{Happy New Year} 2013 in Review

As this year draws to an end, I find myself reflecting on the year that has been. I am sure many of you are finding yourselves in the same position. For me it has been a busy year and a bit of a wild roller coaster. now I'm not going to focus on the doom and gloom parts of my year, except to say that those parts are the parts that we learn the most from. So it's important to take some time to look back on the hard times and even failures to see what we can learn from them.

In January of this year I started my little baking blog. It's so exiting to look back at my first posts and see how much I've grown over the year: in baking, photography and writing. I also have a stronger sense of the type of baking that really brings me joy: creating delicious cakes and watch the way they light up the faces of the people I share them with.

Ok, enough of the soppy, deep stuff. Let's get into the cake! Here are some of my favourite baked goods over the last year.


January: Naughty Nautical Cupcakes
These I baked for a themed bachelorette party. I was so happy with how all the toppers turned out!

February: Decadent Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

This was a tough month to choose just one favourite, so I chose two! These brownies are, as the name suggests, decadent and delicious! These are one of the most popular recipes on my site.

February: Macarons with a White Chocolate Ganache

My second choice of the month is macarons. These biscuits are notoriously tricky to make: too humid or hot or cold or anything and they flop. This recipe I have made numerous times and they turn out perfectly every time!

March: White Chocolate Mousse with Lime

This dessert is so creamy and dreamy, but the lime makes it refreshing and light. It's also pretty easy to make!

May: Quick and Easy No Bake Cheesecake

Although I am REALLY impressed I managed to pull of this Palet D'Or from the Bouchon Bakery book, the cheesecake was so easy and delicious I've repeated it on a couple of occasions since. Super easy, super tasty!

June: Chocolate Sprinkles Cake

Eeek! I LOVE this cake! So bright and colourful! I feel happy just looking at it!

July: Snickers Chocolate Birthday Cake

I made this cake to celebrate the birthday of the very special man in my life. It was a lot of time and effort that went into the cake, but completely worth it for him! The salted caramel icing is HEAVENLY! If you don't want to go through the effort of making the cake, just make the icing and eat it!

July: Milo Cupcakes with Condensed Milk Icing

Ok, so I cheated again and chose two for July. But these are probably two of my favourite entries of the year! I've eaten a lot of cupcakes in my lifetime. These are my favourite cupcakes. EVER. 

August: Treasure Chest Cake

I made this cake for a very special little boy. I was so proud of how it turned out. Best of all was the reaction of the birthday boy who couldn't tear himself away from the cake from the moment it arrived at the party.

September: Decorated Cookies

I made these cookies to celebrate the Jewish New Year. They are most likely the best decorated cookies I've made so far and I really enjoyed making them!

October: The Roundhouse Restaurant

Although this is not a baked item, the visit to the restaurant was definitely one of the highlights of my foodie year! An absolute experience!

November: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies

These biscuits were made as part of the pumpkin trend that takes over the baking blogosphere around Thanksgiving. I'm so happy I jumped on the pumpkin bandwagon and made these! Just delish!

December: Rainbow Cake

Although I loved my first taste of eggnog and the delicious gingerbread cupcakes I made, the rainbow cake was the highlight of my month. This cake was very special as it was made in honour of a great man: Nelson Mandela.

I hope you have all enjoyed taking this baking journey with me.I have really enjoyed sharing it with you. I look forward to sharing some new and exciting developments with you in the new year! Stay tuned!