My humble beginnings with Fondant...

The purple boxes (my first fondant cakes) were made for one of my best friends 30th birthday dinner.

The purple bow cupcakes and purple Orchid cake were my 1st fondant covered cupcakes and my second fondant cake which I made for another best friend's 30th birthday. I also made the cupcake tower out of Styrofoam and ribbon.

My third fondant cake was the blue "Tiffany" like box which was made "just because" I wanted to test out my newly arrived can of Choco-pan. I had never used cocoa-pan fondant before and couldn't wait to test it out. I think I received it in the mail from my favorite online shop Global Sugar Art the night before I made the cake.

Finally the pink and brown cake was made for another one of my best friends' baby shower. The gal was made out of fondant and her dress was hand-painted to match the dress my friend actually wore the day of her shower.

This was too cute not to share.

Welcome New Ones!

I have been dying to try onesie sugar cookies and today I gave it a go. I used the sugar cookie recipe from Confetti Cakes (which I love) and Joy of Baking's royal icing recipe. In honor of Aidan born 9/08, Mari born 4/09, Chloe born 6/09, and Doran born 7/09... thank you for giving me a reason to bake today.

Thank you Amy for letting me borrow the onesie cookie cutter!




And a special congratulations on Mari's upcoming baptismal.

NOW that is a peach cobbler!!!

Teddy has been asking me to make peach cobbler for as long as I could remember so last Sunday I went to the Santa Monica Main street Farmer's Market and got the sweetest and Juiciest peaches I could find and adapted one of Paula Dean's Cobbler recipe's. What followed was a shower of compliments from a true cobbler connoisseur who called again this morning to tell me that "This is the BEST cobbler [he has] ever had"

Ingredients

* 5 Large fresh peeled and sliced peaches
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar,(set aside 1 Cup for later use)
* 1/2 cup light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 6 tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks but I think 1 stick is fine)
* 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* Dash or two of Cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, nutmeg and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt.

Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk VERY slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

Paula Deen meet Gluten Free

There is nothing like a July 4th BBQ with Fried Chicken and watermelon. This year I adapted Paula Deen's famous fried chicken recipe to make it Gluten Free so that I could enjoy it too. I have never made fried chicken before so this was an entirely new experience. I used coconut oil which is said to have many health benefits and Bob Mills Gluten Free Flour. The results-DELISH!!!!

Ingredients

* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup water
* About 2 tablespoons hot red sauce
* 1 1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* Pepper, salt, garlic poweder
* 1.4 lbs chicken skinless breasts
* Coconut Oil, for frying, 1/2 jar Spectrum brand

Directions

In pie plate, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In pie plate, combine the GF flour and pepper. In a seperate bowl season the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder (Be generous). Once the chicken is coated with salt, pepper, and garlic powder dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a medium sauce pan. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. For dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

Thomas the Train Cookies

As a single lady without children I had no idea how popular Thomas the Train was until a friend ask me to make Thomas the train cookies for her daughter's 3rd birthday party. I had 4 days to get the job done while packing for my trip to Israel. I thought "No Problem" finding a train cookie cutter will be a snap-WRONG! I spent a day calling every store, shop, and friend that I thought might have a train cookie cutter large enough for cookie favors. I drove to the Valley and back and still no train cookie cutter. 3 days remaining and I have to get this done so what does every daughter of a retired contractor do? She makes her own. Using FDA approved wire from the home depot and tape I made Thomas the Train!

Thank you to KitchenGifts for the most unbelievable sugar cookie recipe

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES
This recipe is GREAT when using complex cookie cutters. The dough holds its' shape and won't spread during baking. Make sure you let your oven preheat for at least 1/2 hour before baking these or any other cookies.
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below)

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.
HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to
chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper.
Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Re roll leftover dough and repeat the process!
An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.

Awww, Firsts...

I likened my next journey with sugar to all those first's in my life. Do you remember your first day of school? Or how about your first kiss? The anticipatory feelings of not knowing what the outcome will be but excited to get there. Sometimes your disappointed and the kiss just isn't that great or that first day of school felt more like prison than the fun place you expected. However on the other hand you may just be pleasantly surprised and your first kiss 20 years later still brings butterfly's to your stomach and perhaps your best friend today is the girl you sat next to on the first day of school...So what does all of this have to do with baking? Two words: CUPCAKE POPS!

I saw them on Bakerella's website and thought they were the cutest little things. I, like many before me, had some hesitation at first. I didn't know what to expect. Where they going to be perfect and taste as good as they looked? I didn't know but was about to find out...the result ladies and gentlemen was 'asi asi' or okay okay in english. They tasted great according to a trusty taste tester and as for how they look, I have a few techniques that I am looking forward to trying the next go around.

The lovely neighbor whom Teddy and I both have become friendly over the last year is moving :-( We sent her off right...with a sweet treat in hand!

Happy Birthday Daddy & Gramdma

Today is both my dad and grandma's birthday so I decided to bake them a cake. My dad's a little old fashion in that he loves a moist yellow cake with real chocolaty frosting, usually the kind in the box. I have been in search of a moist yellow cake for a long time and found a recipe on bakerella's blog that look absolutely delicious. I made two 8 in round cakes even though the recipe calls for three- I didn't have three 8 in cake pans so two it was. Once the cakes were out of the oven and cooled I decided to make two mini individual cakes. My dad is a MAC addict so using white satin ice rolled fondant I cut out the Apple Logo to grace the top of his cake. For my grandma I decided to keep it pretty-in-pink and gave her mini cake a pink bottom border and a banner wishing her a very happy 86th birthday. I love you both!

Moist Yellow Cake with chocolaty chocolate frosting 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature) 2 cups of sugar 4 eggs (room temperature) 3 cups of sifted self-rising flour (White Lily) 1 cup of whole milk (room temperature) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (McCormicks) 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans.
• Using a mixer, cream butter until fluffy.
• Add sugar and continue to cream for about 7 minutes.
• Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg is added.
• Add flour and milk (alternating to creamed mixture), beginning and ending with flour.
• Add vanilla and butter flavoring to mix; until just mixed.
• Divide batter equally into three cake pans.
• Hold each layer about 3 inches above your counter and carefully drop the pans flat onto counter several times to ensure release of any air bubbles. This will help you have a more level cake.
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until done.
• Cool in pans for 5 - 10 minutes.
• Remove and immediately wrap each layer in plastic wrap to seal in moisture. Cool completely on wire racks.
• Once cooled, you are ready to assemble your cake

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Almost Gluten Free Vegan Cupcake

Most people know that I love to bake but few know that I have an allergy to flour, wheat, etc. That's right, I bake and never actually get to taste my sweet treats. I am blessed to have a wonderful BF and plenty of friends who serve as my taste-testers (none of them seem to mind the daunting task).

I received the Babycakes NYC cookbook for my birthday and couldn't have been more excited to get started with my gluten free(GF) baking. I started with the red velvet cupcakes which believe it or not turned out pretty good. Some of my taste testers weren't very keen on the idea at first but after one bite I had them sold. I do have to say that this cupcake isn't exactly gluten free because the recipe calls for whole spelt flour. Some people with wheat allergies can handle spelt but I know for most, the spelt flour just wouldn't make the cut as being GF. Never the less I tasted the cupcake and much to my delight I enjoyed my first two cupcakes since learning of my allergy.

Babycakes Red Velvet Cupcake

Popcorn-Smile for the Camera

 

What's Star Trek the movie without some popcorn...

Birthday celebration number two...Star Trek with the parental's (my parent's and Teddy's parents) and dinner with my oldest and dear friend, Lisa, and her family and the parental's. I had a great time and to my surprise, I LOVED Star Trek. At 31, Star Trek didn't bring back the same nostalgic feelings that it did for my parents but it was great to share in their joy and it was a great movie!

But what is a movie without popcorn?

In keeping with the movie themed birthday I decided to make cupcakes that resemble little popcorn bags. I found little Wilton nut cups at Micheal's. I think for 24 it was $1.49 and I used a 40% off coupon which you can't beat. I used a red marker to color the sides of the nut cups and printed the popcorn labels. I baked Vanilla bean cupcakes in regular muffin cups which I transferred into the nut cups and covered them with a thin layer of vanilla butter cream (I used the leftovers from my cake). Several days in advance I cut the top of each mini-marshmallow in a criss cross pattern to get the effect of a kernel. After the cupcakes were frosted, I placed each kernel on top one by one...and finished off the top with lightly brushing lemon yellow-food coloring gel over the tops to give the effect of butter.

They were a hit!