Sunday, November 17, 2013

Gum Paste and Fondant Flowers


A while back my brother and his fiance started a cake decorating class at Micheals put on by Wilton. Every week they would send photos of their creations and tell me of all the fun and exciting things they were learning. In September I stopped making excuses and enrolled in the first class. It was mainly decorating techniques with butter cream and how to use the various tips. Well that first class got me completely hooked! I loved all the techniques and the fact that I could make cakes look pretty! No more store bought icing for this lady.

The next class I decided to tackle was fondant and gum paste. An introductory level course to the world of fondant, something I have always wanted to do but it was slightly intimidating. Well not any more! Last night was my 2nd class of the 4 class series and I completed gum paste flowers. A rose, carnation and calla lily. Nothing over the top but the basics. They came out great and I never knew they were so easy to create! Hope my family and friends like flowers because they will be popping up frequently on their cakes. Between my brother and me there is no escape.
 You know what I will be doing this weekend. With the snow in the forecast and no skiing yet, it is flower time!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Baked Sunday Mornings - Good Morning Sunshine Bars From Madison's Big Baking Blog


Baking has become an outlet for me. I love to create delicious treats that people can enjoy and share. They might not be healthy all the time but I think everyone deserves some sweetness in their life. When I browse the web, my go to places are cooking blogs and websites. In my reading the other day I came across this awesome website, Baked Sunday Mornings. BSM is an awesome group of people with the same love for baking as me! What they are doing is going through the Baked cookbooks and making all the recipes one-by-one. There are three cookbooks, Baked: New Frontiers in BakingBaked Explorations and Baked Elements. I have missed the first book but am joining in on Baked Explorations. The reason why I decided to join this group is because it involved sharing my baking experience and learning from others. I have had multiple people try and get to me to blog about my treats and this was the final push to get me to do it! I can't wait to see what this group has to offer and what awesome stuff I get to bake!

This time around it was a peanut butter, chex mix and chocolate goodness recipe.  It is quick and easy and hard to put down. I described it as crack to my roommate. She hates me for baking sweets all the time but she and I know she secretly loves it. Simple enough, all I had to do was heat up the sugars, add peanut butter, add the chex mix and let it sit for a little bit. I did swap out the chapped peanuts for some almonds. You still have the crunch of nuts in there and I like the taste better.  Make these delicious morsels and you will not regret the decision... Then you can share with your friends and family, if you haven't eaten the plate already. If you haven't tried Good Morning Sunshine Bars, you need to get on them quick!



Sunday, November 3, 2013

Baked Sunday Mornings


Well isn't this exciting! I have decided to take my baking to the next level, blogging. Let's see how this goes...

The other day I stumbled upon a baking club. Instead of books you bake! I love it! I have decided to join the Baked Sunday Mornings club and share it with my family and friends...so bare with me! This could be an awesome adventure or painful for all of you. Guess we will have to wait to see which one!