Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste - Final Cake!

I'm so sad that my fondant & gumpaste class is over! I definitely need to learn how to make some more gumpaste flowers. My instructor offered me some private lessons, so I may need to take her up on it. She also took some pictures of my final cake and told me that I was going to have a great career! So if any of you out there need a cake, cupcakes or some cookies, I'm your girl!

I LOVE all of the teeny tiny daisies spilling onto the cake

Hey, can we eat this thing yet?

Gumpaste Flowers

Here are some of the gumpaste flowers we've made in class! I think that the carnation is my favorite - it's crazy how real they look!

Calla Lillies:
Carnations:

Daisies:

Baby Shower Cake, Cupcakes, and Cookies!

I got the chance to make a cake for my first "real" occassion - my friend Mara's baby shower! But I couldn't just stop at a cake. I ended up making the cake, 3 kinds of cupcakes and some sugar cookies. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out, and I'm looking forward to making more cakes! Here is the total setup! (I made the cake stand also).

And here is a close-up of the cake:

Cupcakes! I made 3 kinds: vanilla with lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting (yellow), apple crisp with whipped cream frosting (blue) and strawberry with strawberry cream cheese frosting (pink). They all tasted awesome!


And the whole thing was surrounded by my army of fuzzy baby chicken cookies!

Fuzzy Baby Chick Cookies!

My friend Mara is having a baby! (Congratulations Mara!) She graciously allowed me to practice my new cake & cookie decorating skills for her shower, and gave me total creative freedom! I didn't have much to work with, since the gender of the baby is a surprise, and there wasn't really a theme for the shower.

I've always had a weird fascination with tiny fuzzy baby chicks, so that became my inspiration. I used the same cookie recipe and icing recipe that I used on the cookie bouquets. I added some sanding sugar while the royal icing was still wet to make them "fuzzy."

I loved my army of fuzzy baby chicks. I giggled uncontrollably when I had them all stacked in the box and ready to go.

I present to you, my fuzzy baby chick army:

Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste - class 1

I have been a terrible, terrible blogger. Please forgive me. I offer you cake. Lots and lots of cake. I've been taking the Wilton fondant & gumpaste course and I love it! I wasn't sure I would like fondant, since I've heard such bad things about how it tastes, but it is SO much fun to work with. Here is my first fondant cake!




We learned how to make a "handkerchief" for our cakes. Because apparently they need one?


We also had to make a drape. I hated the drape. My cake does NOT need a scarf. Oh well, at least I know how to do it.

PS - the cake tasted phenominal! It was a white cake with raspberry and raspberry mousse fillings. SO good. The only picture I got of the inside was super blurry though, so there will be no making your mouth water today.

Crockpot Chili

Chili is definitely one of my favorite fall foods. I make mine in the crockpot, so it is really easy and ready to eat when we get home from work. I used to use 2 lbs of ground beef, but recently have been using 1 lb of beef and 1 lb of spicy Italian sausage to give it an extra kick. The picture below probably looks extra meaty, and that is because I only had 1 can of beans. Ooops. The chili was still great anyway.

I usually put the chili together the night before, and leave it in the crock pot bowl in the refrigerator overnight, then just put it on to cook in the morning before work. So easy!


Crockpot Chili

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef (or 1 pound beef + 1 pound hot Italian sausage)
• 2 (16 ounce) cans light kidney beans
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chilies or jalepenos
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
  

Directions:

• Brown ground beef, drain fat
• Stir all ingredients in crock pot
• Cook on low 10 hours

Banoffee Cupcakes

I've been following this great blog called How to Eat a Cupcake. Every week, Cassie posts a poll, allowing her readers to vote on her next cupcake. I voted for the banoffee cupcakes (even though I had never heard of banoffee, I knew the combination of bananas and caramel could not be bad) and crossed my fingers that they would win, and much to my shagrin, they did! There are no words to describe how delicious these cupcakes are. And the frosting? Holy crap. I could eat it by the bucket full (I followed her suggestion of using the caramel apple dip to sweeten the whipping cream). The original recipe is from Cupcake Heaven, by Susannah Blake, a book which is now on my Amazon wish list.

Make these cupcakes. Now.

Banoffee Cupcakes

Original Source: Cupcake Heaven, by Susannah Blake

Brought to you by Cassie at How to Eat a Cupcake

Yield: The original recipe says 10, Cassie got 8, and I got 5 large cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 4 chewy caramels, chopped
• Heath bits to sprinkle on top

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream, whipped
• 3-4 tablespoons dulce de leche or caramel sauce

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until creamy, then beat in the egg, a little at a time. Fold in the mashed banana, then sift the flour into the mixture and fold in, followed by the caramels (I took Cassie's suggestion and tossed the caramels in the flour first to keep them from sticking together).
• Spoon the mixture into the paper liners. Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with Heath bar pieces, and bake in the preheated oven for about 16 minutes until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• To decorate, swirl the cream over each of the cupcakes, then drizzle with a spoonful of dulce de leche or caramel sauce and top with slices of banana. (This was not included in the directions, but I beat the heavy cream in my mixer until it reached the consistency of whipped cream, then followed Cassie's suggestion of beating in the caramel apple dip to sweeten. I also topped mine with banana chips so I didn't have to worry about soggy brown bananas).

This is what they looked like after baking! Mmmmm.