Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas time

Hello All!

I know I am a little late with posting, but it has been a busy, hectic time!  We hosted our first Christmas here in our new home on 12-23-12 with Paul's family.  I made Tetrazzini and dessert.  I have wanted to do a dessert table for a while now, but haven't had a reason to.
I wanted to keep with a few colors, red, green and white. 

I made one of my favorite cupcakes: Red Velvet.  Don't you just love my new cake stand :)

Paul's favorite are white chocolate covered oreos.  I used leftover Royal Icing to give them a little color.

I made sugar cookies.  Stockings and presents.  I learned a new trick with icing bags for Royal Icing that I will post another time.

 
I also had red and green M&Ms

I was super happy with how it turned out! 

Hope you all have a great New Years!
Thanks for looking!


Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Hello All!

Back story:  Paul and I met July 2005.  I worked with his friend Peter.  Peter introduced us.  We all three went to see the new Batman movie.  Afterwords, we went back to Paul's and hit it off. 

It has been an amazing 7 1/2 years :)  We bought a house this August.

It is Christmas eve. We have had two Christmas dinners these past two days. We were not suppose to exchange gifts till tomorrow. I am very impatient. I made Paul open his gifts tonight :) I got him a Blichmann Beer Gun and accessory kit for his new kegerator.




Anyhoo, Paul gave me my present..

Inside....

Paul was on his knee with the ring :)

I was surprised!  And I am a baker, so I must say it with cake


Hope you all have a Christmas!!

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Bake Sale

Hello All!

My girlfriend Katie and I participated in a bake sale last week.  My work puts on a craft and bake sale for all the employees every December.  I sold cupcakes last year.  I asked Katie if she would like to join me this year in selling cookies.  We picked 4 different designs to make.  We also make a Peppermint Cupcake to sell.

We made some mittens.  Katie brought some white sprinkles that really added to it!

 
We made a tree inspired by http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/  I just love her website!!


 
The presents are also from Sweet Sugarbelle

We also made snowflakes.  They were very fragile, kept breaking on us :(


Katie had an idea for the cupcake frosting.  It was a peppermint buttercream and we wanted the two colors showing.  She told me about putting one color of each in separate bags.

Then I put my big tip in one bag and put the two bags inside.  You have to get them both at the bottom so it will come out in unison.  Worked pretty well!

 
 
Hope you all have a great day!
Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Cookie Decorating

Hello All!

One on my childhood memories of Christmas is when I would go over to my friend's house and decorate cookies with her family.  I thought I would do the same for my family.  I baked some sugar cookies and buttercream frosting. 

I made a few different colors of frosting

I packed up all my bags, sprinkles etc to bring over to my moms

I made special cookies for my nephew to color on. 

My mom bought him a little chef's hat to wear, isn't it adorable!

I put couplers on the bags so the kids could change out the tips.  Ashley is hard at work

My dad decorated with us :)

Anna

Abby





Tony

Jake even piped on some frosting. Why not start him young :)

Tony had some pretty cookies, he may make a great assistant.

We had a great time decorating.

Hope you all have a great holiday season!!

 Thanks for looking!







Bakerella!

Hello All!

I have been following Bakerella for quite some time now.  She is why I started making cake pops.  I LOVE her work!  She came out with a new holiday book last month.  It has some super cute ideas.  She did a book tour and came to town.  My mom and I decided to drive down to see her.  She came to Cooks of Crocus Hill in Stillwater MN.  It is about 45 minutes from us, not too far. 

I kept looking on the store's website but could never find any info on her visit.  The day before, I called to double check that she was still coming.  They stated the the class was full, but she would be signing at a certain time.  Class, what class?!  I was so upset that we were going to miss out on a Q & A with her!  We went to dinner that night and then went to check out the store.  Turns out the class had a opening in back so I could observe from there :)  We stood in back when she started, then the owner saw a few of us back there and was nice and opened it up for us to be in the back of the classroom! 

Angie did a little demonstration for us. 


She also let a girl come up and dip a pop with her. 

She answered some questions that we had.  She seems like such a great lady! 


After she was done, we did the signing.  She signed our books and had a book for all of us to sign for her :)
 
I was like a little kid in the candy store :)

I am so glad my mom and I were able to go and see her!  It is definitely the highlight for me.

Hope you all have a great day!
Thanks fore looking.






Thursday, November 29, 2012

Gray Matter

Hello All!

I was asked to make a silver and gold cake in a week.  I haven't used these two colors a whole lot before.  You cannot make silver buttercream, but you can use luster dust to make it silver.  I thought I better practice!  The gold should be easier since I will use fondant for those accents. 

I like to make parchment bags.  They work great for small batches and are inexpensive.  Plus, clean up is a snap!  Just take the tip out and throw away, no washing the bag.  Gotta love that!

I made a small batch of gray frosting.  It was a little dark, but was just for practice :)

I like to use a glass to hold the bag upright while filling any of my bags. 

I used Wilton's silver dust.

Mix it with a little vodka.  You also can use clear vanilla if you prefer. 

I piped a little on wax paper, can always use the practice at writing :)  I can have good handwriting when I try, but piping is a whole other story.

I brushed the dust on after.  Couldn't really capture it with the camera, but you get the gist.  You can see the sparkles.  Plus, when I make the cake I will use a lighter gray which will look nice against a white cake.


Hope you all have a great rest of the week!
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Thanks for looking!






Monday, November 19, 2012

CLEAR!

Hello All!

My older sister is a nurse at the local hospital here in town.  I give her praise!  Not everyone can do what a nurse or doctor can do.  It takes a special person to be able to handle everything they see.  We have also dealt with some of her staff when our family has been on her floor.  They are all so warm and friendly.  This weekend was her long weekend to work.  Basically, she eats, sleeps and works all weekend long.  No time for anything else.  I decided to make cookies to help her weekend go a little faster. 

I didn't have a t-shirt cutter, so I used a baby cutter and cut off the bottoms. 

I flooded all the cookies and let them sit for a bit.

They just recently changed policy and now everyone on her floor is to wear blue scrubs. 

I made some hearts

and don't forget the smiling patients they take care of :)

Paul made me a light box for my photos :)  super excited about that!  I am still using a point and shoot camera, but at least this will cut down on some of the harsh lighting. 

I brought the tray to her work.  She said everyone loved the cookies!  Mission Accomplished :)

Thanks for looking! 

Hope you all have a great holiday week!