Wedding Pics (from 9.10.11)

So you know like 6 months ago when I did both my sister's and BFF's weddings and I told you I was a terrible blogger-baker and forgot to take pics? Yeah well, I got some pics to share with you all! I still don't have any from my sis's wedding, but here are a few from my BFF's wedding, what a beautiful day!

 Here are the two lovebirds...

 Vanilla butter cake with strawberry filling and Swiss meringue vanilla bean buttercream

 Remember the 150 mini strawberry shortcakes I told you about? Welp. here they are!

And finally, just a really cool picture to leave you all with, I think the photographer did an AMAZING job. Please check out her FB page @ Misty Kinser Photography, you can see all of her amazing photos that she took that day! Happy baking, happier eating!

Red

What is that expression..."red with envy" hmmm...no that is not it..."green with envy!" Let's face it people I am green with envy and it's driving me bonkers! Why you may ask am I a deep shade of envious green??? Because there are so many talented freakin bakers out there, that's why! As many of us are, I am A-ddicted to reading, scanning, searching other baker-blogs, but it is like torture because as I said, there are so many talented freakin bakers out there! It seems like everywhere I turn I see yet another totally talented gal whipping up some sweet treats! But don't get me wrong, I am not envious that there are crazy talented people everywhere, I am just jealous because every time I read a new blog post it makes me want to run out of work, hit the road and start baking! I only wish I had more time, (and lately more energy) to bake more and more and more!
So what does being GREEN have to do with RED you may wonder? Well nothing actually, but since I wanted to write this post that is all about red velvet treats in February which is a red month (would you agree) and now instead I am writing it in March which is definitely not a red month, I was just trying to think of some way to tie red back in to my post, but I am pretty sure I have now just successfully confused you all! Right? Right! As a side note, am I the only one who thinks months are color specific (please say no)? You know like February=red, June=yellow, on and on and on?
Okay so what did I do with all of this red velvet cake? Made pretty things for pretty parties that is! The first one I made was a birthday cake for a gent named Eric Garcetti. He is a guy who is running for mayor of LA. His interests surround the whole green living, green energy so I thought how fun would it be to tie this into his cake. Now please note that the windmills on top were totally my hubby's idea, he is awesome isn't he! For those of you not familiar with California, we love those windmills! Apparently they produce energy and they are all over the rural areas of CA so Barry figured they were a key component of any green living cake!

 yes, those are sugar cookies :)

The other red velvet beauty I made was another birthday cake for a husband of a girl I work with. She pretty much said do what you like, so I went ahead and had a little creative fun with it. I realize, decorating for adult males is kinda tricky! You can't be all cute-sy, you gotta be all manly and sophisticated. So here is what I came up with...

Finally, you know I did those Valentine day cupcake treats that were of course red velvet as well, and I made some cute little red velvet heart cake truffles for a dear friend who just had a baby and also happens to be a fabulous referral service for me!

YUMMMMY!

Happy baking & happier eating!

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!

Mad Scientist Party

Does anyone know why they call it a mad scientist? I mean are all scientists mad? Because I am sure that the scientist thinks they are pretty normal, and definitely not mad. I mean I know a lot of scientists and I am pretty sure they are not mad. So this got me to thinking, where did this expression come from? I did a bit of research and voila! Wikipedia comes through yet again! So per Wiki, they say "the mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, namely science fiction." There ya go, and who said you can't learn from a blog!
Now that I have completed my teaching point for the day, let me get on to showing you this mad scientist party I got to be a part of. I was in charge of all of the food and drinks and it was unbelievably fun! You know kids are fabulous and their little parties are such a happy place! The amazing mom that was throwing the party is one of my favorite customers (and friend). She is a wonderful mom and is so generous and truly wants to show everyone a good time. She allows me to challenge myself and be as creative as I want to be with the goodies she orders. Here are a couple of examples of projects I have done for her:
Pirate Cake & Cookies
Halloween Cookie Pops & Cupcakes
Christmas Cupcakes in a Jar
So when she asked me if I could help plan the mad scientist party she was throwing for her 7 year old's class, I was thrilled!
So what did I do...let me show you in pictures...
We had our healthy bites

 ants on a log & bug bones & legs

fruit atoms & molecules

then our savory bites

corn dog centipede & caterpillar wraps

And the fun stuff...SWEETS!

eyeballs & slime...EEEWWWW!

 here is the favor table...brain cakes and bubbling beakers

I labeled each of the kiddos names on the brain cakes in elemental fashion 

(you know from the periodic table)

So I pretty much LOVED the brain cakes! They were so fun to make and even more fun to watch the kids get super excited and grossed out about them! Of course a party is not a party without a host, or two for that matter!

 These two little guys were awesome little hosts!

 Happy Baking, Happier Eating!

Happy 2012!

Did y'all know that its almost IS 2012 (yes I started writing this yesterday, yet ran out of time to finish)? Did y'all know I am using y'all to get ready for moving to Texas in just 6 months! Yes, I said it, 6 months from yesterday the hubby and I will be driving our 2 SUVs and a U-haul trailer to the Lone Star State and I don't even have to tell you, but I will...we are excited! Confession, I am not sure that Texans even use y'all as much as the other Southern states use it (please my Texan followers, inform me) but in my mind, they do and you better believe that I will be using it in it's fullest the minute I plant my West coast foot in Texas soil. And you are aware that my West coast foot will most definitely have a boot on it, because that is what I do! But for all of you who think that I bought boots just so that I can live in Texas...I have got a tid bit of info for you...my history with boots (the cowboy variety, not the fashion boot variety) goes WAY back. Way back that is to when I was a little toe-head running around with the sheep and horses that paint the memories of my childhood. Yep, that's right, I was a little cowgirl! I am pretty sure that the cowgirl feeling never dies despite how many urban cities you live in, you can always find it, and I think everyone secretly has a little cowgirl in them! So let's just say I am more than a little excited to explore my inner cowgirl in a place that embraces all kinds of cowgirls and boys alike! Okay, so why am I hear on this beautiful new day of a new year you ask??? To wish you all a Happy New Year and a wonderful start to your 2012! I don't know about you, but I can just feel that this year is going to be a good one and I am ready to face it full force! I mean here are just a few of the exciting things to come in 2012...

100th Day Celebration

You know what is one of my most favorite parts about this whole baking thing I do? Learning about all of the different things people celebrate! It's so exciting to know that no matter what, people celebrate! Mr. Poor Economy, you can kiss my butter because guess what...come rain or shine one thing you can't steal from us is the excitement of celebration!

Baby Shower Treats

 

For some reason I cannot think of an interesting title for this post...I am stumped! I wanted to name it 'clothesline baby' but then when I wrote it out, I realize I don't know how to spell clothesline! So I decided I don't want my title to have a poorly misspelled word and for anyone just looking at my post titles to be like "man this girls does not know how to spell!" So I figure the potentially misspelled word fits better in the body of the post. I know what you are thinking...wouldn't it have just been easier to Google the word and not write this whole paragraph on not being able to spell? Well yes, that would be easier, and yes I thought of that, but...this is a blog, and blogs are honest thoughts, and honestly, I am a terrible speller (? word probably not). It is sort of a trait you must exhibit to be a doctor, you pretty much have to be a poor spelling bee contestant. I blame it on the fact that we spend years learning these crazy Latin terms and names of things that have no "sounding out" ability. So I blame my lack of spelling on that! The other problem I had with this title is...doesn't it sort of sound like there would be a baby hanging on the clothesline, yeah, definitely not! The point of this whole post is to show you the treats I made for a dear friend of mine who is having a baby! Yay! And had the most sophisticated shower I've ever been to that happened to have a clothesline theme. So long story short, I tried to keep the clothesline theme in both the cake and the cookies I made for the shower.

The invitation was my inspiration. Initially I thought I would do some simple onesies, orange with white polka dots, but somehow I lost my onesie cutter. Losing it was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to do an even better idea! I loved how the clothesline cookies came out! They were placed at each person's place setting at the table which was perfect!

the invite 

As for the cake, the flavor was an easy decision...carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, the mother to be's fave. I had this great idea for the cake completely spacing out that it is near impossible to do anything too decorative with cream cheese frosting, so you just have to roll with the punches and go to plan B. So this is what I came up with. Blue sky with clouds and a little chickie standing beneath a clothesline that I crafted out of cake pillars, skewers & twine. So check, check, check it out!

Happy Baking, Happier Eating!