Day of glamour

So my baby girl turned 8. Very hard to believe that much time has past since she graced us with her presence. For this year's party we went totally girly with a day of glamour. We did manis, hair chalk and braiding, and made a brown sugar body scrub and flavored lip gloss ( thank you Pinterest). And of course no party is complete without the special treats.

These cookies I made and placed in the favor bags for the girls. Everyone deserves to be a princess for a day, right?!

After seeing these goodies on Pinterest, I tracked down the original site describing how to make them.  Let me tell you they are very simple and taste great.  The girls got a real kick out of these bottles of polish.

And what's a day of glamour without rice (krispie) cakes and some refreshing cucumber slices.

And then there was her cake.  Samantha is my child who likes to draw up her own designs, and then lets me interrupt what she has come up to the create the final cake.

The bathtub is made out of rice krispie treat.  This is the first time I have ever attempted creating a decoration like this.  The top of the cake hosted everything from a wonderful bubble bath to a rubber ducky.  And for after the bath, some nail polish, nail file and even the divider for painting your toenails.

I had seen a version of this little girl on a cake and fell in love with her.  I thought she made the perfect addition to our day of glamour cake.

The birthday girl thoroughly enjoyed her day.

A cutie patootie cupcake

At the end of June, I had the honor of making a cutie patootie's very first birthday cake. My friend Aimee's little girl was turning one and having a cupcake themed party. After talking over the colors and general concept of the cake, I got to work with no clear decorating scheme in mind. It's very frustrating when this happens, but sometimes, these turn out to be my favorite cakes.  And this one is definitely one of my favorites.

The party invitation had cupcake people on it with the cutest faces. I recreated the face on the main cake.

Since I didn't want to disturb the look of the cupcake person, I chose to put my lettering on the cake board.

Elyse got a little cupcake smash cake of her own to enjoy.

 

And boy did she ever!

Mini Pie Star

The other recipe I demonstrated how to make, when I was on Good Day Wisconsin, was a most delicious little pie. It was a mini S'more pie.  I feel I need to warn you that these pies are dangerous.  Dangerous because you won't be able to stop eating them.  They are pretty easy to make and are super cute because of their size.

Mini Smore Pies

6 mini graham cracker pie crusts

Filing

4 oz. cream cheese slightly softened
1 cup cool whip
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup marshmallow fluff

Ganache
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, cool whip, powdered sugar, marshmallow fluff and beat until well combined.
Evenly distribute the marshmallow filling into the pie crusts.
Pour heavy cream in to a small saucepan and heat on medium-high heat until it reaches a boil. Remove from heat and stir in chopped semi-sweet chocolate until it melts and combines evenly. Let it cool almost completely.
Spread equal amounts of chocolate ganache onto each pie to cover top.Top with mini marshmallows or sliced strawberries.

Here is the link of me making them on tv.   http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/Cooking-With-You-Summer-pies

Hope you enjoy these, and just remember, I warned you. ;)        

Lights, Camera, Ice Cream

Back in June after I made my son's birthday cake, my daughter's classmate's birthday cake and my friend's nephew's graduation cake,  I did something that scared the living h-e-
double hockey sticks out of me.  I went on a morning show to demonstrate two recipes.  I got the call, or really the facebook message, back in May, but wasn't able to schedule a time until June.  It took me a bit to figure out what I was going to make, and then it hit me.  I needed to do something that screamed summer, was easy and didn't require an oven, cause who wants to turn an oven on in the summer heat.  My first recipe is for an ice cream pie.  I like this one because you can make it with whatever flavors you choose.  Change the cookies you use, go crazy with the ice cream flavor, add fresh fruit on top to make it slightly healthy.  This recipe came to be as I was talking with my sister inlaw about what she was going to make for her boyfriend, for his birthday cake.  I was telling her how easy ice cream cakes can be, until we realized she didn't have the proper pan for it.  When she told me she owned a pie pan, we switched the recipe.  And viola, the birth of our ice cream pie recipe. 


Ice Cream Pie

Crust 1 1/2 - 2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Crunchies 1 1/2 cup chocolate cookie crumbs 1 bottle Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping
1 half gallon ice cream, softened


Combine cookie crumbs and butter together and press into a 8 inch pie pan.  Place in refrigerator to set.
Combine cookie crumbs and Magic Shell Topping. Spread half of the softened ice cream into the pie shell. Layer the crunchies, spreading evenly over the ice cream. Cover with remaining softened ice cream. Let pie set up for at least a hour before serving.

Hope you enjoy your ice cream pie, sorry no pictures...stress makes me forget. ;)  Would love to hear the combination of anyone would makes the pie. :)

Congrats on being Army Strong

One of my good friends' nephew just graduated high school and her sister in-law needed a cake for the party. The sister in-law had a unique cake design she was interested in, and my friend recommended me for the job. Basically the cake was two tiered, but split in half, with each side have a different decoration on it.

The one side was to represent his high school graduation. His school colors were maroon and white, and I included a mortar board with tassel, a diploma and a book.

The other side represented him joining the United States Army. The camo design is the newer version the military uses, not the old green and brown splotches of old. I achieved this effect by applying food coloring with Qtips. And of course, no Army cake would be complete with dog tags and the Army logo.

The high school side was chocolate cake and the Army side was a marble cake. 

Don't fear the creeper

One of Samantha's classmates had his birthday back in early June, and his Mom asked if I could help out with the cake. She told me she normally makes the cake, but this year he wanted a design that had fondant on it, and she wasn't sure she would be able to make it. Now I should tell you, his theme was Minecraft, which I know nothing about.  Making cakes can sure has opened up my horizons. :) After looking at some cakes online and talking with his Mom as to what the birthday boy wanted, I was ready to dive in. The shape of the cake was based on another cake the birthday boy had picked out. The decorating of the cake was based on the basis of the game itself.

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If you don't know Minecraft (like me) this little guy is called a Creeper.  He may look cute, (cause hey, he's made of fondant and how can that be scary, right?)  but apparently he is dangerous and hostile in the world of Minecraft

Here is the cake. I must say it is one of the most interesting shapes I have ever tackled. The cake was marble with a very yummy raspberry filing. I was told by the birthday boy's Mom, that they loved the cake and the birthday boy was thrilled.

Gentlemen, start your engines

Earlier this month, my little guy turned 5. Hard to believe that he is 5, but sadly I must accept this fact. For this year's party, he requested a Hot Wheels theme. At first I had no idea what the cake was going to look like. Last year's cake was a Cars theme, and I didn't want to repeat that. After thinking about it awhile, I still had no idea what the cake was going to look like. Some cakes are just like that, I don't get a clear vision of them until I'm actually making them. Thankfully I finally got my act together and was able to make his cake.

Happy 5th Birthday to my little man!