I was sick, a few weeks ago.  It was Easter long weekend and my husband was off work, which meant that I should be happy.  Instead… sick.  I had a terrible head cold and just feeling down about it.  To top it off, my kids were sick, too!

As I was resting at home, there was a knock at the door.  Heidi was there, from Dazzling Delights, with two cute boxes of goodies for me to sample!  Now, I love to bake.  In fact, I think that I’m pretty handy in the kitchen.  I think of myself as a connoisseur of kitchen goodness.  I even enjoy baking, love to bake with my kids and often use baking as a form of procrastination.  Why clean a mess when you can make one.  Uhhh…. don’t tell anyone I told you that.  But!  To get homemade baked treats that I didn’t make?!  There was no mess to clean up?  No dishes?  No fingerprints all over the counter.  Why, I was feeling better already!  I popped the boxes open and took a peek at the dazzling creations I was given.  Two Black Forest Cupcakes and a number of different-sized and delightfully-iced sugar cookies!  Ooohhh…. royal icing!  And also, black forest cupcakes??  Uhhh… yum!

I closed the boxes and thought of how excited my family would be to see the treats that we could share, when they got back home.  I wandered down the hall to get my baby boy and then found myself wandering back to the kitchen.  What can I say?  The goodies were calling me.  So, my little man and I pulled out a black forest cupcake and took a closer look.  Whoops, maybe a little too close for him, you think?

Well, I did what a good mother had to do.  I licked the whipping cream off his fingers of course.  It tasted pretty good second-hand (literally *ahem*) and so I dropped my  teeth into the cupcake to try it out for myself.  Sigh.

Whipped cream on my nose, cherry bursts of flavour and chocolate?  It doesn’t get much better.  The cupcake was gorgeous to look at (what a classy platter that would have been with a dozen of those nicely displayed) and even more scrumptious to taste.  Moist.  Rich (but not artery-clogging) in taste and just the right blend of flavour.  I tore open the cupcake to take a look and to try and capture the perfection.

Look closely.  Are you drooling yet?  Seriously, put your nose to the screen… ummm.. okay, maybe not.  What a scrumptious treat.  My taste buds were truly dazzled and I was feeling about ten hundred (I mean a thousand) times better.  I decided that I even felt well enough to leave the house!  But not until I savoured the other cupcake of course.  Oh. So.  Good!

Don’t worry.  I’m not entirely selfish.  I did share the cookies with my family.  The kids were enthralled by the awesome icing work.  The dazzling ladies had created colourful flowers and captivating Easter baskets on top of their sugar cookies.  What fun!  The kids each enjoyed a basket and left me to eat the bouquet.

I’m a big fan of sugar cookies.  Sweet!  Crisp!  Royal Icing!  The best part of the cookies, though, was the detail to the decoration.  While I didn’t manage to get a good picture of the Easter baskets that I had been given (before the kids got to them), the Dazzling ladies posted them in their facebook album.

I was thoroughly impressed with my tasters from Dazzling Delights and would recommend that you get these ladies to bake your next occasion cake for you!!  No preparation, no mess, no icing stress, just a dazzling delight to add to your day or your special occasion!

Now, one lucky reader of KamloopsParents.Com will get to enjoy some Dazzling Delights in their home!  Heidi and Ry-Ann are giving away one $20 gift certificate to be used towards an order with them.  There are a few ways that you can enter…

1) Share your best (or worst) kitchen disaster story to get three entries into the draw.  You can leave a comment or e-mail it to elizabeth@kamloopsparents.com.

2) You can check out this album of Dazzling Delights cakes and leave a comment to tell me which is your favourite.

3) You can become a fan of Dazzling Delights on facebook to earn another entry.  Let me know you joined.

As usual, the giveaway will be open until Thursday, the 6th of May at 10pm (Kamloops-time).  The winner will be drawn by random.org and will be announced here and informed by e-mail.  You can enter by commenting or by e-mailing your comments to elizabeth@kamloopsparents.com.

About your Author | Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a Kamloops lifer. Born at RIH, she is happy to be raising her family here. Married with three wonderful children, Elizabeth is a full-time teacher and enjoys working with parents as she learns more about this "Mommy gig". Elizabeth is passionate about parenting and enjoys networking with other parents. She has been running KamloopsParents.Com since March 2010.