Debut at the Zionsville Farmers Market!

I will be at the Zionsville Farmers Market this weekend (13 June)!
I am baking up a storm getting ready, so come hungry!

I'm planning on bringing, cookies, cakes, some cupcakes and muffins for morning treats!

I am also going to offer 'free personalization' for cookies!
I'm so excited - wish me luck!

'Cars' Brithday

This was for my nephew's 'Cars' themed birthday - my son was going crazy wanting the cake for himself! Rather than try to make red fondant, I decided to paint the side. I liked the texture that this added. Since my sister-in-law liked the idea of chocolate and vanilla cake, I pulled out the ol' checkerboard pan. (note that the chocolate cake batter should be made by adding chocolate to the white cake batter, otherwise the batters have different densities and the checker pattern won't stay straight.)

I was really pleased with the cake, before the hot car got a hold of it. I haven't had a cake sag and bulge on me in over a year (get cocky - get trouble)! oh well, the birthday boy loved it, and it tasted great which is really all that matters!

[the 'Cars' are toys]

Looking Fabulous at 50!

For a surprise birthday party.

I just loved the invites(upper right)! These were so much fun to make! I scaled up the invite and hand cut the dress and purse cookies. For the shoes, I went to a shoe website and copied some images of black pumps. I hand cut those as well. I've always wanted to make these type of cookies.

In addition to the cookies, I made 'two-bite' brownies. These are topped first with milk chocolate ganache, then fondant bows and Royal Icing deco-discs.

Cupcake Guts

I fill almost all of my cupcakes (I think that this makes mine special), but most people don't really know what to expect. So, here you go!

I made cupcakes for my church group the other day and I actually remembered to cut one and take a picture! Vanilla White cake, Black Raspberry Buttercream filling, Chocolate Meringue Buttercream icing.

Daisy Garden

Five dozen mini cupcakes with buttercream daisies. White cake, my favorite meringue buttercream for the flowers, and a sprinkle of sugar crystals for sparkle. This was for a dessert table at a graduation party. It's been a while since I've made buttercream flowers, but together, they make a colorful statement! (oh, and Yum!)

Mod-Mom Baby Shower cookies

These were for a teacher at my daughter's school. The baby shower invitations were Mod Mom style. I made an assortment of several styles and sizes. Per request, they were limited to three colors and simple design. I've done the shoes, onzies, bib and bottle before in different color variations. I copied the invitation for the pregnant mom cookie, and I made some buttons to fill out the number of 'mini' cookies. (the button hole and laces came from a fabulous cookie designer on CakeCentral, SweetDreamsAT) I made so many variations that I had trouble choosing which to put together for the photo, so here are more:

Soccer Snacks - Take Two

My daughter's soccer games were rained out, so I made fresh cookies for our make-up games this weekend. I had more time, so I felt like the came out a little better. I didn't feel like mixing up the grey this time, and actually liked them better without the grey outlines.

For the next game, I decided to change it up a bit and make chocolate covered pretzel rods. Since they were the "Ladybugs," made little Royal Icing ladybugs to put on them along with the pink sprinkles. I haven't done a lot with chocolate and it took a little trial and error, but in the end they were a big hit!

(for those wanting to make some, I used the Wilton large squeeze bottle for candy making. I filled it with chocolate, and dipped the pretzel rod in. I also squeezed the bottle to push the chocolate up higher on the pretzel. if someone has some advise on making these - I'd love to hear it! I love doing it but I'm not very experienced with chocolate)