Bakerella

Pantastic!

2009-07-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

I didn't bake anything this weekend. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I think I was still in vacation mode or something. So I guess this is as good a time as any to close out the "Where I Shop" series. This is part 3: PANS! And Cake Art Party Store has a ton of them.

I love this store.

The cake pan aisle just makes me smile, despite it's overwhelmingly gray disposition. It just makes me happy. I like to think about all the talented people that walk through here in need of the perfect cake pan and the things they create with them. Take all these graduated cake pan sets for instance… I'm in awe of what serious bakers and wedding cake decorators can do with them.

But layer cake pans aren't the only kind of pan Cake Art carries.

There are loaf pans…

… not to be confused with bread pans.

Bundt-style pans in various designs.

Angel food cake pans.

Tartlet pans. (Fat Daddio's… they even have a cute name.)

Doughnut pans. I should get one of these for the next time I try dougnuts.

How about some square pans. Or… regular, mini and jumbo-size muffin pans.

But, when it comes to cake pans, I love these little graduated ones that you can hold in one hand.

And, then there's these. These are much, much bigger. I don't know how big they actually go, but I've seen some as big as 18 inches wide and 3 and 4 inches deep. That is a serious cake. I think my oven would be scared.

But, the graduated sets aren't all round. There are heart pans, hexagon pans, square pans, and oval pans… all available in different sizes.

But maybe you just want one pan. How about a sweet teddy bear? In pink, though.

What about a butterfly? Care Bear? Spiderman?

Or maybe you want individual ice cream-shaped cupcake pans. Too cute!

Or maybe you want a collection of itty-bitty, teeny-weeny, baby-size pans. I want one of each myself. For scale, that's a container of sprinkles on the left. These ARE cuteness!

What?!?! You don't want any cake pans? Well, they also have cookie sheet pans. So there.

And, if that weren't enough, they have pans that try to tempt me to buy them - even though I would probably never use them. This one has blocks you can move around to let you make numbers and letters. I've seen it in a large size, but not one this tiny. Again, CUTENESS! I hate this store.

If that's not enough, they have even more pans.
And, now for some fun.

It's a Pick a Pan Giveaway!

Enter for a chance to win the pan of your choice.
Just leave a comment on this post and pick out the kind of pan you want from any of the above. That's right. You get to pick. Need some jumbo-size muffin pans? Want to try out a set of graduated pans? Hearts? Hexagons? Or maybe you just need some plain old cupcake pans. I know, you really want an assortment of teeny-tiny pans.
Well, if you win, I'll get it for you, or as many as I can get for you with a $50 bill. Sound like fun?
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is ~~Tuesday, July 14th at 5 p.m.~~ TIME'S UP! WINNER ANNOUNCED BELOW. (recorded by the time stamp of your comment) The winner will be announced sometime Tuesday evening on this post.

* One winner will be chosen using the Random.org integer generator.

Good luck!

Man… you guys like pans! I didn't think this giveaway would be that fun because it was so, well, so gray. But, I'm glad you had fun entering. Now for the winner…

Congrats Melissa! You're definitely getting a set of graduated pans. YAY! And I'll try to throw in a square muffin pan for you, too. I'll see how far $50 goes.

Cupcakes in Vegas

2009-07-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

I was in Las Vegas over the Fourth of July and received the sweetest surprise!

Cupcakes!!! And lots of them.

They were from Kari and Brian of Retro Bakery. I "met" Kari through flickr when she was documenting her adventures in opening a bakery and I've been keeping up with her on Twitter, knowing that the next time I visited Las Vegas, I wanted to rent a car and surprise her at the bakery.

Fun! Fun! Fun! I've only been to a few cupcake bakeries. Sprinkles Cupcakes in Dallas and The Atlanta Cupcake Factory in Georgia. I know. There's something enormously wrong with that picture. So I was really excited to see Retro and check out their cupcakes.

Big problem. Right before I left, she announced they were going to be closed on the day I could come visit. On vacation of all things. Just my luck. Needless to say, I was bummed.

But, Kari did the sweetest thing. She sent some to the hotel for me the last day they were open. The Fourth of July. I couldn't believe it. I mean I've certainly never had cupcakes delivered to my room before. The bellman brought them up and for a minute I thought I was going to have to fight the guy for them. Even after I tipped him, he kept going on about them. I guess he wanted me to give him one. Well, that didn't happen. Sorry Mr. Bellman. These were all staying with me!

Can you blame me. I mean look at them. They tasted just as good as they look. And really moist too.

In the back is Pink Lemonade (Lemon cake topped with pink lemonade buttercream and hot pink glitter sugar). In the front: Hop Scotch (Vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream dipped in butterscotch ganache) This was one of my favorites!

Here we have Cinnamon Toast (Vanilla cake topped with cinnamon buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar). YUM!

And here… Milk & Cookies (Chocolate-chip cake topped with vanilla buttercream and a freshly baked mini chocolate chip cookie.) This is all wrong and all right, all at the same time. Another fave!

Left: Apple Cider (Cinnamon swirl cake topped with apple cider buttercream dusted with cinnamon and sugar) Front: Mint Chocolate Chip (Chocolate cake topped with green mint buttercream and mini chocolate chips) Right: Red, White & Blueberry (Blueberry cake topped with strawberry buttercream) This might have been my most fave. But it's a toss up with the Hopscotch.

Oh and, sorry about the lighting on some of these pics. The room didn't have the best angle for natural light.

But who cares about lighting when you have this much chocolate to look at. Left: Chocolate Fountain (Chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream and dipped in chocolate ganache). Right: Chocolate Covered Banana (Chocolate cake topped with banana buttercream dipped in chocolate ganache and sprinkled with walnuts) Back: Peanut Butter Cup (Chocolate cake topped with peanut butter buttercream and dark chocolate shavings) Who am I kidding… these were all faves.

But I didn't actually eat them then.

I left them all alone in the room while we went to get dinner. It was difficult, but I knew if I tasted even one, it would be all over. By the way, if you've been to Vegas, you can probably guess where I stayed by now.

And, later when we returned.

Let's just say there was a little cupcake carnage during the taste testing. I won't give you all the messy details, but I'm glad there wasn't a camera filming me.

And the best thing about these cupcakes, was having the rest of them again for breakfast.

Thanks so much for the Retro cupcakes, Kari & Brian. I hope to really meet you guys next time.

Do you have a cupcake bakery in your area that you want to try? One that you love or one that you've just heard of? I would love to hear your recommendations.

The Fourth

2009-07-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

Freedom, independence & a marine named Carlos. Last week I was trying to decide what kind of Fourth of July sweets to make or if I was even going to make anything at all. Then I received an email from a reader's boyfriend and I knew I wanted to… had to… do something for the holiday.

Here's his letter. And by the way, I couldn't make anything sweeter than this.

Hi there Bakerella!

My name is Carlos and I'm a United States Marine, and have been one since 1998. If you wouldn't mind just giving my e-mail some thought, I'd be grateful. Here's the story:

My girlfriend just went away to Marine Corps bootcamp not yet a month ago. She LOVES to bake, but unfortunately didn't get much time to do so because her job took up most of her free time, so she lived vicariously through you. She's a fan of photography also, so your blog was a welcome reprieve from a long, hard day at the office. As you may or may not know, bootcamp for Marines is 13 weeks long; the only contact with the outside world is through snail mail. I miss my girlfriend immensely and while I know she's doing something for her country that she's always wanted to do, it's hard on me. I digress, she loves your blog. I know the 4th of July is coming up and I ask you this not only for her, but also for the men and women in the Armed Forces who really know and FEEL the meaning behind this holiday. I think it would be very patriotic and meaningful to bake and decorate something in the spirit of the military, not just flags and sparklers like everyone else is doing - but something to show people that our military needs support and we need to remember them while we're lighting off fireworks at the family BBQ. You know?

Now, I'm asking this because I think it would touch a special place in some of your reader's hearts. I'm willing to bet you have quite a following amongst military wives and/or girlfriends. How nice would it be to show your support? I've served 3 tours in Iraq and am due to go to Afghanistan for a year in the next few months. I won't get to see my girlfriend graduate from bootcamp in September, I won't get to see her looking sharp in her uniform, I won't get to see the pride on her face as finally, at 28 years old, she joins the ranks of The Few, The Proud... so this would be my chance to show her I thought of her. This is your chance to show you think of our military, as many others should be doing. Maybe it'll get people to look for ways to support us with baked goods? During the colder months overseas, my girlfriend would bake cookies and anything else she could that would hold up to the travel and heat, and send on enough for my whole platoon. A taste of home, a taste of love... opening up a box with the smells of back home was something you just can't explain. It was magical. My girlfriend didn't stop there though, she adopted Marines, Soldiers and Airman through Anysoldier.com and sent them care packages and notes of encouragement.

I realize I'm all over the place here, but trying to get my point across is difficult without writing you a novel. I think you get the gist. 4th of July is about more and I'd love to write my girlfriend a letter and say, 'Bakerella appreciates the Armed Forces, when you get back to the real world and have access to a computer... go see her 4th of July post.' Now, I don't know if you'll do this or not and it's fine either way. I just wanted to tell you a little story and hope that maybe a tiny blurb in your blog would entice your readers into caring just a tiny bit more and thinking just a bit deeper on our Independence Day.

I appreciate your time in reading this!

Carlos

What a sweetheart. When I read his letter, I immediately wanted to make and send something to surprise his girlfriend. I thought, how cute would it be for her to open a box of colorful cake pops! Then, Carlos informed me that they can't receive food during boot camp. I pictured her being forced to eat all the pops at one time and then made to run 10 miles or something. I don't think she'd like that too much. Picture it. Cute little cake pops. Marines. Lollipop sticks. Marines. Sprinkles. Marines. Not the best idea for her sake.

Now, I can't send her anything sweet, but I can send her these sweet simple words of appreciation.

It's not much, but I hope that if you do see this when your 13 weeks of boot camp are over, that it puts a smile on your face. And know that you and all members of the armed forces were thought of this July 4th.

Plus… that Carlos… he sounds like a keeper.

What about you? Is there someone on your mind… or in your heart… this holiday?

Hope you all have a happy, safe and sweet Fourth of July!

Good Morning

2009-06-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Can I interest you in some pancakes?

Some Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes?

With Orange Maple Butter?

I thought so. I had the same reaction when I saw these in the June issue of Martha Stewart Living.

They called to me. Basically begged me to make them. And I'm so glad I did.

First up… make the Orange Maple Butter. (I did this the night before.)

You'll need:
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Combine all three in a small bowl with a rubber spatula.
Spoon the mixture on a piece of wax paper.
Roll and re-shape back into a stick of butter.
Twist the ends to secure the wax paper and refrigerate.

In the morning. Blueberry Cornmeal PANCAKES!

You'll need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar, plus two tsp for blueberries
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
2 cups blueberries
Extra butter for coating griddle
Maple Syrup
(Makes about 16)

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
Whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg in medium bowl.
Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.

Toss blueberries in a small bowl with 2 tsp sugar.
Heat a griddle over medium heat. Take extra butter and run over surface of griddle. Repeat as necessary throughout process.

Pour batter on griddle 1/4 cup at a time.
Add some of the sugared blueberries to each pancake.
Cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Flip and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.

I started out doing three at a time, but my griddle was not as big as I like.

So I switched to doing one at a a time. Takes a little longer, but the pancakes are prettier.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, June 2009. Online version here.

Martha also offers a good tip. As you are making the pancakes. Keep the finished ones on a cookie sheet in the oven at 200 degrees F to keep them warm.

Then, when you're all done.

Stack 'em and slap on some Orange Maple Butter

Oh my! Then pour on the maple syrup.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Aaaaahhhhhh…

… that's better.

Then dig in.

You'll be glad you did.

Triple Chocolate Trifle

2009-06-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Or more appropriately… How to Make the Best of a Messed Up Cake.

This dessert comes courtesy of my sister. She wanted to bake a cake for me - chocolate of course with chocolate chips - and was already to decorate it and surprise me. One problem. The cake stuck to the pan and fell to pieces when she tried to take it out.

Now, if it were me, I would have just made some cake balls out of it. But being the creative one that she is, she turned her mess into a masterpiece.

I don't have her cake recipe, but here's what you do.

1. Accidentally mess up your cake on purpose by mistake
2. Whip up some chocolate pudding
3. Layer it all in a trifle dish with some cool whip and refrigerate.

… and in the words of Tim Gunn… "Make it Work."

If she hadn't told me it was a mistake, I never would have known.

Actually, there was only one problem with this cold, creamy, cakelicious dessert. It was way too easy to eat. Let's just say, I wish I had a bigger spoon.

Where I Shop, Part 2

2009-06-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I took you on a fun photo tour of Cake Art Party Store (cakeart.com) – a great little cake supply place I visit often. But, what I didn't show you is all the candy making supplies they have. I've bought lots of stuff from them to make cake pops. Most importantly… candy melts. What would I do without these things. They come in 1 lb. bags of dark and milk chocolate as well as tons of colors…

… and flavors. Did you know these things come in peanut butter? They also have some mint flavored ones if you like.

Now, if the 1 lb. bags aren't enough for you, then throw a couple of these five pounders over your shoulder. FYI, these are superwhite vanilla coatings, not to be confused with white. Same thing, only brighter. And, if you buy a bunch of white candy melts, then you might even want to try tinting your own. It's really easy.

Just add a few drops of this stuff to the melted candy coating and color away. Make sure it says candy color, though. Regular food coloring contains water and will mess your chocolate up. I mean it.

100% Cocoa Butter. If I actually knew what I was doing, I would tell you all about how to use this stuff. But, I don't. The only thing I use cocoa butter on is a sunburn. Besides, it was sitting right next to the candy colors, so I took a picture of it for you.

Gigantic caramel chunks anyone? I've never used these, but they definitely catch my eye every time I walk down the candy aisle to get lollipop sticks. Actually, my mouth is stuck together right now just thinking about them.

Ahhhh, sticks! Thank you. Fat ones, skinny ones, paper ones, wood ones, short ones…

… and long ones!

Or if you're afraid of being stickless… bulk ones.

Of course, you'll want something to stick them in to let your cake pops dry. Styrofoam works great.

These are the medium peanut butter cup molds I use to make the Cupcake Bites. But, don't let these limit you…

Check out the endless variety of candy molds. They have them for just about anything. Any occasion, hobby or interest you can think of.

I'm waiting for when I can use these.

You can really get creative with the molds. Fill them with solid chocolate or add flavored fillings.

Using squeeze bottles makes it easier to pour chocolate into the molds.

And you can use brushes to paint on the molds with different layers of colored candy melts.

These are candy writers. They are really handy when you just need a little color and quick.

Just place the tube in a bowl of hot water to melt the candy and it's ready to use.

They come individually in several different colors.

Or try out the box set.

Oils. Need some banana cream flavored chocolate? Bubble Gum? Cranberry? How about root beer or mango?

I've used the orange flavor before when I made these orange-colored cake pops. The oils are super-strength and pack a bigger punch than normal extracts - so, you'll just need a few drops.

A lot of people have asked how to make their chocolate thinner. These paramount crystals do the trick. Just add a few pieces at a time to the melted candy coating and stir until they completely disappear. But, you can also use regular old shortening.

Miniature cutters. These are an alternative to the ones I use from Williams-Sonoma to make Cupcake Pops. The flower cutter on the left is the one you want. It comes in this Ateco set #4848.

Cello bags. These have a bronze/brown tint and they come in lots of sizes. I usually just use small clear plastic treat bags for the pops, though.

Look at these. I've never really paid much attention to these foil candy wrappers. I don't know why. Probably because there's just too much stuff to look at in this store. But, I definitely want to try them out soon. I'm thinking turquoise! No purple!

You could wrap some cake balls in foil and then place them in little candy cups. How cute!
Seriously… rock them Roche-Ferrero style.

Or you could place them in truffle boxes. I love boxes. Especially little ones.

More boxes.

I saved my favorite for last. Americolor edible ink pens. These have made cake pop decorating so much more fun for me. I started out buying these black ones. They come as a 2 pack. I've used them to draw eyes and smiles for cake pop faces and also on fondant covered cupcakes.

After buying the black ones over and over, I finally gave in and bought the full set of ten colors. The day I took these pictures they were sold out. Gone. MIA. Sorry.

But you're in luck.

Since then, I've been back and snagged a couple of sets.

And I'm putting them up for grabs. Yay! Here's what they look like.

Don't worry. These are mine. I wouldn't give you opened ones.

Here's a few examples of how I've used them in the past.

And, here are the new ones I am giving away to two lucky winners.

Enter for a chance to win:
A set of Americolor edible ink pens in assorted colors

Just leave a comment on this post and let me know how you would try them out. Cake pops? Cupcakes? Sugar cookies? Potato Chips? Whatever.
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is ~~Monday, June 22nd at 6 p.m. (recorded by the time stamp of your comment)~~ TIME'S UP - WINNERS BELOW!
Two winners will be chosen at random* and announced Monday evening on this post.

Good luck!

* using the Random.org integer generator

And the winners are…
Comment #188 - Brittney
Comment #2153 - Jodi
Yay! I hope you have as much fun with the pens as I have. And I want to see pics of your work!

Fast Food Fun

2009-06-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cupcake Buns + Brownie Burgers + Cookie Fries = One Happy Meal!

Or many…

I can hardly stand how cute these little guys are. You've probably seen them around before. I know I have. Cupcakes Take The Cake has featured cute ones. But, they are even cuter in person as I discovered this weekend. Oh my gawd… they just make me want to smile. I switched mine up a little by doing the burger out of brownies. But, you can just as easily make chocolate cupcakes and cut them in thirds to use instead. And if you want more realistic lettuce, tint some coconut (yuck) green.

I really decided to make these when I thought about making a meal out of them for Father's Day, complete with sugar cookie french fries. I wasn't sure if they would turn out, but I am so thrilled with the end result. Actually, I think the fries might be my favorite part.

Before I started baking, I made a template for a miniature paper box tray and french fry holder. You can download the 4-page pdf (636 KB) here if you want it. The pdf contains the tray template, french fry holder template (blank & with Happy Father's Day). It also includes the design for the Happy Father's Day tissue paper.

I printed the tray template on card stock (heavier weight paper), the french fry template on vellum (semi-transparent paper) and the tissue insert on tracing paper (really thin paper from Canson Art pad).

All three paper weights went through my printer fine - one sheet at a time to be safe. But, if you're unsure about running the tracing paper through your printer, then just use regular plain white tissue paper.

Cut out the shapes as shown in the picture above with scissors or a sharp blade. Then fold along all the printed lines. Use double-sided tape to secure the flaps. Cut the tissue paper in half and place in the tray print side down.

Now, for the baking. Keeping with the fast food fun theme, I went all mixes on these. That's right. I said mixes. For the cookies, brownies and the cupcakes. Don't cringe.

You know I love learning to bake new things from scratch because it's really empowering and satisfying and it usually tastes better, too. But, before a couple of years ago, I did all my baking from a box and really don't have a problem using a mix. There, I said it. I feel better now.

So, I picked up several kinds.

The brownies baked first in a 13 X 9 pan. You don't need any help there.

The cookies came next. I wanted to do rolled sugar cookies and luckily Mrs. Crocker offered some tips on how to convert the mix for better results.

Except I didn't do the whole floured surface thing. I used parchment paper underneath and on top of the dough. Then I rolled it out with a rolling pin using rubber band spacers attached to ensure an even thickness. This is a really handy trick and so not messy. I got these tips from the book, Cookie Craft. If you want to learn more about rolled sugar cookies, it's great.

See… perfectly even dough and a clean surface.

Here's where I started experimenting, but it worked out pretty well.

Cut the dough in thin strips with a sharp knife and then a long cut down the center. The varied lengths are fine because you don't want all your french fries exactly the same size. Remove the alternating strips so it won't bake into one giant blob. (Reserve dough strips and repeat) Sprinkle sugar on top of the dough. Bake for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

These spread more than I had hoped they would for rolled sugar cookies. I know. I know. The mix thing. But, no problem. Just take your knife and cut each "steak fry" down the center for "skinny fries." Do this right when they come out of the oven. Sprinkle more sugar on top while they are still warm, too. Lightly rub it on to make sure it sticks good.

And voila……

A big pile of fries. Yum! Try not to eat too many before you serve them. You can't eat just one. Trust me.

Next up… cupcakes. I made these the next morning to spread out the work.

Boxes, brownies, and fries on one day. Cupcakes and decorating the next.

I baked 24 cupcakes using a yellow cake mix. I also exchanged 1 cup of buttermilk instead of the water. It made them nice and yummy. To test, I greased and floured one 12-cup cupcake tray and used Pam on the second. I wanted my buns to have smooth sides, you know. Well, they came out smooth, but also brown.

You can see what's coming.

Yes. Yes. I made 24 more cupcakes. This time I used milk instead of water. No reason. Just to try it.

They were good, too. And this time I used paper liners to ensure the right color cupcake bun.

Now it's time to assemble. Cut each cooled cupcake in half or thirds depending on how tall it is. Cut out 24 circles from the completely cooled brownies and place in between the cupcake bun.
I used my ever so handy graduated circle cutters to do the trick. Size 2" for uniform burgers.

Then… and this might be the most important thing.

Take a break and dispose of the scraps……

… You'll figure something out.

Next up. Frostings.

Divide the canned frosting in three bowls. Two can have equal amounts for the mustard and ketchup. The third - a little more for the lettuce. The colors I used to tint were, Wilton Leaf Green, Wilton Golden Yellow, and Americolor Super Red.

Perty!

To make the red a little deeper, use a tiny bit of violet when you mix. Place each color in a ziploc bag and snip a small tip off one corner.

Gently squeeze out the mustard and ketchup first. Then the lettuce in more of a squiggly design. Place the top of the bun on and press gently.

Now for the finishing touch. Brush a very thin layer of water over the top of the bun or either dab a few drops of water on with your finger. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and they'll stick.

There you have it.

Brownie Burger Cupcakes

And Sugar Cookie French Fries.

A perfectly sweet meal for Dad's day or any day.

And, if you use this template, there's a blank french fry holder in it. Use it and you can serve these for a family cookout or Fourth of July party.

People will go crazy for them, don't you think.

Man, that's one good looking burger. So thick … and…

Tasty, too! Hope you like them.

Now, I'm curious. When it comes to mixes, how do you roll?
Use them? Refuse them? Or improve them?

Lemon Bars and a Little Helper

2009-06-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet squares of sugar and citrus. I love them … especially, when other people make them. Ha. What I mean is, when I think about baking something new, I usually lean towards recipes that include chocolate or either chocolate and sometimes chocolate. But every time I've ever eaten one of these yummy yellow squares, I think why haven't I ever made these things. So I did… kinda.

They're really easy and you don't even have to get out your mixer. First, grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan. I used a glass one. Next, you'll need to make a crust.

For the crust, you'll just need flour, butter and confectioner's sugar. Easy enough.

Whisk together 1 3/4 cup flour and 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar. Add 1 cup cold butter.

Then cut in the butter until the mixture is incorporated and crumbly. I used the back of a fork to work the butter into the flour. When it gets crumbly, pour it into your greased and floured pan and press firmly into the bottom. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the crust is baking, you can prepare the lemon topping.

Again, easy ingredients. Flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and lemon juice. Pretend that's freshly squeezed juice from real lemons on the right. I didn't have any on hand.

But before we go on, let me show you my little helper. She always asks to crack the eggs open if she's around when I'm baking. And when she looks at me with those eyes, I'm sure you know the answer.

She's great at it, too. So good, in fact, that I let her finish up the rest of the work.

Slightly beat the four eggs and set aside. Then, measure 1 1/2 cups sugar making sure it exactly meets the line on the measuring cup. She's very precise.

Now you'll need 1/2 cup lemon juice. Right now I wish I had those lemons, so she could experience squeezing the juice out of them. Oh well… moving on. In another large bowl, add the 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 4 slightly beaten eggs and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Look at those hands. Steady.

Stir all that together really good.

And then pour it on top of the warm baked crust. Bake for another 20-25 minutes.

Remove and cool completely. Sprinkle with extra confectioner's sugar and refrigerate.

Yum! And even better, I still don't have to make them. She can do it for me while I make something chocolatey. Yippee!

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar (plus more for dusting)

Topping:
1 1/2 cup plain sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 9 X 13 pan

To make crust:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and confectioner's sugar
Cut in butter until combined and crumbly.
Press mixture into bottom of pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

To make topping:

While crust is baking, prepare topping.
In a larger bowl, add sugar, flour, and baking powder.
Then add slightly beaten eggs and lemon juice.
Mix well and pour on top of warm baked crust.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
When cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and refrigerate.
Cut into bars and enjoy them cold!

Cheesecake Pops!

2009-05-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, be honest. How many of you saw this coming? After last week's cheesecake success, It was finally the perfect opportunity to give these little treats a try. The first time I remember seeing them was April, a year ago. I remember because I had not been home long after showing Martha how to make Cupcake Pops. I was looking at some of my favorite blogs and everywhere I looked, I started seeing chocolate covered balls on sticks. I mean everywhere. I was like, holy cow, Martha really has some heavy mojo. Then, I laughed at myself when I realized, Martha and I had nothing to do with it. The pops I was seeing were part of a Daring Bakers Challenge where tons of bloggers tackle a new dessert each month and that month they had coincidentally picked cheesecake pops inspired by the book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. Well, I finally saw this book a couple of weeks ago in the bookstore, and I had to immediately have it. Let me just tell you, it is a feast for your sugar-loving eyes. When I flipped through it again last weekend, I was reminded of all those beautiful cheesecake pops and it seemed only natural for me to finally give them a go.

And, it didn't hurt any that I had half a plain jane cheesecake sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be experimented on.

I used a small ice cream scoop and scooped up as many balls as I could, trying not to scrape the graham cracker crust into it. I didn't want it to look ugly, you know. I guess, if I was going to make these on purpose, I would bake my cheesecake in a regular 2-3" high cake pan and not use a crust at all.

I got 12 easy, from half of the cheesecake. I could have probably squeaked out a couple more, but I might have eaten a few sections of cheesecake along the way. Maybe.

I didn't really roll these, but I did kind of shape them a little to make them more round.

And, then because they were lumpier than I am used to with the cake pops, I dropped each one in a small bowl filled with graham cracker crumbs and rolled it around to coat. This helped to shape them better as well.

Then, I popped them in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. (Maybe about 20-30 min. for these.)

While they were chilling. I heated up some chocolate candy melts in the microwave (30 sec intervals, stirring in between) and got my sticks and decorations ready.

I went with teeny tiny hearts in red, white and pink. A hearts and jimmies mix in red, white pink and brown … and also just some dark chocolate that I chopped up in a mini food processor.

Note: I'm pretty sure a few of you are going to want to know where those baking cups came from. Check out www.confectioneryhouse.com

So, after the balls became firm, I dipped one end of my lollipop stick in some of the melted candy coating and then inserted it into the cheesecake ball. I immediately dunked the pop in a deep bowl of melted candy coating and then sprinkled to decorate. Each one was then placed in a styrofoam block to completely dry. Then, they went in the refrigerator to await their fate.

Note: It will really help if you use a bowl that is deep enough to completely submerge the pop in chocolate and remove in one motion. It also helps if your chocolate is on the thinner side. (You can melt a little shortening in it to thin it out some.) Once, you remove it, carefully tap the excess off while balancing the pop on the stick. You may need to rotate your hand so that gravity keeps the pop in place long enough for the chocolate to start to set around the base. Add the decorations before it sets too much also or they won't stick to the surface. These were slightly harder to manage than the cake pops. One… they were larger and heavier because of using the scooper. Two… the cheesecake texture wasn't as sticky as the cake pop mixture.

But… I think they turned out beautifully.

Let's take a closer look…

A little closer.

Closer.

Whoops, just couldn't resist. YUM-O-RAMA!

So, you say you don't want to do a balancing act to make all these on sticks. Here's another way you can do it. And it's easier.

Take your graham cracker-coated cheesecake ball and drop it in the bowl of melted candy coating.

Don't stir it. Just spoon some chocolate over the top until it is covered. Then, scoop it out with a spoon and tap off some of the excess by tapping the spoon on the side of the bowl. Then, just let it slide right off onto some wax paper. Insert your stick and add any decorations. Told you this was easier. I didn't tap these as much as I do regular cake balls because I was going for the Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey look that Jill O'Connor shows in her book.

Messy looks good, too, don't you think?

If you want to make some Cheesecake Pops … you will need:

Cheesecake (Buy one if you want to get straight to the fun stuff. Shhh… I won't tell. You can also use this recipe.)
Mini ice cream scoop
Chocolate candy melts
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
Wax paper
Dark chocolate, chopped
Graham cracker crumbs
Dipping bowl
Styrofoam block

and…

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey if you want to feast your eyes on more messy yumminess.

You can also check the Google results for the Daring Baker's Cheesecake Pop Challenge and see tons more versions to drool over.

Enjoy!

Just some cute cupcake stuff

2009-05-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

I used these cards today and it reminded me of a bunch of cute cupcake stuff that's crossed my path recently. These are letterpress cards from Dingbat Press. If you've been following the site for a while, you'll remember these she made for me a while back. I love letterpress. Love it. It's so substantial and makes writing much more fun. Check out her site and you'll find a ton of other gorgeous designs.

www.dingbatpress.com

Want to see more?

Okeedokey.

See this bag. It's a camera bag that was offered to me by Tracy Joy Designs. She had one cupcake design left and gave it to me for the price of shipping. Now, I usually don't like pattern stuff. I'm a solids kind of girl, but I thought what the heck… that's a pretty good deal… and maybe I'll do a giveaway with it or something.

It arrived the day before I went to Oklahoma to visit the Pioneer Woman and as it would happen, I needed a carry on bag for the flight. How convenient! It was perfect. Lots of pockets for lenses that I used for stuff and a long strap to hang over my shoulder so I could lug two other bags full of cake pop supplies.… Kinda smooshable so I could stuff it under the seat in front of me. Needless to say, I'm not using it for my camera and I'm not giving it away. It's my new travel companion. (sorry)

And, here's the best part - that I didn't even notice until I was on the way home. The flap is removable. You can switch it up with different designs. Cute, huh! I don't think this style is available in her store, but I bet you could do a special order. And if not, she has other cute bags.

www.tracyjoy.com

Oh no. I was wrong. I just went to their site to get the link for you and it turns out they are closing shop. Serves me right for waiting so long to post this. But, the good news is they are having a BIG sale on all their remaining inventory. Maybe you can score a deal.

Now, control yourself. These are really adorable.

Heavy metal cupcake measuring spoons. Look at the inside and the handles. Eeeeeeeek! Keeeeeuuute!

Look at their bottoms. And look at the handles, they have tiny hearts on them.

My new friend, Pioneer Woman Cake Pop Demonstration Winner, and blogger… Starwoodgal, gave them to me. She found them at a charming little store in Arkansas called Signed Sealed Delivered. I looked on their site and couldn't find them, so here's another place to get them.

Recognize these little guys? They're from Cakespy. You know how much I love Cakespy and her L'il Cuppie character. I have several of her paintings and now I can spread the sweetness with these little cute note cards. She also has buttons, magnets and a bunch of fun paintings.

Cakespy Shop

How could you be blue with this hanging around your neck. I bought this vintage necklace with plastic cupcake pendant recently from Very Happy Everything. They just got started on etsy, but have tons of cute necklaces. I'll warn you, though. You need to have a little whimsy in your bones for some of the designs… like the Hammerhead sharks with bow ties. Oh, to be in their brain for a few minutes.

Very Happy Everything

Crocheted cupcakes! A reader sent me these the other day. Hi Jackie from New York. How are you? Thank you so much for these and all the time it took to make them. I've never crocheted anything, so I have to say, I'm super-impressed.

Cupcake Pops! Nope. They're actually cupcake soaps on sticks. LoveLeeSoaps gave me these. They look pretty real, huh? You should see some of the other stuff she makes. It's all crazy cute! I promise.

LoveLeeSoaps

I also found this in my pantry today. Sprinkles cupcake mix. Sprinkles was very thoughtful to start selling a mix version of their fabulous cupcakes at Williams-Sonoma. Especially since I have been waiting FOREVER for them to open a store anywhere within a day's drive from me. I had the real things once, and I've been thinking about them ever since.

But, here's the problem with this mix and things like it. If you notice the expiration date on the right, you'll see that I've had it for quite a while… way before that date even. It's a quirk of mine. I find it extremely difficult to open cute packaging. I would rather just look at it contained, than open it. Quirky, right?

Sprinkles Cupcake Mix

Here's another example of really cute packaging from Chronicle Books. Take a look at this Cupcake Kit! It's so cute, I haven't even opened the box to hold and look at all the fun stuff inside.

But, guess what?! I have two of them.

So, maybe you can help me out. If I give one away, will you open it and tell me how fun everything inside is?

Please, because I'm going to put the other one on a shelf and stare at it.

Okay, it's settled. One of these kits is up for grabs. But which one of you wants it? Let me know.

Enter for a chance to win:
A Cupcake Kit

Just leave a comment on this post and let me if you want to tear into this box. Easy.
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is ~~Friday, May 29th at 9 p.m.~~ Sorry, Time's Up! Winner below. (recorded by the time stamp of your comment)
One winner will be chosen at random* and announced sometime Saturday morning on this post.

* One winner will be chosen at random, using random.org's integer generator.

Time to reveal the winner.

It's…

It's…

It's comment number…

1,132

Congratulations eRika! The goodies will be in your hands soon. I hope you have fun with it.

Now, guess what?! I've decided to go ahead and give the second one away also. That's right. Two winners. Why? Because you guys are always so great and I know I will just be staring at mine on the shelf. I think I would feel guilty knowing how badly so many of you wanted one.

And the second winner is comment number 40. Ooooh, a low number this time. Who's it gonna be?
Jenni, of course. And, I'd love to see any results from your new cupcake kit.

Thanks everyone who entered and graciously agreed to tear into this box for me. Some of you even have the same packaging problem as I do. (Yay, I'm not alone.) And, some of you… well, let's just say I wouldn't want to come between you and any sort of wrapped gift. But, it would be fun to watch. There were a total of exactly 2,800 entries for this giveaway and it was one I really enjoyed reading. Made me laugh, smile and wish I had even more kits to give. And Carissa, even though you didn't win, and you were "number two-thousand-four hundred and fifty," I did read your comment. Hi!

Cheesecake!

2009-05-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Need a fork? Or maybe a shovel. This is one ginormous piece of cheesecake. And oh boy, was it good. The cheesecake, that is. Personally, I can do without a bunch of fru fru when it comes to cheesecake. But, I wanted to dress a slice up and make it all pretty for you. This one is topped with raspberry, whipped cream, and white chocolate. It's also the first real grown-up cheesecake I think I've ever made. Yay me! (Anyone else, hear London Tipton in their head when they read that? If you didn't, don't worry, that means the Disney Channel hasn't infiltrated your brain.)

The only other kind of cheesecake I've made are these itsy-bitsy mini ones. Take a look. You'll love how easy they are.

Anyway, when it comes to cheesecake, this is how I like mine.

Plain. Jane. No whipped cream. No whole fruit. Ever. Just dense and delicious. But, on occasion, I don't mind a little raspberry sauce to touch it. I actually don't mind fruit flavors at all. I just won't eat the actual fruit. For instance, on these itsy bitsy mini ones. The cherries had to go. Cherry sauce… fine. Cherries… trash can. I know. I'm weird like that.

But, not totally weird. I do like other cheesecake flavors, like Oreo, chocolate, of course, and just about every other combination from the Cheesecake Factory - as long as it's served without whipped cream or whole fruit. But, I usually gravitate towards the classic… and then I hope someone else orders a different flavor so I can try it.

And now that I've had success, I may just have to do some more experimenting on my own. This was really so easy, I don't know why I've been hesitant to try making one for so long.

Start with the crust. Graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter mixed together.

Then press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a springform pan.

Cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream, vanilla, flour, and lemon juice. Dump it in.

And in a little over an hour, voila…

… cheesecake!

Now, it wasn't perfect. It did have a crack going through the middle. From what I understand, this can be a common annoyance. You can see a hint of it to the right in this photo. But, that's ok. You can cover stuff up like that with a sauce, or chocolate, or caramel and nuts, or (gags) whipped cream. Or just go ahead and slice the cheesecake, avoiding any defect.

For the raspberry sauce, I just used some jelly and heated it up until it was thin enough to spread on in a thin layer. Easy!

Here's the entire recipe if you want to give it a go.

Cheesecake

2.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

4 (8oz.) packages cream cheese
1.5 cups sugar
3 Tbsp flour
5 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Optional:
raspberry jelly
fresh raspberries
1 cup heavy whipping cream + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
white chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar.
Stir in melted butter until moistened.
Pour the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan (3 inches tall). Press the crumbs into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the pan.
Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temperature.

To make the cheesecake filling, cream the sugar, cream cheese and flour with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.
On medium low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition.
On low, add sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla just until combined.
Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325.
Make sure to take it out of the oven before the center looks done. It will be kind of wobbly and it will move in one piece. The center will look more shiny than the edges. That's ok because it will continue to cook a little while it's in the pan.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely to room temperature.
Hope that it doesn't crack.
Go ahead and separate the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a knife around the edges. I also opened and reclosed the springform pan to help separate.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight. That's right. It's best to make this the day before because it needs plenty of time to chill and firm up.

Before serving: Heat up some raspberry jelly on low heat until the consistency is thin. Spread on top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate while you do the following.
Melt some white chocolate and put it in a ziploc bag or squeeze bottle. Draw abstract (see first photo) shapes on wax paper and let dry.
Pour some heavy whipping cream in a small chilled metal bowl. Add 2 Tbsp powdered sugar and beat the cream on high until it becomes firm and thick.
Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator and spoon on whipped cream or use a decorating bag with a 1M tip to decorate.
Top with fresh raspberries and white chocolate decorations.

Enjoy!

Now, before I let you go, I'm curious. How do you roll?
Plain Jane or Fancy Shmancy?

Or somewhere in between?

The Cupcake Tower

2009-05-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

My bestest friend's daughter received first communion this past weekend and my friend asked me to make cupcakes for the party afterwards.

I immediately said sure. No problem. How many do you want?

She goes, "How about 50. Yeah, at least 50."

50? Ummm… okay. Thinking in the back of my mind… How am I going to transport 50 cupcakes and still keep them as fresh as possible because I'll have to make them the night before? And what am I going to carry them all in and put them on? Now, that may not sound like a lot to you guys, but it is when you've never done that many for someone else before and especially for a whole bunch of people you'll have to look in the face if they don't like them. I'm not a caterer, you know.… I tend to panic right before I bake. I'm weird like that…

… and, then how to decorate them? What do you do for communion cupcakes anyway?

Luckily, I still had the invitation laying around, so I just used it for inspiration.

And, after visiting several stores, I finally found a 4-tier Cupcake Tower from Wilton that would hold about 36 cupcakes. That was the biggest I could find, and seeing as how I waited until the last minute… I grabbed it.

I wanted each tier to alternate with the design, so I started planning and put my math skills to work.

12 + 8 + 1 = 21 (Excellent… Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes makes about 22.) Check! These will be chocolate cupcakes with pink tinted vanilla buttercream frosting. YUM!

10 + 6 = 16 (Yay… Half of this moist yellow cake recipe makes about 18) Perfect! These will be vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. YUM! YUM!

Note: I doubled the buttercream recipe for each of these so I would have enough… especially for the swirly ones (made with the 1M tip).

But wait… that's 37. Perfect for the cupcake tower, but I need 50. Not enough. (I got As in math, by the way.)

So I made another batch of cupcakes by halving this Easter cupcake recipe from a few weeks ago and a chocolate cream cheese frosting. I could have doubled one of the others, but I decided to make a third kind. That way I could have people choose their favorite chocolate one. I like feedback.

The night before I made the cupcakes, I made these cute little toppers. I tinted some fondant pink and used my favorite set of double-sided graduated cutters to make the shapes. These were going on the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. They'll really pop on white.

Then, I tinted some more of the fondant a dark brown. To get it this dark, use brown and then add some violet until you get the right shade.

For the crosses, I photocopied the invitation and scaled it down until it was a size that would fit inside of the pink shape when cut out.

Then, all you have to do is roll out the fondant and cut it in rectangular shapes that match the height and width of the cross. Mine are a little uneven, but no worries.

Because, you can make adjustments when you finish up the crosses. And all you do for that is remove sections from each of the four corners with a cutter until you are left with the remaining cross shape. Her invitation had edges that varied in width, so I used this tiny triangle cutter to do the job. You can just as easily use a square cutter and end up with evenly shaped sides.

Then, use a tiny dab of water on the underside of the crosses and attach them to the pink fondant cutouts. Easy.

Now I had plenty of toppers, plenty of cupcakes and plenty of frosting. But not plenty of room to showcase them. Remember, the tower only holds 36 and I now had 50 some odd cupcakes.

What to do? What to do?

Ask Martha of course. She always has an answer.

I found this beautiful display in my Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine (Spring 2009). They're made of graduated hat boxes and wrapped with designs printed on card stock. Cool, huh. I got really excited and even thought about ditching the whole cupcake tower thing. She has very detailed instructions here. But, after reading, I realized they were for mini cupcakes. Nooooooo! And even though I got A's in math, I didn't feel like figuring out all the conversions to adjust. Yuck-o-rama.

So, I took her lead and went looking for hat boxes… in any size I could find. Which wasn't many. I found big and round and that's about it. So instead of stacking mine, I made two separate displays.

I think they came out super cute. If you look closely, the design is the same as the background in the invitation, above.

I copied the ornamental design and repeated the pattern on an 11X17 document and printed it out on heavyweight paper.

Then, I cut the paper horizontally in half in a wavy line that went in between two rows of the ornamental pattern. Does that make sense? Hope so.

Then, I trimmed off the outer edges since my printer won't bleed the image to the edge of the paper and taped two of the pieces together to wrap around the hat box.

If I was Martha Stewart, I would have figured out precise measurements and made sure the patterns matched up at the meeting points, but I'm not and no one noticed that they were off by a hair.

Heck, no one even noticed that I used the pattern from the invitation. Bummer. I think I was more proud about that than the cupcakes.

And, ooooh, the cupcakes. They were so good. Especially these with the chocolate cream cheese frosting. But so were the other chocolate cupcakes with the pink buttercream… the cake was more chocolatey. It's a draw, I guess. Notice the second set of fondant toppers I made… smaller and cuter.

Check this one out. After covered in frosting I put these giant chocolate sprinkles on.

A big thanks to my new friend Liz in Greece who sent them to me. I think they're actually made in Belgium, though. Look how shiny and big they are compared to the normal chocolate sprinkles I usually find. They taste great, they come in a big box and they even have a handy pourable spout. I love 'em!

And, so did she. The sprinkle ones were her favorite. She was so sweet. She almost made me tear up when she said they were the very best things I ever made for her.… then she said… except the Halloween Cake Pops … and except the Easter Basket Cupcakes. Cute. I'm just glad I made her smile.

Now… who wants a Cupcake Tower? I know. I know. I usually don't do two giveaways in a row, but I actually liked this thing a lot!

It's simple and easy to use.

It stays nested for storage and it even tilts slightly to give a better view of the cupcakes. And best of all, it was only $20 bucks! Score!

I liked it so much, I want someone else to enjoy it with me.

So, I'm gonna give away three of them.

Enter for a chance to win:
A Cupcake Tower

Just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite cupcake flavor combination. I'm curious.
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is ~~Tuesday, May 19th at 5:00 p.m.~~ WINNERS BELOW (recorded by the comment time stamp)
Three winners will be chosen at random* and announced sometime Tuesday evening on this post.

* One winner will be chosen at random, using random.org's integer generator.

Good Luck!

Oh my gosh, all the flavors you guys listed are making me crave some cupcakes. I'd take any flavor as long as I can have one right now… even coconut. And, by the way, I'm glad to see so many of you love red velvet as much as I do. And cream cheese frosting. Yum! Okay, let's see who won from the 3,986 entries.

A big cupcake tower congrats to:
Commenter # 1879 - James-n-Amber
Commenter # 390 - Jessica
Commenter # 1796 - Camille

Where I shop…

2009-05-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Cake Art Party Store! I started going here about two years ago when the baking and cake decorating bug bit me. When I first walked in, I was overwhelmed. Actually, I'm still overwhelmed. There's so much stuff I don't know… don't even have a clue about… but I feel like I learn something new every single time I visit. Unfortunately, I can't do that very often because this store makes me spend money.

Like on these things. I'm serious… this place is dangerous. I think I get a sugar high or something when I walk in … my heart starts racing … I start picking random stuff up. And when I get home, bags full… I'm like, what just happened.

But, when you see all these… in one place. You start thinking… do I have enough yellow sprinkles. I can't remember. Okay, get some more and get some blue ones, and red ones while you're at it.

And then, you start thinking that you can't live without blue teddy bear sprinkles or green palm tree sprinkles, or pink pigs. And what if someone has a baby… I need those baby sprinkles or wait, boys like cupcakes… what about helmet and football sprinkles. You see where I'm going. Let's just say that I have accumulated my fair share of sprinkles.

The funny thing is … I hardly ever use them on cupcakes or cakes. It just makes me feel good knowing I have them just in case. I know … weird! But, they do come in handy when it comes to decorating cake pops, so that's how I justify it.

You can even buy them in bags!

Here's something I've never tried… and I think I'll leave for the pros… Airbrush! Pretty colors, though.

Speaking of colors… did you know you can buy rolled fondant that is already tinted?

I started doing this recently with red fondant because it is seriously a pain to tint it yourself and get it a deep red color.

Now, a lot of people don't like the taste of fondant, they just like the look of it from a visual perspective. So, if you just want to experiment, then play around and buy it pre-made. Just don't get this much. You can stick with the 1 pound packages.

Or if you really want, make some from scratch. I hear marshmallow fondant is pretty good.

Anyone need 25 lbs of buttercream frosting?

Or tinted buttercream?

Not me. I like to make my own buttercream and tint it myself. Yummy!

Need some petit four icing? Just snip the tip and go. Great for beginners.

Marzipan… I haven't dabbled in this stuff yet, but I do like saying the name. Marzipan!

Check this out! This might just be the best part of the store. Pans! Round ones, oval ones, heart-shaped ones, square ones! And in graduated sizes, too! And different heights! Help me, please.

Tools. I love tools. Offset spatulas and flat spatulas. Thank you.

Inside these little trays are every decorating tip you can think of and some you can't. Grab some disposable bags and couplers and you're set.

There's so much stuff in the store that you can miss little things like this. Petal dust and luster dust… I think I'm in love. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Need to stack a big cake? Sorry, I can't help you… haven't done that.

Mine are little and usually just end up on cake boards like these.

And sometimes, they get put in cake boxes. I love cake boxes. Especially the tiny ones.
Little cakes in little boxes are just the cutest!

Need some party supplies? They have that, too.

Baking cups for boys and girls.

Tons and tons of plastic cake toppers. I've never bought anything down this aisle…

But, this one made me laugh so hard, I almost bought it for a Mother's Day cake. Then, I pictured myself on Cake Wrecks and stopped myself. :)

Father's Day is around the corner, though…

Almost done… hang in there. Cookie cutters are always fun to have.

And so are these. I have this set of dual sided graduated cutters. I love them and they come in super handy when I make fondant covered cupcakes.

Gadgets galore! I can't stand in this section too long because my pantry just isn't big enough.

And guess what… that's just the half of it. Actually, the 1/8th of it. I wish I could show you everything.
Coming soon… candy stuff!

Hope you guys liked looking at all that stuff and thanks Cake Art for letting me show everyone that there's a much bigger cake world than the 9 inch cake pans I used to buy in the grocery store. And guess what guys… most of it's easier than you think.

www.cakeart.com
Cake Art Party Store
3744 Lawrenceville Hwy.
Tucker, GA 30084

And, because I made you scroll through all those pictures, how about a little giveaway for you sprinkle lovers!

Enter for a chance to win:
I'm giving away 20 different kinds of sprinkles!
(picked out by me)
Want some?

Just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite baking or decorating item or tool or even some elusive sprinkles you've been looking for.
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is ~~Monday, May 11th at 6:00 p.m.~~ (recorded by the comment time stamp)
The winner will be chosen at random* and announced sometime Monday evening on this post.

* One winner will be chosen at random, using random.org's integer generator.

Good Luck!

Sorry, TIME'S UP!
The Sprinkle Winner is none other than Comment #936!
Yay Cam! Have any Sprinkle preferences?

Candy Cup Caps

2009-05-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what I'm going to make with all this stuff?

Little bitty candy cup graduation caps. That's what.

I don't even know anyone that's graduating this year. But, because so many of you asked… here they are and hope you like…

Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sweetly Sour Belts! Ummm… Can you say mouthful? When I found these in the candy aisle at the drug store, I had to grab them. I knew I could find something fun to do with them.

And besides… they're just plain pretty!

These were definitely the inspiration for the graduation caps. They make perfect tassles and give you color choices at the same time. Just cut apart each color strip with a knife.

Now, grab a bag of miniature Reese's peanut butter cups. But, before you unwrap them, stick them in the freezer for a few minutes. It will make it easier to remove the wrapper and keep the sides looking pretty when you do.

If you remove the wrappers while the candies are room temperature, the sides sometimes come off with the wrapper like this. But that's okay, because these rejects taste good.

After you unwrap them, place all the cups on a sheet of wax paper and let them get back to room temperature. When the chill is gone, dip the end of your lollipop stick in some melted candy coating and carefully insert into the candy cups. If they are too cold, the cups will split apart. Just insert the sticks about halfway and let dry.

Now, work on the tops. I used these small Godiva chocolate squares. They aren't the cheapest little things, but the proportions were perfect and because they were individually wrapped, the edges were clean. I found them at a store called the World Market a while ago. Just draw a thin line of candy coating on top with a toothpick and glue on a short piece of the candy belt and a rainbow chip sprinkle in the same color to match.

When the tops are dry, glue them on the candy cups using some more of the candy coating and insert into a styrofoam block to finish drying.

Cute!

But, wait a minute. What if you don't want brown graduation caps?

Or maybe you're just dying to do the whole cake pop thing. Well, you're in luck.

Grab some colored candy melts and get your hands on one of these square candy molds.

Pour some melted candy coating in each square and then drop it on the counter several times to flatten/smooth out the chocolate. Put them in the freezer for a few minutes and it will be easier to pop them out of the molds.

You can also use one of these medium size candy cup molds. I've shown them before with the Cake Bite Method. Just fill the bottom of the cup with some melted candy. Place small, chilled cake ball shapes (smaller than the width of the mold) and push them into the candy coating until the coating inches up the sides. That one on the right is how they look for the Cake Bite Method, but for these they should be almost flush with the height of the molds.

Then, cover the exposed areas with more melted candy coating. When covered, insert lollipop sticks about halfway in. By the way, using chilled cake balls here helps the sticks stand up straight when you insert them. Then place these in the freezer for a few minutes and when dry, they'll pop out relatively easy. Don't try to pull them out by the sticks, though. Push them out by pressing on the mold underneath.

Then, you can glue everything on. Instead of rainbow chip sprinkles, use a mini-size m&m because these hats are larger in size than the Reese's version.

And there you have it… Colored Candy Covered Cake Ball Caps!

P.S. If you can't find Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sour Belts, then try pull apart Twizzlers. They are bigger and round, but if you cut them in half, I think you can glue them, flat side down.

Mom & Pops

2009-05-03T05:05:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is next Sunday, so I thought this was as good a time as any to experiment with some Flower Cake Pops. And, I had a bunch of leftover Bunny Candy Corn to get rid of, too. In addition to bunny ears, they make great pastel petals don't you think.

I'm going to pretend that all of you that made the bunny pops still have these handy, too. You'll need 8-10 pieces for each flower.

Make your cake pops following the basic cake pop instructions, but instead of shaping the pops into balls, make them more oval-shaped with one end flat so you can glue the flower parts on. Also, if you don't want to make the entire recipe into flowers, you can divide the baked cake into fourths and freeze the unwanted sections for later use. Yay!

12 cake pops = 1/4 9 X 13 cake
24 cake pops = 1/2 9 X13 cake
36 cake pops = 3/4 9 X 13 cake
48 cake pops = One 9 X 13 cake

Man… I'm good at math.

Make sure you divide the frosting appropriately also.

Dip the pops in the color candy melts you want for your base. I used white here because it blended in with the white part of the candy corn and camouflaged the gaps a little.

Once dipped, let the cake pops dry standing up in a styrofoam block.

When dry, dip the flat tops back in some of the melted candy coating. This will act as the glue. The coating should be starting to cool off so it takes less time to dry when you attach the pieces.

Now for the balancing act.

Lightly grip the cake pop in your left hand, so your thumb and forefinger can act as a ledge for the candy corn to rest on when you attach them to the top of the pop. If you can do this without letting your hands touch the sides of the cake pop… even better because your body heat can start to melt the sides if you're not careful. It helps a little to let the lollipop stick rest on your leg if you are sitting down.

I know. I know. Sounds like a lot of work. But, I had come this far and they were for… you know… the person who gave birth to me.

Hold them in place long enough for the pieces to set/dry in place and not slide down the side of the pop… which will happen if you remove your hand too soon. Did I mention that this was an experiment? Anyway, when attached, place a tiny bit of candy coating in the center and attach the yellow candies to finish off the flower. Right about here, I realized how happy I was that I decided to only make a dozen of these.

Another method is instead of dipping the top of the pop in candy melts is to apply one petal at a time by dipping the bottom of the candy corn in some of the melted candy coating and then glue it to the top. Wait a minute. Did you get all that? Because I think my head is going to explode.

I wish I had a picture to show you all of this, but my hands were kinda busy.

It's a good idea to get all your pieces ready before you start any glueing. The centers in this case were yellow mint candies from The Fresh Market. (But m&ms would work, too.) And, if you're like most of the population, and don't have extra bunny corn laying around, you can try using licorice pastels and licorice buttons or check out the nearest candy aisle and get creative.

These licorice candies give more of a wildflower look, but still pretty. I like them (also from the Fresh Market) because their shapes are a little more irregular. You can also get Good & Plenty brand licorice candies in this color pink. They are just a little bit fatter and more uniform in shape.

When all the flowers are made, you can arrange them in a small heavy basket or vase (The heavier, the better, so it doesn't tip over) with at least 2-inch thick styrofoam in the bottom. Also if you decide to transport, keep the flowers from touching each other. The petals can be knocked off easily if they fall into each other.

Gosh, It sounds like I've given you plenty of reasons not to try these. Hopefully the finished product makes up for it.

And, don't worry. I already have an easier flower design in mind for the future. One not influenced by left-over candy pieces : )

Here are some other Mother's Day ideas:
Flower Cupcakes
Mom Tattoo Cupcake

What was I thinking?

2009-04-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to make homemade cake doughnuts? Not the yeast kind… the cake kind? Well, I tried to last weekend and it was a disaster. I had dough stuck to my hands. Stuck to the counter. I did manage to squeak out a few doughnuts, but they ended up with crusty outsides and doughy, sticky insides. I was really frustrated, disappointed and ultimately donutless. But, I'm pretty sure I know what went wrong.

When recipes say generously flour your surface… They mean it
When recipes say heat oil to 365 degrees. They mean it. (But, in my defense, I didn't have an oil thermometer and the oil looked hot.)

So this weekend, I gave it another go… and with much better results. Not perfect, but much better.

The dough was really sticky on both attempts, so I was sure something was wrong. But this time, I generously floured everything around… the surface, the rolling pin, my hands, me. I sprinkled flour on top of flour determined to make the dough workable.

And it worked. I was able to roll out the dough and cut circle shapes for the doughnuts. I don't have a doughnut cutter, so I used two different size circle cutters. One about 3 inches wide and the other about 1 inch wide. Looks pretty good, huh?!

Not so fast. Ugh! I guess I still didn't use enough flour because I couldn't get them to come away from the surface.

Frustrated, again… I just took the dough in my hand and formed doughnut patties and I used the small cutter to remove the centers while still holding the dough. (Hey, it worked.)

Eventually, though, I got it down and was able to turn out some really pretty ones that I could even pick up. Yay!

They went in the oil when the temperature was right.

And I knew just when that would be because of my handy dandy new oil thermometer. It definitely makes a difference.

See. Doughnuts. (applause, here)

The best thing about doughnuts? The scraps.

You can fry them, too. Cover them in powdered sugar and it almost makes it worth all the trouble.

You can also make a glaze and dip the tops of your doughnuts.

Sprinkles don't hurt either.

Yum! And definitely not doughy inside. They were really pretty good. Maybe a tiny bit dry… or maybe I left them in the oil too long.

But, I'm not going to find out.

It was fun trying something new, but the next time I want doughnuts, I'll be hitting up my local Dunkin' Donuts for some chocolate glazed munchkins… and maybe a few blueberry ones for kicks.

Here's the recipe I concocted after researching multiple ones for cake doughnuts in case you want to improve on it.

Slightly Dry Cake Doughnuts
4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk*
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Beat eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Add sugar and continue beating until combined.
In another bowl, combine melted butter, milk and vanilla.
Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture stir until combined.
Chill the dough for about 30 minutes to make it easier to work with. (Ha!)
Generously flour your work surface and roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick.
Use a doughnut cutter or two circle cutters (1 and 3 inch) to cut out shapes.
Heat about 2 quarts oil (about 3 inchees deep) in a large, heavy pot to about about 360 degrees.
Fry 1-2 doughnuts at a time about a minute on each side. (I didn't actually time this, but it wasn't too long)
Remove and place on a paper towel-lined tray.
When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar or dip them in a vanilla glaze.
Makes 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes.

* Most of the recipes called for a cup of milk. I dropped it back thinking the dough was too wet, but it probably needs it for the moistness if you can figure out how to work with the dough. :)

Vanilla glaze
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3-5 Tbsp milk

With a mixer, mix sugar and butter.
Add vanilla
Add milk one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Enjoy?

P.S. Here's what happens when you don't own an oil thermometer. Doughnut disaster!

Hey Y'all!

2009-04-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

My cake fell … and it was fantastic! Actually, it was supposed to fall. It's a recipe for a flourless chocolate cake that I used straight from the pages of Paula Deen's Chocolate Celebration Magazine.

I bought this publication several months ago mainly because of the cover… Chocolate and Paula… you can't go wrong there. But, to be honest I haven't made anything from it until this Saturday. I've looked at it a bunch of times and made notes of all the recipes I want to try, but nothing until now.

So, this weekend, I finally decided to go for her Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake Recipe because I've never made a flourless cake before and I was intrigued.
I mean, it must be pretty good if someone would make it instead of the one on this cover.

You'll need a 9-inch springform pan. It has a latch on the side that helps you release the cake. Because there's no turning this one upside down to get it out.

Place some parchment paper on the bottom so it hangs over. Close the latch to hold the paper in place and secure the sides. You'll also want to spray the paper with some non-stick cooking spray just to be safe.

After your pan is ready, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Separate 6 large eggs. Yolks in one bowl and egg whites in another. Set aside.

You'll also need 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate and 4 oz. dark chocolate. Break it up in a large bowl and add 2 sticks of butter (thank you Paula!). Melt in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.

Whisk in 1 1/4 cups sugar until combined.

Then add the six egg yolks to the chocolate and sugar mixture, one at a time, whisking after each addition.

Now, in a medium bowl, beat the six egg whites on high with an electric mixer. Beat it for several minutes until stiff peaks form.

Then, gently fold your egg white mixture into the melted chocolate mixture until combined. Pour it in your pan and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.

It will rise pretty high in the oven, but when you take it out to cool, it will fall. And fall hard. Yay!

Let it cool one hour on the counter and then for at least four hours in the refrigerator before you release it from the springform pan.

And, when you finally do… it will be worth the wait. I didn't really know what the texture of the inside would be like, but oh my… it was glorious.

Rich and dense and fudgey! Definitely one for true chocolate lover's. And, If you don't like things too rich, then stay away. Stay far, far away!

I also sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top to finish it off.

Okay, a lot!

Here's what it's supposed to look like. Mine had a few more cracks, but I was completely and utterly happy with it.

But, wait a minute… let me tell you the real reason I made this cake from Paula's magazine.

There was a slim chance I was going to be able to meet Paula on Sunday (thanks to my friend Ted and help from someone on her team) and I wanted to have one of her dessert recipes under my belt if I did. You know, in case we had a moment to chit chat and talk about butter and stuff. Yeah, right!

She was speaking at the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in Atlanta, and to be honest, I really didn't think I would get to meet her…

Or get a picture taken with her. Hey, Paula!

My mom and I were so thrilled. She is every bit as beautiful and funny and nice as she is on TV. (And I do mean funny. We also had the opportunity to hear her speak later on and she had the whole place laughing.)

We also met her son, Bobby. Yummy!!! I mean, he was really nice.

Later on, we even met her other yummy, I mean really nice son, Jamie. Unfortunately, I spazzed and didn't get a picture of him. But, he did help me out with something.

Something I think you'll like.

See this cookbook. I bought it last minute at the show. (Sorry, her brand new one was sold out.)

But, that's okay, because look what Jamie got his mom to do for me just minutes before she went on stage to speak.

Yep, that's her signature. And, it gets even better.

I'm giving it away! The book… signature and all. Who wants it?

Seriously, at first, I thought I would keep it, and then, I thought… I would keep it! Then, I decided it would be much more fun to give it away. Besides, it could be a great Mother's Day present for someone. And, don't feel bad, I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that I can get another copy for myself later.

Better hurry and enter… The winner will be chosen Monday night.

(TIME'S UP. WINNER ANNOUNCED BELOW)
Enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of
Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics Cookbook

Leave a comment on this post and tell me why you want it, why you love Paula, why you love butter, or heck, just say "hey, y'all!"
Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
Deadline to enter is Monday, April 20th at 6:00 p.m. (recorded by the comment time stamp)
The winner will be chosen at random* and announced sometime Monday evening on this post.

* One winner will be chosen at random, using random.org's integer generator.

Good luck.

More links:
Paula Deen's Chocolate Celebration
Paula Deen's The Deen Family Cookbook - NEW!
Paula Deen's Kitchen Classics Cookbook
Springform Pans
And, Paula's also on Twitter. Go say hey y'all!

Yay, we have a winner!
Who's it going to be random integer generator?
Me. Me. Me. ……… No. No. No.

It's comment #598!

Congrats Angela… Today is your lucky day!

Cute for a Cure!

2009-04-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

I've made a lot of Cupcake Pops. Bunches. But these are the first ones that could make a difference.

I started out making some with brown bottoms.

Then I threw in some white ones.

And lastly, a little purple.

Then, I sprinkled them with a little bit of red and a lot of love.

Voila… An army of cuteness. They're getting ready for battle.

Here they are getting dressed for the occasion.

And, it's an important one.

Each year, American Cancer Society Relay for Life events take place in communities all over the country. It allows people to participate in the fight against cancer and brings communities together to do so. Basically teams are formed and raise money in fun ways to fight cancer. Then, on the day of the Relay, you and your team take turns walking around a designated track for 24 hours. (I've done it. It's fun.) People raise money for their team in lots of ways. Car washes, raffles, yard sales, and of course bake sales. Ding. ding. ding… that's where these little guys come in to play.

Now, I know I'm not changing the world here with a few dozen Cupcake Pops, but every little bit helps, right!

And, who knows. Maybe they'll make you want to click on this link, join a Relay for Life Team in your area and join the fight.

Wowzers!

2009-04-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. A ton of you made Bakerella Cake Pops for Easter. I didn't expect so many of you to run out and do it. (The chicks, the bunnies, the eggs and even the sheep!) And you did a fantastic job at them too I might add. I feel like a proud parent excited to hang their children's artwork on the fridge or something. Not that you guys are like children, but you know what I mean. I'm just, just so proud for you all because I know you must have made a lot of people smile.

Now, let's take a look at a few of them in this sweet little showcase.

These cute little bunnies are checking each other out. Yay, Stephanie! You did it.

This chick would win a staring contest. I didn't know a cake pop could be so intense and so cute at the same time. Courtesy of Chelsi.

Here are some really cute bunnies with chunky ears. Jessie is getting creative and I like it.

Chicks, chicks and more chicks from Christie.

Julia from onceuponasugartree.com gets the award for most ambitious. She tried her hand at all four.

Inspired by the chicks, Amanda made a bunny version.

And we can't forget chicks without sticks. These almost look like they're ready for the bathtub. Great job Summer!

And an Egg-cellent job on these colorful baskets from Leesa.

Alison & Sherry know how to make some smooth chicks. And check out those flowers peeking out in the back. Cuteness!

Kate & Kelsey made these cutie-patootey cake pops.

Melanie made some eggs, too. Or did she just hollow out real eggs and put them on a stick. Hmmm. I wonder.

Kati even made some cute chicks with little easter bonnets.

I'm loving the color on these with their cute little bunny faces. Terrific Terry!

And check out Kerry. She gets bonus points for the Peep-achu!

These final four are from Melissa. Great job!

Way to go bakerellas! Thank you so much for sharing your photos with me and I hope you don't mind me sharing them with everyone else.

Feel free to link to yours in the comments if you made them, too. I didn't do a great job keeping track of all the photos, so I'm sure I missed some that were sent to me.

Eye Candy

2009-04-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

I absolutely had the most fun making these Miniature Easter Basket Cupcakes. I know this idea has been done a ton of different ways before, but I couldn't resist having a go at them. They are so sweet and make me giddy just looking at them.

Plus, I had all this Easter candy that I had to do something with.

Mini Chocolate Bunnies, candy eggs, sour patch straws and mini chocolate candy bars. (Can you say sugar coma.) The bunny candy to the right came from The Fresh Market. And, the Twizzlers made it in this photo, but not on the cupcakes. I'll have to save them for later.

Here's some of my favorite baking cups. I loooooove the opaque color of these. You can get them at the Confectionery House.

Or if you like polka-dots, check these out.

Their color isn't as opaque after baking, but the dots sure do make up for it. Also from the Confectionery House.

So, if you have a bunch of easter candy handy, get busy and go make some cupcakes. I made chocolate.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 c milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare cupcake pans with 36 baking cups.
With a wire whisk, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
In a mixer, cream sugar and butter.
Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides with each addition. Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture to the creamed butter in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions. (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)
Bake for about 15 minutes or until done.
Cool and frost.

They were pretty good, but I'm still looking for my "go to" chocolate cake recipe.

Then, I made some yummy buttercream frosting and tinted it green. (Here's a recipe.) You'll want to double it at least if you decide to frost all 36 cupcakes.

Use a generous amount of frosting. It doesn't have to be too pretty.

Then dip the sides of the frosting in a small dish filled with sugar crystals or sanding sugar. You don't have to cover the center area because that's where your chocolate bunnies will go.

You can use these super cute Sour Punch Straws for the handles. Just insert into the cupcake on each side. (They also come in green.)

Then cover your cupcakes with candy. EASY!

I love the look of these Lindt chocolate bunnies.

And I looooooove these super tiny Heidl candy bars. (But, I'm a sucker for anything mini if you haven't guessed that about me already.)

Decorate each one differently to give them more personality.

Then, you can package to give away as individual treats.

I used some really pretty striped ribbon that Strano Designs gave me a while ago.

Check them out: www.stranodesigns.com

And this smaller yellow one that I found in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby.

Cute or What?!

To get these to stand up, cut out some white cake board to fit the bottom of a plastic treat bag (These were 5" X 11" X 3" from Hobby Lobby). Apply a small amount of frosting to the center of the board to help keep the cupcake from sliding back and forth. I just wish these bags weren't so wide. I had wanted them to be closer to the width of the cupcake.

But, not to worry. Nobody I gave them to cared one little iota about wide cardboard.

See what I mean. You know, I didn't even notice his excitement when I took this picture because I was focusing on the cupcake. I can't even stand how sweet this expression is.

Or this one. Precious.

Peep Show

2009-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

I bought these little guys thinking I might use them for some kind of Easter cupcakes. I mean, they are cute in a marshmallowy sugar kinda way.

And look how much cuter they are on sticks. (couldn't resist.)

But, then as they lay in the kitchen next to my handy dandy edible ink pens, I thought about something else I could do with them. Something a little less Easter, and potentially a lot more fun.

So I grabbed my red and black pens, turned these little guys over on their tummies and went to town. Oh, and I pinched their ears, too.

Don't laugh. I was bored.

Peeps + pens =

Pikachus or in this case … Peep-achus!

I don't think I can ever look at Peeps the same way again.

FYI… Pikachu is part of the Pokémon franchise owned by Nintendo. They're not something I know a whole lot about, but they were on my mind because I had just recently bought some Pokémon stuff for my friend's daughter who has been collecting these things for awhile.

See what I mean. There are like hundreds of these strange little creatures that belong to the Pokémon family, but Pikachu is the only one I know of by name and as you can see, pretty conducive to a Peep makeover. I couldn't wait to surprise her with them.

She squealed when they saw them and her little brother was pretty excited, too. Just seeing them smile makes me happy. Totally worth it.

Okay, so I mentioned Nintendo earlier for a reason. Have any of you ever played the Nintendo DS? Because my niece got one for Christmas along with the Super Mario Bros. game and I have become a-d-d-d-ddddicted to it. She'll come over to stay sometimes and when I pick her up, I'm like… "Sweetie, do you want to bring your Nintendo?" and "Don't forget the charger." (Insert evil laugh)

We'll sit on the sofa together and take turns. Well, she usually gets 10 turns to my one. Then, when I do get a turn, I usually die right away. But she, graciously offers to help … by taking it away from me … to show me what I did wrong! Then I wait another ten turns before I get another go. I should just buy one for myself, but, i'm scared to own it. I definitely wouldn't get much done until I could finish World 8. Besides, it's too much fun when we play together. Well, when I watch her play. :)

Anyway, you guys can see what I mean because I'm giving away one of these players! Yippee! (Super Mario Bros. not included.) Thank me later.

Not only am I giving one away, but I'm giving away the BRAND NEW Nintendo DSi. It was released TODAY! Lucky.

Music Capability.
Photo capability.
Bigger screen.
Basically, awesome!

Want one? All you have to do is identify my friend's daughter's five favorite Pokémon by name.

Just kidding. Just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you.

To enter for a chance to win the Nintendo DSi:

Leave a comment to this post with your favorite easter candy obsession.
(Cadbury eggs? Reese's? Peeps? Jelly Beans? Chocolate Bunnies… hollow or solid? Whatever!)
Make sure to leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win. (Either email or blog link.)
Deadline to enter is Tuesday, April 7th at 6:00 pm (timestamped by the comment entry). The winner* will be announced sometime Tuesday evening and announced on this post.

*One winner will be selected at random using the Random.org integer generator.

Good luck!

Holy Peeps! I cannot believe how many entries there were for this giveaway. It so makes me wish I had more Nintendos to give away. But, alas, I only have one. A brand new bright blue one for one luck winner. And that person is ………

Comment #4,837

Congrats Cindy. Your wish is my command.

And everyone else, thanks for sharing your Easter candy obsession. By the way…What's up with the stale Peeps. I'm outta the loop on that one. Guess I'll have to try it.

Oh yeah, the Pokemons in order are Mewtwo, Shieldon, Glameow, Mew, and Lucario. Thanks dj, Cake Believe, Alyssa, Wendy, Vanessa, Chris, Shutterbugs, Heather, The Pike Family, Shawnee, jenny, talda, suedaisy, talei, Loralie and the rest of you that know way too much about Pokémon for clearing that up for me.

I have a problem.

2009-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

I can't stop making these pops.

Every time I finish making a batch, I tell myself that's it. No more. I'm done. And, then the next thing I know, I'm buying more lollipop sticks. You know, just in case. The funny thing is, I have several bags of lollipop sticks. I buy them every time I see them. And in different sizes. I don't do this with the other supplies, just the sticks. It's weird. I can't explain it. I guess I'm afraid there will be a stick shortage or something.

But, don't worry, these are the last of the Easter Cake Pops. Promise. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

To decorate the sheep, I used some…

Teeniny tiny. But HUGE cuteness factor.

Sugar pearls for the body and tiny hearts for the noses. The ears are brown rainbow chip sprinkles and the eyes are melted candy coating dotted on with a toothpick.

I also used this candy mix (called Licorice Bridge Mix) that I found at the Fresh Market. The buttons were for the head and the pastels, cut in half, were for the legs.

All in all… super cute. And also, super crunchy. I had never eaten sugar pearls before and thought they were too high on the crunch to cake ratio for me. But, if you like crunchy cake, you're set.

Now, if you don't like crunchy cake, then you might want to try these instead.

So, I lied. These are the last of the Easter Cake Pops.

Little bunny bodies. I about ran out of steam on these. I think you can tell by the effort I put into their faces. But, that's okay, because their bottoms are so cute.

Little bunny bottoms! Can you stand it? You want to bite them, don't you?

Want to make some? Read the basic cake pop instructions first and then use the decorating tips below for the bunnies and sheep.

Sheep Cake Pops

White Candy Melts
Sugar pearls
Licorice Bridge Mix (buttons for heads and pastels cut in half for legs)
Tiny Heart Sprinkles (noses)
Rainbow Chip Sprinkles (ears)
Paper Lollipop Sticks
Styrofoam Block
Toothpicks

Shape the cake mixture into an oval shape. Chill until firm.
Dip a lollipop stick in a little of the white chocolate and insert into the body almost halfway.
Then dip the sheep body in a bowl of melted white candy coating. Make sure the bowl is deep enough to dip and remove easily.
Tap off any excess coating.
When you make these, it's best if the candy coating has set out for a few minutes after being heated. Because when you remove the pop from the coating, you will want to go ahead and attach the head, then the feet and then sprinkle on the sugar pearls. It's really a timing thing. If it's too hot, the adornments will slide off and if it has cooled too long, the chocolate will set before you can finish attaching everything. But not to worry, if that happens, then reheat the coating and use it as a glue to attach things.

Note: sprinkle the sugar pearls over a big bowl because these little guys are hard to catch. I'm still finding them in odd places.

Bunny Cake Pops

White Candy Melts
Tic Tac CHILL mints (ears)
Tiny heart sprinkles (noses)
Mini marshmallows (tails)
Pink and blue edible ink pens
Styrofoam Block
Toothpicks

Shape the cake mixture into an oval shape. Chill until firm.
Dip a lollipop stick in a little of the white chocolate and insert into the body almost halfway.
Then dip the bunny body in a bowl of melted white candy coating. Make sure the bowl is deep enough to dip and remove easily.
Tap off any excess coating.
Insert the tic tac CHILLS in place for the ears. Don't push too far in or they might crack later. Let dry.
For the tails, use a knife and make criss-crossing indentions on a mini marshmallow. Don't cut through, just enough to give a cottontail effect. Attach the tails with melted candy coating and let dry.
Use a toothpick to place a dot of candy coating for the nose and attach a tiny heart sprinkle.
Draw on the faces.
Bite their bottoms.

Note: The tic tacs worked for the size, but feel free to try something else with a less minty surprise.

And now, I'm outta here. I need to go buy more sticks. You know, just in case.

Easter Cake Pops, Part Two

2009-03-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Easter Chick Cake Pops from last week were certainly cute. FYI, the all body ones with feet were hands down the winner. Actually it was a beat down. I almost feel sorry for the other chicks. Thanks everyone for your input. But, even with all their cuteness, I couldn't let Easter pass by without trying my hand at some bunnies. So, here they are…

Check out those ears! I found some pastel "Bunny Corn" at The Fresh Market. SCORE! Yes, it really said that on the container. So cute. The name alone practically made me buy them, not to mention, as soon as I saw them, I thought … bunny pops. By the way, I have a new appreciation for candy corn. Growing up, these were always shunned at Halloween. I mean orange and brown candy never really appealed to me. But this year, I actually ate some at Thanksgiving when I made Turkey Cake Pops and was sold. I had always thought… assumed… they were hard candies. But they're not. They're soft little bites of sugar.

They're actually good and taste even better in pretty colors! I can't quit looking at them. They just make me happy!

Now, if you were really ambitious, you could make bunnies in coordinating candy corn colors. Blue bunnies, yellow bunnies, pink bunnies and even green ones. Not me. It was enough in pink and white. Those of you that have made pops before know what I mean.

I hope you can find the bunny corn somewhere, but if not, just check out a candy aisle near you and get creative for the bunny ears.

I made these with a strawberry cake mix for convenience. Now, I'm not a big strawberry fan, but they were extra YUMMY!

Here's what I used to decorate:

Pink Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
Jumbo Heart Sprinkles
Pastel Confetti Sprinkles
Pink, Blue & Black edible ink pens
Paper Lollipop Sticks
Styrofoam Block
Paramount Crystals
Pastel Candy Corn
Toothpicks

To decorate:

Shape the balls into a bunny head shape.
Dip in candy coating color of your choice and let dry.
Use the rounded side of a cookie cutter and cut of the end of the candy corn. Dip the end in a little bit of the melted candy coating and adhere it to the top of the bunny head. Hold in place until it sets. If your candy coating isn't too hot, this should just take a few seconds.
Let the bunny heads with ears sit in the styrofoam block until all the ears are dry.
When dry, use a little bit of melted candy coating to glue the facial features on. Use a toothpick and dab a little of the coating in position for the eyes and nose and adhere the sprinkles.
When the eyes and noses are dry, use your pens to draw on the mouth. Then draw on the eye color and pupils.

(Read the full instructions for making Cake Pops before you begin.)

Note: to get smoother covered pops, make sure your bowl is deep enough to submerge the entire pop. Try to dip it in one dunking motion and remove. If the chocolate is too thick, add some paramount crystals or some shortening to the melted candy coating to thin it out. Remove the pop, holding it in your left hand. tap your left wrist lightly with your right hand and rotate the lollipop stick over your bowl. The excess chocolate should fall off, smoothing out the coating at the same time. Also, make sure the coating surrounds the stick at the base to secure it.

So, there you have it… Easter Bunny Cake Pops. But, we can't have Easter bunnies without Easter eggs. I mean they do go hand in hand, right!

Stop the cuteness!

Stop it, I say!

Don't even look at these sprinkles or you'll be hypnotized. Hurry, close your eyes or the next thing you know, you'll have Easter eggs popping up all over your kitchen.

I warned you.

Here's what I used to decorate:

Pink Candy Melts
Yellow Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
Pastel Confetti Sprinkles
Sanding Sugars
Light Corn Syrup
Paper Lollipop Sticks
Styrofoam Block
Paramount Crystals
Small Paintbrush
Toothpicks

To decorate:

Shape the cake balls into an egg shape.
Dip in candy coating color of your choice.
Let sit in the styrofoam block until dry.
When dry, use a small paint brush to paint on a thin layer of corn syrup in a line around the egg. Do one line at a time. Right after you paint on the syrup, sprinkle on one of the sanding colors until all of the corn syrup is covered. Use a bowl sprinkle over.
Repeat with varying designs and colors.
You could probably also do this with the melted candy color, but this time I was experimenting and tried the corn syrup.
For the confetti sprinkles, either dab a little bit of the candy color with your toothpick and glue on the sprinkle shapes or use a little bit of the corn syrup to act as the glue. The corn syrup will take a little longer to dry.
Dry completely.

(Read the full instructions for making Cake Pops before you begin.)

Enjoy!

Spring Chickens

2009-03-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here they are. The first of the Easter Cake Pops. I've had lots of requests over the last few days for these, so I spent some time working out ideas for you guys. I'll show you the others in the coming days.

But for now, it's… Chicks, man! (Pretend I'm Joel McHale from Talk Soup when you read that. It's much more effective.)

Here's how they look on pink.

On blue…

On yellow… (I love spring!)

…and green.

And here, I just played around with a few different designs.

I'm leaning towards just the head. But the little feet are so dang cute. And if the eggshells came off looking a little better, those might be the winner. Big head? Big bottom? All body? Or no body? Whatcha think?

Anyway, if you want to make some, follow the instructions for the basic cake pops.

You'll need the following supplies:
Cake and Frosting
Yellow Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
Paper Lollipop Sticks
Black Edible Ink Pen
Styrofoam Block
Paramount Crystals
Rainbow Candy Coated Chips
Pastel Wild Flower Sprinkles
Diamond Shape Sprinkles

To decorate solid yellow chicks:

Once the round yellow candy covered cake pops are dry (again, basic cake pops instructions here), use a toothpick to dip into the melted candy coating. Dab a little dot of the coating where you want the beak to go. Then, just take one of the orange rainbow chips and attach it to the pop. It works like glue.
For the feet and wings, use the same technique to glue on the other sprinkle shapes.
Use the edible ink pen to draw the eyes.

Instead of rolling them round for the pops, shape them by hand to form the chick body.
Once, you've made the pops, dipped them, and they have dried, carefully twist and remove the stick. Be aware of the location of the hole that was left.
Then, hold the chick head and dip the bottoms in white candy melts. Dip the end of the same lollipop stick in some of the white candy coating and reinsert. Let dry.
You don't want your white candy coating to be too hot. It can melt the yellow or it could drip down the sides and mess up your design. So, let it sit and thicken up a little for a few minutes before you start dipping the eggshells.
Then glue the sprinkles on and draw the eyes like above.

Or ditch the sticks altogether!
They're pretty cute like this, too. Just drop them in a bowl of melted candy coating. Cover them with the chocolate without moving them around in the bowl. Then lift them from the coating with a spoon. Tap off the excess and slide the little chicks carefully off your spoon onto wax paper to set. If the coating pools at the bottom, use a toothpick to draw a separation line. Then, once it dries completely, it will be easier to break off the part you don't want.

Bye, bye birdie for now, but there's more cuteness coming soon.

Enjoy!

Butterscotch, baby!

2009-03-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

First up, let me tell you that the Easter Pops are coming. Just not today. I made some cute ones this weekend, but I didn't finish them up until really late. So, once I go through the gazillion photos I took of them trying to get a nice shot, I'll show you what I've been up to. In the meantime, here's a pie.

A butterscotch pie.

Ooooh butterscotch, how I love thee.

Now, here's a little secret. I've never made a pie crust from scratch. I'm ashamed, I know.

See, there it is… aluminum. Don't disown me.

It's just that I don't make pies that often and well, the frozen crusts are so easy. (Somebody, anybody, are you with me?)

I'll learn how to make one soon. I promise. Maybe. Probably. Okay, you talked me into it.

But frozen crust or not, the pie was soooooooo goooooood!
Here's the recipe I used.

Here's a side view. The smell was so delicious, this slice didn't even make it through my little photoshoot.

I bit right in like a pizza. Nope… no fork.

Again, soooooooo goooooood!

And, one more time, just because. Butterscotch… YUM!

Butterscotch Pecan Perfection Pie

P.S. Anybody have a good pie crust recipe? An easy one? For beginners?