Chocolate Cake Balls with Tiny Green Flowers - November 2014

I made these cake balls for my brother-in-law Brad as a get well soon treat after he got burned on his hands, face, and torso.  (The cake balls got jostled around on the car trip up there, we were visiting for Thanksgiving, hence the scuffed up look.  I didn't take any pictures of them before we left. 😕)

To make the basic cake balls, I followed Bakerella's instructions.  You can find them here.

After dipping them I topped them with the little green flowers that I had made ahead of time.  They are just made from mint green fondant that I colored, rolled out, and cut flowers out using a tiny flower cutter.  I shaped the flower a little by using the small end of a ball fondant tool to make a depression in the center of the flower.  

You'll want to make sure you have your decorations ready so you can place them on top of the cake ball before the chocolate hardens.  I topped some of the cake balls with one flower in the center, and for others I used three flowers.  

After all the cake balls were dipped and topped with the flowers, I used a small paint brush to put some white food coloring in the centers of the flowers.

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Switchfoot Themed Chocolate Coffee Cake Balls - November 2014

I made these chocolate coffee cake balls for the band members of Switchfoot and their crew as part of the Switchfoot Baking Club.  (I also made some coffee sugar cookies and some deconstructed chocolate chip cookies; you can click here to see those.)

More details to come... 😊

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Coffee Sugar Cookies & Deconstructed Chocolate Chip Cookies - November 2014

I made these coffee sugar cookies and deconstructed chocolate chip cookies for the band members of Switchfoot and their crew as part of the Switchfoot Baking Club.  (I also made some cake balls, you can click here to see them.)

For the coffee sugar cookies I followed a recipe from I Am Baker; you can find it here.

I had made the deconstructed chocolate chip cookies a while back when we had some friends over for dinner.  For these cookies I followed the recipe on the back of the package of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I did not put the chocolate chips into the batter.  I baked the cookies and let them cool.  So, what happened to the chocolate chips you ask... I made ganache with them.  I used a 12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup heavy whipping cream.  Then I dipped the tops of the cookies.  I've found it's best to dip the cookies right after the ganache is made because the longer it sits the thicker it gets and the harder it'll be to dip the cookies.

I originally had planned on using white food coloring (or white icing) to decorate the top of the ganache with some kind of Switchfoot themed artwork or words or something, but my old friend Time decided not to stick around long enough.  😉

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Smile and Say... "CAKE" - November 2014

I made this photography themed cake for my daughter Carissa for her 10th birthday.  You can go to this post if you want to to see some camera sugar cookies I made for goodie bag favors.

More pictures and details coming soon... :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Camera Sugar Cookies - November 2014

I made these camera sugar cookies to put in the goodie bags at my daughter Carissa's 10th birthday party.  To see the cake for this party you can go to this post.

I made sugar cookie dough, rolled it out, and cut out rectangles.  After they were baked and cooled I melted some chocolate almond bark and used it to pipe some simple camera details onto the cookies.

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Heart Cupcakes - October 2014

These heart cupcakes went to two different places.  Some were given to one of my son's classmates and her family because her grandfather passed away, and some were given to my aunt and uncle because my aunt's mother passed away.

I baked regular sized cupcakes and mini cupcakes.  After they cooled I piped the white buttercream icing on them.  For the regular sized ones I kept the icing pretty much flat against the cupcake, but for the mini ones I built the icing up higher.  After that I used some strawberry buttercream icing to pipe on the hearts.  I don't remember what tips I used for the icing.  The hearts may have been done with a #4 or #6 round tip.

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Flower Cupcakes - September 2014

I was asked by the church that my sister and her husband attend to make some cupcakes for an event that they were having.

More details to come... :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Pink and Black Daisy Cake - September 2014

I made this cake for my mom's 60th birthday celebration.

More details and pictures coming soon... :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

40th Anniversary Mini Cake - September 2014

After I made the 50th anniversary cake for my husband's parents (see that cake here) I had a little mini cake left that I didn't end up using.  So, I decided to make a little cake for my parents. They had just celebrated their 40th anniversary earlier in the summer, so I thought it would be a sweet little surprise.

I covered a little cake that was 3-4 inches with white fondant.  I airbrushed the fondant with a pearl sheen food coloring.  Then I used white icing and I think a #2 round tip to make the cornelli lace pattern on the fondant.  The numbers were made from white fondant that I rolled out into a snake then flattened evenly and formed the numbers with it.  Then I airbrushed the numbers with the pearl sheen and added the edible pearls to them.  I placed them on the cake and voila!

Now, here's the funny part of the story [and to explain why the 4 looks a little wonky ;) ]...  For some reason when I was making this cake I originally didn't make a 40... I made a 30!  Don't ask me why. Don't ask me why it didn't dawn on me that I was older than that and I'm the middle child. Unfortunately, I didn't catch it... at all.  It wasn't until the kids and I brought it to my parents house. They were surprised and thought it was so cute and nice... Then my mom laughingly said, "But you meant 40, right.?"  GASP!  Then it all came flooding in... ugh.  I couldn't believe it!  They were all like, it's okay, it's still so pretty, it doesn't matter, let's go have some.  Ha!  There was no way!  So, I went into the kitchen and proceeded to make my pretty little 3 into... a 4.  Unfortunately, the fondant had already hardened some, so I had to be careful and couldn't change it too too much or it would crack.  :/  Fortunately, I was able to work with it enough to get a 4 out of it.  Phew!  ;)

And if you'd like to see proof of this silly little story, well, here you go...

(I created my animated name at this site.)