Baking

Canada Day Cake

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canada day shirtI haven’t posted anything in a little while because I have been on a baking frenzy and I am supposed to be studying for exams. I write the first exam of three on Wednesday of next week. I just can’t let a holiday pass by without some sort of festive treat. We had a party on Canada Day to celebrate the birthday of our fantastic country and I made a cake, no real surprise there. I also made some festive cupcakes for the kiddies, I will reveal those tomorrow. We had a great time and the kids had a blast with water guns, and water balloons. Here is little L sporting his new Canada Day shirt for the occasion.

Historically I have made a sheet cake frosted with white icing, and decorated with strawberries in the shape of a Canadian flag. I thought that I would mix things up a bit this year. I have wanted to try making a cake with more than 2 layers. So I made a red, white, red layered cake to resemble the colours and pattern of the Canadian flag. It was more like pink than red but after a few drinks who could tell the difference. I did my best free hand maple leaf on the top. My free hand technique could use some work, but the taste is the same regardless of drawing ability.

Hobby Horder

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I have a problem. Even though I am working towards a masters in business I still feel the need to learn more, and make more. I have exams that I should be studying for but I just can’t help myself. I enrolled in a cake decorating class. I feel the need to constantly be learning something new. Just over a year ago I took up crochet, the year before that I learned to knit, now I am into cake decorating. Learning a new skill, craft or hobby for me is relaxing. I love making something out of nothing.

The problem really is that with each new hobby I add to my roster, I don’t give up the old ones. I am a hobby horder. With the hobby’s comes the supplies, and I have my fair share of crafting supplies. So much so that I can usually make things without going to the store. When I registered for the cake decorating class (2 hours before it started) the woman on the phone told me that I needed to bring 6 cupcakes. You might find this hard to believe but I already had 6 cupcakes in the fridge, I had to scrape the icing off but other than that I was ready to go. Here are some of my practice cupcakes all decked out with the fancy icing techniques I learned.

class 1

Sunbathing Beauties

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Beach bears 2 My oldest graduated from Kindergarten this week and I couldn’t pass up the chance to bake some cupcakes for the celebration party. In the process I learned that you can make and ice about 60 mini cupcakes from a standard boxed cake mix and tub of frosting. These bathing beauties were vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, dipped in light and dark brown (sand) sugar. Topped with a strip of fruit roll-up for the towel and a gummy bear. Garnished with a paper parasol these were a hit with the kiddies.

Ingredients

  • Boxed cake mix
  • eggs
  • oil
  • Tub of frosting
  • gummy bears
  • light/dark brown sugar
  • fruit roll ups
  • paper umbrella

Instructions

  • Bake the cupcakes as per the box instructions
  • Ice once cooled
  • Roll iced cupcakes in the sugar
  • Cut the fruit roll up into towel sized pieces (I did 1″ pieces for mini cupcakes)
  • put a dab of icing on the top of the cupcake to attach the towel (fruit roll up)
  • Put a dab of icing in the middle of the towel and attach the gummy bear
  • decorate with a paper umbrella

Graduation Cupcakes

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IMG_7863
Image provided by Megan

One of the moms in my son’s class had the brilliant idea of hosting a party for 40 kids graduating from Kindergarten. It was an opportunity for all of the families to meet and a chance for all of the kids to get together on the weekend outside of the school environment. There were a group of moms that got together to plan the event. We rented a “block party” trailer from the city which included chairs, tents, tables and games. With 40 kindergarten children plus their parents, and siblings we ended up with just over 100 people in attendance. With a group that large we opted to book a local park with a playground. We ordered party platters of fruit, veggies, cheese and meat to compliment the chips, popsicles and cupcakes. There was also two surprise guests from the movie Frozen who made a special appearance.

The weather was fantastic. The turnout was amazing. And my kids were exhausted and that is the sign of a good party. I volunteered to bake the cupcakes, all 100 of them. It was a bit of an undertaking but it was a challenge that I eagerly accepted. If you happen to be planning a graduation party these cupcakes were a hit.

Ingredients:

  • boxeingredientsd cake mix
  • eggs
  • vegetable oil
  • canned frosting
  • fruit rollups
  • mini peanut butter cups
  • chocolate covered cookies
  • m&m’s

Instructions:

1. Bakes the cupcakes as per the box instructions and let cool

2. Place chocolate covered cookies upside down on a tray (so that you can put them in the freezer)

Step 2

3. Put a dab of frosting in the middle of each one

Step 3

4. Place the small end of the mini peanut butter cup in the frosting/cookie

5. Place the try in the freezer to set for 15-20 minutes

6. Cut the fruit rollup into 1/4″ x 1 1/2″-2″ strips

7. Remove from freezer once stuck together and flip all of the cookies over so that they are standing on the peanut butter cup

8. Put a dab of frosting in the middle of each cookie to adhere the tassel and M&M

Step 8

9. Place the fruit rollup “tassel” and them the M&M in the frosting and place the tray back into the freezer to set

10. Ice the cupcakes

11. Place the graduation cap (mortarboards) in the center of the cupcakes

12. Refrigerate or freeze (because we were having an outdoor party I froze the cupcakes so that the chocolate hats would melt slower. We had them out for an hour and only had a couple break before eaten)

Ahoy Matey

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About three weeks ago my sister, brother-in-law and niece welcomed little Bennett into the family. In honour of the event and my sister’s love of cupcakes I made a little welcome cupcake dessert to celebrate his arrival. His room is decorated in a nautical theme so I ran with that for the cupcakes as well. Welcome to the family little guy.

anchor cupcakes

It only took 6 years…

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We live 5,000 kilometers from all of our family which makes some things a little tricky logistically. When our first son was born we investigated getting him baptized. We had decided that we would try and baptize the kids into my husband’s religion which proved to be very difficult. I say investigated because we live on an island where there isn’t a church of my husbands religion. There were also some pretty strict rules about who could be the children’s godparents. The best option that we had available would prove to be very expensive, involve ferry travel and included strangers as godparent’s. Not exactly the ideal situation. So for years we didn’t do anything because we felt that we hit a road block. The solution that we finally chose was to baptize the children in a church that was neither mine or my husbands. That might seem extreme, but it was actually the best option for all of us. We found a church which would baptize the children and welcome us all. The minister was lovely and organized a ceremony on a very short timeline. The minister removed all of the barriers which we had previously run up against, which in my mind is the way that religion should be anyway. We met with him on a Friday and baptized the children on Sunday while we were visiting family. This also allowed our family to be present and be involved in the ceremony. My mom arranged a little party last minute and the whole day came together without any issues.

In my regular style the event included cupcakes!

Bird’s Nest Cupcakes

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Spring is here, the flowers are blooming, Easter is just around the corner. It’s time for a little cupcake celebration. In honour of Easter I made these mini cupcakes for my son’s kindergarten class.

The baking part isn’t really my forte, so I typically opt for boxed cake mixes. The decorating however is what I really like. Cake/cupcake decorating is like a relaxation exercise for me, I zone out and get lost in the repetition.

Using a Wilton 233 tip and green frosting I made the grass. With a Wilton #5 round and chocolate frosting I made the nest. I did a batch with jelly beans, and a batch with mini eggs.

My taste testers don’t exactly have discerning palates. Anything with copious amounts of sugar typically passes their inspection. I was asked why I didn’t make them bigger by my 6-year-old, and my two-year old asked for more while making a shoveling motion towards his mouth. So it appears that they are a hit.

Celebrating 6 years

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My oldest turned 6 last weekend, which is reason enough to celebrate.  A few people asked me if I could believe it.  And honestly I can’t, I don’t know where the time went.  One day he was a tiny baby, and just last week he turned 6.  I was thinking this week if I had it all to do again would I have done it the same way?  Now being a super practical person I know that there is no such thing as second chances, but it’s interesting to think about just the same.  Would I have worked, traveled, and spent time studying while he was young?  I think that I would have, because he is an independent little boy whom I love and I can’t imagine him any other way.

I was struggling trying to decide what to do for his birthday now that he is in school.  Do you just invite a few kids, or no school friends, or the whole class?  We decided to invite all of the kids in his class, parents, siblings and a few of our friends and their families.  We ended up with a huge group, and Sasha announced that it was the best day of his life, which makes everything worth while.  It would have been even bigger if I didn’t kick out the hockey team that crashed his party, seriously.

I requested from a few families (until I lost track of who I had told) that if they were inclined to bring a present (because honestly even though we have asked for no presents in the past no one ever listens, and neither do I) to give an experience present.  Sasha received seeds to plant in the garden, movie passes, painting canvases, and gift cards which turned into a shopping spree among the piles of presents.  I must say that my husband was pretty happy with the remote control helicopter, and remote control car.  My husband even tried to convince Sasha that he would have to play with the helicopter until he turned 8 because the box said 8+.  Fun was had by all, the photos are evidence.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

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When my son’s school put out a request for silent auction items, or cakes for a raffle to raise money for the school I was debating for weeks as to what I should make.  What I finally decided to make was a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” cake, I hope that there is at least one reader that will get the parrot head reference.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBsPZV14I-k

A while back I made cupcake sliders which were the inspiration for this larger version.

Notes about the burger cake:

  • I used a devil’s food cake mix for the patty
  • Vanilla cake mix for the bun
  • Baked 3 cakes using a 8″ cake pan
  • Sprinkled the sesame seeds on the bun just before i took it out of the oven
  • Pickles, onions and cheese are all made of white fondant mixed with food colouring
  • Relish is coconut with green food colouring
  • Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise are all icing with food colouring

I Love Sugar Cookies

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I was asked the other day what is my favourite sugar cookie recipe, and here it is.  With a little person that has some issues with dairy I almost always have to make some substitutions in cookie recipes.  In this case I switch the butter for margarine which works just as well.  I roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper which really cuts down on the cleanup.  If you have a favourite cookie recipe I would love to try it, please send me a link in the comments.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

heart cookies