Happy Valentine's Day!

I bought a heart cake pan on clearance last year and thought it'd be great for Valentine's Day. I'm really incredibly lazy to bake or craft this weekend, but didn't want to miss my chance.

My frosting was lacking substance and is a little runny and sloppy on my cake. Glad I wasn't making this for anyone else...

Vanilla Mousse filling inside. Didn't have quite enough so the two halves didn't make a perfect heart. There's always next year...

Sugar Cookie bars

I saw a post on Pinterest for these sugar cookie bars. My photo isn't very good because I don't have adequate light.

I used my buttercream frosting recipe after reading the ingredients for theirs, but the cookie part is really pretty good. More on the side of cake than a cookie, but it works and it was fairly easy. You can find a link to the recipe here although they got the idea from another blog as well. Their picture is so much better than mine, but I am willing to bet my frosting tastes better.

Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chocolate Chip cupcakes

The cake also has chocolate chips inside of it... that fact would be more impressive for me if I actually ate it, but I just swipe off the frosting and toss the cake.

Soft sugar cookies with buttercream frosting...

I had a dream about making soft sugar cookies last weekend, but was too sick to do so. I've really wanted to try this for a while...

I chose shades of the season and decided to stick with simple frosted cookies. I'll post the recipe I used tomorrow and I used my buttercream recipe for the frosting.

They're delicious, but I'm limiting myself to eating only one item from anything I bake at this point as it's starting to get out of hand.

Buttercream frosting

I have spent a long time looking for a perfect buttercream frosting. I absolutely love the super sweet, super bad for you, bakery sweet cream and I have finally figured it out! I've not found a recipe exactly like this, but it's a combination of

several other recipes and my own ideas on ingredients and amounts. I'm sure a recipe just like this is out there somewhere, but I never found it:

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups shortening

1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring (careful with amounts as it can really turn the flavor from good to bad quick)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (use clear extracts to maintain true white)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 lbs confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons meringue powder (if you're unfamiliar with this ingredient, you can find it at Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Walmart in the baking sections under the Wilton brand)

Heavy whipping cream (add this a tablespoon at a time to start and then in lesser amounts until you get to the desired consistency)

Directions

1. mix butter, shortening, and salt with stand mixer on low for 5 minutes

2. add vanilla, almond and butter extracts and mid on low for 1 minute

3. Add 1 pound of confectioner's sugar and the meringue powder and mix until smooth

4. add 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar at a time until you get the consistency you want

5. add whipping cream and mix for 5 minutes

*note if you plan to add coloring to your icing it will thin the consistency. Keep this in mind when adding liquid

6. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.

I assure you I was jumping up and down when I tasted this frosting.