Monday, April 17, 2017

Easter and Spring Celebrations

Finally!!! The rain in Seattle has let up and we are actually starting to get some nice weather after literally 6 months of nothing but straight rain, snow and freezing cold temps. I literally thought spring would never come but sure enough the leaves on the trees are starting to bud up again, the tulips and daffodils are blooming and the air has a sweet smell to it. Ahhhh.
Spring flower cupcakes
Spring Flower Cupcakes for Easter
I was really excited to try out some new buttercream techniques on cupcakes. Cupcakes aren't usually something I get requests for...I think they are a bit overdone now, but every now and then I get some requests and buttercream flowers are my favorite!
easter eggs in grass cupcakes
Easter Eggs in Grass Cupcakes
Ok but let's get cereal for a minute. While some might call me a buttercream artist, but every now and then an artist struggles with a technique. For me, that was the dahlia flower, ya that little white flower in the picture below in the front. That little guy gave me HECK to frost. I had to scrape it off 3 times and redo it. I watched a bunch of youtube videos prior but there is just something in the video that wasn't being communicated because a lot of time the technique is in the way you squeeze and angle the piping tip. ARG but the good news is I did it and I still have to "warm up" that flower when I make it.
Pastel Buttercream Flower Cupcakes
Pastel Buttercream Flower Cupcakes
So I have contemplated trying to make a cookie on a stick for a long time and just got around to attempting it. I always wondering if you bake the stick into the cookie or not? The answer is YOU DO NOT. I looked it up before I made them so there was no house fires - thank gawd for the internet. Ok so how do I do it?
Easter egg cookies on a candy stick
Easter Egg Sugar Cookies on a Stick
I roll my normal cookie dough out to about double the normal thickness of my cookies. This will allow the dough to rise more and make room for the stick. After they are done baking I pull the hot tray of cookies out of the oven and immediate shove the stick in them. I use the white wilton 6" candy sticks. As the cookie cools down it will settle around the stick. Now you dont want to pick them up a lot by the stick, they are still delicate. These were a lot of fun to make and perfect for Easter baskets. I always see really cute cookie cutters but they are so BIG I have no idea what I would do with them...until now!

easter themed pastel cake pops
Spring Pastel Themed Cake Pops
Cake pops are always a crowd favorite! I had a request for some pretty flower cake pops and some Easter cake pops which both went together great. My favorite are the ones below, they are just so delicate and feminine. I went to Michael's craft store and found these sugar flowers and HAD to have them because they were just too perfect.
daisy flower cake pops
Flower and Pastel Cake Pops
 And of course it wouldn't be easter without my signature sugar cookies! Easter bunnies hopping around, tulips and flowers in bloom! oh la la I love spring! Somehow I even managed to get out into my yard on the weekend and plant some new flowers. It's still a little too early in the year to plant my patio planters, being in Seattle and all, you really have to wait until May. But soon the day will come!
Easter themed sugar cookies
Assorted Easter Sugar Cookies
What are your favorite Easter treats? Tell me! I want to know and it will give me ideas for next year!

Monday, April 10, 2017

Calling All Superheroes!


 Is it just me or do little girls go through the "princess" phase and little boys go through the "superhero" phase? Either one is just adorable. I was always a tomboy and never really into the barbies and princesses. I was more obsessed with Mickey Mouse and Lion King - I liked animals.

So I get a call from a Super Mom looking for some treats for her Super Hero son's birthday. His favorite superheroes are Batman, Spiderman, Captain America and Superman - all great choices. (Batman and Iron are my favorites personally)

Superhero Cake
Superhero Cake
My first initial thought was how am I going to combine all of these superheroes onto one cake? I mocked up the idea and Super Mom loved it! The night of as I am assembling the cake I realized my mock up idea was not going to work how I thought it would. Mainly I wanted the top layer to be half Captain America on one side and half Spiderman on the other with the web going down the sides.
Superman Cake
I pondered this for a little bit trying to see if I could get it to come together. I researched some other options to help visual the cake on Pinterest and I really liked the Captain America stars and stripes on the side of the cake. Then I realize this would work perfectly if I then put Spiderman's web on the top. EUREKA!
Spiderman Cake
Side note: I LOVE how the Superman Logo on the cake turned out. To make this I simply printed out the logo on printer paper and used it has my guide to cute out my fondant. First with the yellow backdrop shield shape. I then cut around the inside of the logo and laid it on top of the red fondant and sandwiched the 2 together! I wanted to do this for the fondant cupcake toppers but it was too small of a detail to work. But the toppers still turned out cute.

superhero cupcakes
Superhero Cupcakes
I have to admit I was totally singing Batman themed song the whole time I was making these (duh na na na na BATMAN) and "look its a bird! it's a plane! it's....SUPERMAN! Good times! Thanks for reading my blog!