Baking Cakes

One of my first loves has always been baking. I don't do it nearly enough anymore. A coworker asked me if I could craft a special cake for her mother's 50th birthday. Here are some photos of what I came up with.

Ready to be frosted

Dirty Iced

Added final icing layer and borders

Finished product

I used boxed cake mix. Duncin Hines Super Moist always turns out the best cakes for me. I used a yellow and a chocolate fudge. I made my own buttercream icing too. I used a recipe that the lady who taught the Wilton cake decorating classes used. It wasn't exactly like Wilton's but it's SOOOo good.

I got a lot of compliments on the cake. One person even said it was better than a local bakery where they normally get their cakes from. *BLUSH* I'm taking a break from my Etsy store and other crafts that I've been doing for other people to focus a little more on my own crafts. I haven't done anything for myself in quite a while. With my 2nd blogiversary here, I've noticed that I need to spend a little more time with myself. I mean, this will be a good thing for you (if you still read my blog) because I'll actually have more crafts to post!!

Stay crafty!

Birthday Cupcakes - Witches Hat

What did I do last weekend? Well I baked and decorated 30 cupcakes for a special birthday party. Some of my coworkers have come to know me as the "crafty" lady. If it requires an ounce of creativity, then I'm the go-to person. I don't mind. It makes me have to do stuff I would otherwise put off. 

I was given a photo to replicate and although I went the cheap route and used canned frosting instead of making my own, I think these came out cute. Here's the recipe:

Cupcakes

2 boxes of White Cake mix (use oil and water measurements from box)

15 drops of orange food coloring (I used Wiltons, because that's what I had one hand)

1 can of white vanilla frosting (or whatever flavor you like as long as it's white)
10 drops of yellow food coloring (for decorating the top)

- Prepare cupcakes by directions on box
- Add orange food coloring to batter and mix well
- Once cupcakes have cooled, mix yellow food coloring with icing and frost using a star tip to "create" hair

Witches Hat
24 Sugar Cones (they should be over by the ice cream)
2 Bags of Chocolate Melting Wafer (in the candy section of your craft store, the AC Moore brand works better)
20 drops of black food coloring (Again, I used Wiltons) **
Black sugar **

**Wear some gloves while assembling the cones, black food coloring and black sugar will stain hands for a day ;-)

- Melt chocolate as directed on packaging. I used my microwave
- Mix in food coloring to create a darker chocolate
- Roll sugar cone in melted chocolate, then roll in sugar.
- Set on a sheet of wax paper to dry
- I used some orange frosting to write the "10" on each cone, but you can decorate to your liking
- Once dry, stick on top of the cupcakes

These were a huge hit! Even the parents were fighting over the cupcakes. The funniest part, watching the kids run around with black lips and fingers. I bet their parents loved me!!

Stay Crafty