(not so) Random Acts of Cake Decorating

Here are a few of the cakes and cupcakes that I have decorated over the past few months…hope you like them!

 

 

New York Yankees birthday cake I made for my friend (and crazy Yankees fan) Jane.

 

Green Eggs and Ham cupcakes for Dr. Seuss' birthday at my daughter's school 3/2010.

 

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish cupcakes

Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes

The "smash cake" I made for my niece's 1st birthday.

 

1st birthday princess cupcakes

 

Bingo card cupcakes for "Bingo Night" at my daughter's school.

 

Wow Wow Wubbzy cake I made for my nephew's 3rd birthday.

Hippie Cupcakes

It’s time to play catch up… I haven’t blogged anything in quite a while but I have continued to bake many wonderful things!  So I am going to attempt to get up to date and stay up to date with posts of the goodies I’ve made.

These are the cupcakes that I made for our babysitter’s 20th birthday.  She loves purple, turquoise and all things “peacy”–Beatles, the 60s, Jimi Hendrix, and on and on…  So for her birthday I wanted to make her something sute and yummy.  This is what I came up with.

Baby Shower cupcakes

These are the cupcakes that I made for my sister’s baby shower.  I was really pleased with how they turned out.  They all looked so cute  displayed on the plates on the cake stand.  Sweet little baby faces!

Dr. Seuss cupcakes

In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America Week, I made these cupcakes for my daughter’s school.  The Seuss hats are made of chocolate.  I printed a picture from the internet and used it as a template (under a piece of wax paper) to pipe the chocolate onto.  Once the chocolate firmed up I placed them on top of the cupcakes. 

Fast, easy and delicious Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Here’s a really simple and delicious breakfast (or brunch, lunch or dinner!)  I used sharp cheddar cheese because it’s what I had in my fridge.  This is very tasty and you can play around with the veggies that you put in it (it would be very good if you added thinly shredded carrots).

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

 

1 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 cup cooked & drained broccoli

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1/8 tsp pepper

3 eggs, beaten until lemon yellow

1 9-inch pie shell

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prick the bottom of the pie shell and blind bake for approximately 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.

In the pie shell, layer cheddar cheese and broccoil, ending with cheese.  Sprinkle with pepper.  Combine eggs and half & half and pour over cheese and broccoli.  Bake until golden brown, set and until a knife,  inserted 1 inch from the edge of the crust, comes out clean.

Whoopie Pies!

I am originally from PA, not too far from Lancaster County and Amish Country.  So, growing up I was fortunate to be able to eat all of the great food that comes from that area.  Now that I live in NJ I do not have regular access to those great foods.  So I either have to drive a goodly distance or find a recipe and make it myself.  I found this recipe for Whoopie Pies online and decided to give it a try, because Whoopie Pies are so yummy!  They were very easy to make and delicious!  For those of you who have never had or heard of a Whoopie Pie, think Oreo Cakester or Devil Dog, only BETTER!  Here’s a pic and the recipe:  YUMMY!!

Whoopie Pies!

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz.) package Devil’s Food cake mix

5 tbsp.  AP flour

1 cup milk

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1)  To make the cakes:  Prepare cake mix as directed on package, EXCEPT using only 3/4 cup water.

      Drop batter onto parchment lined cookie sheets, in 2 1/2 to 3 inch circles.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool completely.

2)  To make the filling:  In a saucepan, combine milk and flour and cook stirring constantly until it forms into a thick paste.  Let cool.

3)  In a medium bowl, beast sugar and shortening until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Add cooled flour mixture and beat until double in volume.

4)  Turn the little cakes over on their backs.  Spoon or pipe using a pastry bag and large filling tip**, put a dollup of filling onto one little cake.  Place another little cake on top of filling to form a sandwich.

5) To prevent Whoopie Pies from sticking together, individually wrap pies in plastic wrap.

**I used Ateco Extra Wide Pastry Decorating Tip set of 3. 

     You can purchase it at www.kitchenkapers.com

      It’s $9.99 and great for filling cannoli, manicotti and a lot more!

Contest Cupakes

I just recently subscribed to Family Fun Magazine (a GREAT source for fun/easy things to do with your kids!) While I was flipping through the pages of the February issue, I happened to see the section dedicated to the online features that aren’t in the magazine. Disney’s Family.com was running a “Valentine’s Cupcake and Sweet Treats contest”. So I thought about what I could do that would be cute and creative. This is what I came up with…

I adore you! (eye a door ewe)

The contest was held on the Family Fun website, with two prizes up for grabs…a $100 Williams-Sonoma Gift Card for the entry that received the most viewer votes and a $500 Williams-Sonoma Gift Card for the one that the Editors thought was the best.
I sent the link to all my email contacts and to all my friends on my Facebook list encouraging them to vote for
my cupcakes, hoping to have a chance at the viewer’s choice prize.
Well, thank you to all of my friends that voted, but I didn’t win the viewer’s choice prize…
I WON THE EDITOR’S CHOICE!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!
I was TOTALLY surprised when I received the email! It’s VERY exciting! I may have to enter more contests!

Birthday Cupcakes

Ever since my daughter’s 2nd birthday (when there was a Elmo shaped cake disaster), I have decided that I would only make cupcakes for her parties.  So this year, Abigail wanted a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party.  Here are pics of the cupcakes I made for her party.  (Although I did buy the Strawberry Shortcake shaped cake pan  & I think that I might try to make it).  If you want a great centerpiece for any birthday party, the Wilton Cupcakes ‘N’ More dessert stand is a great item to pick up!  They are available in a few different sizes (12, 23 and 38 capacity) as well as a mini cupcake holder that holds 24 mini cupcakes/muffins.  You can buy them at most craft stores (Michael’s www.michaels.com , Joann Fabrics www.joann.com , or AC Moore www.acmoore.com ) that have cake decorating sections or you can find it at Target www.target.com .  It really makes for a nice presentation/centerpiece (you can sort of see it in the picture on the right)!