a year ago today, after spending about 70% of my reading reading food blogs, i decided to dedicate the other 30% to launching my own.

it’s been nothing but a positive experience, and i just really want to say thank you to everyone who reads it. i still get an incredible feeling anytime someone leaves a comment.

so i’m celebrating by taking the day off. and cheating. that’s right, this here cake is straight up funfetti! if you’ve never had funfetti before, it’s a box cake made by pillsbury filled with tiny colored candy things that melt in the oven and give the cake a “festive” feel. what you really need to know about this cake is that you can’t eat it and not be overcome with joy. it’s almost too fun, but fortunately, the lab boys at pillsbury did sufficient research to pull it back just to this side of giddiness.

i actually made this for the girl’s birthday last weekend (along with a “real” cake – tres leches!), but there was so much of it, i’m still working my way through. my inspriation for the finished cake was the world peace black and white cookie (LOOK TO THE COOKIE, ELAINE).

i can’t apologize for loving this cake because, well, it’s just too good. but i wish i could send a piece to everyone – this blog would be nothing without you. thanks.

i’m still sloooowly working my way through gourmet’s favorite cookies (from 1941-2008), and while i still have a long way to go, these chocolate coconut squares are going to be tough to beat. so tough, that i might just stop here and keep making batches of these instead of any other cookie, forever. they are so good.

adding powdered sugar designs is an easy way to make a dessert look fancy. i just made two quick stencils out of typing paper and carefully sifted some sugar over the top of each bar. it was a surprisingly easy (if a bit tedious) process, and while the small amount of sugar doesn’t really impact the taste, it’s totally worth it.

my baking dish is 8″ square instead of 9″, so they ended up a bit thicker. i think the consensus among everyone who ate these was actually to leave the bottom half thick and make the chocolate layer thinner. this one nitpick didn’t really stop us from finishing these off in a few hours though.

continue reading and get the recipe »

thanks to everyone who voted for me in the first Foodie Fight! i was up against some tough competition, but thanks to you all i was able to pull out a win!

it was a great experience and really fun to push myself in new way. if you might be interested, SIGN UP for another battle!

also, please please please check out the other blogs who competed in the first battle:

http://www.goodnplanty.com/

http://cupcakemuffin.blogspot.com/

http://www.foodsofine.com/

http://www.savoryreviews.com/

http://janiescreations.blogspot.com/

and big thanks to nick and dan for organizing foodie fights in the first place!