No baking this week! :(

Just want to let everyone know the reasons I wasn't

able to post this week... I guess the first and biggest 

reason of all is the fact that I will be the maid of honor 

in my sister's wedding.. and if you've been a maid of 

honor... you probably know that the last month is the 

"worst" not in a bad way of course. I've been pretty busy

helping out with the last details and things like that, 

that have kept me so busy and out of the kitchen. I do 

expect to post for next week though... I tend to leave 

things to the last minute.. which is often a big mistake..

so I plan.. hopefully... to make next week's recipe in 

advance. Well... I hope every one's recipe came out good! 

Please don't forget to visit the other TWD member blogs. 

With that said... hope everyone has a great weekend and

see you again Tuesday. 

TWD- Berry Surprise Cake

Today's Berry Surprise Cake recipe was chosen by   

Mary Ann from Meet me in the Kitchen. 

A yummy light cake filled with a very berry surprise! 

I have to admit that I was thrilled to make this recipe.

That's before I started making it. I really tried to make 

it work and tried my best to make the bread right since 

I read that many people were ending up with deflated 

cakes.  WELL... let me just tell you that I was NOT the 

exception on this one. My cake was maybe 2 1/2 inches

high. I was sooo disappointed :( .... but how????? I really

did try my best! Oh well... that's life.. and that's how one

learns for next time... OH yeah! NEXT time.. because there

will TOTALLY be NEXT TIME!!! I can honestly say that 

even when I was taking pictures of this cake my heart

was broken.. maybe because I had such high expectations 

for it. I even thought of NOT posting anything today.. but 

after I cut the slice.. took a picture.. and tasted the greatness

of this SUPER ugly but AWESOME tasting cake I was 

in heaven!!!! OH MY GOODNESS! This cake is amazing! 

I live in a border town next to Mexico and there is a place 

in Mexico where they sell this amazing cake that I always 

wanted to try to make...well.. without wanting to, I made 

it. This cake is maybe even better than the one they sell at

that restaurant and I'm so happy to have found the recipe.

I guess I just need to fix whatever I did wrong... and believe

me, I will find out.. if YOU find out please let me know :)

I hope everyone of you enjoyed the cake as much as I did! 

Oh.. and what better way to make a cake look better than 

with some beautiful roses! 

Dont' forget to check out other TWD bloggers! 

TwD- Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Today's challenge is brought to us by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake
chose Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins.

To tell you the truth, I have never liked corn bread much. There
is just something about it that I just don't really like but I have to
admit that these were some tasty muffins. The chili powder gave
them a really great taste. I added some cilantro and totally forgot
about the corn.. but I liked them anyway.

Since many people were accompanying their muffins with chili, I
decided to make some home made chili myself and went over to the
Foodnetwork.com and found a nice and overall easy to follow recipe
here. Extremely good chili if you ask me!I think that this weeks
challenge was very tasty and very easy to make. I honestly enjoyed
making and eating these little muffins, not to mention, my mom IS a
fan of corn bread and she loved them...which is great!

Anyways, don't forget to check out the other TwD members since I'm
positive that everyone made wonderful muffins!

This muffin recipe can be found here! Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Barefoot Bloggers- Banana Sour Cream Pancakes!

The first recipe for this new year was chosen by 

Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. (Great Pick!)

I admit I thought that there wouldn't really be anything 

too special about this pancake recipe eventhough I had

never tried them with sour cream. But let me just tell you...

WOW! I seriously thought that these pancakes were super 

good. I really enjoyed them! The bananas were especially 

sweet tasting and made the pancakes taste even better. 

It is true that you can't really taste the sour cream much

but the whole recipe is very very yummy. I will defenitely 

be making THESE again! I really encourage you to try them 

since the recipe is very simple and the result is awesome! 

I omitted the lemon zest and added just a bit more milk 

because I'm not used to thick pancakes. 

-Ivette

Here is the recipe which can also be found at Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Unsalted butter
• 2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
• Pure maple syrup

Directions

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.

TwD- French Pear Tart

I'm super excited about this post for two
very good reasons.
The first reason I'm very excited is due
to the fact that this is my first challenge
as a TwD member. I am so happy to be a part
of this baking world I didn't know was out there.
My passion has always been baking but I never
thought that food blogs, forums, and
baking groups even existed.
The second reason for my excitement is that
this challenge was picked by Dorie Greenspan
herself! I really tried my best at creating
this delicious recipe. I think its one of the
best deserts I have tasted yet. I know that
I will probably be thinking the same for every
recipe since sweets are my thing.

I had a really fun time trying out this recipe and
was happy with the outcome. I will be honest and
say that I really wanted it to look better.. but
the flavor just didn't disappoint. I loved the
texture of the crust, it was so soft. And I really
enjoyed the almond flavor with the pears. I glazed
it with the apple jelly and it was delicious!
I still can't get over the crust's chewy texture
with the almond cream.. its was simply the best.
Well... I hope you'll enjoy the pics!!

The Cover cake.. again!

Well... like I said I was gonna make the cover 

cake from Dorie Greenspan: From My Home

To Yours I tried it again. This time I think I 

got WAY better results than the first try. It 

was also much easier to assemble than last 

time I guess because I actually waited for the 

cake to be completely cool and so it worked 

better for me. 

I took this cake to a New Year's eve get together 

and everyone seemed to like it very much which

was very rewarding. I wish the lighting would have 

been better but I think you can still appreciate 

the cake. Enjoy the pics and I wish everyone a 

Happy New Year! 

Goodbye '08

As I say goodbye to 2008, I gladly welcome 2009 wishing

everyone the best on this new year. I hope everyone 

achieves their goals this year and tries to live life to the 

fullest, since we only live once. I am so happy that I found

this world of baking that never knew existed. I have always

liked to cook and bake.. but never thought there were 

challenges out there.. or forums where people showed their

creativity and talent. I am glad to be a part of that now and

will do my best to become better at what I love. 

With that said.. I again wish everyone a Happy 2009, and 

let the challenges begin!