No-Fail Fluffy Buttercream

**Image: Birthday cake that I made for my good friend two years ago (ombre petal cake)

For those of you who ask, 'how did you make this frosting?' this post is for you.

It's extremely easy and no different from any other buttercream recipe, however it is a lot easier if you have a stand mixer (KitchenAid)

Ingredients

+ 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

+ 2 cups of icing sugar

+ 1 tsp vanilla extract OR any other flavour you would like to add

  (I like to use vanilla beans-- and I swear by this website for ordering beans/extracts) 

+ 2 tsp milk/cream 

Directions

+ Place the butter in a stand mixer fitted with an paddle attachment and beat at medium-high speed for about 8 minutes-- yes! 8 minutes. The butter will get very fluffy and lighten over this time. If you are doing with with a hand-held mixer, your arm might hurt a bit after, but it's still totally sufficient.

+ Add the icing sugar. If there are a lot of clumps in it, sift it first with either a sifter or by tapping it through a mesh strainer into the bowl. Beat for another 2-3 minutes.

+ Add your flavour of choice + milk + any colouring you want the icing to have. Beat for another minute or so (or until colour is uniform throughout)

Tip: If you need more icing, use about 2 cups of butter and 4 cups of icing sugar. This recipe is enough to frost just over a dozen sugar cookies. You would need to double it for a cake or cupcakes. 

Cauliflower "Hot Wings"

I've been meaning to try out this recipe for a while. So, when I found myself with a head of cauliflower in the fridge and not knowing what to do with it, this was the first thought that came to mind. I've got hot sauce (sriracha), and I've got flour-- that's about all you need!

I found this recipe on pinterest, but made some modifications. These babies could easily be made vegan (sub in a butter replacement) and would be an awesome party dish.

Ingredients
+ 1 head of cauliflower
+ 1 cup of flour (I used whole wheat! …trying to be healthy)
+ 1 cup of water
+ Seasonings of your choice (mine= salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder)
+ ~1/4 cup hot sauce (Frank's or sriracha work well)
+ ~2 tbsp butter
Optional: Ranch for dipping

Directions
+ Preheat oven to 450F & line a baking sheet with tinfoil.
+ Cut the head of cauliflower into individual florets, set aside.
+ In in a small bowl (I actually used a large mug to be able to dip the florets in deeper), mix together flour and water. Add in your seasonings of choice, and perhaps a splash of hot sauce.
+ Dip each floret into the batter, shake it off, and place on the baking sheet.
+ Bake for about 15 minutes. While it's in the oven, melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the 1/4 cup of hot sauce.
+ After the 15 minutes in the oven, remove cauliflower & brush on hot sauce mixture. Return to oven for an additional 10 min.
+ Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes, and serve with ranch :)