Like a chicken with its head cut off

I've been running around like crazy this past week. Well, not really running around. Most of the action has taken place in my kitchen. I hosted a stamping party for my friend Erin last night so I was baking up a storm in preparation for it.

(Her stamps are ready and waiting for you to purchase them! Click here if you're interested in purchasing or browsing the pure awesomeness of her acrylic stamps.)

I rarely host parties for various reasons. Two reasons are that I tend to over plan or under plan. Sometimes I will go all out for a party and end up with way too much stuff. Then I try and remedy that and the next party I end up with not enough and feeling like a bad hostess. This time I totally did WAY more than I needed to.

I had seen some fun things on a couple of food blogs recently that I wanted to try out. I ended up making Bakerella's Easy Cupcake Bites and The Daring Bakers' Challenge Cheesecake Pops. I also made some homemade turtles.

I started the cheesecake on Wednesday, made it into the "pops" on Thursday and dipped them. I made the cake for the cupcake bites that night as well. Amidst all of this, I somehow pulled myself together to make some focaccia bread and salad for one of my friends who's had a run of bad medical luck in her family. Around midnight I started making the little turtles. By the time I finished kitchen clean up on Thursday it was really 1 AM on Friday.

Friday I didn't have any piano students, so that left me a little more time to finish my cupcake bites. I didn't use the red velvet cake like Bakerella. I used a butter pecan cake and mixed it with an almond flavored frosting. I think this made the cupcakes a bit too sweet. Matt said they were good, but I felt like I was eating a straight spoonful of almond flavored sugar. (I am a little sensitive to sweet treats though. I get sugared out very quickly.) After dipping it in the melting chocolate they looked cute enough, but I wasn't sure if they were worth all the effort.

I wasn't sure how the cheesecake pops would hold up at the party. I displayed them standing up in a flower foam like a little bouquet. It looked cute, but once they got to room temperature, Some of the cheesecake ended sliding right down the stick. Ah well. Live and learn.

I almost think it would have been better to combine the two. Make a cheesecake bite rather than the cupcake.

I'll post recipes on my blog and some photos of the process. I also had a few issues with both the cheesecake and the cupcake bites, so I'll tell you how to remedy those on my recipe blog soon. Here are a few pictures of my end results.