HMH-362 Ugly Angels Cake

I was asked to make this huge cake for our squadron's Change of Command today. I used 4-12 inch square pans and butted the cakes together (2 chocolate, 2 white) to make this huge cake. I had my husband cut a cake board for me out of plywood to ensure that is would support the weight of the cake.

I am NOT a fan of fondant, so I make rolled buttercream. I iced the cake in buttercream, and then used the rolled buttercream for the "Olaf" a.k.a. Ugly Angel. I was pleased with how this all turned out!

GO UGLY!

Baby Rump Cake

This was the cutest cake I've ever made for a baby shower! 

You can find the link with instructions on how to make it here.

Thomas the Tank Engine Cake

Soccer Cake

A quick cake I made for my son's 5th birthday last weekend. Soccer balls are definitely a weakness of mine.

Elephant Cake

It's been a while since I've baked a cake.... here is a big elephant cake I did for a friend's son's 1st birthday!
(I filled in the cracks after the photo was taken)
I made a 2 layer 9x13 white cake and used buttercream fondant and cut out elephants on the side with an elephant cookie cutter.

Then I made one 6 inch and one 9 inch chocolate cake for the elephant's body and head, then made cupcakes and stacked 2 for each foot.

The trunk is buttercream fondant, and the ears are frosted cardboard cut outs.

Daisy Cookies

4 1/2 dozen daisy cookies for a luncheon!
Labels and all!

Bean Bag Set Giveaway

Check out my giveaway on my craft blog!

Enter to win up to 2 sets of bean bags!
Flames or Ladybug set!
Many ways to enter!

Giveaway closes at midnight July 4th!

Pillow Cake

This was a special request from the birthday girl herself. Designed and described in great detail in email to me about what she would like her 11th birthday cake to look like. Eye mask- Colors- Polka Dots- Flavor!

I hope she and her sleepover friends enjoy it!

Teacher Gift from Hallmark

Hallmark has these really nice tall mugs you can decorate with a special marker. Then you bake the decorated mug at 300 degrees F for 35 minutes to set the marker designs. This makes your mug dishwasher safe and microwavable without losing your designs!!!

As far as I know, it only comes with a black marker, so I kept the details simple, and then decorated my sugar cookies with pink icing and matching flowers and hearts. A little tissue paper and curling ribbon add a little more color and flare!

Then it was off to "Miss Thompson" on the last day of school!

Happy Birthday Little Brother!!! GO HAWKS!

Today is my little brother's 25th birthday! I am a little behind in getting these done. I wanted to get these shipped off so he had them on his birthday, but if it's any consolation, I'm sending them ON his birthday.

**Melissa, this is a before picture, I hope they get there and at least resemble these!!!

Sandwich Cookies

I've seen this recipe all over lately on the blogs around here. The cake mix sandwich cookies!

1 cake mix *most types work
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
Mix together and bake at 350 just until set and tops start to crack.
DO NOT OVERBAKE!

Let cool, then sandwich two cookies with desired filling, I used my buttercream icing.

The cookies are so moist, and taste like chocolate cake cookies!!! YUM!
I used some leftover colored icing I had sitting around, so mine were pink, purple, & yellow! My daughter took these to school today for her end of the year class party!

Birthday Party Goodie Platter

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Crinkles
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats

Here is a platter 'o goodies I made for my friend's son's birthday party this afternoon!

A few recent goodies

A Baby Welcoming Cake

Sunflower Cookie Bouquet

Garden Cupcakes

Here are some adorable garden cupcakes my mom and sister made for their Master Gardener's Meeting last week. I love how they turned out and wanted to share them on here. They got the instructions out of a Cupcake Book. (Sorry, can't remember which one, exactly!?)

Sunflowers

Here is part of a large order I did this weekend...

2 Sunflower fondant sheet cakes

Sunflower cupcakes

Sunflower sugar cookies (with oreo cookie middles)

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Hibiscus Cookies

An order of a couple dozen hibiscus cookies I did this week:

TWD - Fresh Mango Bread

This week's TWD recipe was chosen by Kelly of Baking With the Boys. You can check out her blog for her take and the recipe as well!

I was so glad to see a non chocolate, non cake/cookie recipe! This is semi healthy, right?!

My daughter loves mangoes, so she is always BEGGING me to buy them at the commissary. She was so bummed when I finally brought one home, only to find out it was not for her! Sorry!

I loved how quick and easy the recipe was... and it required no mixer which equals less dishes!!! My mango only made me about one cup, so I went ahead and halved the recipe. But I used 2 whole eggs, and zested the entire lime, instead of half... why not? My only concern was my super stringy mango!
I debated on making muffins, but since I had just had a Pampered Chef party recently, I decided to break in my brand new stoneware mini loaf pan! Yay! My halved recipe made 3 mini loaves! They took exactly 30 minutes in the oven and came out nice and golden brown. I let them cool a few minutes before turning them out onto the cooling rack.... and only waited until the steam stopped rolling off of them before slicing into the first loaf to try it out!YUMMMMMMM! I LOVE IT! And after having my first slice, the mango was tender enough that the strings break right up in your mouth... no gagging when you swallow! And I loved the spices in it! Some people commented that it was too much spice.... but I loved it! It probably doesn't hurt that I love gingerbread cookies....

Red White & Blue Cupcakes & A Little Cupcake Experiment

In lieu of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I decided to have a little fun with some cupcakes! I wanted to make them red, white and blue!!! Some friends and I are getting together tonight, so I thought I'd try them out!

I made up some white cake batter, and then divided it into thirds. Using food coloring, I colored one third of the batter red, one third blue, and then left the last third white.

Once the cupcake liners were in place, I started dropping a spoonful of blue batter at the bottom of each liner. Shaking down the pan so that it was level and covered the bottoms of the liners. Next, I dropped in a spoonful of the plain white batter. Again, shaking it down so it was level. Last, I spooned in the red batter. This should fill up the liners to about 1/4 - 1/3 from the top or so.

They went into the oven, cooled, were topped with buttercream and some fun patriotic sprinkles, and voila! I loved how they turned out!

As for the experiment.... after Easter, I found some mini Cadbury Chocolate eggs! Yum! I wondered what they would be like in a cupcake? I would have really liked to have made them with chocolate cupcakes, but since I had a little white cake batter left over from my red, white and blue cupcakes, I decided to just try it out to see how they melt!

I topped them with with my usual buttercream icing and sprinkled the tops with chocolate shavings.

The cadbury eggs sunk to the bottom, even after waiting for the cupcakes to bake a few minutes in the oven before dropping them in. But I'm sure they will still be super yummy! But think of how much better they would be in chocolate cupcakes?!?!

Team Ugly Angels Round 8 RoundUp

Here is the roundup for round 8! I still have not received photos from some of the members, so I will add them when I receive them!! Thanks to all the members for joining Team Ugly Angel! I appreciate all that you did for our Marine! Round 9 is coming up next, so be sure to check the Baking Gals site for details if you want to participate again!

Audrey

Tamara, Jennifer & Denise (Angela not pictured)~ Alaska

These gals rocked out a huge spread of goodies! With a tad bit of drama, this package had better make it to it's destination with all the hard work these gals have put in!
Chocolate Chip, Orange, Peanut Butter & Iced Sugar Cookies PLUS loads of extras!


Debbie ~ Nevada

www.thefridayfriends.blogspot.com
Chocoalte Crunchies &
Ghetto Toffee/Rumstick Crunch
Julie ~ Hawaii
Fudge Crinkles

Kim (Me!) ~ Hawaii
Great Grandma's Chocolate Chip Cookies

TWD- Tartest Lemon Tart

This week's TWD was chosen by Babette of Babette Feasts. There have been so many 'tarts' lately, I have been hitting myself for not going out and buying a pan. This week I just made it in a pie pan... and some mini tartlette dishes (as I'll call them).

I made this tonight after the kids had supper and were 'winding down' (aka tearing up the family room before bedtime). I was surprised at how easy the assembly was!

However, I didn't care for the taste. Too bitter from using the whole lemons... but that was strictly my own opinion!


Go check out Babette's website for the recipe!

TWD - Tiramisu Cake

This week's recipe was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. I did this recipe a few days behind because I ended up making them for a birthday party I went to Friday.

I saw some great ideas from other bloggers who made petite fours and cupcakes, so I decided to go the cupcake route with this recipe.

I sliced them in half, soaked them with the coffee syrup and spread the filling and added chopped bittersweet chocolate between the layers. Then topped with a swirl of filling and sifted cocoa over that before topping with a dark chocolate chocolate chip!

They were a big hit! Kudos to Megan for chosing this recipe! Yum!

Earth Day is Every Day... thank goodness!

These cookies were ordered for a "Secret Spouse" gift this week. The recipient has been out of town until this week, so thank goodness EARTH DAY IS EVERY DAY! Because these came a little later then the actual "Earth Day"!