I have a love affair with Valentine’s Day. It’s when I received my first kiss from a boy named Kenny Watkins. In second grade, while we were passing out Valentine’s among the decorated shoe boxes adorned with paper doilies and hearts, Kenny puckered up and planted one on my right cheek. Totally surprised but secretly pleased due to my reciprocal crush, I did what any self–respecting seven year-old girl would have done – I promptly walked up to my teacher,… [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]
‘Tis the season for making a flurry of snowflake cookies. Sugar cookie recipe and tutorial. Roll, cut and bake. Royal Icing Recipe and Tutorial. Outline. #2 tip. Fill in. Lightly sprinkle with rainbow Disco Dust. Sunlight refracted through the chandelier. Individuality. Shiny silver dragees. Finishing touches. Snow drift. Flurries. Mini Snowflake Tutorial. Bearing gifts. To all my readers, new friends I have made along the way, and to the loves of my life, all unique and beautiful … … Wishing… [Read More]
This spectacular cinnamon roll is the centerpiece of our Christmas morning breakfast and is greeted with the same anticipation at our holiday table as the Cratchit’s plum pudding is at theirs. The recipe relies on using store-bought frozen bread dough, thawed, and an overnight rise in the fridge while Santa makes his rounds. Pop it in the oven while opening presents and the scent of warm cinnamon throughout the house is what a holiday morning is all about. Of course,… [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’ve been catching up this week on house and work and stocking up for my next project for an open house in Pasadena this weekend. I was asked to bring chocolate cupcakes. If you’ve been reading my blog this summer you know we got quite a bit of mileage out of our OC and LA County Fair wins with the chocolate cake recipe but for this special get together I have an idea in mind for something more spectacular and… [Read More]
Our power was off all morning to mid afternoon so I’m a little late in posting to wish you a happy Halloween so “Happy Halloween” at last! Late, late, late last night after we returned home from a wonderful dinner with our lovely friends I began this project- Yep, sometimes I can be a little batty when it comes to making and decorating cookies. When I’ve got an idea I’ve got to see it through. The cookies were for a… [Read More]
Question: “What do black Cosmo martinis garnished with sparkly disco dust and a beating heart on a wooden stake have in common”? Answer: “It’s what for dinner come Halloween for me and my ghoul friends”. This year I’m going ghoulie glam with a sparkling rim made with thinned candy coating or white chocolate tinted with icing colors and sprinkled with disco dust. “Ghoulie Pink Sparkle Rim” “Twilight Red Sparkle Rim” I wrote a post on the particulars and challenges of… [Read More]
With the autumn breeze swirling colored leaves to my kitchen back door, I had an idea for decorated leaf cut out sugar cookies using rolled fondant that created a different look than using royal icing to decorate them(to see leaf cookies decorated with royal icing click here). With fondant, I could blend the colors together to make them softer and muted. The first step was to make individual colors of fondant. I used Satin Ice rolled fondant… [Read More]
A sweet gal emailed me after seeing my margarita cookies and wondered if I would make them for a party she was giving to honor her mom on her 50th birthday. I thought her thoughtfulness and love for her mom was so sweet that I told her I’d be happy to RSVP with my cookies. The regular and strawberry margarita cookies would be served. I wrote a post on how to decorate margarita cookies but this time I made the… [Read More]
Toffee Caramel Bars With Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Make-Ahead Frozen Buttercream Cake Decorations
FORE! Father’s Day Golf-Themed Cupcakes
Pretty Pink Petal Cake – A Wilton Cake Decorating Technique
Bridal Shower ‘Tushie Cookies’!
USC Trojan Cupcakes! Fight On!
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Movie Night
Founding Father Cookies
