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!

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!

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!

Dos!

So you know what I went ahead and did on Thursday? Yep I pretty much just went ahead and forgot all about the fact that it was my 2 year blogging anniversary! What the heck!?!? I mean it is a pretty major big deal you know, because really what else would you be doing if not reading my blog...don't answer that!

A day in the life...

So you've learned recently that I'm a little crazy neurotic. So since we are past the honeymoon phase in our relationship here, I guess I can confess to you all that I'm also weird, more like funny weird, and definitely not creepy weird, but weird all the same.

trying it on for size...

Were you guys aware that I am a little crazy? Well, not the crazy serial killer kind of crazy but more like the neurotic-control-freak-kind-of-crazy! Yep, it is true! I could probably write an entire post with supporting evidence for my claim, but in effort to complete this post and get on to bed, let's just say my claim is legit! Plus, I think that by the time I am done writing this post, you will have just enough evidence to agree with my claim, you'll see, just trust me!

FIRE!

I know exactly what you are thinking right now...what the HECK does fire have to do with engagement cookies? Then you think to yourself...ohhhh, I know, Linzy is trying to think outside of the box and create the metaphor of FIRE as it relates to the passion and love between a newly engaged couple, that must be it!

Paris Themed Cookies

You guys are shocked, I know, 2 posts in one 24 hour period...crazy! You guys may be about as shocked as my husband was the other night when I actually stayed awake for a whole movie after 3pm! Shocking I know. I used to have a 7pm cut-off for movie watching in my younger years, but now-a-days, seems that cut-off is getting closer and closer to the morning hours. I know what you are thinking...I am pri-tee lame, but let me just tell you, I get some of my best sleep during a movie, its amazing!
Let me just give you a little sample of our pre-movie night conversation...