Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For some reason I'm drawn to the "not real holidays"... just like Halloween : )

It's just fun!

We had a good time cutting...

And pasting...

And once we had plenty of little heart butterflies...

 I sewed them to some toile.

The best part about these little decorations is that I can hang them above Bella's bed after Valentine's Day!

This guys got a lot 'a love to give.

I hope you have a Very Happy Valentine's!

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.

Mini Tiered Cakes!

 These little cakes are perfect for a special occasion, and they were so much fun to make! I made forty of them to accompany a wedding cake I recently made.

This adorable idea was from Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes. It is a beautifully made book full of stunning cakes.

For some of them I used royal icing...

For others, cream cheese frosting with sparkling sugar...

And others I just pressed or rolled in sugar.

And these Tulips! Amazing!

Costco makes me so happy! Of course they had the perfect solution for carrying all of these little cakes. This carrier holds 36 cupcakes. I placed cardboard over the trays so the cakes could sit on top of each tray.

Happy Decorating!

Hut, Hut, Brownies!

Are you ready for some Football?!

This little brownies were a piece of cake ;)  I used Duncan Hines brownie mix, and once they were cooled I flipped them out onto a cutting board. Using a football shape that I cut out of lightweight cardboard I cut little footballs with a sharp knife.

Next I made a football stencil out of cardstock...

Placed the stencil over the brownies and shook powdered sugar over them. Then I slowly and carefully removed the stencil.

And there you have 'em!

Have a great game day!!!

Mmmmm... Chocolate!

These are super-rich fudgey brownies, you really have to pace yourself! They are covered with a chocolate glaze, almost a ganache, and decorated with melted white chocolate. Just looking at them makes me want to grab a glass of milk!

The recipe is from Fine Cooking. Sometimes I leave the peppermint out for pure chocolate deliciousness! These get better and richer after a couple of days, and they also freeze very well.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
10 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 tsp. peppermint tea leaves (from about 2 tea bags)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. peppermint extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 T. light corn syrup
2 oz. white chocolate
Center a rack in the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray well the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Boil about 2 inches of water in a pot. In a heat proof bowl set over the water, melt 2 sticks of the butter and 8 oz. of the unsweetened chocolate. Stir occasionally until it is melted and uniform. Turn off heat, but leave bowl over water.
In a food processor, finely grind the peppermint leaves with the sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, peppermint extract, salt, and peppermint sugar until just combined. Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture (reserve hot water for later.) Slowly add the flour, gently folding it in with a spatula, until incorporated. Spread the batter into the pan and bake until a pick inserted into the center comes out almost clean (a few bits should cling to the pick), 35 to 40 minutes. Put the pan on a rack to cool to room temperature.
To make the glaze, bring the pot of water back to a gentle simmer. Set a heatproof bowl over the pot and add the semisweet chocolate, corn syrup, and the remaining 2 oz. each butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir frequently until it is melted and smooth; set aside. Put the white chocolate in a separate heatproof bowl and set it over the water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth; remove it from the heat.
Spread the chocolate glaze over the cooled brownies in an even layer using a spatula. Once the white chocoate is cool enough to dip you finger in it, pour the white chocolate into a small plastic bag. Squeeze the white chocolate into a corner of the bag and snip a very small piece of the corner off, making a small hole. The bigger the hole, the more chocolate will come out. Squeeze the white chocolate over the glazed brownies in lines, either all vertical lines, or all horizontal. Drag a thin toothpick through the glazes in alternating directions perpendicular to your white chocolate lines. (Sorry if this is starting to sound like geometry.)
Refrigerate until the glaze is set, at least 20 minutes and up to 12 hours. ( They're really tasty cold too! ). Cut, serve, and enjoy! But don't forget your glass of milk!