Welcome!

Welcome to Natasha's Creative Confections! If you have stumbled upon this blog page, then you're in for a real treat! One of my favorite things to do is bake. If you choose to read on you will find pictures and recipes of some of the fabulous treats that I have created. So take a look around and enjoy!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Miniature Apple Crisps


My favorite Harvest Apple Crisp recipe.....in mini form!

This is the same beloved recipe I used to make the apple crisp from my March post of this year. I am looking forward to the fall season and wanted to get things started with these tiny little treats for some friends in our Bible Study :) Who doesn't love cinnamon & sugar apples?!



Yes, the weather has been crazy hot this week, but I think it's going to start really feeling like fall with the rain that's supposed to be coming :( Love the fall...but not a big fan of the rain! However, this season contains some of my absolute favorite things: colors of the leaves, pumpkin, Halloween...I could go on and on. Fall is my absolute favorite season and I'm so ready to bake for the upcoming holidays!



Anyone have any favorite recipes they love to make during fall? I would love to hear some and get new ideas :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The BEST lemon cake


A favorite of mine...and it's from a box! (shhh....)

This is truly a delicious lemon cake. I think I love it so much because it doesn't have a fresh lemon flavor (which I realized recently, I'm not particularly fond of). Recently, I have been having a craving for this cake, so I decided to make it as a gift to myself for my birthday :)

My grandma used to make this cake and I always remembered how much I loved it. I asked my dad to get the recipe and he told me that she used just the box lemon cake. I was honestly surprised because I thought it was this elaborate ordeal to make (especially because it looks so fancy in the bundt pan shape), but I can't complain because it tastes amazing!


I did make the dark chocolate glaze to go on top, which added a nice flavor. You can eat it plain, and it tastes great, but I felt like spicing it up a little with some chocolate. :) The flavors really go well together.



It turned out beautifully and totally satisfied my craving...I seriously could eat it EVERYDAY!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Homemade Crepes, anyone?


These are DELICIOUS.

My husband has been talking about crepes lately, so I wanted to make him a batch over the weekend :) I got some great fixings to dress them up with and they turned out soooo good! These are really fun to make and honestly, pretty easy too! And the best part is that you can pick whatever you want to top them with. We used strawberries, bananas, Nutella and a little powdered sugar. Mmmm....good!

Chad's choice: Strawberry & Nutella



My choice: Banana & Nutella




Easy breezy recipe-ezy:

-4 eggs, lightly beaten
-1 1/3 c. milk
-2 Tbsp. butter, melted
-1 c. all-purpose flour
-2 Tbsp. white sugar
-1/2 tsp. salt

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar & salt until smooth.
2. Heat a medium-sized skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Grease pan with a small amount of butter or oil applied with a brush or paper towel. Using a serving spoon or small ladle, spoon about 3 Tbsp. crepe batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that the bottom surface is evenly coated. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on a side, or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

~I hope you try this recipe and let me know what you think. And also what toppings you use! What are your favorites?~

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Baby shower cupcakes


I recently had the wonderful opportunity to bake some tasty cupcakes for my friend Kassie's baby shower :) Of course, I went with a classic--devil's food cake with vanilla bean frosting...but you can't go wrong that way :)



I decorated them with just a few simple purple sprinkles. They were simple, but adorable and I was so happy to help Kassie celebrate the arrival of her little one (a girl!).



More tasty treats to come soon!

Monday, September 12, 2011

My Biggest Disaster Yet!


Ok...so this last Friday I was making my mom a cake for her birthday on Saturday. I was so excited to bake AND decorate the cake with the flowers that I've learned how to do. I worked all day Friday, so I came home and got right down to it. I set all my ingredients out and prepared to make the tasty Grasshopper cake that I've blogged about before. From the beginning of baking this cake, nothing seemed to go right.

Let me break it down for you:

Problem 1: The cake layers were falling apart
Solution: Try as little as possible to touch the layers haha and just PRAY that they will hold up!

Problem 2: The frosting was too soft
Solution: Put in refrigerator and hope that it will harden up!

Problem 3 (the BIGGEST fiasco of all): After managing to assemble the cake and frost it, it completely collapses!
Solution: Have a melt down for about 5 minutes and then have your husband run to the store to get a box cake.

Yes folks, you read that correctly. I actually had to go with a box cake because there was NO way I was starting all over at 9:00pm. I had all my decorations ready to go and was so excited to decorate this cake that I had to think of something that would be passable.

So, I went through with it. Thankfully I had enough frosting and ganache left over to actually pull it off! I was so happy with what I ended up with, even though, it wasn't close to being my best. It still tasted good and what matters is that my mom had a great birthday and, hopefully, still enjoyed this cake :)



Sometimes things just go wrong and you have to do the best you can! :)