Celebrate Spring!
Sunshine, flowers, longer days—can you tell we're overjoyed that spring is here? Another cause for delight: the season's many reasons for baking. From Easter (just around the corner!) through graduations and showers, we're looking forward to playing in the kitchen and sharing with friends and families. By the way, if there's a wedding on your calendar, we have an extra-special treat for you in this newsletter.
Easter Sweets
 Easter falls on April 4 this year, which means you have just enough time to create some family-pleasing treats. Quickest, easiest, and cutest? These Easter Surprise Cupcakes. Shhh: Don't tell the kids there's a small chocolate egg hidden inside each one!
Impress the in-laws with this easier-than-it-looks Easter Basket Cake, a classic yellow layer cake frosted with delicious buttercream and basket-striped with strawberry glaze. In the center of the "basket": a mound of fresh strawberries from your local farmer's market or even your garden!
Little kids will love helping to decorate our Easter Bunny Cake with candies, poster board ears, and wooden skewers (for the whiskers, of course!). And older kids can practice their frosting skills. The only special equipment you'll need is an ovenproof bowl and a pastry bag with a star tip.
Thanks, Mom!
 As we know, every day is Mother's Day. But Mom's own day—May 9 this year—is the perfect occasion to show your love for her and your love of baking. Why not celebrate the day with a garden-themed lunch—outdoors, if the weather cooperates? Set casual bouquets around the table in low vases (the better to see and chat with guests), and serve charmingly decorated Flower Cupcakes and a Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet on a doily-lined tray. For a glorious finale, pick up some pastel-colored ice-cream cones and "plant" these whimsical Flower Pot Cupcakes. Use a muffin tin to hold them upright, and decorate with crushed-chocolate-wafer "soil" and a single flower in each baked cupcake.
And if you're the mom being fêted, slip a hint to your kids that you'd enjoy our Can't Get Enough Chocolate-Almond Bars. A winning entry in the Idaho State Fair, this delicious treat has special Mother's Day significance: the recipe was created by a mother-and-son team!
Dads and Grads
 What do Father's Day and graduations have in common? Parties, families, and big appetites! Keep the baking easy and traditional, and look for recipes that multiply well. Our Choco-Nut Sheet Cake serves 24, looks beautiful, and can be carried to a party in its pan. For a smaller gathering of chocolate lovers, whip up a batch of Never-Fail Fudge: no cooking required, so it's a great choice for a warm late-spring day.
Chocolate isn't the only flavor that says "party time." Now that berries and cherries are coming into their peak, showcase them in Blueberry Almond Squares, a delicious bar-cookie variation, or Peach-Blueberry Crumble, yummy served warm with vanilla ice cream. Or enjoy the looks of delight when you serve each guest his or her own Mini Cherry Pie. Our recipe makes six to eight small pies; substitute frozen cherries if fresh cherries aren't yet in the markets.
 Shower Power
Hosting a wedding or baby shower is a beautiful act of generosity and love. The focus should, of course, be on the bride- or mother-to-be, but the dessert table plays an important supporting role. Whether you're doing it all yourself or organizing a potluck, keep the choices light and fresh, with an emphasis on seasonal fruits.
Fresh Fruit Tartlets, for example, look elegant thanks to their shiny glaze—but you can keep prep time to a minimum by using store-bought tartlet crusts. If you have more time on your hands, or are a more experienced baker who prefers to make everything from scratch, try our Ricotta Fruit Tartlets, made with cream-cheese pastry, a lightly sweetened ricotta-cheese filling, and fresh seasonal fruit topped with apricot glaze.
 Strawberry and rhubarb are a classic pairing in baked desserts; their mingled flavors and textures evoke the joys of spring. This Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler, developed for us by San Francisco pastry chef Emily Luchetti, is the perfect showcase for these delicious fruits; it's best served warm with a dollop of crème fraiche or softly whipped cream. Strawberries are also the focus of another of Emily's specialties, Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Strawberries. Panna cotta—literally "cooked cream"—is a classic Italian dessert made with cream, milk, and gelatin; this version starts with a whole vanilla bean and is served in individual ramekins or custard cups.
If you've hosted a successful wedding shower, perhaps you're tempted to try the main event: baking a wedding cake. Yes, amateurs can and do bake wedding cakes! Just read the profile of Ann Scranton to learn how one talented home baker got started.
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Subscribe to C&H's Sweet Spot for the latest baking tips, recipes, news and professional baker profiles.
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What makes Royal Icing "royal"? Can you make a buttercream frosting ahead of time? Get the answers to these and other frosting questions in our Beyond the Basics tutorial.
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 Ann Scranton
You may consider yourself a good home baker—maybe even a very good one! But could you take on the ultimate challenge: a wedding cake?
Find Out More - >
 Sweet Rewards: Committing to Ending Childhood Hunger
It's shocking but true: Nearly 17 million American children—almost one in four—face hunger on a daily basis. They also face the lifelong mental and physical consequences of chronic hunger.
The good news is that you can make a big difference in those kids' lives—while doing something you already love to do: baking!
For the third consecutive year, C&H Sugar has teamed up with Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale, a chance for friends and neighbors to join in the critical fight against childhood hunger. Last year, 7,600 bake-sale teams across the country helped raise $1.2 million—and at Share Our Strength's 2009 Conference of Leaders, C&H Sugar received the award for excellence in corporate leadership for helping generate interest, donations, and participation. This year, Share Our Strength has set a $1.8 million goal. With your help, we'll meet that goal!
To get started, sign up at the Great American Bake Sale website. Then check out Share Our Strength's online Bake Sale Neighborhood, completely updated this year with helpful tips. Check out the calendar to join a bake sale already being planned in your area or—if you're a bake sale organizer—to add your event to the list. You can also post questions and receive answers from Share Our Strength staff and bake sale volunteers.
Next, go to C&H Sugar's Bake Sale Center to find recipes, presentation ideas, pricing suggestions, sign templates, and promotional tools. You can also become a C&H fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to receive more information and instant answers to your questions.
Finally, learn from experienced GABS-ers like Melissa Johnson of Sioux Falls, SD, who has participated in the Great American Bake Sale for four years with her two young daughters. Melissa has generously shared some of her tips for organizing a successful bake sale:
- Get the word out. Identify the assignment editors at your local newspaper and television stations and send them a media alert using the template offered by Share Our Strength. Local media are always looking for good feature stories, and this is a terrific one!
- Team up. Recruit high school leadership groups, church youth groups, or philanthropy groups to help your effort.
- Prepare your sales pitch. Each volunteer should be prepared with a "30-second commercial" so she can clearly communicate why you're holding the bake sale and what the donations will be used for. This is a great lesson in professionalism for younger volunteers, by the way.
- Ask for donations and help. Ask local grocery stores or bakeries to donate baked goods to your event. In exchange, offer to post their signs to credit them for their generosity. If you're asking friends to help you bake, assign them to teams such as the bread team or the brownie team.
- Make it festive. Dress up your baked treats to make your bake sale extra-attractive, and make colorful signs that announce your event to passersby. And consider wearing matching T-shirts or hats while you're selling. If you're having fun, people will want to check out your event!
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