Okay, this is sort of off track, but daughter and I went in a local bakery today and were eyeing the cupcakes. I was particularly interested in one of the day's cupcake specials: Frat Boy. What, I had to ask, is in a Frat Boy cupcake?

The cake was a chocolate and Guinness cake with a salted caramel filing. The icing was a beer buttercream topped with a salted pretzel. "It really tasted like a beer cupcake," she said.

Totally cracked me up.

/back to our own baking.

^^^ outrageous, clever, thanks for the laugh MC!

Yes about beating the egg whites....just did that this morning. Light, fluffy, spongy, springy, airy, tasty pancakes!

Add me to the "loves to bake" pile. Never really had luck with pies, so focused on cookies/brownies/muffins and such. Real belgian waffles? Yeah, I love every step.

For those of you who have problems with pancakes, are your ingredients fresh? Mixing dry into wet ingredients? Don't overmix, because I've found it kills them every time!!!!! If you want a virtually foolproof mix, pick up a bag of pancake mix the next time you're at a Cracker Barrel. Add a splash of vanilla and a dash of maple sugar (no not syrup, maple sugar) and they're great.

I'm still trying to replicate an amazing banana pancake recipe from some restaurant near the Oprah studios in Chicago that a sorority sister took me during a weekend visit. (Chicago GCers, do you know what I might be talking about, as I can't remember the name of the place, but there was such a line on a snowy Sunday morning before a Bears game?)

You guys are gonna be the death of me! I am going to have to go out and buy cake now(no mixer, no mixing bowls, ... it's coming!) and my husband is on Atkins again, so I'm going to be eating cake by myself. However, I'm prepared to live with that. White cake, white frosting, maybe some vanilla ice cream. The ads for the birthday cake Blizzard clearly are not helping either.

I am just about the worst baker in the world, but even I can't mess up these delicous little morsels:

Petits Pains au Chocolat

So easy, yet so impressive!

Pinned it!

I see breakfast for my daughter's birthday. Thanks!

I ate these for breakfast almost every day in France. Unless there was Nutella and croissants.

I made these for my daughter's birthday as well; she LOVED them! We ALL loved them, actually!

I make these all the time. so easy, and they look impressive.

Also, after Halloween, instead of just regular chocolate, I've been known to raid the candy bucket for the little squares of milky way, 3 musketeers, and snickers and put those in the middle of the puff pastry. You will need to seal the edges on all sides if you do that though, or too much of the chocolate will run out.

I've got a really amazing recipe for praline pancakes lying around somewhere. I'm going to need to dig it out since I haven't made those in years.

My granny had me in the kitchen cooking and baking from the time I could stand on a stool and measure flour. I like to bake damn near anything, and I'm constantly feeding my friends.

Tonight I ventured into the world of baking doughnuts, and I was completely surprised how easy it was. The doughnuts came out perfect and so good. I was amazed.

I baked mini cheesecakes yesterday, they came out amazing

That would be the single most dangerous thing I could bake (because I would devour them all the second they were done).

I love to cook, love to bake. However, I'm in an apartment with a gas stove, which has really cut into my culinary expertise. I know, I know, most people prefer gas. I have some horrible childhood memories of gas stoves (including two of my friends' mothers dying from the fumes) and it would take more therapy for me to use a gas stove than it's worth. My toaster oven is working overtime!

I do, however, collect recipes, and occasionally post some on facebook. Right now, I'm playing with a standard cookie base, with various add-ins. I tried them with malted milk balls and they were to die for!