Sports-Themed Cakes, Cookies and Cupcakes…

17 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes

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chocolate buttercream, cookies, double chocolate cake, homemade marshmallow fondant, Oreo cookie crumbles, sports balls, vanilla frosting

Whew! It’s been a busy month and I haven’t had time to post much of what I’ve been up to. So I’ve decided to lump a few of my sports-themed creations into one post…Seems like there are lots of sports enthusiasts out there!

These cakes were for twins turning 8 who both wanted a sports birthday, but liked different sports and wanted separate cakes…

Delaney’s cake is a 9″ round vanilla cake with a 6″ball on top (brown sugar caramel cake with caramel cream filling). The base cake is iced with vanilla-bean buttercream. and the grass is piped with a grass tip. The flowers are made from homemade marshmallow fondant as are the letters.

To get the look of the soccer ball, I covered the half round cake with white fondant and added the pentagon shapes cut from black fondant. I used a seam tool to make the markings and indents like a real soccer ball. I thought it came out great and it wasn’t too difficult to get the look I was going for .

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Cooper’s cake was a 10″ square double chocolate cake with marshmallow cream filling and vanilla-bean buttercream. The sports details were all made from fondant.

I used a small ball pan to make the ball cake and covered it with different colors of fondant to look like the 4 sports balls (a bit tedious, but I like the final product).

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All in all, 2 really fun (and challenging) cakes to make :0)

Happy birthday, Delany and Cooper! I really enjoyed making your cakes!

And speaking of multi-sports, here are some small 6″ cakes I made for a sports-themed birthday earlier this summer…

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The 6″cakes are chocolate, red velvet, and banana. They are frosted with vanilla-bean/chocolate buttercream with fondant details.

And one more…check out these cute softball cupcakes I made for my daughter’s team party this past June.

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The cupcakes are a mix of vanilla and chocolate with an Oreo cookie baked into each. They are smooth-iced with green buttercream and the edges are “rolled” in crushed Oreo cookies.

I then piped green grass on half of them and added a bat and ball made of fondant; the others have large fondant softballs. The stitching is drawn with edible red pen.

Ok, just one-more-one-more! Football cookies made for a sweet girl who’s flag football team won the Flag Football Super Bowl this past weekend (congrats, Sophia!).

Sports treats, always fun!!

Emoji Cookies :0)

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cookies

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cookies, emoji cookies

I made these emoji cookies first for my son’s end-of-school year party. They were so fun I’ve done them a couple of times since then…

The technique I used was wet-on-wet, which makes thing go faster as there is no drying time between colors. But it is a bit harder to get the black face features to give the expressions you want before the icing dries. As a result, every one looks different and unique.

The red hearts and blue tear drops I did add after the base coat dried…the rosy cheeks are luster dust brushed on at the end, which adds one more level of cuteness.

So fun and so many emotions to express!!

First Communion Part II…cakes, cookies, and lovely memories

11 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes

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blue velvet cake, chocolate mousse filling, cookies, cross cake, cross-shaped cookies, double chocolate cake, marshmallow fondant, religious cakes and cookies, rosette, royal icing, vanilla buttercream

I’m still trying to recover from the past 2 weeks and all of the First Holy Communion cakes and cookies I baked…not to mention helping to prepare my own sweet 8-yr-old Hannah for receiving this special sacrament.

We didn’t do the traditional first communion religious portraits that are popular in this area. But I loved the shots my husband got of her before and during the ceremony on this beautiful spring day.

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Isn’t she lovely…?

Absolutely the apple of my eye….

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Anyway, I digress….I did do a number of cakes, cookies and cupcakes that I’ll share briefly with you all.

LOVED this sweet dress cupcake cake I did for my daughter’s dear friend, Katie. Her mom had about 50 guests and wanted all white-iced rosette cupcakes with pink beads as details. I was able to fit about 40 marbled chocolate and vanilla cupcakes on the 18″x24″ board, the rest were displayed on a cupcake stand. They were filled with chocolate mousse and iced with vanilla buttercream.

Her mom had a neat Celtic cross that we added to the pink bead belt, but I didn’t get a picture with it :0(

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This cake was SO KATIE–absolutely sweet and lovely, just like her. Love this girl so much!

I just adore the rosette style cakes popular right now….they are so versatile and even works for boys’ cakes.

Speaking of, I did a rosette cross with blue fondant details for Carson’s 1st communion, along with personalized cross cookies…The cake was a 9’X13″ double-chocolate cake cut into a cross and filled with chocolate mousse filling. The banner was made of homemade marshmallow fondant hand-cut into a banner shape that I let dry for a day to keep its billowy shape. The letters were made with my tap-it letter cutters.

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I also did a few more cross cookies in pink and blue for Tessa and Gabriella.

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I made a larger version of Carson’s cross cake in blue velvet for Gabriella, but didn’t get a good picture before I sent it out the door. Things were pretty crazy around here for a few days…But here is a lovely picture of Gabriella and her half-sheet rosette cross cake at the celebration party.

Congratulations to all of these wonderfully blessed children for making their First Holy Communion! What a big day for them!

Believe it or not, I made cookies and a cake for Hannah and our small family celebration, but didn’t get a single picture. However, she didn’t seem to mind…the day was hers and she shined!!

Love you my sweet, gentle girl, so very proud of you….you’re growing up way too fast.

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1st Communion Cakes, Cookies, and Cupcakes

21 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes

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cookies, cross-shaped cookies, double chocolate cake, First communion, homemade marshmallow fondant, rosette, Sour cream vanilla cake, Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I made this cake for a daughter of a dear friend for her 1st Communion gathering last Spring. As confirmation and 1st Communion celebrations are being planned with the coming of Easter and Spring, I thought I’d share a few ideas.

This cross-shaped rosette cake is one of my favorites…simple elegance comes to mind whenever I make it. This cake was sour cream vanilla cake with vanilla-bean Swiss meringue buttercream used to pipe the delicate rosettes. If you haven’t tried Swiss meringue buttercream, it is not as sweet at traditional buttercream but much more smooth and silky, just perfect for piping rosettes. And best of all, it tastes heavenly.

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The pink banner was hand cut from homemade marshmallow fondant and left to dry draped over some rolled up paper towels to add the illusion of movement. there were also a few dozen chocolate cupcakes piped with the same rosette for the dessert table.

Here’s another 1st communion cake idea for a smaller gathering. This is an 8″ 3-layer double chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. The icing is vanilla-bean with white swirls piped on a smooth-iced buttercream cake. The crosses and lettering are cut from homemade marshmallow fondant. Simple and elegant.

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I love these delicate, blush pink cross cookies I made for a little girl’s 1st communion last Spring. They’re iced with fresh lemon Royal icing and piped with white dots and swirls.

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Here’s an idea for cupcakes with white chocolate crosses and pale blue buttercream swirls. And another 1st communion celebration double-layer sheet cake I did a few years ago. The Royal icing crosses and cornelli lace piping details really dress up an ordinary half-sheet cake.

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It’s always such a treat for me to creat these special sweets for such milestone events. Congrats to all the 1st communion and confirmation candidates out there!

Custom Packaging

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Laurie in Cookies, Cupcakes, Muffins

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cookies, Cupcake, custom packaging, muffins, Personalized packaging

A plastic cup and glassine bag with a ribbon are just the trick for packaging individual cupcakes, muffins, or cookies. Tags can be created with a personalized message.