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I’m going to blame it on Pinterest…

You know the feeling that what you are doing just isn’t adequate? That feeling. This Halloween, that feeling is thanks to Pinterest.

I volunteered to make the snack for my son’s 4th grade Halloween party. I’m a simple gal when it comes to baking and treats. I have no talent when it comes to decorating fancy cookies. I’m not a creative crafter. And I sure as heck can’t turn a blob of fondant into something fancy like a pumpkin patch.

So, last night, after fretting all week about what to make, and wishing I lived back in the days when a sucker wrapped in tissue with eyes marked on it with pen was fancy, I decided to just do something simple and make cupcakes. Not even cupcakes that look like jack-o-lanterns… simple, plain, white cupcakes with orange butter cream frosting.

Oh, and I sampled them to make sure… you know… they were decent enough to feed 4th graders. They were delicious. I bet that’s more than can be said for some of those fancy Pinterest treats. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I like to say I’m setting the bar low to make other mom’s feel good about themselves. That’s why I do what I do and go the simple route. I’d hate to be responsible for the over achieving behavior caused by creating elaborate treats no one can replicate. Sounds like a good enough reason to go simple to me!

If you too want to go plain and simple, you can find the recipe for Millie’s White Wedding Cake on my past blog post. Also, Amanda has a pretty darn good buttercream recipe that really can’t be beat.

The post Blame It On Pinterest {Recipe: Millie’s White Cupcakes} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

I had the grandest of plans for blogging the first week of the year. I had ideas running through my head, cool things to implement and fun stuff up my sleeve. You know what happened though? Life… yep. Good old life. For the first time in ages, I’ve actually felt like a stay at home mom this week and I kind of surprised myself by loving it. I didn’t work. I didn’t blog. I didn’t do any of my freelance work. Instead? We had playdates and shopping fun and art projects and cooking. We vegged out and watched movies, we read books, we truly soaked each other up and enjoyed the days as they unfolded… each new and totally unplanned before us.

I’m not going to feel a bit guilty about it either.

So, instead of a grandious post today, I’m going to share a few things with you that I’ve fallen in love with over the past few weeks.

First of all, have I introduced you to my new personal photography site, A Photo Journey with Dine & Dish? I am loving this beautiful site, designed by the abundantly talented, Debbie Tortorigi of Lagniappe Marketing. She took this, “I want a place to store my photos for Project 365” and turned it into this incredible site that I absolutely adore. It feeds my passion like nothing else ever has. I hope you’ll become a regular visitor and get a glimpse into my daily life outside of food blogging. You can subscribe to the RSS Feed here or catch regular updates on my Facebook Page, Flickr and Twitter.

Next, I have a newish friend I want to introduce you to. I have a guest post up today over at the blog Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. If you like pee your pants, laugh out loud funny, head on over to read some of Kristan’s posts. She’ll have you spitting your morning coffee out all over your screen. On her site I shared a delicious White Wedding Cake recipe. At the end of this post, you can check out the White Wedding Cake Buttercream Frosting that goes perfectly with it!

Last couple of things… this week I officially began my Happiness Project. Next week, a group of friends and I will get together for our first monthly Happiness Project get together. I can’t wait because reading this book has completely changed the way I look at everyday life. Most of my friends and I have all made the same comment… “I feel like the author has written everything that is in my mind. I could have written this book.” Check out the book and start your own Happiness Project!

If you are looking for a completely inspiring, fun, gorgeous blog to read (non-food), my new favorite is Enjoying the Small Things by Kelle Hampton. She’s been blogging for awhile, has beautiful photography and her outtake on life is inspiring. Hope you’ll hop over and take a look.

Finally, I’ve been admiring the photography of Sadie Olive for such a long time now (and I noticed she took Marla’s family pictures, which turned out gorgeous.) Little did I know that Sadie has an Etsy store with incredible vintage finds. Looking for some food photography props? I bet you’ll have a hard time not finding something you love in her Etsy shop!

Well, that’s it for me. Totally random post, I know, but that’s just how I’m feeling today! Enjoy… oh and thank you for your support of my “nakedness” the other day. It truly is wonderful to have you all cheering me on and some of you are even joining me along the way! Happy day!

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White Wedding Cake Buttercream Frosting

Perfect White Wedding Cake Frosting

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white shortening
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract using non-clear will give your frosting a light brownish tint
• 8 cups confectioners' sugar

Instructions

• Cream together butter and shortening until smooth. Slowly add the milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. Continue beating on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post White Wedding Cake Buttercream Frosting appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Armed with just about every tip and tool and gadget you need to decorate a cake (because, you know… if you are going to pick up a hobby, you must own everything there is to own in association with it, right?) I went to my first class. The class was taught by a lady named Millie. Millie seemed 800 years old and had been decorating wedding cakes and party cakes professionally for 50 years. She was about as sweet as they come.

Cake decorating did not come easy for me. I even struggled with just getting the base frosting on the cake without getting crumbs in the frosting. Millie taught me well though, and I kept plugging through the class, bringing home cakes I wasn’t totally embarrassed to show everyone. Then, the final two classes came about and we set out to learn how to make roses and flowers. Patiently, Millie helped me, guiding me with each stroke of my tip… and with each completed flower, I looked down and would see a head of cabbage. Not a rose, not a flower… a giant head of cabbage. For the life of me, I could NOT master creating frosting flowers. I tried, Millie tried with me, and it just wasn’t happening. The things I were creating could barely even pass as a head of cabbage if I wanted to make some kind of produce related theme cake (and there is such a thing, if you were wondering)!

My cake decorating skills have not improved, at all. I can bake the cake, I can most certainly eat the cake, but I can not decorate the cake past slapping some frosting on and adding sprinkles. My kids don’t seem to mind. Thank goodness I’ve raised them to have low expectations of their mom 😉

Jacob’s 8th birthday was this past week and he asked for wedding cake cupcakes (aka the kind of cake we eat at weddings…white with white frosting). I gladly obliged, pulling out Millie’s recipe which is the best I’ve had. It does use a boxed cake mix but trust me on this one… you will be hard pressed to find a white cake with a better flavor or crumb.

Oh – and the picture above of the wrecked cupcake? You can find the back story on that on my Flickr page!

Millie’s White Wedding Cake

• 2 (18 ounce) boxes white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 2 cups sour cream
• 8 large egg whites

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, until fully incorporated.

Pour into greased and floured cake pans or cupcake liners, filling each slightly over half full.

Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.

Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.

Baking time varies according to the size and depth of pans being used.

(For cupcakes, I bake at 325 for approximately 18 minutes… test with a toothpick to make sure though!)

I used this recipe on Recipezaar for the frosting – yum!

The post Cake Decorating Woes (Recipe – Millie’s White Wedding Cake) appeared first on Dine and Dish.