Lately...

The "Cupcake Cake"

Aarons Wedding

New York, New YORK!

I'VE SWORN OFF DOING CAKES..... ;) hahaha.... but really, I'm serious...

The buildings are gumpaste painted with pipping gel and dipped in black sugar to give it the "sparkling at night" look. The big Empire State building is a dummy cake out of styrafoam due to timing (I had to do it before my Yellowstone trip) and structure concerns. I carved it, covered it in silver fondant then put the pre-cut and dried gumpaste sides on. I actually learned a TON from doing this cake. It was about 33 inces tall!

Scallop Cake

I did this for a baby shower for some friends. Gabby made all the flowers. They are made by cutting out 3 different sized circles and lightly ruffling the edges on the thin foam with the ball tool.

Tommy Frog Cake

It is all cake except for the feet hands and eyes (fondant). I used a 10", 9", 8" and two 6". Yes the frog has a butt. I thought it would be funny.

Knights cake

Hawaiian bear cake

1 year anniversary cake

Here is the one year anniversary cake. I like the way it turned out.

Lemon Bars

I forgot to post this recipe back when I made it, but here it is now. These are lemon bars from the joyofbaking.com website. They are absolutely delicious. Both Steven and Ashley tried them and can testify to their goodness.

Shortbread Crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (25 grams) confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar

1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Lemon Filling:

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup (80 ml) fresh lemon juice (approximately two large lemons)

1 tablespoons (5 grams) grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons (25 grams) all purpose flour

Garnish:

Confectioner's (powdered or icing) sugar

Lemon Zest - The yellow outer rind of the lemon that contains the fruit's flavor and perfume.

TIP: Always remove the zest first before halving and squeezing the lemon. Use a fine strainer to remove the seeds and pulp from the juice

Lemon Bars: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) pan.

Shortbread Crust: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

Lemon Filling: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling has set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve: Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) bars

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonBars.html#ixzz0wc6EJuKP

Red Velvet Cake from scratch

I was just visiting Betheny and we made red velvet cake cupcakes. They turned out really smooth and moist. Betheny will have to give you the tweaks that she did to the recipe. I can say that we tried cupcakes instead of cake and Betheny made her own frosting so we didn't try theirs. Here is the recipe that we got off of the website http://www.joyofbaking.com/

Red Velvet Cake:

2 1/2 cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (15 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 1/2 (360 ml) cups heavy whipping cream

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

Red Velvet Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Cream Cheese Frosting: In your food processor, or with a hand mixer, process the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and process until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Then, in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages. If the frosting is not thick enough to spread, cover and place in the refrigerator for an hour, or until it is firm enough to spread.

Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) four layer cake.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html#ixzz0wc2uwBjW

PS If you go to webpage there is some background about Red Velvet Cake that they have posted as well.

Helllllllloooo, Kitty! ;)

This one had edible silver glitter on it but I didn't like it. I used the white glitter instead on the rest.

Cupcakes and a 6 inch individual cake for a 6 year old b-day party.

Thomas cake

Before: ( a little embarassing) After: (just shows that I really can't wing a cake. It has to be pre designed and calculated to turn out decent)

This is my second attempt at a Thomas cake, and I think I did much better the second time around. You can see the measurments and the math that I used to get it to scale. I started with two 11 x 15 sheet cakes cut and stacked into 4 layers. Then I used my measurments to carve away the excess. It went slowly, but I wanted to be sure not to cut anything off that shouldnt be. Then I did a crumb coat, smothed it and decorated it. I was happy with the way it came out. It wasn't perfect but it was much, much better. If anyone wants a copy of the papers let me know and Ill send them to you.

Teddy Bear Birthday

I almost didn't want to post my pictures after seeing the amazing cakes you have on here. I just finished the Wilton class with Heather this past week. I made this cake and the cupcakes for my son's first birthday. I had a lot of fun and I think they turned out alright for my first try. I look forward to many future decorating attempts. Sara

Talent Show

Here it is finally.... it only took a month to post it. This cake was for our ward talent show. The theme was "Every good gift is from God." which was written on the tag hanging off of the gift box bow. They wanted all kinds of talents showcased. It was a lot of fun to do and a lot of work. I took these when the cake was put together at home so it looked better when we got there. When they announced that it was time for cake there was a line before we even got there to cut it. They were all very excited to eat it. There was a strawberry cake with whipped buttercream and pinapple filling (SO GOOD) and a lemon with rasperry filling, and chocolate with fresh strawberry filling. Notice the artist pallet as the cake board. Gabby again. The crazy one.