As I’ve worked on cakes and cookies over the years, I’ve had many instances where painting on cookies or pieces of fondant makes so much more sense than making 6 bags of different colored icings, or piping tiny details.
 
I quickly got sick of attempting to paint directly with food dye, which can easily end up way too dark, and is difficult to control. So I experimented over the years and developed this simple recipe that works much more like an actual paint! ​

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I’m so happy to share with you the first recipe that I can satisfactorily say I invented!
I was inspired by a buttercream I tasted at work. I loved the flavor, but the dessert was just sooo rich in cupcake form.

I thought it might be perfect if it was cold, so I wanted to try using the same flavors in ice cream. I scribbled out an outline of a promising recipe in a notebook and then did nothing about it for two years. That’s just what I do! 

I finally got around to making it, and wow, Past Julie was onto something! These are wonderfully rich, but the cold keeps the flavor from being overwhelming, and the Oreos give it a nice crunch.​

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I love me some French toast! If I'm going out for breakfast, it's almost a guarantee that that's what I'm ordering, with a side of bacon of course.

I've been thinking for a while about how to make a French toast cake and so far any recipe I found just involved adding an extra egg or two and some cinnamon and calling it a day. That sounds okay, but French toast has so much to do with the texture, so just adjusting the flavor doesn't quite do it for me.

But then I realized we've all been thinking about this the wrong way...why are we not just French toasting the cake itself??

So I gave it a shot using my vanilla cake. I was totally prepared for it to completely fall apart or to end up a soggy disaster, but no, it was perfect. <3

This recipe is based on my chocolate chip recipe, but as a non-chocoholic, I actually like these more! They’re perfect for when you’re kind of craving a chocolate chip cookie, but also want to break up the monotony.

They are rich and chewy and also freeze very well. 

One of my sisters isn’t big on sweets, but I gave her some of these months back and now she’s insisting I post the recipe ASAP, so yeah, they’re pretty good. 

I absolutely love icing sugar cookies. There’s something so satisfying about creating mini works of art.

I’ll never forget the first time I ate a specially decorated cookie...and the total disappointment. Dry and crunchy, without much flavor. Why go to all the trouble of decorating something that doesn’t even taste that good in the end? 

If you like royal icing, keep doing what you’re doing! But if you’re looking for an alternative icing that doesn’t sacrifice taste for beauty, then this one is for you! This icing is so delicious in combination with my sugar cookie recipe that I have to stop my husband from going back for thirds, and fourths, and fifths!
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This glaze icing dries hard so cookies can easily be stacked or bagged without ruining the design. It’s still somehow soft and melts in your mouth when you bite into it. And very importantly, it can still do most designs that royal can do, as long as they are 2 dimensional.

​While being break-resistant, they are still surprisingly soft and chewy. When combined with my Honey Glaze Cookie Icing, they make for a delicious, addicting treat! 

This is my favorite chocolate cake ever! 

Here it is pictured with my raspberry cream cheese frosting (that I will definitely be posting at a later date). Isn't it beautiful?

I came by this recipe a few years back and did some small adjusting to make it easier to make. It has a rich milk chocolate flavor that is enhanced by several secret ingredients -- Jell-O pudding mix, sour cream, and coffee!

It seems like the easiest thing in the world, but if you find yourself here, you know that might not be the case. I’ve taken a while to find a vanilla cake recipe I can stand by. I’ve tried adjusting box mixes with bland results. I’ve tried many blog recipes here or there that just didn’t do the trick. I thought I found my go-to recipe that I could eat every day for the rest of my life, but every time I made it, the cakes would sink so badly in the middle. I’d end up needing to bake extra layers because I lost so much cake due to sinkage!

I had a great chocolate cake recipe that came out amazing every time, so finally I decided to see if I could make up a vanilla cake recipe based on my chocolate cake recipe, and omg I’m mad I didn’t think of it sooner!

This cake comes out so fluffy, moist, and flavorful, thanks to the addition of vanilla pudding mix and sour cream.

This is a project that I've been dreaming of for a few years now, but only decided about a year ago to put into action. I've done so much preparing over the past months and am so excited to finally put this out there and begin!

I have an artistic background and was always good at drawing and painting, but honestly never felt particularly creative. I never felt like I had anything to say with my art or add to the world. I had the skills but lacked the passion.

I'm not sure what it is about cake that makes me tick that I never got out of fine art. Maybe it's the low stakes. At the end of the day, you just have to make sure it tastes good. Everyone will tell you it looks great anyway ;) Part of it might be the more immediate gratification. I don't want to spend months or years on a painting; I want my art done now! 

Whatever it is, I've been itching to do so much more with my work than I've previously had the opportunity to do and I want to share my work and everything I've learned with anyone who is interested!

Stick around to learn new recipes, original cake and cookie designs and techniques, and get inspired for your next baking and decorating projects!