"Field Guide to Cookies" Cookbook Giveaway

A cookbook full of great cookie recipes! I'd love to win this one!

Go to Brown Eyed Baker to post a comment and enter to win too!

(Contest ends June 6, 2009 at 11:00 pm!)

Happy Memorial Day!

I was making a cake for a Memorial Day Picnic that I was going to today and in coming up with an idea... of course I thought of... An American Flag Cake!

The cake is an 11 x 15 cake, 1/2 yellow and 1/2 devils food. Baked in the same pan at the same time... Super easy using these instructions and pictures found on Into The Oven (If you want to view the pictures, you'll probably need to create a log-in...)

Anyway, I once again frosted the cake with Bakerella's Easy Buttercream (see my previous post for a link). I used Royal Blue and a smidge of Black to get the blue color and for the red, I used a combination of Red Red, No Taste Red and Christmas Red (pretty equal amounts of the three).

I used the following tips: lines between the stripes and around the cake - tip #3, stripes and blue field - tip #47 (then I smoothed it with a spatula), stars for flag - tip #16, top border - tip #17, and bottom border - tip #21

First I frosted the cake in white buttercream. Next, I put the cake in the fridge to set up a little while I figured out the dimensions for everything. (I used tip #47 since it was approximately 3/8. I used two swipes of tip #47 to make each strip, approx 6/8. The thirteen stripes ending up being 78/8 (6/8 x 13). The entire cake was 88/8 (8/8 x 11). So there was 10/8 leftover (88/8 - 78/8). I left half (5/8) of the leftover 10/8 on the top and half (5/8) on the bottom. Next, I had to figure out how big to make the blue square. On the real flag, the blue square is as long as the top 7 stripes on the flag... so I measured the top 7 stripes... 5 1/2 inches. So the blue needed to be a 5 1/2 inch square. (Hope that made sense!)

Once I figured out all the dimensions, I took the cake back out of the fridge and marked my lines on the cake. I measured using a ruler and then used the ruler on edge to put marks on the cake. First the outside square... then the bottom stripes... then the square for the blue... then the top stripes. Finally I was ready to decorate!



First, I outlined the inside of the square with blue (only the two sides that touch the stripes...) and then filled in the blue square. Next, I outlined with red for the strips (once again only the inside lines... not the very outside....) Then I piped the red stripes and smoothed them... then the white stripes... then I piped around the entire flage with blue to give it a nice outline. Finally, I put on the stars, first on the blue field (just like the real flag, 50 stars, nine rows, alternating 6 and 5 stars in each row!), then the top star border and finally the bottom star border. I'm pretty proud with how the cake turned out! And it was pretty yummy too!

Grandma's Birthday Cake!

For my Grandma's 89th Birthday, I made her a stacked "Pansy" cake. My Grandma has always loved Pansies and I of course learned how to make them in my Wilton classes...



The top layer was a chocolate cake and the bottom was yellow. Both cakes were filled w/ a chocolate whipped cream filling (1 3/4 cup heavy cream or whipping cream, 5 T powdered sugar, 3 T unsweetened cocoa.... just whip it up! really tasty!)


I frosted the cakes with Bakerella's Easy Buttercream.

I also made some chocolate cupcakes with the leftover cake batter... and frosted/decorated them with the buttercream and some leftover Apple Blossoms and Violets.

I used Juniper Green with tip #352 for the leaves... I used shell borders (a smaller one on the 6 inch cake and a larger one on the 8" cake...) And no, I can't write that well! I used one of Wilton's message press sets! :-)

Little Einsteins Rocket Cake

For my daughter's 2nd birthday, I decided to go with a Little Einsteins theme... and that meant a "Rocket" cake!

I started by baking a 11x15 sheet cake using a yellow cake mix and a football (I used Wilton's football cake pan) shaped cake pan using a chocolate cake mix... then I carved them to the shapes I needed... the football was for the top of Rocket and the sheet cake for the bottom...

I frosted the entire cake with buttercream frosting... I used the Easy Buttercream Frosting recipe from Bakerella's blog... thanks Bakerella it's delicious!

I had to use tons of Red and No Taste Red Icing Colors to get the red (oh, and a little bit of orange...) and I used Royal Blue and Lemon Yellow for the window and accents...

The rocket thrusters are made out of twinkies w/ graham crackers cut to make the fins...

Let see... what else... I covered a 13x19 cake board with two layers of a blue transparent wrapping paper that I bought at a dollar store and I made the antenna on top from a cherry dum-dum... I colored the lollipop stick with a red edible marker... oh, and the Einsteins in the window are actually a sticker from a sticker book - I put the sticker on waxed paper and then "glued" it onto the window with buttercream frosting...

This cake was a TON of work... but I think it was worth it in the end!

Can't wait to see everyone's reaction tomorrow at the party!

Key Lime Pie

Cake, Cake and More Pie? Ok... so it's not another cake... but what can be better than Key Lime Pie? Not a whole lot if you have ever had a good one!

I use my mom's recipe and it's delicious! So yummy in fact that Key Lime Pie is my designated item to bring tomorrow for Thanksgiving at my cousin's house! It's also really easy to make... (btw... the sour cream topping also makes a pretty good fruit dip!)

SOUR CREAM TOPPED KEY LIME PIE

Crust (for one 9-inch pie)
- 1 pkg. graham crackers (Nabisco Honey Maid)
- ¼ cup butter
- 1/3 cup sugar

- Crush graham crackers (roll w/ wooden rolling pin in gallon size plastic bag)
- Melt butter.
- Pour crushed crackers into bowl and stir in butter and sugar until coated.
- Set aside small amount (approx 1 Tbsp.) to sprinkle over sour cream topping.
- Press into pie pan (use metal spoon to press down and shape).
- Bake in 350° oven 5 minutes.

Pie

- 2 eggs
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
- ½ cup key lime juice (you can use fresh if it's available... and you don't mind juicing all the key limes!...)
- 1 tsp. grated lime rind (optional) (I never put this in...)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 baked 9-inch graham cracker pie shell

- Beat eggs slightly.
- Add milk, key lime juice, 1 tsp. lime rind and ¼ tsp. salt.
- Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
- Pour into shell.
- Bake in 350° oven 10 minutes.
- Let cool on counter-top while preparing sour cream topping.



Sour Cream Topping
- ½ pint (1 cup) sour cream
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt

- Mix sour cream, sugar, and 1/8 tsp. salt.
- Spread over top of warmed pie.
- Sprinkle remaining crumbs evenly on pie.
- Return pie to oven for 5 minutes at 425° to set sour cream.

NOTES:

Crust – double recipe for two 10-inch pies.
Pie – triple filling recipe for two 10-inch pies.


BTW... if anyone is looking for an awesome pie carrier... here it is! The Dual Chef's Tote by Lamarle - you can carry 4 pies w/ this! (It's basically two of the single Chef's Totes... but it includes a longer handle to carry them together...)

Chocolate Cherry Cake

So it's been a while since I've posted... We've been really busy (I had my second baby two weeks ago!) and since I'm done with my classes I haven't been baking too much. I found this recipe for Chocolate Cherry Cake online and it was so easy and tasty that I had to share it! If you like Chocolate Covered Cherries - then I highly recommend it!

Here's a couple of pictures... (I had to bake mine for closer to 40 minutes... so make sure to watch your oven...)

The cake right out of the oven...


The frosted cake...

Fondant Tool/Book, Cupcake Kit or Phone Call Giveaway!

Want to win a Celebrate w/ Fondant book and fondant cutter? How about a Cupcake starter kit and Silicone Cupcake Silly Feet? Or maybe you have some questions you'd like answered and want to talk to an expert?

Enter to win this contest at The Sugar Lane you could be one of FOUR winners! (All you have to do to enter is post a comment! How easy!)

Thanks again Donna for hosting another great giveaway!

(Contest ends October 7, 2008)

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 4

Tonight was my final and last of the Wilton Cake Decorating Classes! It seems weird that they are all over and that I won't have to go next week! I've been going to class every Monday now for almost 4 months!

So tonight was mostly decorating the final cake. We did go over a couple of new things. First, we learned to make the favor box - very easy and cute... We also looked at how to do inlays and overlays... I decided to use those techniques on my cake... Too bad it's not Valentine's Day! My cake would be perfect if it was... The design is pretty simple, but it was still time consuming! (It took awhile to roll all the little balls for the border!) My red also didn't come out as red as I would have liked... but I got tired of added color... All in all I think the final result was pretty cute...


Now I just have to figure out what to do with all my free time!

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 2&3

For my second and third fondant and gum paste classes we covered a ton of stuff! (It turns out I'm the only one in the class, so the instructor offered for us to do a double class to be able to finish a week earlier...)

We went over techniques like draping fondant and the handkerchief... but I didn't use these on my cake. We also learned to make the carnation (unfortunately I won't have any pictures since my didn't survive the drive home). Carnations are very time consuming, so I'm not sure when I'll use them on the cake.

We also learned the fantasy flower - which is a made up Wilton flower. It's actually not that complicated and looks pretty when it's finished.


I decided to decorate my cake very simply w/ a few daisies and leaves (which were very easy to make) and a ribbon border (also very easy). My cake is a Duncan Hines Chocolate Cake (I think it's actually called double chocolate fudge or something like that...) and I made Peanut Butter Buttercream (YUMMY! Can't wait to try it w/ the cake!)

Wilton Candy Class

Yesterday I took a Candy Class at Michaels. It was well worth it! The class was mainly supposed to be a demonstration class, but since only two of us showed up, our instructor let us participate and practice making the candy!

It was a two hour class and in that time we learned... cream cheese mints, nut clusters (made using equal parts of chocolate and nuts/pretzels/mini marshmallows/candy, etc. and dropped by clusters onto waxed paper... then drizzled w/ colored chocolate for decoration), maple cremes (first we painted the mold w/ chocolate, next we made a paste from powdered fondant, maple flavoring and black walnuts, the filling was dropped into the molds and then we "sealed" them w/ more chocolate), chocolate covered cherries (made the same as the maple cremes, only the powdered fondant can be flavored w/ almond... you can also add some or no cherry juice depending on how you like them), chocolate lollipops (pouring chocolate into molds and letting it harden), chocolate desert cups (painting chocolate into desert molds and letting it harden, can be filled w/ ice cream, fruit, pudding, mouse or whatever!) and peanut butter cups (these were really yummy! We dropped some chocolate into the mold, then some of the peanut butter filling using creamy peanut butter and then more chocolate!) I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures and the candy we brought home didn't last long enough to be photographed! :-)

I had never heard of powdered fondant before and I'm going to have to go to my local candy store to buy some! It can be mixed w/ whatever flavoring or coloring you want to make the "creme" filling for different kinds of candy! I'm thinking I'd also like to make vanilla cremes!

(We used Wilton's dark cocoa chocolate for making all the candy... it tasted really good!)

Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste, Class 1

So last night I started my fondant and Gum Paste course. (The other woman who signed up didn't show... so I was the only one there... It was really nice having the one on one class!) Anyway, we really didn't learn anything new. The instructor went over how to cover a cake board and also reviewed covering a cake in fondant.

I have to bring a cake for next week (it's supposed to be covered in fondant, but I think I'm just going to use buttercream - I'm going to be giving the cake to my mom for a dinner she has to go to and they will enjoy the buttercream better...). We're going to decorate the cake in a sample of the new techniques we'll learn in class. The only new thing I need to buy is some gumpaste.

(I'm also taking a Wilton Candy making class on Saturday at Michaels... so hopefully I'll have something to post about that...)

Fondant Tool Package or Phone Call w/ Donna Giveaway!

Two winners! - One winner will win a fondant tool package and one will win a 30 minute phone call with Donna!

Go to Designer Cakes by Donna and post a comment to enter to win!

(Contest ends August 27, 2008)

Wilton Cupcake Stand & Extras Giveaway!

Want to win a Wilton Cupcake Stand (plus you also get some striped baking cups and pastel confetti sprinkles)! Who wouldn't!

Visit Cake Space to post a comment and enter to win!

(Contest ends August 25, 2008)

Wilton Cake Course III, Class 4

So last night I finished Wilton 3! I decided I didn't want to do the white "wedding" finale cake as shown in the book. Instead I did a variation of one of the ideas they show you in the back of the book.... I also didn't use fondant to frost it... I figured I'm going to have plenty of practice with fondant in the next class and we like the taste of buttercream icing better. I did make some fondant decorations for it, though!

So here are my pictures! (Side view and top view...)



I made the fondant flower and leave cutouts a couple days ahead and let them dry on flower formers to get the curved edges... for the leaves I used the red tool (from Wilton's 10-piece tool kit) to put the veining on... for the flowers, I made a coordinating buttercream color and did the brush embroidery technique we learned in class... then I put on the finishing touches w/ a green buttercream... I was pretty pleased with how it turned out! (Especially since I didn't really like the pinkish looking flowers when I was making them...) Also, I put 8 large flowers on each layer... I meant to have 10 large flowers on the bottom layer... but I divided it wrong! :-( But, oh well, it still looks pretty nice!

(Oh, and here's a tip for using the dowel rods... for the longer one that has to be "hammered" through the top cake and cake board down to the bottom cake board... the book says to sharpen it with a household knife... I used a manual pencil sharpener at the suggestion of my husband - it worked great!)

Next is the Fondant and Gum Paste Course... but it doesn't start until September 8!

Wilton Cake Course III, Class 3

Last night was my third class of Wilton 3 and WOW! did we learn a lot in a very short amount of time! I REALLY need to practice this week!

We started class a little late and only had time to do a couple of each flower in class... also, we had to go over the fondant rose since we didn't go over last week... (there are only two of us in the class and my classmate wasn't there last week... so the instructor wanted to wait until she was here this week to go over the fondant rose...)

So anyway - first we learned the Easter Lily - it wasn't too hard... but I made my icing a little thin and the petals wouldn't stand up right...


Second we learned the Poinsettia - I think this was the easiest flower of the evening...


Next we learned the Petunia (yellow)... not so easy... I really need to practice these! And finally, the Morning Glory (blue)... even harder than the Petunia! I need TONS of practice on these! My instructors looked a ton nicer than mine... she only made one of each and my classmate took those home, so I'm going to have to rely on the book as a guide for practicing.


Here is a picture of the Easter Lily and Poinsettia my instructor made... She made two of each of these... so we could each take one home....


The last thing we went over was the fondant rose. We flew through this! (Excuse my blue rose... I used leftover blue fondant I had from my bow from last week...) These weren't too hard... but we went through it so fast I missed doing a couple of steps so it doesn't look quite right... but I'm pretty confident I can make them fairly easily by myself when I'm not rushing so much...


So next week in class we make our tiered or stacked cake. I'm planning on doing a stacked cake... I just have to decide on the design. I do know that I don't want to make the "wedding" tiered cake in the book... I won't have time to make all those fondant roses this week...

Wilton 2009 Yearbook Giveaway - I won!

Thanks Donna for hosting the contest! I can't believe I won! Yeah!

Make sure you check out her site - she plans on hosting more great giveaways in the future! (Not too mention that she's got tons of great info about cake decorating!)

Wilton Cake Course III, Class 2

Last night I decorated my first fondant cake! I really think it turned out nicely! But WOW! was I tired by the time I was done! I spent the entire 2 hour class covering my cake in fondant and decorating it! And I never expected how much work it would be to knead all that fondant!

My cake has some areas around the bottom that aren't as smooth looking as I would like... but I could have fixed that if I would have made my bead border a little larger... Oh, and I wish I would have put my bow across the package (from corner to corner) as shown in the book... I don't know what I was thinking....



(Oh and in case anyone is wondering how much fondant I used... I took the large box to class... and only opened half... plus I have about 1/4 that I didn't touch and I still have a small about of blue left... so if I would have done the flowers, I probably would have used about 1/2 a large box...)

My instructor gave me a tip for coloring the fondant... By actually poking the toothpick w/ the color into the fondant you don't get it all over your hands (instead of just wiping the color on the fondant)! I had taken gloves, but I probably didn't even need them...

Another tip from my instructor... to keep the fondant longer once it's been opened... wipe shortening on it and wrap in plastic wrap... then double bag it! She's been able to keep it a couple of months this way... She's also had students use those food vacuum sealers and that works well too...

One more tip... don't store the cake in the carrier w/ the lid on! She said it will turn the cake to mush!

Wilton Cake Course III, Class 2 Prep

So I'm starting to get organized for my second class in Wilton's Course 3.... I'm going to make the 8" square package cake.... and I'm starting to have a lot of questions...

I'm trying to figure out how much fondant I'll need and the best way to do it... I have already purchased the 24 oz box of white fondant... which may or may not be enough to cover my cake... Does anyone know? (I think the book says I'll need 30 oz... which includes leftovers from class 1... but we didn't do anything w/ fondant in class 1.... but does the 30 oz include the white flowers they put all over the cake?)

(I had the Wilton Fondant Amounts chart suggested to me... which says I'll need 36 oz for my cake... but that assumes a 4" high cake... so maybe the 30 oz is accurate, since my cake will most likely only be about 3 " high....)

Also, the book says that to do the bow I'll need 12 oz of fondant! Wow! The pre-colored Wilton fondant has 4 colors in a box and only 4.4 oz of each color... so obviously, I don't want to buy 3 boxes of that to get my colored fondant...

Does anyone have experience making this cake? What did you do? Did you color your own fondant? From homemade or store bought? How much store bought did you buy?

BTW... does anyone have any recommendations on removing the folds from the cake dividing wheel? I've tried soaking in hot water... which helped a little... and I've also ironed it in between two towels w/ the iron as hot as I dare... the plastic was pretty hot to the touch! Most of the wrinkles are out... but I can still feel the dents from the main folds... will this effect the fondant on my cake?

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions you could give to make my life a little easier! Thanks everyone!

Wilton 2009 Yearbook Giveaway

Wilton yearbooks are full of fun ideas! Want to win a 2009 yearbook?

Go to Designer Cakes by Donna, post a comment and enter to win!

(Contest ends July 28, 2008)

Wilton Cake Course III, Class 1

Last night I started Wilton Course 3, Fondant and Tiered Cakes. I definitely think this course is going to have the most work involved (well at least there seems to be a lot of prep for next week... a lot of stuff to gather and prepare...).

We learned Cornelli Lace and Sotas (both very easy), bead border (same technique as the shell border only w/ round tip), brush embroidery (very easy and pretty), stringwork (single, multiple and overlapping), ruffle border, ruffle garland and easiest ruffle garland (a huge time saver). We also learned about dividing a cake and using the garland marker. We only worked in buttercream on the practice board - so sorry... no pictures this week.

I think that out of everything we learned I'm least likely to use the ruffle border - at least w/ the tips they suggest. It's done using tips #18 and #127. #127 is a large petal tip and tip #18 is a star tip (used under the ruffle to keep the ruffle "up"). Tip #127 uses a TON of icing and I think it would be very heavy on the side of the cake. I do think it could be done using a smaller star and petal tip and would look pretty nice.

There seems to be quite a pit a prep for next week as well as more supplies that I need. So far I've bought a box of white fondant, 8x2 square pan, dusting pouches, garland marker, tapered spatula and the 10-pc gumpaste kit (the kit isn't needed for this course... but I've been wanting to get it and my instructor said it's great and I had a 40% off coupon...) I still need to get the small rolling pin and some colored fondant. They also recommend the large rolling pin for $22... but I have a pretty nice wooden one... so I'm going to try that first... I also have to get the creases out of my dividing wheel - my instructor recommends soaking it in hot water - she said other methods include ironing and putting it in the dryer... but I'm not brave enough for that! :-)

I also bought a rolling scrapbook tote to carry all my stuff in... It was wonderful! I have a Wilton Caddy for my tools, but I was carrying everything else I needed in a large bag. The bag seemed to get heavier every week and on weeks when I have to take cakes it was a lot to handle... juggling the cake carrier, the caddy and trying to keep the bag on my shoulder! This way, I set my caddy on top of the rolling tote and still have a free hand to carry cakes or open doors or whatever! (The rolling tote also has way more room than the bag I was using!)