Cake Pops

I had many treats and goodies to make for the holidays this year.  I made cake pops for a few of them.  Everyone loves cake pops!!

They both were made with yellow cake and vanilla frosting.  The first ones were Christmas Trees.  Paul bought me 14 different kinds of sprinkles for Christmas and it happened to have yellow stars!  Worked out perfectly :)  It was dipped with green candy melts and has sprinkles for the lights.

The second ones were Santa Hats.  I showed my aunt how to make these the week before for her Christmas.  I think they are a cute idea. 

I made them a little bigger than normal, but they were still delicious!

I now have a portfolio with my pics inside!  My little sister Ashley made me a book with my pictures of my cakes for Christmas.  It was very thoughtful of her!  I have a cake due in two weeks for a teenage girl. 
Until then, I hope you all have a great and safe New Years!

Cookie Exchange :)

Every year my family does a cookie exchange.  This year there were 4 of us participating.  We each made three different kinds of cookies and exchanged 1/2 dozen each.  I made Chocolate Crinkles, Peanut Butter Ritz and Red Velvet Cookies.  I also made some snowmen as an added bonus :)  He was made from an Oreo ball and dipped in Almond Bark.  A girl and I were talking at work one day, I still don't know for sure what Almond Bark is, but I use it every year :)  Here is how to make the snowmen:

First you need to crush up a pack of Oreos, I use my Bullet to finely crush

Then mix in a package of softened cream cheese.  It is easiest to hand mix this

You want to put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.  Then shape into 1 inch balls. After they are all rolled, put back in the fridge for another 10. While they are chilling I started the bases of the snowmen.  I got everything ready to go beforehand.  Makes for easier decorating.  Here is what I used for his accessories

Melt the almond bark.  Take a tablespoon and dump on wax paper.  Spread it around to get your base.  Then add all your extras.  You want to do one at a time, otherwise the bark will set before you get back to it.

I let them set in the fridge for a few minutes.  Then take your balls and dip in the bark and place them on your base.  Put your nose on right away.  Do these one at a time as well.  Otherwise you will have to go back and glue on your noses.  I let them completely set and then drew in the faces with my food writers.  That's it!  Pretty simple, just takes a little bit of time.  When you do the oreo balls, please remember to refrigerate them.  They have cream cheese in them.  Here is the finished product

They are super fun for the holidays! 

Lastly, my girlfriend Katie gave us some treats for dog sitting for her this year.  I thought I would post a pic of them since they are so cute!  Thanks KT!

Stay tuned for Christmas Cake Pops!!!  Till then, Have a great and safe Christmas!

Bake Sale!!

We have an annual craft and bake sale at my work every year.  I decided to bake for it.  I made cupcakes for the event.  There was a ton of other foods there, but no other cupcakes :)
I didn't know how many to make or how to package etc.  I ended up making 4 different kinds and totaling 72 cupcakes.  I bought some containers for the big sellers and just gave other people plates which seemed to work out.

My first cupcake I did because of my brother, Tony.  These are his favorite kind and so I made some extra to bring over to him.  It is Devils food mix with filling in the middle

I then frosted them with whipped frosting.  I made candy molds of Christmas lights to go on top.

This is what they look like once you bite into them.  It's a nice surprise!

Those were the most popular and no one knew of the filling :)  The next sellers were my snowmen.  It is a chocolate cake with the snowman on top.  I have a pretzel in the middle of the marshmallows holding him up and standing on the cupcake.  His accents are glued on by candy melts.  I have done another version of him in the past.  Always a crowd pleaser.

I then made two different kinds of yellow cupcakes.  The first were the wreaths.  These were also a hit.  They were pretty easy to make.  Just a little bit of piping work, simple but cute.

The last ones were ornaments.  By the time I did these I was getting a little tired and started loosing inspiration.  They took a lot longer to do than I thougth they would.  I still think they turned out good.

I made 72, but gave a few away.  I sold them for $2 a piece and only left with 6!  I brought the rest to Paul's work for them to finish them off.  Here is a pic of them all waiting to get packaged up.

Overall, it was a lot of fun!  I am glad it went so well.   I will definitely want to do it again next year.  I hope you enjoyed it and hope you all have a great weekend!

Boo!!

Okay, so I made  another cake this morning.  Holy cow!  I saw a pic of this cake and really wanted to try and make the cake to see if I could.  It is a yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  The ghost head is rice krispie treats.  The ghost is out of fondant.  It was a fun cake to make. 

I have one more cake to make this week and then I think I will be done for a while.  We'll see how long that lasts :)  I have had fun baking these last three days.  It has kept a smile on my face. 

Have a good rest of the week everyone!

Smash!

I made the birthday cake for my girlfriend's little one's 1st birthday.  She was doing the Construction Pals theme.  I made the cake to match.  It is a marble cake with buttercream frosting.  Fondant accents.  The truck is made from Rice Krispie Treats covered in fondant.  I am pleased with how it turned out.

Jackson seemed to like the cake.  I made him a separate smash to go after.  He liked the red and green frosting.  Didn't really go for the cake too much.  Overall, it was a hit.

I had some leftover cake so I made some cake pops.  I haven't made any in a while.  I think I need to buy different candy melts.  The wilton ones don't seem to want to melt that well.  I used chocolate in the double boiler and that worked pretty good.  I also have to start making the balls smaller.  It is getting too heavy for the dipping process.  I still have a lot more to learn with them. 

Here is the white pumpkin:

Next is the Pirate:

And last we have the Mummy:

I hope you all enjoyed today's post.  I am in the middle of baking another cake :)  I saw a pic of a cute ghost cake, so I decided to make it.  I feel like all I have done these last three days is bake.  But, I am still having fun while doing it so that is all that matters.  I will post it later on when it is done.

Till then...



Cupcake :)

Last weekend a couple girlfriends and I went to a new cupcake shop in South St. Paul called Sweet Bebe Cakes.  We each bought 6 cupcakes and tasted all the different flavors.  Their cupcakes are very good and rich.  We definitely could have used some milk :)  The store just had one case for their display.  Had 12 different kinds to choose from.

I think my favorite one was the Oh My Gosh Ganache!  It was fudge cake, ganache filling and chocolate buttercream.  A classic!

Needless to say, I was inspired!  I made some cupcakes for our friends who got married that night.  I made a new yellow cake recipe with buttercream frosting.  The cake was a good recipe.  The swirls are made from chocolate.

I had a few cupcakes leftover.  I was looking online at you tube.  I found these flower cupcakes that were adorable and they looked really easy.  I looked and saw that I had the tip to do them.  So, I tried and they turned out great!!  They are probably my favorite cupcakes that I have made yet.  I was thinking of making them for our work's craft and bake sale in December.

I have had fun making cupcakes from scratch.  I find it more fun to bake them.  I look forward to seeing how they will turn out.

I made a cake today for a friend's little one's 1st birthday.  It took a lot of the day, but I hope he likes it.  It is not stacked yet, so I will post pics after the party. 

Till then, happy baking :)

Autumn

I made a few cupcakes over the past couple weeks.  First ones were for a fundraiser.  My lia sophia manager was having a fundraiser for her sister who has lung disease.  They were having a bake sale so I made cupcakes for them to sell. It is yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  The pumpkins are made from candy melts poured into a mold.  Then  I bought some leave sprinkles for the final touch.  Shannon said the cupcakes were a hit!  Good to hear.  I bought the containers at Lynn's cake store, worked perfect for the occasion.

I tried a few new recipes.  I made my brother in law cookies and cream cupcakes for his birthday.  They turned out excellent.  I also made a yellow cupcake with chocolate chips inside.  I think the recipe was okay.  Will try and find a better recipe to use.  I decorated them as pumpkins and acorns. 

The acorns are made from pecans dipped in butterscotch.  I have never tried to melt butterscotch before, a little hard to do.  It did not want to get totally smooth to dip.  Here is a before shot with the tops done.

Lastly, I just finished a carrot cake for a girl at work.  Her sister is getting married this weekend.  They are having all kinds of desserts and just wanted a little cake to cut for pictures.  The bride's favorite cake is carrot cake.  I made this recipe from scratch.  Had to practice a couple weeks ago to see if it was a good recipe.  Turned out the first one I picked was a winner.  It is topped with cream cheese frosting.  Num :) 

I have had fun making all the different cupcakes these past few weeks.  And also the homemade cake.  I am searching for recipes now and will hopefully start to cut back on the box cake. 

I have a birthday cake due in 2 weeks.  Our friend's little man is turning 1.  Should be a fun cake to make.  Till then, have a great day and thanks for looking!

Wedding Bells

This week I had another wedding cake.  I took Thursday and Friday off work to work on it.  I like to have extra time for the big cakes in case something goes wrong and needs more work.  I don't take much vacation so most of it is used to bake :)  I borrowed some mixing bowls from my mom to help the process go smoother.  It was a 4 tier cake with buttercream frosting and a chocolate filling so that is a lot of different mixes going on.  Her bowls were huge, I loved them!!!  I had hardly any sugar spray from them being so deep.  I think I will have to go out and buy a bigger bowl for next time.  Here is a comparison, My bowl is the small bowl (which I thought was a big bowl)  My mom's puts mine to shame.

Like I said it was a 4 tier cake.  That is a lot of cake to mix. I made 12 cakes, 2 batches of buttercream frosting and one chocolate frosting all with a hand mixer.  I have had it for a while and am surprised I didn't burn it out this time with all that.  I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and gazed longingly at the Kitchen Aids thinking how much my shoulder would have loved not to have worked that hard in two days.   I am hoping when we get a house to be able to purchase one.  Right now we just don't have the counter space for one.  Someday......  I used Paul's aunt's recipe again for the chocolate.  It is so bad for you, hence why it is so good.  For you to get an idea, it calls for 2 cups butter.  Yes a whole package!!

The cake turned out good.  I still have some learning to do and am not sure I want to continue with wedding cakes.  They are very time consuming and have to be perfect.  Talk about pressure.  We will see what happens in the future. Here she is:

You can't tell that well in the photo, but the colors are lilac purple and navy blue. 

The next cake I have is in October.  My girlfriend's son is turning 1 years old, so that will be a fun cake.

Till then, hope you all have a great day!  Thanks for looking :)

A month of cakes

I haven't been on in a while, sorry :)  I made this cake a few weeks ago.  It was for a couple girls at my work.  Their girlfriend's birthday was coming up and they wanted a funny cake.  I made them a Poise pads cake.  It was pretty funny.  I told them I don't want them to buy me a cake for my birthday :)

I also forgot to post the next cake.  Paul's cousin Tyra turned 17 the end of July.  She LOVES Hello Kitty.  I hear her room is covered in it.  So I made a cake for her.  Simple, but she loved it.

My girlfriend Tessa wanted me to make her a big cupcake cake for her 30th birthday this year.  That was the same weekend as the wedding cake I just did, so I had to tell her no.  We just saw her Tuesday and were seeing her again Friday.  I told her I was baking this weekend and she said she wanted 1 cupcake as a joke.  I surprised her with 1 cupcake :)  I have never done just one before.  It was a little weird to put a whole muffin pan in the oven with one cupcake and the rest water.  She was very surprised and loved it!  I got the idea from mycakeschool.com.  I love her blog and all her ideas!  That is where the grilling cupcakes came from as well.

Lastly, my nephew was baptised today.  Brayden Anthony.  I made a yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  The cross is made from white chocolate melted.  The accents are fondant.  I had a whole other idea in mind and then after the cake was frosted I changed everything.  I think it turned out alright for totally off the top of my head at last minute. 

I believe that is it for now.  I have another wedding cake due in two weeks.  I am about to start buying everything for it.  It will be a simple cake, but like all wedding cakes will take more time and care to put into it.  I will post the progress and end result for you all. 

In the mean time, I hope you all have a great holiday weekend and will leave you with a pic of Brayden after the baptism.

Wedding Bells

This week was the wedding.  I started baking on Wednesday.  Finished baking on Thursday.  6 hours total to bake all the cake.  Thursday night I had all the cakes frosted.  I woke up at 6:30 Friday morning and finished the cakes.  I put on the black ribbon and made the fondant pearl border.

The cake had buttercream frosting, Bavarian cream and strawberry filling inside a marble cake.  I had a little mishap once I got to the hall to set it up.  I am not sure if it was the heat or the ride, but part of the border fell off of the 2nd tier.  I was able to re-attach it.  The lady at the hall assembled the flowers on the cake after I left. 

My friend Jennie loved the cake!  Because I am not a licensed baker they were not able to cut and serve the cake to the guests.  So, a few of us decided later in the evening to sample it.  It was fun.

It turned out very well and I will start thinking about the next wedding cake I have to do in September.  I am not sure how many more I would like to due because of the pressure it brings to be perfect.  We will see what the road ahead has in store.

I have one due this Friday for my great grandma, stay tuned :)

Happy Birthday!

Last weekend was my birthday.  We had a cookout at my girlfriend's home.  I decided to make cupcakes for myself.  I saw the idea and had to make them, they were just so cute!  It was a yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  The hot dogs and hamburgers were nilla wafers with frosting for the fixings. 

When I was at the cake store a lady told me everyone was coming in to buy the push ups. (I sold them half my order of 100 a while back).  She said they were on Betty Crocker website so that is why they were in demand.  When I was baking the cupcakes I wanted to see what the fuss was about.  Sure enough, there they were.  All festive for the Forth of July.  So I said I want to make those!  I had half a yellow cake mix left from the cupcakes so I made some.  There was a very good tip online, to make mini cupcakes for them.  So much easier than what I did before!  I made a 9x13 and cut out the circles.  What a waste of cake I was doing.  So I whipped up a batch and made some of my own.  My blue had a green tint from the yellow batter, but they still turned out cute.

Paul and his buddy, Joe, both turned 30 this past week.  Joe made Paul a beer sign saying "Forcier's Beers".  Paul thought it was the coolest thing that Joe put time and effort into his gift and wanted to do the same.  I came up with the idea for a beer cake.  Both guys love beer and have made it together before.  It was a few day process and Paul helped with all the steps.  The bottle is made from corn sugar and granulated sugar.  You heat it up and then pour into a mold and it makes the bottles.  The ice is the same mixture poured on crumpled foil.  We made the wood sides from fondant.  I scored them and Paul painted on the brown.  We peeled labels off beer bottles and glued them onto the bottle with corn syrup.  Overall it was a great hit!  Joe at one point started to eat the bottle, label and all.

I just finished my girlfriend's wedding cake.  The wedding is tomorrow.  I will post pics of the finished cake after the weekend.  Hope you all have a great weekend!



B & B

I made the baby shower cake. It was a marble cake with buttercream frosting.  The accents are all made from fondant.  These are the colors of the nursery.

I prepped everything for making the cake pops.  Paul and I even found a design to make for them.  I never made them :(  I started to and then lost interest.  I have a 30th birthday cake coming up for a friend of Paul's.  And I will be making him a beer bottle cake.  So I made the sugar bottles today instead :)  Paul helped with the pouring process.  It is so much easier with 2 people doing it.  I made a total of three bottles.  I made the mold last fall out of rubber latex.  I can keep reusing the mold.  It took about 4 days and 15 coats of the latex, but the mold works great.  The bottles are corn syrup and granulated sugar heated up and then poured into the mold.  Since I do not have a dishwasher I had to boil the measuring cup to get the hardened sugar off the cup.  It is a process but they look real. Plus you can smash them just like glass.  Here is a finished bottle.  I cooked it a little longer to give it the dark beer effect.

The plastic and saran wrap is there so there won't be any fingerprints.  The bottle is a little sticky and will pick up prints very easy.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and have a great holiday weekend coming up :)

I'm Back :)

Well, I am back!  I got burnt out this spring with all the cakes I was doing.  I took a much needed month off from baking.  I have a cake due this weekend.  I needed to go to the cake store for a couple items for it.  I walked to the back of the store and inhaled.  That works every time!  The smell of all the candy melts and chocolates back there is so comforting.  It pulled me back in.  I have some leftover cake and am looking forward to making some cake pops for fun this weekend.  It has been a while for that. 

I do have a few cakes coming up in the next few weeks.  My best friend is getting married in 2 weeks and I am honored to make her cake.  I also have a cake due for my great grandma in 3 weeks.  It will be a busy July for me.  I will keep you all posted.

I just got my nephew Jake's first birthday photos and have to share them with you.  It turned out that he really liked the cake and you can see it in the photos.  He is so darn cute :)

How adorable!  I will show you the cake that I am doing when it is all done.  It is for a girl baby shower.  And, hopefully I will have cake pops also to show off :) 
Until then have a wonderful day!

Blocks away!

Well, I finished the cake for my work.  I started baking Wednesday night and finished Thursday morning.  I was able to finish the whole cake by 1pm on Thursday.  This was the first time I have ever crumb coated.  What that means is I put a thin layer of frosting down to get all the crumbs.  Then after a half hour went back and put a top coat of frosting.  That way I didn't have to worry about crumbs showing. It turned out real well.  I did that because I was not able to get the cake in the fridge to cool down before frosting like I normally do.  Too big.  I also could not get the cake in my backseat either due to being too big.  I had to put it in my trunk which had me on edge.  I like to be able to look at my cake if needed.  The whole morning was an anxiety attack for me!  I was sooo nervous.  These are the people I see everyday.  I had to get it right or I would feel horrible.  Needless to say, I was shaking putting the blocks on.  I think it turned out real well.  Everyone seemed to like it and thought it tasted better than the sheet cakes they had made :)

And so you can get an idea how big it was, here is one with me standing by it.

I am very glad to have that done and over with.  I have a cake due in June and then a wedding cake to do the beginning of July.  I think after doing this cake, that one will be a breeze :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

1st Birthday

This week I made a cake for my nephew Jake's first birthday.  My sister was doing the Sesame Street theme.  I made a cake with Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.  I made the feathers out of fondant.  The beak is made out of rice krispie treats with fondant covering it.

Jake seemed to really like the cake. He was all smiles and at one point went face first into the cake, didn't bother using hands.  It was adorable!

This week I have a cake due for my work.  H.R. approached me for a cake for a company event.  I am honored that they asked, but can not produce the size that they wanted.  They wanted it to feed 300 people.  Living in an apartment and baking that much is impossible. I will just make the display cake and they will get sheet cakes for everyone.  I started it today and have to buy more fondant to finish the blocks tomorrow.  I am super nervous for this cake.  The whole building will see it.  Talk about pressure!

I will let you know how it goes.  Until then, have a great week!

Birthday wishes

This week I had a birthday cake to do for a girl at my work.  Her girlfriend was turning 28.  We decided on the stars idea.  She likes purple so that is the color we went with.  She wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I only have one recipe for chocolate frosting and I am not all that impressed with it.  Paul's aunt Suzanne used to own her own catering business. She now does cooking classes in Stillwater and has been on Kare 11 during the 11 hour for cooking also.  I dropped her a email asking for help.  She shared with me her recipe and I was delighted!  I made it and fell in love with the taste.  It is nice and creamy.  It will now be my go to recipe.  I used fondant for the stars. 

Today I started making a smash cake for my nephew/godson Jacob.  He is one today!!  Happy Happy Birthday to him :)  My sister is having his 1st birthday photo shoot this Tuesday, so I am making him a smash cake for that.  It will be blue.  I will also be making his 1st birthday cake for the party we are having for him this coming Friday night.  I am super excited to make that one!  I think it will be great. 

On a side note, I had my starter show for lia sophia last night.  It went very well!  I was nervous last week about not having enough orders and not meeting $600 in sales to get the good discount for me.  I went beyond both in sales and orders and am very grateful for everyone who helped me reach that goal.  I was able to buy 16 more pieces of jewelry for a low price of $158!!  Talk about a great hostess program!  I will now have a decent showcase to share at my future parties.  I have two bookings already for May and am super excited.  I am hoping to maybe get a couple more before the month is out.  I am surprised at myself with how well I am trying and putting an effort into this.  I have had so many people tell me No or don't even resopnd to my email.  But I am still moving along hoping for the Yes.  I will keep you all updated on that progress and how my business is going.  If you would like to learn how you too can earn that much in jewelry for that little cost, let me know and we can discuss hosting a show.

I hope you all have a great week and don't forget to check in next week to see the 1st birthday cakes for Lil Jake!