Pauline Bakes: 2015

I really do love this time of year... when everywhere you go you're punched in the face with pink and red and hearts. Pink being my favorite color, I couldn't be more thrilled!

I saw a post on Pinterest months back of mini brownies topped with marshmallow hearts. I made it my mission to find these marshmallows this year! After some searching, I eventually found them at the local Walmart. They are so small and cute, I wish they had them all year round! I made my own adorable valentine's day brownies and they came out looking like their original inspiration (I'm sure you've seen these cuties on Pinterest!). The white chocolate drizzle really makes these perfect!

Some other treats I made with the heart-theme! These are cake balls and chocolate covered pretzels. I love these teeny tiny heart sprinkles. I got mine at Williams-Sonoma, but I've seen Wilton brand ones as well!

My best friend from college is getting married... MARRIED!!! In T-minus 2 months, she will be walking down the aisle and getting herself a husband. Her bridal shower was a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to share the dessert table that I created in honor of my amazing friend, Christine. Her other bridesmaids and I stayed up late putting last-minute things together, and we were able to throw a beautiful shower for our beautiful friend.

Here are some pictures of the day!

I particularly LOVE how this little cake came out! We went with a romantic-and-slightly-rustic theme, so this naked cake was perfect. This is a 3-layer 6" yellow cake with lemon buttercream and raspberry preserves in between each layer. Fresh, vibrant flowers topped off the cake, and my friend, CraftySong made the beautiful, glittery cake topper.

- Yellow Cake with Lemon Buttercream and Raspberry Filling-

When you don't particularly enjoy the taste of royal icing, have leftover buttercream, and are running out of time, this is how you can decorate your cut-out sugar cookies! I had leftover buttercream from the cake and didn't have the time to whip up a batch of royal icing in different colors, so I let the sprinkles do the talking... For the engagement ring cookies, I mixed gold disco dust with drops of vodka to create a paint, and painted on the gold band.

-heart-shaped sugar cookies with buttercream and pink sanding sugar-

-engagement ring-shaped sugar cookies with buttercream and sparkling sugar-

No party is complete without cupcakes! I made some chocolate cupcakes and topped them with vanilla buttercream and gold sparkling sugar. How cute are these gold and white striped baking cups? Them scalloped tops though... I found these at my local TJ Maxx for $3 for a pack of 24! They don't even need to be baked in a baking pan; you can just pop them on a baking sheet! Be careful not to crowd the pan though, as the heat needs to travel around each cup for the cakes to bake evenly thoroughly.

-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream-

I had a lot of fun making these rice krispies treats. I always loved eating these when I was younger. My mom would never buy us the pre-made ones, saying that they were too sweet and had lots of things added to them. She would make it for us at home and cut down on the amount of marshmallows.... (no fun!). I used the recipe on the box and used the full amount of marshmallows! To make them even more decadent and pretty, I cut them out using a heart-shaped cookie cutter and dipped half of them in peach-colored melting chocolate. I personalized them by adding a white fondant circle with the initials of the happy couple painted onto them using the gold disco dust + vodka paint.