Black Forest

I have a LOT of Leos in my life.  Case in point: I have filled out 6 birthday cards in the past 3 days.  Yay!  I love my Leos, who are very similar in personality to my own Aquarius.  In the spirit of celebration, we decided to celebrate "First Friday" with Karaoke, and marked the occasion of both Don & Cecilee's birthdays with some black forest cupcakes!  I think Cecilee (who is also an amazingly talented chef, baker, person) has a particular affinity for black forest.  And how could you not?  Dark chocolate and cherries - sign me up!!

 So first, I needed to gather my materials - cherry liquor, pie filling, dark chocolate and maraschino cherries!  I could have made my own cherries and cherry pie filling, but had this stuff on-hand, and also didn't have a whole lot of time.

 I cored my dark chocolate cupcakes - they were so moist they did not want to core much!

 Add in that beautiful pie filling - yum!

 Infuse some liquor into the cupcakes for even more cherry flavor.

 Now time for the frosting.  Since these are so sweet, most recipes call for a whipped cream frosting.  This was the only part of these that I did not care for - I am not a huge fan of whipped cream. 

 I grated some dark chocolate.

 Sprinkled it over the cakes, and put a cherry on top!

 Delish!  And oh-so-cute!

Hawaiian Cake Pops

So the wonderful woman who ordered Mario Cake Pops ordered Hawaiian Cake Pops for this weekend!  She is keeping me busy but I am loving it!

 I saw this great blog post and was inspired by her pictures, but I wanted to "up" the ante a bit.  So I made a "stamen" from a licorice stick, made another "stamen" type thing from star sprinkles, and then made the other third sparkle with glitter.  Remember, I make cake pops to give folks a smile before they bite down and enjoy!  My cake is completely from scratch and so is the frosting.  This order was for 65 cake pops!  If I made only 5-6 cake pops for photographing, maybe mine would look a bit more perfect?  I am not sure.  :)

 These colors are so much fun!

 I've been working on different bases for my cake pops.  Last weekend I bought a 5 dollar cardboard "cake pop stand" from AC Moore and it was AWFUL.  I had to have help putting it together and it was terrible.  So I ordered two others from amazon, but I don't really want to let people use them if I am not 100% certain I am going to get them back.  So I bought a large Styrofoam block and covered it with a plastic white tablecloth.  I added some plastic hibiscus to this base to tie it into the Luau theme, and I have asked the customer for the base back, which can be re-purposed for in many different ways.

 I am still not loving the idea of using cookie or fondant cutters to shape cake pops - again, maybe if I'm only making 10.  You can see the indentations where I pushed the pop through the cutter.  It does help to dip the cutter in warm water, but it would also help if I smoothed them out some, too.  This was a 7+ hour creation, though, and I dare say I didn't have much stamina left toward the end.

 I still think they are awfully cute!

 The view from above.

65 Hawaiian Cake Pops!

Rainbow Cake Pops

So, I like to bake.  A lot.  Often and many.  But I have a day job, too.  I actually hold a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education.  And I am very, very passionate about my job.  Currently, I work for NCaeyc (North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children).  But only for a few more days.  It's very sad, because I love my job, but I have a wonderful opportunity waiting for me that I will begin on June 4th!

Through my work at NCaeyc I have met the most wonderful people, including our Association President, Eva.  She's someone who I've admired from afar for many years, and I couldn't be more fortunate to have met her, worked with her, and now count her among my friends.

We had a Board of Director's meeting last weekend, and when I offered to bring something to contribute to the lunch potluck, she asked for cake pops.  It was kind of a joke - she sees my blog and my Facebook page and I think once I had Lorie (my amazing boss at NCaeyc) sneak Eva a cake pop into a BoD meeting several months ago.

Since all of my stuff was still out (sprawled all over our dining room table) and I am so inspired by Pinterest, I decided that SURE I would LOVE to make cake pops for Eva.

If you're living under a rock, you probably haven't heard about the constitutional amendment that passed in North Carolina earlier this month.  It is incredibly devastating and heart-wrenching, and Eva and I both worked hard to fight it.  In her honor, I made rainbow cake pops, but honestly, I don't think they turned out quite the way I was hoping.  (Do they ever?)

Cake pops are HARD work.  I do NOT charge enough for them, I am sure of that (and these were free) but I really, really enjoy the process.  I hope to continue to get better at making them smooth, with no cracks, as I continue to develop my skills.

 I guess I have this rainbow backwards, don't I?

 I made these at night and left before 7:00 AM so I really didn't have any great light to use for photographing these, so I am really disappointed in the photo results.

Per usual, these photograph so much nicer when they are upside down!

mario cake pops

A work colleague ordered some "Mario" themed cake pops and I was thrilled to start researching and designing.  This is just the kind of challenge that gets me excited!  I didn't take any process pictures, but I hope you enjoy the finished product!!!

Allergen-Free First Birthday

I know that I have mentioned that in an effort to stop taking allergy medication 365 days a year I had my blood tested in December and found out that I am allergic to everything.  It's really not different than what happened when I had a skin test at the age of 16 and found out I was allergic to everything.  Except this time, it's food.  DARN IT.  No wheat, no dairy, no eggs, no soy, no cinnamon, no vanilla, no cocoa, no garlic, no onions, no lettuce, etc.  The list goes on and on.  For 6 months I have to eliminate these things.  The only things that I have "cheated" on are cocoa and vanilla.  Come on, you can't take those two things away from a baker!

Due to the magic of Facebook, I found out that my friend Melissa is also doing food-elimination for the health of her nursing baby.  She has had much success and it's been great to be able to support each other in this effort. As we were talking, she asked me if I would try gluten-free, dairy-free baking and make some cupcakes for her daughter's first birthday party on February 18th.  I got excited - I am always up for a challenge!  (You saw my first-attempt with my V-Day cupcakes.  Here are the finished product for my first gluten-free, dairy-free cupcake order!)

Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to do a lot of decorations (and Melissa wasn't going to want to pay for a lot of decorations even if I could figure it out) I decided to use these beautiful liners and toppers that I bought last fall.  

 Aren't they just perfect for a One-Year-Old girl's party?

 Have I taken a photo yet of these really sweet cupcake spoons and cups that I found?  They are used for decoration more than anything at this point!

 Many of my normal cups were dirty so I brought out the Matroishka dolls - they always make me so happy.

 When baking in a gluten-free manner, there are many, many flours involved.  There is really no "one-substitute" for wheat flour, so most recipes and professional bakers encourage you to use a mixture. 

 When I bought the pretty cupcake liners and toppers, the gentleman at the store encouraged me not to bake the cupcakes in the liners, because they loose their color.  I have seen a lot of bakeries use an extra liner for decor, so this is what I did here!

 Melissa ordered 36 cupcakes and the doubled recipe I used made exactly 38.  So Steve and I each got to try one!  (Baked in silicone from my great friend Joe.)

Here are the cupcakes, resting and waiting for frosting. 

After tasting the vanilla cupcakes, Melissa asked if I would do half of the cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  According to the "list of common food allergies and when to give them to your child," children aren't supposed to have chocolate before the age of 3.  However, she thought it would be nice for the adults.

Let me just tell you, she was right.  Whereas the vanilla cupcakes taste good but still taste not-like-a-normal-cupcake, the chocolate frosted cupcakes were 100% amazing.  AMAZING. 

 They sure aren't as pretty as the ones with the bird toppers, but I still think they have just the right amount of color. 

 I think the colors of the sprinkles really picks up the colors of the birds, and they made a nice presentation.

 The cupcake tower!!!  All decked out with my pretty gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free cupcakes!  (These are even yeast-free, too!)

I just love these - I think I make the cutest cupcakes ever, don't you!?!? 

Valentine's Day Spectacular

I am a sucker for Valentine's Day.  I love all shades of pink, red and white.  I love roses and chocolate and hearts.  I have fond memories of exchanging little dime-store valentines cards in school, and I loved Valentine's Day as a teacher.  In high school, one of our senior projects in AP English was to research and present an "emotion."  Most of my friends chose anger or sadness, a few chose love, one even chose "apathy."  I was the only person in my class, and I think one of only 2 in the whole senior class, who chose "happy."  It's just me!

This year, I am eliminating gluten, dairy, eggs, soy and a bunch of other stuff in an effort to curb my allergies.  Luckily, I found several recipes that I could actually make!!!  Aside from the cake pops (which I now know how to make gluten and dairy free) I was able to eat everything I made for Valentine's Day 2012!!

 V-Day Cake Pops!!

 Gluten Free PB Cookies!

 V-Day Whoopie Pies!

 V-Day Peanut Butter Hearts!!

So the first thing I made was with my great friends Ashley and Marlo, cake pops!  I just love to decorate and make random prettiness with my cake pops.  Ashley wants us to focus more on "characters" or a "design" but Marlo and I still love the random pretty, too.  :)

Many times, I post pictures (and link to this blog) on Facebook.  Most of my family (and several of my closest friends) still live in Michigan, where I was born.  I decided to send many family members a "treat" for Valentine's Day, so I set to work.  I saw this idea on Facebook of using the Dove heart-shaped chocolates instead of a Hershey's Kiss on a peanut butter cookie.  I also found a couple of different gluten-free cookie recipes (I just had to use egg substitute) and I knew I had to make this happen!

 The Martha Stewart recipe called for peanuts and mini chocolate chips mixed into the batter.

 Little balls of goodness.

 Here are the deliciously adorable thumbprints.  I made some with dark chocolate since I can't have milk chocolate.

 They all turned out so beautiful - and I heard from several family members that they enjoyed them as well! 

I reconnected with a great friend at the beginning of February who is also doing a food-elimination diet.  She encouraged me to try some gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, yeast-free cupcakes for her daughter's first birthday!  We had a few different recipes to try, and I wanted to make a test batch so we could decide if we liked them or not.  I also wanted to make Steve something for Valentine's Day, so I bought a whoopie pie pan and set to work on my newest creations:

 Here are the whoopie pies ready to go!  I added some red coloring to the pies for Steve, to make them Valentine-y.

 For the "test" cupcakes, I used my ikea pan with it's tall, deep cupcake wells and pretty red, white and black wrappers.

 These are a little cylinders of gluten-free goodness!

 Since the cupcakes are so petite, I added just a bit of frosting on the top - don't these look so perfect for Valentine's Day!  I wish I had some time to add a nice red fondant heart topper, but alas, I do have a day job and lots of other things going on.

 These whoopie pies were perfect for Valentine's Day!

So, who has discovered Pinterest? Well, really - who hasn't?  LOL.  Although I've had an account for over a year, my friends have recently started pinning so I am addicted along with them!  I found a recipe for Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs for Easter, but decided to make some into hearts for Valentine's Day!  I made them with vegan butter and dark chocolate - and have been eating them all week.  YUM YUM!!!!

We had a very sweet-filled Valentine's Day, so now we're back on our winter diet!!!!!