September 2014 Wrap Up

After a fairly slow summer, I was incredibly busy in September with lots of cakes and cookies. I didn’t get the opportunity to try out any new recipes, but I had lots of new decorating to try out.

Brownies & Bars

I made pretzel crusted m&m blondies for the first time since January, even though I think Leighton has requested them at least once a month in the meantime! The recipe I use is a mix of this one and this one. I liked elements of both recipes and figured out what I thought would work best for me. In the end, this is what I’ve come up with:

crust
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzel pieces

batter
1/2 cup melted butter (salted)
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup m&ms (plus a few more for sprinkling on any bare spots before baking!)

I put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes in an 8×8 pan.

Cakes & Cupcakes

I had seen this cake on Pinterest a while ago, so I was really excited when Wyatt liked it best out of all the ones Sami showed him online for his Minecraft birthday party. I looked at some different tutorials (1, 2, 3) and ultimately, used a 16 x 16 grid of ½ inch squares and a pizza cutter to help me cut the little squares the right size/shape. I then cut 5 different 8″ x 8″ squares out of fondant to be the backing for each of the 4 sides and the top and placed 256 of my squares on each one (1280 total!). I let these dry for a couple days before I easily ‘glued’ them onto the 4 layer cake (2 layers of vanilla and 2 layers of chocolate) with buttercream. I also made a pick axe and was intending to insert it like this, but was worried about it breaking with vibrations and movement during transport, and since I wasn’t going to be taking it to the party I didn’t want to risk it. I was so happy with how it all came together. See it here!

Anthea really liked this Frozen cake I made for Quinn, so she asked me to make a smaller version for Sylvie’s 4th birthday party. She knew that Sylvie would love it if there was a picture of Elsa and lots of snowflakes. It was fun to see how the cake matched Anthea’s decorations and theme during the party, and Sylvie did love it! And speaking of Anthea’s decorations and craft activities, let me share with you Anthea’s new etsy shop, where you can find some of her Frozen crafts along with many other amazing craft kits! My kids always LOVE her stuff!

I was so pleased with how the butterfly cake and smash cake looked for Molly Kate’s 1st birthday. The smash cake was strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream between the layers. I had made this recipe for Leighton’s first day of school cupcakes last year and we all loved the taste!

I had made blue ombre push pops for Darryn’s class on his birthday this year, and this year since he was having a Minecraft themed birthday, I did some vanilla and chocolate push pops that Desiree took and decorated to match the theme.

These pink tutu cupcakes were the perfect solution to Riley’s request for cupcakes with pink icing for her birthday party this year. I hope I can make them again because they were so cute!

Like many children around the globe, Riley loves Elsa from the movie Frozen, and I wanted to make her an Elsa cake for her birthday dinner at home. I was stunned by the beauty and detail of these two cakes (1, 2) I saw on Pinterest and loved the idea of using an Elsa doll in the cake. It brought back fond memories of my friend’s birthday party when I was a kid and she had a Barbie doll cake. I still remember how amazed I was by it. I can’t tell you how it tasted, but I know that I loved how it looked! The fondant I was using was too soft and stretchy to get as many twisted layers as the inspiration photos, so I opted for larger pieces to create the skirt. Riley loves the part in the movie when Else lifts her hands up and snowflakes go up into the air, so I used some royal icing to ‘glue’ snowflakes onto her hands. I was extremely pleased with Riley’s Elsa cake. And she was, too!

Cookies

Because we had cake for Leighton’s 1st day the week before, I did cookies for Riley. I had seen these cookies by Sugar Dot Cookies and adapted it a little to make a few for our family.

To go with the butterfly cake and smash cake for Molly Kate’s 1st birthday, I made these butterfly sugar cookies.

For the Bake Sale at the school’s Movie Night, I made these Minion cookies. Originally I only planned on one design, but ended up making three!

Just like the first cookies I made this month, the last cookies I made were also for Riley! These little tutu and ballet slippers were shared with her class and were given to her party guests as favors.

Decorations & Toppers

To put on top of the tutu cupcakes, I made the tops from a fondant/gum paste mix. Just like when I made these basketball jerseys, I started with a baby onesie cookie cutter and then used different round and oval cutters to trim them down.

To make the little flowers that I used on the ballet slippers and tutu toppers, I used the plunger and impression mat from the kit for Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers.