VOTE FOR ME!

I hate shameless self-promotions, but I was chosen as one of Sweetopia's Sweets of the Week. Please, go vote for my Dorothy Cookie! I will be your friend!

Adam's 1st birthday, My first dessert table

Today was my friend's son's 1st Birthday Party. The theme was A day at the Circus. TOO CUTE! So of course I had planned his dessert table four months ago! I told, not asked, my friend Deneine that I was making the display/dessert table for Adam's party, and whatever she had planned, we would work through it. So, when she told me that the theme was a circus, I was all too thrilled. The whole shebang was big! She had a bouncie castle, fish pond, prizes, tickets, games, SNOWCONES, cotton candy, hot dogs, it was HUGE! Deneine never does anything small, and I was totally excited to meet her expectations.

This was my first dessert table. I've been following so many different blogs where super-moms make awesome tables, and felt totally inadequate. I mean, I'm not a mom (yet), nor do I often get the chance to throw big parties. I used this chance, and this baby as my fake-super-mom-awesome-party-of-awesomeness dessert table. The result:

I don't think I did quite bad. I wish I had had more time to bake, but I knew there was too much candy/food as it was, so I tried not to bake too much, knowing full well that it probably would not get all eaten (most of it did!).

On the table I had (center) Chocolate dipped Oreos, peanut-free peanut cookies (sugar cookies decorted to look like peanuts - below, jelly-beans, jujubes), chocolate mustaches (not pictured here), and of course, cake: big one for the party, small one for Adam to squash!

My favorite part were the cookies. I took so long decorating those bad-boys to look like peanuts. I did a base coat, then a few lines on top to make them look like peanuts. Sadly, I didn't get a good picture of them! ARGH! They looked so cute wrapped up in the home-made wrappers!

Of course, everyone loved the cake, that is nothing to be surprised about. I did, however, underestimate the number of people who planned on eating it, and we came up a bit short... kids eat a lot of cake! I planned for 30 people, but we had so many more. It was truly an awesome day!

Until next time!

Teacup cake

I was playing around in the kitchen last night because it was raining all day, and it was cool outside, and I thought I'd make something a little fun. I made, the Teacup cake! Perfect for tea parties!

The idea behind this little dessert is that it is a black-forest cupcake wrapped in white fondant, then, filled with chocolate ganache to give it the appearance of a cup of hot-cocoa in a teacup.

♥♥♥ SO CUTE! ♥♥♥

Hubbie was feeling deprived of sweets, and Black Forest cake is his favorite, so this was a cute and creative way to play.

Recipes used:

Chocolate Cake (for the black-forest base) + cherry pie filling (any will do)
Marshmallow Fondant (for the cup)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bake your cupcakes in wrappers, remove wrappers when cool.

2. Cut out the center and fill with cherry pie filing.

3.Cut a strip of fondant, let harden slightly, wrap around the cupcake using a little white icing to stick it to the cuppie.

4. Using cooled (not too hot) ganache, fill the 'cup' with a little chocolate so as to cover the top of the cuppie. Add a marshmallow.

5. Using a bit of fondant, make a little handle in the shape of a 'C' and adhere to cupie with a little piping gel.

Voilà!
Serve on a saucer for best effect.

HELLO SUNSHINE!

Well, I'm back! After a few weeks of being sick, I seem to be on the upswing! HURRAY! I've been unable to bake due to a crazy eye infection, so I've been fantasizing non-stop about all the wonderful things I'm going to bake when I get better... dreams! Oh what dreams!

Today, being the first day I'm better I jumped right into it... I decided to make some pretty sunflower cookies.

Flood cookies can be very pretty, or even very simple. The key is to put in details. Here, I'll show you. Take this simple flood sugar cookie. I've done the base work on it already... I've given it a yellow bottom layer, and even started to put in the center of the flower. But something is still missing.

This cookie is what I call an in-transit cookie, on it's way to being finished. The key is to add just a touch more detail to make it pop. What makes a flower pop better than its petals?

To bring this cookie to the next level, I began to pipe in the detail: a little definition into the body:

You can get the idea of how this works, by adding the outline to the cookie, the petals are no longer just a blob, but now, they become defined! All cookies are like this, finding the right touch to make a cookie pop!


So pretty. So, onto my next project, it's sure to be amazing!!!

Until then!

How To: Dorothy Cookie step-by-step

Hi all!

Just getting over an awful cold. It has been hanging around for at least a week now and I am totally exhausted. Truth-be-told I had to take the day off work today for it (and a doctor's apt), so I thought a post would be perfect!

I promised last week to post up a step-by-step instruction on how to make this cookie freehand:


I freehand all my cookies, lacking a KopyKake projector. But it is not as hard as you think, all you need to do is plan it out in your mind.

What you will need:

CUT AND BAKED COOKIES!

Flood Colors (Thinned royal icing) :
White (background and clothing)
Peach (skin)
red (shoes)

Thick colours (For Piping):
Blue (plus blue colour for painting)
Brown (for hair)

Painting Colours (gel colours):
Blue (dress pattern)
Black (eyes, nose)
Pink (smile)

SANDING SUGAR (OPTIONAL FOR SHOES)

___________♥♥♥♥___________

I start by cutting out the shape of the cookie I plan on making. I flood the base layer with a generic colour - white!

Next, I eyeball out where the base-layer items will be. In this case, Dorothy's Skin. Using a thicker flood icing, I rough out the shape, and then use a toothpick to put in the ears and fingers. For the legs, I leave room for socks and shoes. (let dry)

Next, I add in the beginnings of her dress - puffy sleeves and the center Dickie part of the dress.
Let dry again - 20 minutes? it must be hard since you are painting next.

Now, I deleted the middle scene here, but let me explain how to do it. First, I dilute some regular foodcolor (americolor gel - sky blue) with water. On a plate, I take a super fine brush, and begin to paint on the dress pattern (lines down, then across). Once the lines have been painted in, I take a small bit of royal icing (thicker than the flood) in the same blue tint as the pattern, then I outline the dress and the folds. I also pipe the socks and small detail of her neck area. This part takes some steady hand work, but painting on a cookie is actually quite simple, and fun too!
Guess what happens next... let it dry :)

Next, I take the brown colour gel (thick again) to start the hair and basket. The hair is simple. I make a line down one side, then the other. Then go back to the first side, line, other side line, etc until the hair is full. Each line, if the icing is thick enough, should not bleed together like a flood will. Make sure to take your time though.


For the basket, I did a basket weave patter (line down, staggered lines across.... line down, opposite stagger across etc.) The basket took the most time of it all, and can be omitted.

After all of that dries, I wanted to see her beautiful face. Using gel colours again (black and white americolor gel - WHITE IS ESSENTIAL FOR ALL THINGS), I used my paint brush and painted on her face. A pink smile give it the perfect touch. I used white to add shines to the eyes and lips, which I believe gives it a more 3-d look.

Finally, the red slippers. I just put some red icing on the area, and sprinkled red sanding sugar to give the sparkly look. For those that read the books

And there you have it :) I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I want to do another sometime soon. Until then!

Anemone Cake (Recipe)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all have great weather. Here in the Fort, or in N.W.O, we generally get rain on Mother's day. I'm not sure if it is an indication that we should stay inside and enjoy our families, or whether it is something else. Either way, I had lots of time to bake my Mother's Day cake this weekend, so to you, I present the Anemone Cake:

I have wanted to make this Black and White cake for a while. The trouble is that I love colour so very much (see the decorations on the blog to get the just of it). It was nice to have to bake a cake that didn't include a lot of colors and was simple to make. I was very pleased with the result.
I just think that the Anemone is such an elegant flower. It makes for a simple decoration. Now, on this cake, I did not abandon all color. The cake itself is a White Chocolate Raspberry cake with Almond buttercream. This recipe is actually one which comes from Wilton. I found it years ago and have stuck with it! I truly think it is a simple and delicious recipe, tasting better than a boxed recipe!


White-Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Almond Buttercream:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 4 ounces (2/3 pkg baker's white chocolate) GET THE GOOD STUFF
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter , softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup raspberry Jam (Best stuff!)
• 1 c unsalted butter (room temp)
  
• 2 1/2 c powdered sugar (icing sugar)
• 5 oz heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• t tbsp almond extract
  
• pinch salt
  

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. prepare two 6 inch pans (lined and sprayed).

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.

In small microwave-safe bowl, heat milk until hot, but not boiling. Stir in the vanilla and white chocolate until melted.

In a third large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time.

Slowly incorporate flour and chocolate mix alternately, mixing until just combined. Whip for 1 minute at high speed, pour into pans.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and prepare frosting.

Almond Buttercream:

Beat butter until fluffy, add in the vanilla, salt and almond extract.

On high whip in the heavy cream until mixture is fluffy.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar. Once mixed set aside.

NOW PUT IT ALL TOGETHER~!

Cut off the tops of the cakes. In the center of the cake, fill a layer of raspberry jam, then a thicker layer of the Almond Buttercream. Place two halves of the cake together. Press firmly but do not squish (gets rid of air in between).

Dirty ice the cake and let it sit for 1 hour.

Now, spread icing over top of the whole cake and decorate as you see fit. ENJOY!

I hope you all enjoy your Mother's day! Until next time.

Elections Canada: Vote for Cookies!

It's that time again for all Canadians. Tomorrow, May 2nd, 2011 we are going to the polls again. For those of you who have not yet voted, I urge you to get out and to vote. Generally, I do not get political or preachy on my blog, but I truly feel that this is an important part of a democratic society, especially considering the fact that many Arab nations right now are FIGHTING for this right.


To honor the tradition of voting, I made these cookies... after-which my husband pointed out I had left off the Green Party (Sorry Elizabeth May). I also did not include the Block (I'm in Ontario... so it never crossed my mind... sorry Gilles Duceppe. Also, independent... for those that wish to try to make a difference, I salute you too! No matter who you are voting for, just VOTE!


To encourage my friends to vote, I'm holding a voting dinner party tomorrow. The idea is we get together, eat, chat, have fun, go vote, then reconvene to see the results. I am super excited. Any excuse to have a party I guess.


To all you Canadians out there, we'll see you at the polls!
Okay, next up, the Dorothy Cookie Tutorial!