Baby Shower Cupcakes

My friend Ashley asked me to make cupcakes for a baby shower she was hosting for her sister. Her sister loves giraffes, so we decided the cupcakes would be decorated with baby giraffes and some cute pink bows in honor of her new baby girl.

Pink Lemonade Giraffe Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling. Topped with Ganache and a Fondant Bow.

I can't take credit for the beautiful photography. Natalie Eisen (the talented photographer and owner of Memories by Natalie) took the photos. You can see more of her work here:

Memories by Natalie on Facebook

On to more gorgeous photos by Natalie!

The beautiful table display.

I love the little frames and cards they used to write the names of the desserts!

Don't you just love the slices of lemons and limes in the flower jar? What a great center piece!

 The beautiful pink table...

 Homemade fans - perfect for an outdoor tea party/baby shower!

You are going to die from the amount of cuteness in this last photo.

I told you! Cuteness overload, right? I can't think of a better way to display tiny baby clothes than on a clothesline with wooden clothes pins. Genius!

Ashley and her mother Penny did an amazing job creating a beautiful baby shower.

Happy caking, everyone!

STATS:

Chocolate chip cookie dough filling
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-icingfilling

Ganache
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/master-ganache-recipe/index.html

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
http://realmomkitchen.com/6745/pink-lemonade-cupcakes/

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

Brush Embroidery Cookies

My brother Christian and my new sister-in-law Amber recently celebrated their marriage at an open house in Maryland. I was able to attend their wedding and reception (which were held in Utah), but I couldn't make it to the open house. I really wanted to participate in some way, and I decided to make cookies for the celebration.

These were dark chocolate cookies with a hint of cinnamon. This was a new recipe for me, and I really liked the flavor. They're delicious!

I used glace icing for the white background. After allowing the icing to dry overnight, I used royal icing to add decorations on top. I used a #2 writing tip to pipe the design. The flowers and leaves were done using the brush embroidery technique.

I used homemade green fondant mixed with modeling chocolate for the green background on these cookies. This technique is much faster because you can just roll out the fondant mixture, cut out circles, and attach them to the cookies with a little glaze. Very quick and easy. These were lemon sugar cookies.

To keep the cookies fresh, I wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap. To package them, I placed a big piece of bubble wrap in a box and then one layer of the wrapped cookies. I continued to layer plastic wrap and cookies until the box was full. I sent the cookies USPS. Luckily, the cookies traveled well and arrived in good shape. I think the biggest thing is to make sure there is no room in the box for the cookies to jostle around. If there is any extra room, they can shift during transport and break.

STATS:

Chocolate Roll Out Cookies

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Roll-Out-Cookies-240668

Glace Icing

http://cakecentral.com/recipe/toba-garretts-glace-icing

Royal Icing

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

Tutorial on how to flood cookies with royal icing or glace icing

http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog/2011/07/outlining-and-filling-cookies-with-royal-icing/

Brush Embroidery Tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW0kxZ8wK4Y



Lemon Breakfast Bread

I found the recipe for this Lemon Breakfast Bread over at Transplanted Tastebuds. It is delicious and so moist! I'll definitely be making it again!

Here's a link to the recipe if you want to try it out.
http://transplantedtastebuds.blogspot.com/2008/08/lemon-breakfast-bread.html

St. Patrick's Day Magic

I love working with glacé icing! It's so much fun to add different colors to the cookies, and then swirl the icing around and watch pretty designs appear.



For the swirls, start by flooding your cookie with one solid base color. While the icing is still wet, pipe short lines in a swirl pattern, starting from the outside of the cookie and working in. Try alternating colors (I used dark and light green) for a fun effect, like this:



Now, drag a toothpick through the center of the lines, starting from the outside of the swirl and working to the center. Just follow the shaky black arrow I made in Microsoft Paint.



Now watch this beauty magically appear!



For the shamrocks, you will use a similar technique, just in a different pattern. Flood a cookie with white icing. While it is still wet, pipe 4 green lines in a square pattern. Drag a toothpick through each line, from the outside of the square to the center. Here is a diagram that might help you better visualize the process.



A little leprechaun magic...and you've got yourself a tasty four leaf clover!



I tried out a new recipe for my husband's grandmother, Memé, who loves lemon-flavored treats. I'll put a link to the lemon cookie recipe in the "STATS" section of this post. It's delicious!

STATS:

Lemon Cut-Out Cookies:
http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2010/07/frosted-jumbo-animal-cookies.html
(After you click the link, scroll down to the bottom, and you'll see the recipe.)

Glacé Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar : 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup : 1 Tbsp. milk (Adjust amount of milk to achieve desired consistency in icing. I usually end up adding 3 or 4 extra Tbsp. of milk to get a thinner flooding consistency.)

Video tutorial for piping wet on wet icing and the marbling technique
http://www.universityofcookie.com/2010/12/fun-and-easy-way-of-decorating.html