March Madness!

Well, not exactly... but it is when you have an exam to study for... and I do procrastinate... a lot. :)

Here's a recap of my month plus one from today:

Easter Egg Cookies

I have a co-worker that really loves my cookies, whether it be gingerbread or sugar.  This time, she wanted sugar cookies in egg shapes.  Unfortunately for me, I do not have an egg cutter besides a really big one.  So, I took a normal circle cutter and bent it into an egg shape.  I mourned the loss of the original roundness but I didn't want to waste time to buy another cutter.

Then, it was just a matter to piping some royal icing as outlines or whatnot.  To get the sprinkles to stay on the cookie, I applied a thin layer of corn syrup, and waited for it to dry.

And she loved them! :)

* * *

Super Mario Birthday Cake, Take 2

I remember making cookies for Riley when he turned 1... now he's 3!  Where did the years go?!  He's really into Super Mario anything, so it was also his cake of choice.  His mom told me that the kids do not like fondant at all (bad experiences).  Instead, the chocolate cake had vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream filling and sides, and white chocolate ganache on the top.  Mario was actually a royal icing transfer, as were the dots, squids and coral.  The green blocks had to be made of fondant but they can be easily removed prior to eating.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Riley!

* * *

Sonic Birthday Cake

Originally, Kaiden wanted a Wolverine cake.  Then I was told he had changed his mind and wanted a Sonic cake instead.  The design is loosely based on what my friend had submitted.  I decided to make a royal icing transfer of Sonic's head in a ring.

The cake was vanilla with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  The whole thing was covered in blue fondant, and fondant and royal icing details.  I am super proud of the yellow and brown checks... those took the longest to make! 

 

Happy 5th Birthday, Kaiden!

 

* * *

Mini 60th Birthday Cupcakes

These chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream were for a 60-year-old.  The topper design was based on the actual decorations they had for the party.  The black fondant circles were splattered with orange, blue and green colours.  Then, I piped teal and purple royal icing on top.  For the final touch, I sprinkled disco dust all over them.

Happy 60th Birthday!

JULY!

July is almost over... that was quick!  =) 
Here's what this past month brought:

Optimus Prime Cake

<insert transforming sound>
This was done for my friend Kristina (www.pearstudios.ca), for her hubbie's birthday.  The vanilla cake was filled with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream.  All decorations are made from fondant/gumpaste and the mask was brushed with silver lustre dust.

Happy Birthday, Gary!

* * *

Bee Sugar Cookies

Little Mieke turned 4, and her nickname in German means "troublesome bee."  I used royal icing for the design, pearl lustre dust for the wing, yellow and black glitter for the body, and edible marker for the facial details.

Happy Birthday, Mieke!

* * *

Super Mario Birthday Cake

Solmaz's son turned 6, and the theme was Super Mario Brothers.  The cake was chocolate with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.  It was covered in fondant, then I sprayed blue food colour in gradation.  All the decorations were made from fondant/gumpaste.  I handwrote the birthday message on top of edible icing circles.  The mini "mushroom" red velvet cupcakes had cream cheese icing centres, and topped with fondant.

The delivery day was really wet (rain and humidity), so the fondant appeared shiny and became sticky to the touch.  But it was still OK!  Solmaz added chess pieces of the characters, so you knew that it was from the world of Super Mario.  Check out the two hanging off the cake plate!

Here is a photo of Solmaz's sweet table (see her work on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/dressitupinc):

Happy Birthday, Francesco!

* * *

Dark Knight Sugar Cookies

We have a comic book store in Whitby, and we wanted to test out how treats would sell in their store.  The day the new Batman movie came out, the store wanted to have an event for its release.  I hope the recipients enjoyed them!

* * *

Ocean Sugar Cookies and Cupcakes

The summer theme turned into ocean-themed (I wanted to do something different).  The cookies had a mixture of royal icing and sprinkle decorations.  The cupcakes (vanilla, chocolate, and marble) were iced with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and topped with purple butterflies and yellow flowers with a sugar pearl centre.

* * *

Surfboard Cupcakes

My colleague requested for some cupcakes for a 5-year-old boy.  Not knowing what he'd like, I decided to make it summer-themed... so, surfboards?  I used a orchid petal cutter for the shape, then made various details on each surboard.

The lemon (yellow) and vanilla (dyed blue) cupcakes were topped with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, beige (sand) on top of blue (water).

* * *

Mini Maple Bacon Cupcakes

I didn't want to bring my usual cookies or cupcakes to a BBQ, so I decided to give this recipe a try.  It involves more prep, but turned out cute.  And the recipe just had enough portions that was stated, a surprise to me, because others would yield maybe a few more.