Giants Cookies

After my last post I just simply had to come up with a reason to try those sugar cookies with royal icing.  What better reason than the "Manning-Bowl" today.  So I made sugar cookies with Martha Stewart's recipe.

And baked them . . . 

And then I frosted them . . . 

A close up.  I LOVE it. 

And don't forget the footballs . . . we must have them.

Not to mention the Jerseys.  Complete with player names.  Yes, I got a little carried away . . . 

I just couldn't resist.  It took a long time, but was totally worth it.  If you'd like to see how they are done, go to Brown Eyed Baker's site, she gives a tutorial.

And in case you are wondering how they taste . . . ask my husband.  I think he's eaten half of them already and they've only been done for a day.

Happy Caking!

Football and Cake Pops

Yesterday was the kick off for football season. As most of you know, my husband and I (and even our little girl) are HUGE NY Giants fans. :) Unfortunately, due to a busy weekend, I was unable to stop and make specific Giants desserts, so I went for the non-baked, football snack. They are like less chewy, chocolate rice crispy treats with laces! Ah, just too cute. They are not what I would pick exclusively for my chocolate snack but they are a tad irresistible. . . .Find the recipe on kraft.com. My only suggestion is to refrigerate them after they cool since they still have a tendency to fall apart.

Next week (or this week rather) I am going to tackle sugar cookies with royal icing in the shape of . . . you guessed it! FOOTBALL ITEMS! (Hey, any excuse to bake right?) Then I am simply dying to try Cake Pops. If any of you haven't heard of this amazing dessert head over to Bakerella.com and check out her marvelous creations. They are simply stunning and I can imagine taste amazing. :) Her book is going to be published this fall, which I have to say is going to be a "must buy" for me. KUDOS BAKERELLA!

And, in case you are starting to get a hankering for fall-centered desserts, head out to your local grocery store, walmart, target . . . and pick up this book. Its $4.99 and is FILLED with amazing recipes (including cake pops) that seem simply and completely in line with the season. Completely worth your money as each recipe is printed on a card and can easily be inserted into your recipe book. I have about 5 of them I want to try . . .

THE CAKE!!!!

The cake made it to Connecticut in three pieces, fondant and flowers intact. After painting the cake Friday evening, and arranging the flowers for four hours on Saturday, they were finally finished. Okay, you have all listened to me long enough. So without further ado, the final cake pictures . . .

Thanks for listening about this cake! It was by far the most difficult I have attempted and I am THRILLED with the way it came out. Props to my husband who was instrumental in packing, transporting, and consulting on the arranging of the cakes. I think we had a lot of fun together. Now on to the next bakery challenge . . .

In Between Photos

Okay, so I sat down to do the cakes and had never worked with the Satin Ice Fondant before. I was told to roll it thicker than Wilton (which is totally correct) but knew nothing else about it. I found a few things.

1. It tastes infinitely better than Wilton's.

2. It has a hard time supporting its own weight because of how soft it is. Translation - the basket-weave imprinter did not work because it continually broke.

So, with the imprinter not working, I went to plan two, cut strips individually and weave my own basket. I actually LOVE the results.

This is the ten inch cake, followed by the eight inch, and then a photo of my hysterically filled refridgerator:

It took longer but I really love them. They are not yet painted (that will happen in CT) so the color will be much darker. Today I food process the oreo's for "potting soil", and pack tools for Connecticut. Then I spend most of the day praying that all three cakes successfully make the trip. :)

The next pictures you should get will be cakes that are completed!! :)

The Final Tally

Okay, so my daughter fell asleep at 5:30 for the night and my husband fell asleep at 8:30. So I went a little crazy and finished the remaining flowers / leaves for the cake.

These are the remaining 4 carnations, and then 16 "drop" flowers . . .

Then came the leaves, all 120 of them . . .

The fantasy flowers were already done in pieces and needed assembled. There are 12 of them . .

And then there were the roses. My husband hung up these wonderful organizational shelves in June to give us a little more room. He had no idea that they were PERFECT for hanging flowers or that most of my cake stuff was going to take up the shelves. He is such a wonderful man for putting up with me and my obsessions. :) Either way, I laugh every time I see them so I took some pictures of them hanging and then one with the details.

The end tally for flowers/decorations:

17 - white mums

15 - pink roses

12 - purple fantasy flowers

15 - yellow daisies

12 - drop flowers (orange, purple, pink)

8 - white carnations (ready for tinting)

120 - leaves (moss green and leaf green)

The remainder of the week will be spent baking and positioning the cakes (one 6", one 8", and one 10"), covering them in fondant basketweave, and transporting them to Connecticut for the final decorations. I will try to take an in between picture of just the fondant, and then the final picture before we set up the cake in Connecticut. I'm so psyched.....

Flower week / month

So, flower week was rudely interrupted by an illness . . . please forgive me for my lack of a post! However, rather than only spanning a week, flower-making has decided to span several days / almost a month! I am finishing up with all of my gum paste decorations this week in preparation for the cake which will be created next week.

Let me interrupt cake talk for one moment though. I have been searching the globe (via internet of course) for a satisfactory cinnamon muffin recipe . . . and I have found one! Now, normally I don't share recipes (proprietary bakery information . . . lol) but this one, well this one I cannot lay any claim to because it is fantastic, and needs no tweaking. Give them a try . . . they are super easy and taste fantastic . . . sort of like those home made donuts that you get from a cider mill, only less fattening and in muffin form!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/muffins-that-taste-like-donuts/

Ok, back to caking. Yesterday was the day of the rose. I am still working on getting my pictures uploaded, so all I have for you is a picture of the adorable lace butterflies that I made . . . better pictures of those on the camera as well, but these will work for now. They were a little heavy on the shimmer dust, but what can I say, I'm a work in progress. I also painted the bodies with silver pearl dust, so I will take more pictures of the finished product. For instructions on making these go to . . .

http://acupcakeproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-gum-paste-lace-butterfly.html

Tonight, carnations, drop flowers, and lots of leaves . . . pictures to follow.

Oh and I learned a few things about gum paste:

1. Tylose gum paste ruffles beautifully for flowers and is easy to work with once you work it in. However there are some downfalls. It doesn't seem to take well to being rolled out over and over again for cut outs. It actually gets grainier and grainier, even with mixing in crisco. Also, its a bit whiter than the Wilton Brand, but not ridiculously noticeable.

2. Wilton Gum Paste (the already made container) is much easier to roll out over and over, however does not ruffle as well. That can be modified by the thickness of the gum paste . . .

of course this is just my experience, I would give it a try yourself . . .

Flower Week

First an update: The Tinker Bell cake did not exactly happen. Unfortunately, the air conditioner went ka-put three days before cake-day and I had absolutely NO time to prepare the gumpaste decorations. So, instead I made my own ice cream cake, frosted it with whipped cream, covered it in purple sprinkles and put a Tinker Bell candle on top!! That combined with purple frosted chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with purple sugar topping and wha-la! A quick and wonderful birthday. And for those of you who are like me and are thinking, "gee, how in the world do you make an ice cream cake at home?" . . . well, I'm glad you asked. Here's the recipe.

ICE CREAM CAKE

1/2 cup Hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

1 half gallon chocolate ice cream

POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. Stir in chopped cookies. (I put them in a food processor and it seemed to work well)

ARRANGE 4 ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half the COOL WHIP mixture; top with one layer of chocolate ice cream. Repeat layers. Top with remaining sandwiches. Frost top and sides with remaining COOL WHIP. Bring up foil sides; double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

FREEZE 4 hours or until firm.

Now, onto flowers. This week has been aptly named the week of the flowers. I have just recently realized that I have only a few weeks before the cake for my grandmother and I should get on with making my flowers. So last night was the first marathon night, and I have big plans for tonight. :)

Last night's damage . . .

2 full mums. LOVE them, so I'm making more.

15 mum bases for further creations

And the remainder of the night was spent reworking the tylose gumpaste and coloring a bunch for the creation of rose bases this evening. Let me make a suggestion. If you are going to color your gumpaste, try to do so before storing it in the fridge. It was a huge workout to get it soft and then another to color it. I was slightly exhausted when it was all said and done.

This evening's task, 17 rose bases, tinted purple gumpaste (I am going to have arms of steel when all is said and done), and as many "fantasy flowers" as I have the strength to create after coloring. Way, way too much fun. :)