Previous Posts

October and baking with pumpkin go hand in hand. From pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to pumpkin pie, I'm always searching for a new pumpkin recipe. So you can imagine how excited I was when I got Martha Stewart's cookie of the day email with this recipe for Chocolate pumpkin swirl brownies. I gave the recipe a whirl on the weekend, but wasn’t thrilled by the results. Although the pumpkin portion of the brownie was moist, the chocolate portion was a bit to dry for my liking. If I try making these again, I'll tweak the recipe to make the pumpkin and chocolate is moist and gooey like a brownie should be!

Apple pie anyone? 09/24/2010

I experimented on the weekend by baking two apple pies. One using local apple farm apples and the other using apples from my tree. Our apple tree produces very tart, green apples that are normally riddled with worms and bugs. But this year, I thought I would try and see if they were worth baking with. I picked the biggest and nicest apples I could find and went ahead and peeled and cored them.

I baked the second apple pie as a backup, but I really didn’t need to. I added ½ cup more sugar into my homegrown apple pie and it was delicious! The tart apples really made a nice filling. Next experiment….homemade applesauce!!!

Buzzzzzzzzzzzz 08/23/2010

I admit my fondant bumblebees turned out really well, but I wasn't to impressed with my buttercream piping. I can certainly tell when I'm pressed for time. I had wanted to make elaborate flowers for the bees to hover over, but I ran out of time. They can't all be perfect, now can they?

The bumblebees did look really cute 'flying' over the cupcake. I simply used a toothpick to position the bumblebees. Now to redeem myself, I must make more flower cupcakes!!!!

Mmmmm, s'smores cookies 07/13/2010

Thanks to Martha Stewart and her cookie of the day enewsletter, I made these s’mores cookies on the weekend. No fire was necessary to create these gooey, chocolaty treats. The broil in the oven did the trick to brown the marshmallows to perfection. They were a huge hit at my summer BBQ party. I should have made more, but I guess I’ll just have to make another batch of these yummy cookies next weekend!

German marmorkuchen 06/17/2010

Otherwise known as a marble cake, this German marmorkuchen was my favourite in my mom's baking repertoire as a kid. It’s a light and fluffy vanilla and chocolate cake that is traditionally baked in a ring mold baking tin. Made using a standard creamed butter cake, the vanilla portion of the cake is flavoured with vanilla sugar and the chocolate dough is flavoured with coca powder. Some recipes to suggest add rum extract into the vanilla portion of the cake as well.

My mom use to dust the top of the cake with icing sugar when it was cooled, but it never lasts long enough in my house to be dusted! I’ve also tweaked the vanilla to chocolate ratio. I remember as a kid, I would always eat the vanilla first, leaving the chocolate cake for last. My marmorkuchen cake always has more chocolate cake than vanilla. I am a chocoholic after all.

Time for a tea party 05/27/2010

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One of my fondest memories as a child was having a tea party, so you can imagine my excitement when my daughter got a tea set for her birthday. What better reason to bake some yummy cookies than a tea party! Katrina and I made sugar cookies and used Wilton’s Teddy Bear Stackable Cookie Cutter Set. She loved pushing the cutters into the dough.

I did take advantage of her afternoon nap to bake and decorate the cookies. I used chocolate and vanilla royal icing, mini M&Ms for the eyes, and pink sugar for the noses to decorate. When she woke up, we invited a few of her stuffed animal friends to join us. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do on a rainy Saturday then bake cookies and have a tea party. Katrina loved it and I know we’ll be hosting many more tea parties.

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Another successful birthday cake 05/19/2010

After spending four days baking the cakes, creaming the butter cream, molding the fondant, assembling the layers of cake, crumb coating the cake, rolling and covering the cake with fondant, and then adding the finishing touches, Katrina’s 2nd birthday cake was completed.

The cake itself was lemon with a raspberry buttercream filling. I used a black Wilton edible marker to draw paw prints on the white fondant. It may seem like a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Now I need to find another excuse to make another cake!

Playing with fondant 05/14/2010

My daughter’s birthday cake is well underway way now. I spent Tuesday night making the fondant letters using Wilton’s Letters & Numbers Gum Paste & Fondant Mold Set. It allows you to create 3D lettering and it’s pretty easy to use.

Wednesday night I spent molding the dogs that will be sitting on the cake. It’s just like playing with Playdough or molding clay. I had a variety of colours and I mixed and matched them to make the dogs more interesting. I used icing sugar to powder the fondant when it became too sticky. Making the dogs was easier than I thought. I had a few of my daughter’s stuffed animals as models. If I had more time, I would have like to make the dogs posing in a variety of positions. All in all, I think they’re turned out quite well.

As for the cakes, they've been baked, layered, and crumb coated. Tonight I'll be covering them in fondant and adding a border and other details. I'll probably wait till Saturday morning to finish assembling the whole cake...just in time for the birthday girl's party!

Let the preparation begin 05/11/2010

I have the perfect excuse to make a cake – my daughter's second birthday! I've decided on the design, bought the supplies, and now it's time to get started.

My daughter loves dogs and I had originally wanted to make her a 3D dog cake, but then realized I would need a day off work to do all the piping. So my designed changed to a two tier round cake with puppies playing. My plan is to make the fondant lettering on Tuesday and colour all the fondant. Wednesday will be devoted to shaping the puppies. The cake will be baked on Thursday, and iced and covered in fondant on Friday. Saturday morning assembly and finishing touches will be done, just in time for the birthday girl’s party in the afternoon!