Stephanie Santana

Royal icing spider web tutorial

2011-03-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hopefully after this post you will see how easy it is to make royal icing toppers!

You will need:

1 batch of Royal Icing (recipe here)

(split the batch into 2 colors...2/3 of one and 1/3 of another)

piece of paper

wax paper or parchment paper squares

Wilton tip # 2 & # 3

Toothpick or roasting pin

glass with wet paper towel in the bottom to keep your tips moist

1. Dye your icing and then thin it to toothpaste consistancy. Fill your bag with color #1. Place it tip down in your glass

2. Draw a circle and place it under a piece of wax or parchment paper

2. Pipe your outline with Tip #2 (I used a bottle for this, you can use a bottle or bag, whichever is more comfy for you). Pipe all your circles and set aside.

3. Take your color #1 & thin it to gel (think hair gel) consistancy for flooding. Fill your bag or bottle and use tip #3 to flood your circle

Flood your circle

4. Thin color #2 and fill your bag/bottle. Using tip #2 put a dot in the middle

5. Then pipe a circle around the dot

6. Then pipe another circle around the smaller circle & dot

7. Use a toothpick or sharp object (I use a roasting pin) and start from the middle and drag it out towards the outside edge to create a web. Make sure to wipe your toothpick clean after each pass

Repeat for the next line

Repeat until you make it all the away around

8. Now let it dry for 24 hours, then peel off the wax paper gently.

If you have questions, leave me a comment or email me at

sweeetcreationsbystephanie@gmail.com

Spiderman Cupcakes

2011-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday Chaz!

I made cupcake toppers with left over royal icing

The spider is fondant & the spider topper base is fondant

I will type up a tutorial on the spider web

Spiderman Cookies

2011-03-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

I made Spiderman cookies to go with Spiderman cupcakes for

Chaz' 5th Birthday!

This is a cookie scraper.. aka booboo stick

It's great to have to fix "booboo's" on cookies

I bought mine at Karen's Cookies for .69cents...so cheap that I bought a few of them

1st I made the eyes and let them dry for 24 hours

The next night I baked my cookies & started to outline with royal icing

Then flooded the cookie with Royal Icing

You can gently shake the cookie to make the royal settle and fill all the spots

I should have let the icing dry because I noticed some bleeding after they dried. Black & red are 2 colors that seem to give me trouble. I did the web while the red flooding was still very wet with Wilton tip #2

Then add the premade eyes while the flooding is still wet

all done!

and the black ones completed

all wrapped up for his party!

Spiderman cupcakes coming soon!!!!!

Flower centers

2011-03-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been referring to Sweet Sugar Belle's blog a lot lately because I am so in LOVE with her work and she is constantly sharing her tips with us! Last week she blogged about making flowers and flower centers with left over royal icing. I had leftover yellow from my royal icing flowers so I thinned it & made flower centers for cookie pops & cupcakes for my aunts' Mom's 75th Birthday Party.

I made a template for my circles so they would all be somewhat similar in size

Put a piece of wax paper over the guide and start piping with Wilton tip #10

keep your icing inside the lines..it will settle and will fill in the lines

(does anyone else find it a bit difficult to take step by step pictures while trying to decorate? Please ignore the fact that I set my tip down in the royal icing..clearly didn't mean to do that!!!)

When done, leave as is or sprinkle with disco dust or sanding sugar

Royal Icing Flowers

2011-03-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Back in 2009 I took Wilton courses & learned how to make royal icing flowers. I forgot all about them until last week when I was cleaning out my tool box & found the little paper guides they gave us in class. If you love to decorate or want to learn, I'd suggest the courses.

To make royal icing flowers you will need:
-1 batch of royal icing - stiff, do not thin
-decorating bag
-Wilton tip 104
-pearls for the centers or you can use another color of icing to make centers with Wilton tip #2 or #3
-parchment paper squares
-flower nail

First I made a batch of royal icing. I tried the syran wrap technique as posted on Sweet Sugar Belle's blog
last week. Lay syran wrap on the counter, add your royal icing (note..flowers use stiff icing, I used thinned icing for this picture because I forgot to take it earlier as I was making flowers)

Roll the icing up like a burrito and twist the ends. Drop it in your decorating bag and cut off the syran on the tip end.

Put on Wilton tip #104

using double stick tape, affix your flower guide to the top of the flower nail

Using more double stick tape, add your parchment or wax paper square to the top of the flower nail

With the fat end of tip #104 to the inside of the flower, start your first petal at the 1st guideline

(see above pic)

Pipe your first petal

and your 2nd

3rd

4th

and finally the 5th..

Add a pretty dragee to the center or use a contrasting royal icing with tip #2 or #3 to pipe a center

Carefully lift the parchment paper off the nail & allow to dry for 24 hours before using the flowers

Flowers can be made ahead of time & stored for easy decorations

Whiskeytown Endurance Ride 2011 - Horse cookies

2011-03-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

While on vacation at my dads in Northern California I decorated horse cookies (102 of them to be exact) with Mary. I did this a few years ago when I was up there but last time I flew so I wasn’t able to take my toolbox but this time we drove so I was well prepared with all my Americolor dyes, tips and plenty of bottles for royal icing. We had fun horsin' around, cookie decorating and being creative. I tried to teach Mary as many tips as I could in a short amount of time.

We used ginger cookie dough so we didn't have to fill in all the horses with royal icing. I took the cookies outside to take pictures of them and it started to rain :(

Cookie Tags

2011-03-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

In a few weeks my aunt is having a party for her mom's 75th Birthday. I'll be making cookie pops & cupcakes for the party. I made tags for each cookie pop using a 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/2" circle punch and Stampin' Up's scallop punch

God Bless Casey

2011-03-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

I made both cookies & cupcakes for Casey's baptism. The cupcake toppers were made with royal icing instead of my usual fondant. I found a NO CHILL cut out cookie recipe and it is great for those of us that can't wait for our dough to chill before we roll it out.

Chocolate cookies with royal icing

No Chill Cut out cookie recipe:

1 Cup butter, softened, 2 sticks

1 Cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 Cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and the VANILLA, mix until well blended. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder then gradually add to the butter mixture and blend well. Form the dough into a smooth ball. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Fill each cookie sheet with cookies of equal size to ensure even baking. Bake for 6 minutes (a bit longer for thicker cookies), but they shouldn’t brown at all. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks or waxed paper. Decorate as desired when cool.

Happy Birthday Linda

2011-03-05T20:34:00.000-08:00

I took these to my office for Linda's Birthday... spice cake with cream cheese frosting!

Happy Birthday Linda

Hoot Hoot Owl cake

2011-03-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Marina!

I made the branch with chocolate frosting and added a little black dye to make it darker than the frosting

Isn't the ruffle affect great? Use tip 104 and zig zag it from bottom to top with the skinny side pointing out, fat part touching the cake.
I know.. it puts a lot of frosting on the cake but it looks so pretty I couldn't resist. I filled this cake with homemade raspberry puree.

Raspberry Filling :1 basket of raspberries
5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch, disolved in 1 tbsp cold water

Boil the raspberries, sugar & lemon juice until soft. Pour raspberries through strainer and press thru to eliminate the seeds. Put pulp back in pan, add the disolved cornstarch and simmer til thick. Cool & then put in the middle of your cupcakes

Happy 60th Maria

2011-03-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

Vanilla cake filled with custard & strawberry filling

yum!

Fondant disaster on my 1st attempt ..July 2009

2011-03-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

I was just emailing Danitza about some cupcakes she made topped with cotton candy. The cotton candy absorbed the moisture from the frosting and sank overnight. :(

When she made them they looked like this (aren't the adorable?) tags by Bucky and Boo

Then this morning they looked like this (still adorable!):

I told her that my first attempt working with fondant was somewhat disasterous and had a similar result! Justina was turning 30 & wanted gerbera daisy cupcakes for her party. I offered to do them as her birthday gift. I was so excited to work with fondant but also a bit "green". I ended up ordering Satin Ice Red fondant because I was afraid I could not dye fondant red deep enough (now I know differently). I rolled out my gerbera daisy's 2 weeks in advance and stored them in an airtight container. Somewhere I read to put bread in the bottom of the container to keep the moisture out. I pulled bread out of my fridge, placed it in the bottom of my container, topped that with wax paper and then layered my daisies. Imagine my surprise when I went to use the flowers and found this mess! Duh, my bread was from the refridgerator, full of moisture & the fondant flowers absorbed all the moisture out of them. The bottom 2 layers were a complete loss. I had to make up more orange and everything ended up looking fine in the end! Nearly 2 years later, I haven't had any more fondant diasters :)

2 year olds LOVE Thomas the Train

2011-03-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Mathias loves Thomas the Train so for his 2nd birthday I made him a Thomas cake!

Happy 2nd Birthday Mathias!!!

Welcome Brayden James

2011-02-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Best wishes to the Reals on the upcoming arrival of Baby Brayden James!

Congrats to the entire Real - Jimenez family!

Lady Luck ~ Pin Up Girl Cake

2011-02-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Chloe, asked me to make a Pin Up girl cake for a party she was having. I made a double chocolate cake and filled it with fresh raspberry puree, topped with vanilla buttercream in HOT PINK!

Everything on this cake is edible... even the diamonds. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the shoes being made because I wasn't sure they would work out. I made the zebra print the same way I made my camo back in July.

Sweet SugarBelle

2011-02-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

Ever have trouble mixing colors for frosting & fondants? Take a look at SugarBelle's blog post today!! She made a fabulous color chart for a guideline on mixing your colors! Isn't it fabulous!!

Valentine Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream

2011-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Last of the Valentine sweets... Chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy vanilla buttercream

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream:

5 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
2 lbs confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract & the flavor is amazing!)

In a stand mixer, cream the butter. Add the salt, water & vanilla. Gradually add sifted powder sugar until fluffy. Easy as that.. and so much better tasting than store bought.

French Macaroons for a sweet friend

2011-02-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

My "to do" baking list is so long and sometimes it's hard to pick which recipe to try. This weekend I tackled one that's been in the pile for well over a year, if not two years. Due to certain diet restrictions (Gluten free) it was a perfect recipe for one person I had in mind (I won't name her but she knows who she is) for this recipe. She goes above & beyond for her friends + family on a daily basis and is one of the sweetest people I know.

Last week I watched a "How to" video on Sprinkle Bakes and thought I can do this! I made her recipe sans cayenne powder. What I didn't realize was how fragile the shells are once you take them out of the oven. Juls and I taste tested all the broken shells. I made 24 shells so I could make a dozen macaroons.. I ended up with 5 unbroken. ;( Better luck next time, right?

I filled my macaroons with left over chocolate buttercream and boxed them up...all 5 of them.

I think I sifted & folded more than I ever have for any recipe yesterday but it just proved to be totally worth it when I got this email from the sweet recipient...."just tried one, best ever!!!!!! OMG it taste sooo good!"

Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with LOVE & lots of sweets!

Cayenne Pepper Macarons (copied from Sprinkle Bakes)

Makes about 14 sandwich cookies

Shells:
3/4 cup almond flour - I like Hodgson Mill
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1 pinch cream of tartar
1/2 cup extra fine sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Sift almond flour and confectioners' sugar together 2-3 times. Set aside.
Whisk egg whites with a hand mixer until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Reduce speed and gradually add extra fine sugar. Increase speed and beat until stiff peaks form.
Sift flour mixture over whites with a fine sieve. Discard any lumps or coarse bits that remain. Sift in cayenne pepper.
If coloring the batter, place a bit of gel food coloring on the end of a rubber spatula before you begin folding the mixture with it. Normally powdered food coloring is used, but a small amount of gel does not disturb the batter. I would not recommend liquid food coloring.
Fold with a rubber spatula using short strokes at first. The batter will be very stiff. Use bigger folds once batter loosens. When batter is ready, it should fall from the spatula in a thick ribbon.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag. Pipe 1 or 1 1/2" rounds on the parchment lined baking sheets. Let piped macarons stand uncovered for 15 minutes to form a crust.
Decrease temperature to 325 just before placing the baking sheet in the oven. Bake pans one at a time for 10 minutes, turning halfway through.
Note: After first batch has baked, oven temp should be increased to 375 then decreased to 325 just before the 2nd baking sheet goes in.

Chocolate ganache filling
4.5 oz. chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
Chop chocolate and place in a small bowl. Heat cream on the stove-top until very hot but not boiling; pour over chocolate. Mix until smooth. Refrigerate until ganache is of spreading consistency. Place a small spoonful of chocolate on one shell and top with a same-sized macaron shell.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

2011-02-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I saw Sweetopia make really cute cupcake decorations with royal icing & had to try it! Once I got the hang of how to make "blobs" out of royal, they worked up very fast. I made triple chocolate cupcakes and added mini chips to the top..then topped with fluffy vanilla buttercream.

Valentine Cookies.. Mini Chocolate Chip Cut Out cookies

2011-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

I am in love with Sweet Sugar Belle . Callye aka Sweet Sugar Belle makes the most amazing cookies..one truly talented lady! In my general blog stalking fashion I stumbled on her "Mini Chocolate Chip Cut Out cookie" recipe and could not wait to mix up my own batch. It made about 2 dozen 3" cookies. The mini chip allows the cookies to bake with a flat surface versus a big chip that would make the cookie bumpy for royal icing decorating. I used sharp metal cutters (copper) as she suggested. I don't think plastic cutters would have worked to cut through any chips. I also made standard cut out cookies (no chill recipe). The recipe is below but please be sure to check out SugarBelle's blog, it is fabulous! Oh and I so want her cookie cutter collection but we'd have to move because I do not have that much space in our small house!

If you haven't tried Kuhn Rikon decorating bottles, you should.. I love mine!

Sugarbakers’ Chocolate Mini-Chip Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter
⅓ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cup all-purpose flour {Sugarbelle suggests to try 2 cups first, and add more flour if it seems too sticky)
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream together the butter, granulated sugar & light-brown sugar. Add the vanilla and egg yolk. Sift the flour and salt. Add the flour, one cup at a time until time until mixed. The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups but I only used 2 cups. Once the flour and butter mixture are completely mixed, add the mini chips by hand so they don't get broken up. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350°. When the 30 minutes is up, roll out your cookies on lightly floured surface (I use powder sugar instead of flour). Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Valentine's Day sneak peak

2011-02-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've been working on over the last day or so:
- Mini Chocolate Chip cut out cookie recipe from SweetSugarBelle ... it's so yummy!
- Royal Icing cupcake toppers (Thanks Sweetopia for the idea)

Cupcake towel for sale on ETSY

2011-02-07T15:43:00.001-08:00

We've added more stuff to our Etsy store!! http://www.buckyandboo.etsy.com/
Oven mitts, party banners, superhero cakes, tutu's, party favors, invitations & cupcake picks/tags!!!

Salted Caramel Brown Sugar cake

2011-02-06T16:52:00.001-08:00

I made this for my friend's dad. He is a train collector. I was trying very hard to not make it look too childlike considering he is in his late 70's.

Being short on time I used a boxed vanilla mix & added 3/4 cup of brown sugar to make a brown sugar cake. I topped the cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream. The frosting was a bit hard to frost with because it is a tad bit sticky so that's why it looks shiney in the photos.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1 tsp salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Briefly stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Set aside until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes.

3. Combine butter and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated.

4. Turn mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add caramel. Beat frosting on medium-high speed until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until stiff, about 45 minutes, before using.

Salted Caramel Brown Sugar cake

2011-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

I made this for my friend's dad. He is a train collector. I was trying very hard to not make it look too childlike considering he is in his late 70's.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1 tsp salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Briefly stir together granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture turns dark amber in color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Set aside until cool to the touch, about 25 minutes.

3. Combine butter and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated.

4. Turn mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add caramel. Beat frosting on medium-high speed until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until stiff, about 45 minutes, before using.

Apple Squares with Maple Glaze

2011-02-06T16:46:00.001-08:00

I saw this recipe over on Sprinkled with Flour's website. I made it the other day and took it to our friends house. Everyone loved it. It had the consistancy of a bread pudding. I was concerned it would be overly sweet with the amount of sugar in the cake & glaze but the apples cut the sweetness down. Juls (DH) said I should have peeled the apples because he doesn't like the skin. I don't care for nuts in my desserts so I left them out. I may try to add a little oatmeal next time. This is a definate "do again" recipe. I cut it and served in cupcake wrappers (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that).

mixing the egg & salt

Mom's Apple Squares with Maple Glaze
Cake
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (you can substitute any oil, like coconut)
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (whole wheat pastry flour would substitute well)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups chopped unpeeled apples (Braeburn, Gala, or similar)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract

Maple Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp butter, softened
2-3 tablespoons whole milk
1 tbsp pure maple syrup (can use maple extract also)

For the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 15x10-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick baking spray with flour; set aside. Leave the apples unpeeled, but remove core and chop the apples into small pieces. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine eggs and salt. Beat at medium speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and oil, and beat until blended. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just until combined. Fold in the apples, nuts and vanilla. Pour into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and set. Set the pan on a wire rack, let cool.

For the Glaze:

In a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar, butter and enough milk to make a spreadable consitency. This was about 2 tablespoons for me. Mix until smooth. Add the tablespoon of maple syrup/maple extract, and stir. Spread over the mostly cooled cake. Let the frosting set, then cut into bars.

(adapted from Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Fall 2010)

Apple Squares with Maple Glaze

2011-02-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

mixing the egg & salt

Maple Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp butter, softened
2-3 tablespoons whole milk
1 tbsp pure maple syrup (can use maple extract also)

For the Cake:

(adapted from Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Fall 2010)

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

2011-02-03T11:13:00.001-08:00

Stacy sent me this book & I love it! I saw the Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake recipe (recipe below) and thought Juls (my DH) would love it for his actual Birthday. It came out moist, not too sweet and was a nice treat after dinner. He suggested next time I add some cinnamon to it next time so I'll try that. The book is available at World Market, Amazon.com & Sam's Club. I can't wait to try another recipe this weekend.

1 Mix, 100 Cakes by Christine France (available here: Amazon.com)

Making the caramel

My grams was sweet enough to give me her apple corer a few years ago. I use it all the time to core apples & to "core" cupcakes for filling. It's easy to use & works perfect. First I cored the apples, then peeled them...so they were ready to slice.

Caramel in the bottom of the greased cake pan, I used a 10" because my 9" pan doesn't have a solid bottom

Sliced apples on top of the caramel

Moist, delicious upside down caramel apple cakecake

Happy Birthday Juls!

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake (recipes says serves 6, but it serves more than that)
oil or melted butter, for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
generous 3/4 cup of superfine sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
cream, to serve (we skipped this to reduce the fat content)

Caramel Apple Topping
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 tbsp water
4 apples (I used granny smith)
2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease a 9-inch/23-cm round, deep cake pan with a solid bottom.

2. For the caramel apple topping, put the butter and sugar into a heavy pan with the water and heat gently
    until melted, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until it turns to a deep golden
    caramel color. Pour quickly into the cake pan, tilting to cover the bottom evenly.
3. Peel, core, and thickly slice the apples, toss in the lemon juice, and spread evenly over the bottom of the
    cake pan.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
    Beat well until the mixture is smooth, then stir in the lemon rind.
5. Spoon the mixture over the apples and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake int he preheated oven for
    40-50 minutes, or until risen and golden brown.
6. Let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes, then turn out carefully onto a warmed serving plate. Serve with cream.

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

2011-02-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

1 Mix, 100 Cakes by Christine France (available here: Amazon.com)

Making the caramel

Caramel in the bottom of the greased cake pan, I used a 10" because my 9" pan doesn't have a solid bottom

Sliced apples on top of the caramel

Moist, delicious upside down caramel apple cakecake

Happy Birthday Juls!

Happy Birthday to my SWEET husband!

2011-02-02T08:47:00.001-08:00

Celebrating another birthday with my husband! He's one of a kind.. my #1 fan & taste tester!

He loves anything with wheels and loves to ride his Harley so I built him a Harley with my own two hands..what LOVE!

Happy Birthday JULS!

Happy Birthday to my SWEET husband!

2011-02-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Celebrating another birthday with my husband! He's one of a kind.. my #1 fan & taste tester!

He loves anything with wheels and loves to ride his Harley so I built him a Harley with my own two hands..what LOVE!

Happy Birthday JULS!

2011-02-01T07:45:00.001-08:00

Thank you to my beautiful friend, Andrea for honoring me with a Stylish blogger Award

Now there are some strings attached

The first is that I must share 8 things about myself with you and the second is that I send this award on to 8 other bloggers who inspire me.

So first here are some things you may not know about me:

I learned how to decorate cakes when I was 16, while working at Baskin Robins
I'm a native Californian married to a New Yorker
I ride on the back of our Harley & can ride my own atv
I'm blessed with a fabulous circle of family & friends
In 2006 I did a baja race with my friend, Justina out in the Mojave desert... 85 miles in 3 hours all to raise money for Breast Cancer... we raised $7k on our own
My favorite kitchen appliance other than my oven is my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer
In 1999, I made my first rubber stamped greeting card & have not bought a card since
I've been married to my best friend for almost 12 years
We have a cockatiel named Frankie & he rules the roost
I started working at my "real" job in 1990...almost 21 years ago age the young age of 18..and still love it!

Here are the names of 7 bloggers/Websites who inspire me.

I'll be passing this award on to:

I came up with 7 not just paper crafters but creative people that have really nice blogs

Brie - Two of a Kind

Liz - A Crafty Bee

The Cupcake Blog

Shanna - A cupfull of Cake

Today's Creative Blog

Smitten Kitchen

Eighteen25

Sprinkle Bakes

Cute Cupcake Oven Mitts @ our Etsy Store

2011-01-30T22:27:00.001-08:00

Every cupcake lover should have a set of these in their kitchen!
Available now on our Etsy Store

Fishin' for a 40th

2011-01-30T13:22:00.001-08:00

My friend posted a photo of a cake on her facebook page a few weeks ago. It was by http://www.pinkcakebox.com/ . She said "I wish I could do this cake for CMoore's (her husband) 40th Birthday." I told her "You bake, I'll do the fondant pieces for you." Cmoore is her husbands nickname so I named the boat "CMoore". The pieces came out cute, I can't wait to see it all put together (hint hint).

Everything is out of fondant & edible. I mixed gumpaste and fondant 50/50 to make the fishing pole so it would dry quickly.

Buoy's covered where I pieced the boat together

No fishin' trip is complete without a can of worms

top view

Here fishy, fishy

Fishin' for a 40th

2011-01-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

Buoy's covered where I pieced the boat together

No fishin' trip is complete without a can of worms

top view

Here fishy, fishy

Pretty Flower Marble Cupcakes

2011-01-24T12:34:00.001-08:00

I made 2 batches of cupcake batter before thinking about how many this would make...I only needed a dozen for my friend, Suzy. I ended up with about 34 cupcakes so
I sent some to work with my husband and kept the rest for him to snack on this week.

I made piped melted white chocolate into swirls to stick in the top of the cupcakes. I tinted it with pink but it's hard to tell in the above photo. I used Wilton tip 3 & piped on wax paper. I let them sit for 12 hours befor putting them in the cupcakes.

Using Americolor "Avocado" I tinted the frosting a light green to compliment the pink flowers & fondant pearls. To make fondant pearls, roll a small piece of fondant... then put in a glass ramekin with luster dust. Swirl it around and the luster dust will stick to the fondant.

Pretty Flower Marble Cupcakes

2011-01-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

I made 2 batches of cupcake batter before thinking about how many this would make...I only needed a dozen for my friend, Suzy. I ended up with about 34 cupcakes so

I sent some to work with my husband and kept the rest for him to snack on this week.

Our Etsy Shop is OPEN!

2011-01-22T16:27:00.001-08:00

My sister & I finally did it...Bucky & Boo is now open on Etsy! We'll be adding more items such as kids capes, Birthday banners, party favors, oven mitts, etc. soon!

Come on over and take a look!

Sunday Dessert

2011-01-16T21:56:00.001-08:00

I made brownies (Thanks Betty Crocker) today to go with homemade vanilla ice cream & topped it with chocolate Kahlua sauce. They were so good! I've made ice cream every two weeks in my Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker (attachment) for the past year and a half. I started with David Lebovitz's basic vanilla ice cream and slowly reduced the fat content for a healthier version since Juls was told to lower the fat intake in his diet. He loves a scoop of ice cream at night after dinner. It took about 2 months to wean away from using cream and whole milk. I slowly kept reducing the amounts until I was strictly using 1% milk. I do use 3 eggs because it doesn't taste right with out them. It is a little icier than the cream/whole milk version but he's use to it now and loves it. Sometimes I use light coconut milk, or I add melted chocolate, or reduced decaf espresso, boiled berries (this keeps them from freezing). When I first started making ice cream my second batch was Pumpkin. I ended up tossing it because the water content was so high that it was like a block of ice.

To make the chocolate Kahlua sauce:

Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave or a double broiler

add Kahlua til it's thin enough to pour

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe (unaltered)
Ingredients:
1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of half-and-half

2 vanilla beans

5 large egg yolks

½ cup of granulated sugar

Preparation Instructions:

In a medium heavy sauce pan, combine the cream and the half-and-half.Split the vanilla beans in half lengthwise and, using the tip of a knife, scrape out the small seeds into the cream mixture and drop in the pods.Bring the mixture to a boil, then remove from the heat.In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thickened and pale.Pour in the hot cream mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.Strain into a large container and refrigerate until cold.When the cream mixture is cold, pour it into the bowl of an ice cream maker and freeze as directed in the manufacturer's instructions.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe (altered, lower fat version)
Ingredients:
2 cups 1% milk

2 vanilla beans or 2 tbsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs (i use the white and yolk)

½ cup of granulated sugar

Preparation Instructions:

Sunday Dessert

2011-01-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

To make the chocolate Kahlua sauce:

Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave or a double broiler

add Kahlua til it's thin enough to pour

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe (unaltered)
Ingredients:
1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of half-and-half

2 vanilla beans

5 large egg yolks

½ cup of granulated sugar

Preparation Instructions:

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream recipe (altered, lower fat version)
Ingredients:
2 cups 1% milk

2 vanilla beans or 2 tbsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs (i use the white and yolk)

½ cup of granulated sugar

Preparation Instructions:

Sunday project

2011-01-16T21:38:00.001-08:00

Every now and then I like to share a project that I've been working on that is not cupcake or baking related. Yesterday I found this wooden basket/tray at JoAnn's on clearance. It was black, definitely not my color but I thought it would be perfect for a fruit "basket". Today I had Juls (my husband) remove the handles for me so I could spray some primer & paint on it. I used American Heirloom off white paint & Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze for the handles. It now fits my decor perfectly! It's amazing how easy it is to change the look of something by a can of spray paint!

painted black with silver handles

Juls removing the handles for me

silver handles

primer

I stuck the handle in styrofoam so I could paint it easily

Sprayed the handles with Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint

Reattaching the handles

All done.. I just noticed in this photo that the handle slipped & I can see silver

Sunday project

2011-01-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

painted black with silver handles

Juls removing the handles for me

silver handles

primer

I stuck the handle in styrofoam so I could paint it easily

Sprayed the handles with Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint

Reattaching the handles

All done.. I just noticed in this photo that the handle slipped & I can see silver

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

2011-01-09T13:29:00.001-08:00

We were headed north to have dinner with friends and his birthday was coming up the folowing week so I decided I'd make him some cupcakes. His wife said his favorite dessert is Banana Cream Pie. I am not a pie baker.. never had very good luck with anything other than pumpkin or apple so I searched for a banana cream pie cupcake recipe. I made a few tweaks to it and they came out quite good.

filling the cupcake liners

I use an apple corer to make the hole for filling

filled

Topped with whip cream & a banana slice

In the end I decided not to put bananas on top and crumbled graham cracker on top. We traveled an hour with the cupcakes & I was afraid the bananas would turn brown and look gross. When we handed the box to John, he started to tip & shake it..so a few got smooshed.

They were really good and went great with our McDonald's soft-serve hot fudge sundae's.

Happy Birthday John!

Ingredients
Cupcakes
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed lightbrown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 oz box of banana cream jello
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional - I didn't add them)

Frosting:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

Filling
• 4 oz box of banana cream jello - make according to the box instructions & let it set
• 1 cup of Frosting (whipping cream)
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, jello and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, with electric mixer, cream butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until light. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with yogurt, mixing on low speed just until moistened. Gently fold in chopped walnuts.

2. Fill the liners 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown
3. In a chilled metal mixing bowl whip the 2 cups of whipping cream, sugar & extract til peaks are formed.
4. In another bowl make the other box of jello and let it set. After it is set, take one cup of banana cream jello & 1 cup of your frosting (whipping cream) and mix together for a creamy banana filling.
5. After your cupcakes have cooled, make a hole for the filling. Fill each with filling. Pipe frosting (whip cream) on top and garnish with a banana slice or crumbled graham crackers.

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

2011-01-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

filling the cupcake liners

I use an apple corer to make the hole for filling

filled

Topped with whip cream & a banana slice

They were really good and went great with our McDonald's soft-serve hot fudge sundae's.

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday Holly

2011-01-04T11:09:00.001-08:00

My manicurist's daugther had a birthday on 1/3/11. I had extra New Year cupcakes so I topped them with fluffy vanilla buttercream & made them super girly. She was so surprised when I walked in with a dozen cupcakes for her daughter.

Happy 3rd Birthday Holly!

Happy Birthday Holly

2011-01-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Holly!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T11:00:00.001-08:00

We were invited to our friends house New Years Day so I made some rich chocolate cupcakes with a recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/ It was more brownie like than cake like... little dense but so chocolately! I topped them with chocolate buttercream and a mix of sprinkles.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Frosting :

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Frosting :

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter, or line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cupcakes for Starbucks

2010-12-24T13:02:00.001-08:00

I admit it... I am a Starbucks addict. The baristas at "my" Starbucks are the best. They make me smile every time I walk in the door so I thought I'd turn the tables for once. I made mini Starbucks "red" cups & snowmen. They were a hit! I took them in on Wednesday morning and even today when I went in they came up and thanked me and told me how delicious thye were. I made double chocolate cupcakes with mini chips inside and topped it with coffee buttercream.

Merry Christmas ! Have a joyous holiday season!

Cupcakes for Starbucks

2010-12-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas ! Have a joyous holiday season!

Christmas Tree Cookies

2010-12-23T21:45:00.001-08:00

Sweetopia posted a wonderful video on how to marble royal icing. Her work is amazing! Marbling is not as hard as it looks. Take a look & give it a try. You'll love doing it on your own cookies. After watching her video I decided to whip up a batch of tree cookies & royal icing. I found this recipe and it was so easy ( no need to chill before rolling).

1 Cup butter, softened, 2 sticks
1 Cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
3 Cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Christmas Tree Cookies

2010-12-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

1 Cup butter, softened, 2 sticks
1 Cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
3 Cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Whoops.. It looks like Santa is stuck!

2010-12-22T17:07:00.001-08:00

I made a couple cupcakes to send to the dispatcher where my husband works.

I think Santa is my favorite

Whoops.. It looks like Santa is stuck!

2010-12-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

I made a couple cupcakes to send to the dispatcher where my husband works.

I think Santa is my favorite

Raspberry Pepper Jelly

2010-12-22T17:05:00.001-08:00

The other day I was in Sur La Table with my Grams. We were talking about Christmas Eve munchies & we were looking at the Stonewall Creek jelly's. We were going to buy their Red Pepper Jelly and then I told her I would try to make some Raspberry Pepper Jelly. I had berries from the farmers marked that needed to be used so I went home and went to work.

Note: This was so good on honey wheat pretzel twists & turkey ! Everyone loved it.. I will definitely make this up again.

Raspberry Pepper Jelly

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 baskets of raspberries, about 3 cups

1/2 cup sugar (add more or less to desired taste)

1 green pepper, seeds removed

1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Put the berries in a saucepan with the lemon juice & sugar

2. Bring berries to boil until softened

3. Remove from heat and pour through a mesh strainer. Using the back of a spoon press the pulp through the strainer.

4. Return the berry pulp back to the pan and bring to a boil. Add the pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes, remove the pepper pieces. Add 1 tsbp dissolved cornstarch to the berries to thicken

5. Chill & serve.

Raspberry Pepper Jelly

2010-12-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

Note: This was so good on honey wheat pretzel twists & turkey ! Everyone loved it.. I will definitely make this up again.

Raspberry Pepper Jelly

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 baskets of raspberries, about 3 cups

1/2 cup sugar (add more or less to desired taste)

1 green pepper, seeds removed

1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Put the berries in a saucepan with the lemon juice & sugar

2. Bring berries to boil until softened

3. Remove from heat and pour through a mesh strainer. Using the back of a spoon press the pulp through the strainer.

4. Return the berry pulp back to the pan and bring to a boil. Add the pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes, remove the pepper pieces. Add 1 tsbp dissolved cornstarch to the berries to thicken

5. Chill & serve.

Christmas Mittens

2010-12-20T16:33:00.001-08:00

Ususally I try to make several different shaped cookies but this year I decided to just make

MITTENS!

This made me much less frantic & was so much easier.

I used Martha Stewart's recipe for Gingerbread cookie dough (recipe below)

I started by making my royal icing the night before so it would settle and air bubbles would dissapate.

I picked my colors & mixed my royal icing in small solo cups..

Colors by Americolor: Super Red, Electric Green, Turquoise & Ivory

Once mixed, I covered each with syran wrap, and then stored them in ziploc bags to store in the

refridgerator overnight.

Thinning my icing to about 7 seconds... add small amounts of water, mix and then drop some into the cup & count to 7... and it should disapper. Some say 10, but for me..7 is my magic number

Next the icing went into my Kuhn Rikon bottles. The taller bottle = not so good for royal icing

the plastic is thicker so it's harder to squeeze. Hopefully Santa will bring me a few more of the squishy bottles (pretty please Santa...I've been a good girl)

cookies outlined

Flooding the cookies

All done

One thing that helped this year was I drew out a plan before I started so I knew what I wanted to do and didn't have to think too much. Then I divided my cookies on to 4 cookie sheets & went to work on them.

Ingredients

Makes 16 cookies 7" cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
Royal Icing
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7- inch snowflake-shape cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
Put icing in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #7). Pipe designs on snowflakes; immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let stand 5 minutes; tap off excess sugar. Let icing set completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Mittens

2010-12-20T16:33:00.000-08:00

Ususally I try to make several different shaped cookies but this year I decided to just make

MITTENS!

This made me much less frantic & was so much easier.

I used Martha Stewart's recipe for Gingerbread cookie dough (recipe below)

I started by making my royal icing the night before so it would settle and air bubbles would dissapate.

I picked my colors & mixed my royal icing in small solo cups..

Colors by Americolor: Super Red, Electric Green, Turquoise & Ivory

Once mixed, I covered each with syran wrap, and then stored them in ziploc bags to store in the

refridgerator overnight.

Thinning my icing to about 7 seconds... add small amounts of water, mix and then drop some into the cup & count to 7... and it should disapper. Some say 10, but for me..7 is my magic number

Next the icing went into my Kuhn Rikon bottles. The taller bottle = not so good for royal icing

the plastic is thicker so it's harder to squeeze. Hopefully Santa will bring me a few more of the squishy bottles (pretty please Santa...I've been a good girl)

cookies outlined

Flooding the cookies

All done

Ingredients

Makes 16 cookies 7" cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
Royal Icing
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7- inch snowflake-shape cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
Put icing in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #7). Pipe designs on snowflakes; immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let stand 5 minutes; tap off excess sugar. Let icing set completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

Merry Christmas!

Zoo Birthday

2010-12-19T10:19:00.001-08:00

I really enjoyed making Zoo animals for Rem's 1st Birthday & Christening. The bright colors pop & the faces came out so sweet.

I used a flower cutter for the orange on the lion

I made a jumbo cupcake with a giraffe for Rem to destroy!

Zoo Birthday

2010-12-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed making Zoo animals for Rem's 1st Birthday & Christening. The bright colors pop & the faces came out so sweet.

I used a flower cutter for the orange on the lion

I made a jumbo cupcake with a giraffe for Rem to destroy!

Cupcake Boxes

2010-12-18T22:26:00.001-08:00

Every now and then you come across a company that far exceeds your expectations and you can't help but share with others... I just received my 2nd order from http://www.brpboxshop.com/ and their products & service is outstanding! They have boxes in many colors and the ordering is very easy.. wonderful selection. My first order was several months ago for (100) 10" x 14" cupcake inserts & (100) 10" x 14" brown cake boxes. It was shipped (did I mention they always offer FREE shipping, no minimum order?) and I had it on my doorstep in 5 days! I wasn't sure when I ordered what I would do with 100 boxes but they are dwindling rather fast around here. Total cost is .72 cents per box plus insert. Very affordable.

Last week my husband asked me if I would make some cupcakes for a few people that help him throughout the year so I got on BRP's website and saw that they will now sell in quanties of 10. I ordered (10) 10" x 10" window boxes and (10) 1/2 dozen cupcake inserts. They arrived yesterday so lats night I baked & today we boxed up cupcakes and went to drop them off.

1/2 dozen cupcake box

10" x 10" box

Photo courtesy of www.brpboxshop.com

10" x 10" cupcake insert

Photo courtesy of www.brpboxshop.com

Happy 60th Mr. Greene!

2010-12-17T14:25:00.001-08:00

German Chocolate Cake

adapted from www.dianaskitchen.com

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
4 ounces sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter
1 can (3 1/2 ounces) flaked coconut, or about 1 1/3 cups
1 cup chopped pecans

Grease and flour two 8-inch baking pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, butter, sour cream, eggs, chocolate, milk, and vanilla. Beat with mixer at low speed until blended. Increase mixer to high and beat 2 minutes longer. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove to racks to cool completely.

Make topping.
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring evaporated milk, brown sugar, and butter to a full boil; remove from heat. Stir in coconut and pecans. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
When cake is cool, place one layer on cake platter; spoon half of the coconut mixture onto the layer. Top with remaining cake layer and top with remaining topping.

Happy 60th Mr. Greene!

2010-12-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

German Chocolate Cake

adapted from www.dianaskitchen.com

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
4 ounces sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter
1 can (3 1/2 ounces) flaked coconut, or about 1 1/3 cups
1 cup chopped pecans

Happy Birthday Susana

2010-12-17T14:06:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Susana!

Wishing you the very best Birthday & many more to come!

To make the chocolate curls:

Using a double broiler melt milk chocolate & white chocolate.

Alternate layers of each on a piece of wax paper.

I let it set in the fridge for about an hour then used a "Y" peeler and made the curls.

Happy Birthday Susana

2010-12-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Susana!

Wishing you the very best Birthday & many more to come!

To make the chocolate curls:

Using a double broiler melt milk chocolate & white chocolate.

Alternate layers of each on a piece of wax paper.

I let it set in the fridge for about an hour then used a "Y" peeler and made the curls.

Happy Birthday Brittany

2010-12-15T16:54:00.001-08:00

Tart Lemon cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Cream Cheese Buttercream:
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp water or milk
2 lbs confectioner's sugar

Cream butter, cream cheese, salt, vanilla & water. Beat until well combined. Add the powder sugar slowly. Mix until fluffy.

Happy Birthday Brittany

2010-12-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Tart Lemon cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting

Happy Birthday Brittany!

Congratulations Krystina & William

2010-12-11T15:24:00.001-08:00

Last week a friend of mine from high school sent me an email asking if I could help her with her daughters' wedding. The wedding was "next week" and the person who was going to do the cupcakes bailed out on her. It was short notice but how could I not help make her daughters' day complete?

The wedding colors were red & white... so we did red rosettes & white birds. All the decorations were made out of fondant.

Wishing Krystina & William a lifetime of happiness!

6" Red Velvet wedding cake

Rosettes

Red velvet with Cream cheese frosting

Pearls made out of fondant then dusted with shimmer dust

Congratulations Krystina & William

2010-12-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

Rosettes

Red velvet with Cream cheese frosting

Pearls made out of fondant then dusted with shimmer dust

Happy Birthday Kiersten!

2010-12-10T12:52:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Kiersten!

2010-12-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Announcing Coral Tree on Etsy!

2010-12-09T17:18:00.001-08:00

This is not my store on Etsy but my sisters' SIL, Charlee. Just wanted to do a quick plug today for her new shop called Coral Tree. She makes beautifully coordinated baby items, that are one-of-a-kind and not available anywhere else. They make wonderful shower & homecoming gifts to new parents and parents-to-be!

Please check the Coral Tree shop out and show her some love!

Icicle Candy

2010-12-08T14:35:00.001-08:00

Last week I saw Icicle Candy pop up on my blog reader and I felt compelled to try making some sugar icicles myself. Easy enough, I had all the ingredients necessary. Light corn syrup, sugar & dye. Normally I make all candy on the stovetop with a thermometer, carefully babysitting it so it doesn't go above the desired temp... well this was done in the microwave & as you can see below, my 1st attempt was a total failure! I made a 2nd batch. I monitored it closely, watching through the microwave window. The candy came out and I dyed it turquoise. I poured it on the cookie sheet and it hardened so quickly that I could not cut it in strips. Ok.. 3rd time has to be a charm, right? My 3rd attempt so much better. I dyed the 3rd batch green with hopes of making wreaths instead of icicles. They didn't look so good so I went to making icicles. The key is to keep the pan in the oven and work very fast. I made half batches each time because I don't own a 4 cup glass measuring cup. I can't imagine trying to manage a full batch because it hardens so quickly.

The end result .. beautiful green icicles! I know, wrong color for icicles but still pretty. I hope to make another batch soon and do red & green stripes but that will take another set of hands to assist me. Any takers?

greased sheet & pizza cutter

1st batch..burned

Icicle Candy

2010-12-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

greased sheet & pizza cutter

1st batch..burned