If this oven's a-rockin'...

"Monster High" cake

2011-08-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

For my daughter's 8th Birthday she told me she did not want cakepops.
Nor cupcakes.
She wanted a cake.
(And of course she wanted a cake that has no Wilton shaped cakepan that would have made it easy on Mom.)
But me, being the excellent Mother I am, told her I would make her the "Monster High" cake she was wishing for!
Monster High is a line of fashion dolls that are monster teens (think Barbie meets Halloween). Not only is it dolls, but they have online games, webisodes & have had a cartoon movie for Halloween.

After scouring the internet for a shaped cakepan (no such luck,) I got some ideas from other cake photos posted. I used my daughter's Monster High t-shirt as a guide. I knew I wanted to do the skull with a bow- I figured it shouldn't be too hard...
So first I baked my cakes... since the skull was relatively small (for a party of hungry kids) I decided to make a double decker cake with a layer of frosting in the middle, so it would serve more peeps. I just used the confetti (boxed) cake, then spread some (store bought) chocolate frosting in between the 2 stacked cakes.
Next I traced the skull from my daughter's shirt, cut it out & used it as a guide to carve the cake.

Since piping the icing on with a star-shaped tip seem to be the most forgiving, I decided to cover the cake with them, instead of smoothing on icing. I was really happy with how well it came out!

Next to add a little color & to liven up the tray that I was serving the cake on, I used some cookie cutters to cut out diamonds from fondant. Then I made an argyle type pattern of teal & hot pink diamonds.

And lastly, I made Count Fabulous, the pet bat of one of the Monster High characters (Draculaura). I had both sugar paste & fondant. The fondant seemed to hold it's shape better- so I ended up using that. I think the bow & eyes are sugar paste however. *I can't remember exactly, because it has been a month since I made this!...shoulda blogged sooner!*

Ta Da!

This was my first attempt using fondant & I was so pleased with how easy it was to mold a character! My hands did get really stained from hand-mixing the wilton color into the fondant, but no biggie. I definitely want to use fondant again, but probably not to cover a whole cake because it doesn't taste that great. But the kids did enjoy eating the diamonds. :)

Santa Hat cakepops

2011-01-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

For my childrens' school bakesale, I made Santa Hat cakepops! I was really pleased with how they turned out. I followed the directions in Bakerella's Cakepops book... the only thing I changed was the "pompom" on top. I think it called for a white gumball, I substituted it with a mini marshmallow that I cut in half.

I also spruced up the display by covering the styrofoam block with Christmas wrapping paper!

I also used Christmas colored curling ribbons to tie off the treat bags that were placed on each hat.

And lastly, to satisfy the school's requirement I added a small note on allergen information.

American Alligator cupcakes

2010-11-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

For my son's 5th Birthday I made him an alligator made out of 2 dozen cupcakes...
It was pretty easy when I followed the instructions in the Hello, Cupcake book.
All that I needed to decorate it was icing, green tint, yellow banana-shaped runts, marshmallows, oreo (100 calorie) thins, 2 jr. mints, and 2 green jellybellies. The hardest issue that I ran into was having a surface large enough to display (& transport) this big guy! (I found a large pizza box opened flat worked well for display!)

Cakepops!

2010-11-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

Found a new book, Cakepops by Bakerella. This book is right up my alley! Creative yummy balls of cake & frosting dipped into candy melts, and stuck on a stick.

Here are my latest creations!

After baking a cake, crumbling it, and mixing it with frosting- I rolled them into balls. Then after chilling them in the freezer for 15 minutes, I shaped them into a "cupcake" shape using a flower-shaped cookie cutter. Next placed them back into the fridge to keep them from losing their shape while I melted the candy melts.

I dipped the bottom of the "cupcake" into the melted chocolate candy melts...

Then I quickly dipped part of the lollipop stick into the chocolate and pushed it about halfway into the cakepop.

After the chocolate was dry, I dipped the top of the cupcake into the a different color candy melt. I did a batch of white & one of pink.

Then topped with sprinkles & a skittle!

Then I put each into a bag and tied it with a ribbon.

I also made Owls (for my daughter's 3rd Birthday)...

And turkeys for Thanksgiving....

Monster Cupcakes

2010-07-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

For my daughter's 7th Birthday I made her "Monster Cupcakes" from the What's New Cupcake? book.

I got the height for the monster by attaching a mini cupcake to the top of the unfrosted regular cupcake. The eyes of the monster were made by stretching a gummy peach ring over a Dum Dum lollipop. Then I used a tiny bit of vanilla frosting to attach a mini- M&M to make a pupil for the eye.

They were really easy to make, once I fixed my frosting issues. To apply the tinted frosting I put the frosting into a ziploc bag and then snipped off a small piece of the corner.Then I just let the frosting drip in "strings" over the cupcake while moving it around to cover the mini cupcake & regular cupcake.

When I used my tinted Duncan Hines Rich & Creamy- it was WAY too soft & melty. Here is the first cupcake I made, it turned out ok- but after sitting for 20 mins or so, it turned into a smooth melty blob!

I ended up using some of the Wilton's White Decorator Icing (which has a nice stiff consistency) - mixing it into the already tinted Duncan Hines. This allowed me to also make some furry monsters (see the above green monster.)

The hardest part of these cupcakes was transporting them because they were tall & top-heavy! But the Birthday girl loved them!

Freshly baked- Cherry Pie Cupcakes

2010-06-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

For my Mother-In-Law's Birthday, I decided to try out a new cupcake from my NEW cupcake book, What's New Cupcake?
Cupcakes shaped like little pies! (Perfect for my mother-in-law who is the pie-baker for our family holidays).

I baked chocolate cupcakes (from the box) but modified slightly.

Then I tinted the vanilla frosting with yellow food coloring & unsweetened cocoa powder to mimic the color of pie crust.

Then all I needed to top the cupcakes with were some M&Ms. I bought a bag of all red ones at our local Michaels. I was planning on getting blue ones for "blueberries" but they were all out!

The finished product! Closely spaced "Cherries" covered over with piped lines to look like the lattice on top of a pie. I think they turned out well :)

burrr, it's cold outside: Penguin Cupcakes

2009-11-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

For my daughter's 2nd Birthday, I made the Penguin Cupcakes from the Hello, Cupcake book. I was a little worried that these would be a big fat pain, like the shark cupcakes were... but alas, these went much smoother.

To get the shape of the penguin on the top of the cupcake, I bought mini-doughnuts & doughnut holes. First I cut the mini-doughnuts in half. (The book called for plain, but I couldn't find any- so I got cinnamon flavored ones. I think that the plain would've been ideal, as the icing would have probably stuck to them better than mine, but mine still worked!)

Next, while I was waiting for my cupcakes to finish baking, I did some prep work..... making the penguins' bellies by cutting 1/8" off of the end of a marshmallow.

Then I cut the top off of those, so that the belly would have a straight edge.

After my cupcakes cooled, I iced them with thinned Wilton's decorator icing. Then I attached the cut mini-doughnuts, cut-side down.

Next I plopped a dolop of icing to the top of the doughnut, so that I could affix a doughnut hole there..

After sticking a doughnut hole ontop of the hole of the mini-doughnut, I reinforced my penguin's body with more icing to fill in the cracks.

Next, into the freezer to set, for about 15 mins. I found it helpful to have them in a muffin pan, so that they wouldn't fall over in the freezer.

While they were freezing, I tinted some chocolate fudge icing black, with Wilton's tint. Then, just before I got the cupcakes out of the freezer, I warmed the icing in the microwave so that I could dip the penguins to coat their bodies. Then I attached cut pieces of Famous Chocolate Wafers as flippers and stuck on the belly.

The feet and beaks were cut from yellow Starburst candy.

Then I attched the beaks to the head, just above the belly. For the eyes, I piped white icing and then stuck a mini-chocolate chip into it. And then I piped a tiny dot of white icing for a highlight in the eyes. The feet were stuck onto the outside of the cupcake liner with some icing.

To go along with the penguins, I had some cupcakes made to look like icy buckets of fish... complete coconut shavings, with small fish candy and rock candy ice.

Shark Cupcakes

2009-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

For my son's fourth Birthday, I made the Shark Cupcakes (from the Hello, Cupcake book)...

Apparently, since the cupcakes were so frustrating to make, I forgot to photograph the process.... (So, most of my pictures are of the finished product.)
Here are the mini-doughnuts that I made into life-preservers. The book called for plain mini-doughnuts that were supposed to be dipped in white melted icing. I just skipped that step & bought powdered mini-doughnuts. Then I cut narrow strips of red fruit-by-the-foot and wrapped three around each doughnut. The strips were easily fastened together with a tiny drop of water to adhere the fruit-by-the-foot to itself.

I added the life-preservers to blue frosted cupcakes. To get that color blue, I used Wilton coloring (in royal blue, I think). For a couple of the preservers, I used a small fork to take a chunk out of it - like a shark bite.

Some of the other cupcakes were topped with a school of Swedish Fish.

When I iced the cupcakes, I used the small spatula to make waves on top.

The hard part of making these cupcakes was the sharks. They were made mostly of a Twinkie. First I had to cut part of the Twinkie off at an angle- that was the side of the Twinkie that would be attached to the cupcake. The other end of the Twinkie I trimmed to look like the shark's snout. I cut a slice into the top of the Twinkie and shoved the piece of a Famous Chocolate Wafer to make the dorsal fin. Then I attached the trimmed Twinkie to the iced cupcake with extra icing & popped it into the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Next, I had to melt some grey-tinted icing in the microwave & dip the Twinkie. This was a challenge... I had to get the icing at the right consistency to coat the shark. Some of my sharks came off of the cupcake, some of the icing wasn't warmed enough, but then if I warmed it too long, it would separate.

The sharks mouths were made of a piece of fruit-by-the-foot that I cut into an oval shape. His fins & teeth are just icing. And his eyes are a mini chocolate chip.

As you can see in the above picture, my sharks were too top heavy. I don't think I cut enough off of the Twinkie, so they were hanging too much off of the cupcake & falling over. (Hence the propped up shark -with a toothpick.)

Here's a shot of some cupcakes in the handy-dandy new holder that my Aunt Sue & Hap just recently sent me! It worked really well for transporting some of the 30 cupcakes that I took to the party.

Another shark shot-- this one isn't as smooth because I think the icing wasn't quite warm enough.

However, after all of the stress I was pleased with how they turned out & got a TON of compliments. Plus, the birthday boy LOVED them!

Not the day to count calories!

2009-11-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

For my family on Halloween morning, I decided to try out a recipe that I have for Cinnamon Roll Bats...

I used Grands Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls, that I cut in half, then put the rounded sides together.

After baking per the package instructions, I promptly iced the rolls & added chocolate sprinkles. Reserving about a tablespoon of icing to adhere the candies.

The head of his bat is made of a half an oreo (without icing), the eyes are gummy lifesavers with mini-M&Ms, the fangs are of course, candy corn. And the ears are pieces of Oreo cut to roughly resemble bat ears.

I was excited to serve my Cinnamon Roll Bats on my super cute tray (that my sister had given me awhile back)....

YUM! They were a big hit! My only mistake was that I think I slightly overcooked the wings... The package instuctions gave me a range of minutes to bake (like 17-22 or something like that.) I set the oven in the middle of that range. Next time I will do it for the shortest reccommended time. Enjoy!

Ghosts of Cupcake Past

2009-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my past creations. I can't take all the credit however... I bought the book Hello Cupcake, and have used many of their recipes. I definitely recommend this book! It is a great resource that shows that you don't need all the fancy pastry bags & tips to create great cupcakes.

Caterpillar (for baby's first Birthday) and a slice of Kiwi fruit
Close-up on Kiwi slice. Used candy-coated licorice bits for the "seeds"

Cupcake Tower

Owls & Acorns

Corn-on-the-Cob with "butter & salt"!

Tennis balls & rackets

(note the casualty from transport!)

Next up- Garden Cupcakes

Popcorn mini-cupcakes (realized almost too late that I hadn't taken a photo. I had donated these to a bakesale & took the pic while they were out on the table to be sold!)

Sunflower cupcakes (with ladybugs!)

From above, the Owls, Acorns, Corn-on-the-Cob, Popcorn, Garden & Sunflower cupakes were all based on recipes from the Hello, Cupcake book. (See link above.) If you're curious on any of the cupcakes you've seen above, leave me a comment/question.

Thanks for looking!

Princess Birthday party

2009-07-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

For a snack at the party I made marshmallow pops. Super easy & a colorful addition to the table.
To get the colored sugar to stick to the marshmallow, all I did was dip it into some water and then into the sugar.

I placed all the marshmallows onto a waxpaper-lined cookie sheet until I was ready to place them on the wooden skewers.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product (doh!). But I added a cutout of a heart with a 6 on top of each stick. They looked like magic wands. To display, I put them in a plastic brightly colored tumbler standing up, with the heart at the top.

I also forgot to take pictures of the yummy chocolate dipped pretzel rods (milk choc, white choc, and peanut butter + choc). While the chocolate was still warm they we rolled/sprinkled with colored sugar.

For the cupcakes, I made small crowns out of yellow Laffy Taffy. I cut them in half, and then cut a zigzag pattern to make it look like a crown. Then I molded them into the right shape. I attached a small heart sprinkle with a dot of icing.

The cake was a princess in her coach. It was made using a shaped cake pan by Wilton. Tedious, but not difficult. I added my own personal touch to the cake by putting my daughter's likeness out of a nila wafer. I decorated her hair/face with icing & put a small laffy taffy crown on her head.

4th of July Hamburger & Hotdog cupcakes

2009-07-24T22:22:00.001-07:00

We went over to a friends' BBQ for the 4th of July. I decided to bring cupcakes that went with the BBQ theme- hotdogs & hamburgers. I was happy with how they turned out, and they we really pretty easy to make.
The hamburger buns were made out of nila wafers with real sesame seeds. To adhere the sesame seeds, I rubbed the cookie onto some frozen orange juice concentrate.

The patty of the "hamburger" was a York peppermint patty. The recipe that I used for these cupcakes, called for a Keebler Grasshopper cookie. Of course, at the store that I was buying supplies from, I couldn't find the Grasshoppers. So, I substituted with peppermint patty. I ended up slicing the patty in half so that it wasn't so thick.

The lettuce, ketchup, and mustard were all tinted frostings. To get the ketchup the right color, I added I tiny amount of violet to the red.

The hotdog buns are made out of Circus Peanuts that I cut a wedge out of to place the "dog" in. The hotdog was a soft Werther's Carmel that I shaped with my fingers after cutting it in-half.

The cupcakes were a huge hit! People couldn't believe that it was all edible & that I had made it all!

Good enough to eat.

Photographic Evidence!

2009-07-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Alright, I have finally decided to dedicate a blog to my cake & cupcake masterpieces! :) I love to share my creations with others & here is the place I can do it!