Sweet as Honey

I just got back from filing for my fictitious business name... and the winner for the name of my business is.... dun dun dun.... Sweet as Honey! Thanks to Couture Events for the inspiration :) Here is a sneak preview from the photoshoot I worked on with them yesterday!

Valentine's Day!

Fortunately, being broke and being a baker are not mutually exclusive...

as long as you still live at home where your parents stock the

pantry. Anyway, This year, I told Steven that I would be baking a gift for Valentine's Day, and I just needed one flavor/ingredient to base my gift off of. He could choose anything, and I am very surprised that he did not choose bacon! Instead, he requested toffee. This was a challenge, since I had never even had toffee

before, much less made it. This was certainly my first little

adventure into candymaking - candy thermometer and all!

After

some hard work, a few burned batches of toffee, and a 7/11 run

for Heath Bars, I ended up with a beautiful batch of Pecan and Almond Chocolate Toffee, and some Espresso-Toffee Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting. And I couldn't help but

add the heart garnish :)

I got to use so many new, fun ingredients this time around! I received a bottle of vanilla from

the Dominican Republic. It has a

wonderful, almost tropically sweet taste to it. Also, I finally found instant espresso! I've been looking for it for a while, and I think I'll be making a lot of "mocha" recipes that I've bookmarked for the last few months.