christmas loot!

i was a very good girl this year!

baker gourd ornament:

last year's cake ornament:

baker gourd makes a great addition to the baking section of our tree:

new mixing bowl, new mixing attachment, and cute serving tray:

new cookbooks:

malted milk with fun recipes included:

new apron:

art from saturday market in portland, OR:

anyone sensing a theme here? i'm so very thankful for the love and support of my family and friends. a happy new year to you all!

christmas presents!

3-tier christmas present cake.

red-velvet cake, yellow buttermilk, and devil's food. the bow and ribbon are made of marzipan.

merry christmas!

Toot Toot!

Train Cake:

engine:

coal car:

important sprinkle cargo:

important m&m cargo:

caboose:

all aboard! destination: year number 5!

Roar for Four!

This particular 4 year-old requested that his dinosaur cake be "dead." the inside of the cake is red velvet so that when he cut into it, the dinosaur was bleeding... his mom had the fun idea of making it look like the T-Rex was devouring the 4. The teeth are smashed up bits of candy cane.

experiments. location: my kitchen

can't stop thinking about cookie dough. can't stop thinking about reese's peanutbutter cups. can't stop thinking about cupcakes. so, i came up with these:

half-baked brownies (oh yes, there's another ball of cookie dough baked into the center of the brownie):

chocolatepeanutbuttercupchocolatechipcookiedoughbrownie (there's cookie dough in there too!):

chocolatepeanutbuttercupbrownie:

everythingbuttheodetoben&jerry:

rockin' around the clock

Debbie was born in 1959 and her daughter threw her a surprise sock hop. the black is marzipan, hot pink is fondant. the records had different 50s words and musicians on them: elvis, chuck berry, fats domino, doo wop, blueberry hill, rock-n-roll, haley and the comets...

the surprise on the inside (that i unfortunately don't have pictures of) is a chocolate and white checkerboard!

a big thanks to Maryann the CookieArtistan. when i was looking for ideas i came across her gorgeous sugar cookies and asked her where she got her cookie cutters. she answered immediately and i was able to order cookie cutters from this great site: The Cookie Cutter Shop. i just wish my designs could have come out as perfect and detailed as Maryann's.

happy holidays

i made this cake for paul's sort-of boss's holiday party. it was my first attempt at chocolate dipped cake balls. they were delish, but very tricky to dip. i've got to perfect my method. i mixed white snowflake sprinkles, white non-pareils, & blue shimmery sprinkles for snowflakes. The minis were red velvet, as was the snowman. his corncob pipe was shaped from marzipan.

making this was so much fun. anyone have any holiday party needs? i'm your gal!

happy 35th jennie

the yellow buttermilk from sky high cakes has become my family's favorite cake and everyone's request when it's their birthday. along with magnolia's sweet vanilla buttercream & some rainbow sprinkles, this is the quintessential birthday cake.

MarthaStewartCupcake Club: candied sweet potato cupcakes

this month's msc club choice was the perfect preview for thanksgiving. 2 cups of sweet potatoes in the batter? no milk or oil? where would the moistness come from? obviously you have never baked sweet potatoes for over an hour so their juices seep out and caramelize. holy candied sweet potatoes! i baked these the night before so i could save my fingers from burning...

i woke up at 6 and was finished with the whole process by 8. waking up this early for me is not easy. but one must wake up early on thanksgiving morning to get the turkey in the oven, so this too was a sneak peek of sorts. mash potatoes until they are smooth & drink coffee until you are awake.

the batter tasted delicious! while the cupcakes were baking, i made my own caramel (so simple this boiling of sugar and water!) and caramelized myself some sweet and crunchy pecans.

next came the broiling of the marshmallows. have you ever tried to make pyramid stacks of mini marshmallows? have you ever tried to take a melted pyramid of sticky marshmallows and transfer them to waiting sweet potato cupcakes? not easy.

for my next 12 i nestled the cupcakes back in their pan and broiled the marshmallows right to the top of the cupcakes. much easier! i stuck a few pecan pieces into the melty marshmallows and voila!

these tasted so GOOD right out of the oven -- melted sweet goodness with a slight pecan crunch on top of moist sweet potato heaven. just like the candied sweet potatoes on the thanksgiving table.

these were favorites with everyone, including paul who doesn't like sweet potatoes.

these will definitely be repeated! in about 11 days...

special thanks to karen of karen's cookies, cakes & more for her pick this month. kayte of grandma's kitchen table picked december's challenge: gingerbread cupcakes with cookie cutouts. make sure you check out the other msc bakers creations.

w is for william

it's a boy! 30 chocolate, 30 vanilla, vanilla buttercream frosting.

a special cake for a special lady

paul's polish grandmother (Baci) turned 95 on monday. it was a rager of a party.

i made a 12-layer cake (i must confess, i got this from bakerella too!)

i held this cake on my lap for the 4 hour drive down to palmer, MA! only one slight mishap that was easily fixed.

 baci -- maybe you'll get a 20-layer cake for your 100th.