Monday, January 28, 2013

And even more cake!


Okay, more pictures of cakes!  This past week was full of sweet treats.  Lola’s birthday was on Thursday, so I made cupcakes for her to take to school.  I also made a Barbie cake for her to eat when she got home from school.  Then I made 2 mini Barbie cakes for both girls to eat on Friday.  Then I made a HUGE cake for her birthday party on Saturday.  I must be crazy right?  10 sticks of butter and 30oz of pureed strawberries later…. 

First the Barbie cake.  I used a cake mold I found online, and then cut a smaller round cake to go underneath (so it was taller). 

Then the mini barbies.  I used little Disney Princess dolls for these, and Wilton molds for the cakes.  I used the leftover icing from the big Barbie cake.  I made these really quickly with the icing I had left.

Then the big Rainbow cake!  It was strawberry with strawberry cream cheese filling, and pretty big at 12 inches in diameter.  

We had her birthday party at Paul Mesner Puppets for the 2nd year in a row.  I think the kids had a good time.  

This is how the cake started

Plus a Barbie

Always add a 'crumb-coat'

Buttercream icing smoothed down with a wet spatula

The finished product!  


The mini-Barbie cakes

The beginning of the rainbow cake



Finished!  


I didn't even get a picture of Lola blowing out
the candle...she is on the far right, Luca made the picture though!

Lola is on the throne with her back to me.
I did a terrible job of taking pictures!


She was super excited about her Barbie cake!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

More cake!

Since I'm on a roll with posts, I wanted to upload another cake picture that I made last year.  I found this when I was looking through my pictures.  I made this cake for my friend Elisa's baby shower.  Believe it or not, it was very easy and quick to decorate!  The roses are fairly large and so once I started I was finished in less than 15 minutes. 

I froze the cake after putting the two cake layers together with filling in the middle.  Once I pulled it out of the freezer I put a thin crumb coating on it.  It is so much easier to ice a cake when it is partially frozen.  You just want to make sure you have at least 4 hours before your party or event to allow it to thaw completely.  I made a fairly stiff buttercream frosting, to make sure the roses would hold their shape.  Once the crumb coat was on, I started on the roses.  I used a Wilton 1M tip, which is pretty large.  You will also need to get the extra large coupler to go with it. 

To make the rose, start in the center and make a circle working outward.  How big you make the rose depends on what look you are after.  I personally wanted the roses to take up the whole side height-wise.  Once you cover the cake with roses, you will notice there is void space between the roses.  I just added a little 'swoop' in each of these spaces.  I'm not sure how to describe it other than I just filled in the spaces with a shape that matched the void space.  And...voilia!  You now have a cake that looks like you bought it from a baker. 

The finished product!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

New Year and more


Two blogs in one day = amazing!  We went out with some friends on New Year’s Eve.  We have never done anything on NYE, so this was unusual for us!  We usually just stay home and cook a nice dinner after the kids go to bed, but we don’t stay up until midnight.  My parents always offer to watch the kids but we never take them up on it.  Go figure, this year they were going to Chicago so they couldn’t babysit!  Ryan’s niece, Lauren, ended up babysitting for us.  We went to Grunauer, which is Austrian/German cuisine, and then went to Extra Virgin for dessert.  We ended up staying out until after 1am which is very unlike us.   J   We went with our friends Elizabeth and Anthony, who are ‘newer’ friends of ours.  They are great, they like to eat and drink so we get along just fine.  Anthony is going to do Vineman ½ Ironman with Ryan in July, so the 4 of us are turning it into a vacation.  They don’t have kids but we still have a lot in common. 

I’ve also baked a few things recently, which reinforces how much I really love to bake!  I love it, even though it takes time and makes a mess.  I would rather slave over something than buy it any day.  I made some toffee for teacher gifts just before Christmas, then tried a peanut butter pie I found on Pinterest for our dinner with Ryan’s sister’s and brother.  It had an Oreo crust and was made in a springform pan.  I also made some brownie Christmas trees, and just last weekend I made an amazing coconut cake to take to dinner at a friend’s house.  This cake was amazing and worth all the effort (ane mess). I got the recipe from my friend Bonjwing here:  http://ulteriorepicure.com/2010/01/08/recipe-coconutty/.  I do love baking, but I don’t like having baked goods sit around.  I cannot resist cake, pie, or cookies!  I just can’t…if they are in the house I will eat them.  And I won’t eat just one; I will eat until I make myself sick.  It’s a problem, yes I know…so I just make sure I get the stuff out of the house as soon as I can. 

Along the lines of eating…Ryan had been having some GI issues for a while.  Since last summer actually.  He’s always been allergic to dairy, but had started drinking skim (in lieu of soy milk) in his coffee a while ago even though he knew he shouldn’t.  He went to the doctor and they gave him some medicine that should have helped, but it didn’t.  He was about to make an appointment with a GI specialist when he decided to try an elimination diet first.  He cut out wheat, grains, and dairy.  His symptoms literally went away in a matter of just under 3 days.  It was shocking actually.  This was right at 2 weeks ago and he feels amazing.  I have to say that it is a bit annoying…not so much at home, but going other places.  We both have always been people that eat anything and everything, but that has changed.  We went to a friend’s house for dinner on Saturday (Elizabeth and Anthony’s house, where were took the above coconut cake).  He didn’t eat the grits and picked the blue cheese off of his salad, and he ate the teeniest bite of cake you have ever seen.  The cake thing annoyed me because I slaved over that cake for 3 days!  I guess what bothers me is multiple aspects - the fact that I feel a bit embarrassed that my husband is now one of ‘those’ picky eaters, we used to eat everything together and now we don’t, and finally…I really hate change.   J  

Brownie trees - I did a terrible job cutting the brownies, don't look too closely!  

Toffee with bittersweet chocolate and chopped hazelnuts and pecans

Peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust

And last but not least, the coconut cake!  

Christmas

Still behind on blogging...obviously!  We spent Christmas Eve at our house this year which was really nice.  The girls and I decorated gingerbread houses…actually I decorated a gingerbread house.  Luca just ate all the decorations (gummy worms, peppermints, gumdrops, M&M’s), and Lola put a few on her house and ate the rest.  I think 80% of the decorations ended up on the floor.  It was fun though.  Then I made some soup and let it simmer for a few hours.  Ryan got home around 5 and we ate and then let the girls open a few presents.  We assumed that Lola would wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning, but we woke up at 7:48am and realized nobody was up yet!  Both girls were still fast asleep.  Once we woke Lola up she freaked out and we went downstairs to open gifts.  After the madness, we headed down to my parents’ house mid-morning. 
Lola's gingerbread house

My gingerbread house! 

Lola got new clothes for her Bitty Baby, Olivia

Luca is styling in her new shades and vest

Lola got a new HUGE Knuffle Bunny

New 'Stompeez' slippers (as seen on TV!)

New doctors kid complete with nerd glasses