I came across this video and just had to share it. Here, David Cakes ices his cake with royal icing. He spreads it in such a way that the end result reminds me of an acrylic painting. Absolutely beautiful! This is a very creative and artistic way to decorate a cake. I cannot wait to try it!
Read more »
Coach Bag Cake
See step-by-step instructions for making a designer handbag...read guide
Bassinet Cake
A beautiful cake for a baby shower...read guide
Gumpaste Bow Tutorial
Follow these easy steps and make your own gumpaste bow...read tutorial
Frozen Buttercream Transfer Tutorial
Easy to follow instructions for making a frozen buttercream transfer....read tutorial
New Year's Eve has to be one of the hardest holidays to decorate a cake for. Here are a few ideas to help get you started.
New Year's Baby - To make, use the Wilton Bear Pan. Of course you will need to make adjustments to the details to suit your theme.
New Year Streamer Cake
Champagne Bottle - To make, use the Wilton Baby Bottle Cake pan.
Clock Cake - This cake would look great with Roman Numerals...and minus the retirement references of course.
Read more »
New Year's Baby - To make, use the Wilton Bear Pan. Of course you will need to make adjustments to the details to suit your theme.
New Year Streamer Cake
Champagne Bottle - To make, use the Wilton Baby Bottle Cake pan.
Clock Cake - This cake would look great with Roman Numerals...and minus the retirement references of course.
As a busy mom, I love recipes that save me time and money. This cake uses a box of white cake mix so it does just that.
Peppermint 3 Layer Cake
Ingredients
- In one bowl mix:
18 oz white cake mix
3 egg whites
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oilIn another bowl mix together:
1 3/4 cup yellow cake mix
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon cider vinegarFrosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup butter
2 lbs powder sugar
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cake mix as directed above.
- Pour each batter, alternating colors into 3, 9 inch round pans.
- Bake 20-25 minutes.
For Frosting:
- Mix cream cheese, butter, and peppermint flavoring together, gradually add sugar.
- Mix until smooth and fluffy.
- You can use small candy canes to decorate the outside of the cake and crushed candy canes on top if desired.
Recipe from CakeCentral.com
In this guide, I will discuss how to make a striped buttercream boarder, gumpaste streamers, and royal icing letters.
As you can probably tell, I made this cake for a New Year's Eve party in 2006. It was the second cake I have ever decorated. Everything you see was self taught and I had not taken any classes at this time.
As you can probably tell, I made this cake for a New Year's Eve party in 2006. It was the second cake I have ever decorated. Everything you see was self taught and I had not taken any classes at this time.
To make this cake you will need...
3 square cakes (each layer should be 2 inches smaller than the one below...ie 4, 6, and 8 inches will work great)
1 large cake board
square cake dividers in sizes that match the size of your cakes (ie 4, 6, and 8 inches)
wooden dowels
white buttercream icing
white fondant (optional)
red, yellow, and blue gumpaste
red and yellow royal icing
red and blue icing colors
tips #2 or 3 (optional) #5, and #21
Directions:
Step 1
A few days in advance, make the gumpaste streamers and royal icing letters.
To make the streamers, roll out pieces of gumpaste to look like long, skinny, tube shapes. Just like when you played with Play-dough as a kid. To get a curly effect, wrap the gumpaste around a wooden dowel and let dry. The coiled pieces were made by curling the gumpaste on a flat surface. All gumpaste pieces should dry for at least 24 hours on wax paper.
***Decorator's Tip*** Before you go to bed, flip your pieces and they will dry faster. Be careful, they may stick to the wax paper.
To make the letters and numbers you do not have to have perfect piping skills. Write the words Happy New Year and 2006 on a piece of paper. Lay wax or parchment paper over top and trace using royal icing and tip #5. Let them dry over night.
***Decorator's Tip*** You can also print the letters and numbers off the computer. For added decoration, pipe over each letter/number again using tip #2 or 3. The royal icing will need to harden slightly for this to work.
Step 2
Place each cake on the appropriate cake divider. Level, tort, and fill each cake. Then, ice the cakes with white buttercream icing. At this point you can either leave your cakes iced in buttercream or you can cover them in fondant.
Step 3
Stack your cakes. If you are nervous about traveling with this cake, hammer a sharpened dowel through the center of all 3 tiers.
Step 4
Pipe your boarder using tip #21. I made stars around each tier. You have 2 options to get a striped effect.
- You can fill your piping bag half with red and half with blue icing but make sure it is evenly divided.
- Paint a thick stripe of red coloring on the left side of your piping bag and a thick stripe of blue coloring on the right side. Fill the bag with white buttercream icing and pipe your boarder.
Step 5
Place your decorations around the cake. To help them stay you can use a dot of buttercream icing. If your cake is covered in fondant, royal icing will hold the best.
Congratulations to Vickie. She had winning entry number 35. You have 48 hours to claim your prize. Be sure to check your e-mail for details.
All entries can be viewed by clicking the link below.
Yes! to Cookies Giveaway Entries
I have recently been given the opportunity to review cookie cutters from CheapCookieCutters.com. I'm not exaggerating when I say cheap and I'm not referring to their quality either. Most cookie cutters on this site are priced under $3 and made of tin. Other, unique cookie cutters cost just a little bit more.
When CheapCookieCutters.com sent me my 4 piece Christmas cookie cutter set, I thought it would be the perfect time to make sugar cookies with the kids. We had a great time making angels, snowflakes, trees, and holly leaves. A two year old is not exactly gentle when it comes to...well...anything. So, I figured they would be perfect to test out the durability of these cutters. As I mentioned before, these cookie cutters are of great quality and held up well against the abuse. They also cut very easily through the dough but did not have sharp edges like some cutters.
I highly recommend this site and their products. In fact, I already have it bookmarked for future cookie cutter purchases. They have so many different and hard to find items. Some of my favorites are the Disney, college mascots, Harry Potter, tools, and Wizard of Oz cookie cutters. I mean really, when was the last time you saw a hair dryer or Notre Dame cookie cutter? Even better, if you still can't find what you are looking for, they will custom make a cookie cutter for you. So, take the time to visit CheapCookieCutters.com. They are worth it.
Thank you to The Product Review Place and CheapCookieCutters.com for the opportunity to review this product. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and were not swayed by monetary compensation.
Find more gifts with my holiday gift guide.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
This post is in honor of my late grandmother. She was a huge Eagles fan. So much so that her entire bathroom was green with an Eagles shower curtain just like the one pictured above. This curtain is perfect for a college student or bachelor and would make a unique gift. Click here for more teams.
Go one step further and check out my Frozen Buttercream Transfer Tutorial to learn how to make the cake below.
Find more of my holiday picks here.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Sticking with the sports theme today, here are some great NBA Comforters and bedding sets that would make great holiday gifts for a teenager or college student. Many teams and sizes are available. Most of the sets come with a comforter, sheets and more. Click here for more.
Find more ideas on my holiday gift guide.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
My husband is a huge NY Giants fan so when I saw this item listed under Kohl's bedding at Shop.com, I had to include it in my gift guide. This frame is perfect for any Giants fan, especially one with children. Pop in a picture of your kids wearing Giants gear and you have a perfect gift for Dad.
Click here for more deals on Kohl's bedding.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Click here for more deals on Kohl's bedding.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
These stacked presents make a great cake for any holiday celebration. In this guide you will learn how to decorate this cake as well as make the large bow topper, gift tag, and white chocolate snowflakes.
To make this cake you will need...
1 large cake board
1 4 inch square cake divider
10 inch square cake
4 inch square cake
4-5 wooden dowels
gumpaste
white and red buttercream icing
white chocolate chips
1 tube of black premade icing (optional)
gingerbread man sugar decorations
tips #3(optional), #2 and #19 or 21
Directions
Step 1
A few days in advance, make the large tag, bow and white chocolate snowflakes.
To make the snowflakes, melt white chocolate chips in the microwave. Pour the melted white chocolate into a piping bag and using tip #2, slowly pipe snowflake shapes onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.
To make the tag, I made a template with plain white paper and cut the gumpaste accordingly. You can not see it in this picture but I also poked a hole in the tag and ran a ribbon through it.
Making the large bow is very similar to the directions in my small gumpaste bow tutorial. However, instead of 2 loops and a middle piece you will need approximately 16 loops. If you look at the picture you will notice that the loops on the bottom are long and skinny and as you move towards the top of the bow they get more rounded. Keep this in mind when you prepare them for drying.
***Decorator's Tip*** Once all of your loops are dry your bow is ready to be assembled. Use a 2 inch circle of gumpaste as the base of your bow. This will help hold it together.
Step 2
Place the 10 inch cake on the cake board and ice with white icing. I decided to then cover the cake in green sugar to give it a shimmery look.
Next, place 4 dowels cut to size evenly around the middle of the cake for support. (See the tutorial for help on this step)
Finally, put the 4 inch cake on the cake divider and ice with red icing. Then, place this cake in the center of the 10 inch cake.
***Decorator's Tip*** Because this is only a 2 tier cake you should not need any more dowels for support but, if you are traveling with this cake you may want to hammer a sharpened dowel down the center of the stacked cakes. This will prevent the top tier from falling off.
Step 3
Using tip #19 or 21 and white buttercream icing, pipe a shell boarder around the bottom of the red cake. Next, place the sugar gingerbread men around the red cake and the white chocolate snowflakes around the green cake. Scatter a few extra white chocolate snowflakes around the cake board. Finally, place the tag and large bow on the cake. If desired, you can write a message on the tag with the tube of black premade icing and tip #3.
***Decorator's Tip*** If you are traveling with this cake, you may want to wait to place the tag, bow and extra snowflakes on the cake.
To make this cake you will need...
1 large cake board
1 4 inch square cake divider
10 inch square cake
4 inch square cake
4-5 wooden dowels
gumpaste
white and red buttercream icing
white chocolate chips
1 tube of black premade icing (optional)
gingerbread man sugar decorations
tips #3(optional), #2 and #19 or 21
Directions
Step 1
A few days in advance, make the large tag, bow and white chocolate snowflakes.
To make the snowflakes, melt white chocolate chips in the microwave. Pour the melted white chocolate into a piping bag and using tip #2, slowly pipe snowflake shapes onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.
To make the tag, I made a template with plain white paper and cut the gumpaste accordingly. You can not see it in this picture but I also poked a hole in the tag and ran a ribbon through it.
Making the large bow is very similar to the directions in my small gumpaste bow tutorial. However, instead of 2 loops and a middle piece you will need approximately 16 loops. If you look at the picture you will notice that the loops on the bottom are long and skinny and as you move towards the top of the bow they get more rounded. Keep this in mind when you prepare them for drying.
***Decorator's Tip*** Once all of your loops are dry your bow is ready to be assembled. Use a 2 inch circle of gumpaste as the base of your bow. This will help hold it together.
Step 2
Place the 10 inch cake on the cake board and ice with white icing. I decided to then cover the cake in green sugar to give it a shimmery look.
Next, place 4 dowels cut to size evenly around the middle of the cake for support. (See the tutorial for help on this step)
Finally, put the 4 inch cake on the cake divider and ice with red icing. Then, place this cake in the center of the 10 inch cake.
***Decorator's Tip*** Because this is only a 2 tier cake you should not need any more dowels for support but, if you are traveling with this cake you may want to hammer a sharpened dowel down the center of the stacked cakes. This will prevent the top tier from falling off.
Step 3
Using tip #19 or 21 and white buttercream icing, pipe a shell boarder around the bottom of the red cake. Next, place the sugar gingerbread men around the red cake and the white chocolate snowflakes around the green cake. Scatter a few extra white chocolate snowflakes around the cake board. Finally, place the tag and large bow on the cake. If desired, you can write a message on the tag with the tube of black premade icing and tip #3.
***Decorator's Tip*** If you are traveling with this cake, you may want to wait to place the tag, bow and extra snowflakes on the cake.
To make this cake you will need...
Betty Crocker Bake 'n Fill Cake Pan (or a large and small Wilton Ball Pan)
2 large half ball cakes and 2 small ball inserts (when you read the directions, this will make sense)
7-8 cupcakes
large rectangular cake board or foam board
plastic shopping bags
small dowel or lollipop stick
1 large sharpened dowel
plastic wrap
tip #5
fondant icing
gumpaste (brown and orange)
white buttercream icing
1 tube of pre-made black icing
coconut shavings
Directions
Step 1
A few days in advance make the brown stick arms and orange nose out of gumpaste. Before the nose dries be sure to stick a small dowel or lollipop stick in the back.
***Decorator's Tip*** You can use colored gumpaste to make these pieces or use white gumpaste and airbrush the color on.
Step 2
To make the hills on the cake board, crumble up the plastic bags and tape them down on the cake board. Then cover the entire board with plastic wrap and ice with white buttercream icing. Finally, sprinkle the coconut shavings around the board to give the effect of fallen snow.
***Decorator's Tip*** Be sure to leave the area where the snowman will sit completely flat. If he is tilting just a little he could fall over.
Step 3
Bake 2 half ball cakes and 2 small half ball inserts. With the Betty Crocker Pan you have a small ball baking inside a large ball. The small ball is supposed to act as a filler for the large ball and it is baked this way so that all of the cake cooks evenly.
You will need to use the small inserts for the body so that the cake has proper support. The 2 extra inserts you bake will become the head of the snowman.
Step 4
Place all of the ball halves together to make 1 large and 1 small ball and ice with white buttercream icing.
The easiest way to ice a ball cake is to ice the bottom first, place it on the board, then ice the top. Follow these steps for both the large and small cakes. Once the cakes are iced and stacked, immediately hammer a sharpened dowel through the center of the snowman.
***Decorator's Tip*** For added support, trim off a small amount of cake from the top of the large ball and the bottom of the small ball. Also try to slightly hammer the dowel into the cake board.
Step 5
Decorate the snowman.
To make the scarf, roll out red fondant and cut a long rectangle and two small rectangles. These smaller rectangles will be the small hanging pieces of the scarf and should be placed on first. Pleat one end of the small rectangles and place them off to one side of the snowman. Next, take the long rectangle piece and wrap it around the neck of the snowman. Make sure to leave the seam in the back.
***Decorator's tip*** The imprints on the cake were made using the fondant decorative punch set like the one below but do not press all the way through the fondant.
To make the hat, roll out red fondant and cut a large semi-circle. Fold the semi-circle to make a cone shape and place it on the snowman's head. To make the fluffy white rim, ice with buttercream icing then, lightly press your spatula into the icing and pull away. You can also add a ball to the tip of your hat with buttercream icing.
To make the face, pipe on the eyes and mouth using the black tube of icing and tip #5. Finally, add the nose and arms to the cake.
Step 5
Make the presents.
Ice the cupcakes and cover them in fondant. To decorate you can cover them in colored fondant or airbrush white fondant to the desired color.
To get the stripes on my presents I brushed stripes of water onto the fondant and rolled them in green decorating sugar.
Finally, stack the presents to your liking.
Now these are some great boots! These Naughty Monkey Haute Rocker boots are my next holiday pick. The boots pictured here are leather with a side zipper and a 3 3/4 inch heel. Click here for some great deals on these boots.
As always, I am always asking myself, can I make that out of cake? I know that you can definitely make a high heal shoe out of cake so I think that, with the proper support, this boot can be done. CakeCentral.com has a great tutorial on making gumpaste shoes. If you are looking for an affordable alternative to these boots then go for it! Make these out of cake.
Click here for more of my holiday picks.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
As always, I am always asking myself, can I make that out of cake? I know that you can definitely make a high heal shoe out of cake so I think that, with the proper support, this boot can be done. CakeCentral.com has a great tutorial on making gumpaste shoes. If you are looking for an affordable alternative to these boots then go for it! Make these out of cake.
Click here for more of my holiday picks.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
This cake is a great idea for any winter holiday party and it is very easy to make. This particular cake was made for my sister's birthday (she loves flamingos). A few years later I made a similar cake for a Christmas party (click here to see the guide). It is basically a square cake covered in fondant and topped with a gumpaste bow. Here are some tutorials to help you while you wait for my Christmas Present Cake Guide.
How to Cover a Cake in Fondant
How to Make a Gumpaste Bow
To help you get into the holiday spirit while you are decorating, play some of your Christmas favorites on the radio. Click here for tons of affordable gifts and Christmas music. There are books, piano music, and CDs here too. These make great Christmas gifts because they are cheap and will help create memories for years to come.
Find more of my holiday gift ideas here.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
My next gift recommendation is the popular Zhu Zhu pet. Every year there is one item that kids go crazy for and this year it is the Zhu Zhu pet. I'm not sure I understand why. To me they look like rats but if the kids want them, they can have them. Zhu Zhu pets have all kinds of accessories like a hampstermobile, garage, blanket and tunnels. Click here for some great deals.
As far as turning this into cake...it looks like a football with fur. Follow my instructions for making a football cake. Then, instead of icing it smooth, use a grass tip to give the appearance of fur.
Click here to see more gift recommendations.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Read more »
As far as turning this into cake...it looks like a football with fur. Follow my instructions for making a football cake. Then, instead of icing it smooth, use a grass tip to give the appearance of fur.
Click here to see more gift recommendations.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
In celebration of the holiday season, I have decided to put together a mini gift guide. Some of these items will be cake related, some will not. My first holiday pick was the Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker. You can find all of my recommendations here. Today I would like to share with you the Twilight Barbie Dolls. As you can see below, Barbie has made an Edward and Bella doll from the movie 'New Moon.' These dolls will make a great gift for any Barbie collector. Click here for some great deals.
If you are on a budget this year, like many of us are, a Barbie cake is a great alternative. Check out our guide to making dolls out of cake.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Read more »
If you are on a budget this year, like many of us are, a Barbie cake is a great alternative. Check out our guide to making dolls out of cake.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
The Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker is a great gift for the little cake decorator in your family. This cupcake maker reminds me of the Easy Bake Oven. You simply make the cupcake in the microwave (only takes 30 seconds) then use the stand/icing dispenser to decorate. Girl Gourmet offers icing, mix, and decoration refills. They even have an ice cream sandwich maker! When I found this item at Shop.com, it made me wish I was a little girl again. I would have loved a gift like this when I was younger.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Thank you to www.Shop.com for sponsoring this product recommendation. The opinions expressed are completely my own. I would not recommend a product I did not believe in.
Yes! to Cookies is a new company that makes cookies with zero sugar, zero starch, zero glycemic index, and zero digested carbs. I know what you're thinking, "all those zeros, how can these cookies possibly taste good?" Am I right? Well I'm here to tell you that they actually do taste good. Now, of course they aren't going to taste like the sugar filled cookies you are used to but for a diet cookie, they are pretty darn good.
Yes! to Cookies has recently given me the opportunity to sample their Cocoa-licious and Strawberry-Banana Blitz cookies. I have to say, the Strawberry-Banana Blitz was my favorite. I heated them up in the microwave for a few seconds and it improved the taste even more.
In 2 cookies (1 serving),there is only 90 Calories, 5g of fat and a whopping 7g of fiber. Fore those of you on Weight Watchers, that is roughly 1 point per serving! If you are on a low carb diet, 2 cookies contain 22g of carbohydrates, 0 of which are digested. The best part...0g of sugar! Zero sugar comes with zero digestive problems, unlike the no sugar products and artificial sweeteners we are used to.
These cookies are also great for anyone with diabetes, gluten allergies, autism, ADHD, and gestational diabetes. I was excited to read that these cookies are great for children with Autism. Because doctors recommend these children be placed on a gluten free and casein free diet, they do not get to enjoy cookies like other children. Now they have a healthy and safe alternative.
Yes! to Cookies has a website, www.yestocookies.com, filled with health information. I recommend checking out this site and learning more about these cookies.
To purchase these cookies or a box of mix to make them yourself visit www.yestocookies.com and place your order. Even better, you can enter to win 2 boxes of pre-made cookies and 2 boxes of cookie mix here! Scroll down and enter to win over $50 in prizes!
The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. I was not influenced in anyway and reviewed these cookies free of charge.
Yes! to Cookies Giveaway
This giveaway is open to all US residents. All entries will be accepted until 11:59PM on Wednesday December 16, 2009. All questions marked with a star are required to enter the contest. All extra entries will be checked before they qualify.
The winner will receive a gift pack (over $50 value) containing the following:
1 pack of ready to eat Cocoa-licious Cookies
1 pack of ready to eat Strawberry-Banana Blitz Cookies
1 box of Cocoa-licious Cookie Mix
1 box of Strawberry-Banana Blitz Cookie Mix
Good luck!
Custom Cake Guides
