The 120 Mile Cookie!

This summer, the kids set a goal to walk 120 miles together. It was a hot summer, and it took a lot of work and dedication, but they did it! We had an awards ceremony to celebrate. I baked and decorated a giant sugar cookie to commemorate their accomplishment.

You can read more about our summer at my other blog: The Cake Runner

http://thecakerunner.blogspot.com/2013/09/we-reached-our-goals.html

After rolling out the dough, I used a salad plate for a template and cut out a large circle. I transferred the circle of dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. Then, I made some fork prints to prevent the cookie from rising too much during baking.

I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe (linked below). I just added a few minutes to the cooking time since the cookie was so large.

Once the cookie had cooled, I was able to flood the entire cookie with a base of white glace icing. I allowed that to dry overnight, then I used tan colored royal icing and a #3 writing tip to create the laurel wreath and the numbers. After that dried for a couple of hours, I used a small brush to "paint" gold luster dust mixed with a little vanilla onto the decorations.

Nice and Shiny!

STATS:

Stable Sugar Cookies

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/2055/no-fail-sugar-cookies

Glace Icing

http://www.thatreallyfrostsme.com/2010/05/glace-icing.html

Royal Icing

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing

Twirly Girl's 3rd Birthday!

Twirly Girl loves pink and purple...and princesses.

So, a pink princess dress on the outside...

 

...and purple stripes on the inside.

The Historian decided this slice needed a little extra frosting for the birthday girl.

The kids and I had fun decorating together.

To make the purple stripes, I used the technique found here http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/ for making a zebra cake. I just colored half the batter purple and decided not to make as many stripes.

This is what it looked like after I trimmed the top and edges:

We just wanted a small cake, so I cut some small circles out of the cake, stacked them, and carved them down to make the skirt for the princess. (The doll is a mermaid toy that my girls already had that we washed to use in the cake.)

STATS:

Zebra Cake

http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Caking with Kids

I was asked to help teach a cupcake decorating class with the Activity Day girls from church. The Activity Day program is designed to help girls (ages 8-11) develop their testimonies, serve others, build friendships, and develop their talents.

Primary Activity Days

The girls learned how to mix food coloring into fondant, how to create shapes out of fondant, and how to pipe a two-tone swirl on top of a cupcake. The girls learned quickly and were so creative!

 

I love this blue swirl cupcake that one of the girls designed!

The Activity Day leader invited my children to join the activity last week, even though they're not eight yet. My five-year-old really enjoyed herself and cut this star out of fondant using just a butter knife.

I had a wonderful time with the girls, and I think they enjoyed creating their own designs. One of the girls who normally attends their meetings was sick that night, and the girls decided to deliver a cupcake to her house to cheer her up. They are sweet girls, and they really care about each other.

STATS:

How to pipe a two-tone swirl

http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=152756&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant

http://cakecentral.com/recipe/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Valentine Cookie Favors

I don't know who first came up with idea of putting a cookie in a cd sleeve, but I love it. I think it's brilliant! I love that the packaging is cheap and even comes with its own little window, perfectly shaped for a round cookie. These would be great to send to school for Valentine's Day. 

For this cookie, I followed Martha Stewart's recipe for cowboy cookies. The only change I made is that I used a 1/4 cup of cookie dough for each cookie instead of a tablespoon. I was able to fit 6 cookies to a cookie sheet. Then, I covered the cookie dough balls with as many pink and red M&M's as possible. Pack them in tightly because they will spread apart as the cookies bake.

The cookies will spread to about 4" in diameter. That seemed to be just the right size to fit into the cd sleeve without sliding around. I wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap before placing them into the cd sleeves.

This was a fun project! It would be fun to let the kids help with the baking, and then let them decorate the cd  sleeves however they like with markers and Valentine stickers. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

STATS:

Martha Stewart's Cowboy Cookies

http://www.marthastewart.com/260966/cowboy-cookies

Pancaking with Kids!

Did you grow up with a mom who made the best pancakes in the world? Me, too! I remember her making really cool Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, and she even made a pancake that looked just like Donald Duck!

It's true - people were artistic and had fun with their food even before digital cameras and blogs existed. :o)

After making the obligatory Mickey Mouse pancakes with my own kids this morning, we decided to try something new:

The Cakerpillar

The BUTTERfly

My kids loved these, and we had a lot of fun making them this morning. Now, you've got to check out some amazing pancakes made by a blogger named Jim, who says he's "Just trying to make some cool pancakes for [his] daughter." I think you'll agree that he's succeeded.

Check out this 3D caterpillar: http://www.jimspancakes.com/2011/01/caterpillars-for-breakfast/

and this heart with Cupid's arrow: http://www.jimspancakes.com/2011/02/practicing-for-valentines-day/

I love how food brings people together and makes kids happy!

Happy pancaking!

Happy 100 Months!

My son recently reached his 100th month, and we thought it would be fun to celebrate. Nathaniel and I had a great time decorating this together. He even helped me make the fondant!



Now, I don't know what to call this type of cake. Is it an exploding cake? A bursting cake? I'll go with "exploding." It's kind of hard to explain how I did this, so I'll just share the tutorial I used at the end of this post. After folding back the fondant, I used gel food coloring mixed with a little vanilla extract to paint the red and blue onto the curled fondant.

I used florist wire to hold up the red and blue balls (which were made of fondant and modeling chocolate). It's not a good idea, health wise, to put metal wire directly into a cake. So, I used straws to keep the wires from touching the actual cake we would be eating. Some people dip the wires into melted chocolate, allow the chocolate to dry, and then insert them into a cake.



I used Wilton gold luster dust mixed with vanilla extract to get the gold color.



Making the checkerboard surprise on the inside was fun!

STATS:

"Exploding" Cake Tutorial
http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmka900.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F03%2Fvalentines-cake-in-process-of-making.html&langpair=bg|en

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Checkerboard Cake Tutorial
http://www.chefdoughty.com/blog/?p=967

Happy Birthday, Rachael!

I've wanted to make this cake for a long time - the giant slice of cake! I baked a 9x13" cake, then I cut two large triangles from it. I torted and stacked those slices, and I frosted them in delicious buttercream. The decorations are made from homemade fondant. My sister-in-law, Aubrie, and I had a great time decorating this together! The kids helped by cutting out the circles. Happy birthday, Rachael!


A close up of the ribbon rose.



Here's a link to a tutorial for ribbon roses:

http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/fondant-ribbon-roses.html

STATS:

Mom's Amazing Frosting Recipe
http://letsgetcaking.blogspot.com/2009/08/moms-amazing-frosting-recipe.html

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Oven S'Mores

For Family Night last night, my kids asked if we could make S'Mores. We were going to attempt to roast them on the grill after our dinner. Sadly, the sky turned dark and in rolled a huge thunderstorm. The night turned out to be even more fun than we planned, though. The graham cracker box had instructions for making S'Mores in the oven, so we gave it a go. They turned out really pretty, and the kids were able to help! It was a great time - eating the sticky goodness while watching nature's beautiful fireworks from inside our home.

Oven S'Mores

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
-Line baking sheet with foil

(Now the kids can help)
-Break the graham crackers in half and place squares on baking sheet
-Place one large marshmallow on top of each square

-Put them in the oven for 5 minutes
(Make sure to turn the oven light on so the kids can watch the marshmallows grow!)

-After 5 minutes, pull the baking sheet out and place 2 squares of chocolate on top of each marshmallow.
-Allow chocolate to sit and melt for 1 minute.
-Top each S'More with another graham cracker square.

Wait until the S'Mores are cooled down enough to eat (not too long), then devour!

Sprinkles!

We were able to spend Christmas with my husband's family this year. My mother-in-law wanted to decorate a cake with my kids to celebrate Jesus' birthday. My children had a great time decorating the cake and it turned out really cute! They used lots of sprinkles, animal cookies, and M&M's.



Here's a look at the inside:



STATS:

Betty Crocker Vanilla Frosting
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/vanilla-buttercream-frosting/39107a19-be94-4571-9031-f1fc5bd1d606

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7600/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-icingfilling

Circus Animal Cookies
http://www.motherscookies.com/ProductDetail.aspx?product=17311

Duckies

I've seen some really cute baby shower cakes online, decorated with bubble-shaped fondant and a real rubber duckie. I thought it would be fun to try a similar design on a cupcake.

First, I made tiny ducks out of fondant.



I used sugar pearls (big sprinkles) around the edges and a few on top for the bubbles.



My three-year-old got to decorate her own. She was so proud!



Look at that perfect line of little pearls she placed one at a time, all by herself!



STATS:

Box mix of lemon cake

Buttercream Frosting:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/vanilla-buttercream-frosting/39107a19-be94-4571-9031-f1fc5bd1d606

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Daisies and Ladybugs + Caking with Kids

My six-year-old son loves to cook and help in the kitchen. He designed this really cool pirate cupcake. It has blue water, black sand, and he even added toothpicks for posts to hold up a hammock for a pirate. He has such a good imagination and creative ideas! He was disappointed that I couldn't think of anything we had on hand for the net, but he was still happy with his cupcake and he shared it with me. What a great chef!



We worked on our cakes together in the kitchen. Mine was just a quick cake for a friend.



STATS:

Box Mix of Lemon Cake
Buttercream Frosting (green background and flowers)
Glace Icing (ladybugs)