Beautiful Cupcakes

This weekend I created beautiful cupcakes for a co-worker who requested my services - thank you! 

Chocolate cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream. Simple and elegant. No added sparkle required.

*When packaging cupcakes, I normally use cardboard boxes but find that the cardboard seems to absorb the oil from the icing - which doesn't look every nice. I wanted to find plastic containers but had a hard time finding exactly what I wanted online without having to order from the States. When I was searching for other ideas, it was mentioned that you can go to your local bakery and ask for some of theirs. Since I was on a time crunch, that is what I did and it worked perfectly! And inexpensive too.

I printed off my labels.

And packaged up the cupcakes.

I love the look of them packaged.

Hope they were well received at her party! I enjoyed making them.

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

At work this week we had a bake sale to help fundraise for our Christmas Party. I thought it would be fun to make a Christmas themed cookie so I decided to use a snowflake cookie cutter that I purchased recently. I am not a huge cookie cutter fan - I usually just use the rim of a glass but thought I would try something new.

The outcome was that they looked great - but more than less than half of the batch turned out. The dough formed almost three dozen cookies and I was lucky to get a small portion of that. Everyone second one seemed to break on me as I lifted them from the cookie tray. I was so devasted that I even requested silence from the tv in the living room so that I could concentrate. I luckily had just under two dozen cookies. I thought, "okay, this will be enough - no biggy, I won't need to go buy something". But nope...that wasn't the end of it. While I was icing them one by one thinking what a roll I'm on and then bam! an arm breaks off! What the heck!! As I kept making my way through the rest of the icing, I was crossing my fingers that I would at least get a dozen out of this by the end. Thankfully, 14 made it through the rounds!

In the end beautiful, sparkling Almond Buttercream Sugar Cookies were created.

Although....I think I might stick to the good 'ole reliable circular cookies for a while until this experience becomes less vivid and I forget how frustrating it was. Darn Bake Sale! - although we did raise over $200!

I iced the little arms that broke off and brought those into work for people to munch on before the Bake Sale and left the really mangled ones at home for Josh! Oppps, sorry babe! Thanks for the encouragement and quiet working space though, I guess I owe you.


 

Treatzza Pizza - Almost.

Ice Cream Cakes have always been my favourite type of cake. These cakes would of course come from Dairy Queen which also sells Treatzza Pizza's - a delicious dessert-take on pizza. Between this idea and an episode of Paula Dean, I created the Graham Cracker Cinnamon Pecan Caramel Vanilla Ice Cream Pizza!

It was toooo easy to make which may become a problem in our house because I may decide to whip one up whenever I feel like it.

What you need:

1 store bought graham cracker pie shell (or you can make your own if you want)
1 litre vanilla ice cream
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup caramel sauce (I made this but you could also buy store bought if you want)
1/2 cup halved pecans

The pizza needs to be done in steps so that each step has time to set by being in the freezer.

Start the first layer of the pizza. Spread a thin layer of cinnamon onto the crust of the pie shell. On top of that, scoop ice cream to almost fill the shell. You will have to use your hands to spread and flatten the ice cream. Be careful not to crack the graham cracker shell and work quickly. Sprinkle with another layer of cinnamon. Place into the freezer to help reset and harder the newly softened ice cream.


While the ice cream is hardening, begin the caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce:

1 cup sugar
1 cup whipped cream
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 cup butter

Over medium heat, combine all ingredients for caramel sauce. Stir constantly. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until temperature gets to 220 F. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and pour into a heat safe jar. Be careful - this mixture if very hot.


Let cool. You don't want to pour hot sauce over ice cream. In this case anyways.

Sprinkle the pecan pieces over the ice cream and cinnamon.

Once the caramel is cool, slowly drip the sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon.

Place back in the freezer for 30 minutes or more until the caramel is set.

And there you go! A DQ-like Treatzza Pizza.

Use a pizza cutter to slice. This made for an easy and mess-free cut.

I'm definitely going to try this with different varieties of toppings. I see a chocolate themed one in my future...I think I'm going to use an Oreo crust pie shell next time to enhance the chocolate theme.

YAM Fries

I can remember the first time that I ever tried Yam Fries. They have become so popular in restaurants. I couldn't resist trying to make them myself. These turned out so good that we have made them several times since the first.

The recipe is so easy and few ingredients are needed, which I always like.

Ingredients:

1 large yam
1-2 tbsp corn starch
3-4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Large ziploc bag (or something similar)

* This will yield 2 large portions.

STEP ONE:

Peel the yam and cut into strips. *Be careful while cutting the yam up as it is quite tough

STEP TWO:

In a large ziploc bag toss in 1-2 tbsp of corn starch and the yam strips, seal the bag and shake it until the yams strips are completely coated.

STEP THREE:

Pour in the olive oil and add salt and pepper; shake bag again.

STEP FOUR:

Evenly spread the yam strips onto baking sheets (you will need two sheets). Spread them so they are spread in a single layer and the majority of yams are not touching one another. If they are piled on, the yams will steam and won't crisp up.

STEP FIVE:

Place in the oven at 425 F for 30 minutes; toss them half way through. Continue baking until your desired crispness.

STEP SIX:

Pair with a dipping sauce - whatever you want. We used a spicy chipolte mayo.

STEP SEVEN:

Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!!

Chocolate Vanilla Spiral Cookies

I made these cookies last week with my mom in mind. Among other types of cookies, these spiral cookies are a trade mark of growing up (and they still make an appearance when we go home to visit). The cookies that I made aren't her recipe. Hers come out nice and fluffy and these ones came out crunchy. The fluffy ones sound better but these were actually quite good, just a different type of cookie.

The recipe that I used came from Robinhood.ca.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
3 tbsp coca powder
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp of water

STEP ONE

Beat butter and sugar until well blended and light in colour; add vanilla and salt (I left the salt out as my butter was salted); add flour and mix until crumbly

STEP TWO

Knead dough together and split into two

STEP THREE

Return one of the pieces back to the mixer and add in the cocoa

STEP FOUR

On pieces of wax paper, roll the two doughs out to near equal sizes and shapes

STEP FIVE

Lightly spread the egg mixture onto the top of one of the two doughs (this will help the two doughs stick together)

STEP SIX

Stack the other dough directly on top of the egged dough, trying to match the placement up as best as possible (it is easiest to keep the wax paper on as you flip the second dough on top of the first one)

STEP SEVEN

Press the edges down along the outside of the doughs to connect the two doughs

STEP EIGHT

Using the wax paper that is under the bottom dough, roll the dough from the long way into a tight cylinder; seal the ends by pushing the tips inward as you create the cylinder

STEP NINE

Wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes

STEP TEN

Preheat oven to 325 F; cut rolls into 1/4 inch slices and bake 14-16 minutes

*This makes so many cookies - before slicing all of the dough, I cut it in half and froze the remaining dough for next time. 

Hope you try it out!

Gummy Bear Sticks

I made these candy sticks - Gummy Bear Sticks - over the weekend with Thanksgiving in mind.

They are so cute. After I made them I realized that they reminded me of the multi-coloured corn that comes around during Thanksgiving - this stuff:

The Gummy Bear Sticks were really easy to make. 

Per stick, all you will need is:

1 1/2 dozen candy pieces - I used real fruit gummy bears

A stick with a point - You could buy these at the craft store, but I just used shish kabob skewers that I had in my kitchen

A bag to cover the stick - These are from the craft store and were packaged for pretzels but they worked perfect for this

Something to tie it all together - I was looking for twine in my wrapping paper box but didn't have any but untwisted the handle of a paper Levi's bag instead

I originally wanted to stack the gummy bears vertically but once it was pricked, the sticky part was exposed and it made it difficult to slide down. So I opted to put them on vertically and it made it less of a challenge and I think probably looks better then up and down.

KitchenAid

Yikes! It has really been too long - again.

My and Josh's schedules have been completely opposite for about a month. You would think that I would have been able to find some time to post items but nope...it didn't seem to work that way. But here I am with a ton to post! I have been cooking and baking like crazy. A post a day for the next while is my plan.

Before I go back into the past with foods that I have been making over the last month I have to comment on a current event. I FINALLY!! cracked and bought a KitchenAid mixer. Way too expensive but very much worth it and I found it for a great price - I've been monitoring the flyers like crazy.

Besides Czar (our dog baby), this is my new baby. I love it so much. It sure beats a hand-held mixer - although I do see the advantages of just the hand-held.

I really wanted the Pistachio coloured mixer but I found out that it takes 4-6 weeks to get many of the coloured ones in.... there was no way I was waiting any longer so I went with the white which looks great in our kitchen - crisp and clean.

The Pistachio would have been cool though because it has a 50s feel and our place is a strange mix of super modern and touches of old fashion pieces. We put some cool art work up on our walls that incorporated Josh's old comics from when he was a kid that aren't 50s but have the same flavour. I'll take some pictures and post it up sometime this week - I'm surprised that I like them as much as I do. It was a good idea (way to go Josh!! Whoowhoo!).

Anyways - this is my mixer:

 What to make next....hmmm.

Seven Minute Frosting

More like Fifteen Minute Frosting - but regardless, it is the BEST frosting ever. 

This was my first time making this frosting and I must say it will definitely become one of my staples. It was so easy to make, it was stiff enough to pipe and it held it's shape really well. 

Anyway who knows me knows that I don't actually like Butter Cream Icing - I'm just not a huge fan of the taste but use it because it pipes so well and other people seem to like it. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to start using this frosting more since I could literally eat it by the spoonful.

It is so glossy and smooth! Just looking at it makes me want to eat it!!

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup water

1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

The recipe also called for 1/8 tsp of salt which I omitted (I usually always omit salt - just don't need the extra sodium and it doesn't seem to make a difference to any recipe). You could follow the recipe exactly if you wish of course. 

The next time I make this frosting, I will probably add a bit more sugar. It was sweet tasting but there is a hint of the eggs so I would prefer to mask that. 

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Whisk together all ingredients except vanilla in a large metal or glass bowl.
• With the same bowl, create a double boiler.
• Set bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and mix with an electric beater at low speeds.
• Gradually increase speed to high - beating until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
• Remove bowl from pan and continue beating until frosting is cool and fluffy.
• Beat in vanilla.

**Getting to the stiff peaks takes some time. It will feel like it isn't going to thicken and just stay as liquid. Be patient and it will come together.

Pipe or knife the frosting onto your cupcakes or cake and you are ready to go!

Ombre Cake

I've been wanting to try icing a cake using an ombre technique but I haven't had an occasion until last night when I decided that I didn't need one. So off I went to make a mess in the kitchen to create 3 different shades of purple icing.

It didn't turn out exactly as planned because the bottom colour isn't quite distinct from the middle colour but it was fun playing around with the colourings. I'm still amazed with the black colouring - I never would have thought it could be used but it really does take out the Easter colouring in icing which is great.

An issue I always have is thinking I don't need as much icing as I actually do. From now on, I am just going to make a huge batch and if I have extra I'm sure I'll be able to find a use for it (most likely freeze it for the time being). Lately I have been having to make extra along the way and that really puts a damper on the fun decorating part.

Since I was just making the cake for the heck of it I wasn't too concerned about the doming effect that was going on with the cake. Normally I flip over the top layer so the curved part is in the middle which will give you a straight top surface if you fill the instead with enough icing around the outside portion to keep it from settling down (and curving the top) but I cut each layer into two more making it a four layer cake which resulted in it still somehow curving - which I guess was fine for the purpose. I think I am going to buy one of those cake cutters that will slice off the dome that ALWAYS happens when I bake cakes and I will be able to avoid the layers from leaning if they aren't even.

Anyway....this is the result.

Engagement Party Cake

Last Saturday was finally the day to make the cake for a bride-to-be at her engagement party (the reason for the sample cupcakes). The day was beautiful and probably the hottest day of the summer. The weather made for a great engagement party, I'd imagine but not so much for a day of baking - it was HOT in the house. 

Luckily, the cake turned out fairly decent however, the process was the worst. It was a great experience of learning to think quickly and improvise. I wasn't going to allow the cake to leave my house unless it looked presentable but I also had to remind myself that I didn't have a choice and I had to make it work as there was a specific reason as to why I was making this cake and the bride-to-be was relying on me.

I knew it would be warm so I did all of the baking the night before to keep the place cool. I can only imagine what it would have been like if I baked the cakes the same day.

The day of I literally could not keep the cake out of the fridge for more than a few minutes. My place was just too warm that the icing would soften instantly and start to droop down the cake. There was a lot of swiping and re-doing.

I also had to make two extra trips to the store to buy more ingredients as the icing just wasn't coming out right. And my hand held blender broke - again! - So now I'm onto my third in the past several months. I REALLY want a proper stand blender/mixer like the KitchenAid ones but they are sooooo expensive. 

The bride-to-be decided on the colour scheme. I wasn't too sure about the colour blocking but I think it looks quite nice after all. I think for next time I will add a bit of white colouring to the cream colour - the colour of the butter stands out a bit too much for my liking....a little on the yellow side.

The cake is a two-tiered chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. To go along with the cake, I also made a dozen cupcakes to match but I unfortunately do not have a proper photo of them.

I am very thankful to the bride-to-be to give me this opportunity - she was great! 

I do really like the outcome of the cake and this was my first two-tiered cake so I think even with that it is pretty good but I do wish I could have provider her with crisper icing and not so soft looking. But it is what it is - can't control the weather.

Hope she liked it.

 

Cupcake Samples

This is completely OVERDUE!! Sorry everyone! Over the last month Josh and I both started new jobs so we have been completely occupied with that and getting use to our new positions and commute and lack of time together (i.e no overlapping days off) BUT we both have settled in nicely and it's time to get back on track with everything else.

This includes making a cake for a girls engagement party coming up in a couple of days. She saw my blog and lives locally so she asked if I could put together a cake for her. I brought her some sample cupcakes and these are them:

Both types are chocolate cake. The pink are iced with an almond flavoured buttercream. And the cream are iced with cream cheese buttercream.

There are obviously many more cupcakes than the four packaged for her so we were forced to eat cupcakes for a couple of days. Josh doesn't like cream cheese icing (crazy guy!) so I had to eat of all of those ones....too bad for me. 

The pink icing was interesting to experiment with because I wanted the furthest from baby pink. The trick seemed to be adding a tiny little bit of black or brown colouring (honestly, a tiny tiny bit). When I do the cake I will add a touch more just so the pink is a real antiquey dusty rose colour. 

I'm looking forward to it. I hope the weather isn't too warm so the icing can withstand the heat. 

On a side note: I have been baking and cooking a ton, I just haven't had the time to post any of them - hopefully that means I will be able to pump them out when I have a bit of time and post a bit more consistently.

Be back soon! (HOPEFULLY!!!!).

Potato Bacon Soup!!

Once again, it has been way too long since my last post. I hope to make the next few great ones to help make up for it.

So...without further ado: Today's Post - Potato Bacon Soup!!

This is the easiest soup you will ever make - so try it!

Ingredients:

6 potatoes, chopped into small pieces
1/2 package of bacon
1 large onion, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
kernels from 1 cooked corn
900 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp pepper

STEP 1: 

Cook bacon; dry with paper towel

STEP 2: 

Prepare celery, onions, bacon and corn

STEP 3:

In the same deep pot (to avoid too many dishes), add chopped onion; cook until browned 

STEP 4: 

Add vegetable stock; bring to a boil

STEP 5:

Add chopped potatoes; turn to medium heat and continue cooking until potatoes are tender

STEP 6:

Remove half of the potatoes temporarily and slightly mash the remaining soup to create a 

creamy texture; add the rest of the potato pieces back in

(This doesn't look every appetizing but you just have to look at it briefly)

STEP 7: 

Add chopped bacon, celery and corn; continue cooking on low until you are ready to eat!!!!

And that is it!! It is so quick and so easy to make! It is also very hardy and filling. It's a great soup to make a ton of and freeze into individual containers for lunches or dinners later on.

****I cooked the corn on the cob separately and then filed the kernels off and put them in the soup. Alternatively, you could probably file the kernels off without cooking it and just add them raw to the hot soup. OR you could just use a can of corn. Whatever you have will be just fine!!

NOW on a completely different note - I wanted to say 'without further ado' (as a I did up top) but I wasn't sure of the spelling so I looked it up and apparently people get 'ado' and 'adieu' mixed up....read on if you care.... So 'ado' means a flurry or fuss whereas 'adieu' means goodbye in French and has nothing to do with the phrase 'without further ado' UNLESS you want to say 'without further adieu, I'm out of here' ('without further goodbyes, I'm out of here') because there would never be a need to say without further goodbyes period - you need to finish the sentence. Just thought it was interesting. Google is great.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake

This is my second attempt at this icing for a chocolate cake and I must say it definitely needed that second try since the first one just did not work (see here).



A little while ago I finally got myself a proper set of piping tools (all the tips and bags) so I have been dying to try out some of the piping methods that I have learned via youtube - very useful!

The icing is a Cream Cheese Butter Cream Icing:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
8 oz (one package) cream cheese
5 cups sifted icing sugar

Step 1: Beat butter until soft
Step 2: Beat in cream cheese, just enough until it's blended
Step 3: Cup by cup sift in icing sugar and blend

There is a lot talk on the forums about whether cream cheese icing can be piped and so far, in my experience, it can. It was a nice firm icing that came out and held its shape quite nicely - even on the sides of the cake.

I did a quick sweep over the cake with the icing so that it was completely covered - but thinly - you don't want to use all of your icing here. Add a little extra in between the layers since this is the filling as well. The thin layer is just so the cake crumbs don't flick into the icing, as well as if any spots are missed while piping it isn't as obvious.

I put the final cake into the fridge because of the cream cheese but it would be fine out and would most likely continue holding its shape as long as it's not in a super hot area.

*If the icing is too thick, milk (or cream) can be added tsp by tsp. Likewise, if it is too thin for your liking, simply add more icing sugar.



Mini: Lemon Meringue Pie

Josh and I missed Mother's Day this Sunday and we weren't able to go see
his mom, even though they live fairly close.

To make it up to her we went for a visit yesterday and brought a little treat,
one of her favourites: Lemon Meringue Pie.

They are really easy to do. The hardest part is the crust but you could make it
even easier on yourself and buy store bought crust if you wanted to.

Making mini ones was super cute. They are bigger than a tart and much much
smaller than a 9 inch pie but they are still quite big - two servings I would say.

I left two pies out for Josh and I and packaged the other two for Josh's

mom and away we went for a lovely visit.

***On a side note though: I found the crust had a slight bitter taste to it and I'm not too sure why. It could have been the brand of shortening. I used Crisco but in the past I've used Tenderflake. I don't remember it having the aftertaste that it did in previous times. Any other ideas?



Update

It feels like it has been forever since I last posted something! Sorry for those who kept checking back to find something new. I will try posting items more often so there is always something new to look at.

Josh and I finally had a few days off together and the weather has been so nice here that it made more sense to be outside than to bake.

We found a really neat place to take Czar for a walk - it's a huge forest area just in behind our place. There are multiple starting points so we drove up a little ways to start our walk at a new destination. The results: a huge ravine in the middle of the forest that we climbed down to. Czar absolutely loved playing in the creek water - he loves the water - rivers, creeks, ponds, the ocean - anything but bath water.

This place was very neat, we wished that we had brought our camera and definitely will next time. I think we will try from a different entry point as well.

We packed a nice lunch of sandwiches and lots of water for Czar so we were all happy campers.

Have a great day. We are off to enjoy another sunny one!

Reason Why

I think seeing this...

...makes having a blog worthwhile. I love seeing that people from around the world are looking at Wilma: Loft Living. Sure, the numbers aren't super high, but having hits from Russia and Ireland and Malta (Josh's family lives here) is the neatest thing ever. Keep the spread of my blog going and pass along its name to everyone you think may be interested.

Thank you everyone!

- Frozen Bananas -

I saw these on Dr. Oz last week. They turned out pretty good when I made them last night. We ate them before they were fully frozen but still delicious. Honestly, I have no self control. Dr. Oz was saying that they are a great alternative to an ice cream treat (even with the sprinkles - he also used nuts for another topping).

We often make these in a simpler version - we cut up the banana into slices and dip each piece and just refrigerate until the chocolate is hardened and then eat. But almost frozen and sprinkles was a nice change for these ones.