Welcoming Fall

I love summer. Going to the beach, key lime pie, long days - what's not to love. But, I also love fall. Pumpkin bread, going apple picking, and cool nights. So, once labor day weekend was over, it was time to jump into fall feet first... with mini cookies! 

I brought these with me to give to my Grandmother. She moved into an apartment so our family went to visit and clean out her house so it could be sold. She has so many friends and neighbors who stopped by to help, these ended up being a perfect thank you gift. I gave her the remainder of the cookies to share with her new apartment building friends. 

Bring on the pumpkin bread!

Wilton Course 1 Class

A few months ago, I realized that I should learn how to use the fun stuff that you find in the baking aisle at the craft store, so I signed up for Wilton's cake decorating course at my local store. The course is 4 classes and teaches basic cookie, cake, and cupcake decorating. I'm enjoying learning how to use all of the cool decorating tips, transferring images onto a cake, and using the air mist colors.

Here's a sampling of the cool stuff I've made! Which ones are your favorite?

Class 1: Cookie Decorating

Class 2: Transfer Image Outline to a Cake

Class 3: Fill and Decorate Cupcakes

   

Cute Pic Time

P.S. Thank you for ignoring the candy cane

OBX Cookies

This summer, Greg and I went on a family vacation with his dad's side of the family to the Outer Banks, NC.

17 people = lots of cookies

Enjoy the pics!

Neon Fruits (Sweetopia's tutorial here)

Sail Boats

Seashells

Starfish/flowers

Butterfly

 Pretty, right?

Side Note: allow plenty of time for drying 

Side Note 2: No more brown butterfly bodies, no one needs that :P

Summer Birthday Cake #2

A tip about birthdays: they come around once a year per person, so you're always going to need birthday candles.

As I was at Christmas Tree Shops, a friend and I ran across some pretty cool looking candles. They were tall, elegant, and came in gold and silver, so I bought one of each after a few minutes of being teased as to what I'd use them for. 

They were only $1 per pack (nbd) but you will always need birthday candles at least once a year so you might as well pick up the good ones when they're in front of you. 

For Greg's birthday, I had picked up special colored candles so the flames actually turn colors (green, blue, purple, red) rather than standard flame colored.

So...when in doubt, buy more candles..unless you're a hoarder or pyro. 

Told you...cool candles...nbd 

Plus when you have awesome candles, people are even more blown away (ha ha) when they see what's inside.

Summer Birthday Cake #1

This cake was a first in two different ways. 

#1. It's Covered in a Light, Refreshing...Raspberry Lemonade Frosting! 

I loosely followed this recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen using raspberry lemonade mix and a little bit of vanilla to cut down on the tartness.

Decorated with white jimmies and small/large sugar pearls

# 2. Funky Pink and Black Zebra Stripes... so cool, right?!?!

After prepping two cake pans, slowly layer scoops of pre-colored batter in the middle of the pans and on top of the previous batter. Once the batter is used up, gently shake to move the batter to the edges.

Om nom nom... Om nom nom indeed.

What to get for an Engagement Gift

A few weeks ago, Greg's best friend got engaged! Shortly after that, Greg started questioning me on what one brings to give to the couple at the engagement party. 

I assume everyone will want what I would want in that situation. My advice went along the lines of:

1. Cash

2. Visa Gift Card a.k.a. Cash 

3) Target/BB&B gift card (see above)

None of these were acceptable to Greg's specific taste so I decided to make the following:

Engagement Cookies!

The couple are big fans of sailing and have been on multiple sailing trips with Greg so they were a must.
Next there is the heart boarder cookies (tutorial here at Jesicakes) with their initials (written with an edible ink pen).

 And an engagement ring with gold shimmer dust and sanding sugar.

There were also little heart and flowers but they didn't end up in front of the camera.

The package was topped off with the awesome bride and groom koozies that I found at the local craft store!

Overall, this was a big hit and super fun to make!