Finally! Some Oven Love :)

If you had not heard the news via twitter, then you are in for a treat:  the oven is in!

Yes, that's right, Dad finally flipped the last switch and turned on that shiny, stainless steel appliance of joy and baking. :-D

So last night I made a trip out to Wal-Mart in order to prepare for the baking fest that lies ahead of me.

I made a box of brownies yesterday (I know, I know, I'm trying to stay away from box mixes, but I wanted to try out that oven ASAP) and they were yummy.  See?

Only one brownie left. :-(

Today, when I got home from school early (just one of the many perks of being a senior), I bake strawberry cupcakes... alas, also from a box mix.  But that's because I've never made strawberry cupcakes before, and wanted to jump right into the baking.  Soooo, I do feel like I cheated a little, since I'm trying to go "homemade" all the time.  But the next time (sugar cookies, I hope), I'll do it the homemade way.

I also found some whipped icing at Wal-Mart (in the Craft/Martha Stewart/wedding section) which I used to ice these yummy little cuppies.

The only problem that I have is that the oven does not beep very loudly when it preheats (not a big problem) or finishes cooking (a much larger problem).  Also, I think it only beeps once, instead of obnoxiously repeated, like Old Oven.  So I may have cooked these guys a little long.

However, they are so yummy, as all of my family can attest to.  I may have piled the icing on a little too high, though, because we had some icing noses going on. ;-)

More updates can probably be found on my Facebook page and/or Twitter, because I can update more easily to my phone, but rest assured that I will be blogging faithfully this summer about all of my baking endeavors before college.

And I'm making my graduation cake next week.  It's gonna be awesome!

(And in other cake news, have you heard of Cake Boss?)