Pink Little Cake

Recipe for Love Cookie

2012-01-30T10:42:00.000-06:00

Disclosure: Excuse the picture quality, as they are the result of working very late at night.

With leftover cookie dough I put together this big "recipe card" cookie. I Google the recipe online, and pretty much is what we try to "cook" in our house as often as we can. The patience part is kind of hard to incorporate in the recipe when I try to get my husband up for the 3 am feeding of baby E.

This is a big cookie, you will need the following to make it:

.Cookie dough

.Rectangular shape template ( I made it using card stock)

.Small heart shape cookie cutter

.Knife to cut the cookie

.Black food marker

.Squeeze bottle

.Tip #2

.Red, white and black royal icing ( stiff and thin for flooding)

Instructions:

1-Cut and bake your cookie

2-Outline with red icing

3-Outline and flood small hearts

4-Flood your cookie with white icing and add black polka dots with a squeeze bottle

5-Let the cookie dry overnight

6-When the cookie is completely dry, write the "recipe" ( or whatever you want) with the black food marker.

7-Attach small hearts with royal icing

8-Enjoy your cookie!

Have a great week everyone.

2 D Valentine Snow Globe Cookie

2012-01-27T00:10:00.004-06:00

When it comes to being special-

you are way up there!

I loved this fabulous card that I found at my local grocery shop and I was waiting for the right moment to use it, who new it was going to be in cookie form.

The Cookie Cutter Company is releasing a new Snow Globe cookie cutter and I am really excited to show you how to make a totally "outside the box Snow Globe cookie" with a Valentine's Day theme.

To make this cookie you will need the following supplies:

.Snow Globe cookie cutter
.Round cookie cutter
.Black food coloring marker
.White royal icing ( stiff for outlining and thin for flooding the snow globe cookie)
.Red,pink and green stiff consistency royal icing
.Tip #1 and 2
.Grass tip #233
.Piping bags and couplers
.Squeeze bottle ( for the white icing)

Prepare and bake your favorite sugar cookie recipe

-Draw the mouse and the balloons (hearts) with the black food marker. ( or draw any other design that can make your snow globe cookie unique)

Don't be scare of your drawing, it is just a cookie, if you don't like what you drew,just design something else,icing can cover any mistake.

- Fill the hearts with red and pink icing alternating the red and pink colors and allowing drying time in between filling to avoid any bleeding.

-Using the black food marker trace the balloon's strings.

Making the base for the Snow Glove

(Before baking the round cookie, using a small knife cut a square shape in the middle of the cookie making sure its big enough to fit both snow globe cookies inside)

-Place the round cookie on a piece of parchment paper and fill with white icing

-Pipe some white icing in the back of one cookie and immediately attach the other cookie

-Place the cookies ( now one cookie) inside the base (round cookie) and let it dry for a couple of hours. If you feel that your cookie is a little unstable, carefully hold your cookie for a few minutes until the icing starts to set.

-Hold the decorating bag 90° straight up and pipe the "beads" around the globe. I also pipe some dot flowers on the base of the Snow Globe.

-Then pipe the red beads, dots details and the grass on the base of the cookie

And if you want to get a little fancy...

Sprinkle your cookie with snow!

I think the snow globe cookie turned out really cute.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, stay tune because there are wonderful heart cookie pops coming your way soon. Have a great weekend!

I am linking this post to...

Hossier Homemade Valentine's Party

Valentine's Day Wish List

2012-01-23T11:47:00.000-06:00

As any other Holiday, my husband doesn't spend Valentine's Day with me, work, work and more work. We always try to do something either the weekend before or after. I am also, one of those wives who doesn't allow the husband to spend money in flowers or chocolates (I am too fat anyway), yes, I know, boring, boring! Don't take me wrong, I love flowers, but I rather get something little and useful than flowers.We don't exchange big gifts, a card and something little.

It turns out that all of the sudden I am a difficult person to shop for, so here are some public ideas...for him.

1-Banana Split flat cookie cutter
2-Ballet Tutu Cookie cutter
3-Kitchen Mixer Cookie Cutter
4-I could use on my cakes this Flower with scrolls mold
5-Standard Nonstick Rectangular Tart Pan

6-Herb Keeper and Mini Pie Pan Set

What do you like to get on Valentine's Day?

Snowflake Cookies-Back to Basic

2012-01-20T08:24:00.004-06:00

Decorated sugar cookies are so popular now, they make wonderful gifts and are such a yummy treat to enjoy any time. But where to start? Well the first thing you have to do is bake some delicious sugar cookies, make some icing, pick up the necessary tools that you can get at most craft stores, and most importantly, grab your cookie cutters from The Cookie Cutter Company!

Even though there is plenty of cookie decorating information on the web, I still get emails asking for the basic tools I use to decorate my cookies.This post in not really about how to decorate cookies, but what to use when you are going to do a basic cookie decoration. You will find that with the right tools, cookies cutters and some swirls and dots you can make a cookie that will bring a smile to anyone.

To make these cookies you will need the following cookie cutters

Snowflake 1.5"
Snowflake 4"
Snowflake 2.25"

You also will use the following tools

Couplers: Great to use when you are going to change decorating tips to make different designs on a cookie using the same color of icing

Pastry bags: The 12 inches, Wilton brand disposable bags are the most common to use. I do not recommend using sandwich bags or freezer bags, they just don't hold the icing well.

Twist ties: I use them to seal the top of the pastry bag and avoid any icing spill.

Tips: They come in many sizes but the most popular to use are tips #1,2,3

Toothpicks or the cookie stick: They are use to gently move icing to narrow corners and small spaces in a cookie, you can also use them to create designs like feathers, hearts or spiderwebs.

Tweezers: Are great to use to place dragees,nonpareils,sprinkles,confetti or any small decorations on a cookie.

Icing bottles: Is the easiest way to flood a cookie with icing, I still remember the days were I used to flood cookies with a spoon,yes, that was like a 100 years ago! it was such a mess. I now use the medium and large size only. There is another type of bottle that comes with a coupler, personally it doesn't work for me, but that's my preference, any of you might like it.

I like to keep my piping bags in a glass.I use a piece of wet paper towel in the bottom of the glass to keep the tips from clogging. You can always use any other stable container for it.

Here are the snowflakes I made using the basic tips.

What is your favorite part of decorating cookies?

For me is not the clean up!

PS: This is a sponsored post by The Cookie Cutter Company

Dog House Cake

2012-01-13T09:26:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday the 13th! I am not superstitious at all, are you? I actually have heard that the #13 is a lucky number and people miss interpret it all the time. Ummmm, I might have to Google that.

Well,his cake was a lot of work, but I was very please the way it turn out. I made it for a Quinceanera Party, the birthday girl loves small dogs and her mom wanted to surprise her with her own personal little sugar dog as well as the house.

Elements on the cake included some dog poop ( made with chocolate fondant), dog bone ( made with gumpaste), food bowl with food on it, grass ( made with green royal icing) and a few flowers.

I made the roof with chocolate fondant, very time consuming.

I love how this little bowl turn out.

I was a little scare about making the dog, first time making one and I wanted to look as realistic as possible. The client provided me with a picture of their dog, so that right there puts a little pressure on my skills.
Believe it or not, it took me less than 2 hours to make the dog and turn out really cute. I took some pictures of the making which I will be posting next week.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

I am linking this post to:

Winnie the Pooh Cake

2012-01-09T14:09:00.000-06:00

Before I get any email from the Cake Police I want to tell you that this cake is not my design.

My client sent me a picture of a cake and she wanted me to replicate it, which I always say no, I wouldn't want any one to make the same cakes I do, so I do not like to do it. Back and for with my client and she really wanted the design for her little boy's birthday party. I took the order and I search for the cake online, finally I found it on the blog of the talented Vera of Baking Obsession, please see her cake here. It is beautiful and the characters are perfect. I left Vera a message explaining her my situation and also letting her know I was going to post links here of her beautiful cake.
Which brings another issue, you make a cake the someone else has made and you always find yourself thinking that no matter what you do, your cake is awful,specially when making specific characters.
Well any way, here is the cake.

Winnie the Pooh

Everyone having fun getting ready to eat cake

and this is my favorite ! the little cake

Piglet is a little in the chubby side

These were all small cake toppers and I made them with fondant. Thank you for stopping by

Hello Kitty Cookies

2012-01-06T09:22:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday!! Here are some Hello Kitty Cookies that I made last weekend, I really wanted to try the black/white color technique, which I have been learning to avoid any bleeding with the black icing and other colors. The best advice, I think, is to be patience and wait for the black outline to dry almost completely before flooding the cookie. I got the cookie cutter from Hobby Lobby and used the same design that was in the card. I followed the tutorial from the talented SweetSugarBelle. It was a success!

I am posting my cookies on...

Apple Green Cake with Birds Toppers

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

I hope you are having a great week so far. Today I went back to work and getting the kids up early in the morning wasn't easy, specially since the temperatures here in Central Jersey are so low,we are pretty much freezing here.
I am so excited and so motivated for this New Year.I have lots of projects and goals that I hope I can accomplish if I stay focus..well and if I have time. What about you? any resolutions for this year?

I made this cake a few weeks ago, it was for a Bridal Shower. I actually had made a cake for my client before for another Bridal Shower,I was really happy when she contacted me again, it definitely tells me that she was happy with her previous order.

The cake's colors, details,flowers and black birds came out from the invitation's sample that my client sent me.A funny story is that my client came to pick the cake up with her mom. When her mom saw the birds she told me that she didn't like them,she went on telling me that why I put those black birds on the cake. Don't get me wrong, she was such a nice lady, she actually reminded me of my mom back home. My client immediately told her that I did what she had requested and that those birds were on the invitation ( design by a friend of the bride), her mom was surprised and went on telling me how much she like the cake ( except for the birds of course).

The birds are small, I made them with rice crispy treats and black gumpaste.I wish I had used a white background for the cake's picture, it's kind of hard to see the details of the birds which are the height and exact position as the picture in the invitation.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great week.

Almost Midnight-Candy Clock Cake

2011-12-29T20:56:00.000-06:00

Hickory Dickory Dock...

I saw a cake based on the nursery rhyme and I thought it was the perfect inspiration to make a candy cake for this New Years Eve. The cake is made using Strawberry cake, vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fluff, top it of with lots of candy and gum and I can assure you that you are going to be up until midnight...or maybe the next day.

Look at the delicious pieces of fresh Strawberry puree.

I was so excited to get a Candy Kit from Wrigley,they have partnered with Amy Atlas to show all candy lovers all the amazing things you can do with candy, from decorating cookies, cupcakes and cakes to candy buffet tables. Candy projects are so easy to make, and the best part is that you can eat your crafty project when you are done.

This cake clock was very easy to make, I think it will be a fun and delicious dessert on your New Years Eve dinner. Since I covered most of the cake with candy, I didn't fill it with buttercream, I think you have plenty of yummy sugar in the outside.

To make the clock you will need the following:

.3 packets of Vortex™ green apple gum

.5 packs of Skittles® Blenders ( I only used green apple freeze, melon berry and cherry tropicolada)

.7 sticks of Wrigley's BigRed® cinnamon gum

.4 pieces of Orbit® strawberry remix

.round cookie cutter

.Small rolling pin

.White fondant

.cake flavor of your choice

.buttercream of your choice

.small number cutters

.red royal icing

.cake board

.marshmallow fluff

Instructions:

-Bake your cake and let it cool to room temperature, then put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. A cool cake is easier to cut and you will have less crumbs.

-Use a round cake board to cut a semi circle in one end of the square cake.

-Cut two wedges off at the opposite side of the square cake.

-Place the cake on the cake board and cover the cake with buttercream. I found easier to crumb coat the cake, left in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour and then frost the cake with buttercream, but since you are going to cover most of the cake with candy, you do not need to have a 'perfect' smooth buttercream .

-Cover the cake board with marshmallow fluff .It will look sticky at the beggining but after a few minutes it will have a nice shiny finish

-Use the Vortex™ green apple gum around the cake as shown in picture, you do not need to stick it with water, the buttercream will act as "glue"

-Attach green apple freeze Skittles® Blenders around the top of the cake

-Using Vortex™ green apple gum and a small knife cut shapes until you form the pendulum's window.

-Attach them to the cake

-Roll white fondant and cut a circle using a round cookie cutter a little smaller than the semicircle on the cake

-Attach to cake

-Place another layer of Skittles® Blenders ( melon berry) around the top of the cake

-Cut numbers for the clock using the small number cutters and a few sticks of Wrigley's BigRed® cinnamon gum

-Place a red Skittles® in the center of the clock and pipe the clock hands with red royal icing

-Pipe clock's pendulum

-Following the above pictorial make the mouse.

-Place mouse on the cake and attach the tail. I used a long skinny piece of Wrigley's BigRed® cinnamon gum for the mouse's tail

For the party streamers,

Place cherry tropicolada Skittles® Blenders all around bottom of the cake

and then your done! , get ready to eat!

I WISH YOU A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

Thank you for always being so kind and reading my little blog, thank you for your comments and I will be looking forward to see you around next year.

Hugs,

Kathia

Disclosure: I received a Candy Kit courtesy of Wrigley, opinions and calories gained eating the candy and this cake are my own.

Christmas at home

2011-12-26T22:12:00.000-06:00

Merry Late Christmas!! sorry for the late wishes, as always I am running around like a chicken.
Our Christmas in pictures...

Big sister inside my baby's bassinet singing

it was cold around here...we tried to be warm all day long!

my little baby discovered her fingers and hands, she was quite amazed.

full of smiles

and then it was this....our traditional picture in red pijamas

and then this after photoshop on mommy's face ( can you imagine how the real face is?)

I hope you all had a wonderful family time with your love ones.

Sugarbaby Book Giveaway

2011-12-21T10:38:00.002-06:00

Happy Wednesday! Really happy for me because I am done with my holiday baking, all baskets are wrap, some of them delivered and the rest will make their way out tomorrow and Friday.
I am tired. I am happy. Nothing like a homemade gift for the holidays.

I wanted to thank you. Thank you for taking the time and reading my little blog, for leaving sweet comments, sending me nice and also not so nice emails, well sometimes..
As a thank you to my readers I am giving away Sugarbaby by Gesine Bullock-Prado.I love Gesine's books, they are well written, with great recipes and put together in a wonderful funny manner. She has a great blog "Confections of a (Closet) Master Baker".

In her own words about this book...
"It's a book about working with sugar but it's not a candy book".

If you are lucky and win, you can make treats like this

Yesterday I made her Chocolate Fudge...

I almost end up with a diabetic coma from all the fudge I ate.

This is next on my list.

To enter the giveaway:

Just leave me a comment telling me if you are making any homemade gift this holiday season.

For extra entries you can Tweet about the giveaway and leave me a comment letting me know you did

Giveaway open to everyone.

The giveaway will be open until Sunday DEC 25th at 11 p.m. and then a winner will be chosen by Random and announce on this post on Monday 26th.

Good luck!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER:

Gerdy said...

I make some snowflake sugar cookies and brownie for Christmas.

Thank you everyone for entering the giveaway.

Santa's Blankie Cupcake topper

2011-12-19T15:56:00.000-06:00

Leftover red velvet cupcakes and Marshmallow fluff, yum!
I am busy as all the baking Elfs are right now, baking every night for last minute Christmas gifts and counting the days for my vacation time at home with my girls.

It has been really cold around here...so I made a few blankies for Santa.
Here is a little pictorial for you.

You will need:

.pizza cutter
.white and red fondant
.stitching wheel
.small brush and water
.small rolling pin
.parchment paper ( to let blankies dry overnight)

Make blankie pattern with the stitching wheel

Let them dry over night

Remove topper and dig in...

Stay tune, I will be making fudge tonight for my book giveaway coming soon

Christmas Cookies

2011-12-16T12:56:00.001-06:00

It is official.. I am almost having a nervous breakdown. My little baby is not quite healthy yet, this week she has been on a nebulizer and it seems that is working, so I am really hoping that by Christmas she will be ok. Around here we are looking forward for some relaxing time at home, by relaxing I mean having my husband around for a few days and me being able to take a nap. I will be on vacation for a few days and I am so looking forward for pajama day or days should I say!
Cami is excited about Christmas, and Santa, all of the gifts that she thinks is going to get, and I say she thinks because every single toy that she sees on TV is-Mami I want that!, Mami, can you get me that?-Mami call Santa, I want that toy. Some how she thinks Santa has a blackberry, mmm it seems that my pretend calls to Santa are getting her some ideas.

And since I loveeeeee torturing myself... I am in charge of the teacher's gift at school, dance class gifts,our office's corporate gifts and anything that has to do with me being awake at night.
I have to be up any way making sure the baby is breathing so might as well do something I love.

Here are the cookies for dance class, simple and traditional with a few items like pieces of pretzels and sanding sugar to make them pop..

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe, cut out and bake your cookies.

To make these festive Christmas cookies you will need:

Christmas tree with a star cookie cutter

Stocking cookie cutter

Candy cane cookie cutter

Green,red,white and yellow royal icing ( stiff for pipping and thin for flooding the cookies)

Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1 and #2
Toothpicks
Squeeze bottles

Green piping gel ( you can get it at the craft store)

White and red sanding sugar
A tin paste of of meringue powder and water ( I did 1/4 teaspoon of meringue powder and 1 tablespoons of water)

A few pieces of pretzels

Making the Christmas trees

Let the cookies dry overnight

Making Tree 1

Using tip #2 make small and big dots, also make small and big circles with red royal icing. While the red icing is still wet, sprinkle with red sanding sugar.

Making tree #2

Making tree #3

For this cookie, right after you flood it with the green icing, using a squeeze bottle pipe dots of red and yellow icing and let it dry a few hours. Then outline and make garland with green piping gel. Let it dry for a few minutes and then pipe a red garland on top of the green garland with the stiff royal icing and tip #1.

Let it dry and make yellow dots for the light bulbs.

For all the Christmas tree cookies, I added the white sanding sugar for the stars and the pieces of pretzels at the end, when the cookies were completely decorated and dry. Use a dot of royal icing to attach the pretzels to the tree's trunk.

Traditional Candy Cane

1-Outline green and white stripes. Let it set for a few minutes and flood the white stripes

2-Flood green stripes and let it dry over night

3-Brush the white stripes with a thin paste of meringue powder and water

4-Sprinkle with white sanding sugar

"Cristal" candy cane

Outline and flood with white icing, immediately sprinkle with white sanding sugar

Red and green Stockings

Outline and flood the stocking.Using a squeeze bottle pipe 3 red dots and draw a toothpick through the

red dot in semicircle.Let the cookies dry over night.

When the cookie is completely dry, brush some "glue" on the top of the stocking and add red sanding sugar.

Happy holidays!!

PS: This is a sponsored post for The Cookie Cutter Company.

Chocolate Milk cookies for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

2011-12-12T14:26:00.001-06:00

I am so excited to be a part of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap hosted by

Julie from The Little Kitchen and Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil

It is not a secret that I have a sweet tooth for cookies, so this was the perfect opportunity to bake one of my favorite cookies, a twist on a Chocolate Milk Cookie from Martha Stewart cookie book.

I was very lucky and I got all 3 dozen cookies from other fabulous bloggers, unfortunately I have no pictures because I got them at the office and they were gone in a matter of minutes.

Thank you so much to :

Jey @thejeyofcooking, she sent me Chocolate Snowballs Cookies

Emily of Emmaclareeats.blogspot.com, she sent me Cranberry Rocky Road Cookies

And unfortunately the other blogger didn't sent me any information .

Chocolate Milk Cookies

My cookies getting ready to be ship

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces Callebaut milk chocolate (4 ounces chopped and 4 ounces cut into 1/4-inch chunks)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup of Milky Way chocolates cut in small pieses

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
-Melt coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
-Transfer chocolate mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix on medium speed until combined.
- Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
- Fold in chocolate chunks and Milky Ways
-Scoop batter using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop; place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. --Bake for 15 minutes until cookies are flat and surfaces begin to crack.( Be careful and do not over bake them, the cookies will look a little soft when you get them out of the oven)

Transfer cookies to wire racks and let them cool .

Well, I hope whoever got my cookies enjoy them.

Christmas Cookie Ornaments

2011-12-09T10:38:00.000-06:00

The Holiday season is here and I am having so much fun with my girls. I can't lie and tell you that everything is just happiness and smiles around here. We are still dealing with my little baby who doesn't seem to get better but in one way or another, hot chocolate, Christmas music and having my girls make everything better. Cami is enjoying this season so much, she decorated our humble Christmas tree, which by the way,we have had for the past 5 years ( yes, I have been cheap and haven't gotten a nicer one).It took Cami 3 hours decorating and rearranging every single ornament on the tree,and I am not kidding, she did anything she wanted, we even color our own ornaments with our names on it.

Here is a pic of our impromptu photo session

Well in honorr of some ornaments in our tree, here are some Christmas ornaments cookies I made for The Cookie Cutter Company site. I think they would be a special gift for a teacher, coworker or neighbor this holiday season.Using cookie ornament's cutters you can make fun edible ornaments, put them in a cute container, wrap them with a ribbon and your done. I am sure your cookies will be a big hit!

To make these cookie ornaments you will need:

.Oval Ornament cookie cutter
.Round Ornament cookie cutter
.Teardrop Ornament cookie cutter
•Red,white and yellow royal icing ( stiff for pipping and thin for flooding the cookies)

•Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1 and #2
•Toothpicks
•Squeeze bottles
•White and red sanding sugar
A tin paste of of meringue powder and water ( I did 1/4 teaspoon of meringue powder and 1 tablespoons of water)

Start baking your favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Making the red round and teardrop ornaments

1-Outline and flood your cookies. Let the cookies dry overnight.
2-Using tip #1 and stiff yellow royal icing pipe the lines inside the ornaments. For the top of the ornament use tip #2.
3-Add yellow dots with tip #1 inside the yellow lines.
3-Using tip #2 add the red dots around the yellow lines, add more dots as you wish. Let the cookie dry overnight.

Making the teardrop and oval ornaments

Start outlining and flooding the cookies.Let them dry overnight.

Making the red and yellow oval ornament:

After the cookie has dried, using tip #2 and white royal icing outline the ornament. Then with tip #2 also and yellow icing add the inside lines and details. With tip #1 add red and white dots alternating dots so they don’t run together. I did all the red dots first and let them dry for a bit, then I did all the white dots.

Making the white oval ornament:

After the cookie has dried, with tip #2 and yellow icing pipe the ornament's hanger. With white icing outline the cookie and pipe all the inside details, at this point if you want you can cover the cookie with sanding sugar or...

when the cookie is completely dry brush the details with the mixture of meringue powder and water and sprinkle on the white sanding sugar.

To make the teardrop ornament:

Pipe the ornament's hanger with the yellow icing and tip #2, let it dry completely.

Then using tip #2 and red icing pipe the squiggles, let it dry for a couple of minutes and cover the cookie with red sanding sugar

Making the round and oval ornaments:

-Outline the top part of the cookie with yellow icing, then the bottom part with white icing.
-Flood the bottom part of the cookie with white icing, then flood the top part with yellow icing, immediately using a squeeze bottle pipe dots of red and white icing.
-Let the cookies dry overnight.
-Pipe the ornament's hanger, then for a raise design, pipe patterns of lines or any other detail that you want. At this point you can either sprinkle the cookie with sanding sugar or you can let the cookie dry for a few hours and then brush it with the meringue powder mix and sprinkle the sanding sugar.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by The Cookie Cutter Company, opinions and designs are my own.

Santa Moon Cupcake Toppers

2011-12-06T12:11:00.000-06:00

This fun and easy Santa Moon cupcake toppers were inspired by one of our Christmas tree's decorations.

To make the cupcake toppers you will need:

Your favorite cupcakes already frosted
White and red fondant
White nonpareils
Black food writer
A mix of meringue powder and water (glue)
Small brush
Pink Luster dust ( if you do not have it you can always make the cheeks with a fondant red polka dot)

1-Start making the moon shapes and the mustaches, let them dry on parchment paper while you work in the other pieces.

2- Make a cone shape for the hat, use the ball tool to make the hole to insert the "head".
3-Brush a little water inside the hat and attach the moon's head

4- For the hat's pom pom just make 3 white fondant balls and attach them to piece of dry spaghetti. Brush the ball with the glue and add non pareils.

5-Brush hat's edges with the glue and ...

Add Santa's eyes and nose with the black food writer. And your done! you have a happy Santa Moon Topper.

I am linking my cupcake's toppers to

Elephant Baby Shower Cake

2011-12-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

I have a "thing" for elephants. I love them and I think they are so cute,even if they are big and full of wrinkles.
This cake was for a Baby Shower with an elephant theme, I was sent a picture of this cake made by Pink Cake Box , then I was pretty much told..."copy the same cake" please! I just added my signature elephant cake topper.
The cake was Almond Cake filled with raspberry preserves and Swiss meringue buttercream.

The Elephant body is made out of rice crispy treats. The head,ears and legs are made with gumpaste

Of course I you had to see this cute little tail.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snowflake Cupcakes-Georgetown Cupcake Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-11-30T09:34:00.000-06:00

I finally got my copy of "The Cupcake Diaries", the book from the sisters at Georgetown Cupcakes. I was very excited to try their famous cream cheese vanilla frosting. I have to say that it was really good, I was just a bit surprise about the instructions in their book about how to make the frosting. The directions pretty much were to place all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until well combined.

I can't imagine doing something like that ,specially if you are using Plugra butter, like they do. Also, if you watch this video, they are not making the buttercream like the book said.

Oh well, I guess I am just being picky! I love the frosting any way, I just made it the traditional way.

Georgetown Cupcake Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

Directions:

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn your mixer to low speed and add the confectioner sugar 1/2 cup at the time and mix until light and fluffy.
Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract.

Pictorial-Easy Snowflakes using candy melts:

Draw snowflakes in the parchment paper, melt candy melts and pipe them. Let them dry for at least one hour or put them in the refrigerator before adding the sanding sugar.

Turn snowflakes upside down and brush them with a mix of Meringue Powder and water, then sprinkle them with the sanding sugar.

Happy Wednesday!

Christmas Light Bulb Cookies

2011-11-25T08:05:00.000-06:00

Happy Black Friday!! Did I go shoping? No,I am totally over going to the stores on Black Friday. When I was younger I used to do it, now I am pretty happy with free shipping and online shopping.

It is official people... Christmas is around the corner and I am on holiday baking mode. Of course, I do not know where I am getting the time to bake or decorate, my poor little baby has been sick with a cold for the past few weeks and it is totally heart breaking seeing her so miserable with her stuffy nose.At 7 weeks, medicine is out of question, so hopefully soon she can get over it.

Well, let's get into cookies...another tutorial for The Cookie Cutter Company,
I love making light bulb cookies, they are big and you can play with colors as much as you want. For these cookies I wanted to make something a little bit different using purple and green colors as base. I also added some details to make the cookies pop and look extra cute.

To make these Bulb cookie designs you will need

Christmas green,light green, purple, lavender,red,white and black royal icing ( stiff for pipping and thin for flooding the cookies)
Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1,#2 and #10 round tip
Toothpicks
Silver Dragees
Food Writers
Food Silver Glaze ( you can find it at most craft stores or online)
Squeeze bottles
Christmas Light Bulb Cookie Cutter
Pearl Luster dust ( optional)
Fondant Holly leaves
Sixles

Making the purple and lavender Bulbs

Using tip #10 cut the hole in the center of the bulb "head" and then bake the cookies

Then...

Making the Snow Flake Lavender cookie

When your cookie is completely dry, using white royal icing and a piping bag with tip #1 draw the snow flakes.You can make them in diferent sizes to add dimention to the cookie.

Making the Lavander and Purple cookies with petals

This is an easy cookie design and you do not need a template for it. Just handdraw the petals adding as many petals as you want.

Making the Christmas Light Bulb Cookies with Holly leaves

For these cookies I wanted to use a more traditional Christmas color, green. I also wanted to incorporate winter details to bring them to life.

Start outlining and flooding the cookies

Let the cookies dry overnight

When the cookies are completely dry,cover the bulb with a paper towel.

Now, hold the can of pearl luster spray a little away from the cookie and give them a light mist.

It dries very quicky, but I would reccomend you to let the cookies untouch for a few minutes.

Making the Snowman Cookie

With stiff white royal icing and tip #10 make body and head of the snowman

Attach Holly leaves and sixles with a dab of royal icing

Chritsmas tree and snow cookie

Outline and flood the tree and the "snow", add red "lights" with red royal icing using tip #1

Attach Holly leaves and "berries"

And this last cookie looks just perfect with the Holly leaves and little "berries"

Are you ready for your holiday baking and cookie decorating?

Have a great weekend!

PS: This is a sponsored post by The Cookie Cutter Company

Thankful

2011-11-23T08:42:00.000-06:00

For the above piece of cake that was delicious and full of calories that I certainly do not need right now
For my wonderful husband
My happy little girls
My family back in Costa Rica who I miss every day
Because I have food on the table
My job
My girl's Daycare
My silly little dog
My blog friends and my real friends
My midwife
My happy everyday insanity
My warm bed
The humidifier and breast pump that make my life and my baby really happy
My religion and my belief in God
My little girls's kisses
My PJs
Hot chocolate
Dulce de Leche
Coconut Flan
My hair drier , who make me feel better while I lose the baby weight

WISHING YOU A HAPPY THANKSGIVING FULL OF YUMMY FOOD AND SPECIAL MOMENTS WITH

YOUR LOVE ONES.

Thanksgiving Chocolate Barks on a Stick

2011-11-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

Super easy and budget friendly Chocolate Barks on a stick , I made them as thank you gifts for some friends. I think they would be great as little Thanksgiving gifts for coworkers and teachers .
I made these barks with just white and milk chocolate and I added the red turkey using candy melts (that's pretty much the only ingredients I had at the house at that moment). But for Christmas, I will be making more using dried fruits and nuts and putting them in a really cute cookie tin and giving them to my kids teachers.

Disregard the food coloring, I was going to do something and then I changed my mind!

-Melt the milk chocolate in a double boiler and while the chocolate is still warm pour into a chilled baking sheet lined with parchment paper.Then melt the white chocolate and pour over the milk chocolate.
-Spread the chocolate evenly using a small offset spatula, place the cookie sticks and put in the freezer to set for approximately 20 minutes.

Allow the bark to harden completely before breaking it up into pieces

Turkey Candy Melts

These are super easy, just melt the candy melts following instructions in the packet, spread the candy melt in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, let it set and using a small turkey cookie cutter, cut the turkeys.

Attach the little turkeys to the bark with a dot of candy melt and your set!

Or you can just put pieces of the bark in a pretty box inside a cello bag.

Then give them away or you are going to end up eating more than you should.

Gobble-Gobble-Thanksgiving cookies

2011-11-11T01:02:00.002-06:00

My last week of maternity leave is gone and next Monday I am going back to work.Part of me is really sad about leaving the baby at day care and part of me is happy to get out of my pijamas,talk to adults and go back to work. The bright side is that I know my baby will be in good hands with people that I know... after all I am not the only mom who goes back to work .

Since I had to do another tutorial for The Cookie Cutter Company's site, I decided to make some cookies for the teachers at the Day Care. Thanksgiving is around the corner and is never to early to say THANK YOU!.

These cookies turned out really cute and you don't need hours of cookie decorating work to put them together.

To make these Thanksgiving Cookie designs you will need:

Indian Cookie cutter
Turkey Cookie cutter
White, dark and light brown, red,orange and black royal icing ( stiff for pipping and thin for flooding the cookies)
Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1,#2 and #59
Toothpicks
Rainbow sprinkles
Food writer

To make the Native American Cookies

This is the first time for me making these cookies, since I do not have a cookie projector ( and I am sure most of you don't have it either ) I just decided to pull some clip art from the Internet for inspiration.

I hand traced the images using a food writer, I think is easier to do it this way

instead of piping directly onto the cookie.

Start piping the lines of both cookies with stiff black royal icing using tip #1 and let them dry for a few hours

I have to say that I enjoyed making the braids for this little fella, I also added the sprinkles to pop a little color . You do not have to worry about making feet and hands with a lot of detail,

I just piped some brown lines.

This next cookie is even easier to decorate

*After you are done flooding the cookie, let it dry for a few hours. Attach the sprinkles with a dot of orange royal icing. For the necklace and the pants details use tip #1.

Making the Turkey cookies

Pipe and flood the cookies. Let them dry completely before moving into the next step

For this Turkey cookie, let the cookie dry completely before you start adding the details.

Add the eye and the wattle with tip #1 using stiff icing

Using tip #59 pipe the feathers with white stiff royal icing . I love using this tip because it has a

curved ribbon border and swag that creates an exciting effect.

This brown and red Turkey cookie has a little more detail

1-Flood the cookie with the brown icing

2-While the icing is still wet, using flood type icing in a squeeze bottle pipe orange and red icing stripes in semicircles around the tail area.

3-Draw a toothpick through the orange and red tail stripes from edge of cookie toward body.

4-Using flood orange icing, pipe a few semicircles to make the wing and draw toothpick through them .Let the cookie dry for a few hours.

Once the cookie is dry, pipe the eye,feet and wattle using tip #1 and outline the tail with brown stiff royal icing and tip #2.

And what about an almost plain tasty cookie?

If you are in a rush it doesn't mean that you can't still make some cute cookies.

For this cookie I didn't want to flood it, I just added details for character and a pop of color

Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Linked to:

Inspiration Friday

The last few weeks...

2011-11-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

Exhausted!
Getting up at night every 2 hours to feed my baby
Trying to take a nap during the day is not as easy as everyone tells me.
Last Saturday we got snow all day and it wasn't even November, I can't imagine how the Winter is going to be!
Refusing to give up on my baking
Believe it or not I have baked a few yummy treats, you know, for the afternoon cravings
Halloween was very successful, Cami had a lot of fun at her school's party and she wants to go trick or treating every night since Monday ( is not happening)
Today I read the best idea ever to get rid of Halloween candy, stop by my friend Hil's blog, if you have kids you will love it too.
Sorry because I haven't been around your blogs lately, I have to catch up on my Google reader.

My little ladybug

My baby girl, 29 days today

Mateo

Unfortunately we have to give our beautiful new puppy dog away. We are looking for a loving family to take care of him. He is so adorable and playful, but with a new baby at home and getting back to work in a few weeks I am totally overwhelm and I can't take care of him. I don't know what I was thinking when I allowed my husband to get him ( well, obviously, I wasn't thinking)

I am not complaining, just keeping it real here.My life certainly is not just cakes and buttercream!
My kids are adorable,healthy and the best gift God has given me.

Pastel Baby Shower Cookies -TUTORIAL

2011-10-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous week and I am sure you all are getting ready for Halloween. Around here we are excited, little Cami has her custom ready.She still keeps changing her mind about what she wants to be for Halloween, but her costume has been pick up and she has to stick with her original choice...a ladybug!
Her little sister in the other hand will be nice and cosy, orange PJ's that will be. Don't judge me, but I do not agree putting my almost one month old baby in a costume.

As you can see in this post, around here we are in baby mode. I am posting another tutorial for the fabulous
cookie site The Cookie Cutter Company, did you like them on their facebook page? You should, a little bird told me that some great giveaways are coming their way.
Thank you so much who participated in the giveaway, please make sure to check the winners in my last post.

BABY COOKIES

I used some baby gift bags that I have gotten in the last couple of days as inspiration for the colors and the designs of the cookies.

Prepare your cookies according to your recipe,bake them and get ready to have some fun decorating them

To make these BABY Cookie designs you will need:

Baby Bib cookie cutter
Baby Carriage cookie cutter
Baby Onesie cookie cutter
White, lavander, baby green and baby yellow royal icing ( thick for pipping and thin to flood the cookies)
Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1 and #2
Pink Fondant roses ( optional)
Paintbrush
Toothpicks
Piping gel ( to attach flowers to cookie, you can use royal icing also)

BABY COOKIES WITH FONDANT ROSES

Making the Onesie Cookie

I used a food marker to outline the onesie's jumper detail before outlining the cookie with the royal icing.

Making the Baby Bib cookie

Making the Baby Carriage cookie

BABY PASTEL COOKIES WITH WORDS

As always, you need to start outlining and flooding the cookies

For these particular designs, make sure you let the cookies dry overnight

Making the Baby Onesie

Making the Baby Carriage

A very simple, yet cute design. Outline the cookie carriage and wheels, also flood small details.

Let cookie dry for a few hours before adding the words.

Making the Baby Bib

I hope this tutorial will help you in your next cookie adventure.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Fall Cookies and Fantastic Giveaway by The Cookie Cutter Company

2011-10-21T11:37:00.002-05:00

Welcome to my first post for The Cookie Cutter Company!
When I was contacted to make some tutorials for their site I was absolutely thrilled !

Just in case you haven't heard, they have over 500 designs of cookie cutters, great prices ( $1 per cookie cutter), fast and low shipping and a great customer service.
The Cookie Cutter Company is in the process of launching a page on their site where their customers can maximize their cookie making enjoyment, see different ways the cutters could be used, and more importantly, not feel overwhelmed baking and decorating cookies.
They want to show you cookie crafting ideas that will allow you to create treats that are as delightful to the eye as they are to your taste buds.

Make sure you check the end of this post for a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY AND A PROMO CODE JUST FOR MY READERS!

For those of you who have never decorated cookies before I have broken down the various steps as thoroughly as possible, I am sure you will have fun decorating your cookies!

FALL COOKIES

I like to plan the design of my cookies before I start decorating them ,specially now,with a 2 week old new born and a 4 week old puppy,my head is pretty much spinning around!

To make these FALL Cookies you will need:

Oak Leaf cookie cutter
Maple Leaf cookie cutter
Acorn cookie cutter
Red, orange and brown royal icing ( thick for pipping and thin to flood the cookies)
Pastry bags, couplers and tips #1 and #2
Red and gold sanding sugar
White Nonpareils
Gold luster dust ( optional)
Paintbrush
Thin paste of meringue powder and water
Toothpicks

Making the Maple Leaf Cookies

While the cookie is still wet, pipe brown veins and let the cookie dry for a few hours. When the cookie is completely dry,use a paintbrush dipped in the mix of meringue powder and water and outline the cookie, then dust with the red sanding sugar. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and brush off excess sugar.

After you blend the icing let the cookie dry for a few hours. Then get some inspiration from some of the leaves of your backyard :),outline the cookie with brown icing and pipe veins on the cookie using tip #1.

Making the Oak Leaf cookies

This is a pretty simple desing. After you flood the cookie let the icing dry and then pipe the leaf veins ( I used tip #2)

For this other leaf, after I flooded the cookie I piped orange veins on the wet icing and draw a toothpick throughout the cookie, then I piped red veins on the still wet icing.

When the cookie is completely dry,use a paintbrush dipped in the mix of meringue powder and water and outline the cookie's veins, then dust with the red sanding sugar. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and brush off excess sugar.

I let the cookie dry for a few hours and use a paintbrush dipped in the mix of meringue powder and water and outline the cookie's veins, then dust with the red sanding sugar. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and brush off excess sugar

Making the Acorn cookies

Outline and flood acorns and let them dry for a few hours.

For the gold acorn: Use a paintbrush dipped in the mix of meringue powder and water and brush the acorn's cupule, then dust with the gold sanding sugar. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and brush off excess sugar.
Mix some gold luster dust with a few drops of vodka and paint the acorn.

For the white acorns: After the cookies are dry use a paintbrush dipped in meringue powder mixture and brush the acorns, then dust one with the white nonpareils and the other one with the sanding sugar. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and brush off excess sugar

Well I hope you can have as much fun as I did decorating your own cookies.

NOW, ARE YOU READY FOR THE GIVEAWAY?

Is going to give away 3 CHRITSMAS COOKIE CUTTER SETS TO 3 lucky readers. Isn't that fun? so you can start getting ready for your holiday baking!

~~Giveaway will remain open until Thursday, October 27st. 2011 at 11 p.m. CST. Winner will be chosen at random, announce in this post,notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond.~~

Enter to win your Chritsmas cookie cutter set by leaving a comment on my blog, for extra entries: (Please leave a separate comment for each entry)

Like The Cookie Cutter Company on Facebook
Follow The Cookie Cutter Company on Twitter @CutMyCookie
Like Pink Little Cake on Facebook

Also, if you go to The Cookie Cutter Company site and want to start shopping right away, please use

CODE: PLK20

FOR 20% OFF YOUR SHOPPING!

It can't get any better than that! Happy shopping and good luck!

THE WINNERS OF THE GIVEAWAY ARE:

Mindy Percival said...

Thanks for the tutorial! They look like fun to make. Thanks for the chance to win the cookie cutters, I love your blog! :)

mariela said...

I always fallow your block..and love your hard work.you make woondefull cookies the derails on your cookies are amazing special on those cookies they look so real.i hope one day tasted them

Platinum Rose said...

I "liked" The Cookie Cutter Company on Facebook. mconrad333@gmail.com. I really hope to win this giveaway, would be a great "push" to make some adorable cookies for the holidays!

Congratulations and thank you for entering the giveaway.

Disclosure:
This is a sponsored post by The Cookie Cutter Company, all opinions are my own.

Meet my Baby

2011-10-16T13:20:00.000-05:00

Excuse me because I have been away from all type of social media while I take care of this little one.

My baby girl
Born on October 05, 2011
at 8:10 AM
7 pounds, 4 ounces. 19 inches

We did had a few health issues the first week but we are doing good and my baby seems so well now.

Halloween Linzer Cookies

2011-10-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

I found this Linzer cookie cutters at the store and I couldn't resist to get them.

I didn't make the traditional linzer cookie recipe because I just wanted to use Dulce de leche as a filling.

I used this recipe, minus the olive oil because one of the reviews kind of scare me.
The cookies were very light and combined perfectly with the sweet the filling.

Spread a tablespoon of Dulce de leche on the bottoms of each cookie and sandwich together.

Bat cupcake Toppers

2011-10-06T00:00:00.001-05:00

Dress up your cupcakes with these easy fondant bat toppers that you can make with your kids.

Here is Cami working hard with fondant

For the bat toppers you will need:

-Small rolling pin

-Black fondant,

-Small and big bat cookie cutters

-Black and red royal icing

-Small pieces of paper towel

Roll out the fondant and cut the bat shapes with the cookie cutters.

Put the bat's wings on top of the pieces of paper towel to give the wings some movement

Add details to the bats with the black icing, I just did whatever lines I felt like it. I also added some red icing by the "mouth"area to pretend it was blood. Let the bats dry for a few hours.

Get your cupcakes ready...

Place the bats on top of the cupcakes and your good to go!

Easy Lime Pie with Spiders

2011-10-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

I cheated making this "pie" and I do not feel bad about it. I usually do not bake anything using any mixes or nothing prebaked, but the reality is that this week we are having a baby!

This past weekend was all about cleaning the house, getting ready for the baby to come home, me being away for 4 days and trying to have as much fun as possible with Cami.

oh, did I mention that my husband decided to get a 4 week old puppy also, yes, that will be for another post!

Cami and I played, made crafts and also we were able to make some sweets for the blog, which we happily ate over the weekend also.
I figure these are my last days eating what ever I want, so might as well enjoy them.

I was very "original" with the recipe, I took it straight from the can, but I do not regret it, it was good and I still have a few pieces left for today and tomorrow.
I figure something like this will be so easy to make on Halloween, specially if you have a newborn around and just came out of a C Section.

Lime Pie the easy way!

INGREDIENTS:

1 prepared 9 inch graham cracker crust
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup of fresh lime juice
2 cups of whipped cream
Grated lime peel

TO MAKE THE SPIDERS:

You will need a small rolling pin, green sparkle gel and

Roll the fondant and cut the spiders with the cookie cutter

Lift the spiders with a spatula ( so they don't break)

Put the spiders on top of the paper towel and let them dry for a few hours

Make the spiders eyes using the green sparkle gel ( this is what I had on hand,

you can use what ever color you have or royal icing)

Put the spiders on top of the pie and enjoy a slice.

Have a great weekend everyone, I will updated you with the baby as soon as I get home and feel better.

Chocolate and Vanilla Pudding Bowls with Skeleton Bones

2011-09-26T12:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!!
I am jumping in the Halloween wagon like everyone else and I made this chocolate and vanilla pudding bowls with skeleton bones. I did them a little bit in the fancy side because I used white chocolate and a really good quality Belgian chocolate, but you can use candy melts if you want.

For the Skeleton Bones you will need:

-White chocolate
-Skeleton candy mold ( you can get it at any Michael's store)

.Place white chocolate in a disposable decorating bag and melt in microware on 20 seconds intervals until the chocolate is melted.
.Fill the mold and put it in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set, about 10 minutes.
.Unmold chocolate bones and set aside.

For the chocolate bowls you will need:

-Candy bowl molds
-Dark Chocolate ( I used a really good Belgian Chocolate)

.Place dark chocolate in a disposable bag and melt in microware on 20 seconds intervals until the chocolate is melted.

.Fill the molds lightly tapping it several times on a counter to eliminate air bubbles in the chocolate.

.Put the mold in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set, about 15 minutes.
.To unmold , turn over the mold about an inch above a flat surface covered with parchment paper and gently tap the mold.

I made a few dots of chocolate and I sat the bowls on them.

I guess I tried to mimic a cauldron's witch .I added a layer of vanilla pudding, another layer of chocolate pudding and I placed the Skeleton bones on top.
Done!

Have a great week and thank you for stopping by.

My Memories Suite-Digital Scrapbook Software GIVEAWAY

2011-09-22T02:00:00.068-05:00

Since my family is growing and my time is shrinking, I have been looking into ways to simplify my life enjoying the hobbies I love.One of the things I love happens to be scrapbooking.
5 years ago, I used to enjoyed traditional scrapbooking. I had drawers full of papers,stickers and embellishments.The first year after Cami was born I finished a scrapbook album for her,then space in my apartment got smaller, with a toddler and working ,my time became so little. Then, my love for cakes made me get rid of every single paper in the house to get space for my cake tools. That's when scrapbooking was pretty much over for me.

I have been thinking for a long time in getting a digital scrapbooking software but I just didn't know which one was the right for me since I do not have a lot of computer skills.

When I was asked to review My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software I thought it couldn't have come in a better time.

What I loved about My Memories Suite is how easy, affordable and mess free this digital scrapbooking software is compared to dealing with paper scrapbooking.For me the biggest appeal of this type of software is that those that do not have the time, resources or patience for traditional scrapbooking can enjoy scrapbooking without purchasing fancy scissors,acid-free glue, papers and albums.

This past weekend I made a few photo albums for all our summer pictures and I am so happy with the results,these are some of the album pages...

My Memories Suite comes with a lot of template sets, paper patterns and embellishments. To add even more options,they offer free design downloads and hundreds of low-priced papers, templates and packs in their Design Shop. Using this scrapbook software, you not only can create digital scrapbooks but also calendars, photobooks, videos and cards.

I can honestly say that this digital scrapbooking software is very friendly to use.

My Memories Suite wants you to have your very own copy of the digital Software for FREE! and i want you to have it too!! you.are.going.to.love.it.

GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES and open to everyone:

1 winner will receive My Memory Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software

This giveaway will remain open until Wednesday Sept 28th and the winner will be announce in this post.

The winner will be chosen at random, notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond.

IN ORDER TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY, go to My Memories Suite site and leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite digital paper pack or layout.

BONUS ENTRIES: Please leave a separate comment for each entry

Like My Memories Suite on Facebook
Follow My Memories Suite on Twitter
Like Pink Little Cake on Facebook

Readers of my blog can also receive a 10% discount of the fabulous digital software using the code STMMMS57101

Disclosure: I received a copy of My Memories Suite to review and I am very happy I did, all the opinions are my own.

Ducky Baby Shower Cake

2011-09-19T15:50:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday!! Very happy for me because I have a date schedule for my C-Section, so around here we are really in countdown mode.

If you remember....
For the past few weeks I have been showing you a few tutorials for this Green and yellow Baby Shower Cake. This is the complete cake. The baby blocks might look a little too much for the cake itself but it was something that the future mommy to be really wanted added to the cake.
I made the blocks with Styrofoam covered in green fondant.

To learn how to make the rattle and bottle cut outs go here.
To learn how to make the onesie and bib go here.
To make the Ducky cut outs go here.

I hope you like how the cake turn out.

4 weeks to go

2011-09-12T12:30:00.001-05:00

For the past few weeks I have been explaining my little girl that she is going to stay with daddy for a few days while mommy goes to the hospital to bring her sister home...

And for the past few weeks she has been telling me that no!, she is coming with me because she needs to teach me how to hold her sister and how to feed her ( apparently I don't know how, I am wondering who has feed and held my 4 year old for the past 4 years?)

Botton line is that we all are so excited that we only have 4 weeks left of swollen feet, back pain,feeling hot, cramps, cravings and them we are going to have our precious baby girl with us.

This is what I look like at 8 months with Air Conditioning at my office, you do not, I repeat , do not want to see how I look today with no AC in our office until further notice.
I. am. on. fire!!! hot, cranky ...and I can go on and on.
We are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in our office and the contractors are working as fast as they can to get the AC back on. I am assuming they are a little ( maybe a lot) tired of hearing me complaining and rolling my eyes at them.

Have a great week everyone!

Using Cookie Cutters to Decorate a Cake

2011-09-06T00:11:00.019-05:00

I have been showing you all the details I made for a Duck Themed Baby Shower Cake a made a few weeks a go. As you have seen in this and this post, I used cookie cutters to make all of the details of the cake.
I love to use cookie cutters when decorating a cake! It cuts my working time in half instead of making a 3D figure.
I think if you add enough details and color to the cut outs they end up looking so cute plus they are so easy to make.

Supplies needed for the bottle, blocks and rattle

Gumpaste, color of your choice
Bottle, rattle and square cookie cutters
Tip #2
Small start tip #24
Royal icing (to attach cut outs on cake)
Small letter cutters
Water (to attach letter to blocks)

Bib and Onesie for Duck Theme Baby Shower Cake

2011-08-31T15:54:00.000-05:00

Another post showing you more details of the Duck theme Baby Shower Cake.
This onesie and bib can't be any easier to make.

Supplies needed to make the Onesie and Bib:

Small rolling pin
Fondant color of your choice
Water ( to attach to cake)
Royal icing ( for bib details)
Stitching tool ( if you do not have one you can use a tooth pick)
Onesie and Bib cookie cutter
Rubber or clear stamps ( make sure you have use them ONLY for cake decorating purposes)

The day you are decorating the cake...

Making the onesie

1-Roll out the fondant
2-Cut the onesie with the cookie cutter
3-Add onesie detail using the stitching tool
4-Add impression detail with the stamp
5-Attach to cake with a dab of water

To make the bib

1-Roll out the fondant
2-Cut the bib with the cookie cutter
3-Add impression detail with the stamp
4-Attach to cake with a dab of water
5-Add details with royal icing

There is so much more you can do to make the onesie and bib look even cuter, you can paint them, add luster dust in different colors, add more details with royal icing, that's up to your imagination!

Easy gumpaste Duck

2011-08-29T23:00:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to make a Duck themed Baby Shower cake for my cousin who was hosting a Baby Shower for her sister in law.
I made a lot of details for the cake which I will be sharing with you in the next few days.
EASY GUMPASTE DUCKY

Supplies needed:

yellow gumpaste for the duck
orange fondant or gumpaste for the beak
white fondant or gumpaste for "bubbles"
small rolling pin
duck cookie cutter
royal icing
water
knife tool or tooth pick
black edible writer
small petal cutter (optional)

-To make the ducks roll out the yellow gumpaste and cut the ducks out with the cookie cutter, put them on top of parchment paper on a flat surface ( I used a cookie sheet) and let them dry for a few days.

-Roll the white gumpaste in your hands forming small "bubbles" and let them dry with the ducks.

The day that you are decorating the cake...

-Attach the duck to the cake with royal icing, then attach the bubbles.

-Roll out the orange gumpaste and using the cookie cutter cut the beak and attach to the duck with a dab of water.

-I wanted to add a few wings to the duck, the easier, the better!
-Roll out yellow gumpaste and using a small petal cutter cut the "wings" and make details with the knife tool or with a tooth pick.
-Attach to the duck with a dab of water.

There you have a simple and cute yellow ducky!

Bridal Shower Dress Cookies

2011-08-25T01:52:00.012-05:00

White dresses and purple details and flowers were the only requirement for this big cookie order that I did a few weeks ago for a Bridal Shower in Iselin, NJ.

The bride's sister sent me a picture of a cookie to get the design from there, I do not know where he got the picture from but I will be happy to post a link to the source is any of you have seen the cookie design before in another site.

Cookies ready to go.

Bubble Guppies Cake

2011-08-22T15:41:00.000-05:00

This is the Bubble Guppies cake I made for Camilla's birthday party at school.
The cake is strawberry with kids buttercream frosting that I tinted light blue. I didn't want to use fondant because I pretty much have no energy at this point to roll fondant.
I actually made a small cake for the kids, the first tier is a dummy cake covered in light blue royal icing.

I know many of you have no idea what a Bubble Guppy is, only if you have small children I am sure you will know them by name like I do.
Well if you want to meet the Guppies, here is the link.

I made the Bubble Guppies by hand using gumpaste for the body and fondant for the hair. I used gumpaste and a mold to make the sea stars and little shells. The sand is graham crakers.

Hours of work for the Guppies to end up in the trash!

Have a great week everyone!

Birthday Party for my little one

2011-08-18T16:25:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share a few pictures of the party that we had at home for my little one. I really didn't have a theme for this party, my girl just kept asking for the color pink in everything, so that's what I did...pink everywhere.

The cake was chocolate cake with kids buttercream,which I tinted pink. I used a chocolate mold to do the ice cream cones and milk shakes shapes that I put around the cake.

We had the party at noon and I just wanted to keep the food simple, spinach dip,a few salads and tea sandwiches (chicken salad, tuna salad, shrimp salad, roast beef and ham with cheese) we also had pasta for the kids and chicken fingers.

For dessert we had cake and also ice cream with lots of topping for the kids to choose from.

One of the best parts of the party was the pinata, Cami had so much fun and so did all the other kids.

Happy Birthday to my little one!

Bubble Guppies Party for my little one

2011-08-15T16:52:00.001-05:00

This is a happy 4 year old. We have been bless with her and I thank God every minute for having her.

I survived this weekend, 2 parties, two cakes, lots of party favors and food to make. We had an amazing time and Cami wanted to keep the festivities as long as today when she woke up asking for another party. For sure mommy is done for this year's parties!

The party at school had a Bubble Guppy theme. My friend Raychel of My Creative Way Blog made the super cute Bubble Guppy pillow dress for her. We had cake, juice boxes, cookies favors and lots of balloons. We had plenty of happy kids.

The cake was really fun to make, coming in a post soon.

Fish,Dolphins and Star Fish Cookie favors for Cami's party

2011-08-10T14:52:00.001-05:00

We are going to be celebrating my little girl's birthday party this weekend. I am already exhausted with all the preparations for the parties but very excited for her, she is so happy and that's the only thing she keeps talking about ..her party, well and her pinata!

I created these cookie favors for her classroom friends, we are going to have a party there on Friday with a Bubble Guppies theme.
I thought the kids would have fun eating these colorful cookies. The pink star fish are going to be for the little girls and the fish and dolphins for the boys. I am so looking forward to celebrate with my little one, I can't believe she is 4 years old already!

I am planning on making a few fun cakes for her over the next 2 days. I am not making anything too crazy and complicated but for sure I have a lot of sugar details to do for the cakes. I can't wait to share them with you.

Milk Chocolate Cookies that you MUST bake!

2011-08-08T16:28:00.001-05:00

I just spend the weekend running around and getting ready for Cami's birthday parties. One on Friday and one on Sunday at home, I am almost ready except that tonight I will be making pom poms and party favors tags. God. help. me. because it is my first time pretending that I know paper crafting.

To top things off I have a little bit of a cold, and being 7 months+ pregnant with a 93 degree weather is not helping my mood at all, I am just keeping a positive attitude. After a long nap yesterday afternoon, I woke up craving chocolate, plus I had in my pantry a big chunk of Callebaut milk chocolate that I have been trying to use for the past few ~~months~~ weeks. Baking in a such a hot and humid afternoon was definitely not an option for me, so today Cami woke me up pretty early and I had the perfect excuse to bake a batch of cookies before coming to work.

This cookie recipe is from Martha Steward Cookie Book, very simple and easy to make,besides the Callebaut chocolate makes them extra special and tasty.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces Callebaut milk chocolate (4 ounces chopped and 4 ounces cut into 1/4-inch chunks)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
-Melt coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
-Transfer chocolate mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix on medium speed until combined.
- Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
- Fold in chocolate chunks.
-Scoop batter using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop; place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. --Bake for 15 minutes until cookies are flat and surfaces begin to crack.( Be careful and do not over bake them, the cookies will look a little soft when you get them out of the oven)

Transfer cookies to wire racks and let them cool .

Bring some cookies to work and coworkers will love you forever, even if you are hormonal and cranky 9 hours a day!

Pink Baby Minnie Mouse Cake

2011-08-03T16:49:00.001-05:00

This is the Minnie Mouse cake that I delivered this past weekend for a little girl's birthday party. Her mom was so excited when she saw the cake, just like me when I did Camilla's party last year.
This cake design I have made it before and is one of the most visited post in the blog.

The Happy Birthday letters I made them using a mold, you can find a tutorial to make the little roses here.

I made the Minnie Mouse with a combination of rice crispy treats, fondant and gumpaste.

For the # 1 I only used gumpaste. You can find how to make the Minnie Mouse little bow here.

I made the black letters for the name using my CriCut cake machine.

Along with the cake I also made 1 dozen of vanilla buttermilk cupcakes and 1 dozen of chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting and white fondant polka dots.

Next week is going to be a busy one, my little girl is turning 4 next Saturday and I am having 2 parties for her with 2 different themes. The party theme for the school is BUBBLE GUPPIES and the party theme at home will be ICE CREAM , my girl keeps telling me that she wants the "biggest cake ever" so I am definitely feeling the pressure here.
This year I am making all the favors and paper decorations for the party. I am so excited and I can wait to share all the pictures with you.

How to make a bow for Minnie Mouse

2011-07-29T14:57:00.000-05:00

I am not supposed to be making cakes by now, doctor's advise! these past few weeks have been very hard for me, in and out of the hospital almost every week. Not fun at all, but thank God I am feeling better now.

I couldn't say no to this client and this week I have been getting ready for a Minnie Mouse cake due this weekend. I will be doing a Minnie Mouse cake design that I have done before and is so perfect for little girl's birthday parties. Since I had to do a Minnie Mouse cake topper, I wanted to give you an idea on making a an easy sugar bow.
This is bow is actually very simple, but you can certainly make more sophisticated versions for other cakes designs.

To make a sugar bow you will need:

-50% fondant and 50% gumpaste of color of your choice. You can also use only gumpaste if you want. I do not recommend to use only fondant because it is too soft and the bow won't hold it's shape.
-Small rolling pin
-Pizza cutter
-Water
-Small brush
-Paper towel
-Ruler (optional)
-Luster dust

1-Using your rolling pin roll out the sugar paste about 1/8 inch thick. You don't want the paste too thin, or the loops won't be able to hold their shape when they dry .
2-Using the pizza cutter and a ruler cut a long rectangular shape

3-Take two small pieces of the paper towel and roll them.

4-Place the rolled paper towel pieces where you are going to be folding the bow loops.

5-Brush a dab of water at the end of the loop and fold the bow loop around the piece of paper towel

6-Do the same for the other side

7-Turn the almost finished bow up and pinch the middle very gentle with you fingers

8-( not in picture)Roll a long and small rectangular piece of the fondant/ gumpaste mixture and attach with a dab of water to the middle of the bow.

9-Attach to cake board, sugar figure or any place you want in a cake.

10- Let the bow dry for a few hours and dust with pink or pearl luster dust

Ready to make your own sugar bows?

Southern Living Magazine Giveaway and Cake Contest

2011-07-25T14:12:00.003-05:00

Each month the Southern Living magazine and southernliving.com readers find ideas for cooking, gardening,entertaining, decorating, regional travel and locally made products.

For the past 15 years Southern Living has had a white cake on the cover of the December issue, and this month they are asking their readers to submit their own white cake renditions to be considered for this December’s cover. The winning cake will be on the cover and also receive $1000, and two runners up will have recipes in the issue and win $500.

I thought this will be a great opportunity if any of you want to enter the contest, I think it will be so much fun. Hurry because Deadline for Entries is July 31st

If you want information in how to enter the contest you can go here. You can also get inspiration from past cakes in their site visiting the gallery of past cover cakes.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY:

Southern Living has kindly offered 2 magazine subscriptions to my readers. To enter the contest just leave me a comment describing your ideal white cake.

Winners will be announce Friday 29th in this post.

Good luck everyone!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Jenniffer said...

I have to second the coconut cake as my favorite white cake. With coconut flakes on top of the icing to give it that wintery snowball look!

Mini Baker said...

oh my goodness, if I will this, I will have one very happy fiance (soon to be hubby!)! I LOVE this magazine. My ideal white cake is fluffy, moist and has a significant amount of vanilla ... and must have some kind of vanilla bean frosting!
YUMMY!!!
Thank you for the opportunity!
xo,
minibaker

I will be contacting you today.

Heart of Darkness Brownies

2011-07-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

I know summer is here and most of us crave sorbet, fresh fruit or ice cream, in my case I crave more than that. I have seen brownies every where lately and I had to make these.
It can't get any better than having caramel, pecans,marshmallows, chocolate chips and candy bar all together in a brownie. I am glad I have made, and eaten!! these brownies weeks ago, otherwise I won't be able to pass my glucose test this week.

Heart of Darkness Brownies (makes 24 brownie cups)
Recipe from the Book Sticky,Chewy,Messy,Gooey
by Jill O' Connor

INGREDIENTS:

3 sticks unsalted butter

6 oz unsweetened chocolate

2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

6 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tea spoon salt

1 cup of toasted pecans

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

5 full size Snickers candy cut in small chunks

3 cups mini marshmallows

See more ingredients below for the Caramel Sauce

-Preheat oven to 350 F.

-Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together over medium heat until smooth.

-Pour chocolate mixture into the bowl of an standard mixer and stir in the sugars,flour, salt,eggs and vanilla.

-Mix just until combine and remove bowl from mixer.

-Add the pecans, chocolate chips and chunks of candy bars, mix with a spatula.

-Using nonstick cooking spray, spray two 12 cup cupcake pans

-Get the brownies out of the oven and let them cool until they are easy to handle.

-To remove the brownies from the cupcake pan, just run a knife around the edge of each brownie to loosen it from the cup.

-Let the brownies cool completely on a wire rack

TO MAKE THE CARAMEL SAUCE

25 unwrapped caramel candies
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Combine caramel candies, cream, vanilla and salt and microwave uncovered for 1 minute.
-Remove from microwave and stir until smooth, if caramel is not completely melted, keep heating in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring until smooth.

Drizzle ( in my case I made extra caramel and pour it) the brownies with the caramel sauce and let them cool completely.

Do not chill and store for up to 3 days in covered container.

Enjoy!!

How to make a Baseball Ball using Rice Crispy Treats

2011-07-12T16:19:00.001-05:00

When I made the Yankee Theme Groom Cake last month, I tried to take as many pictures as I could to show you the process.
Here is the first of 3 tutorials that I put together making this cake.
Making the Baseball balls

To make the baseballs I made my own rice crispy treats , the recipe is really easy to make and I can save some money instead of buying the rice crispy already made.

-When you have made the rice crispy treat, roll as many balls as you need,wrap them in plastic wrap and let them sit over night.

-Don't make the balls too big because you are going to cover them with white modeling chocolate and then with fondant. You need to keep the proportions of the real baseball ball.

I also made white modeling chocolate, which is made using white chocolate and corn syrup. I like to work with white chocolate to model figures and make other details in cakes. White chocolate has the texture of marzipan and is very easy to work with. It can be use to make modeling figures, ribbons, flowers, leaves and cake toppers like the ones I made for this particular cake.Modeling chocolate can be made with dark or white chocolate and is very inexpensive to make it homemade, you always can buy it online if you do not want to make your own.

WHITE MODELING CHOCOLATE RECIPE

7 ounces of chopped white chocolate

1 1/2 tablespoons of light corn syrup

-Melt the white chocolate in a metal bowl and set over a pan of simmering water.
-Stir the chocolate until melted and smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir until has cooled a little bit.

-Stir in the light corn syrup. The chocolate will stiffen almost immediately.
-Keep stirring until completely combined and transfer the chocolate to a plastic bag ( or plastic wrap)and refrigerate for 1 hour before using.

-Grease your work area with Pam spray, in this way the modeling chocolate won't stick to your mat or table.
-Remove the chocolate from the refrigerator, and knead it until it is soft enough to work with. If you feel the chocolate is too hard let it sit for a few minutes.
-Roll the modeling chocolate with a small rolling pin and cover the rice crispy ball.
-Remove the extra white chocolate with your hands and keep rolling the balls until they are all nice and smooth.
-Set the balls aside and let them rest on parchment paper for a few minutes.

-Roll out white fondant to 1/4 " inch thick and cover the ball ( I didn't use any water to stick the fondant to the white chocolate)
-Using your fondant smoother, smooth and shape the ball to remove any air bubbles.I didn't want to smooth the ball with my hands because I was afraid the pressure of my hands were going to leave impressions on the fondant.
-Trim off some of the excess fondant using a pizza cutter leaving some extra fondant on the sides of the ball.

-Finish off the ball with your own hands.( people won't be able to see that part because that's where you are going to attach the ball to the cake board)
-Set the finished balls aside and let them dry for 2 days before piping the details of the baseball ball with red royal icing or the color of your choice.

Well, I hope this little tutorial can help you in any way with some of your cake projects.

Sesame Street Cookies-How to make Oscar The Grouch

2011-07-05T15:45:00.002-05:00

Happy Tuesday! To be honest, after having a few days off I really didn't feel like going back to work. Except for Sunday that it rained all day,we had a wonderful weekend full of fun time with my little girl and a lot of food.I think I provably gained 5 pounds in 3 days from all the food I consumed.

I hope you had a great weekend too with friends and family.

I have to say that I had so much fun making these cookies for a birthday party in Kansas, although, I wish I had a Kopykake projector for the cookies, it would had been easier to decorate . I'm pretty much use to make Elmo since that is a very popular theme for children's parties, but Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were totally new to me. This is my first time making then, and I don't think they came out that bad.

Big Bird Cookies

Elmo Cookies

Oscar the Grouch

I am not a cookie expert by any means, but here is a little tutorial of the making of Oscar the Grouch

I didn't have an Oscar cookie cutter, so I improvised with an extra flower cutter that I had. You can also make your own template using cardstock or a big plastic lid from a container

I found these pictures online of Big Bird and Oscar. I printed them out as reference and "templates" for my cookies.

For flooding my cookies I don't like the icing too runny. If you have any questions regarding icing consistency,I would recommend you to visit Marian from Sweetopia, she has a fabulous tutorial and post about How to figure out the right royal icing consistency.

To make Oscar's tongue I used very thin red fondant instead of piping and flooding it with red royal icing. I used a very small heart shape cutter and attached the "tongue" with dab of piping gel.

And here is the cookie!

Well, I hope you all have a great week and thank you for stopping by.

If you sell cakes, these Words of Wisdom are for you!

2011-06-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

Years ago I took a Cake Business class with Ruth Drennan of Ruth Drennan Cakes and I have been thinking about some Words of Wisdom that she gave us at the class.

I have applied them to my own little cake business

and I hope they can be of some help to you too.

-Everyone wants something for free or for cheap: Know that you need to earn money, but more important know what you are worth. There will be many times, specially at the beginning of your business, where people ask you for free cakes for events or special occasions. They will also ask you for big discounts promising you exposure in Facebook, Tweeter, their webpages or their own blogs. Believe me, I have made a few little mistakes along the way and I am still waiting for the exposure! I will do a few freebies here and there but only with people that I know and I have worked with in the past.

-Advertising opportunities abound: When you start selling cakes your budget will be small, be selective about where you spend your money. Ask yourself if placing a paid ad with a website will expose you to the clients you want to reach. I always recommend setting up a good website, with plenty of information and pictures ( your own, please) for clients to see your work.

-Don't accept every job that comes your way: At the very beginning you might find yourself doing that, it is very tempting, but as much as you can try not to do it.

.If you take too many cake orders and you also have a full time job on top of being a mom,I can assure you that your health and sanity will suffer.

. If you are not charging enough, you will lose money

.If you really don't like what someone is asking you to do, don't do it.

.If you feel that you do not have the skills to do something, is better to say no, than having an issue with your client later.

-If you go into business with a partner, that can be a blessing or a course: Make sure you are both clear of which responsibilities you are having and what role are you going to play in the business. When you work with someone else, you will need to trust and depend on each other completely. In my case, even if I just have this little business going on,I like to work in my own, make my own decisions and take responsibilities for my own work.

-No one gets rich making cakes: Well, at least not me!! if you are...awesome!! and I am sure the big cake designers out there might disagree with me. If you work for yourself, you can make a nice leaving making specialty cakes, but you really have to work very, very hard. There is so much competition out there.And if you really think about it, paying kitchen rental, supplies, paying yourself...there is not too much money left!

-Strive for balance: When you are a mom, wife,run a house, work out of home and to top it off you make cakes to sell is difficult to make time for yourself. I feel that there is always something that needs to be done! Make sure you take time out for you and your own well being, if you don't, you will find yourself feeling burned out and unhappy instead of enjoying what you do.

Any more suggestions are always welcome!

Phyllo Cups with Cinnamon and Condensed Milk Cream

2011-06-28T13:08:00.001-05:00

I am a huge lover of condensed milk, I like it with bread, saltine crackers and also with fresh strawberries.Yes, I have weird eating habits!
Condensed milk is one of the reasons I love this little dessert so much, besides, is really easy to make and the ingredients are pretty much always in my house.The filling can be made in advance and refrigerate until is ready to serve,it is so creamy and refreshing, perfect for these summer days! .

Phyllo Cups with Cinnamon and Condensed Milk Cream

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

INGREDIENTS:

3 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup cold heavy cream
6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

- Lay 1 sheet phyllo on a work surface (always cover remaining sheets with a lightly damp towel).

- Brush phyllo with a little bit of butter and sprinkle with some sugar. Keep layering twice more with remaining phyllo, butter, and sugar.

-Cut stacked phyllo into 6 equal pieces and gently press each square into a cup of a standard muffin pan, make sure phyllo sits flat in bottom of cup.

-Bake until phyllo is golden brown, about 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.

-Take out of the oven and let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

TO MAKE THE FILLING:

-In a bowl, combine cocoa powder with a small amount cream and stir until powder dissolves.

-Stir in the remaining cream, condensed milk, cinnamon and pinch of salt.

-Whisk until firm but not dry peaks form and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fill phyllo cups with the filling cream and sprinkle with a little more cocoa powder.

According to the recipe and if you are looking into something more adventurous...
you can add a tablespoon of Kahlua, Baileys or Espresso powder .

Orange Shoe Box Cake and Stiletto Heel Shoe

2011-06-23T21:09:00.001-05:00

This is supposed to be a Christian Louboutin shoe box, honestly, I have never seen one of his shoe boxes in orange. ( and please, don't think that I own any Christian Louboutin shoes, I mean, I never seen a picture of and orange shoe box).
But as you know I have to do what my client wants, even if is not what I have in mind.
The cake was buttermilk with homemade vanilla pudding.

Here are just a few steps of the process, I wish it was as easy as it looks. By the way, I didn't color the orange fondant, it would have taken me forever to do that, I bought the fondant already colored.

I am really proud of the shoe, I think it came out really nice. I have to say that it was very time consuming but seen the shoe after it was done was really rewarding to me. I did made the signature red sole, but it seems that I forgot to take pictures of it.

Some details of the shoe. I used two sizes of silver dragees and I attached them with piping gel.

I hope you like it, and do not forget to enter my giveaway just in case you haven't stop by since my last post.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Naturally Nora Cookie Mix Review and Giveaway

2011-06-21T09:28:00.002-05:00

I have told you before that I'm not a fan of baking mixes,I sell cakes and cookies , therefore I feel the responsibility that everything I bake has to be from scratch.
But being a busy mom, working full time and having a baby on the way I feel that is ok to "cheat" sometimes. Time around my house is so tight, and I am sure some of you are in the same boat as me, so I want to go the easy but still nutritious way specially if I can use a good quality mix. .

Look at this Chocolate Chunk Cookies... they were so good and moist, so yummy!

and I also added some caramel candy to some of them, you know, to make them extra special.

I made these cookies using a cookie mix, a really good one.

Have you heard of Naturally Nora?

Their products are made entirely from all natural ingredients. No artificial flavors, colors, preservatives or hydrogenated oils. They also can be prepared dairy or soy-free and are kosher.

Not only naturally Nora has cookie mixes, but they also have frostings, cake mixes and brownie mixes.They think that great tasting food should be created in a kitchen, not a laboratory.

Don't we agree with that?

Naturally Nora send me a box of goodies to try and they also want to send some your way. I added two small cookie baking sheets along with the mixes, so there is no excuse and the winner can start baking right away.

To enter the giveaway for a box of goodies from Naturally Nora:

-Just leave me a comment on your thoughts about using cake, cupcake or cookie mixes.
-For an EXTRA entry, like Naturally Nora on Facebook and leave a separate comment letting me know that you did.

Giveaway is open for residents of the US only.
Winner will have 48 hours to respond with shipping info,if no response, another winner will be chosen .
A winner will be randomly chosen and announce in this post on Monday June 27th.
Good luck everyone !
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opinions about the cookie mixes are mine, I really, really love them.
I was not paid to write this post.

AND THE WINNER IS....

Jane said...

I use brownie mixes fairly often and cake mixes occasionally. I almost never use cookie mixes, but would love to try!
jcottey at aol dot com
June 24, 2011 1:17 PM

Thank you so much for entering the giveaway everyone!

Coconut Milk-Cream Cheese Flan

2011-06-17T18:06:00.000-05:00

I have found that when it comes to coconut, people either love it or hate it. I personally love coconut, raw, like I used to eat in Costa Rica or in any dessert or cake.

This coconut flan is the best Father's Day gift my husband can get, he loves flan, he can't get enough of it and every time I make it he pretty much eats the whole thing. ( he blames it on me being pregnant and he having cravings too, but that's an excuse!)

Coconut Milk-Cream Cheese Flan
From Sticky,Chewy,Messy,Gooey by Jill O"Connor
Serves 8

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CARAMEL:

1 Cup sugar
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 lemon juice

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CUSTARD:

Two 8 oz packages of cream cheese
1 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 cup cream of coconut
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
7 Large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

To make the caramel:

.Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a large saucepan over medium heat.
.Cook gently, swirling the pan occasionally until the sugar dissolves and starts to turn color.
.Increase the heat to high and boil until the syrup turns a deep amber color, 4 to 5 minutes.
Keeping an eye on it! Once you begin making the caramel, do not leave the pot, caramel can go from perfection to disaster in just seconds.
.Pour the caramel into a 9 inch cake pan, swirl to completely coat the bottom and half way up the sides of the pan, and set aside.

To make the custard:

.Preheat the oven to 300 F and position a rack in the middle of the oven.

.In a blender combine all the custard ingredients and blend on low speed just until smooth and combined.
.Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into the caramel-lined pan.
.Place the cake pan in a larger roasting pan and place the roasting pan on the oven rack.
.Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
.Cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil, piercing the foil in several places to allow steam to escape.
.Bake until the flan is firm to the touch in the center and doesn't jiggle when the pan is moved, about 60 minutes.

Transfer the flan from the water bath to a wire rack and let cool. When completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold.

TO UNMOLD:

Run a table knife carefully around the edges of the pan.Hold a serving platter over the top of the flan and invert.Shake the pan gently to release the custard.Remove the pan and let the caramel sauce flow around the sides of the flan and pool around the edges of the serving platter.
Now enjoy!!

Happy FATHER'S DAY to my hardworking husband and best daddy, !! Thank you for putting up with me and my hormonal mood swings every day!

Purple Bow-Hello Kitty Cookies

2011-06-13T21:30:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday...well almost Tuesday!
Summer is here, yes!!!, we have been having as much fun as we can outside. The weekend seems so short when you only have 2 days to enjoy with your little one, but we make the most out of it. Trips to the park, ice cream, Rita's Italian ice, playing outside in the mini pool,getting a little sun in my totally pale skin and NO BAKING!! .I can't believe I am actually saying that... I am taking a long break, no cakes, just yummy stuff for me and some friends.
How are you enjoying this Summer so far?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another take on Hello Kitty.
The purple bow on Hello Kitty and the yellow and purple hearts matched the color of the school for these graduation cookie favors. The cookies were ship in a very hot and humid day, I pretty much bit my nails for the next 2 days waiting to hear from my client, but everything went well and my cookies arrived in perfect condition.

Thank you for stopping by.

Yankee Theme Groom Cake

2011-06-08T15:37:00.000-05:00

There are no tears in cake but I almost cried when I realized that I used the wrong color of blue.It was already too late, I was too tired and didn't have the time to do anything about it.
Although, I Tweet about my frustration and Renne came to the rescue with a great idea, paint the blue with a darker blue she Tweet!! I had 15 minutes to do some adjustments and I was able to make it look a little more Yankee blue, sorry, no pics of the result, I was way too nervous about the delivery.

I met my client's sister and she loved it, she actually didn't find anything wrong with the blue.
This was definitely a learning experience, as I was covering the baseball hat I knew inside of me that there was something wrong, but I kept on going. I have to be more careful next time and do a good research of the colors, I guess this tell how much I know about sports.

The baseball bat and the baseballs were made with a combination of rice crispy treats, modeling white chocolate and fondant. Tutorial coming soon.

The baseball hat is all cake and the details are all fondant.

Well, I hope you like it.

Wedding Ring Cookie Favors

2011-06-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!

It is official, I do not know what's wrong with blogger but I can't post any comments in most of your blogs, this is really weird because it has been happening for the past week.
Are you having this problem too? Please, please let me know. I have been reading blogs as usual, and posting as anonymous, I have no choice!

On a more positive note...Today I have been in the mood for chocolate, I had chocolate pudding and 2 chocolate cookies for breakfast, not the healthiest breakfast I know! For sure I am done for the day with my chocolate intake, I do not want my little baby having a sugar rush inside of me, although I have to say that I am very happy to say that today I felt her moving, I have felt her before but today I actually put my hands on my tummy and felt the move/kick. Totally loving my baby, I can't wait to hold her!

Oh... Cookies, yes, sorry for the mommy update: Chocolate Ring Cookies samples that I made a few months back for a Bridal Event. Simple but elegant, grey color for the ring and white for the gem with white sanding sugar.

Lemon and Mango Color Cookies for a Vendor Challenge

2011-06-03T00:05:00.002-05:00

My dear blog friend Pam of Party Starters put together a Bridal Dessert Table for the Best Wedding Sites "May/June" Vendor Challenge. The color scheme for the dessert table was lemon, mango and periwinkle. Maria from Studio Sisters Photography, took all of the photos for this shoot, you can see all of them here.
I am totally loving the Ruffled Cake Favor set that Pam made for the display as well the other products from very talented vendors.
And these are the cookies I made, I hope you like them.

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Not Cake...just a big belly!

2011-06-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. Around here I am slowly recovering from a few days off. It was so good to have time to do things around the house and to spend more time with my little girl and my husband. Time goes by so fast and I feel that sometimes we miss special moments together.

I also had a special friend visiting from Costa Rica, she brought me my favorite powder milk, candy, newspapers and lots of good memories from the youth and single life we used to have back then, like 100 years ago! which by the way I do not miss at all.
We spent a lot of time playing with little Cami, shopping, watching good movies and eating. On Memorial Day we got up early and headed to the beach, it was a wonderful day full of Cami's laughs having fun building sand castles with Daddy. The day was so beautiful, warm and sunny, just what we need it.

Today I am celebrating another year of life and I am very grateful for what I have accomplish and for what I have in life,heath, job,family,friends, my wonderful husband, a beautiful little girl and my new baby girl coming soon.

Here are some pics from our fun time, I am not sure if you want to be a big belly on a cake blog but I just wanted to share with you some of my special moments.

Graduation Cake in 30 minutes

2011-05-27T14:51:00.001-05:00

No, I actually didn't measure ingredients, bake the cake and made the buttercream in 30 minutes, but I did frosted and decorated the cake in 30 minutes.
With graduations still going I though you might wanted to get a quick idea for a last minute cake for a friend or family member.

I needed this cake on Friday morning so I baked the Red Velvet cake on Wednesday night , I also made the buttercream and put cake and buttercream in the refrigerator. Thursday night,I whipped the buttercream, I assembled the cake ( my normal 3 layers of cake and 2 layers of buttercream) I crumb coated the cake, let it chill in the refrigerator for a few minutes, took it out and frosted it.

I am not really good with buttercream cakes, but my talented blog friend Jennifer, from Cup a Dee Cakes has a wonderful buttercream video tutorial . I am sure you will find it very useful.

I got my cookie cutters out, some black and white fondant and made the diploma and the girl silhouette

I used big tips to add a little detail on the cake and the borders, and that's it, cake was done!!

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend !

Yellow with Silver Details Bridal Shower Dress Cookies

2011-05-23T09:42:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday dear blog friends!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Around here the sun is still hiding from us and rain is upon us, but is ok. I have been feeling like my old me, just pregnant! but very happy because the final results telling us that we are having a healthy little girl are in and that is all I need it to feel better and get out of my depressed mood.
I had a wonderful weekend , I was off on Friday and I decided to take some time for myself and went shopping for my baby, I didn't go crazy like I did for Cami; but I certainly got some cute little outfits.
Saturday I was able to spend half of the morning at the park with Cami while daddy was cleaning the rug at our apartment and then I went home to start working in some cake toppers for some orders that I have for the next couple of weeks.

I am so excited for this weekend coming up, a dear friend is coming from Costa Rica to visit us, I haven't seeing her in 4 years and we are so looking forward to get together and have a long girl talk. I love when my friends come to visit, I specially love all the goodies they bring me from back home.
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I made this really cute elegant cookie dresses for a Bridal Shower in MA. I loved how the silver detail shine on the yellow dress. I am assuming that's the color scheme the bride is using for her bridesmaid's dresses, perfect for a summer wedding!

This dresses I only made them for fun, I think they turned out cute.

I also made this mini purse cookie for the future bride to be.

Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Small First Communion Cake

2011-05-18T16:08:00.001-05:00

As you will see, my cake orders are staring to decrease, rolling fondant these days is kind of hard . Even if I am not that far along I just feel "funny unconfortable" rolling fondant, therefore I am choosing only smaller projects.

I made this cake for a First Communion celebration along with some cross cookie favors. The cake was a white cake with vanilla pudding filling and covered with white fondant . For the girl's name I used my Cri Cut machine, but I have to be honest, I didn't folled the fondant too thin and at the end it did affect the look of the letters.

The piping was done with a Tip #3 using black royal icing.