​I just finished delivering these little beauties! There was a total of 17 dozen cupcakes...that is 204 cupcakes total! This is the second order that I have gotten from this particular customer for a HUGE amount of cupcakes. She requested four different flavors with four different white and gold decorations: Strawberry with gold pearls, Lemon with crystal sprinkles, French Vanilla with white pearls, and Chocolate with gold sprinkles. All had delicious buttercream frosting in either gold or white. I know 204 cupcakes seems like a lot, but once you get into a routine it goes by really fast. I turned on the Jurassic Park Trilogy and got to work. My first step was to mix a double batch of the first batter, I make sure to have all of my ingredients out and measured before I start putting them in the mixing bowl. It is very easy to get distracted and forget what has already been added and what hasn't. If you leave something out your cupcakes will not come out correctly. After placing the cupcake liners in the pan, I used my favorite large scoop (pampered chef) to quickly dish out the batter into the liners, filling about half way. I put four pans into my oven at a time, but half way through the baking I would rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. This helps the cupcakes bake evenly. After rotating I start making the second double  batch of batter. I repeat this process until all of the cupcakes have been baked, usually about the beginning of the second movie. As the cupcakes are cooling I begin to make the buttercream, with this amount of cupcakes I need to make around eight batches worth. Half of the buttercream is colored gold to go with the white cupcake liners. Lastly as I turn on the third movie in the trilogy I prepping to pipe  the 204 cupcakes. I place them all on my large kitchen table by flavor and begin piping. After I pipe a few cupcakes I sprinkle each cupcake over a bowl to to capture the falling sprinkles. As soon I am finished decorating I place the cupcakes in the boxes and place in the refrigerator until it is time to deliver; all in time to watch the last bit of the movie. It seems like a lot work but setting up a good routine will make it easier. So plan ahead, prep, turn on your favorite movies or music and get busy!

​Once a year I try to get all of the important women in my life together for a brunch. This year I wanted to do a Mardi Gras theme so lots of purple, green, and gold decorations, beads, and masks! I even made one of Jack's favorite slower cooker meals: Jambalaya! Now I know this might not be real jambalaya, but it's what we call jambalaya. The recipe is super easy and super yummy. It also makes a great frozen meal! It's even better with a slice of King's Cake!!!

Howdy y'all' I just finished this super cute and super girl cowgirl cake. This cake seems really difficult, but it really isn't! After covering both layers of cake with plain fondant I stacked them using dowels and butter cream. To give the look of the wooden fence I used an X-ACTO knife to slightly cut the fondant into fence post. Do not press too hard, the object is to scrape the fondant it and not slice it. Slicing can cause your cake to dry out. I scraped a wood grain design in each fence post. I mixed a little bit of vodka (or water) with brown food gel and lightly brushed on the fence post. The jean layer took a little more time. I cut out the belt using my rolling cutter and wrapped it around and "glued" to the cake, making share the seam was in the front since it was covered be the belt buckle. I cut out the zipper, belt loops, and pockets using my pastry cutter. I used my small round fondant tool to create the appearance of seams around all of the jean pieces. I created the buttons and the buckle in fondant and sprayed with edible silver spray paint. The star was made by using a large cookie cutter and the horseshoes were with the pastry cutter and used the fondant tools to create the nail holes. For the rope I rolled out two very long rope and twisted the two together. The handkerchief was made from rolling a think piece of fondant and cutting into a triangle shape and giving the look that it was knotted. All of the flowers were created by using a fondant flower punch out and divot with a large round fondant tool and a sponge. It took about an hour to decorate it and turned out better than I could have hoped for! Hee-Haw!

Today is Mardi Gras and over the last several years I have enjoyed making a traditional King's Cake. If you have never had one before it kind of reminds of of a tougher cinnamon roll. The cake is time consuming, but I only make them once a year!
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Ingredients

• PASTRY:
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• FILLING:
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• FROSTING:
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

            
Directions

1. Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
5. To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
6. Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the frosting.

Well this has just been a busy Disney themed weekend! I really think this cake is the sweetest thing ever. The white fondant with the soft pink is such pretty contrast to the black Minnie ears. The pink polka dots were made with a small cookie cutter, the Minnie shape was made the same way as the Mickey cupcakes the day before. The big black ears were made with two very large round cookie cutters that I let dry overnight on a baking rack covered with a paper towel. The bow and ruffles were made by cutting out a long ribbon. After the polka dots and Minnie was glued onto the cake, I carefully pushed the ears into the top of the cake so they would be secure and not fall. I tri-folded a long piece of ribbon and covered the seam with a smaller piece to look like a knot. Once on top of the cake I opened up the loops and used a twisted paper towel until the fondant was a little firmer and kept it shape. The ruffle was laid, overlapping on top of the cake board barely touching the cake and glued in place. I added a little bow on Minnie along with the 3. Lastly I piped little pearls around the base of the cake, a top of the ruffles. This cake is darling and would look so cute next to the Mickey Mouse cupcakes I just made!

​My aunt asked me to make these adorable cupcakes for my cousin's girlfriend’s son. These were so easy to make and turned out so cute! After baking, cooling and frosting the cupcakes using the cupcake swirl tip I added the fondant/gum paste Mickey. To create Mickey I did a 50/50 mixture of black fondant and black gum paste. Gum paste dries very hard and very fast, by mixing with fondant you will have more time to roll out, cut out, and "glue". After making your 50/50 mixture and rolling it to a nice thin layer, use two different size of round cookie (fondant) cutter. Make sure to double the amount of the small circles since there will need to be two for every one larger circle. Also make more than needed just in case one messes up. Use sugar glue (water and fondant), water, or vodka to "glue" the ears (smaller circle) to the head (larger circle) in the appropriate space and let try on a cooling rack that is covered with a paper towel. The paper towel is thin enough to let air through, but thick enough to prevent creases from the rack. The little boy ended up LOVING his Mickey Mouse cupcakes. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

​One of the big things that I have done over the past few years is make and sell chocolate covered strawberries. The profits in the past would help go towards my spring tuition fees, but now that school is completed the money will be going to pay off our debt! I'm really excited about the idea of being debt free by the end of the year and each time a make a cake or sell a box of chocolate covered strawberries it takes us a little closer to achieving that goal! The key to making perfect chocolate covered strawberries is the strawberries and timing. First when shopping for strawberries try to buy as close as possible to when you need them and buy local! Local is always picked fresher and they last longer than the store bought ones. Wash and completely dry each strawberry. Chocolate will not stick to wet strawberries and if they are too wet could possibly ruin the chocolate. Never get chocolate wet! I like to use a double boil when melting chocolate; it makes it easier for me to manage the temperature of the chocolate. If your chocolate is too thick add a little vegetable shorting and stir in. Dip each strawberry into the chocolate by holding onto the leaves and lay flat on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. If you would like sprinkle with crushed nuts, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, or drizzle a different color of chocolate. Once all of the strawberries are dried it should be easy to remove from the wax paper. Place a small piece of wax paper in a dessert box and cover with a dollies; the wax paper will prevent leaks from ruining the box, the dollies dresses up the box. I hope you take the time to make these sweet treats for your Valentine Sweetie!

Tonight I am hosting our monthly Miche Team Meeting and as a good hostess, I always prepare yummy munchies for my guest. Valentine's Day is just around the corner so what better theme for our meeting snacks. At the store I picked up three kinds of deli meats and cheeses and cut out hearts using a small heart shape cookie cutter. I used the biggest cookie cutter that I could that would allow me to get the most cut outs for each slice. I layered the deli platter, rotating between on the meats and cheeses. While also at the store I picked up a presliced fruit bowl, I needed to cut each fruit piece a little thinner before cutting them with a smaller heart cookie cutter. I added some wonderful sliced sourdough bread and a topped it off with some chocolate covered strawberries and nice bottle of wine!

Time for the big game and what goes better with football and BBQ? Cupcakes of course! These amazing little cupcakes were made by piping green buttercream using the grass tip and rolling a small ball of fondant into a shape football. I used a small piping tip to add the lace detail. Last year I did something a little different by cutting out an oval shape and piping SF onto each. I have also done a few football cakes using a helmet shaped baking pan. This makes it really easy and all you have to do is cover it with buttercream or fondant and add the team logo! Time to get this barbecue and game started!

​I love doing fun unconventional cakes. I was asked to do this bachelor party cake a while ago I and I wasn't worried since I have done other alcoholic bottles so this one I wanted to do a little different. In the past I have printed out the label on rice paper, but Crown Royal has a very simple label so I decided to make it out of fondant. I shaped the cake using a regular kitchen knife; crumb coated it and covered in fondant. I added a white piece of fondant for the label and added the purple curtains and the purple velvet bag that Crown Royal comes with. I had to remake the pillow shape several time cause it just didn't look right, finally I got it write and topped it off with a 3/4 circle. I then added the small ribbons of yellow for the crown and detailed using a flat round fondant tool. I rolled out more yellow fondant into ropes for the pillow, the label, curtain, and the bag details. The last thing I did was instead of piping Crown Royal I rolled out a think rope of black fondant and carefully spelled out the name. While I was making this totally awesome cake, Jack was outside installing our new garage door light. We always thought the house looked off balanced since we only had one light on the side of garage door and our courtyard gate so we decided to add light to the other side. We got off lucky since the previous owners had a flood light there that just didn't work, but Jack did have to rewire the light before installing the new fixture. All and all today was a productive day for both of us!