Easter Eggs

I saw a commercial for Rice Krispies Treats and they made these cute little eggs with M&Ms inside of them and I HAD to make them.

I didn't take many pictures, but if you go to the website, they give you a tiny tutorial and have lots of other recipes and creative things to make for all holidays.

 

Also, I learned that Peeps has more than just the marshmallow birds and bunnies.  They have stuff all season long.  I'm making a cake for this weekend and I have to copy an idea I saw from their website.  So genius and so cute!

 

Cricut Projects

One of the things that has distracted me from cake decorating is the Cricut!  I got one as a very early birthday gift and I have spent a lot of time trying to learn how to use it and play with it.  I did not get a Cake Cricut, but I did not want one either.  I don't even like using fondant because I think it's kind of a cheater/easy way to do things, so the Cake Cricut would be right up that same alley.  For others who are interested in buying one, go ahead if that's what you want, but do know that I've heard nothing but complaints from those who have bought it.  They say it's not that easy to use and it's more time consuming.  However, if you want perfection, that might be the way to go.

Anyways, back to the non-cake Cricut.  I have been making crafts with it and learning vinyl lettering.  It has been a lot of fun and I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate it with my cakes and other daily things I do.

March Madness

Since the start of this year I have been very busy with other crafts and things that I'm involving myself with.  Honestly, I have too many crafts on my plate, so I have a hard time balancing them.  I just go from project and project.  There haven't been too many birthdays or things I need to make cakes for, so that has taken the back seat.

For March, I did want to make these cute little Pots of Gold that I saw on Makes and Takes.  They used pipe cleaner, while I used ribbon, but it's the same effect and a little easier.  I thought they were so cute and simple.  Just perfect for gifts.

Missionary Cake

I took a "Tall Cakes" class at JoAnns to learn how to stack cakes.  So now I can easily do wedding cakes.  This didn't turn out perfect, but it was for class.  However, I did use it for my cousin's mission farewell.  It is suppose to look like paints with pinstriping on the bottom, a belt, dress shirt and tie.  It also has a missionary tag and RWH means Return With Honor.  Overall, it was pretty good and I was quite happy with the elements.

Inside, the top tier is Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting, middle tier is German Chocolate, and bottom tier is Chocolate with Strawberry filling.

Keeping in Simple in January

For January, I made gluten-free shortbread cookies, which were not the prettiest thing I've created.

I tried to add some "flair" to them by adding a drop flower of cream cheese with sprinkles.

I also made Lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I was working on simply frosting them, since I have struggled with them not looking right in the past.

For "flair" here, I spray painted them reddish orange.  Not too exciting, but something for the month of January was done!

Last Minute Holiday Cake

I gave myself way too short of time to do this cake.  I was amazed that I turned it out so quickly, but it was a mess and I wish I could have taken the time to fix it more.

It's red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  I have never decorated the cake fully with the cream cheese.  This recipe I found was half buttercream and cream cheese.  It appeared to work well at first and tasted very good.

However, I even got the frosting to a whipped stage and there was still little chunks of cream cheese that I couldn't get rid of.  They were so tiny, but when you are piping, they find their way out.  If you can see my lettering, I was doing okay until the bag burst on my very last letter!  So, I went over it and had to call it a day.

This was a very simple cake, but a feat for sure.  It's suppose to be a wreath and have poinsettas on it.  Below the rope border looks great though!  Even with all the flaws, it tasted great with the berry medley in the center.  I don't know if I would recommend the mix with cream cheese, but it does taste so much better with it.

Happy Holidays!

For a Holiday cake, I decided to do chocolate with mint filling.  For the filling, I chopped up Andes mints and it was so delicious!

For decor, I tried a rope border that was new for me.  The rope work came out much better then my dots and even my shell border on the bottom.

I did better with the writing, but I should have taken the time to mix in a little piping gel to make it smooth.

For the top, I made cake pops for the first time!  I have an autographed book by Bakerella that my mother got me.  The pops are actually much harder than I expected them to be.  You have to be very fast when you work with the candy coating.

I just loved the cake pops once the hard work was over.  They were made out of red velvet and they were so cute!