Chocolate Toffee Truffle Cupcakes

When it comes to cake decorating, I far prefer working with tall, elegant layer cakes over cupcakes, but sometimes an idea just seems to work better in cupcake form.  Not to mention, it's good practice to pipe on all that buttercream and try out different techniques with piping tips I rarely use.  Although, admittedly, I still tend to stick with the ones I've mastered.

Easter Bunny Coconut Cake and Decoupaged Eggs

Our baby is too little for an Easter basket, but in a year or two, it will be so much fun to start our own Easter traditions with him, with egg hunts in the back yard, decorating Easter eggs, baking a cute bunny cake together, and seeing him wake up to a little basket of treats and toys at the foot of his bed.

For this year's Easter cake, I decided on a more simple and elegant design for a bunny cake, and I just adore how it turned out.  I started by baking my white chocolate coconut pound cake and frosted it with fluffy almond buttercream and toasted coconut...

Banana Coconut Cream Popsicles

Our apple tree is in full bloom, and every gust of wind sends a sprinkling of white petals over the grass.  I so wish that the tree produced apples; how fun would it be to pick apples in the fall in our own backyard?

After the chill of morning wears off, I take our baby outside to inspect the progress of all our trees and plants, and he wants to touch everything he can reach.  The blooms on the lilac bushes are getting ready to open, and the rhubarb, sage and parsley are poking through the dirt in the small corner garden...

A Half Birthday

Who would have thought so much could change in six months?  But that's all it's taken for the tiny little baby we brought home to grow into such a sweet little boy with the most adorable squeaky giggle and happy, silly personality.