Ombre Cake Tutorial

Sorry gals and guys, I told you all I would give you a little tutorial on the Koi fish cake I did a while back and looks like I am just now getting to it. This whole ombre thing pops up everywhere, from ombre hair to ombre cakes, and I have been dying to try my hand at the ole ombre.
So when I googled images and tutorials on ombre technique, I found a couple of ways to do it, but the all pretty much were the same. Haphazardly put different colors on the sides of your cake and then smooth it out. Huh? This didn't work for me! No way was I going to just put an ascending color scale on my cake and hope it all turned out and looked somewhat neat. So what did I do instead? I got to thinking...how could I get the ombre look while still maintaining my need for neatness. Parchment paper!
Parchment paper, what?
Yes, parchment paper, cut into 2 inch strip then wrapped around the cake to get nice, neat, even layers of ascending hue to create the OMBRE!
What will you need:
one cake (preferably 4" or taller) crumb coated in buttercream
4 or more colors of buttercream all in the same hue
parchment paper cut in 2" strips
off-set spatula

I think my technique is better displayed in picture format, so go ahead and feast your eyes!

 Remember this guy...your crumb coated cake

Step 1: take the darkest buttercream and spread it around the bottom half of the cake (sorry forgot to take a picture of step 1). Then place it in the refrigerator to set 20 mins.
Step 2: take one piece of parchment paper and wrap it around the cake, covering the area of dark colored buttercream.
Step 3: spread on your next darkest buttercream with slight overlap of the parchment paper. Refrigerate to set.
Step 4: remove parchment paper.

Step 5: smooth your line with your offset spatula just enough to soften your line.

Repeat Steps 1-5 as many times as necessary to cover your entire cake.

 You like? Simple as that! Hope this helps you all with a new technique! Happy baking, happier eating!

Tired...

'I'm tired,
tired of playing the game,
ain't it a crying shame?
I'm so tired,
Gosh darnit, I'm tired!'

Sing the above lyrics in your best Lilly Von Shtup voice and then you know exactly how I feel! Every time I tell my husband that I am tired, I picture that I say it just like Lilly does! Now for those of you who don't know the movie I am referencing with this song, let me help. The movie: Blazing Saddles, the song: I'm Tired (you tube it) and despite the fact that Lilly Von Shtup's career (escort) and mine (doctor) couldn't be more opposite, these past couple of weeks I feel like I need to sing her song...well minus all of the "escort/lady of love" lyrics in the song. So really just the final verse (above), I guess. I just want to sing it over and over until I am not so tired!
Who else feels me? Maybe it is the time of year, maybe it is my never ending job, I really have no idea. All I know is I am tired of being tired!

So why do you care you're wondering? Because amongst my being tired-ness, I made some cookies for my grandpa's birthday, and that got me to thinking...my grandpa is now 92, isn't he tired? My grandpa is unlike most 92 year olds. I mean he still drives (not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing) and he still goes wood hunting/chopping every year with his younger buddies (gents in their 70s). Can you picture it, a little old 90 something year old with a chainsaw? Its quite a site and although I haven't seen gramps in action, I have seen the pictures time and again that my grandpa likes to show us when ever we pass through his little town. It is pretty inspiring to think that even at 92, he is still doing something he loves. I mean, I can only hope that when I am 92, I will be baking some chocolate chip cookies for my hubby while we get ready to watch the latest episode of The Price is Right!

 Happy baking, happier eating!

Love Day!

Are you guys totally in LOVE today? I am sure you are just mushie gushie all over the place, right? Did you wear your red, or did you choose pink? Are you soaking in every morsel of divine chocolate given to you by your luva while you smell the long stemmed roses layed out over your bed and try on your new diamond earings...

Wake up people...and look at the simple, comforting romance that surrounds you everyday, not the Hollywood romance that shoots your expectations to the moon on Valentines Day.

My solution...love your luva everyday and eat sweets every chance you get! To entice your sweet tooth, here is a quick tour of my recent Day of Love treats...

the iconic conversation hearts...modern day of course...TEXT ME!

red velvet cupcakes with red heart sprinkles, LOVE THEM!

Combine the two together and you get cute little boxes of confection! I made these sweet treats for a special little guy with a fabulous mom who loves to spoil his classmates with sweet treats!

Chocolate sandwich cookies with vanilla cream filling and of course heart sprinkles, LOVE the HEARTS!

I am pretty sure I HEART these ones, I made them all a little different but equally simplistic. 

And finally, some more HEARTS, the colors are red, pink and deep purple
but they don't look too hot in the pic. 

Well all, I hope your day of love was genuinely happy and as always, happy baking, happier eating!