Vanilla Bean Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream

Finals week. My head head hurts, my desk looks like my locker threw up on it, and r=sin3theta, my chronological list of presidents of the United States, and the equations for determining potential and kinetic energy are all starting to run together. It's been a horrid week for everyone in my year, and I can't tell you how many times my cramming has led to nervous breakdowns over the past few days. On Friday, though I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party, I came home and did my best to calm down by working on this fruity, chocolaty, delicious ice cream. It tastes so much like summer that I think it made me forget about school and finals and De Moivre's nth powers theorem. At least for a little bit.

Caramel Cherry Mini Tartlets

Let me begin this post by saying that I hate living in the North. Not a very positive way to start a post, but hear me out. I can't stand the cold (the temperature drops below sixty degrees and I automatically catch a cold), the short days and long nights, or the fact that winter up here last for five months at the least. However, some of the few wonderful things about the North that I grudgingly admit to appreciating are the berries. Blackberries, mulberries, raspberries (my favorite!), and cherries all grow if not in our neighborhood, then close to us throughout the city and its outskirts. We're actually lucky enough to have a massive cherry tree in our backyard, which this year is absolutely loaded down with fruit. You'll often see me picking around the yard for ripe cherries that the birds haven't gotten to yet. With the abundance of fruit this year, I made some wonderful caramel and cherry mini tartlets.

Sour Cream Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream

Sour cream cake + dulce de leche + buttercream = yeah, I'm proud of this one.

2010 Patanegra Tapas Competition Winner: "Magdalenas de la Mancha": Honey Cupcakes with Almond Buttercream and Marzipan Bulls

Here it is! I'm just a few weeks late, but I promised a post on the tapas competition for which I won best dessert and best presentation (though they could only give me the prize for best presentation, since I won in two categories...harumph), and I'm finally getting it up. My entry consisted of "Magdalenas de la Mancha": honey cupcakes with almond buttercream and handmade marzipan bulls.

Prom Pancakes

It's hard to believe that last night was my junior prom. It seems like yesterday that I was in middle school vowing that I would never be silly enough to wear an evening gown and let a boy tie a corsage around my wrist. But my mind has certainly changed since then, and this year, being a junior, I attended our school's prom. Afterwards, a bunch of friends slept over. I woke everyone with a delicious chocolate chip pancake breakfast after our approximated four hours of sleep.

"Where the Wild Things Are" Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake

My really close friend's birthday was on Friday. Now, this boy loves Reese's cups, to the point where one of our friends just gave him a bag of king-sized packs of the candy for his present and he was overjoyed about it. Another thing he loves is the children's book Where the Wild Things Are, and I knew that putting the character Max, wearing his pajamas and jumping about in his "wild rumpus," on a chocolate and peanut butter cake would make him smile.

2010 Concurso Tapas Patanegra WINNER: Best Dessert and Best Presentation

Last night I won for "Best Presentation" and "Best Dessert" at the annual Patanegra Tapas Competition! The full story, recipes, and lots of pictures as soon as I get them off of everybody else's cameras!