly!)

I just have to say that I am very proud of myself and am excited to take this big step in my cake career. :)

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Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

February 15, 2012 By

If you are new here I would like to welcome you to What’s Cookin’ Wednesday! Every Wednesday I share a recipe with my readers. Excuse me, a DELICIOUS recipe! And I think this is my most delicious recipe find yet!

Every Valentine’s Day my husband and I make a yummy dinner and a decadent dessert. However, this year we ended up going out to dinner over the weekend while my sister babysat and we didn’t ever discuss what to make on VDay. I decided to surprise Ben with these cupcakes! (I also made Turkey & White Bean Chili… recipe for another day). He almost left me to marry these cupcakes. They are THAT good.

He took them into work today and already IMed me at 8:15am to tell me how much everyone loves my cupcakes. So, if you need to wow someone then I highly suggest making these! They are chocolatey, moist and have the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor. Warning – if you are against using cake mixes than this recipe isn’t for you, but seriously you should get over that because these cupcakes are worth it!

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes  by Picky Palate

  • 1 box devils food cake mix
  • 1 small box instant chocolate pudding
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 15 ounce can pumpkin (reserving 2 Tablespoons for buttercream)
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare your cupcake trays with liners.

2. In a stand or electric mixer, place cake mix, pudding mix, oil, buttermilk, eggs, sour cream, can of pumpkin and chocolate chips. Mix all ingredients until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners. Be careful not to overfill! Bake for 15-20 mins. I suggest setting the timer to 15 mins and then testing with a toothpick. Do not over bake! My oven took 18 mins for perfect cupcakes!

Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons reserved pumpkin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Place butter, pumpkin and cinnamon into stand or electric mixer. Mix on high until well combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar until thick and creamy. Slowly add the milk until buttercream is a nice consistency. Frost over cooled cupcakes.

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Cakes

January 27, 2012 By

No words today… just yummy, beautiful cakes.  :)

monkey smash cake

elmo smash cake

Yes, I made these.

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What I Did Today

January 26, 2012 By

So, it’s 6:30pm and I haven’t blogged. However, I have:

  • made a batch of buttercream
  • iced two cakes
  • taken two separate trips to the airport – one to drop off Ben (I miss him already!) and one to drop off my mom and stepdad.
  • let the dog out twice
  • fed the “baby” (toddler?) more times than I can count
  • went to the cake shop to stock up on supplies
  • watched Sesame Street
  • played with blocks
  • read books
  • scarfed down a salad
  • skipped the gym, yet again, because Molly is still getting over her cold (i’m dying to get back in the gym!!!)
  • caught up on Google Reader and Facebook
  • chatted with two friends via telephone. (I NEVER talk on the phone)
  • done a load of laundry
  • pitched some writing ideas to my new endeavor (soon to be announced!!)
  • fed the dog
  • put the baby to bed
  • cooked my own meal (currently in the oven – salmon in a tin foil pouch seasoned with salt, dill, garlic powder and topped with sliced lemon and a teaspoon of butter… which I’ll eat with a side of veggies that I also fed Molly earlier. YUM!)
  • had a glass of wine

Phew. I’m tired. And I still have to eat my dinner, walk the dog, finish decorating both cakes (Elmo and a monkey), make cookies and prep the crock pot dinner for tomorrow night. Well, I don’t have to do those last two things, but I really want to!

Here’s a sneak peek of the cakes I’m currently working on!

Smash Cakes

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Noms Update

December 15, 2011 By

It’s been awhile since I gave you some Noms to look at and since Molly has decided to skip her morning nap, it’s the perfect opportunity! You see, typically I blog during her morning nap, which gives me plenty of time to blab on and on. But, right now, she’s sitting in my lap and I’m distracting her with everything I can reach to keep her from banging on the keyboard. I think it’s time to start storing up my blog posts for days like these!

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Cake Pops are all the rage right now. I love the final product, but I hate getting there. They are super time consuming and often frustrating, however, they come with the custom dessert territory. These pops were fall-themed. I LOVED how they turned out.

fallcakepopss2

Here they are all “dressed” up at the party with the other goodies (not made by me):

fallcakepops

These are some pops I made for a recent baby shower. They make great party favors!

pinkcakepops

Cupcakes are always fun. Can you guess which movie these came from?

toystorycupcakes

Give up? Toy Story!

Now my most favorite things to work on…. CAKES!  This was a recent groom’s cake. He’s a big Packer’s fan.

Packers Collage

Mini cakes are always a big hit — as smash cakes or just little pretty cakes on a dessert table.

       minicakes 

And of course… the ever popular fondant cakes. I’m not quite yet covering cakes in fondant, but I am doing fondant details.

CrabCakeMaster

fallthemed

 

bananacake

Are you hungry yet? Stop by my place and I’ll have some Noms for ya! I’m actually about to start my Christmas Cookie baking. I’ll have more pics for you soon!

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I Love My Sponsors!

November 18, 2011 By

My blog takes a lot of time… don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love blogging, but in order for me to justify that time, I decided to take on sponsors.  Plus, sponsors are awesome and often times give you (my readers) free stuff!!  And who doesn’t like free stuff?

So without further ado, let me introduce you to my amazing sponsors!

  • Emma, the friendly marketplace, is a brand new FREE iPhone app where moms can easily create a private market- or meeting-place for playgroups, kids sports gatherings, school fundraisers and more. Unlike other generic mass market classified websites, Emma allows moms to know and select whom they are selling that baby item to, or meeting for playgroup, or exchanging children’s clothes with – before they even meet. And, by leveraging the power of the social Facebook network, they can quickly spread the word about their listing. Right now Emma is having a huge sweepstakes where you can win a $700 gift card!  So hurry up and download the app!

 

  • The Dryer Ate My Knickers is my hilarious sister’s blog.  She will make you pee your pants with her wit.  Plus, she has a really cute dog, Oliver, that you should go check out.

 

  • The Momma Bird is an awesome fellow mommy blogger that has helped navigate me through this crazy fun mommy blog world. Right now I’m enjoying her Thankfulness Series which is quite fitting for Thanksgiving. She always has awesome giveaways, so why don’t you go enter?!

 

  • Noms by Nikki is my custom dessert business. If you live in the greater Washington DC area and are in need of a delicious dessert I will work one-on-one with you to design and plan whatever it is your heart desires! Each confection is made-to-order with a lot of patience and love so not only do they look great, but they taste even better.  Check out my recent creations on Facebook.

 

  • Sisung-Callura Designs is an AMAZING Etsy shop filled with beautiful quilts, bibs, hats and totes.  I have ordered her quilts as gifts for all my friends and their new babies.  I also have a quilt for Molly and a few bibs.  I LOVE that everything is machine washable!

 

  • Did you know that Loudoun County is one of the few counties in the DC area that doesn’t have full day kindergarten?  Because of this, LoCo teacher, Alyssa Rudat, decided to start a kindergarten enrichment program, Here We Grow, where you can send your child for the other half of their day!  She’s amazing and I will be sending Molly there when she’s old enough!
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Skins Extravaganza Update

October 18, 2011 By

I promised y’all photos of the dessert bar I set up for the Extravaganza this year.  So here they are!

Redskins Extravaganza DessertsThe spread!

Extravaganza Dessert Table

The cake is devil’s food with cream cheese buttercream.  I also made pumpkin whoopie pies, oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies and two flavors of cake pops: red velvet & yellow cake.  I made chocolate dipped strawberry footballs as well, however I didn’t capture them on camera because they were melting in the sun. oops!

If you are interested in a dessert bar at your next event just shoot me an email at Novamomblog@gmail.com and we’ll talk!

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I’m Still Here!

June 13, 2011 By

Don’t worry readers!  I’m still around, I just took some time off to travel and then I had some baking to get done.  Are y’all getting ready for Father’s Day?  I’ll have a few goodies for you soon.  :)

 

Check out the cake I spent this past weekend working on:

Penn State Cake

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Noms by Nikki Custom Desserts

June 3, 2011 By

Those that know me know that I love baking and all things delicious.  I have officially decided I need to share this love! So, if you live in the MD/DC/VA area and want something pretty and delicious for your event contact me and we’ll talk!

My Facebook page – Noms by Nikki

Here’s a sample of my work :)

birthday cake pops

Birthday Cake Pops

Cake with Royal Icing Flowers

Cake with Royal Icing Flowers

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