Make A Buttercream Transfer

Make A Buttercream Transfer

What do you love about Halloween?

One of the traditions I love is watching the Peanuts holiday special,
"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".
I remember when I was a kid, looking forward to the one night it was broadcast each year.
If you weren't parked in front of the TV that one night, you missed it.

Now I watch the DVD with my kids whenever we want!
I love the story, I love the music and I love Linus!
How could you not adore a kid with such passion and commitment?

So, here is my ode to this classic Halloween story.

I made a buttercream transfer of Linus in the pumpkin patch.

Want to learn how to make one too?

 

First, decide what image you want to create. You can find it online and print it, or coloring pages are great templates. Use a photo editing program to "flip" your image before you print it (you want to make a reverse image) and size it for your cake. Tape your template to a piece of cardboard and tape wax paper on top of it.

Next comes your outline. To make black frosting, start with chocolate fudge frosting and add a little black food coloring gel. If you start with white frosting you will need LOTS of black gel...and eating it will give you black teeth! I used a Wilton #3 tip to pipe the outline. If you make a mistake, use a toothpick to remove that part. Notice how I didn't exactly follow the template and added a pumpkin? If your template isn't just what you want, you can just use it as a guide and improvise.

Now you get to color inside the lines! Make a batch of buttercream frosting, then divide up small amounts and add food coloring gel. Starting at the top of your transfer, pipe in your colors one at a time. Be sure to fill in all the empty spaces. For really tiny spaces, use a Wilton #1 tip.

When you are finished, put your buttercream transfer in the freezer. Then assemble and frost your cake. When the cake is ready, get out your transfer. Flip it over and place it gently on the cake. Next, put the whole cake in the freezer! Wait at least 30 minutes, then  take it out and slowly peel the wax paper off your transfer.

Enjoy!

Christmas Cupcake Carrier

Christmas Cupcake Carrier

I found this fabulous idea on Pinterest, and I just had to share it with you!

It is a cupcake carrier made out of a gift box...perfect for delivering my Christmas goodies.

I made a cupcake version of my Andes Mint Chocolate Cake.

First, get some boxes. I found a package of three small gift boxes for $1 at Dollar Tree! 
On the top of your box, measure a 2 1/4 inch square for each cupcake and mark the corners with a pencil. 

Use an Xacto knife to cut an X from corner to corner, and bend down each point. 
Decorate or write a message on your box.

Place your cupcakes in the carrier, and you are ready to deliver!

Hope you are having fun making lots of Christmas treats this week. :0)

 And speaking of Pinterest, don't you just love it?!

I added a button in the right column, so you can follow me there.

Go click on it!

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Conversation Heart Cupcake Toppers

Conversation Heart Cupcake Toppers

Here is a Valentine's Day tutorial that I shared over at The 36th Avenue.

Do you follow Desirée's blog?

If not, you are missing out...it is fabulous!

Come make some Conversation Heart Cupcake Toppers with me!

You will need:

heart cookie cutter

wax paper

candy melts

red gel food coloring

a batch of cupcakes

frosting (you can buy it or use this buttercream recipe)

First, make a template by tracing your cookie cutter on a piece of paper.

Tape your template to a piece of cardboard or the back of a cookie sheet.

Tape a piece of wax paper over the template.

Next, put your candy melts in a bowl and microwave:
Cook for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until they are completely melted.

(My green and purple candy melts were both darker than I wanted,

so I mixed them each with white candy melts to lighten the color.)

Put each color in a separate decorating bag, or in a ziploc with the corner snipped off.

Filling in the outline, pipe the candy melts on to your wax paper.

Put the hearts in the fridge for a few minutes to set up.

When the hearts have hardened, carefully peel them off the wax paper.

Tint a small amount of frosting red and put it in a decorating bag,

or you can just use a tube of red gel food coloring.

Write messages on the flat side of your hearts...

you can personalize them any way you like!

Frost your cupcakes and place a heart on top of each one.

Share the love and give them to your sweethearts!

Enjoy!

Green Eggs and Ham Cupcakes

Green Eggs and Ham Cupcakes

We have a lot of love for Mr. Theodor Geisel in this family.

He is better known as the incomparable author, Dr. Seuss.

Our Dr. Seuss books are all well-loved and very well-worn.

I'm pretty sure that we own every children's story he ever wrote,

including "The Bippolo Seed". Have you heard of that one?

We even dressed as Dr. Seuss characters for Halloween 2010!

 I would say that "Green Eggs and Ham" is probably our favorite Seuss book.

My son has the whole book memorized and will quote from it at random times.
When we go out at night, he starts reciting, "Would you, could you, in the dark?"
and continues with the rest of the book!

We celebrate lots of extra birthdays around here, including Cookie Monster and Beethoven.
So, I made these cupcakes to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2.

Do you like green eggs and ham?
Would you, could you, like to make them?

You can print out my template for green eggs and ham cupcake toppers here.

For my tutorial on making candy melt decorations with a template, go here.
To make the thick, dark outline, I used Wilton tip #5 and
brown candy melts mixed with some black coloring gel.

I hope you enjoy these fun cupcakes!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

R2D2 Star Wars Birthday Cake

Something very exciting and a little scary happened here last week...

My daughter became a teenager!

Gladly, she did not morph overnight into a self-absorbed, constantly texting drama queen.

But I really wasn't worried about that...

I sometimes think that God sent me the easy child first, so that I would have more children!

Our oldest child, Brynn, is unique and wonderful in so many ways.

Her loves are:

Star Wars,

sewing,

reading non-stop,

making origami animals,

and her two pet snakes.

For her birthday, she requested a cake with R2D2 on the top.

So, I made this buttercream transfer!
This decorating technique involves piping buttercream frosting on to a template,
then transferring it to your cake.

Cute little droid, isn't he?

Do you have a Star Wars fan in your family?
You can find my R2D2 template (made by my graphic designer hubby) here.

And my step-by-step tutorial on how to make a buttercream transfer is here.

A Strawberry Cake Valentine

I have a Valentine for YOU!

This cake...

And this card...

It makes me SO happy that you come here to share my cake adventures with me!

I love hearing about your cake adventures too.

You guys make me smile! :0)

This is my Valentine's Day cake.
I make it for my family every year, and they love it!

It starts with a white cake mix...super easy!

Pureed strawberries and cream cheese make it delicious.

And I bake it in heart shaped pans to make it cute.

Strawberry Cake

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1 (3 oz.) box of strawberry instant gelatin
• 1/2 cup pureed strawberries (frozen or fresh)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup oil
• 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of 2 heart shaped cake pans with wax paper, and spray the sides with cooking oil.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add water and oil; mix on medium speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add strawberries and beat until blended. Pour into pans and bake for approx. 25 minutes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup pureed strawberries (frozen or fresh)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 6 cups confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Beat in strawberries and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

This frosting is very soft (and so yummy!), so expect your cake to be

gloriously messy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rainbow Tie Dye Cake

Today I am sharing a cake that is guaranteed to brighten your day!

Look at all those beautiful RAINBOW colors...

This cake combines the awesomeness of tie dye and rainbows...

Doesn't it make you smile?

I used the cake coloring technique (not the recipe) found at Omnomicon.

I wanted the outside of my cake to be as colorful as the inside,
so I added my own tie dye design to the top.

Start by preparing a white cake mix.

Divide it into 6 bowls, and make each bowl a different rainbow color.

Line the bottom of two 9 inch cake pans with wax paper, and grease the sides.

Layer your cake batter in concentric circles.

Use about 3/4 of the bowl for your bottom color,

then use a little less of each color as you continue.

Layer your second cake pan in the opposite order.

Bake your cake as directed on the box.

Let the cake cool, then frost with your favorite white frosting.
(I put blue frosting in between the layers, just to add more color.)

Next, you need food coloring gel in your 6 rainbow colors.

Make concentric circles with the gel on the top of your cake.

( I started with red on the outside, and used it again when I got to the center.)

Time to make some cake art!

Using a small, flat paintbrush (new or only used for food),

start at the center circle and brush toward the outside of your cake.

You will need to stop and clean your brush a LOT!

Just wipe it on a paper towel.

Otherwise, the blue and green will overpower the other colors.

This is how I did it:

Red

Purple

Blue

(clean brush)

Green

(clean brush)

Yellow

Orange

Red

(clean brush)

Repeat the same process in the gaps between your "spokes".

Continue until all the white frosting is covered, and there aren't any gel blobs.

Want to see the inside?

Rainbow-licious!

Wishing you Peace, Love and Cake!

 Enjoy!