Feeling Appreciated

In the last month I've made cupcakes or invitations for friends and both sent me "gifts" to show their appreciation which was definitely not expected. I enjoy doing things for my friends and get joy in seeing smiles on their faces when they see my cupcakes or invitations.

Justina dropped off a jumbo cupcake pan & a cherry pitter (we had discussed this while looking at Martha's new cupcake book). I used the cupcake pan on Saturday and it's awesome! The cupcakes are huge and perfect to add filling (see Apricot Cupcake Blog). I used the cherry pitter to make Cherry Ice Cream about a month ago. It worked perfect as well. Two cool things to add to my kitchen.

Last week I shipped out 24 pineapple shaped Birthday invites to Shanna for Kailani's 1st Birthday. She sent me a creme brulee torch (which was on my "must have" list) and snowflake fondant cutters. I can't wait to use both.

"Thank You" both for appreciating me

Steph

Happy Birthday Frank

Happy Birthday Frank!

Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Whip Cream

Topped with White chocolate, milk chocolate & milk chocolate with hazelnuts

Sunflower Cupcakes

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. This is my first attempt at putting one on top of a cupcake.

Apricot Cupcakes

Apricot filling:

1 cup fresh apricots, diced

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cornstarch disolved in 2 tsp cold water

Put the ingredients in a small sauce pan & cook until thickened..about 10 minutes.

Cut a cone in the cupcake and fill with apricot

Apricot Whip cream:

2 cups whip cream

2/3 cup powdered sugar

4 tbsp apricot preserves

Whip the cream & powdered sugar til stiff peaks form. Add the apricot preserves

I used a new tip 9ST which is huge compared to the 1M & 2D tips I've been using

Mosaic Rock #3

This rock will be going to Paradise, California to Grandma Geneva's house.

Mosaic Pot

My grams wanted a mosaic pot. I had trouble doing this because it's geometrical. I was not completely satisfied but her and Gramps loved it.

Pineapple Invites

A friend of mine asked me to make pineapple shaped invites. I used a blender pen & chalk to make the pineapple "texture" and then shaded the outer edge with chalk on a cotton ball. The stems were cut freehand so no two are a like.

Happy Birthday Kailani Lilly

Justina's Birthday - Part 2

After a week of hassle with the red Satin Ice Fondant...I finally had a mixture of Wilton fondant & Satin Ice fondant that didn't melt & didn't crack. I went from one extreme to the other and finally foudn a happy medium. The cupcakes turned out exactly how I wanted them to..and looked beautiful on the cupcake tree. I covered the cupcake tree with scrapbook paper and ribbon.

Justina's 30th Birthday - Post 1

This Saturday is Justina's 30th Birthday Party. I offered to make cucpakes. We're doing several flavors & each cupcake will have a gerber daisy on top.

Worked on the daisies tonight... Here's a sneak peak. Check back later in the week for more

Cherry Ice Cream

I have a new gadget (Thanks Justina!!) so I was dying to try it out.. it's a Cherry Pitter by OXO.It works great! Just perfect for making homemade cherry ice cream.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pitted ripe sweet cherries (from about 3/4 lb cherries)
2 cups milk
3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tbsp vodka or rum

Method
In a medium sauce pan put the milk, cherries, sugar and salt. Heat on medium heat until the mixture boils. Lower the heat & simmer for about 15 minutes. Next pour the mixture into a blender, hold the lid down & purée. If you don't hold the lid down, it will go all over the place.

Pour mixture into your storage container & add the 3/4 cup of cream. Chill it 4-5 hours in the fridge. Before churning, add 2 tbsp of vodka or rum. This helps your ice cream from becoming icy. Churn according to your ice cream makers directions.

Cupcake Lesson #1

Tonight Yacil came over and I taught her how to frost cupcakes with whip cream. She told me that she had trouble when she tried it on her own. She did great! She left with a smile & 16 pretty cupcakes! Practicing on syran wrap first to get the technique down

Yacil proud of her cupcakes!

Granny's Mosaic

Granny asked me to make her a mosaic rock. This was far easier than the first one. Helps to have the right tools & understand the technique. This took a total of about 8 hours.