Baby Shower Booty!

A couple of weeks ago a client called asking for a baby shower cake. She knew exactly what she wanted it to look like....a cute little baby booty. Nope not the sock bootie...an actual booty. Anyway, it ended up looking pretty adorable for my first baby shower cake....AND it was banana with chocolate frosting...num, num. 

Recipe Wednesday: Fall Mix

I could not think of one recipe to put on Recipe Wednesday...mostly because I didn't bake anything this weekend. Life was a little busy BUT I do have a great idea for a fall candy mix. 

First you'll need candy corn: 

Then Peanut M&Ms: 

Mix them together and it is the perfect mix of chocolate, salty, and sweet. Thank you fall, glad you finally got here!

"Dunder Mifflin, this is Cake"

I hate that my blog hasn't been updated in several days. It kills me. So I hope this cake will redeem me. It's a birthday cake for my brother and its in honor of the great show The Office. Basically I designed it like a ream of paper...Dunder-Mifflin paper of course. Complete with office supplies, post-its, white-out and a coffee stain. Everyone loved it, including the birthday boy!

The Office Cake

Recipe Wednesday: Soft Pretzels!

After the doughnut making last week, my husband asked me if I could learn to make his favorite treat in the world...soft pretzels with cinnamon-sugar. He's a sucker for Auntie Anne's anytime we go to the mall. I thought, well, why not. So I googled for a soft pretzel recipe and here is what I got off of www.cdkitchen.com. 

 Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup bread flour (I didn't have this...so I used regular flour)
3 cups regular flour
2 cups Warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
to taste coarse salt
4 tablespoons butter (melted)

Turn this recipe into a puzzle! [click] 

 

Directions:

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour. 

While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Be certain to stir often. After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope* (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzels to rise again. Bake in 450 oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and enjoy! 

Toppings: after you brush with butter try sprinkling with coarse salt. or for Auntie Anne's famous Cinnamon Sugar, try melting a stick of butter in a shallow bowl (big enough to fit the entire pretzel) and in another shallow bowl make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dip the pretzel into the butter, coating both sides generously. Then dip again into the cinnamon mixture. Enjoy! 

* The longer and thinner you can make the dough rope, the more like Auntie Anne's they will be. (Of course I don't have the counter space!) 
*Sweet butter, not regular butter, is one of her secrets!

Here are my results....

They didn't turn out as pretty as I would have liked. In fact, they were kind of ugly. They tasted really good, but I don't think they were as equal to Auntie Anne's. Maybe in the realm of Wetzel's Pretzels....haha. I will say they were really easy to make. I would make them again, just because they were so tasty!

Sweet Sixteen!

This past week I had the amazing opportunity to make a sweet sixteen cake for a super sweet girl! She gave me the invitation with color scheme and we worked together to come up with a fabulous design. I've heard that the cake and the party was a huge success! 

This cake is red velvet cake with cream cheese filling. 

Merchandise Monday: Cake Clothing

I love this shirt from Johnny Cupcakes you can get it for $35.99 and its awesome. It makes Cupcakes looks super hardcore, which they are. 

This shirt is from Threadless tees and I think it is rocking! And super cheap at only $12! I'm very tempted to purchase one of these. By the way if you've never looked at threadlesstees.com I highly suggest that you do. They have amazing and creative graphic tees. 

Now, this cake isn't super sweet, but it is REALLY funny. It's from Vinteeage.com and costs $21.97. Though fat kids DO love cake, so does everyone else!! 

I'm tempted to get all three of these, but for sure the "Cake is Awesome" shirt...Oh and threadless tees has a cake decorating competition each year--people design cakes based on their shirts and the cakes are amazing!! You can check them out here: http://www.threadcakes.com/home. 

Favorite Things Friday: New JessiCakes Logo

For a few weeks now I have been working with an awesome graphic artist to design a custom logo for JessiCakes...I'm not quite ready to unveil it yet, but I thought I would give you a sneak peek....just a little corner of it...just a taste of its awesomeness...

Yes...its just a cupcake, but its MY cupcake from my very own logo! Yay! I promise soon I'll unveil it fully...as well as a redoing the blog to match!

The designer you ask? Allison Andrews and you can view her amazing photos and custom invitations here: http://www.jallisonandrews.com/

And if you are on her website you just might happen to see this...

Yep, that's me and hubs. She designed a spectacular shower invite for us when we were engaged. 

So here's what I think you should do. Get Allison to design your invites for the birthday/weddingshower/babyshower/barmitzvah, etc. and I'll do the cake/cupcakes. It's a win/win....don't you think? 

Pajama Party Cake

Who doesn't love a pajama party?! A friend's birthday was a week ago and she had a "breakfast for dinner" gathering and we all wore are pajamas. Her husband asked me to make her a cake and we thought that a "pajama party" theme would fit right in. The cake was vanilla with chocolate frosting and turned out super cute!

The birthday girl and her cake!

Top, close-up. 

Fuzzy Bunny Slippers? Yes, please!!

Recipe Wednesday: Homemade Doughnuts

Sorry for the lack of blog post yesterday, but today I have a special treat. A couple of weeks ago I decided I really wanted to make homemade doughnuts. This past Saturday I did exactly that. It took around 3 hours, but they tasted just like Krispy Kreme when they were warm. I found the website online at Food.com. I think they turned out amazing though they did take awhile to make. 

I even made a few Jelly doughnuts with strawberry jelly and a special piping tip. PS--the glaze on these is AMAZING!!! Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Doughnuts

• 2 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
• 1/4 cup water (105-115)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (scalded, then cooled)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• canola oil

Creamy Glaze

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 -6 tablespoons hot water

Chocolate frosting

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 -6 tablespoons hot water
• 4 ounces milk chocolate chips or 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:

Prep Time: 2 hrs

Total Time: 2 1/2 hrs

1. 1Dissolve yeast in warm water in 2 1/2-quart bowl.
2. 2Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour.
3. 3Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.
4. 4Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
5. 5Stir in remaining flour until smooth.
6. 6Cover and let rise until double, 50-60 minutes.
7. 7(Dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.) Turn dough onto floured surface; roll around lightly to coat with flour.
8. 8Gently roll dough 1/2-inch thick with floured rolling pin.
9. 9Cut with floured doughnut cutter.
10. 10Cover and let rise until double, 30-40 minutes.
11. 11Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer to 350°.
12. 12Slide doughnuts into hot oil with wide spatula.
13. 13Turn doughnuts as they rise to the surface.
14. 14Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side.
15. 15Remove carefully from oil (do not prick surface); drain.
16. 16Dip the doughnuts into creamy glaze set on rack then when slightly cooled spread chocolate frosting on top.
17. 17Dip in sprinkles or other toppings after chocolate if desired.
18. 18Creamy Glaze: Heat butter until melted.
19. 19Remove from heat.
20. 20Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
21. 21Stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.
22. 22Chocolate Frosting: Heat butter and chocolate over low heat until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat.
23. 23Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
24. 24Stir in water 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.