What's Up, Dr. Seuss?

The holidays are over and I'm still exhausted, you? No matter how much time I have off, this year I was fortunate enough to have 4 days (win!), I'm always tired afterward. I don't know if it's the travel, all the holiday preparations (baking, shopping, etc.) or just that I'm getting older (ah!), but, I'm pooped. I need a vacation. As always this holiday season I was busy baking, but had all of my Christmas baking done about a week before C-Day so I could get all my cookie gifts put together and distributed before the holiday. Normally once I'm done with Christmas baking I'm done for the year. I like to give myself a little baking vacation since getting ready for Christmas is so much work. However, this year, I got a very special baking request that was due two days before Christmas. Although I knew it would be a busy time, I'm not one to turn down a friend, or the opportunity to make a little extra cash. I did do a lot of Christmas shopping this year!

A co-worker of mine asked me to make birthday cakes and cupcakes for his 3 children. They all have birthdays within a week of each other. The kicker is they're all the same week as Christmas give or take a day or two. Pretty amazing planning if you ask me. They were planning a party for December 23 and asked me for three 6-inch cakes and 40 cupcakes with a Dr. Seuss theme. They sent me all the specifics, chocolate cakes with vanilla buttercream, 20 chocolate and 20 red velvet cupcakes, as well as some details of what they were thinking for each cake. Cat in the Hat, Lorax and One Fish, Two Fish. With their suggestions and the help of Google, I mapped out my ideas and was ready to get to work.

I used the same trusty chocolate cake recipe I use every time someone asks for chocolate cake. It's my favorite and so far it's been a success. I made the cupcakes first, starting with the red velvet. Since everything else was going to be chocolate, I wanted to get the odd flavor out, out of the way. For the red velvet, I used this recipe from the lovely Paula Deen. I've used this recipe several times before and have always had great results with it. Plus, I love Paula. Who doesn't? I'm talking to you Anthony Bourdain. Once the red velvet batter was ready I baked 12 cupcakes at a time, thankfully I have 2 cupcake pans which made this process go much faster.

While the red velvet cupcakes were baking I started on the chocolate cake batter. I made a double batch of the chocolate cake thinking that at the very least it would get me 20 cupcakes and maybe one 6-inch cake, and it did. If memory serves me correctly, I even had a little batter left over. Once the red velvet cupcakes were done the chocolate cupcakes went into the oven. I did the cupcakes first because they have a shorter baking time than the cakes and this way the batter would sit out for the shortest amount of time possible.

Once the chocolate cupcakes were set I made a single batch of the chocolate cake batter for the remaining two 6-inch cakes. I had more than enough batter overall and ended up getting a couple extra cupcakes that I took into work the next day to get rid of. Each cake took about 50 minutes to bake, so it was a lot of waiting, but it didn't matter. While everything was baking I worked on making the fondant. I made 4 colors (white, yellow, red and orange) and ended up having way more than I needed. But, I'd rather have too much, than not enough. After Day 1 of cake making, I had 3 cakes, 40+ cupcakes, and 4 colors of fondant ready to go for Day 2.

On Day 2 I started working as soon as I got up because I wanted to be done as soon as possible. Day 2 took much longer than I thought it would. I knew it would take awhile, but I didn't think it would take as long as it did. I think I worked from 10a-4p give or take a half an hour. When you add that to the 5 hours of baking and fondant making the day before, it's a lot. Maybe I'm still tired from all of that?

So, Day 2, or decorating day started with making all the frosting. First, I made the cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cupcakes. I only needed one batch of that, and again, it was the odd man out so I wanted to get it out of the way. Everything else was going to be vanilla buttercream. To frost the cupcakes I used my icing gun with a star tip to make them look nice, and I bought a rainbow assortment of sprinkles. I thought bold colors were the most appropriate for Dr. Seuss. I also bought bold colored Wilton wrappers for the cupcakes. I was going for fun and kid friendly.

After the red velvet cupcakes were set I started on the vanilla buttercream frosting. I ended up making 2 double batches (I should mention, I used my stand mixer for everything, other than the fondant, for this entire project) just to make sure I would have enough. I had more than enough. I probably could have gotten away with 1 1/2 batches. Live and learn.

I frosted the cupcakes first employing the same method I did for the red velvet cupcakes. I wanted everything to be consistent. Once the cupcakes were all set and tucked into their respective boxes I went to work on frosting the cakes. I like to put the cakes in the fridge before I frost them because it makes it easier and helps to minimize the crumbs. The crumb layer is already a pain, but I like to make it as painless as possible. After each crumb layer I returned the cakes to the fridge so the icing could firm up a little and make the second layer easier to apply so everything would be smooth. After the icing of the first cake had set, I started working on the fondant for it. Cake number 1 was Cat in the Hat.

This was the hardest design for me to come up with because to me Cat in the Hat is so simple. There's not really much to do with it other than the obvious. I new I wanted to portray the hat somehow, but I also knew I didn't have the skill to make anything look like the cat. Working with only one layer also limited what I could do. They had suggested kites and perhaps adding some blue polka dots so I tried to work in all three of those elements.

Here's what I came up with. While it is plain, I was ultimately pretty happy with it. It wasn't my favorite of the bunch, but I thought it was cute and fit the criteria.

Cake number 2 was The Lorax. They sent me suggestions for colors, green, orange and truffula (I think I spelled that right) trees. I confess, I knew what the Lorax was, but I had to Google truffula trees, I had no idea what they were. It's been more than a couple years since my Dr. Seuss days, and since I don't have any kids yet, I don't feel that I should know what they are. After my Google searching I knew what I wanted to do. This design was actually the easiest for me to come up with, so it would obviously be the one that took the most time to execute. I knew I wanted to do the face of the Lorax on the top and on the sides I would do truffula trees going around.

It took forever, but this was the cake I was the most proud of and was the most work. I think if I were to do this one again I would add some outlines, but truth be told, I was already tired and I still had one cake left to go.

Cake number 3 was One Fish, Two Fish. One Fish, Two Fish I am familiar with and didn't need to do any Google search to know what I was dealing with, but I did just for research purposes. I also came up with the design I wanted for this one pretty quickly as well. I also took the time to print out shapes of the fish so I could cut them out of fondant and put then on the cake. That little dream didn't come true. After several failed attempts to "trace" and cut the fish out of fondant, I gave up. I either don't have the right tools, or this is just something that can't be done. For a few minutes I panicked because I didn't know what I was going to do. I couldn't have a One Fish, Two Fish cake with no fish. That wasn't going to work. I also knew that I wasn't going to be successful at cutting out the fish and if they didn't look like the actual fish the cake was going to look stupid. Then a little light bulb went off and I thought, why not just "glue" the fish I cut out onto the cake? Sure, it's not cake, but, it will look much better than anything I'm going to be able to figure out. And, just to clear things up, my glue, was frosting.

Honestly, I loved it. I felt a little bit like a cheated because it wasn't all edible, but at the same time, I couldn't argue with how great it looked and I knew that no matter what I tried to do, it wasn't going to look nearly as good as anything else I was going to come up with. And, overall, the client and the kids were happy, which is all that really matters.

As always, there is a lesson I take away from each of my experiences in baking for a "client" and in this case it was that no matter how much I plan out my designs and what I want to do, there is always going to be something that isn't going to work as I envisioned it would. But, don't panic, just take a breath, use your brain and try to come up with a solution. I was truly in a panic about One Fish, Two Fish. On the brink of considering a small cry in frustration fest, but I got it together and figured out something that would work. Go me, and may your 2013 bring you moments of enlightenment as well.

2 For the Price of 1

Merry Christmas! In the spirit of the holiday and the notion that it's better to give than it is to receive, I'm giving you my final 2 Christmas cookie recipes to finish off what has been my Christmas cookie extravaganza. Hope you've enjoyed your holiday and the cookies that I've made to go along with it. First up...

Gingerbread Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1/3 cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

decorating sugar or sprinkles (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients; mix just until dough forms. Divide dough in half; place each half on a piece of lightly floured plastic wrap; pat each half into a 4-inch square. Wrap well; chill until firm, 1 to 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Working with one half at a time (keeping other half wrapped and refrigerated), place dough on lightly floured parchment or waxed paper; roll out 1/4-inch thick, turning, lifting and lightly flouring dough (and rolling pin) as necessary. Using paper, lift dough onto a baking sheet; freeze (on paper) until firm, about 20 minutes.

3. Remove from baking sheet. Using a long offset spatula, loosen dough from paper. Cut out shapes and transfer to baking sheets. Brush off any excess flour. Decorate with sugar or sprinkles, as desired (I decorated mine with white chocolate that I piped on).

4. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm and edges just begin to darken, 10 to 18 minutes (depending on size of cookies). Cool completely on sheets.

I saved the best, and my personal favorite, for last...

Soft Christmas Cutouts

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp baking soda

1. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Chill dough for 1 hour.

2. Roll dough 1/4-inch thick and cut out.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake so cookies stay soft. Once cooled, frost and decorate cookies as desired.

Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps

These Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps are making their debut in my Christmas cookie collection this year. I haven't really ever made a chocolate cookie for Christmas before, and I definitely haven't ever made a chocolate-coffee cookie before. As previously disclosed I'm not a fan of coffee and most coffee-flavored things but these weren't too bad. Whether you love coffee or hate it like I do, I think (and hope) you'll enjoy these.

Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tsp instant espresso powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1 Tbsp milk

1/2 confectioners' sugar, for coating

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients; beat in milk just until combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar twice.

3. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies

These cookies are one of the newest additions to my Christmas cookie cast (yep, just made that up on the fly). I made these for the first time last year and enjoyed them myself, and also received a good response from family and friends so I decided they could make a repeat appearance this year. I like to try to get a good variety of flavors, I don't want everything to taste the same, and these have a nice little kick to them. A little bolder than a gingerbread cookie, which is also part of the Christmas cast. You'll meet them soon. Don't worry.

My recipe for these Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies comes from, you guessed it, Martha. There is no holiday she doesn't touch. This recipe is in the same little book where my Snickerdoodles recipe can be found. I've used that little cookbook quite a bit and all thanks to my college roommate who got it for me when she was interning for Martha's show. I know, I wasn't that jealous of her at the time, but looking back, I should have had her get me a lot more swag and maybe a job. Hindsight.

There isn't much to this recipe, the worst part is the time it takes to roll the dough. A majority of the cookies I made this year required the dough being rolled into balls and then rolled in sugar. It's a lot of rolling that can get quite old after you've baked several dozen cookies. I'd much rather be rolling in dough than just rolling it. Get it? Just me? Fair enough. Hope you enjoy.

Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.

2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and then molasses. Reduce speed to low; gradually add dry ingredients, beating just until dough forms.

3. Using 1 level tablespoon per cookie, roll dough into balls. Then roll each ball in reserved 1/2 cup sugar to coat.

4. Place balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked 2 sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Ritz (Tag-A-Longs)

Don't they look delicious? That's because they are! Ritz, as my family calls them, have been part of the Pavlock family cookie tray since I can remember having Christmas cookies. It wasn't until I had moved away from home and made these that my friend said, "they're like Tag-A-Longs," the delicious peanut buttery cookie the Girl Scouts tempt you with every year. She was right, I had just never called them that, and I still don't. To me, they will always be Ritz, but they can be whatever you want to call them.

These "cookies" are extremely easy to make, they take less than an hour from start to finish. Enjoy!

Ritz (Tag-A-Longs)

60 Ritz crackers

2 1-lb bags milk chocolate Make 'N Mold candy coating (available at A.C. Moore and Michaels)

Creamy peanut butter

1. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper. This will make it easier to peel the "cookies" off the sheets once they are set.

2. Spread peanut butter on Ritz crackers. Use enough peanut butter to cover the crackers but not too much or they will be difficult to cover with chocolate.

3. Melt candy coating according to directions on package.

4. One at a time drop each peanut butter covered cracker in chocolate, turning until completely covered. Place covered cracker on cookie sheet to set. Repeat until all crackers are covered and let them set. To speed up the process crackers can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer until chocolate coating is firm.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles have been a part of my Christmases for as long as I can remember. I made them as a kid with my mom and still make them today. The recipe I use now is different from the one I used to use with my mom. When I first moved away from home I didn't have my mom's recipes at my disposal so I had to find my own and I stumbled across Martha Stewart's recipe (she even manages to make an appearance when we're not talking about cupcakes!) for Cinnamon-Sugar Cookies (known to me as Snickerdoodles) that I tried, and liked better... sorry mom. Martha's version are a little thinner and crispier than those I made with my mom, and they just suit my fancy. Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles (Cinnamon-Sugar Cookies)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks (16 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature but still slightly firm

1 2/3 cups sugar, plus 1/4 cup for topping

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (I never do this, I just use cooking spray to grease the cookie sheets... don't tell Martha). In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 2/3 cups sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined. Add dry ingredients; beat, scraping bowl as necessary, until dough comes together when squeezed (it will appear dry).

2. Make the cinnamon and sugar: In a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon.

3. Using 1 level tablespoon dough per cookie, squeeze each tightly and roll into balls. Roll each in cinnamon sugar, coating evenly. Place on baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart; flatten with bottom of glass. Sprinkle tops with any remaining cinnamon sugar.

4. Bake, one sheet at a time, until tops are puffed and crackly, and bottoms are golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly on sheets; transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Christmas Blondies

Officially called Rainbow Blondies per the recipe, but I like to rename things for Christmas and since these use M&Ms and are only green and red, calling them Rainbow Blondies just doesn't quite seem appropriate. While I do always manage to incorporate M&Ms into my Christmas baking in at least one way, in all of my previous years it has been through making cookies with M&Ms. This year I decided it was time for a change. Spice things up a little. So instead of going with an M&M cookie, I went with an M&M blondie. I thought they would look a little prettier and the colors of the M&Ms could stand out a little more. I was right. Go me.

Off the top of my head I can't quite remember where I got this recipe, but part of me thinks it was from the M&Ms website. If you're ever looking for baking recipes involving M&Ms their site has some options for you. Happy baking!

Christmas (or Rainbow) Blondies

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup light-brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 (12 oz) package of M&Ms

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I chose not to use these)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg and vanilla.

3. Combine flour and baking soda; add to creamed mixed just until combined. Dough will be stiff (very stiff in fact).

4. Stir in M&Ms and nuts.

5. Spread dough into greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan (this will be difficult to do with a spoon or rubber spatula due to the stiffness of the dough. In my case is just plopped all the dough into the pan and then spread it out and patted it down with my hands, worked like a charm). Bake 30-35 minutes until wooden toothpick inserted comes out slightly moist with crumbs. Cool completely before cutting.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Here it is... the 1st Christmas cookie of the season! I've been baking fast and furiously for the past few days. There's only so much time before I have to start distributing these scrumptious treats and I can't distribute what I have yet to bake.

I have been baking Christmas cookies since I was a very little kid with my mom. Back then I didn't really help much other than making a mess. But now I make the cookies and the mess all by myself. I've decided to share the recipes for my Christmas cookies rather than what I've been doing with Project Cupcake. Cookies are pretty self explanatory and I've made most of them before so it's not quite as exciting as embarking on new cupcake adventures.

This recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms I got from my mom. Where it originated before her I haven't the slightest idea, but here it is and I hope you enjoy it.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

48 Hershey's Kisses

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

extra sugar for rolling

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove foil from Hershey's Kisses.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.

3. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet (I always grease my cookie sheets).

5. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into the center of each cookie; cookie will crack around the edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack and allow to cool completely.