Backyard Bugs Cookies

Spring is almost over (hard to tell with all the rain we're getting). These lemon-flavoured sugar cookies are not only gifts, but they are in honour of our little friends that are a part of our ecosystem.

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A Rough Guide for Basic Pricing:
I was on the fence whether to release a pricing list online, especially when each order is custom, it will be different. If you follow this guide, it will let you know what to budget for. I will not turn away orders; we can work around your budget and come to a compromise. :)

COOKIES

Starting at $25 for a batch of sugar cookies decorated with royal icing (yields are approximate depending on shape):
2" cookies yield 20
3" cookies yield 12
4" cookies yield 8

CAKES

Wedding serving sizes (1.5"x2"x4")
6" round or square = 8 or 12 servings
8" round or square = 16 or 24 servings
9" round or square = 22 or 27 servings
10" round or square = 30 or 40 servings
12" round or square = 45 or 60 servings
14" round or square = 60 or 80 servings

Party serving sizes (2"x2"x4")
6" round or square = 6 or 10 servings
8" round or square = 11 or 20 servings
9" round or square = 18 or 26 servings
10" round or square = 22 or 30 servings
12" round or square = 32 or 48 servings

Basic cakes (meringue buttercream icing and limited fondant decorations)... starting at $3/serving

Fondant cakes (fondant covering cake and/or fondant/gumpaste decorations)... starting at $4/serving

All extra toppers and embellishments are additional charges and it will vary depending on the level of details... starting at $10

CUPCAKES AND MORE

Standard Cupcakes (minimum order 12)... starting at $2.50 each

Mini Cupcakes (minimum order 24)... starting at $1.75 each

Truffle Cake Balls or Pops (minimum order 12)... starting at $1.50 each

Order pick-ups... free (by appointment only)

Delivery to Durham Region... free

Delivery to Toronto and GTA... $10 to $20 (depending on the gas prices!)

Red Velvet Cupcakes, Gnome Cake, and Fun Fair Sugar Cookies

This past week has been quite busy for me.

* * *

I made some red velvet cupcakes for my aunt-in-law's belated birthday for Saturday. This is my standard recipe for orders with a cream cheese icing (not Swiss meringue buttercream) because it just fits. You can't tell in the photo, but the cake is SUPER red with a hint of chocolate flavour. 

Happy Birthday, Auntie Heather!

Red velvet cupcakes with fondant ribbon rose toppers

* * *

Next up, my father-in-law is turning 70 later this month, but since we were in town, we decided to deliver his cake the same day as the red velvet cupcakes (unfortunately, baby Owen was sick, so we only stayed for 5 minutes and then we drove back home).

The request was for a garden gnome cake. I made all the decorations out of marshmallow fondant, Italian meringue buttercream and a few dabs of royal icing. The tree stump cake itself is a 6-inch gluten-free banana chocolate chip 3-layer cake with Italian meringue buttercream filling, covered with chocolate ganache to resemble bark. I loved how this cake came to life when it was assembled. My only hiccups: the tall mushroom fell over because the grass icing was at room temperature for a while; during transit, the snail fell over because the base wasn't sticking to the curve of the mushroom top; and, also during transit, the gnome fell over because I used spaghettini to stick him into the cake (not strong enough - I will be using maybe linguine for supports in the future).

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

* * *

I decided to donate a gift certificate of a dozen sugar cookies to an upcoming fun fair at the closest elementary school to me. I wanted to create a basket of goodies to show what I can do. Here are a few:

 Fondant apple on sugar cookie

 Royal icing transfer with sprinkles on sugar cookie

Royal icing transfer Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba on sugar cookie

 Painted butterfly design with icing colour mix sprinkled with disco dust on sugar cookie

 Milk chocolate chip cookies drizzled with dark chocolate

 Royal icing transfer of Cookie Monster on sugar cookie

 Royal icing transfer of Elmo on sugar cookie

White chocolate and dark chocolate transfers of soccer ball on sugar cookies

* * *

I am looking forward to this little break for the rest of this month, only having to work on a few upcoming projects for June. Stay tuned! :)

William's 3rd Birthday Party

My little William is not so little anymore: he's on the way to being potty-trained; he can play independently; he's physically growing; he makes sense when he speaks (usually). This Saturday, we celebrated his birthday (the actual day is in a few days).

He loves this TV program called Team Umizoomi. It's great for teaching math and patterns... and since we have PVR, we can tune in whenever he likes. The bonus is, little Owen loves this show as well.

We asked him what cake he would like; initially, he said "Cars" (the Disney movie) but changed his mind to "Team Umizoomi." So, I went with it: the three characters (Milli, Geo, Bot) inside the Umicar.

This was my first attempt at a carved cake, and I found it pretty fun. The only drawback is the mess! ;)

All elements were made from scratch (*pats back*).

The 9x13 cake (made 2 batches) itself is chocolate, with an orange-flavoured Italian meringue buttercream (IMBC) icing. After the carving, it was covered in semi-sweet chocolate ganache, then with marshmallow fondant (MMF). The details on car were also MMF and painted with an icing colour/almond extract mixture. The wheels were made with Rice Krispies treats (RKT), and covered with a MMF/modeling chocolate (MC) mixture.

The characters were made from RKT and then covered in a MMF/MC mix. They do not have details below the waist because they were meant to sit in the car (so, yeah, no legs).

In addition, Milli's pattern was stenciled on with an icing colour/almond extract mixture.

Geo's belt was intentionally not created because it wouldn't have been visible.

Bot was a tricky one. I put pieces of dry Ramen noodles to stick his arms to hands and to his body (I wanted the curve, which you can't get with dry pasta). But that wasn't the hard part. It was his antenna. I had bent the wire to shape but the MMF/MC mix wouldn't adhere to the wire. Finally, I cut and discarded the part connected to his head and used a piece of spaghettini (painted blue) instead. It worked! :) The wire bit has two loops (you can't see it in the above pic) with a bit of yellow royal icing at the end. 

I also made royal transfers of the three characters (in advance!) and it was just a matter of placing them onto flooded cookies and finishing them off with a piped royal icing border. The favours were well-received by the guests. :D



I wanted to add one more sweet to the table... truffle cake balls. It tastes even better than it sounds! This velvety experiment had chocolate cake mixed with IMBC icing and whipping cream, formed into one-inch rounds, then dipped and drizzled with milk chocolate.

Boy, did the weather not cooperate! It poured like no tomorrow and the majority of the guests arrived late due to horrible traffic. :( At least they all made it by the cake-cutting time to sing William a happy birthday. :)

The party went well and there were no major meltdowns (that I'm aware of).

I made the banner, too!  And put crazy circle/star-patterned wrapping paper behind the glass (William and Owen seemed to enjoy them).  The table was full, so I put the cookie favours on top and out of the way. :)

I'd say the whole process took about 3 weeks to complete (from design to final product).  It may have taken a while, but it was worth it in the end to see so many smiling faces.

Happy Birthday, William!  Mama loves you! <3

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I am very pleased with my latest trial of red velvet cupcakes.  The colour is as red as it should be, thanks to food colouring liquid (not gel paste - I guess that's only for decorating, not for baking).  The icing is sublime, as well!

RV cupcakes with cream cheese SMBC icing

M-I-C... K-E-Y... M-O-U-S-E... Cookies

I had a request for Mickey Mouse cookies for a cute little one-year-old's birthday.  The theme was red, blue and Mickey, of course. 

I wanted to try my hand at (thinned) royal icing transfers because:
a) they are true to characters' likenesses; and
b) they can be made in advance since spoilage is not an issue (if they're kept out of light and moisture, that is). 

There were several versions of Mickey (since some batches had one broken head or I wasn't happy with the result).  In the end, one batch had 11/12 survivors and I had to add one more from another batch.  The "1" and "Riley" mimicked Mickey Mouse's font.  All the transfers were placed on still-wet flooded sugar cookies so it would stick.

Left Mickey: mixture of royal icing and drawn features;

Right Mickey: all elements done with royal icing

1 Riley: added red sanding sugar for a little sparkle

What I learned during this process:
- Next time, use parchment paper instead of waxed paper; when the thinned icing was put on wax, there was movement (notice how Left Mickey's eyes are so much smaller than Right Mickey's).
- It is possible that my equipment had traces of grease (even though my mixer bowl has been in the dishwasher; my mixer paddle, has to be handwashed, though) which caused my royal icing not to be as strong as it could be; so, vigorous scrubbing before making royal icing!
- I used parchment piping bags without tips and had issues with breakdown of the paper at the opening; I guess the solution is to buy more tips with finer openings instead of cutting a tiny hole at the tip. :/
- Using edible markers was easy but that dark bit where you stop the ink, how do you get rid of it?!  It doesn't look good to me, and it's more obvious when a big space is filled in with it. :(

Through trial and error, I managed to produced some presentable cookies.  They were well-received and that's all that matters! 

Happy Birthday, Riley! :)

Red Velvet Cupcake Tests

This is my fourth attempt at making red velvet cupcakes.

Test #1: cake was reddish, not too chocolatey but it was light-tasting; Swiss meringue cream cheese buttercream icing was not smooth but it was light

Test #2: cake was not red at all, very chocolatey; cream cheese icing made with icing sugar was too grainy, heavy, and very sweet

Test #3: cake was not red at all, very chocolatey; Italian meringue cream cheese buttercream was too lumpy and runny (didn't incorporate when I substituted half of the butter for cream cheese)

Test #4: cake was red/brown, chocolatey enough and light;

Icing A was white chocolate cream cheese: it had a tangy flavour but it wasn't as smooth as I like but it was better than Test #1 and #3; it's a bit rich and not so sweet

Icing B was Italian meringue cream cheese buttercream: this worked out way better than the first time; I folded beaten cream cheese into the completed IMBC; it holds its shape really well for piping and it was light-tasting; it's not too sweet

I would say the latest test on cake and icing were the best and clients can choose between the two. :)

Left: Italian meringue cream cheese buttercream on red velvet cupcake
Right: White chocolate cream cheese buttercream on red velvet cupcake