January Updates! Cinnamon Rolls and 22nd Birthday Cake!!!

1/9/26

Em and I took an unexpected break over the holidays. We had family here and really didn’t have the time to do any baking outside of what has already been posted. We did bake some chocolate chip M&M cookies. They didn’t last long, maybe 4 days. We used the same chocolate chip cookie recipe as always, just added some M&Ms. We are hoping to do some baking again really soon, possibly Sunday. We shall see.

We also have a house project going on at the moment, my hubby switched his office with our guest room, so now our living room and front room are cluttered up with all the things that were in the guest room until we can finish cleaning the new guest room and paint.

Em wants to make some cinnamon rolls soon, so be on the look out for that.

1/11/26 We baked the cinnamon rolls, can't remember exactly when, but here is a picture. We used the No Yeast Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls recipe from Lane & Grey Fare. These were really good and pretty easy to make, a bit time consuming, but they turned out well.

1/20/26

Emma and I have been taking a bit of a baking break. Her birthday is coming up, so we will be making her a cake soon. I have made her birthday cake, cupcakes or cookie cake every year for the past 21 years. Here’s to year 22! That’s the perks of having a cake decorator mom.

So be on the look out for that.

1/28/26

This birthday cake baking experience was a disaster. I am not sure what happened, and have never had this big of an issue with a cake before, but I had to make the cake 3 times.

Em's birthday was the 26th. I started the cake after her birthday dinner and an impromptu trip to the Magic Kingdom on the 25th, hoping to have it done and ready to go on the 26th. Had to trash that cake, got another mix, had to trash that one too. So finally on the 27th, she got her birthday cake.

The disaster: I used a gluten free cake mix that we have used in the past with stellar results, this time, nope. It crumbled and I couldn't even ice it. I am not going to mention which one it was. I will never use it again.

So, I used a different mix that we have also used. It turned out perfect. I know I could have made it from scratch and in hindsight, probably should have because the mixes didn't save me any time, but I was committed at this point. 🤣

I was going to record and post on the Crissy Bakes Things YouTube channel, but by the time I finally got the cake to cooperate, I was just done. I iced and decorated it and called it a day. I thought about just posting the results of the other 2 cakes, but I was so frustrated and didn't want to put that out there.

Emma helped mix the final cake while I was cooking supper. She also helped mix up the colors and it was her cake design.