Multi-Colored Smash Cake

Little Miss B. is turning 1!! This little girl has such a wonderful personality- she's fun, smart and has a little hint of trouble maker in her eyes ;)

I got to make her smash cake!  Her theme was primary colors, so I decided to go with a multi-colored cake that would be a lot of fun for mom and dad to clean up after :)

BEFORE 

AFTER

BRENNA AFTER

Happy Birthday Brenna! We love you and had so much fun on your special day! You are growing so fast I can't believe you're already 1!

Lego Head Cake Pops

Lego cake pops were the request of the birthday boys... so lego cake pops they got. It was a fun adventure, and my favorite part was making the lego faces!  See the steps I took to make these below:

Bake the cake then crumble it into little pieces. Mix it with frosting until it becomes a loose dough. Don't add too much frosting or the cake pops will become soggy.

I balled up the "dough" and used a small round biscuit cutter to make the right shape.

Once the dough has been cut out, it should take on the middle sized lego head base.

Cut out small round pieces for the top of the lego head, and medium sized round pieces with a hole for the bottom of the lego head.

Place the lego head base on the stick then dip the end of the cake pop stick in melted yellow chocolate.

Slide the stick into the large part that was cut out earlier and press the two pieces together. Do not push the stick through the other side of the large cutout.

Place a little bit of chocolate on the small top part of the lego head.

Stick the small part on top of the pre-assembled lego head base.

Set the cake pops up to allow the chocolate to dry as you start to melt a larger quantity of yellow chocolate.

Dip the entire lego head dough assembly into melted yellow chocolate. Tap the pop stick lightly to help remove any excess melted chocolate, until the chocolate stops "dripping." 

Set the cake pops on a stand or in a piece of styrofoam to dry.

Use edible marker to write on the lego faces.  Wrap the lego heads in a food-grade poly bag and close off bag with ribbon or twist ties.

My Go-To Sugar Cookie Recipe- Revisited

I previously posted this recipe, but wanted to revisit the topic of my all-time Favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe! Over Christmas, I had a friend post a photo of the cookies he was baking and planned to decorate with his family. When I saw the photo you're about to see, I recommended Cookie Crazie's sugar cookie recipe!

Cookie Crazie was gracious enough to share her recipe with cookie bakers everywhere, and this recipe is so much more moist and tasty than any of the recipes I've found on the Internet, AND the edges of the cookie are more firm/sharp looking than my previously posted go-to recipe. Here is my friend's final result using the new recipe- what a difference a couple of ingredients makes!!

My Sugar Cookie recipe below was adapted from here: Cookie Crazie's blog. I use slightly less flour than she does, but other than that I use the same ingredient quantities that she uses.  I typically double this recipe and haven't had any problems with the dough consistency.

Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla (or any other extract/emulsion flavor)
1/2 C sour cream
4 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
1) Cream butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, & sour cream.
2) Blend in dry ingredients.
3) Roll dough to desired thickness (I prefer to use a Dobord on the middle setting, cover with parchment paper, then roll out dough directly on the parchment paper that gets transferred to the baking sheet).
4) Cut into shapes.
5) Transfer parchment paper to cookie sheet OR place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6) Bake for 18-20 minutes.
7) Transfer to a wire rack then cool the cookies.
8) Decorate with icing, sprinkles, or just enjoy them plain.

To make a chocolate sugar cookie:
Substitute 1/2 C cocoa for 1/2 C flour

Can People Cupcake Display

My mom runs a non-profit organization called the Can People (http://thecanpeople.com).  This is an amazing organization that sends care packages to Marines (and other military troops as requested) who are serving overseas in Afghanistan.  The organization initially sent care packages over in large coffee cans, and the troops who received the packages dubbed them "The Can People" and the name stuck.  The Can People is a wonderful organization and they do a fundraiser every year to help support the cost of making and sending the care packages.  I was blessed to be asked to make cupcakes for the annual event.

If you are interested in donating (goods or money) to support this wonderful organization, please go to their website and take a look at the details, or feel free to leave a comment on this page and I will make sure your message reaches the right people. 

Acoustic Guitar Cake

This is one of my early cakes (made approximately 3 years ago), but I just found the photo in my archived cell phone photos (please forgive the image quality).  I made the body of the guitar out of cake, covered in multi-colored fondant.  The neck of the guitar was made of cake, and the guitar strings were real guitar strings. The accents were made out of fondant that had been left out to dry, then airbrushed silver.  

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

My cousin and his wife have twin girls, and I was excited to make the cupcakes for their birthday party.   The theme was Strawberry Shortcake, so I made bright pink and bright green colored cupcakes, with a fresh sliced strawberry on the top of each cake. 

TWINS- A Tale of Two Babies

 

I had the privilege of making a set of baby shower cakes- for TWINS!! One of my dearest friends in the world was blessed to have twins- a boy and a girl. The cakes are opposites- pink and blue, chocolate and vanilla.  They both have hand-piped clotheslines with royal icing baby clothes.  The toppers are hand-cut flags, with puffy-painted signs that say "BABY BOY" and "BABY GIRL."

These are the cakes and cupcakes that I made for this wonderful couple's baby shower.  Oh, and PS- I made their wedding cake too!

That Was a Very Hungry Caterpillar

This was a first birthday smash cake featuring a Very Hungry Caterpillar. This was a very special cake for me to decorate and I was excited to be able to make it.  I also made the cake for this precious little girl's mom and dad's wedding reception.  

Here are some photos of the birthday girl digging in to her cake!  She was so polite and such a lady when it came to her turn to "smash."

Art Party Neon Cupcakes

My niece was turning two and she was having an "Art Party". My sister gave me artistic freedom on this project, so I decided to go with a very colorful and Jackson Pollock vibe. 

I laid a sheet down, put down some cooling racks, and covered them in brightly colored cupcakes that were topped with white buttercream frosting.  I thinned out matching brightly colored royal icing (I used AmeriColor gel food coloring) and dipped a silicone basting brush in each color, then just splattered the cupcakes with the icing.  

To make the cake topper "Smash" cake I used brightly colored "Sixlets" (candy coated chocolates).  The entire top was covered in Sixlets, and a number "2" was made on the side using the candies.

Once the party started to die down a bit, I made "to-go" cups for the cupcakes using plastic cups and a little bit of plastic wrap.  

It has been a VERY long time

So much has happened over the past year and it seems to have been an eternity since I last posted (mostly because it has been more than a year!).  I had a car accident at the end of 2012 and have been through quite a bit to heal from my injuries which included a couple of surgeries and a LOT of physical therapy and chiropractic visits.  I completed a few projects in my down time, so I'll be posting updates that includes those projects in the near future.