Baking For A Baby Shower

My friend Karen was throwing her sister a baby shower and asked if I would help her with her dessert table. She wanted me to bake a baby carriage cake and some mini cupcakes. The color scheme was green apple and chocolate brown. Love that combo - would taste great too! They were also trying to incorporate baby blocks into the design.

Since part of the theme was baby blocks, instead of regular round mini cupcakes, I decided to do mini square cakes to make them look more like blocks. I ended up doing 72 blocks - 36 with green letters and numbers and the other half with brown. When I was planning this project, I really didn't think it was going to take me all that long to do. Boy was I wrong!!!

To make things go quicker (so I thought), I ended up buying a mini brownie pan from Wilton. Normally, I LOVE Wilton products, but in this case I have to say, it was no time saver. In fact, it was a complete time WASTER!! Even though I measured the batter with an ice cream scoop so they'd be the same size, it didn't happen. I ended up having to trim each and every one of these little guys!!

Next time (if there even is a next time) I'm going for the regular sheet cake with my ruler and knife.

So here goes...

The night before I baked, I colored the fondant green and brown. I tried to buy chocolate fondant at NY Cake & Bake but they didn't have any. Of course not. That would have been way too convenient.

After I colored the fondant, I cut out the letters and numbers using small fondant cutters.

I thought this was going to be easy but each one stuck to the cutter so I had to poke each one out. Did I mention it was 2am at this point?? That night I also covered my cake board with fondant,

and trimmed the edges with brown ribbon.

The next morning I started baking. I swear, I think I went through at least 16 bars of butter! Between the cake batter, filling, icing, and glaze I almost passed out from the butter/sugar scent that was wafting through my kitchen.

Once I trimmed (errrr!!!) all of the blocks, I put them on a rack,

made a glaze (deadly), and glazed away!

While they were still wet, I put a fondant letter on each block so when they dried, the letters would stick.

The glaze made it like a glazed doughnut. Oh yeah!!!

Wouldn't these make cute scrabble pieces?? Just need the little numbers in the corners.

After the glaze hardened up a bit, I piped a border around each mini cake to simulate a block. I decided to mix the colors - brown trim with green letters

and green trim with brown letters.

DONE!!

Next it was time to tackle the baby carriage cake. For this I used Wilton's baby carriage pan so I wouldn't have to start sculpting myself. Yep, took a bit of a shortcut on this one. But hey, after those blocks I think I deserved it!

First I filled the cake with a pineapple buttercream I made earlier. Then I had to tint the other buttercream to match the fondant on the cake board. Then the piping began. I piped and piped and piped. This took a while because the buttercream was getting really soft from the heat of my hand. So periodically I had to stop and put it back in the fridge to stiffen up a bit. You can definitely tell where the icing wasn't holding it's shape anymore. Slipping here, sliding there. I was worried I was going to run out of icing and didn't have enough confectioners sugar to make another batch even if I wanted to make more (and I didn't). I really had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out.

I made it - just barely!!

Time to put it on the board.

Woo Hoo!! I was done!! It only took me all day, but I was done!!

Or so I thought.

"Hey, it's Karen, I'm coming over - centerpieces and party favors!!"

Whaaaa?!?!?!?!?!?

To be continued...

Fashion Week NYC

** I wrote this post yesterday morning and got so busy I never got around to clicking the Publish button!! **

I have a lot of baking to do today for a baby shower for tomorrow. So, I figured while I am waiting for my butter to soften so I can start on my next batch of cupcakes, I would use this time to tell you about my experience at Fashion Week last weekend. Multitasking - gotta love it! Guys, men, boys, if you're of the male species, you should really try it sometime!

Somehow the hubbs got tickets to a fashion show during Fashion Week at Bryant Park. I really don't know how. He may have told me but I already forgot. We were supposed to go together last Friday. That's when he told me the tickets were for. I had to completely rearrange schedules because it was during the day and I had to make sure I had coverage for my girls - picking them up from school, watching them after school, giving them dinner, etc. I also had to get myself ready which involves my hair!! Never a fun task especially when my time is limited.

So, just as I am getting my coat on, the hubbs comes out of his office (aka "the cave") and says "Uh Oh, you're not going to believe it". I give him the look. With a chuckle he shows me the tickets and they are for the NEXT DAY!!! Did you hear my screams?!? You must have.

With some more schedule rearranging, I ended up going the next day with my friend Pam instead. Always turns out to be a great day when you're hanging with your best bud.

I have to apologize in advance for these horrible pictures you're about to see. Don't know what happened but these are probably some of the worst shots I've ever taken. Not even Photoshop could help.

The event itself was a really fun experience. It was very exciting and very New York.

Tents are set up in Bryant Park and this is where the different fashion shows are held.

Once you are inside, you don't even feel like you're in a tent - it feels like a real building. It's amazing to me how Bryant Park can be transformed into so many different venues.

We ended up at the Academy of Art University's show.

Honestly the highlight of the event was the whole buzz around the show, the music, and the people watching. Once the show actually started, we really weren't thrilled with any of the clothes. Doesn't look like they were either.

There was safari

grey

ruffles

and more ruffles

The seats were really small and fit tightly together.

I definitely felt like my butt could have used an extra half a seat. I was just a little too close to the stranger sitting to my left.

Even though we didn't see any famous designers, we did see this guy outside...

My girls will be so jealous.

His & Her Valentine Cupcakes

This week I had a bunch of baking projects on my plate. Earlier this week I baked brownies with my daughter, then I had 2 more projects before the weekend - both for cupcakes. One of the projects I actually planned for by coming up with a specific design. I was all set to go. Then we had a blizzard here in NYC and the event was cancelled. I was a little disappointed seeing that I was so prepared and all. (a rare occasion)

The next project was to do cupcakes for a group of 6 and 7 year old girls and boys for a Valentine's Day party. This one I thought would be easy. I don't need to plan. How difficult could Valentine's cupcakes be? Well let me tell you, way harder than you'd think! If it was just for girls it would be a cinch. Hearts, flowers, pink, red, purple - my head was spinning with tons of cute ideas. Then, I thought of the boys. Nothing. I'm telling you, a complete void. I sat there waiting patiently for some amazing idea to strike me, but still nothing.

What can I say?!? I live in a very girlie girl world surrounded by 2 little girls with their Barbies, princesses, butterflies, pink, dollhouses, hair accessories, dresses, pink, jewelry, dress-up clothes, bags & shoes and oh, did I mention PINK??? It's all over the place!! How can I think "boy" through all of this PINK??

Think blue. OK. I can do that. So that's what I did. This is what I came up with...

First I started by baking a batch of cupcakes. I needed 26. Since they were for Valentine's Day I used red liners. I like how these ended up looking because they stayed red.

Sometimes after baking, the color changes and you can see the cupcake through the liner. I was happy that didn't happen to this batch. I do want to mention something here about baking. This is not the time to multitask. If the recipe says 12 minutes to bake, you really need to pay attention. I continue to tell myself this and I really do get better and better each time. I was baking 12 at a time so the first 2 batches I really focused. By the third batch I started to stray a little and boom!! 18 MINUTES later I remembered the cupcakes!! Yep, let's just say they were a "little" well done. We'll keep those. The hubbs will eat anything as long as it's sweet. Luckily I still had enough batter for 2 more cupcakes so I really made sure to pay attention this time. I can go a whole 12 minutes without checking e-mail. Really. I can.

I decided to do a "His & Her" design with raspberry pink icing for the girls and blue for the boys. I like the way the blue came out because it was almost like a light denim blue color.

I also wanted to make hearts from fondant and use that as the cupcake topper. Now, this is where planning ahead would have come in real handy. I looked through my stash of cutters and wouldn't you know - no heart shaped cutters! At least not in the size I needed. Mine were way too big. Good for cookies, not for cupcakes toppers.

Plan B - make a template and hand cut each one. Oh no!! That will take forever!! And it did. First I colored the fondant - pink, blue and red. For the pink and blue I didn't mix it all the way so I could get a marble effect. Making the red was more difficult. If you ever want to make red fondant, let me warn you now. Don't!! Just buy it!! Another step where preplanning would have helped.

I made 2 sizes of hearts - pink and blue in the smaller size, and red for the larger size. They came out a little rough around the edges (literally), but still workable.

I attached the smaller ones to the larger ones and there you have it - my custom made Valentine toppers.

After they dried and stiffened up, I inserted them into the cupcakes.

I think it worked! Not too girlie, but still says Valentine's.

Awww - what a cute pair!

***As a side note, just a reminder that if your husband is home with you and you leave your cupcakes near an open window to stay cool because you can't control the heat in your apartment and you have to go out, make sure you TRIPLE tell him to LEAVE THE WINDOW OPEN or your fondant WILL flop! Even if it was just for "10 minutes"!!

That's all I'm saying. It's just a warning.

Hugs & Kisses

It's a couple of days before Valentine's Day so I thought I'd give you some tips in case you need a last minute gift for someone. Don't worry - you don't even need to spend a lot of money. It's all in the packaging!!

How about some Hugs & Kisses?? Chocolate ones, that is.

No, I'm not here to give you a Hershey's sales pitch. I'm using these little guys just as reference. You can substitute whatever other candy you like. I just want to give you some insight into what the gift professionals use. (that would be me) Remember in my past life I had a gift basket business? Packaging is still in my blood and I use it for my other things - just not baskets. I can't even look at another basket!

You can try some of these ideas at home.

First off, if you're going to get someone these little chocolate morsels, you can't present them in their original packaging. Unless of course you're going for that "oh crap I forgot it's Valentine's Day and stopped at the local drug store" look. In that case, you're perfectly fine. For the rest of you, it's just not gifty enough. You may not be spending the big bucks but you will need to take an extra couple of minutes to spruce it up a bit.

Idea Number 1 - Bag It!

Get a clear or printed cello bag from a local craft store (usually sold in the baking department) and fill it with the chocolates. Take 2 pieces of ribbon in different colors (you may even have some left over from XMAS) and tie a bow around the neck of the bag. You're done! See, wasn't that easy??

Idea Number 2 - Do Me A Favor

If you're having a party at work, home or school, it's always nice to have a little party favor. Everyone likes to leave with a little something to remind them of the (hopefully) fun time they had at the party.

These little pillow boxes work great and they can be customized in many different ways.

Fold the sides of the box in to form a pillow. Fill it with the chocolates,

tie a small ribbon around and embellish with stickers. That's one fabulous party favor!

Idea Number 3 - Box It Up

The last idea I want to show you is how to dress up an ordinary white box.

Take a colorful piece of tissue paper and line the bottom of the box with enough left over to stick up a bit. You want it to look a little fluffy.

Next fill the boxes with the chocolates, fold the tissue paper down and put the lid on. Now you can decorate it however you'd like. Here I used the same 2 ribbons I used for the first idea.

I also created a little gift tag with a stamp I got at Michael's.

I think the stamp may have cost me a dollar!! I just love a bargain.

I hope I've inspired you to go the extra mile when giving someone a gift. The reaction you get will make it all worth it.

And it will give me the pleasure of saying "told ya so!"

Brownies With My Baby

This week I have a lot of baking projects. My first one was super easy. Yesterday my little one said "Mama, I want to make brownies". How can I say no to a face like this?

Perfect timing!! It's about that time of month where I get that almost animalistic craving for something chocolate. This, coming from someone who normally doesn't even like chocolate! Crazy how those hormones work.

Well, I knew I didn't have all the ingredients to make brownies from scratch, so I had to check the cabinets in hopes of a box mix. Found one!! Pillsbury?!?. I know I didn't buy that one. Must have been the hubbs. If it was me, it definitely would have been either Duncan Hines or Ghirardelli. Extra fudgey of course.

Can't disappoint my baby, so Pillsbury it is.

I was excited to try out my new brownie pan that my mother in-law gave me for the holidays. It's like a cupcake pan except square.

They came out pretty well except they each had a dome. They also came out more cakey than fudgey.

After they baked, I let them cool in the pan for a bit,

then moved them over to a cooling rack,

then right to a plate.

Just for the picture of course! Who needs a plate to eat a brownie?!?

He.

He has a favorite superhero - Captain America.

He made a Captain America costume one year for Halloween and still has the shield hanging on his wall. (in case he needs to fight any evil villains)

He refers to pasta as "macaroni".

He thinks his mother makes the best meatballs and sauce. (doesn't every Italian guy?)

He loves James Bond, The Beatles, Abe Lincoln and Star Trek.

He built a custom shelf for his BIG collection of GI Joe action figures that he keeps neatly arranged. (perfect boyfriends for the girls' Barbies)

He doesn't hear a word I say unless it's "dinner's ready!"

He wakes up in the morning thinking about what he's going to eat for dinner.

He is trying to be healthy (when he's not guzzling root beer and coffee) and wants "something green" on the table every night. (do the girls' boogers count?)

He is waaaaay into Loren Graham (think back to Gilmore mom)

He loves Florida. (no comment)

He still doesn't know how to work the cable remote. "TV's broken again!"

He bought a banjo so he can learn how to play one. (stuck somewhere in the back of the closet)

He will only watch movies in widescreen.

He snores so loud every night that anyone within 100 feet needs to wear ear plugs.

He is a typical husband. (Errrrr!!)

Besides all that, He is an amazing artist.






Want to see more? Check out of his work here, here and here.

I've gotta go rearrange some Joes. It'll make him crazy. It's what I live for.