Cake Decorating Class: Part II

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Week two of cake decorating class was all about frosting flowers and fondant.  It was definitely more successful that the first week but I think that’s because working with fondant is like working with play-doh.  It’s super easy to roll out and cut shapes from it that look like they took a lot of work.

Just looking at the flowers and the butterflies seems super impressive but I pretty much used cookie cutters to make the shapes.  I think I’m going to have to start using some fondant decorations on my cupcakes to really up the wow factor of them.  cupcake

Frosting flowers on the other hand aren’t quite as easy as fondant.  They definitely require a bit more skill to get the frosting to do what you want it to do.  And did you know that you have to make those roses on a wooden dowel sharpened like a pencil and then transfer them to the cake on a pair of scissors?!?  I didn’t and it’s definitely as hard as it sounds to make the transfer.

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Excuse the blurry picture from my phone but there’s my cake complete with roses and lily of the valley (which was much easier than the roses).  I had originally just had the roses and pipped pink dots all over it but when I saw the lily of the valley I had to try it.  So I scrapped all the pink dots off for the lily (you can see the remnants of the pink dots smudged into the white frosting).

Stay tuned for the final installment of cake decorating class!  I really think I improved by the third class!

All Things Cupcake: Duck Tape!

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I was at Michael’s this past weekend picking up a few things for some amazing monkey cupcakes that I’m going to be working on this weekend for my friend’s little one’s first birthday.  They always get me there with all of the bins they have around the registers.  You know I have to stop and look even though I never find anything good.  You just never know what could be there!

Well this time I scored.  They had a bin with all different kinds of decorated Duck Tape and one caught my eye.

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Who knew there was such a thing as cupcake Duck Tape?!?  Of course I had to get it because it’s so adorable, even if I have no idea what I’m going to use it for.  Ideas?

Review: Treat Cupcake Bar

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It may be a little late to be talking about Valentine’s Day but I’m going to reminisce for a few minutes.  Boy Cupcake and I had a lovely Valentine’s Dinner at The Cottage in Chestnut Hill.  It was actually the first time that we’ve ever gone out to dinner on Valentine’s Day.

When we were leaving dinner we noticed that Treat Cupcake Bar was next door!  I had been to their location in Needham and did the make your own cupcake (super fun and would make a great kid’s birthday), but had no idea that they had another location! The whole area over there is really built up with lots of shops, restaurants, and the best movie theater ever!  The only downside is that because there’s so much over there now, it can be hard to find parking.  I digress.

Anyway, we decided to stop in and get a cupcake to take home for dessert.  I went in wanting to share a cupcake (they’re huge!) but Boy Cupcake had other plans and wanted his own.  So he ended up with a lemon drop cupcake and I got the chocolate peanut butter overload.

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I of course had to try both for research purposes.  The lemon was delicious.  It had a yellow cake, lemon frosting, and was garnished with sugar and a candy lemon.  The combination of the yellow cake with the lemon frosting was perfect for the right balance without being too lemony.

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The chocolate peanut butter overload was right up my alley.  It was a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and topped with ganache.  I’m obsessed with the chocolate and peanut butter combo so I could have used just a bit more peanut butter in the middle but I can’t say this cupcake was disappointing.  I’d definitely get this one again, although next time I want to try the Needham cream pie cupcake!

Cake Decorating Class

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It’s been a long 3 months away but I’m excited to share about my most recent adventure.  Cake decorating class!  I’m taking the class through Party Favors in Brookline and I couldn’t
be more excited about it.  It’s a three week class where we learn everything from basic frosting, to flowers, to fondant!  And the best part of this class is that I don’t have to make the cake or frosting to bring with me.  Less prep!

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Last Wednesday was my first class and it was a ton of fun but I have to tell you I was a little deflated after.  I walked into class all confident thinking I’d be the star.  I mean how couldn’t I, right?  Well making pretty things with cupcakes isn’t as easy as it looks.  Sure I can do all sorts of swirls on my cupcakes but that doesn’t transition over into frosting animals and flowers apparently.

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The first class was on cupcakes and we started with a few different kinds of flowers.  Let me tell you, getting the right pressure and movement of the frosting is tough.  After flowers we move into animals.  Penguins, pigs, and dogs to be specific.  The penguin wasn’t too bad, it’s pretty basic.  But as you can see my little piggy isn’t as cute as he could be.  And don’t even get me started on the dog.  It looked like a turd and I couldn’t get the shape I wanted so I scrapped it for another penguin since those little guys are pretty cute.

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Clearly I need to practice a little more.  I’m nervous that we’re going to be working on roses this week because my attempt to teach myself was disastrous.  Keep your fingers crossed that with some one-on-one teaching I’ll get a little better at this!

Making the Move to WordPress.org

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I’ve been wanting a blog makeover for some time now with a cute customized page and less clutter than what I have now.  I only just recently realized that in order to do this I’m going to have to move WordPress sites from a  .COM to a .ORG.  Apparently on WordPress.org you have a lot more control over your site since it’s self hosted.  Who knew?  Well probably a lot of people knew but I’m not one of them.

I’m excited to move over and have more control over my blog but there’s one problem, I can only transfer over email followers.  So that means those of you who are following through being a WordPress.com user are going to get lost.  And that’s why I’m putting this post out there so that if you want to continue to follow me you can do so by email, Bloglovin, or on Facebook all on the right hand side of the page!  I hope you all continue to follow and look for a new design hopefully to come in the next month!

All Things Cupcake: New Sheets!

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I’m sure it’s no surprise that I love all things cupcake.  Not only is my kitchen cupcake themed but they’re starting to spill into other rooms too!

Sheets

 

My mom was nice enough to give me an early Christmas present when I was home for Thanksgiving.  How amazing are these sheets?!?  They’re warm flannel sheets which is just what I needed now that it’s cold out and winter is coming.  They’re sure to give me sweet dreams.