Baby shower cupcakes

Carissa and I made these for Lety's baby shower. For the toppers we used chocolate molds that I found at a cake supply store. We colored the chocolate to match the sprinkles. The green was done by adding yellow and dark green candy melts and the blue we added gel color to almond bark. Super simple!

Thanks Carissa for taking these photos. Check out more of her pics by clicking on this.

Victorian Style Wedding Cake

Courtesy of agreenfieldphotography.com

This was my first wedding cake and Anna was my guinea pig. I loved loved loved her theme(Victorian), colors(brass, cream, white, and blush pink), decor, and well everything. It was so beautiful! This photo from her photographer captures her theme very well.

We looked at several Victoria style wedding cakes and decided to go with this cake from iambaker.com.

Buttercream recipe

2 cups shortening

8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vanilla

6 ounces heavy cream

*I 3 times this recipe.

I added brown gel color to get the antique color. I used a 2D tip to make the roses and 104 tip for the hydrangeas. I added pearls to the center of the flowers so they seemed more like a flower after all this was my first time doing this flower. To cover up the dead ugly space between the roses I added a hydrangea.

*I found the cake stand at Home Goods. We couldn't believe how perfect it matched her decor and the chandelier that hung from the ceiling. See below picture.

Courtesy of agreenfieldphotography.com

Here is the chandelier that matched the cake stand. I love this picture from the photographer.

This was the gymnasium that they transformed into this gorgeous wedding reception. It only took 1000 yards of tulle. =)

Because the cake I decorated was a dummy she asked me to make sheet cakes to serve. I wanted to them to match the cake so I added rosettes, one for each slice. This is what they all looked like whole.

She needed 5 sheet cakes and I wanted to make them all different flavors. Here they are with the recipes. * I used a jelly roll pan(11x15) to make these. Each cake has 2 cakes stacked on each other so I made 10 cakes total. Each recipe made one cake pan. I doubled all the frosting recipes.

Chocolate cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes;

Ganache

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate morsels, 6 Tbsp heavy whipping cream, 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage. Pour over the chocolate morsels. Let stand about 20 seconds and stir. Once its cooled whip it until it gets to desired consistency.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Strawberry cake (this is Kay Dawn's recipe)
1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 small box strawberry jello
1/2 boiling water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh mashed strawberries
Boil water in microwave. Add jello. Stir until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients. Mix few minutes on medium. Bake 350 for approx. 16 min.

Strawberry filling
16 oz. frozen sliced strawberries with sugar thawed
1/4 cup sugar (a little less)
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Drain strawberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixtures boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed strawberries into cool mixture.
Strawberry frosting *my modified version
1 stick butter
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries
6 ounces of cream cheese

1 tsp. of vanilla.

This was my favorite!
Pina Colada 

Pineapple cake
(recipe by Glory Albin)h
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups canned crushed pineapple (drained slightly)

Directions-
1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until slightly thickened and a light cream color (about 2 minutes).
3. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended.
4. Add in the pineapple and sour cream and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Add the flour mixture and blend until just combined and smooth.
Bake 350 for approx. 20 min.

Coconut Cream Filling

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

1 large package coconut instant pudding

Whip together until desired consistency.

*my grocery store didn't carry the big boxes of coconut pudding so I used 2 small ones and just added cream and milk until it looked/tasted good. I didn't want to stop sampling it.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (always use pure vanilla extract if possible)
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract (you may want to start with just 1 teaspoon of coconut extract, you can always add more, but you can't take it out!)
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 Tablespoon heavy cream, heavy whipping cream or milk
*I ran out of coconut extract so I used some Cream of Coconut and it was super yummy

Directions:
*Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until well combined, about 30 seconds.
*Add vanilla extract, coconut extract and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
*Slowly add the heavy cream.
*Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.

White cake (I did one of the cakes using this recipe. It reminds me of a sugar cookie.

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 (9-inch) diameter by 1 1/2-inch deep layer pans or 1 (13 by 9 by 2-inch) pan, buttered and bottoms lined with parchment or waxed paper

Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter andsugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth top with a metal spatula. Bake cake(s) about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack, remove paper and let cool completely.

For the second cake I used this recipe.

1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Add remaining ingredients and beat with hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until well blended.

Lemon Cream Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 large pkg. instant lemon pudding mix

1 tsp. lemon juice

Cream cream cheese add pudding mix and juice. Slowly add whipping cream. Mix until fluffy.

* The original recipe called for 1/2 cup sugar but I didn't add any because of the sweet cake and frosting. You may want to taste yours to see if you want to make it more sweet.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp. lemon juice

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Finely shred 1 tsp of lemon peel; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese and lemon juice. Beat with mixer on low to medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to make frosting that is easy to spread. (Add more powdered sugar if you will be piping) Stir in lemon peel.

Too much Chocolate cake from Allrecipes.com

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
• 
  

Raspberry filling
16 oz. frozen raspberries thawed
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixtures boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed raspberries into cool mixture.

Patti's Chocolate Frosting:

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Another photography photo. This was next to the wedding cake.

I had to include this in here because I love this idea. I have seen this done before and I am in love with this. I love candy! What a fun thank you!

*Thanks Alicia, Natalie, and Rachel for your help! I couldn't have done it without your help!

My first Groom's cake

Anna wanted to surprise Marcus with this grooms cake. She saw the one I did for Drew on my blog and wanted me to make it similar. The only change was to do a basketball instead of a baseball and to make it Alabama themed. This was a nice change after the wedding cake. So much easier!

To make the Alabama A (on the football) and the logo I printed an image on line in reverse. I melted chocolate (to get the maroon red I used red melts and milk chocolate almond bark) added it to a piping bag and traced the image on wax paper. Once it set up I carefully removed it flipped it over and added it to the cake. I love this trick Hilda taught me. Now the image that I want to show is flat and pretty once I flip it over. It still bled a little but it took me forever and I didn't want to redo it. I think it turned out okay for my first time trying this trick.

*Thanks Alicia for helping with my ROLL TIDE banner. You did an awesome job. It added so much to the cake.

This photo is courtesy of agreenfieldphotography.com

Lingerie shower cookies

* sorry I have to apologize for the angle of these photos. Between the shadows and my lack of camera skills it was tough to get the right shot.
I had the privilege of helping Amy and Meredith decorate these cookies for a lingerie shower for our sweet friend Anna. They were so sweet to let me help after they did all the hard work of making them. I have been wanting to do these since my friend Julia sent me the idea several months ago.

I love how Amy did the lips on this plate. Her writing skills amazed me. I need her to teach me a few things.

I thought the big lingerie cookie they made was so cute and it was so fun to decorate with the zebra print. What fun sexy colors!

The girls rocked decorating these things. I had so much fun with them. It was worth staying out until almost 2 am and having to get up with the baby a couple times after that.

Gotta love the tramp stamp! We thought it would be fun to use the ruffle heart cookie cutter on some of these so they looked like lace. You can kinda see one in the upper right corner here.

These were made from a bigger heart cookie cutter.

Here is the yummy spread! I can almost taste Meredith's homemade hummus. Yummy! Thanks for the fun memory girls! We need to do this again!

Mini oreo apples

Ethan and I made these for his teacher on the first day of second grade. He was so excited. My friend Alicia sent me this idea and I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

They were a little tricky but worth it. I followed this tutorial from Skip to my lou to make them.

A few things that might help you that aren't included are:

-if your chocolate is too thick add shortening. Not too much though because it won't dry completely.

-I found it easy to use a wide bowl. I tipped the bowl so I could gently lay the cookie (on the toothpick) on top of chocolate then with a spoon I covered the other half of the cookie with chocolate and smoothed off the majority so it wasn't so heavy when I pulled it out. I then gently lifted the cookie out and tapped it on the edge to get the excess chocolate off. I had less cookies break this way.

-I dipped the end of the toothpick in chocolate before putting it in cookie. Only do this if you're planning on keeping them on the stick.

-you have to be patient. It will take practice because these are fragile and you will have some fall apart.

Sorry all my close-ups turned out blurry. This was the best one. You can see that they are not perfect but it doesn't matter.

So we loved how the one turned out so we decided to make another one for his first grade teacher who we already miss. I found these containers at Big Lots and the ribbon at Hobby Lobby. I tried to tie a bow around the whole thing but it kept falling and it was a pain so we opted for this simple approach.

We took some off of the toothpicks out and put them in little bags to give to his friends as a back to school treat.

Desiree and I made these as a surprise for her little girl when she got home from her first day of Kindergarten. We tried the big oreos with bigger sticks. They were still tricky but I like the looks of them too. These were the mint oreos and they tasted delicious.

Chocolate covered strawberries

My friend Natalie found this tray for me at Hobby Lobby and I finally found the perfect treat to go on it...

Pink and green strawberry cupcakes. I made these for one of Jenny's baby showers. I used Kay Dawn's strawberry cake with frosting:

Strawberry cake
1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 small box strawberry jello
1/2 boiling water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh mashed strawberries
Boil water in microwave. Add jello. Stir until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients. Mix few minutes on medium. Bake 350 for approx. 16 min.
Strawberry frosting
1 stick butter

6 oz. cream cheese
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries
1 tsp. of vanilla.

I thought the green chocolate drizzle on the strawberry got boring so I tried something different. The chocolate was a little thick so it wasn't as easy to work with as I was hoping. Next time I'll have to add some shortening before I get started.

I did like that they all looked different. I had a great time creating them.

I love how ruffles are in right now. I tried to make the frosting look like ruffles. I think I might have failed. Oh well I'm still practicing.