Cupcakes

I obviously had too much time on my hands this weekend. I wanted to make a project where I could use up some of my leftover fondant and color flow from my cake decorating classes. I saw these two projects online and thought they would be perfect.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e05188&categoryid=47

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e05034&categoryid=47



I modified the projects a little. For the chicks I used color flow for the head and wings. I traced my leaf cutter for the shape of the wings. The downside to color flow is that it takes a long time to dry. I have to learn to be patient with it.



I used fondant for the bunny's ears, nose, and teeth. The eyes are made from mini chocolate chips. It took me a while to figure out how to make the ears even the the right size. I finally thought to use the leaf cutter but I only had one size cut out. Then I figured out that I could cut the white out in thicker pieces and then roll it out more with my rolling pin to make it bigger. I cut out the pink shapes with the same cutter but didn't roll it out anymore. I stacked the pink over the white and "glued" the two pieces of fondant with white butter cream. Unfortunately the ears drooped down the back side of the cupcake but I think they are still cute.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! I had a fun-filled day of cooking and eating. Even though I'm old now I still color a few eggs just like the good old days. It brings back memories.


After I colored some eggs I cracked them and turned them into deviled eggs.


I also cooked a small ham and glazed it with my secret sauce. This always turns out so good. My dad calls it carnivore candy.


For a side I made squash casserole. This was my first time trying this recipe and it is definitely a keeper. It was awesome! I've been looking for a good squash casserole recipe and now I don't have to look any further.



Yellow Squash Casserole
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Yellow-Squash-Casserole/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 4 cups sliced yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 35 buttery round crackers, crushed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place squash and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in a small amount of water. Cover, and cook until squash is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

I ended the day making some Easter cupcakes. Since they are not quite done I will have to post them later.

My Little Cupcakes

The Joann's store where I take my cake decorating classes is offering a one session cupcake decorating class. I signed up for the class and attended today. The cupcakes were so cute but they are a lot of work. During the three hour class we made four cupcakes.

The supplies needed are:
-The Course I student kit
-pink, yellow, white, and green butter cream icing
-pastel and white fondant
-6" lollipop sticks
-small flower cutter
-copper icing coloring
-black food writer
-ribbon

The first cupcake we made was the rattle. First you ice the cupcake with yellow butter cream. Then you fill a bag with white icing and use the star tip to make a tight zigzag across the center. Roll small pieces of yellow, blue, and pink fondant until it is 1/16" thick. Cut 12 small flowers out of each color of fondant. Place 1 flower of each color on the zigzag. To make the center of the flowers use the #2 tip and white icing. Insert the lollipop stick through the cupcake. Take two more flowers of the same color and "glue" them together with white icing at the end of the lollipop stick. Tie a ribbon to the lollipop stick in the middle of it.


Ice the next cupcake with white butter cream. Fill a bag with green icing and use tip #3 to make the stems of the bouquet. Next place the fondant flowers on the cupcake. Then use the white icing with tip #2 to make the flower centers. Use tip #3 with pink icing to make the bow. Finally use a leaf tip with green icing to make small leaves around the flowers.


Ice the next cupcake with yellow icing. Draw a bib with white icing using a large round tip. Fill it in with white. Cover your finger with cornstarch and smooth out the white bib. Use green butter cream with a #3 tip to make small dots around the collar of the bib. Insert fondant flowers around the edge of the bib. Use pink icing with a #3 tip to write "BABY" in the center of the bib. Finally place a pink ribbon bow on the top.



Ice the fourth cupcake with white butter cream icing. Color a small piece of white fondant with one drop of copper icing color. Be careful because a little goes a long way. Work the coloring into the fondant until it is streak free. Form a 1/2" diameter ball for the head and two 1/8" diameter balls for the hands. Use a very small piece for the nose. Roll another small piece to form the body. Roll the yellow fondant to 1/16" and cut out a 3" x 3.5" square. Drape this over the body to make the blanket. Then cut out pink and blue squares for the patchwork and attach these using white icing as "glue". Draw eyes and a mouth on the baby using a black food writer.

Wilton I Lesson 3

For the final Wilton I lesson we learned how to make the famous Wilton Rose. I was dreading this class all week. My first practice roses looked terrible. They were more like blobs of icing than pretty cake decorations. I kept practicing and practicing and sure enough I eventually made a few roses worthy enough to top a cake.


I made this cake in honor of my friend Christy who's birthday falls on leap day so this year was her "11th birthday" (shhh she's really 44!).


This cake was a single layer banana cake that I made using a recipe I found on allrecipes.com but with a few modifications.

Banana Cake
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Cake-VII/Detail.aspx

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice I used cinnamon instead
• I added a small package of sugar free banana pudding to the mix
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt and allspice together and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg white and beat well. Add the mashed banana, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture and mix until well blended.
3. Divide batter into two 9 inch pans (I poured all the batter into one 9 inch pan). Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes (since I used one pan I had to bake it for 45 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting (I used the butter cream recipe for the Wilton I class).

Wilton I Lesson 2

In lesson 2 we learned how to make different types of borders such as the shell border and drop flower border. We also learned how to create figures such as clowns.

Here is a photo of my lesson 2 project. This cake is a single layer white cake (boxed mix).


I learned a couple of things from this project. First when creating a 3D figure cake make sure the top of the cake container has some extra clearance over the figures. My little clowns got squished on the way home so I had to re-create them. The second thing I learned was to experiment. Sometimes mistakes turn out to be great creative touches. I wanted to put a shell border around the bottom and top of my cake. I accidentally grabbed the wrong tip though and made a unique ruffle border. It looked much better in person than it does in the photo. Everyone in my class thought it was pretty cool.

Wilton I Lesson 1

I signed up for a cake decorating class because my cake decorating definitely needed improvement.

Here is a "before" picture of a cake I made and "tried to decorate" in January. A little kid could have done a better job! Although I blame some of it on the icing. Never buy the store bought icing in tubes. It was horrible.


Here is an "after" picture of a cake I made 3 weeks later. This was my first class project cake. It is a double layer triple chocolate cake (boxed mix) with a chocolate pudding center.


In the first lesson we learned how to create stars, zig zags with the star tip, pattern transferring, and lettering. My words are a little crooked on this one but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.