Birthday Cupcakes

Star Cupcakes
Idea from Wilton Cupcake Fun book

I made these cupcakes for Chase's birthday. They turned out really cute and they were tasty. The kids loved them. I don't think Chase tried even one though. He doesn't like sweets. I think the cupcakes looked much better in person than in photos. I'm still getting used to my new camera.

Ingredients

1 recipe of your favorite cupcakes (24 cupcakes)
white frosting
1 recipe sugar cookies (I used the Wilton one below and here)
colored sprinkle sugar


Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift baking powder with flour. Add flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. The dough will be very stiff. Blend in the last of the flour by hand. Do not chill dough. Roll and cut out shapes. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. remove cookies to cooling grid to cool completely. One recipe should yield 24 star cookies.

Bake 24 cupcakes and let cool. Frost cupcakes. Frost star cookies and sprinkle with sugar. Place cookies on top of cupcakes.

Wedding Cake

My co-worker asked me to make a cake for her wedding. I was honored. It was a small wedding. The colors were gold and white. She requested a single tiered white cake covered in fondant. I used the same fondant recipe from this post.

Cookie Bouquet

One of my 12 Days of Christmas Treats items was a Cookie Pop. Each Cookie Pop can be given away individually or as a Cookie Bouquet. Here is a picture of one of my Cookie Bouquets.

Holiday Cupcakes

12 Days of Christmas Treats: Day 9

Holiday Cupcakes

24 prepared cupcakes
white, red, and green fondant
buttercream icing
3 inch round biscuit cutter
leaf cutter
fondant veining tool
rolling pin
mat
small red candies such as red hots

Roll out white fondant and cut out circles with biscuit cutter. Attach white circles to cupcakes with icing. Roll out green fondant and cut out leaves. Use the veining tool to create leaf veins. Arrange leaves on cupcakes and attach with icing. Attach red candies to leaves with a tiny dab of icing. Roll out red fondant and cut out circles with biscuit cutter. Divide circles into 6 wedges. Place 3 wedges on each cupcake and attach with icing. Roll red and white fondant into 4 inch long pieces. Wrap the pieces around each other. Form into a candy cane and attach to cupcake with icing.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

12 Days of Christmas Treats: Day 8

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Your favorite chocolate cake recipe (enough for 18-24 cupcakes)
Your favorite chocolate frosting (enough for 18-24 cupcakes)
5 regular size candy canes

Prepare and bake your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. Allow cupcakes to cool completely. Prepare a pastry decorating bag with Wilton tip 1M and fill with your favorite chocolate frosting. Chop candy canes in a food processor. Frost cupcakes and immediately sprinkle with candy cane pieces.

Cookie Pops

12 Days of Christmas Treats: Day 3

Cookie Pops
A Wilton Project Idea

Supplies:
Wilton Comfort Grip Tree cookie cutter
Wilton Comfort Grip candy cane cookie cutter
8" cookie sticks
Red Cookie icing
White Cookie icing
Green Cookie icing
Primary fondant multi-pack
Piping gel
White nonpareils
Parchment paper
Rolling pin
Shortening
Container to display cookie bouquet

Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift baking powder with flour. Add flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. The dough will be very stiff. Blend in the last of the flour by hand. Do not chill dough. Roll and cut out shapes. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. remove cookies to cooling grid to cool completely.

Tips
1. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Roll dough to a thickness of 3/8" on the parchment paper.
3. Dust cookie cutters with flour to prevent sticking. Cut out on parchment paper lined cookie sheet to eliminate transferring. Remove excess dough.
4. Leave 1" space between cookies because they will spread slightly when cooking.
5. Bake small batches of 3 to 4 cookies at a time.
6. To insert cookie sticks
-Place hand on top of cookie to hold in place
-Insert cookie stick by twisting and pushing stick into cookie
-Insert cookie stick all the way to within 1/2" to top of cookie

Decorate cookie pops as desired. Present cookie bouquet in a festive container decorated with curling ribbon, tissue paper, and tinsel. Or wrap individual pops in plastic and give as favors.

Super Mario Brothers Cake

Here is the Super Mario Brothers cake I made for a 30th birthday party.

White Chocolate Ribbon Pops

I got a chocolate ribbon pop mold on clearance at Hobby Lobby about a month ago. I think these pops will be perfect for fundraising for a cure. Chocolate molds, or sometimes called candy melts, are super easy and look like you spent a lot of time on them but really only take minutes.

Bunco Party

We had a bunco party last night at Erin's house to raise money for the 3 Day walk and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We had over 20 people come and raised at least $500 (some donations are still coming in).

Here is a sample of what was on the menu:
Sweet & Spicy Meatballs*
Chicken Empanadas
Hummus, Pita Bread, & Veggies
Cheese Dip & Chips
Deviled Eggs
Buffalo Chicken Dip*
Chex Mix*
Gorp or White Trash or whatever you want to call it Chex mix*
Brownies
Dirt Cake
Strawberry Mirror Pink Ribbon Cake*
Margaritas*
Strawberry Daiquiris
Soda & Water*

(and my pink ribbon chocolate pops that I forgot to bring)*

*Items I made or brought



I wanted to do something a little different than the pink ribbon cake I took to Martie's bunco party earlier this month. I got the idea for a strawberry mirror cake from Peabody's blog:
http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2007/07/30/mirror-mirroron-the-wall/
but I changed the method a little. My pink ribbon cake pan isn't as nifty for molding gelatin as a spring form cake pan. Here is how I did it.

1. Bake cake and turn out of cake pan. Let cake cool in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
2. Frost cake with a thin but not transparent layer of icing.
3. Create a barrier around the area to be filled with gelatin with a large star tip (I used tip 133).
4. Make strawberry gelatin according to the quick set directions on the package (boil 1 cup water, add package of gelatin, stir for 3 minutes, add ice cubes and continue to stir until the gelatin is thick but not set).
5. Fill the area you bordered with a very thin layer of gelatin.
6. Put cake back in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until gelatin is set.
7. Finish the sides of the cake with the star tip #133. This should cover any gelatin that ran over the border.

Breast Cancer Fundraiser Cake

Martie hosted a bunco party in early September to raise money for the 3 Day Walk and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I offered to make a cake since I found a ribbon cake pan on clearance and I really wanted to use it. This is a strawberry cake with strawberry icing.




The bunco party was so much fun and Martie was able to raise over $500 for for the 3 Day. Yeah! I decided to have bunco party too so I plan to get some more use out of this cake pan.

Flower Cake

I couldn't wait to use my new flower cake pan for Erin's birthday. I wanted to make a bright cake to brighten her day. This cake pan seems to be very versatile. You can use it to make different varieties of flowers depending on how you decorate it. You can also use it to make a "bread bowl" type presentation if you cook bread in it and scoop out the middle. You can put dips and other things in the center. I think it would make a nice presentation.

The most difficult part of decorating this cake was trying to get the bright pink color I wanted. When I added pink coloring to the frosting it kept turning a Peptobismal pink. I ended up adding some orange and the brightened it up a little. I still wasn't 100% pleased with the color but it wasn't too ugly.



This was a yellow cake with buttercream icing.

Baby Shower Cake

My sister is expecting twins (a girl and a boy) so I made this cake for her baby shower. The bottom cake is a 10" double layer chocolate cake covered with white fondant and light blue, medium blue, and dark blue various size dots. The top cake is a 6" double layer yellow cake covered with white fondant and light pink, medium pink, and dark pink dots with a pink fondant bow. I think this was a big hit at the shower. I don't think I will be making too many of these though. The decorating part took 5+ hours and the baking took another 3+ hours. I think it took so long because I had some trouble with the fondant. Climate definitely affected the consistency. I use a homemade fondant (you can find the recipe if you search my blog), but I am used to making it in hot, dry Phoenix, AZ. When I made it in humid Austin, TX it was very sticky and soft and hard to roll out. I added extra powdered sugar and that help a little. I think it turned out ok considering the trouble I had with it.

Wilton Course IV Class 4 Fondant & Gum Paste

I just completed all four Wilton Method courses offered at Joann's. This is my final cake. It is a chocolate cake covered in vanilla icing and almond flavored fondant. For our final cake we were allowed to choose any cake from the Course 4 workbook or we could create our own fondant cake. Almost all of the cakes in the book had flowers and I really didn't want to make a flower cake. I decided to make the cake from the cover of the Fun with Fondant book. It was fun to make and I think it turned out pretty well.

Zoom-Zoom

Last week after my cake decorating class I decided to look at the cake decorating isle of the store. I saw a really cute car cake pan on clearance but I didn't know what I would use it for. I grabbed it and put it back at least three times. I really liked the pan but I have no more storage space in my house. Finally I decided to just buy it anyway. The next day my co-worker Suzanne asked me to make a cake for my other co-worker April's birthday. I said yes since I already had the pan that I couldn't wait to try out. April likes really bright colors so I thought an art car would be perfect. She also drives hatchback car with bumper stickers "Yield to the Princess" and "Zoom-Zoom." I told some people about this idea and I think I got some funny looks but when they saw the cake they thought is was adorable and perfect for April. I was really happy with the way it turned out. The best part was that it was super easy to make. It only took me about 2 1/2 hours to decorate. Most of my cakes take a lot longer than that. I am really bad at writing with icing so I decided just to print out the text and tape it to the cake base.

I am hesitant to buy any theme cake pans because I would probably only use them once but I can already think of several other ideas for this car pan. I want to make a red car with racing stripes next. I am very pleased with this pan. I paid about $5 for it last week but this week it's down to only $3. So if you want one too you better hurry. I showed pictures of my cake to my teacher and she snagged the last car pan at our Joann's store.

Wilton Course IV Class 2

The project for Wilton Course IV Class 2 was to cover a cake with white fondant and use a fondant/gum paste mix to create a drape, border, and daisies. I used my homemade fondant for this cake too. I really like the consistency and it is very easy to make. So far I am not a fan of gum paste. It is very stiff and when I mixed it with fondant it left little hard pieces that didn't blend. The gum paste is supposed to make the decorations dry hard.

When I covered my cake with white fondant the fondant wanted to wrinkle around the sides. My teacher showed me how to set it so the fondant would be perfectly smooth all the way around. Since I had some leftover pink fondant I decided to make the drape and borders pink for this cake. All of these decorations were a little too much for this cake. It probably would have looked better with just a simple drape and a few flowers but creating the border and swag gave us more practice with fondant. It doesn't really matter what it looks like because my co-workers will eat anything.

Wilton Course IV Class 1 Fondant & Gum Paste

I am now taking the last and final Wilton Course. For the first class we played with fondant. The project was to cover a cake base with marbleized fondant in the color of your choice. The cake base will be used for our final cake. I decided to color my fondant yellow. The marble is very faint. Some of the darker colors like blue and purple had a more obvious marble. You have to roll out the fondant to a very large circle in order to cover a 14" base. The you have to put a thin coat of piping get all over the base so the fondant will stick. Finally cover the base with the fondant, smooth it out and trim the excess. Mine turned out nicely without any wrinkles. I still don't understand the point of covering a cake base with fondant. I think the original silver foil would look just as good if not better. I think the purpose of the project was just to have us practice working with fondant.

Wilton Course III Final Cake

This is my final cake for Course III. The bottom tier is an 8" round cake and the top tier is a 6" round cake. If I did this again I would use a 10" round cake for the bottom tier. It still turned out ok but to me the proportion of the bottom cake to the top cake is a little small. I used 2 boxes of white cake mix to make these cakes. Each one is a double layer with white butter cream frosting between each layer. We had the option of using fondant or butter cream to cover the cakes. I chose to use white fondant. This is the same fondant recipe that I posted in the Tiffany box post. The roses and leaves are made out of fondant too. These take A LOT of time to make. Don't start on them the night before like I did. It took me 6+ hours to make 40 roses. The leaves and small white flowers can be made in about 30 minutes. We assembled the cake in class. The "skirt" around the bottom of the cakes is made out of butter cream icing. This requires more butter cream than I planned for. If you have 1.5 to 2 cups of butter cream that should be enough for the skirt and to glue the roses and leaves on. I only brought 1 cup. If you cover the cakes with fondant then you will glue the small white flowers on with clear vanilla or clear almond extract. I used almond extract and some people thought it tasted like there was rum in the cake. After you glue the small white flowers on then you will make the centers with tip 1 or 2 and butter cream icing.

I think this cake turned out really well. Everyone was impressed including myself. My teacher said this exact cake will sell for $150 to $200 in a bakery. Not bad for something that costs about $10 to make.

Garden Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a great way to use the left over royal icing flowers from Wilton Course II. Royal icing flowers will last forever so you can make them in advance and store them in a tin or card board box. Don't store them in plastic because they won't stay dry. I learned how to make all of the flowers in Course II except for the Morning Glory which was taught in Course III. The flowers I used were the violet, apple blossom, primrose, Victorian rose, pansy, mum, daisy, rose bud, and daffodil.

Aged to Perfection

My friend Stephanie's dad just turned 60. Stephanie asked me to make his cake. I was honored.

I didn't realize what mess this was going to be. The cake put up a good fight and I almost gave up but I think I conquered it after 12 hours+. On Tuesday I made some royal icing/color flow for the wine bottle. I found a pattern and created a wine label like Trader Joe's Two Buck Chuck (Her dad's name is Chuck so I thought it would be cute). This was not such a good idea. It is really hard to write words in color flow. But I thought I could save it. I baked the first layer Wednesday night and almost burned it because I fell asleep. I baked the second layer Thursday before my class. I came home after class around 9:30 pm and started the decorating. I iced the first layer just fine. Then I tried to set the second layer over the first. This is very hard to do brilliant idea to do the wording the same way. I found a font I liked and printed the text from my computer. I traced it with piping gel and added it to the cake. Well guess what! When you turn it over the mirrored image is backwards. Doh! I ended up free handing the lettering. I added the grapes and vines at the end and finally went to bed. I tossed and turned and woke up several times that night from cake nightmares. I kept dreaming that the cake cracked again. When I woke up in the morning the first thing I did was run down stairs and check on the cake. Sure enough it was still in one piece. Whew! I gave it to Stephanie Friday morning. I hope she and h with a 9x13 size cake. The top layer cracked in 3 pieces. I used a ton of icing to get it to stick back together. You couldn't tell the difference. Then I did the basket weave around all the sides in white icing and added a rope border around the bottom and top. Then there was a landslide. A huge chuck of cake from the top layer fell off. This was when I got angry and started crying. I almost gave up. I walked away from the cake for about 1/2 an hour to think about what I should do. I came back and put the cake in it's place. I added even more icing to doctor it up. Then I prayer that it wouldn't fall again. I recreated the basket weave and rope borders. It was time to add the color flow wine bottle but it still wasn't dry enough. The wine bottle cracked too. Grrr! So I just traced the wine bottle with piping gel and added the piping gel pattern to the cake. This was one of the few things that worked well. I'm really bad with writing with icing so I had aer dad like it!

Tiffany Box

Last week's class assignment was to create a bow cake using fondant. I wanted to try making my own fondant. I found a recipe online and made it the night before.




Rolled Fondant
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/PrintFull.aspx?RecipeID=7930&servings=16

INGREDIENTS:
1 (.25 ounce) package
unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup glucose syrup
1 tablespoon glycerin
(I substituted 1/2 corn syrup for the glucose and only used 3 Tbsp water and omitted the glycerin)
2 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
8 cups sifted confectioners'
sugar

extra shortening for kneading

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved.
2. Add glucose and glycerin, mix well. Stir in shortening and just before completely melted, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Mixture should cool until lukewarm.
3. Place 4 cups confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and using a wooden spoon, stir in the lukewarm gelatin mixture. Mix in sugar and add more a little at a time, until stickiness disappears. Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too stiff, add water (a drop at a time). Use fondant immediately or store in airtight container in fridge. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and knead again until soft.

I recommend letting it sit for 24 hours before using. Cover your hands with shortening and knead until soft. Add more shortening as it gets dry or sticky.

This recipe is fantastic! The more you knead it the more it looks and feels like the store bought stuff but at a fraction of the price. My other classmates spent $20 on the boxed stuff but you can make this recipe for under $5. It also tastes much better.

The only thing I would suggest is not adding gumtex. It made the bow too brittle and it cracked. I ended up using some store bought fondant for the bow.

The inspiration for this creation is the Tiffany's jewelry box. Maybe someday I will get the real thing. lol! The cake is chocolate and vanilla swirl.