Circus Cake

This is a cake my son requested after he looked through my copy of the Wilton 2011 Yearbook.  I did not have the time that I would need to make it look exactly like the cake in the yearbook, so I made it my way.  The cakes in the yearbook had fondant covering them with fondant animals and ring master.  I covered this cake with store bought vanilla frosting and made the animals from chocolate.  The ring master is actually a Little People toy that I have.  One of the cakes in the yearbook had the orange and the light orange lines up the side of the cake so that is why I did that on this cake.  I also pipped a shell border on the bottom and a swag on the top of both tiers.  I found some images of animals, printed them off, and taped it under some wax paper on a cookie sheet.  I first did the outlines and other parts of the animals in black chocolate and let that harden.  I then filled them with color and let those harden.  Some of the parts were thin, so I took some white chocolate and covered them so it would all be one solid piece.  When those where all hardened, I peeled them off and the bottom looks like the picture!!  After placing the animals on, I put the ring master on top and I was done!!

Baby Doll Cookie

Here are some cookies I made with a baby doll toy in mind.  I made cut out cookies with royal icing.  I used a gingerbread girl cookie cutter from Wilton's 101 cookie cutter set.  The bottle is just a bottle cookie cutter and the teddy bear is a mini cookie cutter.  I loved how they turned out!

Spring Flowers

Here is one of the first cakes I ever made.  It was a cake I made just because I wanted too!

It is a normal cake box mix and canned frosting.  I baked two 9x9 cakes and trimmed one of them down to a 6x6 cake.  I frosted them with white icing and stacked the 6 inch cake on top of the 9 inch cake.  I then took a toothpick and made lines to look like white bricks.  I know it is not the best, but remember, "one of the first cakes I ever made".  I made some frosting flowers on some wax paper and put them in the freezer to harden.  I then tinted some frosting green and used the grass tip to pip grass on the top of both levels.  When the frosting flowers were hard, I just carefully picked them up and put them on the cake.  I liked that I could make flowers out of soft frosting that tasted good, but then be able to pick them up with my hands and arrange them on the cake.  And there you have it!!

Boutique Treats

These were some free treats for a boutique!  They were for the customers so they could have a treat while perusing the crafts.  The flyer was green, blue, white and brown.  Hence the colors of the treats.

These are brownies that I formed into balls.  They are like cake balls, but you do not have to add frosting to make it stick together.  I put them in the fridge to chill and then just melted the chocolates.  I then dipped the chilled brownie balls and put them on wax paper.

These are Melt in Your Mouth Sugar Cookies.  The cookies are all the same except the brown have cocoa powder added with the flour.  The green and blue are just sprinkles that I rolled the dough into before baking.

These mini cupcakes are all from cake mixes.  The Key Lime and Blue Raspberry are actually new mixes from Pillsbury.  The blue and green frosting are also the same flavors from the same brand.  I just put the frosting in a star tip and put some swirls on them.

These are grapes and blueberries in 2 oz serving cups.  I wanted to make sure to have an option for those who did not want something with sugar.

I displayed them on disposable doilies and had some flowers in a small vase.  I think it turned out nice!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies

This is from the Better Home and Gardens New Cook Book 12th edition.  These are really good!  They have some other really good recipes check it out here!!

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/2 cup of shortening

2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1 3/4 cups of flour (all-purpose)

    Beat butter and shortening until blended.  Add in the sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt and mix well.  Make sure the side of the bowl are scraped.  Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla.  Add as much flour as possible using the mixer, then just mix the rest with a spoon.

    Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter and place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake in a preheated oven of 300 degrees for 15 minutes making sure the edges do not brown.  Of course if the cookies are smaller or bigger, the time will need to be adjusted.  After letting the cookies cool for about 1 minute, put them on a cooling rack  and allow them to continue to cool.

This recipe will make around 60 cookies