I’ve never thought of my automotive engineer brother-in-law as a particularly sentimental guy (sorry, Jason), but after seeing the birthday cake he just made for my sister Heather, I’m reconsidering. He enlisted the help of their daughters, Addison, 4, and Blair, 2, to construct an ice-cream-and-chocolate-and-peanut-butter concoction inspired by his love of Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cakes and Heather’s love of all things peanut butter and chocolate.

Here’s how he made it:
He started with a layer of crushed Oreos topped with fudge. Next, he added alternating layers of ice cream--which he froze individually in pie pans lined with plastic wrap so he could get them out (again, he’s an engineer)--and brownies, which were also baked in pie pans. Jason then covered the cake it with chocolate frosting and topped with crushed peanut butter cups. (Quote Heather: “SO FLIPPIN' GOOD!”)

Here’s how he pulled it off:
To distract my sister, Jason called over some neighbors and had Addison take her upstairs while he got the cake together. According to Heather, “The best part is that Jason videotaped each step of the process--so adorable to watch the girls crushing Oreo cookies with their plastic Home Depot hammers, unwrapping peanut butter cups and eating them, melting butter, etc. It definitely was a long process, but so worth it. I had the easy job ... eating it!"

The mind-blowing entries we received for our Creative Cake Contest made judging them a difficult task (even for me--the Simon Cowell on staff). After an afternoon of reviewing a particularly stellar batch of submissions, I was so inspired that I decided to decorate some cupcakes for my goddaughter Louisa, who just had her first day at school in her new town. Instead of my usual buttercream frosting topped with sprinkles, I thought that she would be so tickled if I decorated each one as a ladybug. Unfortunately, in my inexperienced hands, the red frosting didn't get any darker than a salmon pink (even after I used every drop of red food coloring in the bottle), and the ladybug detailing is shaky at best (I used Betty Crocker's decorating gel in black). Nevertheless, sweet is sweet and she gobbled them right up:

We're thrilled to announce that the results from our expert panel of judges--pastry chef and author David Lebovitz, blogger Bakerella, and creative baking genius Clare Crespo--are in! Here are your cake contest winners (counting down from Third Place to First):

In no particular order, here are the Top 10 entries. Congratulations to everyone, and be sure to check back on Monday when we announce the winners as chosen by our esteemed panel of judges: pastry chef and author David Lebovitz, blogger Bakerella, and creative baking genius Clare Crespo!

As our October issue makes its way to mailboxes and newsstands, keep an eye out for this brilliant costume cookie idea from Clare Crespo--so perfect for Halloween parties! The end result from the magazine is above, and click the link below for her instructions for making them at home (along with some great modeling by her daughter Ruby).

Continue reading From the Magazine: Costume Cookies »

Few things solicit bigger "Awwwwww!"s in the office than a child's well-loved stuffed animal. That's why we simply have to share these super sweet contest entries -- each of them inspired by the celebrant's lovey.


Today is the last day to send us a photo of your own creative cake! Wednesday at 9 a.m., we will post the 10 finalists here on One Little Bite. And on Monday, September 21, come back to find out who our judges--pastry chef and author David Lebovitz, blogger Bakerella, creative baking genius Clare Crespo, and a few Cookie food editors--have chosen to be the winner! Remember, the Grand Prize winner will receive Kitchenaid mixer from  Amazon.com, $125 in baking goodies from Wilton.

And check out some of our previous contest entry roundups:

- castles
- superheroes
- R2D2s
- farms
- Very Hungry Caterpillars
- colorful cakes
- Pixar characters

Wall-E, Nemo, Buzz Lightyear--we've seen them all in our cake-submission inbox. So today we figured, why not pay tribute to Pixar ... in cake form?


Check out some of our previous contest entry roundups:

- castles
- superheroes
- R2D2s
- farms
- Very Hungry Caterpillars
- colorful cakes

And see our slideshows of selected submissions from Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4. Our panel of judges--pastry chef and author David Lebovitz, blogger Bakerella, creative baking genius Clare Crespo, and a few Cookie food editors--will certainly have a tough time picking the winner of the KitchenAid mixer from Amazon.com, $125 in baking goodies from Wilton, and all the other prizes.

If you haven't yet, send us a photo of your own creative cake! You have until midnight September 15.

I know that our previous themed submission roundups have been a little more specific (farms, R2D2s, Very Hungry Caterpillars, castles, and superheroes), but some of the cakes that are thrilling us the most are the ones that use every color in the rainbow.

Check out these beauties!


You have one week left to send us your own cake photo. The winner, as determined by our esteemed panel of judges, will receive a KitchenAid mixer from Amazon.com, plus $125 worth of baking goodies from Wilton.

Want more cool cakes? Check out these slideshows of selected submissions from Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.

Kids may not need another reason to love their sweets, but we are stocking up on these supercute cupcake toppers (thanks for the tip, Bakerella!) so the little desserts, be they Duncan Heinz (likely) or made from scratch, can look even more irresistible.