Cookie Monster Attacks!

Oh my, where has the time gone!! It's almost the end of the year. So much food, so many treats (and my ass keeps getting bigger I'm sure) ah yes 'tis the season to PIG OUT.

AnyHOO, I recently made a couple of cakes for my friend's little boy's 2nd birthday.  Her bday party theme was Cookie Monster!  I was so excited to make these cakes. I had tons of ideas but wanted to make something really cute (and yummy of course).  I was only going to make the little birthday boy a cake but then figured I'd make something for the adults (the kids were getting cupcakes).

After lots of brainstorming, I found a 3D Cookie Monster that was adorable! But then thought, crap, can I make that? It looks really hard.  Well, I went for it, and let me say I was SO pleased with my little guy.

This first cake is a 2 tiered cake covered in fondant.  Top portion was chocolate and bottom was carrot (it was super moist!)  All the cutouts are fondant and Cookie Monster's eyes are marshmallows.  This was a HEAVY cake.

Now comes my little guy, Cookie Monster! First let me tell you that this puppy took FOREVER to pipe ( I had to take several breaks as my hand cramped up). I used the "grass" tip and colored the buttercream Wilton's Royal Blue.  It took a TON of icing color, but soon I realized this stuff darkens over time (I made him the night before the party) so the next day his "fur" color was PERFECT!  His eyes are fondant (held by toothpicks) and his mouth was colored in with black icing.  He's made out of chocolate pound cake (you need to use a dense cake when making 3D cakes).  I used Wilton's Cuddly Bear pan to shape the body. I then cut off the ears and shaped the mouth.  I also added more cake for the arms/hands to make them stand out more.  I stuck and cookie in his hand and VOILA!  Here's my monster:

I'm so happy with how my 3D Cookie Monster came out. Best part, they were both yummy cakes and I received a lot of compliments on them.

Here's a shot of the birthday table with all the goodies!!

Big Cupcake Alert!

This was my first attempt at a giant cupcake and had no idea how it would turn out.  Needless to say I'm not over the moon with how it turned out but as with everything I'm sure with some practice they'll turn out better.  

First I must say the directions said to make 2 batches of cake mix...WRONG. I made two and had enough for 24 cupcakes with the leftover batter, so uhm no, 2 batches was way too much.  Then it said to bake for about 35-45 mins. Try again, it took 65. yeah 65. 

Anyway, I decided on red velvet since I know that's one of my friend's favs (it was for her birthday). 

Here's they are, all filled and ready to go! 

All done! My kitchen smelled wonnnnnnnderful

While the cupcakes cooled, I whipped up a batch of buttercream.

All cooled, I  had to level out each piece so they would fit nicely on top of each other then added a layer of  buttercream on the bottom piece

Placed the top on and ready to frost!

 All done!!  I used large "sprinkles" and edible pearls.

Ok so here's the scoop.  It wasn't that easy.  First of all, I let it cool almost an hour before removing it from the mold and guess what happened? The top part broke.  Good thing it was going to be covered by icing so you couldn't tell.  Next, I wanted to use the Wilton tip #22 and make little stars but I knew the buttercream wouldn't be firm enough so then my next idea was use the same tip but just make a huge swirl all the way around....nope, I started to and then it began to droop.  Damn.  I had no choice but to smooth it out with an angled spatula.  So all in all, it turned out "ok" but I'd love to try it again for a better result.   It's so big!

Cupcake Magnified

I'll be taking a friend out for her birthday this week and there is nothing more she would love than a GIANT cupcake.
The hardest part? trying to figure out how to decorate it! The possibilities are endless and it's not like I make these all the time so I want to be sure it's cute.

I'll be gettin' my research on and start on this puppy tomorrow. I hope she likes it! (she better or I'll smash it in her face)
I'll be sure to post pics!

Cupcakes for the Cure! Think Pink!

In honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I baked up these goodies.
These fun baking cups, candy toppings and cake plate were birthday presents.

They are Lemon cupcakes with vanilla cream frosting. They were so moist!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's birthday! Yep, our birthdays are only 5 days apart which makes for a fun week.
I bought her some goodies and I made her a cake!

She's a red velvet lover (well, who isn't right?) so I wanted to be sure to make one of her favs.
I made a 3 layer cake: red velvet / french vanilla / red velvet, covered in vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant.  I topped the cake with fresh hydrangeas ( I love these flowers!!)

It's so pretty, I hate to cut into it but cake it meant to be EATEN so we shall EAT IT!

Presents! Presents!

It's a downer getting older but one of the best parts of a birthday = presents!!
I was showered with great gifts this year and there seemed to be a theme with my gifts.... BAKING!!!
Do my friends and family know me or what :)

Here are a few pics of some of the goodies I got!

I love this! What a gorgeous cake plate

Breast Cancer Awareness Cups and Ribbon Sprinkles

This book has the cutest cupcakes

I also got new baking pans (awesome quality), giant cupcake silicone mold, decorating tools, set of baking bowls, pretty measuring cups, a cupcake stand, AND a Michael's gift card! 

I love my new goodies!!! 

Go Shawty, It's Mah BirFday

Today is my birthday!! Yay! (well not really yay, getting older isn't fun but it's the day I get fun Facebook messages LOL). OH and gifts! sweet tooF was awesome and got me tons of baking stuff!! (He's no fool, that means for goodies for him haha).

So sweet tooF took me out for a fab dinner (Japanese, one of my favs!) and for dessert we headed over to The Cheesecake Factory for one of our favorite desserts...Stefanie's Ultimate Cheesecake!!!

If you haven't tried this, what the HELL are you waiting for??!! Seriously, this is heaven.

Look at it! I mean seriously, just stare at it for a second.............................

Ok, its two layers of cheesecake with two layers of RED VELVET cake in between!! WAIT I'm not done....it's covered in white chocolate shavings!!! WAIT, one more... they give it to you with a huge swirl of whipped cream!! Ok, I'm done.  (Isn't that enough?)  This is some good eats.  It's a huge piece too, so we share - good thing too because, oh it's only 1,250 calories A SLICE. Ouch, how's that for your waistline skinny bitches.

They put a little candle in it, wrote "Happy Birthday" in chocolate sauce and sang to me (as I gave sweet tooF the evil eye for embarrassing me like that).

If you haven't tried it, you must stop in for a slice.  (Just don't eat anything else the rest of the day and you'll be under the healthy guidelines for caloric intake. )

NY Yankees Say Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mr. sweet tooF!!  He's a hardcore Yankee fan so what better way to say I Love You than to make him a Yankees birthday cake!
After much research, I decided to make him a baseball hat cake.  I used a glass Pyrex bowl (thus the dome shape) and a second 6" tier and covered in marshmallow fondant.  I used fondant for the brim too.  My goal was to make the color of the hat darker (true Yankee midnight blue), but sheesh, it takes forever - and lots of icing coloring, to make it that dark (and my hands were getting tired of kneading).

He loved it! I'm pretty pleased considering it's my first "odd" shaped cake :)
The cake is a Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese frosting!

Toy Story Fun!

So when I realized my nephew's 4th birthday was coming up, I knew I wanted to make a fun cake for him.
His party theme was Toy Story! (seems to be a popular choice this summer).  I was so excited to make this and couldn't wait to get started.  I decided on my nephew's favorite flavor, chocolate! or as he calls it "choc-lick" haha (what kid doesn't want a chocolate cake right?) I used a vanilla buttercream filling and covered it in marshmallow fondant. First tier was 3 layers, second tier was 2.  All chocolate goodness.

Here's the final product!

I bought little Toy Story figurines and placed them around the cake (the little army men climbing the cake are my fav!) I found candy icings,  placed a couple on the cake,  added a Buzz Lightyear candle and tadahhhh.....all done!

We also had cupcakes for the kiddos.  I topped them with buttercream, added sprinkles and topped it with candy icing. So cute!