Marathon baking weekend

The inspiration for me going COMPLETELY INSANE this weekend in my baking was my husband's trip to both Temecula and TJ (yes, Tijuana) for a bachelor party weekend. To keep myself from being that insane wife on the 405/5 Fwy at 2am looking for a group of men that resembled my husband's friend, I chose to invite over a group of my friends to enjoy some of my baked goods.

Friday got started early with me baking some Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes with 3 Muskateers and Milky Ways in the center. I froze some of the candies and crumbled them up on top for even more chocolate-ty goodness.

(the ladies in the office really appreciated these little babies)

Later that night I got up enough nerve to complete some past challenges issued by my new sorority/fraternity group of bakers. First up....
Bostini Cream Pie, here's the recipe.


Then, onto the Buttery Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes sans frosting (where I got the recipe was from here)


Salted Carmel Cheesecake (sans crust) followed the peanut buttery goodness. I served this dessert in a glass with apple slices to spoon out the goodness. YUM! I found this recipe here, but she found the recipe here...


This was it for Friday night. Thanks to the "Friday" crew for coming through and eating it all up! Special thanks to Kristen for bringing over the Chandon champagne.

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After going to the San Pedro Girls Softball Turkey Tournament with my daughter (where her team kicked Bellflower's butt) on Saturday morning (she is North Torrance 10U #1). I came home and began doing a much needed cleaning up around the house. Chris took an extended nap, and I was free to clean and re-arrange all I wanted. Afterwards, I was all pumped up to bake up something even better than the night before for my next taste testers.

First up, Pumpkin spice cake w/ butterscotch walnut filling and brown sugar icing. I picked up this recipe from here, but she scored it from here...


While the cake was in the oven, I made the crust for the Milk Chocolate Carmel Tart I'd finish up this weekend with. The crust is made with hazelnuts (which I could ONLY find at Bristol Farms - thank goodness). You have to allow the crust to sit in the bowl overnight and then press it into the pan when you're ready to use it. Here is the recipe for this chocolate/caramel sensation.

(ontop of the that tart are carmel fragments that are suppose to be decoration. Mine seem to look like a damn not-so-happy face (I assure you this was not my intent).

All in all I think I had a pretty successful baking weekend. All that sampled were impressed and thankful.

On to my next challenge.