Guest Sweet: Bear Cake for a Cub Scout

My son just earned his Bear Badge in Cub Scouts. We are so proud of him! He has wonderful Cub Scout leaders, and they organized a very nice Blue and Gold Banquet for the Cub Scouts. Sister Robinson, the wife of one of the leaders, made a really cute bear cake in honor of my son earning his bear badge. I'm so grateful to her and all of the scout leaders for making it a special night for my son.

Sister Robinson made a chocolate cake with delicious peanut butter frosting. Thank you, Sister Robinson!

STATS:

Peanut Butter Frosting
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Brownie-Cupcakes-with-Peanut-Butter-Frosting-107660

Guest Sweet: Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods for Valentine's Day

My friend Holly made these pretty treats for a Relief Society teacher workshop we attended recently.

They were delicious, and I love the tiny heart sprinkles she used!

I also love how she packaged them. She folded cellophane around four pretzel rods (two chocolate and two white chocolate), and taped it in place. Then she tied a ribbon around the neat package.

I thought these were so cute and a great idea for Valentine's Day, so I had to take some pictures before my family and I could dig in. Thank you, Holly!

Guest Sweet: Cake Bites for a Wedding

One of my mom's friends was recently married and asked my mom to make the cake, along with some cake bites. The cake looked beautiful, and I love the vibrant colors of the ribbon and the butterflies!

The butterflies are made from gum paste, and they were carefully cut out by hand. My mom then used food coloring mixed with almond extract to paint the beautiful colors onto the butterflies.

Here is the cake set up with just some of the 650+ cake bites she made for the wedding reception. If you look at the flower arrangement behind the cake, you will see how perfectly she matched the fondant ribbon and butterflies to the wedding decor.

If you've ever made cake pops or cake bites, you know it's no easy task. Candy melts and melted chocolate can be finicky and difficult to get perfectly smooth when dipping those fragile rounds of cake. For this project, my mom tried using Paramount Crystals in the candy melts, and she said they made a HUGE difference. Adding the Paramount Crystals to the melted chocolate produces a more fluid product, making the overall process much easier and faster.

Tips for making cake bites:

- Use only half a can of frosting (about 1 cup or 8 oz.) for one baked cake mix. If you use more, the mixture will be too soggy.

- Use a Tbsp. to measure and scoop the cake ball mixture. Make sure to level it, and you've got the perfect amount for a cake ball.

- The Tbsp. will make the perfect size to fit inside 1 1/4" mini cupcake liners.

- If you don't own a chocolate dipping fork http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=8306&categoryid=336#.UA_-zPUn2So, you can make do with a disposable plastic fork. Just break off the two middle fork tines, and it'll work just fine.

STATS:

Cake Ball Tutorial
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/cake-pop-lesson-1-the-cake-ball/

Candy Melts
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=pg_candymelts

Paramount Crystals
http://www.confectioneryhouse.com/paramount-crystals

Mini Cupcake Liners
http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Mini-Muffin-Cups-Count/dp/B0000AE61X

Happy Caking, Everyone!

Guest Sweet: Happy Birthday, Mariah!

Recently, one of my very best friends was able to drive out and visit with me for an entire week! Becky and I had a wonderful time, and one of the things we wanted to do together was decorate a cake. Becky wanted to make a cake for her niece's birthday party, but that was more than a week away (not to mention more than 10 hours away in another state). So, we decided to make fondant decorations for Becky to use on the cake she would bake later.

We made homemade fondant and then made the loops for the bow and the tag. After packing the dried decorations in a box with a TON of padding, we kept our fingers crossed that the decorations would survive the long car trip and the heat wave. Luckily, all but one piece survived, and Becky did an awesome job decorating the cake!





I LOVE the colors Becky chose and the different sizes of dots! I also like the detail she added of using a fondant "string" to "tie" the tag to the cake. I think this cake turned out so cute, and now I need to find an excuse to make one!

STATS:

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

Guest Sweet: Share the Love

I was asked to teach a cookie decorating class for a week night activity at my church. I was so excited for the activity because I LOVE cookie decorating and couldn't wait to teach others what I love to do.

I brought in homemade fondant and glace icing. I ended up using about 10 pounds of confectioner's sugar to make all of the icing (6 for the fondant and 4 for the glace). We planned to decorate about 200 cookies.

The techniques I taught were:

1. Outlining a cookie with glace
2. Flooding the cookie
3. Using the "wet on wet" technique to create swirls and hearts in the glace
4. Rolling fondant and cutting out shapes to attach to cookies
5. Making a 5 petal fondant rose

I brought some little fondant embossers I got at Michael's craft store to let everyone use. I love all of the creative ways people found to decorate their cookies! I've only used the stamps to make a simple design in the center of a cookie, but they found so many other ways to use the embossers. Now I'm excited to use them again!

I wish I had gotten pictures of all of the cookies made. I only got a few pictures (and it was after the cookies were already covered in plastic wrap). I also wish I had gotten some photos of the glace decorated cookies.

Here's a look at just some of the cookies everyone made. I love how creative and beautiful they all are!







The best part of making cakes and cookies is sharing them with the people we love. It's a wonderful thing to spend time creating something beautiful to share with family and friends.

STATS:

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

Glace Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar : 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup : 1 Tbsp. milk
Adjust amount of milk to achieve desired consistency in icing.)

How to Swirl Icing Tutorial Video from University of Cookie
http://www.universityofcookie.com/2010/12/fun-and-easy-way-of-decorating.html

Simple Rose Tutorial
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1149096

Guest Sweet: Lion House Cheesecake by Becca

My sister baked up this yummy cheesecake on her birthday. She found the cheesecake recipe in a Lion House cookbook. (I'll have to ask her which one it was in.) I'm impressed. I've never made a homemade cheesecake before. I like how she decorated the cheesecake on top. Here's a pic:



Cute, huh? The cheesecake isn't bad, either...ba, dum, bum! Good one, eh, Becca? :o)