Getting caught up again!

I know, I know.. I can never stay dedicated to posting. But lately I have been DYING to share, even though I haven't done much baking. This can be my NEW YEARS RESOLUTION post where I get caught up and hopefully redeem myself... ok? OK?? Anyone still out thereeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

I can't actually post these photos 'in order' per-say.. because it has been MONTHS since I uploaded my camera, and right now, it's too much work haha

Here we go..

This was for my friend Lucy. Her 2 kids birthdays are very close. Several days, I think. Their family was having a joint party, and these were the cakes I was lucky enough to be asked to make.

Happy Birthday to my oldest brother Frank! He turned the big 4-0, and flew himself to Utah for the UW vs BYU game.

This cake was my first wedding cake for someone I didn't really 'know'. My old visiting teacher Annette's little sister was getting married, and so they asked me to do the cake! Probably the most stressful day of my life! Silly, I know, but I hate letting people down, so I wanted this to be perfect!

This was for my Father-in-law. Glidden is the company he and my husband work for. If you can't tell, it's a paint can (the handle was along the back). I asked Trav what color I should make the spilled paint, and he simply said 'white'. In my head I was thinking, 'that's boring..', but I guess ALL paint starts out as white before it is tinted.

This was for my friend Etienne's 25th birthday.

Riley's 2nd birthday! His own basketball cake, and gourmet cupcakes for the guests. I think I made strawberry short cake, red velvet, and s'more flavors.

While I was in Canada, Sean demanded me to make some cupcakes to show off my baking skills. Wanting to impress him, I asked him to pick any flavor, and I would deliver. OF COURSE he picks pomegranate and lime.. 2 flavors I don't have too much experience with. This is the final product. Lime cupcakes (DELISH!) with a citrus-pomegranate buttercream. Just ignore the Halloween cupcake liners haha Presentation is everything!

Finally, Christmas. We had 2 ginger bread kits. I did one, and Trav and Riley did the other. Can you guess which one Riley helped with?

These are a first time for me! I have never made flooded cookies before, but recently I have been following cookie blogs, and they inspired me to make these! Not real fancy like Sweet Sugar Belle, but I'm a newbie ok?

There it is! Those are all my fall/winter creations of 2010. I haven't done much baking in 2011, but I do have some weddings and birthdays coming up! Can't wait.

Trial and Error

Lately I have been searching for new flavors of cupcakes/cakes. I just want to have a list of options that aren't the usual chocolate/vanilla boringness (not boring if you love them of course lol). My first attempt was Coca-cola cupcakes, with a lime infused butter cream. I wasn't so sure at first. I was actually so worried about it, I didn't even try it. My husband was going to take them to work with him, and if they were gross, I didn't want to know it haha. This is how they turned out..

The piping wasn't perfect, but that wasn't what it was about you know? I was so worried everyone was going to hate them, but early the next morning, I got a text from my husband with this picture attached

They ate all 24 in only a few hours. Which is amazing considering there is only 5 people that work there. Trav's boss loves Coke, so he loved the hit of soda. Even though I haven't tried them, I'll have to make them again for a new batch of people and see if the consensus is the same.

Next, I tried to make S'mores. S'more anything really. My initial idea was to make a graham cracker cake, but there aren't too many recipes like that laying around the internet, so when I found one, I was pretty excited. My first attempt was a total fail. As you can see..

The mess was delicious.. and I didn't realize until after they were in the oven, that the recipe never called for flour, which would explain these disasters lol Darn graham cracker recipe..

I messed around with it a bit, and it finally worked! This time, in cake form.

I filled it with a chocolate  fudge, and topped it with a meringue/frosting. Trav happens to have a blow torch laying around the house, so I toasted it a bit to give it the s'more effect.

It was pretty good, but not what I wanted. The cake wasn't fluffy.. too dense for my taste, so I'm on to the next idea. Its top secret for now, but I'll post when I finally have it perfected.

Other things I have tried are strawberry shortcakes, which was a vanilla cupcake, with fresh strawberries, and topped with a whipped cream butter cream. They were DELICIOUS.. definitely a keeper (sorry no pic for these, but due to ill  planning on my part, I forgot the bags and tips to make them cute, next time though). I also made my first red velvet. I recently tried red velvet for the first time, and it was AMAZING! I looked online for a recipe, and it wasn't as good as the one I had previously tried, so I'm still on the look out for the perfect combination of ingredients. Thanks to my SIL, I think I might finally have the right one. And finally, the most recent creation was a vanilla cupcake, with a cream cheese icing. But not just any cream cheese icing, strawberry cream cheese. I spent all day prepping the fresh strawberries, cooking them on the stove, pureeing them, straining the seeds, and whipping them into the cream cheese. I tried a new icing tip, and it is my new favorite! Again, sorry for no pictures, but I'm sure you will see it soon. These cupcakes were a hit! I brought them to a BBQ, and everyone loved them!!

I promise I'll be better about taking pictures and posting. Like I said, things have been crazy!

Time to play catch up

I know I haven't been great at posting, but I promise, it is all coming!! My mind has been preoccupied lately, and once I get all the kinks worked out, I'll be back to blogging. ACTUALLY I have been more focused on cupcakes then cakes lately, and you will see why soon enough :) Happy baking everyone!

Hello Kitty!

This was so fun, because I never get to do girl cakes. And I can't lie, they are a little bit more fun then little boy cakes. This was for my friend Beth's daughter's 5th birthday today. The last few months she has wanted a few different things.. like Barbies, and princesses, and finally we settled on Hello Kitty.

The flavor was funfetti, and my creme bouquet-vanilla butter cream. the Kitty was fondant. I know it isn't 'fancy' but for some reason, I just love this one.

Here is Ada loving on her cake.

That picture right there is the reason I love doing this.

Do the Dew

When we were in Vegas a while ago, we were shopping at the Outlets off Charleston, and Trav and Brady found this hideous Jazz jacket, that was on sale no less, but was still $90. As they were trying it on, this guy mentions how 'awesome' the jacket is, and how he loves the Jazz.. blah blah blah, and soon we find out he is from Utah as well! Small world. As the day goes by, we decide it is time to go home, and we are waiting at the elevator and this girl is like "Trav?" and we turn around, and it's the guy from the sports shop wife, and she knows Trav! It was crazy! They knew each other in high school in Vegas, now we all live in Utah!

As time goes by, she starts sending us some messages about her husbands birthday coming up and she wants a Mt. Dew cake. How fun for me! I love doing new things that aren't generic in any way. The flavor was chocolate cake, Oreo filling, and creme bouquet-vanilla butter cream.

Who doesn't want a giant can of Mt. Dew? Yum. I sort of cheated and ordered an edible image of the label, but I really wanted to make sure the colors were correct, and I think it turned out so cute! My favorite part was this:

The nutrition label I managed to squeeze in there! I just came across this, and HAD to use it.

Happy Birthday Jeffro!

love loVE LOVE you Aubrey with an E!!

About a month or so ago, my good friend Aubrey moved away with her husband to Texas, where they are starting a new business. It was a sad day at Ruby, but it gave me an excuse to make a cake (and it feels like it has been a LONG time since I have been able to bake anything). I'm still not the best at 'hand writing' with frosting stuffed in a bag, but I keep trying my best.

One if the blogs I follow, is Cake Wrecks. It's a place where you can post pictures of cakes that decorators butcher, but still sell for money anyways. Like when I got this 'gem' for my 20th birthday.. 'Happy Brithday Day Carolyn'.. and we still paid for it. Suckers.

Anyways, (only a slight tangent, but I promise it will come together in the end) the whole time I'm piping, I'm thinking, 'This cannot end up on cake wrecks'. I was worried about the correct punctuation of 'We'll', and decent spacing and style, and went I got to Aub's name, I panicked. For a split second, I forgot how to do a B in cursive.. and then I just stubbled through the rest, just happy that my B looked readable.

When I put the cake in the car, I just put it in the back seat like I always do, never had any problems. This time, the filling was a raspberry sauce, and while sitting on the warm (slanted) back seat, the top layer, slid half-way off the bottom layer!! Not completely, but just enough that I had major damage control to do when I got to the store.

After some crafty work, it was back to almost normal, when it was time to present it to Aubrey. She walks up, she is all excited, and the first thing to come out of her mouth was..... 'You misspelled my name' I FORGOT THE E!!! All my anxiety about that stupid B, and I skipped right over the E. Ugh! It was a good laugh. Maybe I belong on Cake Wrecks after all lol.

I hope they call me on a mission..

Ok, so I know that I haven't posted a lot recently, but I have been so busy starting my decorating classes, I haven't really been able to bake much. Here are some yummy treats I whipped up for the reading of Brady's mission call

Congrats to my only younger brother (in-law) Brady, who was called to serve in the Morristown, NJ mission! He will report to the MTC August 25, and there he will learn the authentic way to fist pump!

Since the family gathered, I decided to whip up some cupcakes. The flavors were, (from L to R) vanilla cake, raspberry filling, vanilla icing; vanilla cake, peanut butter/choc icing; and vanilla cake, vanilla icing.

Not too fancy, but hey, I'm trying to update ok?? And they are pretty cute. If you squint, you will see the sprinkle are red, yellow, and blue :)

And here is my son, refusing to have a cupcake of mine, diving into an ice cream cone instead. RUDE! Congrats again Brady! I'm sure there will be more 'mission' festivities, so more LDS things to come lol