Cakes and Cookies by Andrea

Sweet 16 Cake

2012-01-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

The 16th Birthday is one of the great Milestones we reach in life. What better to help celebrate it than a fun cake. The design was based off of a pink cake box cake they had seen a photo of. They are well known for cakes with stripes and polka dots. She wanted girly, yet sophisticated.

Luckily the Mother of the newly 16 year old sent me a picture because I had forgotten to take one, so please excuse the candles. Happy Sweet 16th Birthday!

Cake Plates

2012-01-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

I love cake plates. They can turn a beautiful cake into a breathtaking cake. They also can make a beautiful display of cupcakes or other desserts. My husband although is not as big of a fan than I am because they take up a lot of room. I thought I would show you my collection.

White square cake plates: From the Martha Stewart collection at Macy's. They all can be used separately or stacked for cupcakes or other desserts. The smallest one (top) can hold up to a 6 inch square cake. The medium sized one can hold up to an 8 inch square cake. And the Large cake plate can hold up to a 10 inch square cake.

White Round Cake plate: Can hold up to an 11 inch round cake . I actually have 2 of them, which works really well if you have two cakes or cupcakes. You can find this at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Scalloped cake plates: You purchase them as a pair. They both hold up to an 8 inch round cake. You can purchase them at Costco.

Funky scalloped cake plate: Hols up to an 8 inch round cake. I got it as a present, but I think it was purchased at Home goods.

Yellow cake plate: I also have the same one in pink. Holds up to a 10 inch round cake. I got this one at Christmas Tree Shop.

Eyelet Cake Plate: Holds up to a 10 inch round cake. This was a gift so I am not sure where they got it.

Clear cake plate: Holds up to a 9 inch cake. I can't remember where I got this one, but they are pretty easy to find.

Coming Up

2012-01-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

Next weekend I will have a Sweet 16 cake for you. And then once that is done I will give you some valentines ideas. For anyone looking for something with a Valentines theme right now check out Bakerella's site she has the cutest valentines cupcakes and has the images free for you to print to make your own cupid cupcakes. The only other thing you need are some lollipop sticks. See the picture below.

Enjoy!

New Design

2012-01-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let you know I have changed up the design, if you haven't already noticed. To find the cakes, cookies, etc, go to the bar at the top and click on a category. Then if you click on the name of the picture it will take you to that post. Please let me know if you can't find something or if something is wrong or needs to be changed.
Sincerely,
Andrea Saunders

Strawberry Bavarian Cream Lady Finger Cake Tutorial

2012-01-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

I love this cake. I made this for a family for their New Years Eve get-together. It is one of my new favorites so I thought I would show you how I make it.

Here is what you need:
2 8inch layers of Yellow cake (1 batch of batter make two 8 inch layers)
Bavarian Cream
Heavy Whipping Cream (Or Pastry Pride which is a non dairy whipped cream which I love, but is a little pricey)
Strawberries
Dipping/Coating Chocolate (I like dark and a little bit of white as well.)
Lady Fingers

Level the two layers of cake. Place one layer on the prepared cake board. Pour the cream in your bowl add 1/2tsp of vanilla and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Place bowl (with cream mixture) and beaters in the fridge to chill for 30 mintues. Once that has chilled beat until peaks form when you pull out the beaters. Then gently mix about 1 cup of whipped cream and 1 cup bavarian cream together with a spoon. I place a small layer of this mixture on top of the first layer of cake and then add the strawberries on top. I like to put a lot of strawberries on so there is more than enough in each slice of cake that is cut. Then I add more bavarian cream/whipped cream filling on top of the strawberries so the top layer has something to stick to. Then do a quick crumb coat of the entire cake with the regular whipped cream. Then place some whipped cream in a pastry bag with any star type tip (I used my 1M tip). I make 5 billlows of cream around the edges. Start small and swirl larger to the center of the billow and then smaller for the other side. And I make one for the center of the cake. Then open your lady fingers and place them around. One package of lady fingers goes all the way around with a tiny bit extra so I have to cut off about 1 ladyfinger. Press the ladyfingers into the sides of the cake. They will stick to the whipped cream. Tie a ribbon around the Lady fingers for added decoration. Refrigerate cake while you work on the dipped strawberries.

The dipped strawberries can be made ahead, but are best eaten that day. Melt your dark coating chocolate and dip the strawberries in the chocolate (High enough that it covers most of the strawberry, but it looks nice if you leave a little red showing). Place your strawberries on parchment after dipping them. I also take some of the chocolate once the dipping is done and drizzle in a crazy patter on the parchment and let that set. Once the chocolate has set melt some white chocolate and drizzle on the chocolate strawberries. Then I place the chocolate dipped strawberries in-between the billows of whipped cream and one on top of the center billow. Break some of the chocolate drizzles and slip them in the whipped cream and you are done.

It isn't the cheapest cake to make, but it tastes as amazing as it looks.

American Girl Doll Cake / Lysenko Wedding Cake/

2011-12-28T12:19:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas I made this cake for the Lysenko Wedding. The doll is the same size as an American Girl Doll (but, is a knock off brand) but looked so similar to the bride that it was perfect. I copied the wedding dress on the doll. The trickiest part was the structure to hold her upright and have her not move too much while I drove an hour to the reception site.

For the Structure I drilled a hole in the board that the cake was going to be on and secured a dowel (the same size as the hole) to her body (with rubber bands) and then saran wrapped her body(to keep the the dowel in place, to help give her a chest, and to keep the cake off of the doll).

For Carving the cake I used a 10inch, 9 inch, 2 8 inch (I didn't have a 7 inch cake pan so I used 2 8 inch and just carved more of one of them), and 2 6 inch cakes. I figured out the width of the legs with my circle cookie cutters and used that cookie cutter to cut out the cake in the center so her body could fit inside. Then I stacked and filled the cakes and did a very light crumb coat. After they had chilled in the fridge over night then I carved the skirt and added a little movement carving at the bottom so it wouldn't be just a straight dress, but I don't think you can see that from the pictures.

After it was carved I did a nice coat of frosting and let that crust while I did any last tweaks to the doll. Oh, make sure the doll's hair is done before you insert in the cake since their hair can fall out on the cake and no one wants hair in their cake and it can be tricky with dolls hair.

Insert and secure the Doll before working with the fondant it is much easier. I used a little big of hot glue on the bottom of the board as the dowel was placed in the hole. (That was a little tricky and I needed my husbands help to get the dowel in the hole since you can't see where it is going since it is surrounded by cake. So I lifted the cake while my husband got the dowel in.)

After covering the base of the dress with fondant I worked on the top which was quite time consuming. The Brides dress was a ruffle look on the top. So I cut many, many strips of white fondant and attached them to the doll (there was saran wrap protecting the body of the doll so I smeared shortening to the saran wrap to make the fondant stick) overlapping them as I went. It was time consuming, but looked amazing when I was done.

Close up of the back of the dress. I made pearl buttons going down the back and a train for the back of the skirt.

The groom also love to play the viola and Frisbee so I made gumpaste frisbee's and chocolate violas. My intention was to have the doll hold a Frisbee in one hand and the Viola in the other, but the hands of the doll weren't the greatest position so it odn't work so I placed them around the board. It was fun doing my first American Girl Doll Cake.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting/Filling

2011-12-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

I also got this Ganache Frosting from Sally and I love it!

Chocolate Ganache Frosting/Filling

12 oz. (I bag) chocolate chips

1 2/3 cup heavy cream

¼ cup softened unsalted butter

In large saucepan, heat cream to boiling. Turn down to simmer and stir in chocolate chips until melted. Remove from heat and transfer to bowl. Let cool.

Cut butter into chunks and stir them into the chocolate mixture. (the butter should be fully incorporated.)

Cover and refrigerate for several hours (or overnight). It will turn to a fudge like consistency.

Whip the mixture until fluffy and spreadable (like a mousse consistency). Note: I find that I need to bring the mixture to room temperature before whipping if it has been refrigerated overnight.

This makes enough to ice and fill a 9” 2 layer cake. Recipe can be halved if you need only for filling.

Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe

2011-12-18T16:28:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked for my favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe. It would hands down be the Chocolate Fudge Cake. Here is the recipe.
Chocolate Fudge Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 stick margarine (or unsalted butter)

1 cup water

½ cup vegetable oil

4 Tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix sugar and flour in large bowl.

In sauce pan: heat margarine, water, oil and cocoa until it boils. Pour this heated mixture over the sugar/flour. Add remaining ingredients (baking soda, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla) and mix well.

Pour into greased baking pan(s). Bake as follows (or until done according to your oven):

10 X 15 sheet pan - 20 minutes

Two 9” round pans- 25-30 minutes

Let cool for 20 minutes.

I got this from a friend, Sally Arconti, during one of my many cake decorating classes years ago.

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas wouldn't be complete in our house without some decorated sugar cookies. These were all decorated with fondant rather than royal icing for a couple reasons. 1. Royal icing you have a lot of wait time until the base has dried to add the accents (unless you are wanting the colors to blend together). 2. I was too tired to make royal icing when I already had fondant in the colors that I needed on hand. So since I was on a time crunch these are some quick and easy Christmas cookies that will please your whole house.

Snowball Cookies

These were the left over circles that I had from the Strawberry Santa Hat Sugar Cookies that I made. Roll out some white fondant on a greased board (I use a tiny bit of shortening on my counter so it doesn't stick. You can use Cornstarch or Powdered sugar, but if you are rolling things out a lot it can dry out your fondant and you need to use water to adhear it to the cookie.) Then use the cookie cutter that you originally cut the circle cookie out with and cut a circle of fondant. Shake the cookie cutter a little to make sure it cuts the edges smoothly. Place the fondant on the cookie and smooth over the top to adhear it to the cookie (if you used powdered sugar or cornstarch then spread a little water or light corn syrup on the back of the fondant). Then to make the sparkling sugar you can either use a tiny bit of light corn syrup to make it sticky and sprinkle away. After 30 minutes the cookie is no longer sticky from the corn syrup and can be packaged if needed. My boys loved the snow balls.

Santa Hat Cookie

This Santa Hat is a miniature one I got in a Wilton Christmas Mini Cookie Cutter set that I bought at Michaels two years ago. But, the instructions would be the same no matter the size of cookie you would just need more fondant for the bigger cookies. I start by rolling out the red fondant on my greased board and use the cookie cutter to cut out the shape. Then I use my cake pizza cutter and cut off the ball area and the bottom rim of the cookie where the head band needs to go. (Trust me it is a lot easier to cut them off than to cover it up. I speak from experience.) Then I pinch off a little bit of white fondant and roll it into a ball. Put a tiny dab of water where you want it to go and gently press down to get it to stick to the cookie. For the white band on the hat I take a larger ball of fondant and first roll it into a ball to get the creases out and then roll it into a log. I attach it the same way and make sure the white overlaps the base of the red a little. If you want to add some texture to the white parts you can easily with a piping tip or anything that you have handy.

Christmas Star

There is nothing easier than a star cookie! You roll out your fondant and cut it out with the star cookie cutter. Attach it to the cookie and you are done. Since my fondant was a regular yellow I had a few options to make it stand out a little more if you want to. You could paint it gold (with gold luster dust mixed with a little lemon extract), brush on dry gold luster dust, or use a gold colored fondant. I went with a little bit different option. I have a disco dust that is rainbow in color (yes they come in many different colors) and I spread a tiny bit of water over the fondant and then took a dry yes dry paint brush and dipped it in the disco dust and taped the paint brush over the stars I was making and it really make them sparkle. So many options to choose from! And yes it is also one of my Mini Wilton Christmas Cutters.

Gingerbread Girl

She is a small, but not mini gingerbread girl. First I added a layer of a blend of chocolate fondant and white fondant mixed together (to lighten the color a little since the chocolate fondant is pretty dark probaly 2 parts chocolate and 1 part white fondant). Then I rolled out my red fondant. I cut a triangle shape close to the size I thought and cut the top of the triangle to make the neck line. Use a little water on the back of the red fondant and attach to the body. Then I took a tiny pinch of the red fondant and rolled it into a ball and then into a little sausage. Then take a toothpick or knife or whatever you have on hand and indent on the top and bottom and there is an easy bow. Take some white fondant and roll it out into a thin snake and add trim to the top and bottom of the dress. And last grab your edible food marker pens and place two dots for the eyes and a smile. (If you are decorating a larger cookie feel free to use the fondant for the eyes and mouth, but when you are working with a small cookie it is very difficult to get it small enough and in the right spot.

Gingerbread Man

Last but not least our little gingerbread man. I used the part chocolate part white fondant mix again like in the gingerbread girl and did the eyes and mouth the same. But, instead of the dress I added a simple scarf. You take the desired color fondant and roll it out. Then cut some strips. Mine were about 1/2 thick which fit perfectly on my 3 inch cookie. Use a paint brush dipped in water and draw a line where you want it to go. Then lay the fondant from one side of the neck to the other and cut with a knife or spatula. Then take about a 2 inch strip and I used my pizza cutter to fringe the edge of the piece and attach to one side.
These cookies were so easy to make that it can be a fun easy project even with your kids. Enjoy!

Strawberry Santa Hat Cookies

2011-12-15T06:38:00.000-08:00

I saw a picture of these on a recipe site a while back (sorry can't remember which one, but if someone knows tell me so I can give them credit). My boys love strawberries so begged me to make some during Christmas time. They are sooooo easy to make. Here is how.

Make sugar cookie circles with No Fail Sugar Cookie Dough ( click on the name or see recipes) , or any sugar cookie recipe you like. I did two different sizes just in case (but don't worry I ended up making snow ball cookies with the bigger circles. The snow ball cookies will be in the next post.) I ended up using the smaller ones because they were closer to the size of the strawberries. The cutter was a 2 inch cutter, but it really depends on how big your strawberries are so do a couple sizes.

The hardest part is buying a package (or a couple) of strawberries that have the most points. The strawberry on the left is perfect and the one of the right is just saved for the kids for later. I did end up buying two packages and taking the pointy ones out of both so I would have enough. Cut the strawberry to take off the greens and make it flat.

Take your circle cookie and squirt some Cream Cheese Frosting (cream cheese frosting is best but you can use a buttercream if you want) on it and add the strawberry. (This helps keep the strawberry in place and keeps the strawberry juices from soaking the cookie. No one likes a mushy cookie). Then using a Wilton tip 21 (star tip) Pipe little stars around the base of the strawberry and one big one on top. And you have a Santa hat! See super easy and cute!

No Fail Sugar Cookie Dough

2011-12-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

No Fail Sugar Cookies

2 Cups Unsalted Butter, room temperature
2 Cups Sugar
2 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring
2 eggs
6 Cups of Flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cream the butter and sugar until Light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides.

Wrap in saran wrap (There is so much dough that I split it in two and then wrap in saran wrap). Chill the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour up to 6 days.

Preheat the oven to 350*. Roll dough on parchment paper and use the saran wrap that you had wrapped it with on top so you don't need any additional flour to roll (so parchment on the bottom, then dough, then saran wrap, then the rolling pin). Cut into desired shapes and pull away extra dough to be re-rolled. While rolling the dough place the cookie sheet in the freezer to cool. Put the cookie covered parchment on the cold cookie sheet and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes. You know the cookies are done if the edges around the cookies are slightly brown.

This is a large recipe. It makes up to 5 dozen 3 inch cookies. Can easily be halved. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

2011-12-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. It makes about 2 cups of frosting, but can easily be doubled.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract (if you want the frosting to be whiter use clear vanilla)
2 cups powdered sugar

Cream the butter, cream cheese and vanilla together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Recipe by Jennifer Ross.

Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

2011-12-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

I was feeling in a cookie mood yesterday and decided to try a recipe that I had gotten a while back for some Dark Chocolate cookies. My husband loves anything chocolate, where as I can't eat chocolate with out stomach pain (I have IBS and chocolate is one of my triggers). So if I am going to make something chocolate and try it then it has to be insanely good. These cookies looked like they would be and I had my hubby and kids try them first. Once I saw their reactions I knew I had to try one no matter the consequences. Man were they worth it! So if you like dark chocolate and mint then you are in for a treat. I adapted this slightly from a recipe by two peas and their pod.

1-1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup dutch process cocoa (has to be dutch process or it wont taste as chocolaty)
1/2 cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk

3/4 bag of Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels (I think they are only around during the Christmas season so I stock up when I see them. I found them at Target a couple days ago.)

Preheat your oven to 325* and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and dutch process cocoa and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars on medium high until light and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and stir it in. Then add the milk mixing well and follow up with the last half of the flour mixture. Once combined, stir in the dark chocolate and mint morsels and chill the dough, wrapped in saran wrap, for at least 15 minutes to 2 days.
Roll tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough onto the parchment paper (about 2 inches apart) and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake for about 14-16 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes to let the cookies set up. The keep well in an airtight container for a couple days if they last that long! Let me know what you think when you try them. Definitely a keeper at our house.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cottage cake

2011-12-05T10:00:00.001-08:00

It is so much fun when someone asks for a cake with general theme and lets you run with it. I was told that she wanted a chocolate cake and maybe a hint of mint in it and that the little girl loved the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

There are so many options! Do you do Snow White with the Dwarfs, The queen looking into her mirror, the Dwarfs working in their mine, Snow White being kissed by her Prince, and of course Snow White being tricked by the Witch/Queen in Disguise.

I chose to make the Cottage with Snow White an the Witch/Queen in disguise and make a Chocolate Peppermint Patty Cake.

Close up of Snow white an the Witch/Queen in Disguise.

What the inside of the cake looks like before I topped it with the next piece of cake and more fillings. It is a Peppermint Patty Cake : Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with Creamy Chocolate Frosting and pieces of Peppermint Patties. The cake was a huge hit! So if you like Peppermint Patties this cake is for you.

Cars 2 Cake

2011-12-03T18:44:00.001-08:00

My middle son absolutely LOVES the Cars movies. That has been his design for his birthday cakes since the first movie came out. Even the day after his birthday he will tell me what design he wants for his cake for next year. And it always involves the Cars characters in some way.

After seeing the Cars 2 movie this summer, he told me that he is going to have a Cars 2 cake even as we were walking out of the movie theater. And since then he has been designing the cake (not this cake though). The Cars 2 cake he designed originally was extremely large and would probably feed about 200 people. He wanted it to be the race through Italy on the coast line with the beautiful buildings on the mountain side with Professor Z's men shooting the ray camera at the cars that were racing on the elaborate track. After he laid out his plans to me of what he wanted me to make a couple weeks ago we discussed how long that would take me and that we would have way too much cake (His party only had 11 people to feed). So he came up with a simpler design from the end of the movie when the cars are racing around the land by Radiator Springs. He came up with everything, the colors, how big it was going to be, the colors of the land and even the waterit was still too big for how many people would be there, but I didn't want to dampen his second design so I went with it). Everything! And as I was putting the final touches on his cake he came in and wanted to help me do the last of the decorations. He choose where certain cars would go as well as all the rocks, and signs. I may have a little cake decorator on my hands. It is so fun to see our children grow and see what talents they have been blessed with. Way to go big guy! Happy Birthday!

P.S. The cake was a french vanilla cake with strawberries and cream filling! Yum!

Thin Mint knock offs

2011-11-28T19:40:00.001-08:00

Who can resist those wonderful girl scout cookies! For me the Thin Mints are the cookies hardest for me to resist, but the price tag makes it a little easier to resist. So I decided to find a recipe that would be not only easy to make, but taste similar to those melt in your mouth cookies. Here is the one that I like the best!

The things you need are:

Ritz crackers (I used 2 packs out of the box. Each pack is about 24 cookies. The amount of cookies you make depends on how thick of a coating you give them.)
Some kind of coating chocolate(1 pound) Merkins dark chocolate or chocolate Almond Bark (there isn't any almonds or nuts in it in-case you can't have nuts), you can even use chocolate chips with a little shortening. Do not use Wilton brand chocolate! Every time I use the Wilton brand I am disappointed. It is thick and easily seizes.
Peppermint Oil (I like LorAnn Oil) about 6 drops (a little goes a long way, but if you like lots of peppermint taste then add more.)
Parchment paper
A microwaveable bowl to melt your chocolate in.
A fork and a spoon.
Something to serve them on if they last that long.

In the picture I have vanilla almond bark, but that is only because I used up all my chocolate almond bark on the cookies and should have taken the picture before making them. So make sure to use the chocolate not the vanilla.

Prep everything. Get your parchment laid out you spoon and fork ready and your almond bark chopped up into small pieces and in the bowl to microwave. If you have Merkins chocolate (looks like the Wilton coating disks you don't have to chop it up but if you do it goes faster. Open the Ritz crackers.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave bowl. I start by microwaving on full power for 30 seconds. Then stir with the spoon. Then stick it back in the microwave for 15 seconds (no more or you could seize it) then stir again. It might need a little more so microwave again for 15 seconds and stir until smooth. If the chunks are pretty small then keep stirring it will probably melt after you mix for about a minute. If they haven't completely melted keep going with the 15 second intervals until it is smooth after stirring. If your chocolate is too thick you can add some paramount crystals (you can get at cake decorating stores) or a little canola oil or melted shortening.
Add the peppermint flavoring to the chocolate and stir. I put in about 6 drops maybe a little more.
Drop in a couple Ritz crackers in the chocolate bowl. Use the spoon to pour some on top of the crackers.
Use the fork to lift one cracker out of the bowl. Shake the cracker gently side to side to get rid of excess chocolate (so you don't get a huge puddle of chocolate underneath the cookie) and tip the fork to allow the cookie to slide off the fork onto the parchment.
Continue until all the crackers or chocolate is gone. If the chocolate starts to get thicker and harder to work with just microwave it for another 15 seconds and stir and it should return to dipping consistency.
Allow the cookies to firm up. It only takes a few minutes, but if you are in a huge rush you can always put your parchment on a cookie sheet and place them in the refrigerator.
Once they are firm you can break off any tiny pieces of chocolate that is on the edge of the cookies.
Enjoy!

Strawberry Bavarian Cream Ladyfinger Cake

2011-11-23T11:56:00.001-08:00

Wow what a mouthful! But I can't leave any of the yummy ingredients. It is yellow cake filled with a bavarian cream/whip cream mixture with sliced strawberries. It is topped with more whipped cream and lady fingers. The top is whip cream billows, chocolate covered strawberries and hardened chocolate drizzles.

Here is a top view of the chocolate covered stawberries and chocolate drizzles. .

I hope you all have a yummy sweet filled Thanksgiving!

Elina Cake

2011-11-12T12:11:00.001-08:00

This cake is a 12 inch (Chocolate cake with Chocolate buttercream), 10 inch (French Vanilla with Vanilla buttercream, 8 inch (Red Velvet cake with Cream Chesse frosting), and 6 inch (Pumpkin Spice cake with Cream Cheese frosting) square tiered cake wrapped in ribbon and accented with Cinnamon sticks and Gumpaste Dendrobium Orchids. I delivered it to the beautiful Waveny Mansion for the reception.

A close up of the flowers ( I will post a tutorial of how to make a dendrobium orchid soon).

Fall Cupcakes

2011-10-25T05:19:00.000-07:00

Right now in New England the leaves are amazingly beautiful. So I had to make some fall leaves and fall flowers, and acorns. Theses were made with some Clay molds (only used with fondant never clay, but you can find them in the clay isle) from Michaels. It was a set of seasonal items. Just dust the silicone molds with corn starch and press the different colored fondant into the molds and bend back to release from the molds. I dusted the leaves and flowers with different colored luster and petal dusts to make the colors varied a little.

Witch Hat Cupcakes

2011-10-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick fondant witch hat toppers. Roll out the color you want for the hat and cut out a circle. Then take a portion of fondant the same color and roll into a ball (to get out all the creases) and then roll into a tear drop shape. Curve the top of the tear drop and use a spatula to make a crease towards the top. Then cut our the band that goes around the hat and the buckle/or star accent. The purple ones were made quickly and put on the frosting immediately. The black witch hat cupcakes were some I made last year, but I let them sit for a couple days to dry before putting them on the frosting and the base of the hat/ brim holds it's shape better and looks a little better so if you have time, allow them to dry.

Ghostly Cupcakes

2011-10-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

For these cupcakes I used white chocolate that I melted down and poured into a chocolate ghost mold. I chilled it in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes and popped them out onto a towl. I added some colored sprinkles to the frosting so that the ghosts would show up better and even brushed it with some white satin luster dust to make it shine a little.
The ghosts could also be made with fondant as well. You can either grease or corn starch the chocolate mold and press the fondant in it. If you have troubles getting it out with out stretching the shape then freeze in the freezer for a few minutes then pop them out. You could also make the ghost by free hand as well using gumpaste tools to make the creases in the body and eyes. If you make them out of fondant I would let them sit out for 3-4 days so they can harden or they will be limp on top of the frosting and sag.

Car Accident

2011-10-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to give you a bunch of Halloween and Fall ideas this month, but that idea was squashed when my sister-in-law and I were in a car accident last week. It wasn't my fault for the accident, but my sister-in-law and I are in a lot of pain so that puts my decorating plans aside for a while until I have healed more. Luckily I made a couple fall/Halloween treats before the accident to show you and then I will also bring up pictures from past years for more ideas. I hope this helps
Andrea

Pumpkin Spice Cake Recipe

2011-10-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

I recently made a Pumpkin-Spice Cake and it is one of my favorite fall flavors now! It may actually be a year round favorite for me. Here is the recipe:

1 cup pure pumpkin puree (from a 15-ounce can)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour your pans. In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla. In another medium bowl, whish together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixure in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, until combined. Pour into prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. For two 8 inch pans it was about 25-30 minutes. But always check ealier since oven temperatures vary and the amount of batter in each pan. Let cool on a rack for about 10 minutes and then turn out of the pan onto the rack to cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese frosting. I also sprinkled some chopped up walnuts on top of the top layer.

This can also be made into cupcakes. Fill your muffin tins with paper liners or spray with non stick cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes, rotating between the upper and lower third racks of the oven halfway through. Let cupcakes cool in pans on wire racks, 15 mintues. Remove from pans and let cool completely on racks about 10 minutes. (Store the cupcakes in an airtight conatiner up to 2 days) To serve spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Joke Cakes/ Milo's cake

2011-10-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

I had my very first Joke cake last weekend. When I was talking to Jane about what kind of cake she wanted for her sister-in-law she wanted something pink and sparkly and girly with a giant 50 on top this sounded great, I had done things like that before. Then she continued that she wanted to put her sister-in-laws dog on it (lately I have actually seen quite a few cakes where the beloved dog is on there) and then she added that she wanted Milo to be peeing on the 50. I thought she was kidding! Then she mentioned how the dog isn't potty trained very well and pees on the floor every day and that if he peed on the 50 her sister-in-law would think it was really funny. So I began the cake. Here is the Elegant portion. At this point it could even be a smaller wedding cake.

Here is Milo (and yes his leg is up and ready to aim on that 50).

And here is the finished cake. In the end I couldn't help, but love Milo. I even got to meet him when I delivered it. And luckily there wasn't any pee on the floor. And yes, the sister-in-law loved it.

2011-10-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

I love taking classes! I love learning in general, but to learn from the Masters you can't go wrong. I even got to meet James Roselle who was teaching a class next door (he probably one of the best gumpaste flower makers ever)! I took a cakelet class with Amy Eilert. She is the owner of Cupcake Envy in North Carolina and she specializes in Cakelets which are mini cakes. I made this coffe/hot chocolate mug during her class and she taught us how to make any type of cakelet in general. It was a lot of fun.

The only thing I wish I would have done is to take a picture of my cakelet before I went home. I waited because I had the junky camera and the back ground wasn't the greatest. But, if I had known what would happen to it I would have taken a picture right then and there. On my drive from New Jersey home a crazy driver almost hit me. If I hadn't swerved I would have been totally crushed (I was driving in my husbands little car and the crazy driver was in some SUV). I was changing lanes from the far right into the middle lane and he came zooming up probably 90 miles an hour in the fast lane and pulled into the same spot I was (I was already almost totally in the middle lane by then and then he zoomed on. Well lets just say when I swerved the cake flew and got a little damage. Here is a picture of the aftermath. The kids still loved eating it though. They didn't care what it looked like. But, I learned my lesson. Always take a picture and then you can always take more pictures later and just use the best ones. Just in case. Learn from my mistakes. I hope to make lots more mini cakes in the future as well. So be on the look out.