My 🧁Top 9 🍰 Desserts 🎂 in 2021

Happy 2022! I’m excited to kick off the year with a post on my top 9 baked creations of 2021. I have been baking pretty consistently through 2021 so looking at the numbers:

I baked 29 Bundt cakes last year

Created a total of 51 desserts

I made at least one bundt cake every month. July was the month I baked the most during and January, the least.

What made my top 9? After I chose the 9, I observe that these are the desserts that were new to my repertoire, particularly complex (for me), were sentimental or especially kid friendly. As I look forward to 2022, I want to keep baking with my kids as well as improve my decorating craft. My friends and family are now supporting my hobby, getting me baking books and classes to try - so I look forward to trying out an Arlos cooking decorating class as well as take a Wilton virtual baking class. If you have great baking resources or favorite cake recipes, please share them with me as well.

Christmas Yule log

This is a sentimetal dessert - my grandmother makes this for every holiday/birthday occasion and she taught me how to make this during the pandemic. I added the log-like decor as well as merengue mushrooms to make this creation for our Christmas dinner this year. It was extra special because we were not able to get together last year, so I was able to make this for our small family gathering when we somewhat resumed our holiday traditions. Message me for the recipe if you are interested, but really, most yule log online recipes will work here.

Difficulty (scale of 1-10 with 1 being easiest): 8

Olympic torch cupcakes

I had a chance to make an Olympics’ themed dessert, so I tried my hand at cupcakes torches. I use a funfetting box mix, ice cream cones and made colorful frosting using Wilton food coloring. This is a relatively simple dessert and a crowd pleaser.

Difficulty: 4

White Layer Strawberry Cake

Adam’s parents came to visit this year and we celebrated their wedding anniversary. I asked what cake they had on their wedding day and they said it was a white cake with whipped cream frosting and jam. So I did my best to recreate their cake.

Difficulty: 5

Skull cake for Halloween

For this year’s Halloween, I made a three layer cake with chocolate skulls and a sprinkled rim. This was a fun centerpiece for our Halloween decorated craft table and was a hit with kids and adults. This is also the first cake I made from Cake by Courtney and I look forward to making more of her cakes in 2022.

Difficulty: 8

M&M Fish Cupcakes

These Fish cupcakes were created on a rainy day when I was looking for an activity with kids. Sorting the M&Ms probably took the longest time of this entire baking project. Kids also really enjoyed mixing the frosting and making the fish scales.

Difficulty: 2

French fruit tart with pastry cream

This was the most intricate creation that I made this year - it was baked over a couple of days and had the most elusive ingredients such as Apple and NH pectins as well as fresh vanilla bean. I plan to make more tarts this year and continue to use Chef Ansel’s approach.

Difficulty: 9

Easter Basket Bundt Cake

While bundt cakes are not prominently displayed in my top 9, it has definitely become my go to easy cake to make. I usually have a couple of cake mixes on hand as well as make cake from scratch, while experimenting with a variety of glazes and frosting options. However, for Easter, I wanted to do something whimsical. Thanks to Pinterest, abundance of Easter candy and some left over meringues, I created a Bundt Easter Basket.

Diffuculty: 3

Unicorn Cake for a birthday

Our youngest daughter is really into unicorns, so for her birthday she requested a unicorn cake. This was the first true cake with frosting that I made - the biggest learning was just how much frosting a cake requires. Also, YouTube videos are deceiving and things are way harder than they appear.

Difficulty: 7

New Years Cake Pops

We rang in 2021 with homemade cake pops. I learned that you need a place to stage them, and Fancy Sprinkles helped make them be more festive. This is a great dessert to make with kids as they can decorate after you dip them into melted chocolate.

Difficulty: 5

Summing it up

I don’t consider myself to be a particularly creative person, but baking has allowed me to tap into the right side of my brain. I started with bundt cakes where the molds gave me a chance to just focus on a cake and a glaze, but have since evolved to more intricate cakes and cookies where I have a chance to decorate and create designs. I am in the early stage of my journey with the artsy part of the desserts and I look forward to finding more whimsy in baking in 2022. I hope you follow us along on Instagram (@mindthebeet) where I post my creations.

Onward to 2022!