Marshmallow Fluff Icing

Hey guys! I've been on this kick with S'mores cupcakes lately. I found a recipe for a really good marshmallow fluff icing, but yesterday when I tried it out it never set up.

Well here's the recipe, then I'll give tips later.

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 c confectioner's sugar
8 oz of Marshmallow Fluff

Cream butter with 1/3 sugar. Add in remaining sugar and mix until creamy. Fold in Marshmallow Fluff. See simple. :)

Well yesterday, not so simple. Here are some tips that I found. Jet Puffed Marshmallow may taste good, it doesn't work well in this recipe for some reason. I like to you Marshmallow Fluff brand.  It seems to be more stiff and stands up better with the cupcakes.

If you want more of a marshmallow flavor, just add more. It will increase the amount made, but won't really hurt anything. I'm not sure if this really was a factor, but it was different yesterday than the other two times I made this; the weather. This may be an icing that is just meant for cool or cold weather. It was warm and almost humid yesterday when Mom and I were making this. So not sure, but a possibility.

Hope these tips help and you like the icing as much as I do! Happy Baking :)

 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Yes, I know it is after Christmas. I'm just getting around to posting this. This is a series of cakes that I did in the last Wilton Cake  Decorating class. They were all Christmas cakes.

This top one was after our figure making class. We learned penguins and elves. The tree was so fun to make and so easy. Sculpt fondant out into a cone and use small scissors and snip upward into the cone to make the branches. Make sure that you offset cuts to give the tree texture. You can then pipe decorations on or use more fondant to create decorations.

Here we use the same tree technique. This time I got to have a little more fun creating penguins. The igloo was made with half of the Wilton Sports Ball Pan which I took a toothpick and impressed the design of bricks into the fondant. Then using a #3 tip, I went over the lines, then added lights and an entrance. A paper towel roll work perfect for sculpting the entrance, just lay the fondant over and let dry.

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed making them. Happy Baking!

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Ok I know it has been FOREVER since I posted something on here. New Year's Resolution, keep blog up to date more than 2010. Ok, so here is a recipe that is super easy and  really really good! 

Start by bringing a 1/2 c butter and 1c sugar and 1 tsp vanilla up to boil. Put 9oz of chocolate chips into a bowl and pour boiling butter mixture over chocolates. Stir until mixed thoroughly and no chocolate chunks remain. Refrigerate for 1 hour or  until frosting has set. 

Now you should be able to pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Hope you like this! Happy Baking :)

Sprinkles!

We have a name! It's all starting to get real, now to get the word out. Thank you Kelly Noell for the name, it fits perfect with our vision.

Check out our site: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wilmington-NC/Sprinkles-Bakery/157141097658799?v=wall

Soccer Ball for a Soccer Star

Isaac's little brother turned 14 Sept 25. To celebrate I made him a soccer ball cake to take for the cookout on his birthday. This was an experience. First time stacking cakes other than my two tiered round cakes.

So this is much harder than I thought it would be.I liked the way it turned out for my first one. I started with filling the molds too full, that didn't leave enough room for icing in the center. The lines were easy to pipe at first, but I started getting confused after the the center row of black pentagons. But overall I like the cake, and so did David, and that's what really counts!

This is how the snow globe would look as well. Hopefully I will be able to stack them better next time so I can make a snow globe for a lucky someone this winter.

More to follow :) Keep checking back for an igloo cake and a Christmas tree cake!

Happy Baking :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

For the months of September and October, I'm learning techniques used to make Christmas cakes. So far I've done a stained glass cake (which I saw on Food Network Challenge tonight, and was pretty pumped about it), a candle cake, and a snow globe. Unfortunately I missed the snow globe cake class, but I learned some of the same techniques during the candle class. 

For the Stained Glass cake, we took piping gel traced on wax paper the image on a coloring page. After transferring that to the cake, we outlined it in black buttercream and filled in the spaces with colored piping gel. This cake took FOREVER to complete but it got a lot of compliments at work. The cake I saw on Food Network Challenge, looked awesome with all the detail. I said I wasn't going to try this again, but I think I will if the opportunity arises.

For the candle cake, (which mine is leaning a little) we used three 6in round tiers to get a little more height to the cake.  And yes this actually has a candle in the top, and could be lit, although I'm not sure I would. Pinecones around the bottom of the cake are done on toothpicks, and were actually pretty easy, because hey what two pinecones are exactly alike. There is a pine swag circling the bottom, icicles around the top and cardinals dotting the sides. To tie it all together there are sets of three polkadots randomly put all of the sides and top. Simple and clean is my style and this is definitely my style.

Check back for more updates on cakes! Next blog is on Soccer Ball for a Soccer Star.

Happy Baking!

Peace, Love, and Recycle

This weekend is the Fall Camporee for Person County Girl Scouts. This year's theme is Peace, Love, and Recycle. So I decided to go with a banana cupcake and a peanut butter butter cream. They turned out SO good! I finally got the right amount of banana in the batter. It took three whole bananas but they are really good.

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

1c creamy peanut butter
3/4c powdered sugar
12tsp water
1 Tbsp Meringue Powder