They are Going to the Chapel.. AND They're Gonna Get MARRIED

Katie and John are getting married October 14, 2011 and I can't be happier for them. Katie is Chris's sister.

Bridesmaids, Junior Bridesmaids and Flower Girls

(From Left to right)- Back Row- Jenn, Joanna, Me, Katie, Ali, Jessica, Julie, Charisce

Front row- Andrea, Vivian, Dani, Stephie

The hosts of her first bridal shower asked me to make a cake for the occassion. Katie loves purple and loves butterflies. Once the hosts decided on the style of cake they wanted it made sense of how to bring it all together. I used two recipes of a french vanilla cake and fresh strawberries along with buttercream. I then created several royal icing/sugar flowers to place on the cake (All purple of course). I also added edible wafer paper butterflies.

Thanks to Chris, I was able to get a very smooth surface to use. He is amazing when it comes to making smooth icing.

I thought my flowers turned out the best that I have ever made. The purple roses, violets and apple blossoms (I think).

Don't pay attention to the bit of strawberry juice spilling out through my buttercream. That is what sometimes happens with fresh strawberries.

My teacher would be so proud of these roses!

Birthday Party and Party in my mouth

John (my future brother-in-law) turns one year older every March 17th. This year I experiemented with his favorite ingredients. Well who doesn't like girl scout cookies and cupcakes. I took the Tagalong cookie and put in the center of a vanilla cupcake. I then topped it with the yummiest peanut butter icing.

Peanut butter, honey and sugar.. YUM! Chris (husband) said it was the best frosting he has ever tasted.

   

At first I wasn't sure if I should put my cookie in after I filled my cupcake papers with batter or before. I realized after baking them it is better to put the cookie in after I fill my cups. If not, your cookie falls out of the bottom.  I made a real vanilla cupcake but not too sweet so it wouldn't take away from the cookie. I can't wait until girlscout cookie time again.. What can I do with Thin Mints or Carmel Delights?? Yummy

Flowers

My first attempt at making flowers on a cake was a success!. I first started with the pink flowers and used softer buttercream frosting. My sterling roses are made much better with stiffer decorator icing. They turned out so beautifully!!

Lucy Anna O'Brien Cookies & Jack William O'Brien Cookies

Our niece was born today. Lucy Anna O'Brien was born around 3:00pm September 16, 2010.  She was 6 lbs 3.5 oz and 18 inches long. I made sugar cookies and decorated them as baby buggies for the family. Congratulations Joanna & Patrick O'Brien and Jack O'Brien who now has a little sister!

I also made cookies and decorated them with butter cream icing. Andrea, my step-daughter had suggested the cookie cutters.

L'Shanah Tovah

At Rosh Hashana, you eat apples and honey for a sweet new year. I decided to make an apple crisp. I started with Granny Smith apples because I like the tartness. The crumble or crisp consisted of lemon juice, shortening, flour and sugar. I think I had added to much lemon juice because it didn't crisp up enough.. it was just a bit too much like an apple sauce.. rather than a crisp.. but it tasted SO good.  

Happy 41st Birthday

My husband's birthday was this week and he wanted a yellow cake with chocolate filling and butter cream frosting.  So that is what I did. I baked a two layer round yellow cake and made one batch of butter cream frosting. I added butter flavoring and clear vanilla extract to the recipe and it was subtle but good.

So, as you can see from the above pictures, I wrote Happy 41st Birthday in Green. It wasn't solid green though. I striped my decorator bag with green and then added about a 1/2 cup of icing. It took a bit of time for the green to show.. but eventually, the effect was apparent.

Chris wanted a filling instead of icing for his cake. He is a choco-holic! I added a chocolate pudding middle and it was delicious. He loved it. I wonder what it would have tasted like if the cake and and filling were cold.

Work Function

One of my colleagues was promoted and I was asked to bring in a cake. The girl that sits next to me asked me to make a lemon cake with lemon frosting.  I thought that I might be a bit too much lemon so I made yellow cake with lemon buttercream.  I squeezed fresh lemon juice and added lemon zest to my recipe of homemade buttercream.

It was hard for me to taste how much lemon was in my buttercream, but I got raving reviews!