Baby Shower Cupcakes
NY Yankees Birthday Cake
We both love the NY Yankees, so it was very exciting that our first order was Yankees themed. It was for a little boys' birthday. The cake was vanilla which we torted and filled with a delicious strawberry filling. We whipped up buttercream icing. After we iced the cake, we used the paper towel method to perfect the look. I found this method online, it worked so well. You need to let the cake crust then after about 15 minutes, place a Viva paper towel on the cake, since it has no pattern, then with your hand or a fondant smoother, use it to smooth the cake out. It worked beautifully.
We then cut out the Yankees NY symbol out of navy blue fondant which we placed on the center of the cake. Also, we cut a baseball shape, in white fondant, to which we lined with the red stitches and piped the message. Using the navy fondant again, we made thin strips to make the pinstripe effect and placed them around the cake. We piped stars in navy and white around the cake. We both love this cake. GO YANKEES.
Valentine's Day Cupcakes
These cupcakes are my favorite. RED VELVET. I made these for my coworkers. Everyone thought they were beautiful. I made the lips and X&O's from candy molds, then anchored them into the cream cheese icing. Which by the way is spectacular. I embellished with varying sprinkles and sugars to finish them off. I will definitely make these again :-)
Superbowl Football Cake
Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes
Mets Cake
We would first like to say that we are both huge Yankees fans!!!! hehe. I made this cake for my mother-in-law who is one of the biggest Mets fans I know. She watches all the games and anyone who knows her can tell you; she is all about the Mets. She came here 35 years ago from Argentina and lived in Queens. That is when her love affair began. I knew I had to make her a Mets cake and I wanted it to be great, just like her.
I decided to make the cake two tiered because I knew I wanted the Mets symbol on the top of the top layer. I printed a picture of the Mets logo from the computer and traced it onto parchment paper. I then used a toothpick to cut it out into the fondant. This part of the cake took a long time since there was so much detail with each building and then making the city scape 3D and also with the Mets name. I cut out stars and used tips #1, 2 and 3 for the baseball stitching, bridge and writing. I used tip #18 for the stars around the middle and bottom of cake. I used buttercream icing. To make the orange Mets color, I used white marshmallow fondant and tinted it using yellow and no taste red. To get the color of the blue, I used royal blue and black. This cake was a blast to make and it was even better to see how happy it made my mother-in-law. We can't wait till our next cake!
Sharing our passion for experimenting with cakes, cupcakes and cookies.
Marshmallow Fondant
Well, We have finally found a fondant that we don't mind eating. This marshmallow fondant is even easier to work with and doesn't stick to our workmat like the other fondant we have been using. We hope you find this recipe useful and delicious. It is even cheaper. Enjoy!!!!
Ingredients:
16 ounce bag of small or large marshmallows (if you use large, we cut ours into quarters)
2 to 5 tablespoons water (or use 2-4 teaspoons clear vanilla extract for more flavor)
2 pounds powdered sugar (or 8 cups)
Crisco to use on hands and work area
Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, then give it a stir, put back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir until it is melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.
Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. Start kneading like you would bread dough.
Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and the counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.
It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
Prepare the fondant icing for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, then wrap it in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make two (2) batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant icing can be prepared well in advance. Happy kneading.
Guitar Cake
This cake was for Dawn's father-in-law's 53rd birthday. We made a vanilla butter sheet cake and used the Wilton guitar cake pan for the guitar on top. We covered both cakes with butter cream icing. We used marshmallow fondant for the accents on the guitar and the stars. We then used star tips #14, #18 and #22 in white and black buttercream icing to cover the cake and around the guitar.Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes were an experiement to try to create the popular treat "Funny Bones". We made dark chocolate cupcakes and let them cool. We then made a peanut butter icing (recipe following). Using tip # 230 we filled the cupcakes with the PB icing. We then used tip# 32 to cover the cupcakes with the PB icing or with chocolate. We then sprinkled a peanut butter crumble on top of the cupcakes.
Daisy Cake
Here is our Daisy Cake. This is a butter cake, baked in 2 8x3 in. round pans. It is dirty iced with buttercream icing and covered with yellow fondant. We covered a scalped 12 in cake circle in the same yellow fondant to make it seem like a bonnet or hat. In advance, we had made daisies using gum paste using 3 different types of flower cookie cutters. Using a fondant scalping tool you can add the details you want to your flower. We then added a yellow ball in the center of the flower and added yellow dusting power to give it shine and dimension. We also used gum paste and tinted it green to make the leaves. We used leaf cookie cutters and used the fondant tools to add the details. Around the bottom of the cake we used tip #233 to add what looks like grass. We then measured the distance to inset small daisies in the grass around the cake. We added the largest daisies on top along with leaves and used the green grass icing to raise the level of the flowers on top. We then used gum glue on the four daisies around the outside of the cake. This cake was a big hit.
Easy Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing
Ok, well we know that this blog is all about how awesome we are at cake decorating and cupcake and cookie recipes. However, I tried these cinnamon rolls the other day and they were so easy and so delicious, I thought i'd share.
I took a roll of Pillsbury dinner rolls (butter flavor). I rolled the entire roll into a ball and rolled it out on my pasty mat. I brushed melted butter over the dough. In a small bowl, I put sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar and crushed walnut. I'm not sure about the amounts, because I did it by eye. I spread the mixture over the dough and rolled it length wise. I cut it into 6 equal pieces. I put them into the oven for 18 minutes and brushed the tops with butter. While they are in the oven, I melted about a tablespoon of butter and 1/4 of a cup of cream cheese in a small bowl. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and powdered sugar until correct consistency. When the rolls were done I took them out and drizzled the icing on them. They were so easy and very delicious.
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