Graduation season

Graduation...always the start of my busy season with graduation, change of command, weddings, and birthdays. Here's the latest graduation cake for a graduate from the AF Academy. The AF seal is made from my homemade gumpaste  and cut out on my Cricut Cake. All lettering is freehand except for the "United States of America." That is cut out of an icing sheet, using a scrapbook punch. The letters are then attached to the gumpaste with just a tiny bit of water. If you use too much water, the letters will dissolve. Next on the agenda... change of command cake for Thursday, and 6 dozen cake pops for Saturday.

Experimenting with New Recipes

I never tire of experimenting with new recipes, so when I get a request for a new appetizer for a catering job, I get really excited. Today, I tweaked a recipe for stuffed cucumber cups...turned out so yummy. I decided these could be done with a variety of nuts, even though the original recipe called for walnuts. So I tried almonds also, but still liked the taste of the walnuts when it was combined with the taste of the blue cheese. 

Here's the recipe...

Stuffed Cucumber Cups

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened

3 T. sour cream

1 T. minced green onions or chives

1/4 t. seasoning salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 cucumbers

Using a zester, score the length of each cucumber to create a striped effect. Remove the ends and cut each cucumber into 3/4 inch rounds. Using a small melon baller, scoop out the seeds from the center of each round to form a cup. Reserve a few of the walnuts as a garnish. Combine remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Spoon the mixture into the cucumber cups and sprinkle with remaining nuts. Chill until serving time. 

Here's a sweet little tip ...

I saw on Pinterest awhile back how someone had used push pins to elevate something they were painting so that the bottom side would not touch the surface while it dried. So, when I was doing this baby shower cake last week, I thought, "why not try that with my cake decorating?" So when I was covering these cute little baby blocks, after I piped the icing on the bottom of the rice krispie blocks, I put 4 push pins in the bottom, and then decorated the rest of the blocks ... perfect. I left them there until I was ready to assemble the cake. 

Having fun with veggies ...

As I have mentioned before, I love learning new skills. Last week, I wanted to try something different for a veggie display we were doing for a catering job. So I purchased several inexpensive glass containers and a mirror, and put the veggies with green glass marbles and ice .... to keep the veggies cool ... into the different containers, along with a fun edible veggie arrangement. We always serve our veggies with a yummy dill dip. Here's the final results ...

The menu also included two warm appetizers, a fruit display, chocolate peanut butter rounds, mint rounds, and a small wedding cake. The flavor was yellow with Bavarian creme filling, which is always a big hit with the guests.

 Spinach spirals and pepperoni pizza puffs

 Chocolate peanut butter rounds and mint rounds, both made with Ritz crackers

 Yellow cake with Bavarian creme filling