Happy Birthday Drew!

I felt so privileged to make these cakes for Ethan's best friend in first grade. He is the sweetest little boy and we feel so blessed that him and Ethan have hit it off so well.
Drew wanted a cookie cake for his birthday party which I have never done so I was up for the challenge. I was so happy his mom trusted me to try it out. I was pleased with the outcome and will be making more of these. I got the sport design idea online. Jared helped make a pattern of a football and baseball (traced half of a bowl) out of paper then I placed the patterns around the edge of the cookie and traced them with frosting. I drew on the stitching of each ball then filled it in with stars. It was so fun to see it come together. The final touch was the wording which I need practice doing. It's funny that I feel more comfortable writing on the smallest of spaces but give me a bunch of room to write and I get all nervous.

Here is the recipe that I used for the cookie cake:
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour maybe less
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips (I like ½ white and rest milk)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
1. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
2. Gradually add flour, salt, and baking soda, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Spread in greased 16 inch round pizza pan. Leave 1 ½ inch border to allow for spreading. Bake at 350 degrees maybe a little less for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool cookie in pan on a cooling rack. Decorate as desired.



This is the second cake I got to do for sweet little Drew. It was to take and share with the 1st grade class.

I used my 10 & 4 football pan and decorated it just like my last one. The baseball was baked in the Wilton 3D ball pan. I used an actual baseball to figure out the stitching and then filled in the rest with stars (tip 21.) I had a great plan to make the chocolate letters that say Happy BDay Drew to stand up in the frosting grass that I piped on. After spending forever piping on the grass (my hand hurt too bad to pipe around the back in case your wondering why it looks funny back there) I found out that the grass wasn't deep enough for the words to stay so they ended up laying down. Oh well I think he was pleased with the turn out. I know Ethan loved this theme and he is already planning out his birthday in April. He wants me to make a cookie cake for sure.

The ball looks a little furry. It probably would have looked better to use tip 16 but that would have taken me another 2 hours to do.

Happy Birthday Drew!!