I was looking forward to the Easter season, not only to raid my girls' Easter chocolate (yes, I admit it) but also for the really cute Easter cookies. Many of the 'cookers' that I follow were posting really sweet, intricate and inspiring cookies...so many ideas and truly not enough time! I paired down my choices and went with a few standard designs. I also only started with 2 orders, boooo! However, the Monday before Easter, I was asked to make 2 dozen for someone - not a problem! On Wednesday a friend was mentioning the amount of cooking and baking she needed to have done for her weekend full of hosting Easter meals. Of course, I offered to make her some cookies (I mean, she knows someone in the biz) imagine my surprise when she asked for 150 cookies! I almost fell over! LOL! We negotiated 100...that, I could do in 3 days. Imagine my hubby's surprise when I told him - even better! LOL 

108 cookies, ready to go!

A plate of pretty

These Easter eggs trump the hard boiled variety!

Pretty butterflies

Of course the bunnies needed to nibble a carrot

Any guesses?

Baaaa!

I pulled off my Easter orders, even getting in an extra dozen to my sister, who had just had knee surgery and also to my oldest daughter's best friend (she dropped a hint or 2).  Three extreme late nights and normal early mornings, doing my usual drill of driving kids to and fro, visiting the dentist and my sister and a helping hand from my Assistant Director of Creative Design (aka: my hubby) I was finito and knackered! I think my 'customers' were happy, they are tasty little treats, if I do say so myself ;) 

It Pays To Know A Hockey Mum or Two!

I am Canadian and I love the sport of hockey. Not that I've ever played it, aside from my gig as goalie with my brother and his friends in a few street hockey games. I had high hopes that one of my girls would play hockey, I'm still clinging to that hope, even though the only one who likes sports won't play hockey because it's a "boys game!". 


I live vicariously through my very talented nephew, who plays rep for Flamborough. He's turned into an amazing player - although we've decided that Auntie (myself) and Uncaley (my hubby) are Kryptonite to Chase and his team. Although we haven't been served official notice, I believe we are banned from his games.  


All is not lost though, our good friends' son plays for the Burlington Eagles, this was his first year. The Tyke division is so much fun to watch! So, we directed our attention to cheering on Owen's team and we didn't have the same disastrous effect on them! Woo hoo! 


I was asked to make a cake for the year end parties for the the Burlington Eagles Tyke AAA team and also the Flamborough Sabres Novice AA team. Of course, for the same day! 

This was my model.

This was cake replica

My neighbour, who is ever the sarcastic and quick-witted fella (like me, just a male version) said there was "no way you can make the Eagles logo on that cake." Hmmm, that, my friends is what I call a "Challonge!" 

The Eagles Logo in fondant

It took a while, but with the help of my Assistant Director of Creative Design (aka: my hubby) we figured out how deconstruct the logo and build it out of fondant. He's clever that way, I think I'll keep him ;) 

The Sabres cake didn't have as intricate a logo to deal with, my biggest challenge was trying to make icing and fondant silver (this is still a work in progress). However, I think the results were not too shabby! 

So, 6 lbs of butter, 12 lbs of icing sugar, 6 layers of cake and 2 batches of homemade marshmallow fondant later, I had 2 cakes ready to go. I was very happy (and tired) to deliver them! Both teams loved their cakes and gobbled them up, I love hearing that kind of feedback! Yay me! 

Not often that these 2 teams meet, they got along fine on our table ;)

A Redeeming Cupcake?

So, in the past I have lamented about the popular cupcake and my lack of success with cupcakes. I've turned down requests for cupcakes, and I don't turn down an opportunity to expand "business" all that often. Cupcakes stir up the bad side of me, I know, it's shocking, I have a bad side! 


Recently my neighbour, Cori, passed along a recipe for a cupcake. This has become more regular between us; Cori sends me links to Pinterest or blogs, recipes or pictures of cakes. Most times this gets the creative juices flowing and I find something new to make. However this time, I winced. It was a cupcake recipe and I gave it a moments thought to toss this one into the cyber trash can...and then I thought better of it. Not one to back down from a challenge, I faced my nemesis: The Cupcake. 


Now, this was no ordinary cupcake, it was a Guinness Chocolate Cupcake with Irish Cream infused cream cheese icing. An adults only cupcake! Game on! Maybe this would be it, the cupcake to change my mind. Not only was it the day before St.Paddy's day, I also had a plumber working in the house, so water wasn't always readily available to me! Another challenge! 


I measured and mixed, I popped these babies into the oven and held my breath. The smell was enticing and the treasures came out of the oven all lovely and even, each one a perfect replica of it's neighbour in the spot next to it. After a wee bit o' cooling off, the icing went on, they looked glorious. Next was tasting these little Irish goodies, I went out to the neighbours, platter in hand and doled them out. Held me breath and ran back into me house and waited for the feedback. I didn't wait too long, minutes really until our one neighbour was kicking himself for only taking one! 

I must say, after my own taste test, these were a game changer. There were no fancy cupcake liners, no visions of grandiose accolades for making "the perfect cupcake", I didn't fancy them up like glittering jewels that beg for attention. Nope, simple and to the point. A perfect package of dark chocolate with a hint o' Guinness and topped with a decadent and not overly sweet cream cheese icing, laced with my favourite Irish Cream. Perfection. I see redemption in the cupcake's future. 

Edyn Turns 6...

6 years ago I met this wee little creature, she came into the world silent and wide-eyed, checking out the new world around her. Quickly the silence changed and we paced the floors for hours trying to settle her down and let us all get some sleep. I hadn't a clue how tired one could truly get and still function daily!
Edyn Scott has certainly kept us on our toes and filled our hearts with joy. She is one of a kind. In this cute bundle is a charismatic, outgoing, charming and polite little girl, she is also sensitive to those who may not know they need a little hand to fit into theirs at a particular moment.

We are fortunate to have 3 gorgeous daughters, Edyn is in the middle and never allows anyone to forget she's in a room.
Birthdays are something of a national holiday in our house. Our oldest, Sabine, used to start talking about "next year's party" before we had even sent out invites for the imminent birthday. Planning, planning, planning. These girls change their minds faster than their socks about what kind of party they want. I will never forget that a birthday is coming up and I know the expectations about the day: a birthday banner hung in the kitchen, a little gift outside the bedroom door and a breakfast and dinner of the birthday girls' choice. Now that I am in the 'business' of cakes and cookies, I am also given many suggestions of cakes and treats...changed hourly, of course.

So, Edyn's 6th birthday was approaching...doncha know?! I mean, it was September and she started planning - daily. We started talking strategy; this was a small party this year, not every girl she's ever met at school, on the ice or on the street was invited (I know, party pooper). The main focus was the cake and the cookies. Many mornings started with "Mummy, for my birthday, I want...." and every day, it was something different. ;)

One Saturday we had a moment to pop out, just the two of us. (we're like ants, you see one, you see all of us) However, we managed a few minutes out together and found ourselves checking out cake supplies. My darling, sweet girl looks at me with her big blue eyes and sweet smile, holding (to my horror) cupcake liners. Oy vey. Cupcakes. The very thing I just take no enjoyment in creating, why, I have no idea, but I truly don't like them!

So, here I was, faced with a decision; crush this angel's heart or give in and make the cupcakes. I could actually hear the game show music playing in my head while I weighed my options. This wasn't a tough decision, her pleading eyes made it for me. Cupcakes it was.
So, I brought home my nemesis and I contemplated them...I'm sure I could hear some heckling coming from within the package "whatcha got lady? whatcha gonna do, lady?" There are moments in my life that I am alone in my house, not often, but there are times. I was glad this wasn't one of those times, otherwise I would have found myself hollering at little bag of cupcake papers and that would be a sad, sad day for me. ;)

To Edyn's credit, she picked a simple, pretty liner; pink with white polka dots. I've always loved polka dots, goes back to my Nanny's DNA settling into my cells. The cookies were an easy decision, make them look like the cupcakes. Easy peasy! Ohhhh, how the girls would "oooh and ahhhh" over my genius (and somewhat anal tendencies) to have matching cupcakes and cookies. Edyn would be the envy of her Kindergarten friends, her mum being "that cool one". I could hear them cheering my name at the next drop-off at school "Edyn's Mum! Edyn's Mum!" (yup, I am *insert name*'s mum now).

I made these gorgeous cookies, oh my, how I love these cookies. Truly, my faves of the many I have made. Love. Love. Love.

Have I mentioned how I dislike cupcakes? Maybe once? I truly dislike them...they drive me crazy. So, my high hopes of maybe changing this feeling of dislike were dashed again when I pulled the little monsters out of my oven. It's like these tiny cakes in a cup are flashing me that naughty finger...tsk, tsk. To my displeasure, the offenders come out of the oven and one would be hard pressed to know that Edyn had selected a lovely little cupcake liner. Yup, they looked yucky and blah. At least the top of the cupcake looked uniform and had nice domes on them. Otherwise, not impressed. And hence, you won't see pictures of these cupcakes....cuz then you would see the naughty finger being flipped at you too!

At least they tasted good. At least the girls were happy with their wee treats. And no, no one noticed the co-relation between cupcake liner and sweet, gorgeous cookies. And no, no one chanted my name at the next school drop-off. However, my gorgeous, sweet, how-did-she-get-to-be-6 little girl was happy with her party and treats and cookies. And that, my friends, made me happy too. (I may even forgive those silly paper liners. One day)

Cake Creations

A few of my creations from the past few months. Unfortunately, our old computer crashed and took along with it pictures of some of my first cakes. It would be fun to show off some of my 1st attempts and how I've improved. But alas, that darn computer is keeping them from you!

A dutch chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and raspberry coulis filling. Topped with chocolate ganache and toasted almonds. Twas one yummy cake! 

This piano inspired cake was a fun job...thankfully, we have a piano in our living room for me to run to frequently as reference. Apparently it was a hit with the birthday girl! 

This cake was inspired by the Hunger Games trilogy. My daughter's best friend is a HUGE fan of the series. Her only request was for the cake to have "as much fondant as you can get on it"

And lots of fondant she got! 

A Washington Capitals inspired cake, we found a picture of a vintage jersey and went from there...

Ah yes, the "Biebs"....fortunately, we don't really have Bieber Fever in our house! The cake is covered in buttercream and the zebra stripes are in fondant. I used some cookies to top the cake and spell the birthday girls' name. We glued the Bieber doll to the cake board with icing. 

My most recent cake, I giggled when this request for a "horse" cake came in. How was I going to pull this one off?! I've never had any talent in artwork or sketching (and yet, here I am designing cakes and cookies?!). I could have printed off a picture from the net and traced it, but that would have been too easy. So instead, I spent quite a bit of time sketching and tweaking my horse until I felt it was perfect.

I especially love the mane on the horse; I marbled the fondant with 3 shades of brown and rolled it out. This was also my first attempt at homemade Marshmallow fondant and truly, hands down...it's SO much better than store bought (plus a great workout for my arms) I won't be going back.   

Cookies...

Here are some of the cookies I have created over the last few months. Each one is hand decorated, customized colours and designed. I use only high quality ingredients, they are peanut free although they are created in a kitchen that has nut products. (I am sure to clean thoroughly before each project).

A few pretty flowers to brighten up anyone's day (ok, any lady's day)

Each one is a bit different

These cute cupcakes are great for kids and the kids at heart.

I like these cupcakes better than the real deal. Seriously, give me a big slab of cake and send me off on my own to enjoy! These cookies, tasty impostors!

Our friends' son is playing rep hockey for the 1st time this year. I made these skates for a post game 'snack'. I customized the colours to match the team jersey and each player got his number.

Hand painted the blades with silver food paint.

Christmas cookies, this was a fun season to work on! 

Teacher's gifts, I made chocolate sugar cookies (yum) and vanilla sugar cookies. Apples for the teachers, of course

The cookie at the front is a Santa Belly, which stumped my usually creative hubby ("I don't get it, where's his head!?")...I got many compliments on that particular cookie

I would say this was my favourite batch of cookies to put out, the peppermint twists, snowflakes, gifts and trees. 

Each snowflake was unique, just like the ones we never saw this winter season!

I admit, I usually duck my head, dress in black and do whatever I can to avoid Valentines day....

... but when you make cookies, that's next to impossible to do! 

I still dressed in black though! ;)

A friend helped me bake and flood 194 cookies cut in the ribbon motif. We made them for a fundraiser for a family from our Ringette Association, the mum is battling Leukaemia.

Here they are, flooded and detailed with navy royal icing. (Orange is the colour for leukaemia, orange and blue happen to be the Burlington Blast colours too!)

Packaged and ready to go, we received great support and all proceeds went to the family. 

Feet, a funny project for a lady retiring from nursing, she worked with patients after foot surgery...

I still have to figure out how to make the toes look good. Imagine biting into these toes!

Cupcakes went with the feet, I love the colours my friend asked for

I made these cookies to celebrate my mother-in-law's 65th birthday. She's not a huge fan of sweets...

...but she is a fan of my cookies and designs! 

The Candy Corn cookies were the start of my cookie mania...to realize how easy it was to make each one unique and fun! (I said the one in the bottom right corner was me in high school, before I discovered waxing for eyebrows! LOL)

A spider, Mummy and web - a hit with the boys on our street.

Little chocolate 'cake bite' ghosts. My SIL ordered these for her office, apparently everyone loved them!