Toopy & Binoo Party!

My little boy turned 2!

So I decided to do a Toopy and Binoo themed party.  Had lots of fun making sugar cookies and fondant toppers for the cupcakes.  

It was great to see him recognize and get excited to see (and eat) his favourite characters.

Enjoy the pics! 

 

 

And the Birthday Boy enjoying some icing!

 

Sock Monkey Baby Shower

Sock Monkeys!

I've always wanted to do a theme for an event.  As I was planning a baby shower (which I knew I would be doing LOTS of baking), it seemed like the perfect time.

So get ready for:

• Sock Monkey Cupcakes with Fondant Toppers
• Sock Monkey Cake Pops
• Sock Monkey Sugar cookies

Unfortunately, with so much baking and hosting, I didn't great photos. 

Sock Monkey Cupcakes

The sock monkeys are completely made out of fondant.  That way people can happily eat them if they choose.  I make them a few weeks in advance and keep them in a tupperware.  This ensures there's no drooping the day of the event.  (Drooping/melting can happen with the moisture of the cupcakes).  

The sock monkey's were 'easy' to make.  Easy but time consuming.  The pictures below give you an idea of how I created them.  

Tools used

Circle for the head

Circle for the white part of the mouth

Little circle for the ears

The heart shape worked out great for the mouth.

Then I rolled 2 little black fondant balls and 'squished' them down.  I had original planned to draw on the eyes with an edible marker- but this looked better.

And here's my army of sock monkeys.

 

And onto the cake pops!

While the cake pops were a hit.  I found them 'eh'.  Now it was my first time making them, so I should give myself a bit of credit.  But they were so much work, and they didn't even taste that good in my opinion.  I really don't understand the hype.  I think the issue is the cake/icing combo gets mushy, and I don't like mushy.

Anyways, here's a pic of the creations.

 

And finally, my favourite thing to make... sugar cookies!

 No explanation needed for these beauties.  They're just pretty to look at.  These were given out as favours.  I also made chocolate covered pretzels with either caramel, reeces pieces, or mini m&ms.  Mmmm.  It was really just an excuse so I could eat them...

Sock Monkey cookie cutter was purchased here:

http://stores.ecrandal.com/-strse-1112/sock-monkey-cookie-cutter,/Detail.bok

A lovely family run business- will definitely order from them again!

And a picture of the partially eaten display

 

Turquoise and Teacups!

It was my Nanny's 80th birthday which meant an occasion to bake!  Decided to go with her favourite colour turquoise (like mine) and make some teacups as she loves china.  For a first attempt, I think I did alright.

I made the teacups with 50/50 fondant and gumpaste.  While it is a lot easier to use, it doesn't taste as good as pure fondant.  As I was looking after a sick baby this week, I didn't have much time to go all out with the teacups.  So I just made a few for my Nanny!

Cupcakes were a hit, and as I was leaving my Nanny came up to me and said, "I kept a teacup, I'm going to put it in my china cabinet till it disintegrates."  Too cute.  Happy 80th Nanny!

Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Every year I make the same traditional Thanksgiving sugar cookies that include pumpkins and leaves.... and this year I wanted to switch it up!  So off to google images I went and stumbled across this blog http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/11/spiced-brown-sugar-give-thanks-cookies/

 I fell in love with the cookies and it provided a good opportunity to use my new kopykake projector! 

Following the links, I came across the orginal images which I printed.  I had to resize the images to get the right focus for the projector.

You simply place the image in the projector and focus to fit on the cookie.  Couldn't be easier.  Now it still takes a steady hand to pipe the cookies, but this ensures they're all uniform. 

Now as you can see this projector is big!  Much bigger than I expected.  But I guess it makes sense incase you every wanted to put a cake underneath it. 

Very happy with the end result, and very happy with my kopykake projector.  It definitely sped up the process and I'm able to embark on more complicated designs.

Enjoy the pics!  Hope you had a good Thanksgiving Canadians and hope you have a good Thanksgiving Americans!

Daisy Cupcakes

Was asked to make some cupcakes for a bridal shower.  I was thrilled to do it.  It's been a long time since I baked some cupcakes!

The shower was a garden themed tea party so I thought something flowery would work well.  I saw these from one of my favourite sites http://sweetopia.net/2009/02/daisy-and-butterfly-cupcakes/ and decided to give it a go, plus I have never used my daisy cut out before.  There is actually a daisy press you can buy, which I may consider if I decide to make more of these pretty cupcakes.

Like always, I used fondant for the decorations.... however next time... I think I'll do a fondant/gum paste mix.  Fondant never really hardens and is is very fragile.

Steps to making the flowers:
1) Roll out fondant on lightly dusted cutting board (I used cornstarch).
2) Press daisies.
3) Carefully move daisies to cardboard.  (I cut cardboard squares, and cut a line half way through and then taped it to curve it... does this make sense?... haha... I didn't have any drying molds so I got creative).
4) Using my tiny spatula, I pressed lines into the daisy leaves.
5) Created daisy centre by pressing coloured fondant into a 1/4tsp. Stuck to flower with water and poked many holes on them!
6) Let daisies dry for 24hrs in cardboard
7) Dried daisies on drying rack infront of air con for 24hrs.
8) Put on cupcakes!



I used a 1M wilton tip.  Very happy with how these turned out.

Happy baking!

Sugar Cookies!

The love of sugar cookies is back.  There's a few reasons why I prefer making sugar cookies to cupcakes. 

1)They have a much longer shelf life.  Cupcakes really need to be eaten the day of or day after. 

2)While my sugar cookies are more labor intensive, they are made over a few days, so therefore do not feel like hard work.  When I make cupcakes... it's done all at once, and takes a looong time. 

3)Creativity.  For some reason, I feel sugar cookies allow me to be more creative.

4)You can eat more than 1, and not feel bad...or 2... 3....

I have not been able to bake since the birth of my baby boy.  Really because I haven't had a reason to bake yet.  This weekend we had a family reunion, so a perfect excuse to whip out my other baby (kitchenaid mixer).  That child has been neglected for too long.  It was so nice to be able to bake again.  I'm already looking for the next excuse...

Enjoy!

Look at that- I made a cake.

So I had never ventured into the world of cakes... a cake seemed intimidating.  Cupcakes you screw one up and it's fine... but a cake... that's a different story.

Secondly, I had never covered a cake with fondant.  I was happy to discover it was a lot easier than expected.  Additionally, I made the fondant.  It's marshmallow fondant.  So easy to make!  Just marshmallows, touch of water and icing sugar.  Will definitely use that again. 

For my first cake, I think I did alright.  Inside vanilla cake with chocolate butter-cream filling.

Oh, here's what I've been baking for the last 9 months.