Happy 9th Birthday Dylan!

Yellow Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting and Fondant #9

"New Jersey" Black & White Cookies!

For New Yorkers, Black & White cookies are a dietary staple. I've been on a quest to find the perfect recipe so I could make them at home. This one is really close - I'm almost there. The icing is perfect but the cookie is a little thin and they turned out in an oval shape, not round. I'm calling this a "New Jersey" Black & White Cookie...so close but not quite an authentic NY Black & White!

Here's the recipe:

For cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

For icings:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Make cookies:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed (scraping down side of bowl occasionally), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes.

Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack and chill (to cool quickly), about 5 minutes.

Make icings while cookies chill: Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as white icing.

Ice cookies: Turn cookies flat sides up, then spread white icing over half of each and chocolate over other half.

Enjoy!

Take Me To Your Leader.....

So here's my first crack at using my new KopyKake projector. I had less than an hour to play around with it today. I'm pretty happy with how my LGM's ("Little Green Men") turned out considering I was rushing. I can't wait to try it again!

Toy Story 3 Release - The Countdown Begins!!

My son's first love is Thomas the Train, but Buzz Lightyear is a close second. With only a few more weeks left until the release of Toy Story 3 on June 18th, my little space ranger is getting excited!

We've been playing into his excitement by watching Toy Story 1 & 2 over again, taking a trip to Toys R Us and looking at all the new character's action figures and I even bought him the Toy Story 3 "Operation" game. Remember the old game where you carefully pull out body parts from the clown with a red nose...careful! Don't get zapped! Well, it's the same game, just with Buzz Lightyear instead of the clown.

Today I decided to make a Buzz Lightyear cake. Oooh it's red velvet cake (my favorite!). Stay tuned for some "LGM" cookies! That's "Little Green Men" if you didn't know! To infinity and beyond................

Nurse's Graduation Cake!

Vanilla Cake, Cannoli Filling, Buttercream Icing, Fondant Decoration!

Serves 60

Another Thomas Party!

Yellow Cake with Buttercream Icing!

Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Happy 4th Birthday Devin!

Hello LUV-VAH!

Most women get excited over a new pair of shoes or a new handbag...for me, cake/cookie decorating supplies get me giddy like a schoolgirl.

After almost one whole month of waiting, it has finally arrived! My new 300XK KopyKake Projector!

I wish I had time to play around with it, but I have a busy upcoming weekend. Stay tuned next week for some fun stuff!!

Nurse Cookies!

This weekend my cousin is graduating from nursing school, so I had to whip up some cookies for her graduation celebration!

Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing.

I made the tags too!

Congrats Nurse Gabby! xox

A Night at the Races: An Update!

A few days ago I blogged about some horseshoe cookies I made for my friend Tanya at Save the Date for Cupcakes. Tanya put together a dessert table for a fundraiser with horse racing theme and she asked me to make horseshoe cookies to match some cupcake toppers. Well today she posted pictures of her creative tablescape (which is fabulous!) and she featured a picture of my cookies along with the rest of her goodies!! Great job Tanya and thanks for the shout-out! :o)

Ryan's Thomas Cake: On the Inside!

Ok, before I reveal the inside of the Thomas cake, I have to show you a few pix of my birthday boy....

We had a wonderful day and Ryan had a blast with all of his best buddies!



















Here it is... I call it the "Kaleidoscope Cake"....



Pretty trippy right?


Stay tuned for a tutorial!........







These were the pieces of the cake that I carved out of the sheet cake to make the "4". Of course I couldn't let them go to waste...so we put some more candles on top and sang "Happy Birthday" one more time!

Happy 4th Birthday Ryan! xox

Ryan's 4th Birthday Cake: Thomas Train!

Ryan requested another Thomas Train themed birthday...no surprise.

I made this cake once before for a friend's son but it was a night time winter scene, with a midnight blue background and snow drifts.

This one I had to make for springtime....lots more colorful and fun!

It is what I call a "Kaleidoscope Cake" with Buttercream Frosting and Fondant Train Track.

What is a "kaleidoscope cake"? Stay tuned for pictures of the inside of the cake....... :o)

"A Night at the Races" Cookies!

So my fab friend Tanya over at Save The Date for Cupcakes is putting together a dessert table for a fundraiser with a "Night at the Races" theme. You know...Kentucky Derby, horses, fancy hats, MINT JULEPS!! LOL! Anyway, she asked me to make some horseshoe cookies to match some toppers she made for her cupcakes.

<-----------These!

And this is what I came up with!

Can't wait to see Tanya's finished table... It will be awesome, I'm sure!!

Thomas the Train Cookies!

My son's 4th birthday is this weekend and he requested a Thomas Train theme for his party.



Happy Birthday Ryan! xox








Can you guess the shape of the cutter I used?

Mother's Day Mini Cakes!

Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake with Buttercream Filling and Fondant Decoration

Each cake serves 2-3

Communion Doll Cake!

Bottom Layer: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake
Dress: Strawberry Cake

Buttercream layer and all fondant decoration.

Mother's Day Cookies!

Vanilla Sugar Cookie with Royal Icing

Sadie's Cake - The Inside!