Runs on Coffee and Cream

March marked the second birthday for International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club and we celebrated all month with birthday-themed posts, looking back at the last two years, geek interest stats, and of course, with cake!

We decided to make a Pinata Cake for the bake-along this month using these instructions we found on Pinterest:


It seemed easy enough and it allows you to use any cake flavour, icing, and treats for the middle. The combinations are endless!

I made an Easter-inspired one. Because March was a whirlwind of a month, I ended up using a cake mix and canned frosting I had in the cupboard and picked up some Easter jelly beans at the store. The butter pecan cake, vanilla frosting, and jelly beans were a perfect combination and I love how it turned out.




I will be using this method again for other cakes. If you search 'pinata cake' on Pinterest you will find so many ideas for this style of cake and there are some that interest me a lot.

The other day I came across a couple of pinata cakes online that would be perfect for Easter.




I'm making another Easter treat later today that I'll be sure to share as long as it turns out.
xo Jen

If I were to pick what I was obsessed with in March it would be these two things...

This past weekend was my first comic convention of the year, Toronto ComiCon. I've been doing this show for the last few years and it just keeps growing. It's not a huge con but it still has all the essentials and there's a great energy there. I've been finding Fan Expo Canada incredibly busy and overwhelming the last couple of years. I still enjoy being there, but a smaller, more intimate convention is very enjoyable. Toronto ComiCon was a great, first convention of the year to get the season started.

The crowds were great the entire weekend. There seemed to be a steady flow of traffic throughout the entire room, but also down all the Artist Alley aisles for most of the show. Only the first and last hour of each day was a bit quieter.

Writing has always been a coping mechanism to deal with my emotions so I decided to write this late Saturday after an emotional day. 

My Grandad passed away this morning. I was in complete shock when my Mom phoned me to tell me this. My heart dropped and tears rolled down my cheeks.

My Grandad was a good man. A grumpy man sometimes, who got grumpier as he aged. But he was the best Grandad. My heart's broken right now.

He shared his love of music with me, introduced me to frozen grapes and cream cheese on crackers (which I still eat thanks to him), gave me a fishing rod as an adult after going fishing with him when I was a child (though, I did more colouring than fishing then).

He always asked me about how I was doing, what I was doing, and how my hobbies were. He cared and made a point of connecting with all his grandchildren.

I'm going to miss him.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate peppermint chips


Directions:
1. Combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and sea salt together in a bowl.
2. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar in a separate bowl.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla extract to butter mixture while still mixing on low.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together.
5. Cover the bowl of cookie dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30-35 minutes. I found the dough a bit crumbly after I took it out of the refrigerator.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheets.
7. Using your hands, roll dough into balls and place on baking sheet, flattening slightly.
8. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.



I cannot recommend this recipe enough! They were so good (yes, they're gone now). The dough had a slight salty, shortbread taste. And it was the perfect combination with the sweet peppermint chips. I definitely want to try this recipe again, but try a different chip.

xo Jen

I've been sewing like crazy getting ready for my first show and I love everything I have ready so far. I got my hands on some amazing fabric and my bags and pouches just seem extra great this year.

Last week, over at IGGPPC, we had a bake-along to make heart brownies. It was a ton of fun and made me realize how badly I need a new laptop that I can use in the kitchen for google hangouts. Having the only working webcam on our desktop computer makes the hangouts less flexible for me.


We ended up following this recipe we found online. The only adjustment I made was I baked it for 30 minutes since it looked too wet at 25 minutes. But they were really good and super fudgy. I would definitely use this recipe again for brownies.

After barely letting the brownies cool, I used my metal heart cookie cutter to cut the brownies. A bit of advice... a metal cookie cutter gets super hot when you place it in a still warm pan of brownies! I was able to cut out a few brownies successfully however.

Once they cooled completely, I frosted them and melted butterscotch chips to drizzle over the top. Adam and I inhaled the brownies which makes me a little sad because I'd like some right now.
 

Recently I typed in 'cute stationery' in the Tumblr search box. I'm warning you now, don't do this unless you have time to waste. I was sucked into neverending photos of adorable, colourful, stationery - washi tape, stickers, notepads, cats, coffee cups with faces, desserts.... It was wonderful!

During this search I found the cutest Etsy shop - Beagle Cakes Art & Illustration. Her illustrations of donut animals, boba tea, and adorable coffee and food items won me over!

February broke records for how cold it was here. And if it wasn't ridiculously cold, it was snowing, and we were shoveling and cleaning our cars off. I'm very happy that March has showed up and Spring is around the corner!







Have I told you how excited I am for Spring to show up?!
xo Jen