Christmas, Cupcakes, and Presents! :)

So, this past week has been the craziest week. OF OUR LIVES.

If we weren't baking, we were studying for finals. If we weren't studying for finals, we were babysitting. If we weren't babysitting we were making sock monkeys for NAHS.

First let's tackle those cupcakes I was talking about.
On Wednesday night, Olivia and I knew that we had a mission. And after just making two batches of Candy Cane Cupcakes the night before, we weren't that excited, especially with finals the next morning. However, our class was having a potluck so you know, cupcakes.
We decided to make some Apple Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese FROSTING! AKA: Yum in a wrapper. These "Sinful" cupcakes fit right in with our AP Literature's Heart of Darkness Potluck. (Apples= Sin... Get it?)

Those were tasty to say the least. However the real job began on Thursday. After spending five minutes at the potluck, Olivia and I had to get changed into our COSTUMES!

For the past few weeks we have been spending each Saturday or Sunday for 4 hours at school. (I know, crazy right?) Making sock monkeys.
Although each day after spending about 3 hours staring into the eyes of a plush toy, I never wanted to look at the sucker again, last Thursday we finally got to see the result of all our hard work.

NAHS/ Art Club of 2013, made a special donation to our local Good Samaritan Hospital's Children's Ward. Even though we only caught a glimpse of the children's reaction to our Christmas gifts, it was well worth the hours we spent making these children's Christmas' special.

And yes. That is me in a full-blown Santa costume. You should have seen the faces of the cars next to us as we were driving down 85 in our matching Santa Claus and elf costumes. Priceless.

And of course what is Santa without her little helpers?

By the way, I did not ask my friend Jackie to make that face, that was ALL HER. Leave it to her to make me crack up in a children's hospital... -_-'

And then on Monday.... CHRISTMAS ARRIVED!
Although when growing up, Christmas begins to lose the same magical quality it had as a 5 year old waking up to presents Christmas morning, this one was pretty great. :)
With everyone arriving at around 1:30, after 3 hours of non-stop cooking in the kitchen, we still had our own little concoction to whip up. And what else would it be but OREO TRUFFLES!

Sorry for the bad quality picture, but the taste of these bad boys sure made up for it. While I couldn't eat more than one at a time, Dad was popping three... That guy. Having to go to the store 3 times for some decent melting chocolate after burning 2 batches, these ending up tasting purrrty great :)

After everyone left for the night it was PRESENTS TIME! I knew what I had been asking for for the last few weeks but I never imagined we'd get it....

Yep. You saw it here first buddys. Rachel and Olivia got themselves a KITCHENAID STAND MIXER!! Can't wait to bust this badboy in!

Merry Christmas to ALL and to ALL a good NIGHT! :))

-Rachel and Olivia :) :)

Candy Cane Cupcakes and Gingerbread Houses :)

Day 1 of Finals: Complete.

This has been the longest week of our lives and it's only Wednesday!
Endless studying, volunteering, and baking has conquered our lives.

On Tuesday we promised some very special cupcakes for a very special lady... OUR AP SPANISH TEACHER, MS. MARTIN! ... I know it's sad. :)

So because she is very hard to please, we made some "NOT SWEET" Peppermint Candy Cane Cupcakes for her and the class to enjoy while we all gave our presentations. If the smiles on everyone's faces said anything, I think it was a job well done! :) However getting only 5 hours of sleep on the day before finals was not as great...

Our finished product:

It was so yummy, and not to heavy with the light peppermint frosting :) The hardest part was definitely the swirly frosting. Sucked. >:(

Today after giving out cupcakes and taking two of our HARDEST FREAKIN' FINALS, we went to go to our delightful 2nd grade class! These lovely kids made gingerbread houses and gave us each our very own kit to make our own!

Finished Product? :

(Left: Olivia/ Right: Rachel)
Yeah. :)

So yep that's it. Baking more cupcakes tonight... Double Batch. And studying for Econ/Gov and Pre-Calc Honors. So yeah. Kill us now please:)

Just Kidding,
Enjoy Life, Eat some frosting!

-Rachel and Olivia :) :)

Baking in a Winter Wonderland! :)

This week has been quite the adventure! Olivia and I made a batch of cupcakes, a triple layer cake for my dad, filled out more college apps, created a "Winter Wonderland" poster for the elementary school class we volunteer at, and went to bed past midnight every night. I call that a success. Or torture. :)

Everyday after school, Olivia and I go for 3+ hours to volunteer at our old elementary school and love every second of it. The kids are great and their smiles always brighten up our day!

After 3 successive days of painting we finally got this poster done along with all of the kids adding their own personal portraits of themselves doing their favorite winter activity. Overall, really fun!

On Thursday night, Olivia and I wanted nothing more than to fall onto the couch and see nothing but the inside of our eyelids for the next 12 hours. However, we had a job to do!

One of our favorite aunts, Renee made a request for 1 dozen Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes, so after 2 hours of standing and simultaneously doing homework we somehow got them done in time for pickup the next afternoon! Whew. Each time we finish a request and see the smiles on the customers' faces it makes our day. :)

A dozen for her and a dozen for us because, you know, taste testing. :)

Love you guys!

~Rachel and Olivia :) :)

Happy Birthday Pop!

For the seventeen years we have been on this earth, Olivia and I have had the gift of having this man as our father.

So to celebrate his 56th birthday, we combined two of his favorite candies to create a miraculous birthday cake: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfingers.
And boy was it good.
This creation consists of 3 layers of Crunchy Peanut Butter Cake, 2 layers of a whipped chocolate peanut ganache, and cream cheese frosting with crushed Butterfingers on top, all from scratch! (Except the Butterfingers...) :)

Creating this present was quite the challenge. But for this man, it was worth it! 
After volunteering at our old elementary school until 4:00, we went shopping for ingredients. To put it short, after hours of measuring, sifting, and mixing until our arms fell off, we finished at 10, with homework untouched. 
Waking up the next morning after only 5 hours of sleep after doing our homework was not pretty. 
Happy Birthday Daddy, Let's go finish that cake!
~Rachel and Olivia :) :)

"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
-Unknown Author

Get Well Cupcakes!

Tonight we made some special cupcakes for a very special girl in our lives.

We have the joy of babysitting 3 adorable kids, 1 who decided he wasn't going to let me take a picture of him.... Grr. Haha, but when we heard Kendall was sick, we decided that we had to make her feel better with a special treat!

As you can see, Kendall's cupcake is a LITTLE messy, that's because her mom knew she didn't like frosting so she plopped it back onto her plate. 2 minutes later, however, we began to notice Kendall using her fingers to re-frost her cupcake.

I guess we're her exception. <3

You guys are lucky to see this man on the right, he doesn't like taking pictures very much, took three shots to get it right. :)

The craziness started, however, at around 5:30 when five minutes after taking the cupcakes out of the oven, the house went dark. For an hour and a half Olivia and I were writing Spanish vocab cards by the light of our cellphones, waiting to use the mixer to make the frosting.

Everything ended up great after listening to Bing Crosby then dropping off our little gifts! Overall, great weekend! :)

Needless to say, the cupcakes were a hit, and we can't wait to bring some to school tomorrow! We'll see how our friends like them!

Fingers crossed,
Rachel and Olivia :) :)

Welcome ONE and ALL!

Howdy! My name is Rachel and I'm going to tell you a little bit about this blog:

My twin sister, Olivia and I,

Will be using this blog to track our journey on the way to owning our very own bakery!

For about a year an a half now we have been taking baking very seriously, whether it was for our school's art shows, or a friends birthday we always dove in head first! 

As you can see, cupcakes tend to be a favorite of ours but we also try to branch out and create a bunch of new things every time we enter the kitchen!

We hope that you will join us on our journey to owning our own bakery with all the laughs, fun, and powdered sugar along the way. <3

Talk to you guys soon!

~Rachel and Olivia :) :)