St. Patrick's Day FREE Shamrock Cupcake Topper

Really cool shamrock cupcake toppers from A Holiday Haven. To download the free printables, click here.

St. Patrick's Day Cupcake Recipe and Tutorial

    

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and for all of you cupcake fanatics who like a little buzz with your cake, I've found a great Guinness Chocolate Cupcake recipe  and tutorial at High/Low/Food/Drink.

When you're done, wrap your cupcake in a neat traditional cupcake wrapper I discovered at Scribd.com. Download the free printables here. 

March 2012 Cake of The Month

 
Master cake decorator and instructor Chef Janet Ben-Ami, created this cute St. Patrick's Day cake. Janet is the owner of Hey! Cookie in Long Island.

Charmaine Jones - The Cake Diva!

Long before cake and cupcake reality television or the Food Network, Charmaine Jones aka Cakediva earned her stripes making fabulous decorated cakes for celebrities such as Beyonce, Wendy Williams, Erica Badu, and Queen Latifa.  Her wedding cakes were a staple on the Soaps for over 27 years. Charmaine pioneered Afrocentric, Asian, and Latino cake designs long before ethnic cake designs became fashionable.

Charmaine is fun and crazy about cake but dead serious when it comes to her custom cake business.

Charmaine graduated from Loyola University with a Masters of Fine Arts. Her cakes have been seen in numerous national and international magazines including Brides, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Modern Bride, and Contemporary Bride and her cake designs were featured in  the African American style guide, Jumping the Broom, by Harriet Cole.

It's Black History Month and NYC Cake Decorators Meetup is thrilled that Charmaine will teach a hands-on workshop in African Textile effects on fondant.  For information contact Dina at nyccakeecorators@yahoo.com. You do not need to join the group to take the class.

Charmaine is also a featured artist at the upcoming Connecticut Cake Show.  She will host a hands on sculpted frog class.  The technique shown is transferrable to other sculpted cakes.  To download the registration form and purchase tickets visit Connecticut Cake Show website.

Karen Portaleo 3 Day Workshop at Mother of Cakes, PA!

 JUNE 30 - JULY 2, 2012

The workshop series will be inspired by Karen's Mermaid Cake that she created on the Food Network Challenge.

For information and to register visit Mother of Cakes Sugar and Cake Academy.

Scott Clark Woolley's Yummy Lemon Pound Cake Recipe!

I had the pleasure and good fortune to attend several gumpaste flower classes with master sugar artist Scott Clark Woolley prior to his retirement.  I still correspond with Scott and buy his cutters and tools online at his website, Cakes by Design.  I am thrilled that Scott has graciously given me permission to share his yummy lemon pound cake recipe with my readers. Scott says that this cake is suitable for weddings and sculpted cakes.  The lemon pound cake can also stand alone unfrosted. Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 300 F. degrees

Cream together until light and fluffy:

1 pound butter

2 cups granulated sugar

Beat in thoroughly, one at a time:

8 eggs (large)

Add:

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In separate bowl while creaming sugar,

sift together:

3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon mace

Add dry ingredients slowly and beat one minute until smooth.

And lastly, dd:

zest of the rind from 2 small lemons, grated finely

along with 1/3 cup lemon juice

Pour into 2 prepared 9" or 10" pans greased and dusted with flour

and bake over an hour until very firm to the touch.

For traditional vanilla version,

omit lemon zest and substitute milk for lemon juice.

Hint: For a lighter version,

separate eggs and add yolks to the creamed mixture.

As the last step, fold into the batter, the stiffly beaten egg whites

that were separated from their yolks.

Cake Pop Fun!

I work with children teaching min-cake, cupcake, and cookie decorating. Add cake pops - a real kid favorite!

Starts out with a basic cake recipe...

Yummy.......

Ok, I am not a purest.  I cannot bring myself to crumble up a cake + frosting and work into a ball.  I like this cake pop pan, although I'm still working out the kinks. I think the next batch will come out the oven a few minutes earlier.

The cake pop pan comes with sticks that have a little ledge that stabilizes the cake pop and prevents it from slipping off the stick.  [You can order more plastic sticks]. This pop was dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with crushed walnuts. Simply decorated but delish.

Sexy and Sweet Cookies At Rolling Pin Productions!

Just love, love, love, the hand decorated cookies at Rolling Pin Productions.  This company even makes its own custom cookie cutters!

Sexy cookies...

or traditional sweet love-struck designs are sure to please your sweetheart this Valentine's Day. Follow them on Facebook!

FREE Cupcake Gift Tags from Bake it Pretty!

Another nifty idea to dress up your delish cupcakes for Valentine's Day or any occasion are these cute printable cupcake gift tags from Bake It Pretty. To download click here.

Free Valentine Gift Tag Printables!

I've already begun thinking about the treats I'm going to gift to friends and loved ones on Valentine's Day. For last minute gifts or favors, why not purchase mini candy bars and wrap them with these neat candy wrappers? I found the gift tag/wrapper printables [which are truly free] on a really neat website, U-createcrafts.com. To print click here.

Eiffel Tower Candy Box!

Valentine's Day is around the corner and what a lovely way to present your home made candy or truffles! You can purchase at  Fancy Flours, one of my fav online shopping spots. C'est fabuleux!

Scott's Ovo Vegetarian Gum Paste Recipe!

Want a scratch ovo-vegetarian gum paste recipe? Scott Clark Woolley, master sugar flower artist, has created a great gum paste recipe that he is willing to share with us.  [I made the sugar hydrangeas above after a class with Scott. Sadly he has retired from teaching at this time]. Scott's gum paste is arguably the best scratch gum paste bar none.

Gum Paste Sugar Dough Recipe (ovo-vegetarian)

(Yields approximately 3 pounds)

Fill broad saucepan 1" deep with simmering water on stovetop.

Place in KitchenAid mixer bowl and stir together briefly:

       * 6 cups confectioners' sugar [sift after measuring]

       * 2 tab. plus 2 tsp. Gum Tragacanth

Set mixer bowl in simmering water to warm sugar slightly, 3-5 minutes. Stir once. Then remove and attach to mixer.

Meanwhile, measure into a small bowl:

        * 6 tablespoons hot water [add a speck of blue food color to whiten dough - optional]

        * 1 level tab. of white vegetable shortening

Set in simmering saucepan until shortening melts.

Then remove from saucepan until shortening and sprinkle until the hot liquid:

        * 4 tsp. Agar Agar Powder [if using Agar flakes, use 4 tsp.]

Immediately, as liquid instantly thickens, scrape into mixer bowl along with:

        * 2 extra large egg whites [room temperature]

Turn on mixer immediately to maximum beat speed for 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift onto counter top in a 12" circle:

1 2/3 cups confectioner's sugar  

Scrape out goey mixture onto counter. Consistency should be very loose at this stage. Get under edges with fingertips and lift inward, gradually working in all the remaining sugar. Keep mound on top of sugar to avoid sticking  Grease small are of counter and briefly knead dough on it to remove any loose sugar.

Cover mound with plastic wrap. Grease hands and pull 1/5 sugar dough and form a ball. Place in fresh plastic wrap, twisting ends tight.

Store in an airtight container or sandwich bag in refrigerator or freezer until firm. Let it come to room temperature before working with greased fingertips, stretching and pulling until soft. At first the dough will seem very stiff, but like chewing gum, the more it is worked, the smoother and stretchier it will become. Re-ball and place into a fresh plastic wrap as before. It will last for several weeks this way. One day or older gum paste works best, but the dough can be used within 3 hours.

If you would like a printable copy of Scott's original and new gumpaste recipes, click here.

Member Spotlight : Zacharoula Christou

I met international member Zacharoula Christou when she attend the Mike McCarey/Lauren Kitchens meetups last November.  Zacharoula is really crazy about cake decorating and sugar art.  She branded her own sugar and modeling pastes which she sells, runs her own sugarcraft school in Greece, and has published the first sugarraft book in Greek!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Give your sweetheart a slice of this decadent Valentine's Day Cake made by member Allison King.

Cool Kid's Birthday Cake Idea!

Want a cake that features fun treats and less piping? This cake created by member Barbra Lieberstein, is loaded with candy and treats sure to please any kid.