He’s not difficult to make, but did take some time. Our family doesn’t like coconut, so I coated the Lamb Cake with White Chocolate Curls that I made with Wilton Candy Melts. The body is baked in a large bowl, two small bowls for the head and mini cupcakes for the top of the head, nose and tail. The face and ears are made with Starburst candy and M&M’s for the eyes, and a pretty ribbon to get him all ready for Easter Dinner.

How to make Chocolate Curls:

1. Add 1 package of Wilton white candy melts and 2 tablespoons shortening to a medium bowl
2. Melt in microwave about 2 minutes, stir candy until smooth
3. Add a piece of parchment paper to a square dish
4. Pour melted candy into dish and place in freezer for about 15 minutes
5. Remove and let set out a couple minutes
6. Using a potato peeler, shave off chocolate to form curls
7. Store in fridge until ready to use

What’s on your Easter Dessert menu? If you are looking for other ideas…here are a few

1. Orange Creamsicle Push Pops
2. Key Lime Dessert
3. Lemon Chick Peepers
4. Easy Strawberry Pie
5. Easter Cupcakes
6. Fresh Strawberry Layer Cake

Now I’ll to admit…I’m not the best cake baker in the world, or rather…the best cake decorator. Probably because I don’t have much practice {I’m always making cupcakes}, but the Rainbow Cake is definitely fun…colorful…and easy to do! Oh and it’s pretty tasty too!

I started with a Funfetti Cake Mix and added the ingredients that I always do to make it taste more like homemade, and baked it in a 13×9 pan. Then whipped up a  batch of American Buttercream, using the recipe from Glorious Treats. Cut the cake in half, and frosted in between the layers, top and sides.

For the Rainbow frosting, I used Decorator Icing that I had left over from the Mini Funfetti Sandwich Cookies, and using a #12 tip, piped on the dots. Added sprinkles to the top and the Rainbow Bunting Flags!

The super talented Charlotte from The Paper Cupcake designed THREE for you…the Rainbow Bunting Flags for all your Rainbow Parties and the other two with “Lucky” on them for St. Patrick’s Day. One for your cupcakes and the other for your home! How fun!

Head on over and grab the “Lucky” Banner for your home and if you would like the Mini Rainbow Bunting Flags, you will need to subscribe to Cupcake Chronicles Newsletter. It’s a free weekly newsletter that includes a monthly printable from The Paper Cupcake!

Follow along as we share 17 days of St. Patrick’s Day Food and Fun…

• St. Patrick’s Day Mantel with Free Lucky Banner Printable
• Mini Rainbow Cupcakes
• Rainbow Pinwheel Wreath
• Mini Funfetti Sandwich Cookies
• Rainbow Fruit Skewers and Dip shared on Pocket Change Gourmet
• Rainbow Cupcakes in a Jar shared on Lifetime Moms
• Rainbow Oreo Pops
• Rainbow Cake with Free Rainbow Bunting Flags
• Rainbow Inspiration {coming tomorrow}

But when I happened upon this Apple Cake, I knew right away I wanted to bake it. Mostly because it sounded delicious, but also I remembered an Apple Cake that my Mom used to make years ago.

It was a perfect addition to the Thanksgiving Leftover Party. Guests are usually tired of Pumpkin Dessert after Thanksgiving, but the Apple Cake still has the Fall flavors that we all love around the holidays.

I changed the recipe a bit and had enough batter to bake the cake a couple different ways, in these cute little individual bundt pans and also in a regular size bundt pan, both gave it a beautiful shape, plus it was easy to cut and serve.

The larger cake was definitely a show stopper on the Thanksgiving Buffet! I served the larger cake with Cinnamon Whip Cream and glazed the smaller Apple Cakes with Brown Sugar Glaze. Both were delicious, and actually were better the second day, making this a great make-ahead cake as well.

I think my favorites were the little ones…they are so cute, and kind of remind me of a cupcake.

I’ve been involved with  Secret Recipe Club for 6 months now, here are my other assignments…

• Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
• Apple Cake
• Homemade Hand Pies
• Homemade Blueberry Crisp
• Chocolate Doughnuts
• Pumpkin Icebox Pie

AND…don’t miss our Premier Issue of Splendidly Homemade! It’s full of awesome ideas for the Holidays!

Linking to…Mouthwatering Mondays, 2 Maids a Milking

Typically when I’m hunting for a new recipe, I head on over to Taste of Home, Betty Crocker or Pillsbury, I had never really thought of looking at Country Living and the Delish website. When I received my Country Living Newsletter I noticed a small little link that said “Baking this Weekend?”  Yes, of course I was baking, so I thought I would take a quick look and see if there was a new recipe I’d like to try, there were 48 to choose from. Well, about 6 recipes added to my to-do list and 30 minutes later, I decided, yes there definitely was some I wanted to try.

The Pumpkin Cake with Honey and Spice Buttercream caught my eye right away, not only does it start with a cake mix which I love, but the addition of buttercream with honey and spice…yes please!

While I loved the Honey and Spice Buttercream slathered all over, it was definitely pretty sweet. The Pumpkin Cake is just as good {if not better} without the frosting. Shh…don’t tell…I even had a piece without the Buttercream for breakfast with my Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte.

Don’t miss out tomorrow! We will have a HUGE Halloween Round-up of Ideas for you!

And join us in the Coffee Talk Community as we share more Pumpkin Recipes!

Linking to…Show & Tell Friday, Saturday Night Special, Mouthwatering Mondays, Ingredient Spotlight

Picking strawberries or buying them at the store when they are on sale is a good thing. Freezing them to use later is even better. Erin from $5 Dinners shows you how to freeze them to use later in smoothies, muffins or even pancakes.

So tell me, have you found strawberries on sale this year? Or maybe been lucky enough to pick some?

I’m linking to…Ultimate Recipe Swap, Saturday Night Special, Eat at Home, Gooseberry Patch

Mmm…Chocolate!! We are loving all the chocolate treats for Valentine’s Day! Yesterday I shared Chocolate Mousse with Chocolate Covered Cherries, a perfect treat for your kiddos or sweetie.

This Chocolate Molten Lava Cake is not only decadent, ooey and gooey…but super easy. You know me…quick – easy – impressive…yep, it’s a box mix!! Shhh….don’t tell, your sweetie will never know.

I used the Betty Crocker Decadent Supreme Cake Mix and baked it in a heart shaped pan from Wilton. If you don’t have the heart shaped pan, you can bake them in a muffin pan, according to the directions on the box.

I simply added a dusting of powdered sugar and a spoonful of strawberry preserves to the middle, and drizzled the plate with melted chocolate.

Here is what you will need…

• Betty Crocker Decadent Supreme Cake Mix
• Butter and Eggs {according to the box}
• Wilton Dimensions Heart Shaped Pan or muffin tin
• Powdered Sugar for dusting {optional}
• Strawberry Preserves {optional}
• Melted Chocolate {optional}

What are you baking for Valentine’s Day?

Disclaimer: Betty Crocker and Wilton sent me these products to try. The opinions are my own.

This Make Ahead Coffee Cake is perfect for those busy mornings when you are trying to get the family ready and out the door or even when you are hosting Brunch for friends or family. This recipe and tons more are from the Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms Cookbook, enter my giveaway to win your copy.

I enjoy cooking a large breakfast on the weekends, especially on Sunday. We usually eat a late morning brunch, and then skip lunch and have an early dinner. It makes my day a little easier.

Last weekend, after returning home from a minor league baseball game, I put this Coffee Cake together. It was really good, in fact, we snacked on it all day.

If you have been following along this week, you know that I shared a week of Make-Ahead Meals, the plan, the grocery list and the recipes. On Saturday evening I will post our Prep Day plan and then on Monday we will be cooking together, preparing a week’s worth of meals for the frig and freezer.

I’m really looking forward to this. It’s taken a little more time to prepare this week, but I know it will be so nice next week when I have all my meals prepared ahead of time. I hope you will join me!  I will keep you updated on Twitter too, so if you aren’t following me, please jump over and click the follow button. I will use hashtag (#) Make-Ahead Meals.

So, I suppose you would like the recipe for this yummy Make Ahead Coffee Cake? Well, you are in luck

Note: Because it was 10 p.m. when I put this together, I didn’t make the streusel until the morning, after the cake was removed from refrigerator. I also didn’t add the nuts, it was delicious without, but I think it would taste really good with also. I served it with breakfast tacos and smoothies.

I also think it would be good to either swirl the streusel into the cake before baking or layer it. You would need to hold back part of the batter in a container in the frig, then when you are ready to bake it, pull it out, sprinkle with part of the streusel, pour remaining batter, then sprinkle remaining streusel.

Update! I baked this again for Mother’s Day and layer the streusel

Do you cook a big breakfast on the weekend? What do you cook?

This post linked to:

~Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollum

~Finer Things Friday hosted by The Finer Things in Life (it’s definately a Finer Thing to have more time in the morning )

-Friday Food hosted by Momtrends

~Saturday Night Special hosted by Funky Junk Interiors