Saturday, October 20, 2012

Cupcake Class

10/20/12

Today my sister and I went to a cupcake class at CakeWalk in Redlands.  We were told to bring 6 cupcakes, buttercream, tips, and more. I was excited about the class because my sister was coming with me and bonding is always great. With the holidays around the corner,  we made Halloween and holiday cupcakes. 

The class was small which I liked because that meant "one on one" time with our instructor. The instructor is the CakeWalk shop owner's mom and she was so wonderfully sweet. She taught my sister and I different pipping skills, gave us tips on our cupcakes, and more. It was everything I wanted in a class. 

Here are my creations:


Monster
Poinsettia 

Skeleton

Cherry Pie 

Owl


Mummy

Cupcakes Get-Together

10/19/12

Today I made 2 batches of cupcakes (strawberry and yellow) for a get-together, class, and for home. I wanted a variety for the get-together so I thought I'd use up my leftover buttercream & chocolate buttercream frosting that I had. I figured the strawberry and yellow cake would work well with the frostings. 

I piped the buttercream in a swirl motion with a star tip on all cupcakes, then decorated. Here is what I used to decorate the cupcakes: 

Disco Dust-Ruby Red and Clear Gold
Sparkling Sugar-Hot Pink

This is what they looked like once I finished. (I chose 2 flavors because I need 12 for my cupcake class the next day (6 for me and 6 for my sister); I saved 24 for the get-together and whatever was left...for the house. Yum! 

Used Disco Dust-Clear Gold only
Used Disco Dust-Ruby Red and Hot Pink Sugar Sprinkles
   



Monday, October 15, 2012

Chocolate Covered "Oreos"

10/15/12

So I was at home doing nothing when I remembered that I had bought a cookie mold from Cake Walk (my local cake supply store.) Why not try doing chocolate covered Oreos?? And since Halloween is right around the corner, why not do orange? :) 

Here is what you'll need:
cookie mold
candy melts (I recommend Merken's candy--it's delicious.)
Paramount Crystals (if needed) 
spatula 
cookie sheet 
Oreos or any chocolate creme sandwiches


I began by melting the orange candy in the microwave. I added 1 tablespoon of the paramount crystals to help smooth it out more. If you overheat the candy, you'll burn it and you'll have to throw it away. 


I filled each mold about 1/2 way up so that when I pushed the Oreo into the candy, the candy would come up the sides. I used double stuffed Oreo for these but I think I am going to try using the regular Oreo's next time because the Oreo cookie was thick for the mold. 


I pushed down a little bit. If you push all the way down, it'll show thru the bottom (which later will be the top). 




I spooned the candy over the mold to cover the cookie. 



 I then tried pouring the candy over the cookie as well. :)


Once the Oreo's are covered, I used my medal spatula to scrape the tops of the molds to give it a clean level finish. 


I didn't scrape the chocolate off the mold very well. :) Before I put the mold in the refrigerator to harden, I made sure I got any air bubbles out by taping it on the table a few times. 


Remember all the chocolate we spread when we were leveling the molds? When I took the mold out of the refrigerator, I moved it around like you would an ice try to break up the chocolate that was spread on the mold. I got the big pieces out of the way. I placed the cookie sheet on top of the mold and flipped over the mold onto the cookie sheet. The Oreo's came out real easy. I still had some stray chocolate along the Oreos so I took a small pairing knife and went around the bottom of the Oreo to give it a more clean finish. 



I can't wait to try them out! Hope this was helpful. :)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Unexpected Finds

10/13/12

While I was out shopping with my husband, we decided to go to Marshall's to look around. While I was there, I came across some unexpected finds. I found different types of sprinkles and this awesome Bakerella Cake Pop Kit! 

(Above: White sugar sprinkles, Pink sugar sprinkles, White Jimmies, White edible pearls, pink and green chocolate covered sunflower seeds, black and blue chocolate covered seeds.) 

These sprinkles/Jimmies/Pearls were an awesome find because the bottle is fairly big and they were $4.99 each. The jimmies and pearls especially can cost well over $4.99 for the size of the container. The colored chocolate covered sunflower seeds can be used for things like a nose for character cake pops. :) I'm always looking at candy for ideas to use to decorate my cake pops. 

The cake pop kit is really nice. It comes with bags, lollipop sticks, different color ribbon to tie your cake pops, a cardboard cake pop stand, different labels to put on your cake pops, and a mini Bakerella cake pop book. It's a great find for $12. 

Ruby Red Cake Pops

10/12/12

I was asked to do cake pops for a "Wizard of OZ" themed birthday party. My friend's 3 year old daughter loves Dorothy so I decided to do Ruby Red Cake Pops to showcase the famous Ruby Red Slippers. 

Here is what I used for my cake pops:
8 inch lollipop sticks (you can use whatever size you like) 
Small plastic bags to go over the cake pops
Paramount Crystals by CK (helps thin out candy)--if needed only
1 lb bag of Red Merken candy melts
Wilton's Red Colored Sugars (Sprinkles)
Red Sugar Sprinkles from Cake Walk 
Wilton's Pearlized Sugar-Ruby (Sprinkles)
Disco Dust-Ruby Red 
Light blue ribbon (3/8 inch-10yards) 

I microwaved the candy in a bowl until it was completely melted. I noticed that my candy was still thick after I melted it. I let it cool a little to see if it would thin as it cooled but it didn't thin out enough for what I wanted. At this point, I added 1 teaspoon of the Paramount Crystals while the candy was warm so that the crystals would melt into the candy. Once I did that, the consistency of the candy came out a lot smoother. If your candy is too think, it will show on your cake pop. I also let it cool because the cake pops are refrigerated and the candy is warm. Sometimes the cake can crack once you insert the lollipop stick dipped in warm candy. I dip the sticks into the candy and then insert them into the cake pops before I start dipping all of them. 



This is what my cake pop looked liked when I tried to add sprinkles when I had too much candy on it. YIKES! It looks like a mushroom from the weight of the candy and sprinkle combination.


When you are putting sprinkles on your cake pop, you have to make sure that the candy isn't too wet or else the sprinkles will sort of dissolve into the candy. Another thing that could happen (and did happen to me) is, your candy can dry before you add sprinkles. This is what happened when I added sprinkles too late. 



The best way to know is to test a few out. I always make more cake pops than I need in case I have any issues along the way (cracking, cake pop falls off stick, or it just didn't turn out the way you liked). One thing I didn't mention earlier, I combined all 3 types of sprinkles and some red disco dust to give the sprinkles texture, sparkle, and the red look I wanted with these cake pops. I wanted the cake pop to resemble the color and sparkle of the classic ruby red slippers. 

Once I was finished, I bagged them and tied light blue ribbon in the shape of bows on each cake pop. I noticed that when I was tying the bows that I have to tie them upside down in order for them to be right side up on the cake pop. Weird, I know. I guess that's how I learned to tie my shoes.

The cake pops came out really cute and I am sure all the kids will love them at the birthday party. 




Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Monday, October 8, 2012

House Warming Cake Pops

10/6/12

Today I am making cake pops for my sister's house warming party. I offered to take care of the desserts for her party so I thought making cake pops, cupcakes, and cookies would be a good choice. My husband and I always tag team when it comes to baking. He helps me so that I don't feel overwhelmed in the kitchen and it helps me to stay focused on what I am doing. 

We made vanilla cake pops dipped in white chocolate (blue) and chocolate candy; chocolate cupcakes with blue tinted buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting; chocolate chip and walnut cookies, and chocolate chip m&m (blue) cookies. I added edible glitter to the tops of the cupcakes to give it that extra sparkle and it really made the cupcakes stand out. I got this idea to from my local cake supply store that sells cupcakes called "Cake Walk". The vanilla cake pops were actually an accident. I was originally planning on making vanilla and chocolate cupcakes but I accidentally made the vanilla cake for the cake pops. Since I already made the vanilla cake for the cake pops, I decided to just leave the cake pops vanilla flavored and have the cupcakes be chocolate. 

Since my sister was using a color scheme of blue and brown, I decided to show that through the desserts. I bought blue m&m's at a candy store (which was expensive) but worth it. I tinted the buttercream blue with "SKY BLUE" by AmeriColor to give it a bright blue hue. For the cake pops, I bought "LIGHT BLUE" candy wafers in the Merkens brand. You can find this at your local cake supply place. I got mine from "The Cake Walk" in Redlands, CA. You can't find this brand at Michaels or Joann's because they only sell the Wilton brand. I highly recommend that you switch brands if you use Wilton because it tastes so much better and it melts a lot better. Wilton's candy melts tend to be waxy and they are inconsistent when it comes to the melting processes. The candy, frosting and m&m's helped tie in all the blue and brown. I used chocolate chips for the brown in the cookies; chocolate buttercream frosting on 1/2 the cupcakes and chocolate candy melts for the cake pops. I sprinkled the cupcakes with edible glitter called "Disco Dust-Clear Gold" by The Sugar Art. I got all these products at my local cake supply store. 



Here's a close up of the cupcakes with the edible glitter. I used the big star tip to pipe the frosting. You can use a piping bag, reusable piping bag, or even a Ziploc bag. I used a disposable pipping bag here. 




Here is what the cake pops look like up close. :) I decided to dip 1/2 of them in the "Light Blue" and the other half in chocolate. Once they were dry, I drizzled the opposite color over the cake pops. 






Here is what the desserts looked like after it was all put together at the party.(I went and bought some clear platters at the Dollar Tree to display all the desserts. An inexpensive way to make these look all dressed up.)