My new arrival...

No, as you probably guessed, I'm too old to be having more babies. But my "baby" arrived last week in the form of a new oven!!! Remember in Fiddler on the Roof when Motel the tailor got his new sewing machine and everyone came over to congratulate him on his new arrival? That's kinda how I feel about my new oven. I am in love with my new LG oven. It bakes and cooks beautifully. My cakes are perfectly level. It plays a cute little tune and the lights blink off and on when the oven is preheated to the correct temperature, and then plays another tune when the timer is done, and repeats every 15 seconds until you turn it off. (I can't tell you how important that is for me!) And it's easy to clean. What more could I ask for? Oh, and I almost forgot the best part...it's a double oven. I finally replaced my old single oven, and now I can bake things in half the time! It's like Christmas in August. I'm so excited!! Special thanks to my hubby and son-in-law for lifting it upstairs to the kitchen and installing it.

My new baby... isn't it pretty?

NOT your Weight Watchers Recipe...

As you can probably imagine, my love of baking and my desire to lose weight as a Weight Watchers member are not always compatible. This weekend was one of those times... If I could exercise 10-12 hours a day, I might not have a problem. However, since that is totally undesirable and entirely impossible for me, I have to either wear a face mask (which I have actually done in the past) or hide the culprit items. Yesterday it was chocolate all day, and today it was cookies... not just your average cookies, but probably some of the best oatmeal cookies I have ever tasted. The cookie dough is to die for (ask me how I know). :) They are chewy, chunky, and soft-just the way I like. I have been looking for a really good oatmeal cookie recipe for quite some time-one that has other things added besides just oatmeal, and does not go flat at our altitude. I found this recipe, thanks to Pinterest and Lil' Luna, with a few tweaks on my part. Enjoy! And oh, if you're trying to lose weight, don't forget to hide them or give them away after one or two. 

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips ( I use dark chocolate)

Cream together butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients, coconut, cranberries, pecans, and chocolate chips together in separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Spoon or scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. I baked mine for 11 minutes. Every oven is different, so watch closely. Do not overbake. Let set on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, and then remove to cooling rack. 

Note: I have been experimenting with my new oven. Just made these cookies again tonight, and baked them for only 9 minutes, so it really does depend on your oven. Watch them closely, and write down the perfect timing for you.

Red and black... really?

If you are a follower of my blog, you will know by now that I strongly dislike decorating with red or black food coloring. So, as an option, whenever possible, I use the following techniques:

(1) I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa to make black. I love this stuff! If you add enough cocoa to your buttercream or fondant, it REALLY does look black. Sometimes I add a small amount of light corn syrup to make it the consistency that I am looking for. 

(2) Whenever possible, I try to airbrush red pieces, especially flowers, instead of coloring the icing/fondant. That way I am using less color than I would otherwise. 

Satin Ice also makes a really really good dark chocolate fondant that resembles black. If you are not a fondant lover, this will change your mind. I guarantee it.

Something just tells me that because you have to use so much red or black food coloring to get a good intense color that it can't possibly be good for you. Sometimes the "end" result may not be good either. I will not go into detail about that last comment, but I have stories I could tell. 

Here are some cakes that I've done with red and black coloring using these techniques...

Airbrushed roses and dark chocolate lace

Airbrushed red fondant

Airbrushed red gumpaste

Airbrushed gumpaste musical notes and treble clef

Dark chocolate spider webbing

Dark chocolate borders made with Satin Ice dark chocolate fondant and blue silicone mold

Dark chocolate poured fondant

Dark chocolate fondant flowers

Dark chocolate fondant/gumpaste ribbon

Dark chocolate buttercream scrollwork on fondant

Dark chocolate buttercream piping on whipped cream...yes, the bead border is actually piped buttercream

Backyard Neighbor...

We have neighbors that live behind us. Even though their backyard and ours are separated by only a shared fence, they actually live two streets away. The first time we met was when our shared fence blew down, so my hubby Bruce and Steve, our neighbor worked together to repair it. As they visited, Steve learned that Bruce was a home inspector and I was a cake decorator. Since then, Bruce has done inspections for Steve's son, and I have created some interesting birthday cakes for Steve's wife, Becky. Each year I look forward to designing something fun for Becky's July birthday. Here are some cakes that I have designed for her...

The year she turned 60.

This year she traveled allot with her work.

The year she turned 64...designed around the Beatles tune.

This year is Becky's year to complete things on her "bucket list."

Looking forward to next year's cake.

2 Princess Ariel cakes for 2 special granddaughters...

I have two sweet little granddaughters, both celebrating birthdays on June 24th. Lucy turned 5 this year and Lexi turned 6. Both wanted Princess Ariel cakes for their birthday. So, since I was visiting Lucy in California a couple of weeks ago, I made her a Princess Ariel cake with lemon cake and raspberry filling (Lucy's request) a little early. Lexi, on the other hand, is like her mom and prefers RK treats over cake, so I made her a Princess Ariel "cake" from RK treats, and we set it on top of a 10" round layer of strawberry ice cream (Lexi's favorite). I lined a round cake pan with plastic wrap, softened the ice cream and spread it in the pan and froze it overnight until nice and hard. Just before eating it, I iced the ice cream layer with whipped cream, and then put Ariel on top. The girls each got to play with their "Ballerina Ariel" dolls after being cleaned up. These dolls were perfect for the cakes... inexpensive (just 6.50 @ Walmart), and came with an attached outfit that resembled a camisole which worked nicely under her gown of pink and white fondant/modeling chocolate. She also came with a crown already that I just covered with white buttercream dots. 2 Princess Ariel cakes = 2 happy granddaughters. 

 Lucy, 5 years old

 

Lexi, 6 years old

New tools to make a decorator's life easier...

Rolling out my gumpaste and fondant/modeling chocolate to the right thickness by hand...a thing of the past. I've been debating on whether or not to buy a pasta roller attachment for my KitchenAid for some time now, and I finally made the decision to buy one. Why didn't I do this a long time ago? What a time saver this new tool has been. Just a couple of days ago, I made this humongous wedding cake...6, 8, 12, and 16 inch square tiers. The 8 and 16 tiers were covered with ruffles that were half modeling chocolate/half fondant (tasted really yummy), and I ran the combination through my pasta roller attachment and then cut the ruffles out with this new handy dandy double frill ruffle cutter. With a little thinning out of the edges, they were ready to be placed on the cake. The pasta roller is also great for rolling out gumpaste very thin to use with my Cricut Cake, and to make flowers, and to roll out modeling chocolate or gumpaste to use with my Tappits letter cutters.

The finished product...

Lessons I should have learned from the Bible about feeding the multitudes...

Remember the incident in the New Testament when Jesus was preaching to the multitudes, and did not want to send them away hungry? So he gathered a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, blessed it, and proceeded to feed thousands. When the multitude had finished eating, they gathered the remnants and several baskets were left. 

I swear that this is what happens when I serve beans and rice at a taco bar. I do not claim to be a prophet, by any means, but beans and rice just seem to multiply whenever I serve them. For example, last night we did a taco bar for 230 guests, so I made enough beans and rice for approximately 150 guests, knowing that not everyone would eat them. I think we had 200 servings left! So I have decided that from now on, no matter how many guests I'm serving, I will only make 1  recipe of beans and rice. If doing a a taco bar for 50, I will only do 1/2 recipe. Do people just not eat beans and rice? I don't know, but I do know that I left allot of beans and rice for the family to take home. Same theory goes for lettuce, tomatoes, and taco shells.

 Taco bar for "big fat Mexican wedding"

The cake I made last night was enough to serve 240...it was HUGE! No way was I going to serve regular size pieces. So I cut the pieces at least double of what I usually do, and many guests asked for a piece of each, which I gladly agreed to. There was still cake left over. The cake was all iced in buttercream. Two of the tiers were covered with icing "roses" and the other two tiers were covered with ruffles, made with 1/2 fondant and 1/2 white modeling chocolate. 

Cake flavors...Swiss chocolate with raspberry mousse and

 lemon with cream cheese and strawberry