Donuts, Doughnuts

After seeing others make donuts, I put Bakerella's  recipe in my "to do" pile.  I split the recipe in 1/2 because I knew I didn't need to make that many.  Unlike Bakerella I didn't have any issues with my dough being extra sticky and found it pretty easy to work with.    My husband walked in shortly after I finished frosting them.  He was quite impatient when I told him he'd have to wait til the frosting set to try one.  After about an hour I let him have one and he gave them a thumbs up...then he asked for one with chocolate glazed & coconut.  That is the one kind I didn't make...maybe next time.  

rolling out the dough

nice and brown

chocolate hazelnut

Happy Tuesday

Golf Cupcake Toppers

Stacy is also a baker..but she hasn't found time to work with fondant. She asked me if I would make some fondant golf themed cupcake toppers for her father in law's birthday.  I used black dye thinned with vodka to paint the golf club handles & the flag numbers.   I used Wilton pearl shimmer dust on the golf handles & flag poles so they would resemble metal.  Happy Birthday Terry !

Here is a picture of the cupcakes completed by Stacy

Cascarones for Tritia & Collan's Wedding

Today my cousin, Tritia & I worked on Cascarones (confetti eggs) for their upcoming wedding. Collan made us a stand with nails so we could spray 2 dozen eggs at a time.  The eggs are filled with Ecofetti.   After spraying the eggs,  we sprayed them with Valspar Pearl for an iridescent glow. We will be adding turquoise & raspberry when we make more.    4 dozen down, 12 dozen to go.

Ecofetti

Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream

We had a family dinner on Thursday evening so I made one of my favorites...Lemon Curd Cupcakes with Italian Meringue Lemon Buttercream frosting.  They looked so pretty on my Grandma's Vintage Candlewick glassware. 

Trip to the LA Textile District

My sister and I are fortunate that our mom taught us how to sew when we were kids.  Over the last few years both of us have started to really enjoy making things for our friends & family.   My sisters newest craze is making Amy Butler Bags like this:

Since we are both bored with JoAnn's fabric selections we decided to venture to the LA Textile District.  This was one of the most fabulous days I've had in a long time.  We got down there and found a pay to park all day lot.  As we walked away, my sister asked if I was ok.  She knows I am nuts about the perfect parking place.  I told her "That's what insurance is for, right?"  The area we were in was not so pretty. We walked up two blocks and we forgot about where we were..because in front of us was more fabric than we could imagine. Fleece in every color, every pattern, stuff we have never seen before.  Most of it was $2.00 a yard..for the same fabric that JoAnn's sells for $8.99 a yard. We were so excited.  We walked up and down 9th Street, Maple and a few others.  The last store we went in was our favorite. It was Michael Levine's. Mom had taken us there 20+ years ago when she had a leotard business.  We laughed about how easy it was this time because we had TomTom, Navigator on my Blackberry & a printed list from the internet. With mom I think we had a Thomas Guide and that was it...oh and NO CEL PHONES!  

We will go back soon, when we have particular projects in mind.  Next time we will stop and use a restroom prior to parking (they are very hard to find) & we will take a snack. Most of the eateries there, don't look like places that we would trust to eat.   We shopped for about 4 hours, then headed back North.  We stopped in Encino to have lunch and then in Calabasas at Crumbs Cupcakes for a sugar fest. 

Can't wait to go again with my sis..and maybe we'll be lucky to have our Mom join us.  Thanks Mom for teaching us how to sew & Thanks Sis for sharing a fabulous day with me!

Crumbs in Calabasas, California

After our excursion to the LA Textile district my sister & I stopped off at Crumbs in Calabasas.  What a cute cafe.  They serve coffee, cupcakes, cakes, and sell gift items.  I'll have to see if I can get to the one in Manhattan, NY when we go there this year. We bought 6 cupcakes to take home and taste test.   We couldn't wait to get to her house to cut them open.  It was a pure sugar fest.

Grasshopper Cupcake : Chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge. Topped with mint cream cheese buttercream, mini chocolate chips & a buttercream rosette.  It was our least favorite. Neither of us cared for the mint flavor.. more of a wintergreen than a creme de menthe.  The cake was moist though & had good flavor

Coconut Cupcake:  We didn't taste test this one..I brought it home for Juls. He said it is good but not as good as what come out of our kitchen.

Candy Cupcake : Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream, topped with mini M & M's.  It was good, not too much frosting.

Lemon Drop      :  Lemon cake with Lemon Curd (omg...scrumptious), topped with lemon butttercream &

lemon sugar crystals.   The Lemon Curd was scumptious...perfect.  The cake & buttercream complimented the tartness.   Loved the sugar crystals, the crunch as you ate the cupcake.

Toffee Coffee    :   We actually got 2 of these not realizing it... but they were by far our favorite.   Vanilla cupcake filled with toffee, topped with coffee toffee buttercream, drizzled with toffee & dipped in pieces of toffee & chocolate with a buttercream rosette on top... THIS WAS OUR FAVORITE..Hands down.

We can't wait to go back and test a few of the other flavors. They had so many it was hard to choose. They have a neopolitan cupcake that looked really good, red velvet, sprinkles, Tommy Hawk, Baba Booey, Artie Lang, Black & White Vanilla, Brownie, Butterfinger, Blackout, Cappucino, Caramel Apple, Carrot, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Chocolate Snowball, Chocolate/Vanilla sprinkle, Cookie Dough, Devil's Food, Elvis, Flutternutter, Fudge Chocolate Chip, Good Guy, Half Baked, Oreo, Peanut Butter Cup, Raspberry Swirl, Snocap, Squiggle, Tirimisu and a few special flavors.   

I have been to several cupcakeries and Crumbs is now my favorite.  

Cupcake Stand Tutorial

Hope asked me how I made my cupcake stands...so I wrote a tutorial & drew some pictures. I will repost again with actual photos to make it easier to follow. For now here it is:

Cupcake Stand Instructions (holds 48-120 cupcakes)

Supplies:
  3 foam core boards, ¼” thick Dimensions: 20” x 30” (available at Staples or Michaels)
  Exacto knife
  Ruler
  Hot glue gun
  Modge Podge adhesive
  Paper (wrapping paper or ten pieces of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper)
  Ribbon (5 yards)

foam board & Modge Podge

1. Make your cuts…
    a.) Foam board piece 1
         cut a square 20” x 20” = Tier 1
         cut a square 8” x 8” = Tier 4
    b.) Foam board piece 2
         cut a square 16” x 16” = Tier 2
         cut a square 12” x 12” = Tier 3

2. Cut your tier supports…using Foam board piece 3
    a.) for tier 1…cut 4 strips 2” high x 10” long
    b.) for tier 2…cut 4 strips 4” high x 8” long
    c.) for tier 3…cut 4 strips 4” high x 6” long
    d.) for tier 4…cut 4 strips 4” high x 4” long

3. Cover all of your Tiers with paper using Modge Podge adhesive. If you are using 12 x 12 scrapbook  
    paper, tiers 1 & 2 can be tricky. Cut 2 pieces of 12” x 12” scrapbook paper in half diagonal (see photo
    below). Then use the  4 pieces and glue it on the board. Trim edges with an exacto knife.

4. While your tiers dry make your tier supports. Starting with the “foot” of the stand, glue the corners of the

    2” x 10” together. Continue by gluing the rest of the tier supports together so they are all square.
5. Cover the tier supports with paper.

6. Hot glue ribbon to the edges of each tier. It’s easier to do this prior to gluing the tiers to the tier supports.

7. The hardest part here is making sure the tiers & supports are centered.
    Hot glue the 2” x 10” tier support to the bottom side of the 20” x 20” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 8” tier support to the bottom side of the 16” x 16” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 6” tier support to the bottom side of the 12” x 12” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 4” tier support to the bottom side of the 8” x 8” tier.

8. Glue the 8” x 8” to the top of the 12” x 12”.  Glue the the 16” x 16” to the top of the 20” x 20”.
    Glue the two pieces together & you have your cupcake stand.

Baby Girl shower invitations