Disney Pretzel Pops

Pretzel Pops

April 2009

We love Disney! This year we descended on the Orlando area for school vacation week. We had a great time exploring the parks, flying with Dumbo and swashbuckling with the pirates. All that activity requires serious snacking.

These pretzel pops were going to be an activity for the kids, but when three women are up late in the kitchen with a pound bag of chocolate, well... chocolate for everyone! I also learned that this is a goodie you can make using only a mixing cup and a butter knife. You have to use what you've got-- and our condo kitchenette was not set up for culinary adventures.

Aren't those sprinkles adorable? I am convinced that googleing any set of three random words will generate a product you can buy from a website somewhere. These were a product of "disney sprinkes purple." Sugar and pixie dust all wrapped up!

The craft store actually sells pretzel bags sized for the rods which made them easy to throw into a backpack for the days outing. Mmmmmm.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

April 2009

I love spiced linzer cookies. These were yummy filled with raspberry, apricot, and nutella. Yumm! The perfect ending to a fantastic meal with "the family". :-)

Linzers are really fun to put together. It took a while to get the powdered sugar to coat the spice cookies just right, but once you pop 'em together they are delicious.

Details:

Cookie: I pulled the recipe for spiced linzer cookies off of a website, but now I can't find the exact one! There are lots of good ones out there though.

Filling: Raspberry jam, apricot preserves, nutella

National Capital Area Cakeshow is HERE!

National Capital Area Cakeshow is HERE!

March 2009

I am very excited to kick off cake show today. A whole weekend of cake challenges, cupcake making, classes, and fun. Whoo hoo. The committee has put in countless hours making this a first rate show so I am really looking forward to experiencing all of the things that have been discussed and planned over the last year. And I cannot wait to see all of YOU there! There is a great information on the website for the directions, schedule of free demos, classes, etc. But here are some of the highlights.

(Assuming I get off the internets and finish my cake before registration tonight, I will post photos soon. )

The National Capital Area Cake Show

The National Capital Area Cake Show will be held on March 21 & 22nd at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, VA.

$10 Admission from 10am-5pm. Discounts for 2-day passes, children, students and seniors. A portion of the proceeds benefit our chosen charities: Shelter House, Inc. and Kristi's Christmas.

Visit us at www.cakeshow.org

~ Cake Decorating ~ Contests ~ Bake Sale ~ Youth Activities ~ Youth Classes ~ Vendors ~

* LIVE Cake Challenge on Saturday (Food Network style) with nationally recognized artists. DC favorites Warren Brown (CakeLove) and Norm Davis (The Sweet Life) will be emceeing the event. (Separate $25 ticket)

* Sugar art and cake displays- categories for competition include Wedding, Divisional (e.g., Special Occasion, Novelty, Spring Themed, Sculpted), Chocolate, Sugar Showpieces, Tasting, Gingerbread, Cheesecake and Decorated Cookies

* Trophies, prizes and cash valued at over $5,000

* Hands-on classes and demos, from beginner to master level

* Free youth classes and activities

* Gourmet bake sale goodies

Sponsored by the Virginia Chapter of the International Cake Exploration Society

Ramblings about Excel Spreadsheets and Cake

Ramblings about Excel Spreadsheets and Cake

March 2009

I've been slacking on my web posts again because my "real" job is getting underfoot this month. Perhaps I will achieve life integration by making cakes about spreadsheets... except that I have been told that "normal" people do not have the love for Excel and data tables that I do. I know my cakes for NCACS were taking on some spreadsheet-based planning before I ran out of time and ditched "planning". This series of events actually explains a lot about my life. Ha!

Cakewrecks posted a guy who submitted his letter of resignation on a sheet cake. Weird and extreme. Plus I have no plans to resign. But I think my coworkers might enjoy a weekly report or PowerPoint presentation on a cookie though. (Somewhere in my office Sharon is reading this and laughing.)

OK, back to cake.

I need to get in gear for cake show, but I will post more cakes soon.

Seaside Beach Cake

Seaside Beach Cake

March 2009

The sound of the waves crashing, the feel of sand between your toes, and the smell of salt in the air... what's better than a day at the beach? This cake celebrates the crashing of the waves and the search for the perfect seashell.



Cake Details:

Cake: Chocolate
Filling: Chocolate ganache
Icing: Vanilla buttercream
Decorations: Molded marshmallow fondant shells painted with luster dusts, piped buttercream and fondant pearls

Engagement Party Cake

Engagement Party Cake

February 2008

This cake was designed for an engagement party. I love the raspberry color of the buttercream with the white decoration. I added a light raspberry essence to the buttercream which gave it a great flavor.

I'm always leery about adding fruit flavorings because I have this nightmare of serving a cake that tastes like Robitussin. No fear here because the flavor was great! I might even add it to the standard line up. One of the fun parts of having a customer-driven business is that people's request sometimes push me to try new things. Often it is a great thing that benefits other customers in the future. I love the give-and-take of the creative process.

Cake Details:
Cake: Chocolate

Filling: Chocolate ganache and pink buttercream

Icing: Vanilla buttercream with a light raspberry flavor

Decorations: Piped buttercream and fondant decorations with piped chocolate

Cupcake Art- Obama Cupcake Mosaic

Cupcake Art- Obama Cupcake Mosaic

February 2009

The post has announced that Zilly Rosen will be recreating her Obama cupcake mosaic this weekend for Family Fun Day at the Smithsonian. Read the article here if you would like to attend the Smithsonian event.

You can also watch the mosaic of 5,000 cupcakes take shape on the videocam here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/smithsonian-on-ustream.tv. It started at 2pm, but might take a while.

(Thanks to Amy for sending me this article!)