Gum Paste Roses

I have a wedding coming up on the 17th of September. No, I am not getting married. I am actually doing my first "gig" in the cupcake business! I am nervous, of course, but the bride is as sweet as sugar and has given me alot of creative freedom. She has chose very simple yet classic cakes, chocolate, vanilla and red velvet. I am making mini-cupcakes (approximately 300) and one giant cupcake for the grooms cake. The wedding colors are red, silver, white and black. My partner in crime is helping me build a cupcake stand this weekend to hold all those cupcakes! I will keep you posted as the next few weeks go by on progress of cupcakes, decorations and the stand.

In the meantime, I have started making gum paste roses to add as decor to my cupcake display. Unlike my last gum paste flowers, I have started this project off with some documentation. Gum paste roses are somewhat easier than the lilies but I haven't even begun the dusting yet so we will see how it goes. Here are the first couple I made:

Gum Paste Flowers - Take one

I took a class from Dawn's Candy and Cake on gum paste flowers. Here is a few things I learned:

1) Gum paste tastes like marshmallow.
2) Gum paste dries fairly quickly.
3) Gum paste is not like playing with Play Doe or Fimo.
4) There are ALOT of steps involved in making gum paste flowers.
5) Making gum paste flowers takes much longer than I anticipated.
6) Common chalk (for kids) is food safe and you can use it to dust your gum paste flowers.
7) If your gum paste flower happens to break, you can use Superglue to repair it and when dried, Superglue is also food-safe.

I am sure there are alot more things I learned but after watching so many cake shows, I thought gum paste would be a walk in the park. It was more like a jog, uphill, in a rainstorm. Do I love it? Oh yes! Once I master it- I have a brilliant idea for a niche cupcake shop. So gum paste- bring it on!

My only regret with these lilies is that I didn't document the process with pictures- just the finished product.

Here- Taste this.

I have to say, my partner in crime is such a trooper. I force him to try my various cakes and frosting combinations. He dutifully opens his mouth and allows me to insert whatever I happen to have at the end of a spoon!

Fortunately, he gives me honest responses to how he feels in regards to the taste, texture and flavor profiles. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes, not so good.

The good news is that we had another success this weekend! Almond cupcakes with key lime buttercream, topped with a SugarRobot butterfly and fresh lime zest...

I love you to Pieces!

This weekend, I went to a bbq at a friends house. Due to my last name starting with a "T", I had to bring a dessert...oh darn! Another chance to prove my cupcakeness? I think so!

This is a mini chocolate cupcake with a mini peanutbutter cup baked inside, frosted with triple chocolate and peanutbutter buttercreme, filled with crushed Reeses Pieces. As an added bonus, each cupcake was topped with one additional mini peanutbutter cup.

   

With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells...

It has been awhile since I have discussed my garden. My treasure. My sanity. My love.... Despite the weather we have had this summer, my garden seems to be doing "okay." My tomatoes are growing, some still with blooms, others bearing fruit not yet ripe. My green peppers are the size of ping pong balls. My peas have come and gone and produced about 2 cups of shelled peas. I sort of neglected them on a few hot days due to absence, otherwise they might still be producing lovely little pods of green goodness.

Last night I picked lettuce from my garden to feed salad to my family. I have a yellow squash, 2 green squash, one lemon cucumber and two small cucumbers, though I don't remember what kind they are. My swiss chard is pretty and multi-colored. My lavendar is in full bloom. My beans, well, my beans have been devoured by slugs. I tried to keep them away but in the end, the slugs won. All of my herbs are happy and growing. My carrots seem to finally have given into the fact that they must grow!

I have also a beautiful flower garden. My strategy is to plant as many flowers as I can because I forget what I plant year to year. The following year, I am always pleasantly surprised when my garden is full of blooms. It is finally time to make more flower garden around my yard. Flowers are so much prettier than grass, right?

White Russian Cupcakes

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Liquor Cupcakes Adventure No. 2

Bring on the Jack and Coke Cupcakes! Adventures in Liquor part 2. I don't really like Jack Daniels. I am sorry but it is true. My friend drinks Jack & Coke all the time so I decided a little play on cakes for his birthday might be good.

Lets start with the cake. No matter how much cola syrup you add to your batter, it just doesn't make it to cola flavor. When I thought I finally had the right flavor of cake, I baked the batter. Wouldn't you know it? It comes out tasting more like root beer than cola. At least the cake was dense and moist!

Moving on to the butter cream...As I stated, I'm not a fan of JD. I added shot after shot to my butter cream because I didn't think I could taste the alcohol. Eventually I let my partner in crime taste it because I thought maybe my taste buds were on strike. The look on his face was that of a man who just took a shot of whiskey. Apparently, one could really taste the alcohol!

Great! I topped the cupcakes with a black  colored sugar and a Gummy Cola bottle.

Everything was going according to plan but then the birthday boy didn't show up until 2 days later. Most of the alcohol flavor had evaporated out of the butter cream and the root beer flavor seemed to get stronger. In the end, they were cute and neat but must be eaten right away!

Oh My Goodness- Homemade Ceviche!

Let's Get Liquored Up!

Recently, I have had a few male friends with birthdays. Rumor has it that boys don't appreciate regular cupcakes like us girls do. One thing they do appreciate is liquor! I had asked a friend what kind of cupcake he thought his brother might appreciate. I didn't get much of a response so I guessed. He is Irish (go figure with the last name of Conkey) so I decided to make him Irish Cream Cupcakes :) I read a few recipes and decided I was ready to experiment on my own. I made chocolate chip vanilla cupcakes with Starbucks Coffee but replaced 80% of the water with Saint Brendan's Irish Cream. Next, I made a Brendan's & Starbucks Coffee Buttercream. I topped these delightful little cakes with a square of Jameson Irish Whiskey Chocolate Bar. Cheers to the Birthday Boy!

Plant a Garden, Bake Cupcakes and Spread Love

 Today I will take a different approach than cupcakes, sprouts and critters. There are many people in this country rejoicing the death of a man many consider evil. I am just sad. I am sad there is so much hate in this world that people rejoice in death. I saw a billboard yesterday that showed "Battle in the Barn," some UFC style fight. The billboard showed men fighting each other and was covered in blood splatter. I thought to myself, "what is this world coming to when blood and fighting are on a billboard for all to see including small children? Are we so far desensitized that this doesn't bother us anymore?"

We never would have saw such violence 10 years ago. When did we become the Roman Mob? Violence and hate. I try to avoid it. Now that I have children in my life, I am appalled by it. Before I had a family of my own, I thought nothing of it. One of the reasons I started this post is because I really just want the world to be cupcakes, love and plants. I know after the news and all the noise today that the world is not just me. I have hope though, there are many people who are like me and think like me. Martin Luther King was one of them. 

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." —MLK

I have babies!

Although it has been very cold here -where is Spring, anyways?- I have sprouts. I have been monitoring my cold frame, making sure I wasn't cooking anything in there. The baby sprouts don't seem to be in jeopardy of that considering the chill still in the air. This weekend is the Spring Garden Fair and McLendon's 85th Annual Anniversary Sale and Pancake Breakfast. It is very exciting even though my Farmer's Almanac tells me the 30th Poor Planting Day. Break Ground Or Cultivate. Well poop. I don't know that I have any ground-breaking or cultivating to do. Now what :) Anyhow- I would like to share one or two of my sprouts with you...

Cucumbers pushing their way through the soil

Healthy Tomato

Wee Baby Tomatoes

Carrots on their way up

Peas! 

Turnips and Radishes