Joy the Baker

I feel like I’ve had cupcakes coming out of my ears lately.  I probably have.  But there are worse things, right?

Friends… we need to talk.  It’s about me, and how I need a vacation.  And how I’m actually taking a small vacation, making my July 4th weekend extra long and glorious.  There will be a pool, a bikini, sunglasses and… mojitos.  I’ll take pictures and share, promise.    

Please allow me to leave you with these double chocolate and bright red velvet cupcakes.  Take good care of them while I’m gone.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!  Don’t eat anything I wouldn’t eat… 

So you’ve found a swell girl, and bought a swell ring.  You want to pop the question?  Why not let a cake do all the heavy lifting in the question department?  Even if a cake asks the question though, bended knee is still essential.   Essential!

Pop the question with this Red Velvet Engagement Cake.  With this two-tiered, cream cheese frosted cake, I’m sure any lady would say yes- even if only to get at the cake faster.  I’m kidding… she loves you too.  

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Please allow me to take a break from the usual photo and recipe post to tell you all how fabulous you are!

I only started Joy the Baker about 5 months ago.  In those short months, I have connected with fellow food lovers from around the world.  The response has been truly heart warming.  The praise, support and inspiration has really changed my life.

Thank you!  Thank you for visiting so loyally.  Thank you for reading, drooling and commenting.  Thank you for trying my recipes and telling me about your successes and oopsies.  Thank you for all of the laughs and inspiration that you have unknowingly provided me.  

The only real way to say thank you is with cookies.  These Red Velvet Black and White Cookies have gone off the charts in their popularity on this site.  So, three lucky Joy the Baker readers will find these little beauties in their mail boxes- a thank you from me to you!  All you have to do is a leave a comment on this post, and I’ll pick at least three random names, ship them off, and you’ll enjoy cookies!  Go on, leave me a comment.  Tell me something good.

Thanks again for all of your support!  It means so much to me! 

Ok, you might need to sit down for this one. This is going to be good. I don’t know where to start with these cookies. Red Velvet Black and White Cookies- they brilliantly combine the tradition of black and white cookies with the near religion that is red velvet cake. The cookie is soft, moist and cakey, and the frosting… shut up! They were SO incredibly good… and this is coming from me… I practically eat cookies for a living!

When it comes to Black and White Cookies, I think I have a problem. They are absolutely my favorite cookie in the world. I like Black and White Cookies more than I like…. I dunno: puppies. Yea, and who doesn’t like puppies!? So it’s pretty serious.

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How do I describe the taste of Red Velvet cake?  Well, it’s not vanilla cake,  but it’s certainly not all chocolate.  Red Velvet cake, for lack of a more creative vocabulary, tastes like sweet red cake.  Without rich and decadent frosting, this cake is light, moist, quite tasty and yes, red.  My favorite Red Velvet cake is relentlessly smothered in brown sugar cream cheese frosting.  The recipe for both just a jump away.

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 These little beauties are the answer to any of life’s little hiccups.  Really.  Say, for example, you fall asleep with a candle burning in the  bedroom of the apartment you share with four other people.  Say, you wake up with the blankets on top of you up in flames… serious flames.  Say, in fear and shock and sleep, you flee your room and  run to your roommate’s room.  You knock furiously.  You knock like your bedroom is on fire, because it is.  You knock, wondering why you’re knocking when your bedroom is on fire. Say, your roommate answers the door is just her underwear, hears your plight through sleepy ears, and follows you in disbelief to your bedroom, which is as you left it, on fire.  Say, your brave roommate tries to help you put out the flames with the  smother technique, using all of your clothes and pillows as fire extinguishers.  It works, no thanks to you.  You were fanning the flames, not smothering them.  Say you and your roommate open your bedroom window and shove the charred remains of your blankets, clothes and pillows out, and watch them drop the three floors to the ground.  How would you thank your brave, kind, talented roommate?  How would you ensure your continued friendship help in future life threatening events?  Red Velvet  Cupcakes.  They work.  I have the friend and the blackened ceiling to prove it.  

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