FONDANT SERIES - PART 1

If you have been following along, you know that my Nephew's (Oliver) First birthday is coming up (August 1st) and I am making the cupcakes for the occasion. Oliver's mom's birthday is just a few days before that so they are having a joint birthday party, to which I'm making the cupcakes for that too.

I decided I really wanted to give fondant a try. Not having EVER done anything with fondant I was quite a bit intimidated by it. While doing some online research I found an awesome website CAKE JOURNAL. This website run by Louise is so awesome, she has wonderful tutorials with lots of pictures and really took the intimidation of fondant away and gave me hope that it was something that I might be able to do. So this is my fondant journey!

I got the recipe for marshmallow fondant from CAKE JOURNAL and you can find it HERE.

I started off by generously greasing my bowl.



I then added the marshmallows and water



Basically you heat, stir, heat, stir until all melted. Once melted you add about a cup of powdered sugar and stir.



Turn out onto a clean surface with more powdered sugar. Here I added my color and flavor, and then kneaded away until thoroughly mixed and no longer sticky.





I then placed my fondant in some greased saran wrap and placed in the fridge. It says it is best to use it after letting it refridgerate overnight.



I made three batches in blue, purple and green.



I was surprised that it was easy to make, MESSY but easy. I would suggest having someone help you if you can. My mom came over and it was a big help to not have to wash my hands off everytime I needed to add more sugar or coloring & flavor. She also got the saran wraps greased and ready too, it was a big help and made making 3 batches go pretty quickly. I think it took around an hour from start to finish to make all three.

I have a few ideas on how I'm going to use the fondant, but I have to practice first. I plan on doing that tonight and will share my results with you all.

PICTURE CUPCAKE TOPPERS

These are some cupcake toppers I made that are going to go on the cupcakes for my nephew's first birthday party this weekend. Me and my sister made them and they were really easy to do. I'm going for an animal theme for the cupcakes I'm making, so we cut out animal shapes and put a picture of Ollie on them. I think they turned out cute and can't wait to see them on the cupcakes!

CUPCAKE CRAZY!

(Not my picture, one I found on an image search on google)

Hello, my name is Brooke and I am addicted to cupcakes!

I have a growing cupcake obsession! I love making and eating cupcakes. I have volunteered my services to make cupcakes for both my sisters birthday and her son, Ollie's first birthday coming up. They are having a joint party since their b-day's are only a few days apart.

In addition, I am also going to work with fondant for the first time!! I'm a little nervous and going to do some practicing this week. I'm keeping it simple (I think!) and hoping that they turn out cute. I will update with pics soon!

CARROT CUPCAKES W/ CREAM CHEESE ICING

Not everything has to be home made, besides Martha Stewart, who really has the time? So I took a page from Sandra and made these cupcakes semi-homemade. I used a boxed cake mix but made the icing from scratch.

So to start off, I made the cupcakes according to the package directions. I used a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe cake mix. My review at the bottom.


I picked it because it had a pouch of real carrots and raisins. You had to rehydrate the carrots and raisins in hot water. There really weren't all that many in the package either. If I used this again I would definitely add more real carrots and raisins to the mix.




They cooked up really nice and the house smelled really good and Christmasey from all this baking I was doing!

Next, it was time to make the icing. I changed up the original recipe I found for this, and I have to say I personally liked the changes I made.


Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tbl Milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy.
2. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Really simple recipe and it tastes so much better than store bought. This recipe has a nice strong cream cheese flavor. If you don't like a strong cream cheese flavor, simply add more confectioners sugar and a little milk if it is too thick.


All you have left to do now if frost those cuppies and enjoy! I used an icing bag and tip to decorate mine and it is so much easier than trying to ice them with a knife in my opinion, plus it looks a ton better. You just squeeze it right on and you are done. I added sprinkles and CANDIED WALNUTS to the tops of my cup cakes.






MY REVIEW OF DUNCAN HINES MOIST DELUXE DECADENT CARROT CAKE:


3 out of 5 Spoons

I think it is a nice base mix, but could really use a little sprucing up with a dash or two more cinnamon, maybe some nutmeg. I also think the package of carrots and raisins were nice, but needed more, so I would add those next time I used this mix.

However, this is how my boyfriend feels about them, and I quote "it tastes like heaven ,i thought about them n my sleep".