Happy 4th of July!!!

Hello Everyone and welcome...if this is your first time here I am glad you stopped by. If you have been here before, thank you for coming back to see what's new.  With the 4th of July just a few days away, here is something that I made today at my weekly class. This is a wonderful group of gals and we have a lot of fun together every Saturday morning...thanks Michele again for running these great classes. Michele is the owner of Sugar Artist Emporium and she teaches the classes. She found this really neat project for the holiday. It is really a cute idea to take to a party(you could probably add more to this than what we did). Now I do need to warn you though...the marshmallows are not store bought...they are homemade and let me tell you they are delicious!!!! If you make this you may never eat store bought marshmallows again!!! Now I'm not saying you couldn't use store bought marshmallows...but oh boy what a difference. Let's just say when I took this home..well, you know what happened..Enjoy!!!...and until next time..Happy Baking!!

Buttercream Piped Animals on Cupcakes

Hello Everyone:
Today I am going to post some pictures of buttercream piped animals done on cupcakes. These are really fun to do and easy to make for a child's birthday party.
With a few basic decorating tools and icing colors you can do just about anything. These animals were made using a coupler, decorating tips 12, 2 or 3, and a grass tip.
The best part, when you get started they don't take long at all to do...so here you go for today's creations.....Enjoy and until next time...Happy Baking!!!!

Working with modeling chocolate and also sculpting

Hello Everyone:
If this is your first time here, thanks for stopping by and if it isn't, thanks for coming back and reading my blog. I love when people stop, read and leave comments. As most of you know, I go to my local cake decorating supply store for weekly classes. I love to do it because I learn new things and it helps me to tone the skills I already have...and besides that, I get to chat with a great group of ladies...it's a fun time. Today we had a special instructor, Silvina Barboza from NJ. She is a Sugar Artist Instructor and Cake Designer ... Check her out at: www.facebook.com/SilvinaBarbozaSugarArtist and www.silvinasugarcreations.com.
Today she showed us how to do a rose using modeling chocolate. Now modeling chocolate is a lot different to work with then fondant and gumpaste. The more you play with it, the softer it becomes and then it starts to basically melt as you handle it.  So I recommend if you work very slow, don't use modeling chocolate. Of course you can put it in the refrigerator to get it to set back up. I amazed myself that I was able to work as fast as I did to make my chocolate rose. She also showed us how to do sculpting using fondant and gumpaste(tylose is also used). We made a pig, a girl, and a mermaid. I can definitely understand why cakes cost so much when the decorator goes the route of sculpting figures to add to the cake. It is definitely a very time consuming process, but in the end I feel it is worth it because it adds character to the cake. The pictures below are from todays class. The first one is the modeling chocolate rose. For a beginner, I think mine turned out pretty good. This is something that I would definitely use again. The other two pictures are what was sculpted out of the fondant. Now the picture on the right is Silvina's(notice how perfect it is)..the one with the blonde hair, however; is mine(definitely by no means perfect). I laughed when I looked at it..she looked like ET at first, then a giraffe with the long neck(thanks to long hair you can hide those flaws). I also had trouble making the lips the way they are suppose to be made so I did it my own way(too funny). In the end, for a beginner, everything turned out okay. The point is I learned a new technique, which hopefully I can master soon. It is truly a fun way to create. So here you go..enjoy and until next time....Happy Baking!!!                                              

Happy Father's Day

Hello Everyone..
Father's Day is fast approaching so in honor of dad's everywhere...this is for you. I hope you like it....no, it is not for wearing...it is for eating!!! Until next time..

Gumpaste Stargazer Lily/Stained Glass Window Cookies

Hello Everyone!!

Thanks for stopping by. It's been a little while since I have posted anything so today I thought I would share two new things that I learned. I have never worked to much with gumpaste but it is something that I would definitely work with again. On the cookies this was my first time using a glaze icing. I like the icing but it does not dry as hard as the royal icing. I am sure that I will use the glaze icing again also. The cookie on the right is done with white icing running through the blue to give it the effect of the sun shining through. The one on the left is done without the white. I actually like them done both ways. Well thanks for stopping by and if you feel like leaving a comment, please do.. Until next time, Happy Baking!!