{Parties} Spring Babyshower 18 Apr 2011 5:18 PM (14 years ago)

Last year I had the pleasure of working on a dessert table for a girlfriend's girlfriend's babyshower. No that wasn't a typo it was for my friend who was helping host another friends babyshower :-)

The colors were mint green and light blue.

The goodies included mini-chocolate mints, decorated sugar cookies....

..my signature brownie pops.

Can't have a dessert table without the cupcakes! These were chocolate, vanilla and red velvet.

Most of all the decorations can be found at Joann's and the display dishes were found at HomeGoods. The tags were from a babyshower scrapbooking kit. I could have purchased them online or made them myself but because of the lack of time, this option was much easier and faster and it still turned out super cute.

{Recipe} Chocolate and Beer Cupcakes 17 Apr 2011 3:08 PM (14 years ago)

Ingredients:
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup cocoa
* 2 tspn baking soda
* 1 tspn baking powder
* 1 tspn salt
* 2 large eggs (room temperature)
* 1 bottle beer (your preference)
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 tspn vanilla extract

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
- Place the cupcake liners in the cupcake pan
- In large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt
- Add eggs, beer, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer for about 2 minutes.
- Pour into prepared cupcake pans
- Bake for 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean
- Cool completely then frost with your favorite chocolate frosting

(Recipe makes approximately 34 cupcakes)

Going on a Safari...cake 7 Mar 2011 10:12 AM (14 years ago)

How fun is this cake? Perfect for the animal lover.

Big Top Cake 7 Mar 2011 9:54 AM (14 years ago)

This "Big Top" Cake was made out of my homemade marshmallow fondant. The inside was chocolate raspberry, a very popular flavor, and Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting, also very popular.

I can't emphasize enough how easy it is to use the marshmallow fondant recipe. It's so much cheaper, which helps during these times of recession and it tastes so yummy. Actually, you can add your own flavor to it so if you fancy some white chocolate fondant just go to your local cake decorating supply store and buy some. There are so many flavors you can add to your fondant so don't be afraid to try them. You may be pleasantly surprised.

{Parties} Fun Ideas for a Girls Night In 9 Feb 2011 11:39 PM (14 years ago)

These past two weeks have been very difficult and they've reminded me not to take life or loved ones for granted. While at times it feels like we'd like the world to just stop for a minute so we can take a breather, life reminds us that it'll keep on going whether we're ready for it or not. So, in order to take the days one day at a time and help myself focus on happier things, I've decided on a girls night in for closest and dearest girlfriends. It had actually been scheduled for the month of February when the day of love and friendship is celebrated but because of events that have transpired, I've rescheduled it for March. It is nice though, to have moved the date, because I have a lot more time to brainstorm and come up with cute ideas on decorating, baking, and cooking and I wanted to share these ideas because they are too cute not too. They have been taken from other websites whose authors are brilliant and creative women and credit will be given appropriately so put the phone down...no need to call in big shots ;-)

Baked goods are my niche but I sometimes like to look around and see how to make them cute and presentable. My first source of inspiration is this beautiful dessert table presented by Glorious Treats.

It's such a cute table without being too "baby girl". The tulip flowers give the table an air of sophistication and there aren't too many treats provided making the choices of what to eat a little easier.
And get this, Glorious Treats set up an almost identical table but with much healthier choices....

Love it, love it! Notice the fruit kabobs on the lower left. Yup, those are definitely going to be part of the menu at my little get together.
Another item that will be placed on the table is this yummy appetizer I found on Gina's Skinny Recipes.
They are Skinny Baked Jalapeno Poppers. My stomach is seriously rumbling right now just by looking at this picture.

Jump on over to her site for the recipe and how-to pictures here...Gina's Skinny Recipes.

A little hartiness is always recommended to help filler-up the tummies and I found the perfect appetizer also on Gina's Skinny Recipes. I promise I'm not trying to keep my friends from the chubby side but Gina has so many delicious recipes on her site with the most appealing pictures that I just didn't bother searching other sites. I mean if I can eat more for less of the calories then I'll take it!!! Who wouldn't. So anywhoo, her other recipe I was eyeing was this one for Southwest Turkey Balls with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce.

Do these foods not make you want to come over and crash my party?

For dessert, I found these adorable Pie's on a Stick on Our Best Bites.

How cute are they? Even dessert is served as an appetizer and in a very convenient way. Who needs a plate for their pie? No one because it's on a stick and it looks so cute.

Since my little shin dig will be a group of fun, grown up ladies like myself, I plan to serve drinks. And even the drinks have to served stylishly. So to my rescue comes this nifty DIY Ice Bottle Cooler idea from Celebrations At Home.

I tell ya, if I don't get the ooh's and aah's I like to hear I will have to plan another get together....hmmm I think that's a great motivator.

{Cake} Edible Images 24 Jan 2011 9:02 PM (14 years ago)

Edible images are pictures, logos, etc printed on rice paper using edible ink. They are fast becoming my best friends when making cakes or cupcakes that require a picture or logo on them. Here are a few examples of the cakes where I used an edible image. Below that you can find links to the vendors I ordered them from. I had great experiences with them so I'm sure you will too.

Vendor used for photo edible image: http://stores.ebay.com/Art-Design-Gifts

Vendor used for Lakers logo edible images: http://stores.ebay.com/Art-Design-Gifts

Vendor used for Raiders logo edible image: http://www.abccakes.com/

{Recipe} Sugar Cookies, REGULAR, with NO EGGS, NO DAIRY and NO EGGS 19 Jan 2011 8:42 PM (14 years ago)

I have recently found alot of different variations on the sugar cookie. I decided to include a traditional recipe along with two others that cater towards those with food allergies. So have fun making them for the ones you love, whom normally wouldn't be able to eat them. Such a relief right?

Traditional Sugar Cookies
This recipe makes about 30 cookies
Ingredients
* 3/4 cups butter, softened
* 1 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
* 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 tspn baking powder
* 1/2 tspn salt

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
3) Roll out dough on floured surface or on a large piece of parchment paper to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
4) Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before removing from cookie sheets.

Sugar Cookies without Eggs
Ingredients
* 1 lb. butter (4 sticks)
* 2 cups sugar
* 3 cups flour
* 1 tspn baking soda
* 1 tspn salt

Directions
1) Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
2) In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3) In a seperate bowl sift dry ingredients together and then mix into creamed mixture.
4) Roll into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
5) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven until lightly browned. Cool completely before removing from cookie sheets.

Sugar Cookies with no dairy and no eggs
Ingredients
* 1-3/4 cup flour
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
* 1/4 tspn baking powder
* 1/8 tspn salt
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil
* 1/3 cup applesauce, smooth
* 1/2 tspn vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In large bowl mix flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
3) Slowly mix in the vegetable oil, applesauce and vanilla.
4) Roll into balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
5) Bake in preheated oven 7 to 8 minutes until edges are golden brown.

*Note: if you plan to roll and cut, allow to chill for atleast 1 hour

{Cake} Simple decorations for any occasion 18 Jan 2011 6:50 AM (14 years ago)

A very simple technique for using fondant to decorate your cakes is to use cutters. Cutters can be found in virtually any size and mold. They can be found at your local crafts store or over the internet. These cakes were decorated using Wilton's Circle Cutters and marshmallow fondant, made by yours truly :-) You can see the fondant recipe here.

The cake above was made by first covering it in buttercream. There are two reasons why you want to cover it in buttercream. First, it helps insulate the moisture and taste of the cake. I mean who likes cake without the frosting, right? Second, it helps to bond the fondant decorations, keeping them from falling off the cake. The second step is to roll out your fondant and cut out the circles using your cutters. These are the ones I use... they are made by Wilton.

For the cake above, I used the smallest cutter to make the small circles on the sides of the cake. And for the top of the cake I used the middle circle. The middle circle is just big enough to hold a letter inside of it but not to big that it overwhelmes the cake.

This next cake, above, was made using the middle cutter. The same size was used all around and I was able to create an overlapping effect on top of the cake. The same marshmallow fondant recipe was used.

Any questions? Feel free to email me at janet@theprettylittlecakeshop.com

{Cake} Planes, Trains, & Automobiles 17 Jan 2011 12:54 AM (14 years ago)

Just made this cake for recent 1 yr old birthday boy.

I was asked to match the characters in this party theme and make the characters on the cake a little more 3D than usual....

It was fun but a challenge none the less. All the characters on the cake as well as the scenery such as the mountains, railroad tracks and street were made out of fondant. The cake itself was covered in my "famous" buttercream which can sometime betray me by becoming difficult to completely smooth out when I'm trying to decorate but it is so damn good that I always use it regardless because I think I'll be forgiven for the imperfection once the customer tastes how good it is.
So, close your eyes and imagine the cake alongside the party decor....

Snowflake Cupcakes 29 Dec 2010 11:08 PM (14 years ago)

I just recently made these snowflake cupcakes for a client. I tried so many different methods in trying to make the snowflakes that they left me wanting to run and not make anything at all. I tried making them with royal icing which is great for those that have the steady hand technique. But then there's me. The snowflakes I aimed to make with the royal icing turned out to look like weary pretzel sticks stuck together with glue :-( I had seriously underestimated how hard it would be to make these darn little things. So as I went on my day, I headed out to my local cake shop supply store for some items that I had to get. It was also an excuse to just walk away from the project and take a breather.

Well, I walk in to the supply shop as I always do, and I start skimming the isles to check out all of the cool new items that may have arrived. I take my leisurely walk, letting my creative bubble be filled with so many ideas that I pick up with all of the inspiration that is lended to you when you visit. I finish my visual tour by taking the items I picked up along the way to the registar when I catch a glimpse of snowflakes, a picture of snowflakes on a package. In the package was an interesting gadget, actually 3 of them. I swear the entire store became dark and the package was being illuminated by some light derived from up above somewhere. Oh my gosh! It was a stamp and cutter snowflake maker! Woo hoo! My prayers had been answered. What's the best way to get a product out in the prettiest way possible...having a cutout of course. So as law would have it, I had to buy it and take the credit for having made some damn pretty snowflakes all by myself :-D

FYI, the shop I visited was ABC Cake Shop in Orange, CA. Visit if you're nearby but beware of the force that will have you making cupcakes and cakes after your visit.

DIY - Fondant Baby Carraiges 16 Dec 2010 9:00 PM (14 years ago)

This is a babyshower cake, which I'm sure you would guess by seeing the baby carraiges on the side, oh and the Baby sign on top :-) As I was making it, I couldn't stop thinking at how easy it was to make these little carraiges and I wanted to show YOU! You can make them yourself and use them to top cupcakes or to decorate your own cakes.

So here we go...

These are the supplies you'll need, fondant (you can make your own fondant using this recipe from a prior post FONDANT recipe) in 2 colors of your choice. You'll also need round fondant cutters available from Wilton, Icing (color of your choice), #3 tip, pizza cutter, sharp knife or Exacto blade, fondant roller (regular roller is fine as long as the fondant doesn't stick to it).

Roll out your fondant about 1/4" thick and make a cut-out with the large circle.

Next, using your pizza cutter, knife or exacto, cut the circle in half. You will now have two half circles.

Set one half circle to the side. Cut one of the half circles in half again. You should now have these 3 pieces.

Now grab your small circle and cut out two circles. Roll over them a bit to make them a bit bigger.

Take the small circle cutter again and cut out two circles of a different color.

These are all the pieces you should have.

Using a small brush with a bit of water, brush the back of the smallest circle and then place on top of the bigger circle. Repeat this step with the other two smallest circles.

When assembling the carraige, you'll have to place it on the cake or on the cupcakes. You'll place the 1/4 circle on top of the half circle. Then you'll place the two small circles on top of the bottom portion of the half circle.

Now to decorate it...fill your pastry bag with icing and using tip #3, swirl the edges of the carraige. Actually, you can decorate the carraige any way that you'd like, this is just the way I did it.

And Voila! You now have a cute baby carraige to use as a decoration for your cake or cupcakes.

Christmas Cheer 12 Dec 2010 11:39 PM (14 years ago)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to create a dessert table for a mommy group christmas party in Irvine, CA. It was a christmas party for the mommy's night in get-together. It was also a small group of no more than 20 moms so not alot of desserts were requested, only enough to make a good impression.

The desserts on the menu were...

Snowflake Brownies....Chewy brownie bites dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkled with shredded coconut.

Gingerbread cookies....these were snowflake shaped but none the less, gingerbread.

Peppermint Candy....peppermint candy shaped into stars and round christmas tree ornaments.

Red Velvet Cupcakes.

The table was adorned with snowmen provided by the host, a couple candles and chocolate bars wrapped in christmas cheer.

I will post the recipe on how to make the Snowflake brownies in another post so check back soon!

Cupcake Tower - 350 Cupcakes! 11 Nov 2010 5:09 PM (14 years ago)

So I was on hiatus for a while but I came back with a bang! I whopped out 350 cupcakes for this cupcake tower. The original stand I purchased was not going to arrive on time so I improvised and used 2 3-plate cake servers. I was pleasantly pleased by the outcome and am ready to do it all over again ;-)

The tower was decorated with butterflies, flowers and purple silk ribbon. The linen and doll were provided by the host and worked perfectly with the look I was trying to achieve.

Cake - Chanel Purse 30 Sep 2010 10:57 PM (15 years ago)

I know Purse cakes are pretty popular yet I don't receive many requests for them so I was extremely thrilled when I finally did get asked to make one. This was an rather easy cake to make because the design was simple so it was a perfect "starter" purse cake. I'm hoping to get more orders to make this kind of cake, it'll really tests my skills.

Cake - Pain 26 Sep 2010 10:19 PM (15 years ago)

Funny story about this cake. See this picture....

The character on the left is Pain, and on the right, his name is Naruto. The request was to make a cake that depicted the character Pain. Well, in my own little world of not paying attention to the email that was sent me I started to make Naruto. Not until I re-read the email, which is a good habit of mine, did I realize that hmmmm I think I might be making the wrong guy! First, I've never even heard of this cartoon because well I'm in 30's and the only cartoons I know these days are Family Guy and The Simpsons, which I doubt (and really hope) 13 year olds are not watching those, and 2nd, my son isn't old enough to become a fanatic of japanese animation. Lucky for me though I had only started to attach the hair pieces which should of been orange instead of blonde.

I didn't have time to make a new batch of fondant and dye it in orange so I did the next best thing...grabbed my food brush and painted over the blonde :-D Problem solved....the end.

Cake - Naughty Cake II 24 Sep 2010 7:25 PM (15 years ago)

I tried pixilating the picture so I could post it. I think it's okay in the pixalating department but it's good enough right? Fun cake to make as always.

Press - The Book! The Book! 23 Sep 2010 8:43 AM (15 years ago)

Here it is! The cover to the book where my some of my work is being showcased.

The book is to be released in October and can be purchased through Amazon.com. I've provided this link, 1000 ideas, where it is currently available for pre-orders. I don't, in any form, receive royaties or incentives for promoting it. I am putting it out there because I am so excited that I will be published, well not I, but my work will be published. I will, again not me specifically me, but my work will be in print forever! I hope this is the first of many. I will pursue this craft indefinitely and I hope to inspire you as well.

Parties - Disney Cars and Racing theme 21 Sep 2010 4:16 PM (15 years ago)

Here is a Disney Cars themed dessert table created by yours truly :-D

The table included popcorn, candy coated pretzel rods, sugar and chocolate chip cookies, and of course cake, made of course, by yours truly :-D

Here's a close up of the cake and cookies. The cookies had edible images on them of Lightning McQueen.

The pretzel rods were covered in candy shaped like racing cars and they were delicious! Party hats were used as popcorn cones.

A seperate table was used for gifts and was decorated with a Cars pinata and the birthday boys picture.

Baby snack trays were also placed on this table to seperate them from the adult food. Each tray contained a snack bag of Gerber Crunchies, a peach fruit cup, a baby banana, and a sandwich with Apple Butter spread to avoid an allergic reactions from using peanut butter.

These cute little coolers were handmade and provided by the birthday boys grandmother. Aren't they the cutest thing? The were filled with Capri Suns and Sunny Delight juice bottles. Two of them were made and one was placed on both the dessert table and baby snack tray table. Darling!

Each table contained a chips and salsa tray and decorated with a few plastic cars on the tables for the kids to play with.

Of course a Cars themed party wouldn't be complete without the Cars Pinata! The little guy looks a litte sad to be hitting his Car friend. Awwww, but there are so many yummy things inside.

Cake - Maroon & Eggplant Colored Bridal Shower 21 Sep 2010 12:32 AM (15 years ago)

The cake was iced in buttercream and beautiful, fresh maroon colored blooms were used.

Each of the boxes you see on the tables had a cupcake in them. You can make these yourself, I've posted a tutorial on this blog, click on this link to view DIY-Cupcake Favor Boxes. What you can't see is that each of the cupcakes had the bride-to-be's monogram on them in the coordinating color. Pretty cute idea right?

Cake - Football Season is here! 16 Sep 2010 11:25 PM (15 years ago)

Football season is here and of course the requests for football cakes are starting to roll in. This one was made a few months ago. The nice thing about this football cake is that you can add any logo to the cake. Maybe even doing a halfer, like half a logo of one team with half the logo another team. Although, the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking it's a bad idea. If you know a true football fan you'll know they would give you the evil eye or worse if you dare put another teams logo next to their precious team logo. So never mind on that idea unless you're a brave lad, which I'm not.

Parties - Toy Story 14 Sep 2010 8:16 PM (15 years ago)

This is a cool pinata, yah? It's unordinary because it's a box filled with ballons, books, and other toys. This is such an innovative way to keep tradition without decaying our childrens's teeth!

Anyone thirsty for some green radio active liquid, aka punch.

How cool is this! A bubble machine. Give your party a kid fun atmosphere by turning one of these on at your outside party. You could use it if your party is indoors if you don't mind the blotches it will leave on your couch, curtains, dog....etc.

Another awesome idea...an outdoor movie viewing corner. A TV was set up outside with chairs for the little viewers. A popcorn machine right next to the space added a little more fun to the space. What movie was being shown, you ask? Toy Story, the movie, of course!

Can't have a party without cake. The cake had little Toy Story figurines on it.

And to compliment the cake...a side of Jello a la Toy Story.

And the coordinating plates of course my horse ;-)

All in all, it was a super fun party. It was awesome for the kiddies and adults alike. The day ended in Toy Story bliss. Great job Robin! It all looked so awesome :-D

Parties - Bringing my inspiration to your home! 14 Sep 2010 4:15 PM (15 years ago)

I, myself, love looking at pictures of other parties so that I can get ideas, or in other words "copycat" ideas for other parties or parties I may host myself. Is it wrong to copycat? I don't think so, especially when things don't ever turn out exactly the same as what you had seen. In any case, the times I have taken ideas from others is merely for the purpose of using their great ideas to my party, and isn't that a compliment rather than a "stab in the back". Or if that was the case, we'd have to pay Martha Stewart "royalty fees" or some other fees to use her ideas and what fun would that be? It's all about saving money and doing this yourself these days, is why I myself love to share things I've done and hopefully inspire your inner "Martha" :-D So on that note, the sections titled Parties will be pictures of real parties from others and myself. Enjoy! You copycat....just kidding ;-D

Fine print: No, Martha doesn't endorse this blog. In fact, she has absolutely no idea who I am. I am only a small person in this big world with Big dreams.

Cake - The Godfather 12 Sep 2010 10:58 PM (15 years ago)

Very simple cake and easy to decorate once I got the hang of it. Printed the logo then traced over it on a piece of parchment paper. Then I used the parchment paper to trace the logo once again onto the black fondant. I indented the design onto the fondant with a gumpaste tool. Then using a tip #3, which is pretty fine, I proceeded to outline the logo and fill it in with buttercream. The end result.....see picture above. Not much to it but to do it :-)

Cake -- Naughty Cake! 11 Sep 2010 9:19 PM (15 years ago)

Woo hoo! My first naughty cake. I'm not happy because of what it was but because it's always a challenge to make something like that. I won't be able to post a picture of it though because I don't want the police knocking on my door for posting indecent pictures. So if you'd like to see it, please send me an email at janet@theprettylittlecakeshop stating that you are over the age of 18 and you would like the picture sent to your email address.

DIY - Cupcake-in-a-(cute)Box Shower Favors 9 Sep 2010 11:50 PM (15 years ago)

Wanna make these? Here's how!......

These are the supplies you'll need. I'll show them in a little more detail below.

Ribbon of your choice. I selected a 1 1/2" in, wired ribbon in colors Firefly Copper and Organdy Eggplant. But of course you can choose whatever color

you like and suits the color palate for your event.

This is a single cupcake box. I purchased this box at a cake shop. You can also find them on the internet on various cake supply internet stores.

The seals and scalloped hole puncher were both purchased at JoAnn's. There is such a variety of both seals and hole punchers. You can easily find something that fits your needs.

The cardstock will be used to paste the seal on.

Punch out the scalloped circle using your hole puncher and stick on the seal. Set aside.

Wrap the box with your ribbon and cut right where the ribbon end meets in the middle.

Pinch the end of the ribbon to form a triangle at the edge and tape it down using transparent tape.

This is what it should look like. Sort of like an inside out bow.

Make the back of the cut-out, you set aside, sticky using either tape or glue. Adhere to the middle of your bow. And ta da!.....

Now they are ready to be filled with a yummy cupcake and given to your guest as a Thank You for showing up to your party/shower/wedding.

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