Cinnamon Rolls With Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Friday everyone!

Sorry for my lengthy post-valentines day hiatus. The third trimester has made me a little slow in the kitchen and I've had my hands full with family. Like my mother, who was in town last week and thinks a day at the spa is a better use of my time than baking (hey, I'm not going to argue). Then we had Mr. Humble's laptop crashing and needing to be resurrected after the latest Windows 7 service pack, something that makes the Mac user in me smirk with smug hipster superiority.

Mr. Humble (and his laptop) were necessary for today's post, since we're using one of his bread recipes. A recipe I've been begging... scratch that, demanding he make in recent weeks. You see, I've had some pretty crazy pregnant woman cravings for all things creamy. Cheesecakes, eclairs, cream puffs, donuts, and cinnamon rolls topped with pillows of creamy goodness. Knowing that Mr. Humble's soft, tender enriched white dough makes a beautiful cinnamon roll, I lobbied hard.

Of course, once I actually got my wish for a pan of delicious freshly made cinnamon rolls, I spent more time eating them than photographing them. Thus all I have to accompany this post is a bunch of photos of minimally-staged cinnamon rolls that are in the process of being eaten.

True Love: A Human Heart Cupcake

That's cake!

I saw this and absolutely had to share it with everyone. Lily Vanilli is supporting young people with cancer and delighting scientists, geeks and deranged woodsmen everywhere by baking special bleeding heart shaped cupcakes this Valentines day.

"Scarily realistic, each edible heart cake is baked with a delicious red velvet sponge, cream cheese frosting and blackcurrant cherry 'blood'. A single ʻbleeding heart cakeʼ is priced at £7 and comes in a cute perspex box tied with apink or red ribbon with a personal note."

The cake is available exclusively through their website and 20% of the proceeds go directly to charity.

For those of us in love with the idea of baking up bits of anatomy for loved ones, Lily Vanilli provides instructions on their blog. Doesn't sound too difficult, right? How about a gallbladder cupcake? Or a Kidney? Yum yum.

Whatever you do though, don't eat your bleeding heart cake like this guy (Warning: graphic cake consumption. I love the cake but I'm now a little scared of Tim Wheeler). Well you can, but I'm not certain you'll earn many points with your significant other on Valentines day--unless they're a zombie.

My Picks For Re-Inventing the Lamington 2011!

Mr P's Beautiful Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Lamingtons

Those of you who follow Mr. P's blog Delicious Delicious Delicious may be aware that he is hosting his second Re-Inventing the Lamington Contest and I am taking part as a member of the judges panel.

It was thanks to Mr. P's Lamington contest last year that I discovered the delicious Australian snack cake, the Lamington. I also discovered, that with all their dipping and coating, lamingtons are the kiss of death to any fresh cleaned kitchen. I love all the entries and have the utmost respect for all the effort--and cleaning--that all the bakers put forth for this contest.

So, I spent a good part of my weekend going over the Lamington ideas submitted to Mr. P and weighing the merits of each.

I also relied heavily on my ability to lick my laptop's computer screen and taste photos of food--one of my many very special super powers.

So, after wiping the drool off my Macbook's keyboard, I settled on three ideas that appealed to me the most.