Smile for the Camera!

The face of sweet success.

  IT WORKED! You have no idea how excited and relieved I am that this worked! *happydance*
Everyone loved the cakes and not a crumb was left in the end!

  I really have not much else to say on this subject other than that. I'm still just completely ecstatic over that smiley face.

 I am definitely going to make it again.


Here are pictures of the 3 cakes.

Patchwork Cake (had the smiley)

Chocolate Strawberry Delight

Apple Blossom Basket

=)

Donald Duck

                                                   Cake 2 of 5 is done!

I'm really excited to deliver this cake!

  It's a Lemon Cake with White Chocolate ganache-like frosting covered in Fondant. (the easel is made of wood dowels)
  Mirjam, the person this is for, loves art and especially Donald Duck! She's a great artist and her duck versions of other people are really quite amazing. I'll see if I can get a photo up of one of her works sometime.
  I have one regret with this cake recipe... I can't eat it (eggs) or else I would make myself some cupcakes. D=  It's a fabulous fabulous recipe. The lemon-iest cake, such strong flavor! Luckily I can eat the delicious leftovers of the frosting. =)
  I've gotta say, if you ever get the chance to 'paint splatter' a cake, do it! It's a blast. You may come out of it a bit colorful but that's half the fun!

Lemon Cake
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 large lemon
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice.

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)  Butter, or spray with a nonstick spray pan. 

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

  Add the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice. Mix only until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Bake about 40 -45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Recipe from -> joyofbaking)

---White Chocolate (ganache-like) Buttercream
1 cup butter (softened)

12 ounces white chocolate (melted)

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Using a mixer blend butter and vanilla together. Melt chocolate and add to the butter+vanilla. Blend the sugar into the mix. Will be a thin consistency. If wanting it thicker stick it in the fridge for an hour or so.

(Recipe from -> foodandwine)

(I'm not exactly sure how much sugar I used, quite a lot more than the original recipe called for, {1 cup} It all depends on what consistency you want)

---

Enjoy! =)

5

 That is how many cakes I will have made come Wednesday October 11th. It's probably a record of cakes for others. Not counting that crazy giant cake I made last year for the Eagle Tv anniversary. (Six extra large sheet cakes!)

  I've already made one of those cakes, that being the Sugar+Dairy free one from my last post. 

  The second will be for my dear friend Mirjam who's birthday is this Thursday. I'm not completely positive how this one is going to look, though it is definitely going to have an art+duck theme. Now as for the other 3...

  At Among Mongolia, where my dad works, each month they have day where all the birthdays of that month are celebrated and since we are leaving for Japan to visit my sister soon they chose this next wednesday to have their little celebration. There are over 50 employees working there, thus giving reason to the three other cakes. These three I haven't a clue of what to do with them yet but one thing I do know I will do... A hidden smiley face in the middle to surprise them when they cut into it! I'll use the same method that IAmBaker used for her St. Patrick's Day Cake.

  Even though I'm not completely set on anything except the flavors and random smileys, I'm getting quite excited about the rest of these 7 days since I'll finally have something to do during the day!

This is that giant cake I spoke of.
(right) Me. (left) Natalie.

Here it is... my latest allergy baking challenge to date.
  I volunteered to make a birthday cake for a friend who is lactose intolerant, and doesn't eat sugar. o_o
Luckily I have another awesome friend who happened to have the perfect recipe lying about for me to use.
  This recipe makes the thickest batter. Think carrot cake batter is thick? You could make cookies with this stuff! (Which isn't a bad idea really.)
  The baking went without a hitch and the cake came out perfect. Though finding the right frosting to go along presented itself to be a bit of a challenge....
   With all the credit going to mom for finding the recipe I set to making a cream cheese icing.
  Now wait a minute... doesn't cream cheese have dairy? Yes. Yes it does. Little genius me, being to excited about actually finding a sugar free icing recipe I didn't really stop to think about the other more important banned ingredient. Of course when I finally realized my blunder several of the ingredients had already been added to the bowl. So I ended up making it anyway and storing for a later occasion.
  After slight panicking on my part again my amazing mother comes to the rescue and finds yet another recipe. This time, a sugar and dairy free honey-cinnamon glaze. (This stuff is fabulous) Though I must confess I got a little sick of handling so much honey. I'd used up two jars by the time I was finished with everything! 
  So, it all got done and for a third time the mom helps by suggesting I bring the cream cheese icing in a separate container for those who can have dairy. (genius!) I'm very glad I did this. Several people after having it with their cake just spooned it onto their plates to eat on its own!
  I'm quite happy with the way it all turned out. Sadly I don't have any pictures, but for this cake a picture wouldn't have done it justice. The beauty wasn't in the decorating for this one, it was all in the taste.
---
Apple-Honey-Cinnamon Cake (Dairy and Sugar Free)
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of margarine 
2 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 cups of diced apples
3/4 tsp of vanilla

Cream the honey, butter, and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix. Mix in the apples and the vanilla. Bake at 170C for about 20 minutes. 
---
Cream Cheese Icing (Sugar Free)

(This is a thing icing at room temp.)

1 package cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup honey (or less, depends on your sweet tooth)

Blend together in a bowl until creamy smooth.

---

Honey-Cinnamon Glaze (Dairy and Sugar Free)

1 1/2 cups honey

3/4 cup water

1tbsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Let cool for a few minutes then after poking a few holes in the top of cake with a fork coat it with the glaze using a pastry brush.

Enjoy! =)

(P.S This recipe is also perfect for muffins!)

It's been a while.

I know I haven't posted in a while... sorry about that.

I'll try to be better. Promise!

----

  This is a square cake, square cakes are evil. Really, just evil. frosting is a pain and covering in fondant is ridiculous. I'm sure I'll get the hang of them eventually but for now I shall hold a grudge.  --- This cake is just a 'for fun' cake I made late saturday night for the college group at Church. (Oh did I mention I'm back in Arizona?.. yeahhh)
I didn't just make that one cake though... noooo.. Stefani thought we would need more than a double 6in square. Here is the other cake..

  Yay for edible marker ink! =D This was not just my first time dealing with those tricky corners but also with trying out edible markers! They were awesome! Though you do have to be gentle since fondant is soft. Also, first time making a fondant bird. No, the owls from my birthday don't count, they were cake. This bird turned out looking something like a little duck, though it was supposed to be a Sparrow. It's a kind of Sparrow-Duck.. Durrow perhaps? o.O 

                                              Yep, definitely a Durrow.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
                     Matthew 10:29-31

Photography

I really like photography. Especially photographing people and really cool places inanimate objects. So along with the cupcakes I made the other day I took one of the less creepy ones and decided to experiment with my cupcake photography skills.

              Like it? I am also experimenting with the edit button in my iphoto. =)

Here's the same cupcake, different angle..

                                          Which one do you like better?

Are You My Mummy?

If you got the reference in the post title then you should be able to deduce that...
I am a geek, yes, I admit it a very big geek. :)

I LOVE Doctor Who, love it to bits! Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show. Don't worry I'll save you the long winded explanation of the show, I'll just give you a short one! It's pretty much a show about a 900some year old alien called the Doctor who travels through space and time with his human companions causing all kinds of havoc throughout the universe. That's the basics.

Now, in my opinion, one of the scariest episodes involves a zombie...a little boy zombie... a little boy gas mask zombie... in world war II. Don't judge it before you've seen it.

So, this week I will be having a Doctor Who marathon with some friends and being the baking Whovian that I am, I felt the need to make this....

And these...

                        
                                                Are you my mummy?

Click To Add Text

This is one of the four Ulaanbaater Homeschool Co-op short film productions. This movie was made by The team of- Simon, Mirjam, Wesley, Joseph, Kate, Anujin, Rachel, and myself.
Enjoy!

One Man Disney Movie (Nick Pitera)

I just had to post this, it's so darn awesome and funny!

 This guy's voice is amazing!

Eighteen!

 My 18th birthday was last week, crazy. As being someone who is infatuated with cake design I had to make my own birthday cake. I mean, who makes their own birthday cake right? =)
 The original plan was to have a mini tiered cake with a fondant peacock sitting on top with the feathers cascading down the side of the cake. I got the cake recipe from my friend. (Egg free, oh yeah!) I had never made this recipe before and of course it was going to backfire on me! So instead of ending up with 3 6in cakes I found myself with two ruined layers, broken apart, and one thin pathetic excuse for a cake layer. So what do I do? Make little cake balls shaped like owls!

 The one with the glasses is me.

 I tried giving them wings but it was far to frustrating to get them just right so they are the purple wingless owls of some random far away land no one has ever heard of.

                                                     The whole gang.

'Wacky' Cake Recipe-
3 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
6 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tsp Vanilla
2/3 Cup Oil
2 Cups Hot Water

Just mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and pour into greased and floured cake pans and then bake in preheated oven at 350 F

ENJOY! =D

Yellow Rose

This is a yellow mmf rose for a simple cake I made for Church a few weeks ago, first time using cutters for a rose. =)

Apple Pie Cookies & Sugar Glaze

Last night I was Skype messaged by my sister informing me that I should make Apple Pie Cookies and not use a recipe but make my own. I haven't experimented much with inventing recipes but I decided to give it a go.

I'll probably adjust the recipe a bit the next time like add an egg yolk, since they came out a bit on the chewy side (not gooeychewy) the chewy chewy kind of way that is slightly strange tasting. (Am I making sense?) Overall I guess I like how they turned out. The Chocolate PeanutButter Cookie recipe I created was much better though. (:


Apple Pie Cookies with Sugar Glaze
2 Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Milk
1 Large Chopped Apple
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Salt
1/8 Tsp Baking Soda
1/8 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Tsp Vanilla
Pinch of Honey
1/8 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Cinnamon
---
Cream together in mixing bowl Milk, Butter, Brown Sugar, Sugar, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Vanilla, Honey, Salt, Nutmeg, and Cinnamon.
Fold in Chopped Apple pieces.
Mix in the Flour.
Drop onto greased pan or baking sheet. (I suggest you flour your finger and push the dough down a bit.)
Bake for approximately 15-20 min. or until light brown.  (350 degrees)
While the cookies are baking mix about 3tbs milk with 1 cup powdered sugar.
Drizzle over cooled cookies.
(This makes a little over 2 dozen cookies.)

Birthday Cupcakes

Yesterday was my mothers birthday! :) And of course, I could not think for the life of me what I could get her... so I made some cupcakes.

Aren't they absolutely adorable?!

These are Strawberry cupcakes filled and frosted with whipped frosting, Mmmm. Sadly, these are not allergy friendly. They were a box mix. I'm told they were delicious though. ;)

I had wanted to make one of the cupcakes special, just for my mom. So I made a fondant rose, intending to only make one. Well, once my mom saw what the rose looked like on the cupcake I was told that I have to make them for ALL the cupcakes. So away I went making 15 fondant roses by hand. (no tools)

This one was my favorite. (:

Happy Birthday Mom, You're the best. Love you! (:

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Lately I've been discovering that most types of cookies that require whole eggs will survive with just the egg yolk! This recipe called for several teaspoons of orange peel and that is on the list of allergies so out it went.

This recipe is fabulous, but I'm probably just saying that because I love white chocolate.

The original recipe called for Nestle White Chips but seeing as I'm in Asia, that makes getting things like that nearly impossible. So I bought a bar of white chocolate and chopped that up in replacement.

I used a cookie scoop, oh my goodness I love it!!! I can not begin to tell you how much uneven sized cookies bother me!

They were scrumptious! You can tell beneath the pretty ones that a few were baked a tad longer than intended.

Recipe-
2 1/2  cups flour
3/4  tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/2  cup sugar
1/2  cup (packed) brown sugar
1 egg
approx. 2 cups of white chocolate

Bake for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven at 350 degrees F until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes, and enjoy!