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!!!!!

Banana Pecan Caramel Safari!

My friend Dawn is pregnant with her first child and is due in early March.  She and her husband, Brian, went to Africa on their honeymoon and are completely in love with African Animals!  So of course, baby plus African animals = safari themed baby room, baby shower, everything!

The baby shower hostess instructed me banana cake, 12 people invited.  Okey, dokey.  I also googled "safari cupcakes" for my inspiration.  I pulled in my two favorite cupcake-istas Ashley and Marlo, and Ashley emphatically suggested that we could indeed make some super cute animal faces on our own rather than buying them or just cutting small animals using tiny cookie cutters.

I started on the cupcake recipe (using my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book) on my own, and the girls came later to help with the fondant.

These cupcakes called for 4 ounces of pecans.  Pecans make everything better, don't they?

 It's always good to get out the food scale, so that you have just the right amount.  Most other countries bake by weight, and I have found it to be more precise than cup and spoon measurements.

 You first have to zero the scale with your container, and then add the pecans.

 Exactly 4 ounces, how perfect is that?

 Time to toast them just until they are fragrant, yum yum!

 Luckily there is someone in the house who buys bananas with the intention of eating them.  And then doesn't eat them.  So there were 4 perfectly almost-brown bananas waiting to be baked!

 Time to get out the potato masher!

 Four bananas, almost perfectly 2 cups mashed!

 Time to whisk the dry ingredients - with some yummy cinnamon added in.

 Mixing the wet ingredients - bananas, vanilla and buttermilk.

 And here they are!  I sprinkled some of the chopped pecans on the tops of the cupcakes - all but 3.  I actually made 3 cupcakes with no pecans because my hubby doesn't like pecans, and I wanted to be able to tell which ones were "his."

 The recipe said it made 18, but it really made 36, so I used these nut cups - they make such cute cupcakes.

 So beautiful and yummy looking!  Perfect for a winter baby shower.

Time for the Swiss meringue caramel frosting!

 Making caramel - never done it before, of course it didn't work the first time, so Steve (hubby) had to come in and make the second batch!  It's so nice to have a husband who is handy in the kitchen and can help me out when things get rough!

 I can definitely whip up some butter on my own though!

Here is his deliciously perfect caramel!

A perfectly topped cupcake!  These would be done except it's for a baby shower and we need to add the cuteness!!

 Here I am making the parts for the elephant.

 Here's Ashley - I think maybe making the backgrounds.

 Here are the animal parts.  :)

 Finished fondant toppers!

 Ready to go to the shower.

So cute, right?  Luckily the mamma-to-be thought so, too - and that's all that mattered!