Tea Party Cookies

August 28, 2011October 5, 20154 Comments

I’m not sure if you know, but I baked for a wedding of 150 people last week. 450 mini desserts and a little cake. It was INTENSE and I am so happy with how everything turned out. My friend came and took some lovely pictures of the individual items before we left and I had my camera battery charged so that I could take pictures of the full dessert table setup. I get everything ready and turn on my camera, only to realize that I forgot to bring the battery! I know, I know. I’m still kicking myself over it. In short: you’re going to have to wait for pictures until I can beg them from wedding guests or the professional photographer. In the meantime, enjoy these dainty tea party cookies I made for a book club a few weeks ago.

The rainbow swirl pattern was inspired by these gorgeous cookies.

I love the texture from the little dots.

Enjoy!

Dessert Trio

August 24, 2011September 29, 20153 Comments

Okay. Maybe I went just a little overboard with this one. But I had to practice my lemon meringue tarts and as long as I was doing one little pie I might as well do two and just add cocoa to half the dough. And the ice cream was made ahead of time, then I just had to try out my new digital thermometer for tempering the chocolate. And don’t they all look so cute on the plate?

I made a little lemon meringue pie. I used my favorite pie crust recipe and replaced some flour with almond meal and ground pecans. I rolled out the crust, cut 3 inch circles, and bakes them in a mini cupcake pan. They were the perfect size.

I made the other little tart using the same pie crust recipe, but this time I replaced some flour with cocoa powder. The filling was a sweet pastry cream with melted chocolate. I covered the filling with a layer of chocolate ganache, then topped the whole thing with some intensely raspberry whipped cream.

And the ice cream! I’m still eating what’s left of this right out of the tupperware with a spoon. I made a vanilla-bean cheesecake ice cream and mixed in some fresh blackberries. The cup the little scoop is sitting in was made with white and dark chocolate and hidden at the bottom of each cup it a fresh blackberry.

One teensy problem: I took these pictures during the afternoon right before the guests arrived and I thought the plate looked quite nice. When it came time to prepare each plate after dinner, however, I had a plating epiphany and started squirting chocolate all over the plate and marbling it fancily. Ergo, these pictures were taken indoors as I was rushing to prevent the ice cream from melting. Although I edited the pictures later to try to adjust the colors, I hope you’ll excuse the photos and enjoy the technique.

And no, I’m not ashamed to say despite a day of sampling in the kitchen, my dessert plate was also completely clean.

Indiana Jones Ark of the Covenant Cake and Sankara Stone Cake Pops

August 15, 2011September 29, 20153 Comments

Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun. Dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun dun! A friend and I threw an extravagant Indiana Jones movie marathon complete with arts and crafts, activities, decorations, and of course themed dessert. Think paper mache boulders, blacks curtains and cobwebs everywhere, make your own duct tape whips, DIY Holy Grails, fruit punch with rubber snakes, and a red jello blob with a “heart” inside for a dramatic kali mah reenactment. We watched all 3 movies (number 4 just doesn’t count) and it was beautiful. Being the brilliant person I am, I deleted all the pictures from my camera without realizing that they were never uploaded. Uggh! Fortunately, my friends took great pictures of my desserts so I still have something nice to show you.

The Ark of the Covenant cake! With red velvet insides and creamy vanilla frosting, this cake was very, very rich. I decorated it with chocolate jewels covered in luster dust and edible glitter.

The panels on the side are hand piped and made of white chocolate covered in luster dust. The little pears are edible white sugar pearls that I rolled in gold luster dust. While finishing this cake while I was sick at 1 am, I dropped the entire 8 ounce bottle of pearls on the floor. A month later, I’m still finding them EVERYWHERE!

My frind made the beautiful topper using foam board, spray paint, and a sharpie.

Ohh, shiny…

Cutting the cake.

And I made sankara stone cake pops. Easy to make, even easier to eat, and oh so cute!

Bats, Pumpkins, jack-o-lanters, and spider webs. Spooky!

Halloween Cookies

August 6, 2011October 16, 20152 Comments

It might be a bit early for most people to celebrate Halloween, but the camp I work at had a theme day, so of course I brought cookies to help everyone get into the mood. I ended up making about 90 cookies and they were gone about 20 minutes after I left the box in the staff lounge.

I love how these cookies worked so well together as a set. Seeing them all together on the plate just made me so happy!

How could I resist making goofy faces on all the jack-o-lanterns?

Boo!

The spiderwebs were made by piping the spider blobs on top of (mostly) dry marbled royal icing.

I had so much fun with the evil bat faces.

I never thought a spider would look so cute!

Ice Cream Cone or Cupcake?

July 31, 2011October 5, 20153 Comments

Why not have both?

I had so much fun making these cupcakes! I made a batch for a family even and then I made some more for a wedding shower the following weekend. Plus, I took [most of] these pictures all by myself. Want to see how they were made?

Ice cream cone cupcakes are one of the few baked goods that I think are actually harder than they look. Why? Quite simply, ice cream cones are not made to stand upright on their own. This makes for big problems in balancing them to bake, frost, store, and transport. The first time I made them last year was a total disaster. But now, instead of placing them on a cookie tray or cupcake tray, I put each cone in the cup of a popover pan. This is great because the high sides and narrow bottom resemble the cone shape, keeping them upright and fairly stable. Much less hassle.

So: cones in pan. Batter in cones.

I use an ice cream scoop to keep my batters even, plus it’s much less mess.

Pop them in the oven and get the frosting started while the house starts to smell like chocolate cake.

I used my favorite vanilla frosting recipe. It’s a Creamy Vanilla frosting that uses a flour base and lots and lots of butter. It’s very rich, but oh so delicious.

After making it, I divided it into two bowls.

One batch was raspberry…

And the other was oreo.

Now might be a good time to tell you that I injected fudge into the bottom of each cone. After the cones have cooled completely, I started frosting using a pastry bag and a very wide circle tip.

I stuck them in the fridge for a few hours to make sure the frosting was very, very firm before I started dipping. I was worried about the frosting sliding off the top and getting ungle smooshes, but with the refrigeration everything was fine.

At this point, a few urgently needed testing, so I happily obliged and sliced them open before they were frosted.

I dipped each cone in melted chocolate mixed with a bit of vegetable oil to make it thinner and easier to work with. Immediately after dipping, each cupcake was attacked with sprinkles: red hearts for the raspberry, and rainbow hearts for the chocolate.

I love how shiny and delicious the chocolate is.

And then they’re ready to box an go! I packed them in a 1/4 sheet cake box with a mini cupcake insert to keep them stable. The size was perfect for the narrow cones and they held up great on the long drive.

All boxed up and ready for the drive!

Did I mention how much fun these are to eat?

Patriotic 4th of July red white and blue sugar cookies

4th of July Cookies

July 23, 2011October 16, 20154 Comments

Alright, I admit. I went a little crazy with these. I got home from work at 4:30, started these right away, and worked through dinner until 10:30 at night. What? You mean that doesn’t happen to everyone? But they were so much fun! Just about ever cookie is unique. I decorated with dragees, piping, and marbling techniques. Take a look at how I did the cookies with the marbling:

Immediately after outlining, then flooding the cookie, I piped circles of color onto the cookie. I tapped it against the table a few times to make it settle, then immediately dragged a toothpick in the direction I wanted. Ta da! This method is very forgiving and quite a bit of fun to do because of the endless possibilities.

Anyways, lots of stars and stripes.

Tons of swirls

And, of course, lots of red white and blue!

What a Difference a Real Camera Makes!

July 17, 2011September 29, 20151 Comment

Probably tired of coming over in the mornings before work, my photographer friend lent me a fabulous camera! I’ve been experimenting by making and photographing fruit tarts. I’ve been going crazy at the farmers market buying pluots, nectarines, plums, peaches, and strawberries. The crust is crumbly and nutty with walnuts and almonds. The fruit rests on a thick layer of vanilla bean-lemon pastry cream.

I have a fair amount of art background from high school programs and college classes, so I understand color and composition, but I had NO CLUE what a difference the camera makes.

Observe:

I made this fruit tart last week. It was quite tasty, and I photographed it using my little point and shoot digital camera. I make sure to clear the background, go outside, and photograph in the daylight to make the best of what I have. Not bad.

But then I made a second tart the following week, using the same fruits, crust, and filling.

With the good camera, you can see how juicy and delicious the fruit is. The glaze and the detail are clear and you can see the nuts in the crust.

There’s a HUGE difference and I’m so happy with the results.

Celebrate the summer by enjoying some fresh fruit!

Baby Cake

July 14, 2011September 29, 20151 Comment

This was a 4 layer chocolate cake with pink frosting between each layer.

The roses on the sides are made of chocolate and covered in luster dust to give them a bit of shine.

I was excited by the filigree piping I did on the rainbow cake and wanted to include it on this cake as well.

Happy Birthday!

A Truffle or Two

July 10, 2011September 29, 20152 Comments

First, I should explain that I bake because I get this “I can do that” feeling whenever I eat something sweet. I get so much satisfaction from recreating treats I’ve tasted and that is how I ended up with dozens and dozens of truffles.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any in-progress shots, but I can show you the final product! Most of these pictures were taking by Stephanie, as usual. She rushed over to my house in the morning right before I delivered the treat.

Oh yes, and I made the box out of chocolate, too (a graduation present for a good friend). It was easier than it looks and pretty sturdy, too!

Ready for each type of truffle?

Here’s the raspberry truffle. I made a fresh raspberry filling – tart and just the right amount of sweet.

This one has a coffee buttercream center.

And a vanilla bean filling

This one was my favorite – cinnamon caramel filling with chopped pecans.

Mint chocolate ganache in the center

And creamy ganache dipped in chocolate, then rolled in toasted pecan crumbs.

Well, I guess I could have another…

Under the Sea Cookies

July 6, 2011October 16, 20151 Comment

Can I tempt you with some aquatic cookies? I made this set of cookies for a teacher appreciation event at my sister’s school. Since I get so many questions about how I decorate my cookies, I decided to create a tutorial of sorts. A talented friend photographed the final product, but unfortunately you’re stuck with my little point and shoot camera for the step-by-step photos.

Take a look at how I made them:

I rolled, cut, and baked very thick sugar cookie dough. The dough had some vanilla bean and lots and lots of butter. Before baking, I froze each tray of cookies for 15 minutes to help them preserve their shape. I also omitted the baking powder in my favorite sugar cookie recipe. This didn’t change the flavor, but it helped keep the edges clean even after they baked.

20 starfish and 20 seahorses. Because they were so thick, it took a triple batch of cookie dough to make them all. I was pleased by how well these cookies held their shape after baking even though they were so thick.

After cooking, it’s time to start piping the royal icing. I use a mixture of pasteurized egg whites, lemon juice, and powdered sugar.

I started with the outline on each cookie, letting it dry before filling the center.

After piping the outline, I thinned out the royal icing to flood the center. I glopped a fair amount of icing into the center of the cookie and spread it to the edges with a toothpick.

Tip: After flooding, firmly rap each cookie on the table to encourage the air bubbles to rise to the top. Immediately, use toothpick to pop the bubbles so they don’t form holes after they dry.

The marbelized sea hoses were made by piping two lines of green icing onto the still-wet flooded cookie. I then used a toothpick to draw a line through both colors at once, creating the swirl. I took about 15 pictures of this process, but I’m sorry to report that each and every one of them came out blurry, so use your imagination.

After the flooding has had a chance to dry (I waited about 3 hours), I started piping the details. Here, I piped the large dots before going back and adding the smaller details. Pretend you don’t notice that my work surface gets increasingly covered in frosting.

Ta Da!