Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats

I love rice krispie treats. Just love them. There’s something about the nice firm chew when you first bite into them that makes them addictively delicious. But I rarely make them, mostly because I get distracted by other, more exotic recipes. Also because my husband isn’t a huge fan and I’d end up eating the entire pan myself. (that was certainly the case with the leftover rice krispie treat towers from the birthday castle cake).

But when I found myself with a leftover bag of mini marshmallows and half a box of rice krispies that would never get eaten as breakfast, I knew that I’d be finding an excuse to make these delicious snacks soon. A gathering of friends provided the perfect occasion, and a newly-doctored jar of salted caramel sauce provided the inspiration for a delicious variation. I stirred a healthy dollop of caramel sauce into the melted marshmallow/butter mixture before mixing in the cereal, drizzled extra caramel on top of the finished treats, and topped it all off with a sprinkling of salt.

Birthday Castle Cake

So far you’ve seen the progress photos for my daughter’s Birthday Princess dress, but what’s a princess party without a castle cake? I knew I had to make one, so I started collecting fondant cutters and images of pretty cakes several months before they’d actually be needed.

After much vacillating I decided to make it a two-tier round cake with two towers at the base and three on the top tier. Since there was plenty of leftover cake last year, I kept the same sized pans as before– 7″ on the bottom (three layers) and 5″ on the top (two layers). Color scheme would be white, pink, and purple, and I’d decorate it with climbing roses and lacy crenellations.

Fair warning, this is not a tutorial post– the process was so involved that I just couldn’t take the time to get pictures of every step and post recipes and instructions for all of the components. I may do individual posts on some of the techniques, though. So for now just sit back and enjoy the pictures and general instruction summary!