Cakes!

This cake has been on my list to make for a while. It's supposed to have an ombre effect... such a fancy word! I gradually added color to the buttercream while decorating the cake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is so beautiful, and the texture so luxurious! I realized that swiss meringue buttercream is actually very hard to incorporate color into. I discovered the best way was to mix the food coloring into about 1 tablespoon of buttercream, and then incorporate that tablespoon into the rest of the buttercream. Much easier.

These little cakes were made as a gift for someone's friend that was moving.

I love how they are each a different, cheerful color.  : )  I baked brownies, cut them out with biscuit cutters, and decorated with royal icing.

Tennis anyone?

These cupcakes were made for a friend's 50th birthday, and she's crazy about tennis! These are chocolate cupcakes topped with buttercream and fondant. No prob Bob!

And now for the winner of this tweet tweet, sweet sweet mug...

Q: Who's bigger? Mr. Bigger or Mr. Bigger's baby?

A: Mr. Bigger's baby 'cause he's a 'Little Bigger'.

Congratulations Kay! : )

Some of you asked what I thought of Wilton's baked doughnut recipe. I thought it was very good, light and moist. However the texture more closely resembles a cupcake than a doughnut. I'm sure you could use a favorite recipe that is a little more dense if you want a firmer texture.

Please refer to the April 2010 post of Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hats for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe.

A Good Mug and a Doughnut.

The mug that started it all. There is nothing like a favorite mug. Growing up at home my mom and dad always had coffee brewing in the morning. When I was old enough I started having a cup too. My dad and I started realizing that we were in slight competition for the same mug every morning. I'm not sure what is so special about this mug, or why we each gravitated to it... but whoever got to the coffee pot first, also got the mug.

When I was married and moved away, I made a comment to my sister that my mug selection was a sad sight. I didn't have a single mug with any character. A couple of weeks later I received a package in the mail from my dad... all of the best mugs from home, and most importantly, our Casa del Mar mug. The sweetest thing in the world!!!

Since then I've become a mug collecting fool! One from a friend's wedding in North Dakota, another from a favorite hotel,  another from a friend in Nebraska...

And Starbucks, they'll get me every time! The little submarine mug is brand new and I love it! The round ones are so impractical. The handle is really hard to hold, and drinking from a round rim is difficult... but they've got something and I use them all the time.

I love the idea of these... but you just can't drink hot coffee out of them. They're perfect for something, I'm just not sure what yet... Milk? Juice?

I think a good mug is half the pleasure of enjoying your coffee. Imagine deeply aromatic, freshly brewed coffee... and then imagine pouring it into a styrofoam cup... blahck!!!

And now back to the doughnuts! These are actually baked doughnuts, so much easier!

You mix the batter in a single bowl, and bake them for about 9 minutes. This is a doughnut pan from Wilton. They also make one for mini-doughnuts. Too cute. 

Then dip them in icing...

And add cute little touches!

Real doughnuts are awesome, but if you're not up for the frying challenge these are so fun!

She has an interesting method.  : )

It has been a year of blogging for Sugar 'N Flour!

Thank you to all of you who follow the blog and leave such nice comments, it makes it so much fun! I bought an extra little bird mug because I thought it was so sweet.

Just leave a funny joke in the "comments" at the bottom of the post, and I will pick one at random and happily send the little mug on it's way for your own collection!

I'll get it started...

What did the fish say when it hit the wall?

Dam.

Donut Recipe- Wilton's

Ingredients-

 2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 T. melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approximately 2/3 full.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing. 

Doughnuts are best served fresh.

For the icing, I used powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and butter. However, I didn't quite measure out the ingredients. It was probably about 2-3 cups of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla, and about 2 tablespoons of butter. If it is too thick just add a little milk; if it is too thin add a little powdered sugar. I've attached a couple of recipes that look good, but I haven't tried yet. And you can always roll them is powdered sugar, or a cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Powdered Sugar Glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
Whipping cream

Maple Glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon maple extract
5 tablespoons (about) heavy whipping cream

How Sweet It Is.

Nothing says birthday like sprinkles on a cupcake!

26 is lookin' pretty good now.

To sprinkle or not to sprinkle, that was the question... so I did both : )

We had 4 birthdays in the span of a week and lots of cake! This is a layered yellow and devil's food cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

I love making birthday cakes. What's better than a sweet, edible, flaming symbol of your love and appreciation for them?!

And for my 31 year old husband... a giant cookie of course!

Have your cake and wear it too!

A very happy un-birthday to you all!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream-

Please refer to the Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hats post from April :)

To make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, follow the recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream omitting the vanilla extract, decreasing the sugar to 1 cup, and adding 8 ounces melted best-quality bittersweet chocolate after the butter has incorporated (let chocolate cool slightly before mixing in).

I actually didn't omit the cup of sugar and just added melted chocolate to taste. Just make sure you wait until the chocolate has cooled so that it doesn't melt the butter in the buttercream. If you do see separation after you have made the buttercream, whip at medium-high speed until smooth.

For the swirls on the cupcakes I used a star tip, and made rosettes by making little circle swirls.