Happy Halloween!

It's the day for candy and spooky things. I don't know about you, but I feel blessed to have 4 children on this day. They get to go beg for treats and I have quadruple the amount of candy to choose from at the end of the night!
In honor of Halloween I'm posting this cake.
I recently made this and while normally this would have been fairly simple, I was going for realism. You see, this cake was for an ophthalmologist! A man who looks at eyeballs all day would be looking with scrutiny at my cake. I HAD to make this eyeball realistic!

With a round cake sitting on top of an 8" cake, I carved it a bit, and then added all the details. It took layers and layers of painting with food coloring in different colors to achieve the look. Then I finished it with clear piping gel for a "glisten".

It left me thinking that maybe one day I'll host a Halloween party. If I do, this is the cake I'll be making!

A true Kansas Cake!

I heard from the weather man that the coming weekend should be the peak in fall colors.
I love fall and am so excited to breath in the beauty of the fall air this weekend!

Last weekend I had this huge cake due for my son's former teacher. Her friends were throwing her a big surprise bash! She loves sports, but more so, she loves Kansas teams, so this cake was (hopefully) perfect!

A bit of a challenge as I am still supposed to be spending my days "down". With no lifting or bending. I have become master of kneading with only my arm muscles, sitting while putting fondant on cakes, ect. I'm not sure I'll know what to do once I am able to stand!

The funny story behind the delivery of his cake is this: On a crazy Friday we drove 30 min. to deliver this. The address I had was wrong, but we found the place. Since I cannot lift, my hubby had to go in. I watched through the windows as he tromped through pockets of people, weaving in and out, smiling, waiting for the recipient to come toward him.
No such luck.
Instead, he ended up back at the car. I seems we were one day early on the delivery. OOPS! I'm not sure how it happened. I wrote the (wrong) date down on 3 different calendars!
However, the next day, we got the cake there- on time and everything:) Although not without a bit of embarrassment!

This cake has gumpaste plaques- written on with edible markers, then painstakingly painted with food coloring and a tiny tiny brush. Obviously, everything else is fondant.

MMMMM The smell of ... chocolate... In the air?

Well, This week my kids were out of school a few days. It was parent teacher conference- which I may say, is always a bit awkward.
You know, you sit and listen to the teacher tell you all the things your kids need to work on and all the things they are doing well at. But I always feel like there isn't really enough time to get to the "real" stuff, such as "Is my child being bullied?" "How is there character when I'm not around?",
However, once again my kids have been blessed with great amazing teachers who work really hard and , come on, put up with them for over 8 hours a day for pennies!

One way I can help show my appreciation to these guys is cakes. In honor of fall, I took in a dark chocolate-pumpkin cake. It's a new flavor I am working to develop, and I hope it was as good as it smelled.
To top it off I made chocolate leaves- which is really simple.
First- Pick some leaves. Wash them, dry them really well.
Second- Melt chocolate (semi or white works best) slowly in the microwave or pan over boiling water. Don't overheat here!! Add in a bit of Crisco (like 1 tbsp per 13oz. of chocolate)
Third- Using a bush, paint the chocolate on the BACKSIDE of the leaves. Make sure it is really thick and all the way to the tips.
Fourth- Pop it into the freezer for only about 2 minutes.
Take them out and carefully and quickly pull off the leaf.
Viola!!! You have a lovely leave! Make sure to keep them covered if you don't use them right away.
In the picture above I painted them using my luster dusts and LOVE the way they turned out but they look cool being just plain too.

Elmo, or something like him

I have to start by saying this one was harder then I thought!
I know all the fur takes FOREVER to pipe. (This one was a full 4 hrs pf pure piping- can you say hand cramp??!)

The body is made from an 8" and the doll pan- stacked.
All the limbs and head are made from Rice Crispie treats. -This is where the problems arose from.
I didn't let these dry nearly long enough before they were expected to hold pounds and pounds of bright red- stains everything icing!

Also, at the last minute, his mouth started to fall open from the weight of icing and lack of drying time so he ended up looking more like a gasping elmo. Maybe he was offended the little 2 yrs old was going to eat him!

This guy was about 1 1/2 feet high, and used and entire 12 C. of my fantastic icing! (That amount usually covers a huge wedding cake!)
3 pounds pure butter and 13 eggs!
Yes, everything in my kitchen is stained red, and I was covered from head to toe, but how can you not love such a cute furry ...um.... puppet/monster thingy.

Happy October! Happy Fall!

Hooray!
I am so happy it is Oct. already. Where has the year gone?
Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the colors/smells/sounds/ tastes of fall.
I LOVE the fruits and veggies of fall. (Yes! I'm a closet squash lover!) I love to bake all things apple and make homemade applebutter.
I love to cook down fresh pumpkins and freeze the pulp so that I have delicious pumpkin at my fingertips all years round- for cakes and more!

Since I'm still unable to bake per Dr's orders- I have been creating yummy fall cakes in my head. As soon as I get the go-ahead from the Doc, I'll be experimenting and perhaps posting some recipes!
(How does nutty caramel apple cake sound? Apple cake, caramel filling packed with pecans?)
What about pumpkin spice cake and delicious cream cheese filling?
Or even better- pumpkin cake layered with dark European Ganache for a "Dark chocolate pumpkin cake"

Well, In honor of the first day of October here is a picture of a pumpkin cake. These are very fun to make, an a perfect accent to any fall party table!