Princess Ghost

I love the fact that the little girl who requested this cake was original enough to say,

 "I want a spooky princess party", in the middle of April! Her mom and I decided that a princess ghost cake would work best for her birthday. 

I made 3, 8'' cake layers, 2, 6'' cake layers and 1, 4'' cake layer. I sandwiched them together with chocolate frosting, and took my trusty kitchen knife and carved the top into a mounded top. I then frosted the whole cake and then covered it with fondant. I made the crown and wand the day before with gum paste so it had time to harden. Then painted them with gold coloring. The face is made of fondant and painted with black, pink and blue color paste for a rich, bright color. 

Shirt & Tie Cookies

I made these super soft buttermilk sugar cookies an LDS missionary homecoming. I made the dough, cut them into rectangles, baked them, covered them with white chocolate and piped on the lines and tie with white chocolate. I added food coloring to white chocolate for the blue tie. It does not get as smooth as the poured fondant or cookie icing, but it tastes delicious! 

2 C sugar

1 C shortening

2 eggs

*cream these together, then add

2 tsp vanilla 

1 C buttermilk

*mix, and add

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

5 c flour (one at a time)

*mix well

Roll out on floured surface, cut, and bake on ungreased cookie sheet @ 350* for 8-10 min. 

Don't over cook! Golden edges make for crisper cookies.

White Chocolate glaze

 1 pkg Guittard white chips 

 3 Tablespoons shortening 

Melt together in double boiler (or microwave)

Dip cookies face down in mix. 

Let excess drip off then gently shake cookie from side to side to smooth out the look of the chocolate.

 Let cool until firm. 

Then take extra melted chocolate and pour into piping bag and draw lines/ties or whatever detail you want.

Sunflower Cupcakes

 

 

These were made for a bridal shower themed "Meant to BEE", how cute is that? The sunflowers were made by cutting fondant (store bought fondant works great for these) with a daisy cutter and textured with a fondant tool for lines.  The shape of the flower was created by placing them on a mini cupcake liner that was slightly flattened. I was able to use my awesome airbrush kit for the orange/red fade on the center of the flowers. You could probably get the same affect using a powder color or luster dust applied with a clean blush brush. The center was a fondant circle that I striped like a grid and then cut out. The bees bodies were made of fondant that I shaped into tear drops and painted stripes with black color paste. I used black and white royal frosting to 1. glue the bee to the flower and 2. pipe on the wings and head. I let them dry completely before placing on cupcake.

Royal Icing:

2 egg whites whipped to soft peaks

then add 2 1/2 c powdered sugar

plus 1 tsp cream of tarter, mix

thin with lemon juice or water 1 tsp at a time to get the consistency needed 

(Use the rule of it holding it's shape for 10 sec before fading)

Chocolate Cake Recipe 

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup  Cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Mix dry ingredients together and wet ingredients together minus the water. Then combine wet and dry, then add hot water. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake @ 350* for about 20 minutes.

The flour in this recipe can be substituted with a Gluten-free all purpose flour mix.

Chocolate Butter-cream:

1 stick butter melted (1/2 c)

1/2 C cocoa

3 C powdered sugar

3 Tbls corn syrup

1/4 C milk

Mix butter and cocoa. Then add 1cup sugar,1 Tbls syrup, and a little bit of milk and mix well. 

Repeat until all sugar and corn syrup is incorporated adding enough milk to thin to the consistency you want. Whip for 1-2 minutes.

This is very fudgy and delicious!

Peanut Butter Ball Brownies

We always made peanut butter balls growing up and they were so good! 

They also took a little bit of time standing over the stove dipping each one in chocolate.

 This recipe is nice because it takes a little time but you don't have to stand over the stove dipping each ball. 

I made my favorite brownies (boxed will do just fine) and then added 

the peanut butter ball topping:

1 stick butter soft/partially melted

about 1 cup peanut butter

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix these together and spread on cooled brownies. 

**Some people would add crushed graham crackers to the peanut butter mix for texture, 

I don't because I love the creaminess of this recipe!

Topping:

Then I melted a bag of chocolate chips (any kind, milk, semi-sweet, dark, etc.) I used dark

with about 3-4 Tbls. butter 

and about 3-4 Tbls. of milk

Gently spread chocolate over peanut butter mix and let set up in refrigerator. 

Cut into 1" bites and serve on mini cupcake liners for a sweet treat. 

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes

These were fun, cute and delicious! These were made with a moist vanilla cake recipe from The Cake Boss' cook book. The frosting was a yummy experiment. I remembered always loving those homemade butter-mints you'd get at weddings or your grandma's, so I tried to make a frosting with the same flavor, mission accomplished! I found a gingerbread man chocolate mold at Baker's C&C and created the peppermint swirl with this technique. I used disposable bags just to make it easier. 

Butter-Mint Frosting:

2 sticks butter softenend

5+ C powdered sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla

1/4 -1/2 tsp peppermint extract

up to 1/4 C milk

Cream butter & flavoring. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, thinning with milk as needed, always adding sugar last! Whip it with your mixer, and whip it good! Lots of air will make the frosting light. Enjoy :)

Christmas for Graham

Each year since moving to Utah, I've wanted to do a gingerbread house for the Festival of Trees. This year I decided to stop putting it off and just do it! If you don't know about the Festival of Trees all things made and donated are then auctioned off and all money is donated to Primary Children's Hospital. 

Thank you Centaurus Financial for purchasing my gingerbread house!

Our cousins were blessed with a sweet little baby boy, Graham Jacob. He was only able to be here on Earth with them for about six months. His life was spent in Primary Children's Hospital having surgeries, recovering and trying to 'Be Brave' and strong. 

He was a smiley, sparkly blue-eyed, boy that brought lots of love and joy to his family. 

Graham, this one's for you!

 H & J

 Graham and Claire building a snowman, having a snowball fight, and playing in their 'snow fort'.

At the Festival of Trees.

Old as Dirt

 Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Decorated in chopped chocolate and gummi worms.

Additional cupcake for the party; vanilla, chocolate and carrot with cream cheese frosting. 

Happy 60th Vern! I hope it was a great day!!