Just Couldn't Do It...

Yes, I baked. Even though I was trying my best not to bake during Lent. The craving for baking cannot. be. stopped. :) I decided to put some birthday money to good use and invested in a new Kitchen Aid hand mixer in the limited-edition Martha Stewart Signature Blue. Oh, how I love it! It's amazing the difference between my new hand mixer and my old one, which was acquired somewhere around 15 years ago. Wow, I really hold onto stuff! I am now also the proud owner of a set of jumbo muffin pans, which I hastily tested out in honor of my best friend Shelly's birthday:


Pictured above are jumbo lemon cupcakes with a lemon-vanilla buttercream and a "cherry" on top. It also features sprinkles AND non-pareils. It just doesn't get any more special than that! You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to come by cherry sour candies. Does no one carry these any more? After several fruitless grocery store and gas station searches, I called up my parents to see if their small-town grocery store stocked any. They didn't, but luckily my dad found some at a random gas station one night. My dad is awesome!

While I was at it, I whipped up some vanilla-coconut cupcakes with a lemony cream cheese frosting for my sister's work place. All in all, my first run with the jumbo pans went exceptionally well. Is bigger necessarily better? Maybe not, but I like the novelty of the idea. And I'm greedy. For cake.

*In case you're wondering, I got 12 jumbos where I would normally get 24 standards.