ahoy it's a boy!

A friend of mine is about to have a baby and about a week ago I made some cookies and a cake for her shower. Another friend of mine was the one throwing the shower and it was adorable. Here is the invitation:

 The party was just perfect, down to the last detail.

 She even made that tabletop out of old pallets! (it's just resting on top of her normal table)

these spoons were just too adorable...

Karen looks so pretty! When I had only a month left to go I definitely didn't look this good.

 Here is my cake - the gradient (or ombre {please do not pronounce that "om-bray"! ...sorry, pet peeve of mine}) color was a bit of an experiment. I wasn't sure how it would look with the color fading diagonally but I like it! If there's any interest I'll definitely do a tutorial on how I did it! The texture ended up looking a bit like fish scales... which is just as well with the theme! But I'm not sure anyone was paying attention once it was served... chocolate cake with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream and vanilla buttercream on the outside. SO. GOOD. Or at least I felt that way! Though I'm guessing I'm not the only one, based on the rate at which it disappeared!

Here's a closeup of the cookies hanging up...

 So congrats Karen, happy baby-making and all of that! I wish you an early delivery (because seriously what pregnant woman wants to drag that last month out any longer than necessary). She's due the same day as my sister... whose shower I never really took photos of since I was the one actually hosting it! I'll have to see if I can scrape together enough photos to do a post on that one because it was so much fun! In the meantime, one last shot of these sweet little whales...

a pirate birthday

New Year's Eve is coming... and in this house that pretty much means only one thing: little m is having a birthday!  While planning out what kind of cake to make for the big 1, I realized I never put up pictures from big M's birthday. I can't post about Miles before I get to Matthew, so here's a quick look at the cake and cookie topper I made for this adorable face....

So cute, I can hardly stand it.

He specially wanted a pirate party this year... which amounted to a pirate cake and making everyone wear eye patches. As it was mostly grownups at his party, it was pretty entertaining! 

I knew I didn't have time to make a bunch of cookies so instead I went for one big one. It has two sticks attached to it that are stuck in the cake for support.

In case you couldn't tell, he was pretty pleased with his cake!

I've got another party to plan so no lengthy explanations here... just a cookie stuck on top of a cake. And Matthew couldn't have been more excited... Easiest. Cake. Ever. Clearly I didn't even bother to make the frosting neat... I figure ocean waves are choppy, and Matthew is 4. We're good.

 

 Now on to the little one...

 

snowy christmas trees

One of the first sets of cookies I ever decorated were Christmas cookies. I did a set of Christmas trees and even then I knew they weren't exactly great. I'm pretty sure I was over thinking the design. I felt like I had to think of some fancy design which of course means my mind went completely blank... what I have learned about myself since then is that that sort of thing is just not my style. Decorating cookies is just so much more fun when you are happy with your design!

Because of that first set I've shied away from trees ever since. This year I had to give them another try, and I'm much happier with the result. Simple, and they remind me of snowy Christmases in New Hampshire. I always feel the need to add some slight variety in but, instead of over complicating it this time I just chose a variety of tree shapes and did the same design on each...

As you can see there is a break between each layer of tree. If you let the icing dry a few minutes in between, you'll end up with that small ridge. I like the layered effect it gives the trees.

The snow was done with white icing, and then dusted with regular sugar. I used regular baking sure instead of decorative sugar because, at least to me, it gives the snow a slightly more powdery look. Decorative sugar is just too grainy looking in my opinion.  

This is the sort of feel I hoped to achieve...

not sure if I did, but I'm happy.  

And on another note, I get people asking me about deep colors in the icing. As Christmas colors are particularly difficult ones to mix (red and dark green) I thought I'd talk a little about that! I'd like to do a post just about that sometime, but until then I'll say this: mix them ahead of time. If you mix red with the intention of  using it immediately, you will have to use practically an entire bottle of color. If you mix it with the intention of using it tomorrow or the day after, you can make a sort of salmon-y pink color and then just let it sit and it will deepen over time. This goes for all colors especially reds, greens, and blues. Black of course is the same, but if you want a decent black that actually tastes good then there is only one answer: CHOCOLATE. I never - ever - make black icing that isn't chocolate. But more on that another time.

More to come tomorrow!

coconut buttercream frosting - and a wedding cake!

My baby brother got married! I actually already talked about that in this post here, but that was the actual wedding in Idaho. Their reception was out here in Washington since this is where they are both from. I made the cake and about 17 dozen cookies for their reception. That, along with a couple other orders, is why I was so busy last week!

 According to Tommy (my brother). neither him or Carly are big cake fans. Because of this they didn't want regular cake, so they decided on pound cake with Coconut buttercream frosting. That, my friends, is a whole lot of pound cake! It was so good - but rich!

For transportation reasons, I had to keep the tiers separate and

assemble/finish the cake when I got there...

And of course I got there late, so I was rushing to get things done! As my sister says... that's what happens when you try on 4 different dresses and can't decide what to wear! It's true. In the end I just went with something that matched my boots because I just had to wear them... I wish I'd gotten pictures of those!

I had a helper though, so that sped things up was completely adorable but a major time waster! It's hard to get things done with a two year old trying to swipe a taste of frosting.

He is too cute to be upset with though!
Thankfully Grandpa swooped in and saved the day cake.

People were starting to arrive as I was finishing, but I think I did alright!

Tommy said they wanted a "homey" looking cake... I'm not sure exactly what that means... or if I should be offended that they came to me to produce something "homey"... but he's my brother so I suppose I'll give him the benefit of the doubt!

 Aren't they cute? Here they are exchanging their rings.

Carly just looks so pretty here!

Cutting the cake... you can see from these pictures that as wedding cakes go, this one is on the smaller side. They didn't want anything too big so the largest tier, on the bottom, is just 12 inches.

 They donned aprons while serving the cake - naturally my brother wore the girly one!

 So how about a recipe? The coconut buttercream frosting is just wonderful! Again, it's very rich - especially when paired with the pound cake - but so amazing!

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Coconut Buttercream

3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. coconut extract
3 tablespoons water
6 cups powdered sugar (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter.
2. Add coconut and water .
3. Gradually add sugar, a little at at a time, until all of the sugar is
incorporated. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl often.
Continue to beat until icing is light and fluffy.

* Refrigerated in an airtight container, icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.
* This recipe makes enough to fill and ice a standard two 8" or 9" round layers, or three 6" round layers.

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 I've got wedding cookies to show you guys too, those will hopefully be up tomorrow! In the meantime I'll leave you with this beautiful picture my mom took of the reception hall... I'll have to find more pictures of the reception itself, it was so pretty!

strawberry swiss meringue buttercream

 I've got some more cookies to show you guys, but as the cookies have not yet been delivered (and I like to surprise the recipients) I won't be posting them up until tomorrow! In the meantime I thought I'd post another recipe. For those few of you who read my personal blog, you'll recognize this as a repeat. This recipe is one of my most popular and requested, so I had to share it anyway! 

When I first saw this recipe, I dismissed it as something I would probably never take the time to make because at first glance it sounded difficult and too time consuming to make (of course, this was before I started baking to the degree I do now). I eventually ended up giving it a try because... well, it sounded good! And WOW, is it good. It's light and fluffy, and just the right amount of sweet. It's also much stiffer than it appears which makes it great for filling cakes.

 

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1  1/4 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup egg whites

2  1/2 (1  1/4 cup) sticks butter, softened

1/4 cup strawberry puree

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together sugar and egg whites.

2. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water. Whisking constantly, heat until all the sugar crystals have dissolved and the mixture is hot. Get it as hot as you can, being careful not to cook the eggs.

3. Put the bowl back in the electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture forms a stiff meringue and the bottom of the bowl comes to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

4. Stop the mixer and replace the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer to low speed and add the butter, a few cubes at a time. When all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer to medium speed and beat until fluffy.

5. Set the mixer to low speed and add the strawberries. Once the strawberries are incorporated, scrape the bowl and continue to mix on medium speed until you have a smooth, creamy texture. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled, it will become smooth again with continued beating. If the buttercream is too liquid, refrigerate until completely cool, then rewhip.

A few notes about this recipe:

* You can use the buttercream immediately, store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or refrigerate it in an airtight container for ten days.

*After storing the buttercream in the fridge, you need to reconstitute it before you can use it. Bring to room temperature and beat on medium speed until smooth.

* This recipe makes enough to ice 24 cupcakes, or fill one 8" or 9" round cake.

* For vanilla flavor, replace strawberries with 3 tablespoons vanilla.

Matthew is a big fan too! He's actually a really picky eater - the only thing he never hesitates to eat is anything I offer him off of a whisk like this. He just knows its going to be good.

* In the pictures here I've paired this frosting with French vanilla cupcakes. So good.