Going Green: with cookies!

Hello! A little tidbit on going green...  According to Kim Stoegbauer of The TomKat Studio and featured blogger for Design Happens, HGTV, the color of the month is LIME.  She put together some beautiful inspiration boards, which galvanized me to create something, anything, in green!  After a sleepless night thinking about designs, I created the following cookies.  They are decorated with fondant in hues of green.  I used two of Autumn Carpenter's impression mats, one for the elephant, and one for the swirl with pearls.  For a video on how to use impression mats from Autumn Carpenter click here.

Have a wonderful day! 
Dana

Inspired By Michelle Cake Design: Ganache Tutorial

Hello!  I am baking and decorating divine smelling chocolate cookies today for the contest CopperGifts.com is holding.  All the information for the contest is posted on my Facebook Page.  Also included on my FB is a link for the chocolate cookie dough recipe from The Decorated Cookie.

In the interim, I did want to post something for you to see.  I have noticed a lot of interest on Facebook for a tutorial on how to ganache a cake.  I found three fantastically informative videos from Inspired by Michelle Cake Design.  Needless to say that her work is beautiful and her blog is a “must see”!  I know these will be helpful tutorials.  Thank you Michelle!!!

Creating A Woodgrain Effect with Sugarpaste by Elaine Thomas aka Mystical Mischief

Hello!  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I received a newsletter this morning from Elaine Thomas and immediately thought to share it with you.  This is a video on how Elaine produced a woodgrain effect with her sugarpaste.  I never saw it being done like this!  The result is so realistic! Great if you want to make woodgrain planks for your cake board.  Elaine has a number of tutorials available on her on-line shop .  These fabulous tutorials include everything from creating a Fantasy Castle Cake to Floppy Rabbit and Teddy Bear Modeling.  Elaine has a Facebook Page too, which of course I would recommend "liking" to be up to date with all her creations!  Please remember to send me your work from anything that you learned from my blog.  I would be happy to share it!  Be Well! Dana

Sweetopia.net Tutorial on Icing Cookies with a Marbling Effect

Ok - I feel as if I have been neglecting the cookies of the world. Cookies are not my forte, so I am going to share with you some designs and tutorials from FABULOUS decorators who can "cookie" with the best of them! Sweetopia.net  is a blog that I follow on a daily basis. She also has a Facebook Page . I recommend you take a look, as her cookies are perfection! It will inspire you to get out that cookie dough and ice your days away! Have fun! Dana

Peggy Porschen Inspired Hydrangea Cupcakes

Hello!  I have been wanting to make these Hydrangea cupcakes ever since I first saw them in Peggy Porschen's book, "Simple Spectacular Cakes".  This is my interpretation of her design. ;-) They are Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream (more on that in a moment).  The Hydrangea are made with fondant.

Once again, I used the cupcake liners from "Celebrate It" and was very pleased with the way they held their color and design.  They were only $2 for 75 liners from Michaels!!  I wanted to post the recipe for the Lemon Buttercream, which in the end was one of the most delicious buttercreams ever in the history of buttercreams, but I had a slight drama with it.  The original recipe called for 1/2 c fresh lemon juice.  Note to self - unless you are making enough buttercream for a small village, this is tooooo much.  So, as not to waste what I already made, I adapted the recipe; because icing the consistency of soup is very difficult to pipe;-)  I added more sugar, I added more butter, I prayed - and then I put it in the refrigerator - and prayed some more! Ta Da - workable buttercream.  I will re-work the recipe and post it for you, so you never have to go through that trouble!

I am selling the Hydrangea cutters and veiners from Petal Crafts in my store.  I am also carrying Peggy Porschen's "Simply Spectacular Cakes" book with pictures and instructions on how to make Hydrangea cupcakes.  Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Be well! Dana 

Petal Craft Cutter and Veiner Sets with instructions

Hi everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! Very short post tonight - but excellent news! I am now carrying the Petal Craft line of cutters and veiner sets ;-) Each set comes with instructions. Please send me pics of anything you make from these and I will be happy to post them! Dana

 

More from Magnolia: Recipes From The World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey's Home Kitchen

One more post before Independence Day! I made this red velvet cupcake using the recipe from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey's Home Kitchen, which can be found in my store.  I just found this excellent video with Bobbie Lloyd of New York's Magnolia Bakery, demonstrating how to make them.  I posted the actual recipe on my Facebook page.  Enjoy!!