Mardi Gras Birthday Cake!

We received an email asking if we would be able to create two different cakes for one lucky little girl who was going to be turning 6 years old. The first cake was for a party with her friends from school and the theme for this party was Mardi Gras.

We were given very specific ideas for this cake. She wanted the cake to have lots of sprinkles, glitter, and a little girl on it. She wanted the girl to be wearing big sunglasses and also a headband with a spring & sign on top that had the number “6” on top.

After baking the cake & allowing it to cool, we frosted the cake with white buttercream.

Using a gum paste/fondant cutting machine, we were able to create a little girl figure using flesh colored gum paste. We then created a dress and shoes for the little girl to be wearing. We made the headband (the spring & the “6”) by hand and sprinkles on lots of green sugar crystals.

We wrote, in bright yellow buttercream frosting “Happy Birthday Sofia” and sprinkled on lots of green, yellow and purple sugar crystals all over the top of the cake.

Using the cutting machine, we made lots of diamond shapes in purple and green gum paste. We applied these diamond shapes to the sides of the cake and finished the cake off with large golden yellow buttercream dots at the top of each diamond.

This cake was so much fun to make. We were given specific instructions for this cake and it turned out beautifully. We were also very excited to be able to use the gum paste cutting machine to create this cake. We will be blogging about the 2nd cake that we were asked to make soon!

Oreo Cupcakes and Oreo-Chocolate-Chip Cookies!

By: Jill

Oreos have to be one of my favorite cookies/ingredients of all time (double stuffed of course). I'm always looking for new ways to incorporate them into my desserts.

Recently, I've tried two new recipes. The first recipe is from Beantown Baker. I made these for my husband's birthday and they were a huge hit! What I liked best about this recipe, is that it was actually a vanilla cupcake and not a more common chocolate cupcake with Oreos incorporated into it.

First, half of an Oreo is placed in the cupcake tin.

The rest of the Oreos are crush and about 3/4 of them are tossed with flour.

The floured Oreos are then mixed with the delicious batter. Flouring the Oreos keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the cupcake.

Yum!

After frosting with cream cheese frosting, the rest of the crushed Oreos are sprinkled on top.

Delicious!

The second recipe was brought to my attention by my sister's boyfriend Steve, so when I went to visit them I decided to make them!

This recipe is, essentially, a cookie within a cookie. (Really, what could be better?)

You start with the chocolate chip cookie portion of the recipe.

Then, an Oreo is encased in the dough.

The finished product was gooey goodness unlike I'd ever eaten before.

They were even good a few days later after microwaving!

Mini Apple Pie!

By: Christine

I wanted to try and make pie crust from scratch, which is something I have never done before. I had made pies in the past using a pre-made pie crust but I felt as though something was missing. I found this recipe, which got really great reviews and decided that it was something I could do!

For the apple filling, I used a combination of a few different recipes since there wasn't just one that seemed to fit the taste I was looking for.

I didn't want to make one whole pie since these were going to be a gift for family members. I wanted each person to have their own individual pie so I cooked them in a standard muffin tin!

The pie crust recipe was very easy and the end result was a delicious, flaky, and buttery crust.  I will be using the pie crust recipe many more times in the future to create some more wonderful pies!

Mini-Brownies with Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

By: Jill

These cupcake treats are actually a brownie in a cupcake tin with my new obsession, chocolate-chip cookie dough frosting! I found the recipe from a fantastic blogger: Beantown Baker.

I made these treats for a work party and everyone really enjoyed them! They are rich in flavor and taste fantastic.

This was the first time I had ever heard of chocolate-chip cookie dough frosting. Who doesn't like cookie dough? I certainly do, even though it's not recommended to eat raw because of the raw eggs. This frosting looked so amazing and I could wait to try it! There is no raw egg in this frosting recipe, so it is safe to eat, but I guarantee is tastes exactly like chocolate-chip cookie dough.