Well, it’s official. I’m certified in Photoshop which means I’m akin to a first year med student who knows where all the major bones and organs are but is not confident or capable to perform brain surgery. I knew there was a lot to the program but I never knew there was this much to it. Even though we barely scratched the surface, I learned an exorbitant amount thanks to a wonderful instructor, Jon Haverstick, who, besides being an incredibly… [Read More]
This has been quite a busy collegiate cake pop month. I’ve just finished another order for USC Cake Pops and while I was decorating for the Spirit of Troy, my mind wandered to the 4th of July with patriotic fervor. I made these cake pops very simple – fondant stars sprinkled with Disco Dust and luster dust brushed over the dipped pop. I cannot get enough of using paper straws for the sticks. I love, love, love this look! I… [Read More]
In my previous post, I showed you how I was inspired to make decorated baby elephant cookie favors using a graphic of a baby elephant in a baby shower invitation I received. I just fell in love with that little blue guy so I thought I’d go one delicious step further – I baked some mini cupcakes just for fun and used the same graphic. I have a Canon printer solely designated for edible images that is filled with edible… [Read More]
As if my favorite espresso martinis weren’t decadent enough I made espresso martini cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day with buttercream icing made with Bailey’s Irish Cream and a few of its flavorful, sweet, high octane friends. These friends play together beautifully and are three of the five ingredients in the espresso martinis that I love. Bailey’s is creamy goodness. Frangelico is hazelnut-flavored liqueur and Crème de Cacao has a light chocolate flavor. For the cupcakes, I substituted the liquid ingredients… [Read More]
Only the most glam birthday cupcake would do for my wonderful friend, Suzi, and her most fabulously stylish daughter, Rebecca June, who describes herself on her blog as an ~ Interior Designer. Jewelry Addict. Clothes Horse. TV Junkie. Wife and Mother to a Rescue Dog. Suzi and Rebecca sparkle. Some people just seem to do that. I knew my design had to include glittering stars – (made from thinned royal icing, piped and filled in on top of cloth covered… [Read More]
This past weekend my family had two occasions to celebrate so I decided the requested chocolate cake would incorporate both upcoming events – a Valentine’s Day birthday of my brother and the departure of my nephew, his wife, and baby-to-be who leave this week to make Seattle their new home. When I thought of Seattle, it was obvious to me what I had to make – the space needle! I made a batch of lemon macarons without color tinting… [Read More]
Three words… Begin with the cutest mini cupcakes wrappers ever by Meri Meri. They are part of the give-away I’m hosting that ends on Friday. Fill them with your favorite vanilla cupcake batter. My recipe is at the end of this post, hot stuff. While the cupcakes baked I made Julia Child’s recipe for pastry cream. And just like Julia, I made it thicker and added a little cream after it completely cooled to thin it out. As Julia said,… [Read More]
Mini chocolate cupcakes decorated with over-sized dragees and fall themed fondant cut-outs literally reached new heights in my kitchen for a fall open house party this past weekend. We’ll get ‘up close and personal’ so I can show how you how I made this. It’s not as complicated as it looks. Trust me. They’re just a bunch of little ol’ chocolate cupcakes dressed up all fancy like. The number of cupcakes needed depends on the size styrofoam cone that is… [Read More]
I love tailgate parties and cake pops are a perfect treat to bring along. I guess it’s pretty obvious where my allegiance lies. There are so many recipes and instructions for cake pops on other blogs and websites and of course there is the Queen of all Cake Pops, Angie at Bakerella so I’ll just show you what I came up with for my decorations. I made my pops a little larger so I could have a… [Read More]
Have you ever bought the cutest cupcake wrappers only to lose the pattern once you’ve baked the cupcake and you don’t like the gap of placing your cupcake into another wrapper once it’s baked? Me too, so I decided to test my theory. Knowing that cupcake wrappers stay together well if you don’t separate them, what about using two unseparated wrappers during the baking process? It works! The key is not to separate them otherwise they will turn out as… [Read More]
Bridal Shower Gifts and Wrapping Ideas
Make-Ahead Frozen Buttercream Cake Decorations
Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year Decorated Almond Cookies
Pretty Pink Petal Cake – A Wilton Cake Decorating Technique
Carlo’s Bakery Cannolis and Lobster Tail Pastries
Colonial Williamsburg Sweet Potato Muffins
The Espresso Martini
“The Best Ever – Blue Ribbon Winning – Chocolate Layer Cake – In All The Land”!
