Train Cake

C3PO Birthday Cake

Peaches, Peaches, and More Peaches!

My mother-in-law graciously provided us with a box full of Colorado peaches. We have been eating them fresh and juicy, but decided we would probably not get through all of them quickly enough.

Today I made Sour Cream Peach Pie with struesel topping.

And then I made a Peach Coffee Cake with struesel topping. I do so love struesel toppings!!

More photos after we cut into these treats!

Hello Kitty Fondant Cake

On the inside: luscious homemade lemon cake, butterceam frosting with a dash of lemon juice.

This cake was a no brainer to figure out. Cut a cake with ears and cover with pure white fondant, add whiskers, eyes, a nose, and a bow. It came out just as I imagined!

Fire Truck Cake

Congratulations Austin!

Thanks for asking me to make this cake Stacy! I had a lot of fun doing it. I love this kind of piping. I loved making the frosting, tinting it, tasting it to make sure it was ok, and then watching it all come together on the cake itself. The cake is the MOST amazing chocolate cake. There was not cake to sample as it baked leveled. I love it when that happens, only it does mean no cake scraps to sample. :)

Valentine's Cookies

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Taste of Home Magazine. In one word? Amazing!!!!

They are easy to make, the kids had a great time with the sprinkles, and they taste like thin mint cookies. Need I say more?

My only suggestion is to make a double batch. One makes a tiny ball of cookie dough.

Chocolate Mint Hearts(or whatever shape you want).

10oz bag mint chocolate chips, divided
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 C. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C. shortening
Sprinkles

Melt 1/2 C. chips in microwave safe bowl, stir often to prevent burning! In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and melted chocolate. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and then gradually add to the chocolate mixture. Form a ball and let it chill for about an hour in the fridge.
On a floured surface, roll to 1/4 in thickness, no more! They are better thin.

Bake 2 in apart in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

When the cookies are cool, dip the top half of each heart in the rest of the melted mint chocolate chips. Place on wax paper and add sprinkles. It's easiest to put sprinkles in a bowl and then use your fingers to apply them to each cookie.
Refrigerate until set and then enjoy!!

Tangled Cake

My daughter turned 5 last week. For a year she asked for Dora cake, which she got on her brother's birthday. Their birthdays are so close together we sort of combined celebrations on his birthday since Dad was home from work.

They were both excited about the Dora cake. On Charis' actual birthday, she recieved a Tangled cake. It's by far her favorite movie.

She asked for pink, purple, and flowers. We used a Repunzel ornament for the topper.

Perfect Cheesecake

Cheesecake... something I love to eat but have been less than successful at making in the past.

This time I was determined to make it great. I read several recipes online, read reviews by people who tried the recipe, and then picked one and did it with my own variations.

I chose one from Allrecipes called Italian Ricotta Cheesecake. I did not follow the original instructions. I did follow instructions by other users who made the cake and said it turned out perfectly.

First, I browned the crust by putting it in at 350 for 10 min. Then poured in the filling. I set the pan on two layers of foil and wrapped the foil an inch or more up the sides. Then I put the springform on a jellyroll sheet and put it in the oven at 450. before I closed the door I poured 4 c of water into the jelly roll pan to keep the cake moist.

I left it at 450 for 10-15 min and then turned it down to 250 for an hour and a half. After that, i turned the oven off and left the cake to cool with the door closed for 3 hours. Once I took it out and left it on the counter for a while, I covered it and put it in the fridge overnight.
The next day I added homemade preserves to the top and served!

It was moist, there were absolutely NO cracks in the top. It was moist but not undercooked all the way through.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

Not the best photos. This is as good as it gets when hubby is not home to take pictures.

What I learned doing these cookies. Use a dowel rod down the middle(suggestion from a relative and a good one). Also apply royal icing the day before assembly. It takes a while for Royal to dry and I was in a time crunch that day to finish so once the buttercream 'glue' went on, it caused the royal to run more than usual.

But they were very very pretty and super tasty.

I used a set of star cookie cutters from Avon, but you could make your own templates.

Dora Cake

40th Anniversary Cake

Here is the story of my mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary cake.
Over the weekend my parents celebrated 40 years of marriage together! And I was lucky enough to celebrate with them and make the cake. It was fun.
My first idea was to use fondant. But then, no one in my family actually likes to eat fondant. It looks stunning, but it would just get peeled off each piece of cake.

I decided to focus on making a cake of decadence, so mouth-watering that it would stand apart from other wedding/anniversary cakes.

Chocolate came to mind immediately, but then not everyone likes chocolate. Ok, I thought to myself, I could make each tier a different flavor. Uh-oh, if I do that, then I open up problems with structural stability and consistency with each tier, not to mention a frosting that would compliment different flavors of cake. And also too many options for fillings.
It was narrowed down to one flavor, one type of filling, and decided on Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It is so smooth, creamy, and simply heavenly.

On to picking decor and flavors. My mom's wedding cake was multi-tiered with the top tier separated by columns. BTW, my dad's mom mad their wedding cake!
The original wedding cake was richly piped with borders and flowers. In honor of the cake, I wanted to do some old school piping and separate the top tier from the bottom two. But at the same time, I wanted it to look more modern.

Final product: Peach Bellini Cake, white cake(with a hint of peach), rich peach filling, Swiss Meringue Buttercream laced with Peach Schnapps).
Swiss dots on bottom and top tier, cornelli lace in middle tier. Top tier separated by filled champagne flutes.
The cake and filling were recipes by Dede Wilson. I LOVE her recipes!!

And finally, here are the pictures.

Cupcakes?

This is not a trick. They are really crocheted. With so many cakes these days looking like real 'things' I figured I should clarify.
These are crocheted Cupcake purses I made for my daughter and her friend Sydney. CUTE!

Scones

Today was very very cold. When it is cold and too snowy to drive anywhere, I bake. That is also when I gain weight. It has been cold and snowy a lot lately.
It started with one batch of Blueberry Scones. They smelled so good, came together quickly, and the baby was still asleep, so I made another batch; Sugar Cinnamon.

Luckily, my mom and dad who are trusty taste testers, came over and shared some of them with me. The scones were good, I ate one of each.
I've also included a picture of some of the ingredients I used!

The Sexy Cake Pop

This is the story of how the sexy cake pop was born. Cake pops are a craze sweeping the nation, thanks to Bakerella. She is the mastermind of the cake pop. They are fun to make, fun to eat, kids love them, adults love them.

Of course I had to try making them! I love making anything out of cake! My perfect excuse was my kids' birthday party.

I described them on facebook and posted this picture of me for my friend Jamie.



Jamie, in her excitement over the cake pop, re posted the picture on her profile. It was then my duty to send her a few cake pops in the mail.

Jamie is a professional photographer. The surprise was returned to me with these amazing photographs, featuring the lovely Lanee Lu and my cake pop!




And that is the story of how the cake pop became America's sexiest dessert.