Author: Megan

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

~ Megan ~ 4 Comments

Quite a long while back I had an order for some girly Hello Kitty cupcakes! I quickly got to work researching how I was going to make the little toppers out of fondant. Right away I found some awesome Hello Kitty cutters on amazon, and I ordered them from Japan without hesitation. I added the bow (which I made using a separate mold that I have), and completed the face details using royal icing. I even steamed these little kitties to make them shiny and extra fabulous 🙂Hello KittyHello Kitty

What made these cupcakes even more fun was unwrapping the liner to reveal the pink confetti cake inside!Hello Kitty CupcakesHello Kitty Cupcakes

 

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Elephant Cupcakes

~ Megan ~ 2 Comments

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There’s nothing I love more than a baking project with a theme! There’s something about duplicating something from print that can be so satisfying if it turns out right!

A while back, I was asked to make some elephant-themed cupcakes for a lovely little lady’s first birthday. Luckily for me, I was provided with some of the party decor for inspiration, and the rest fell into place from there!

Elephant cupcakesFor the elephants, I obviously didn’t have the specific cutter I needed, so I cut them out by hand using the small rotary cutter from my gumpaste tool set.Elephant CupcakesI happened to find these floral liners in the exact colours that I needed…it was a pretty exciting day at Michael’s to say the least!Elephant Cupcakes

Stay tuned for more themed cakes and cupcakes in the next few weeks!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Scalloped Lemon Cake

~ Megan ~ 7 Comments

I don’t want to lead anyone on, so allow me to cut to the chase: I realize it is now March 14th, which means that St. Patrick’s Day is a mere 3 days away. I also realize that this is the perfect opportunity to post some sham-rockin’ green goodies, but the long and short of it is, I just don’t have enough time these days to bake the things that I would like to!

The good news is, I have been negligent (as always) with my posting, so I do have loads of recent projects that you may not have seen yet (unless you have started following me on Instagram), which I will try and publish in the next month or so!

Now that you aren’t expecting leprechaun cupcakes, you’re in luck because I am about to make you green with envy over this charming cake! It really is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! (sorry, it was all there, I just had to).Scalloped Lemon Cake

I just  celebrated my birthday last month (woohoo!), and I wanted to make something delicious and beautiful that wouldn’t take up a lot of my time. The result: this 4 layer lemon cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream scalloped around the exterior. Scalloped Lemon Cake

If you wish to create this technique but are not sure how, you can view my (brief) tutorial on one of last year’s posts here.

Scalloped Lemon Cake

That’s it! Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day weekend!

Disclaimer: Many lemons were harmed in the making of this cake

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Valentine’s Day Cookie Boxes

~ Megan ~ 5 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The past two evenings have been super busy as I’ve been baking up a storm over here!  Here’s a look at what I’ve been up to:

Valentine's Day

 

For the sugar cookie boxes I cut out 5 large hearts, and then used a smaller heart to cut out the middles of three of them. Once baked, I stacked them using royal icing and connected them to a base piece.

Sugar Cookie Treat Boxes

For the chocolates, I made peanut butter filled milk chocolate hearts, and peppermint filled dark chocolate hearts.

Valentine's Chocolates

And finally, my newest creation: cookie confetti! It’s a great way to use up cookie dough, and you only have to bake them for 5 minutes 🙂

Cookie Confetti

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Valentines Day Treat Boxes

Sugar Cookie Confetti

What did the boy octopus say to the girl octopus?
I wanna hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand? 

2013 Holiday Baking

~ Megan ~ 4 Comments

I promise this is the final post in my 3 day posting binge! I had an extremely jam-packed holiday schedule this year (last year..?) and as a result, haven’t had time to write posts until now…as it is already two weeks into 2014 I figured I would just publish them all at once before it is too late! Don’t worry, knowing me, I probably won’t get around to another post for at least 2 months :).

The night that I finished writing my last exam, I started a baking marathon that involved 14 dozen sugar cookies for my Dad’s work. 14 dozen might not sound so bad (or maybe it does), but I can assure you this was a very time-consuming endeavor! Keep in mind I used a standard sized oven, and decorating was a multi-step process. In the end, the effort was worth it, as everything came together on time, and my “clients” were happy with the result!

On a whim I decided to make some last minute mini cupcakes on Christmas Eve. The flavours were chocolate and gingerbread, and the icing was ginger-cinnamon. Delicious! All of the toppers were made out of fondant and decorated with edible markers.

Christmas Mini Cupcakes

I also made 3 different kinds of chocolate bark this year: Peppermint, Dark chocolate with pistachio and cranberry, and milk chocolate with mango, papaya and coconut. I failed to temper the chocolate, so the bark was in perfect condition as long as it was in the fridge, but had some unfortunate blooming if left out at room temperature too long. Lesson learned!

Champagne Cupcakes

~ Megan ~ Leave a comment

Happy New Year!

I may be nearly 2 weeks late with this post, but here’s a treat worthy of any special celebration: champagne cupcakes!

Champagne Cupcakes

These cupcakes have the most amazing texture! They also have the very distinct taste of champagne. Since I realize that may not appeal to the masses, in the future I am going to try the same recipe using Pellegrino. Wish me luck!

In order to start the new year off on a good note, I feel I must speak the truth here: you can feel free to pop open an actual bottle of Moet & Chandon, OR if you are like me you can just use it for photos (successfully avoiding the wrath of your parents) and “splurge” on a mini bottle of Henkell. The choice is yours! Now you know all of my secrets!

Champagne Cupcakes

I decorated these cupcakes using vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, gold and white sanding sugar, sugar pearls, and pearl jimmies – a lovely combination if I do say so myself!

Champagne Cupcakes

Champagne Cupcakes

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Celebratory Champagne  CupcakesChampagne Cupcakes

Source: adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup champagne/prosecco/sparkling white wine

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare muffin tin with liners
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar high speed until blended and lightened in colour, about 2 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk until fully combined.
  4. Measure the champagne and add the yogurt to it. Set aside
  5. Add both egg whites to butter mixture and beat on medium just until combined (about 15-20 seconds)
  6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on medium speed just until combined (about 15 seconds)
  7. Add the champagne/yogurt mixture and beat on medium speed just until combined (about 15 seconds)
  8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remainder of the dry ingredients. Beat until fully combined (about 30-60 seconds), scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The batter will be thick.
  9. Scoop batter into muffin tins using an ice cream scoop.
  10. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cakes spring back when touched. Cool completely before decorating.

Eggnog Pancakes

~ Megan ~ 2 Comments

The last few days of eggnog are upon us! If your family is like mine, you can’t get enough of this stuff and are sad to see it go at the end of the Holidays. I know that you can make this stuff yourself, but the whole concept of the raw eggs creeps me out, so there I go feigning ignorance and picking up a carton or two (or three).Eggnog Pancakes

So here’s a funny story for you. I was intending to make vegan pancakes the other day as I got a new book for Christmas that I wanted to try out; but when I went to the fridge to grab soy milk, the eggnog was pretty much screaming at me. So my pancakes went from being vegan to non-vegan in the span of seconds.

Eggnog Pancakes

I stuck with the vegan baking method, using eggnog and vinegar as an egg substitute (yes, i realize that there are eggs in eggnog, just work with me here), but other than that, I ended up improvising the rest of the recipe. The best part about this is since you don’t have to worry about dividing eggs, you can make this recipe as small (or as large) as you want.Eggnog Pancakes

In the end these were delicious and had an unmistakable eggnog flavour! So now you have something to do with those last few drops of eggnog in your fridge before it leaves stores in a few days! Enjoy!

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Eggnog Pancakes 

Makes 6

Source: Cake for Thought

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup eggnog
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp plain or vanilla yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup AP flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg

Method:

  1. Combine eggnog and vinegar in a small mixing bowl and allow to curdle. Stir in yogurt and sugar.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium-sized bowl.
  3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until combined (a few lumps are okay).
  4. Heat a pan or griddle over medium heat. Coat pan in oil, and scoop on 1/3 cup of batter.
  5. When the pancake is bubbling (after 4-5 minutes), flip it over and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.
  6. Serve with icing sugar and maple syrup.

The Month of the Minion

~ Megan ~ 3 Comments

I’ve definitely had my fair share of minion requests in the past little while. It’s been a while since I’ve been taking orders, but September definitely goes down as my busiest minion month to date. Don’t believe me? Well, the proof is in the pudding…er, cake.

Exhibit A: 3D Minion Cake

Minion Cake

This was my very first attempt at a 3 dimensional minion. Something I had been wanting to do for quite some time! Who better to try this out on than my own boyfriend for his birthday? The cake was vegan chocolate with peanut butter icing. My favourite elements are easily the hair and the mini birthday cake. I should also mention that it is rare that I am actually present for the cutting of one of my own cakes. The verdict:? Painful to watch!

Exhibit B:  Fondant Cake Topper

Minion Cake TopperMinion Cake Topper

This cake topper was made for a 6 inch cake. Everything is made out of fondant, and I couldn’t have done it without my gum paste tool set! All of the shading details were done using petal dust.

Exhibit C: Minion Stuart Cake

Minion CakeMinion cake

Meet Stuart! He was made for a young girl’s birthday party and was a chocolate cake with mango buttercream. I owe his wonderfully round head to the Wilton sports ball pan. Every detail here is edible. To make the silver, I brushed silver pearl dust onto grey fondant.

All of this happened in a span of about 2 and a half weeks! I can happily say that my nightmares about disastrous, collapsing minion cakes have finally ceased to exist, and I have completed a few other exciting projects in the meantime! But more on that later 🙂

Yam Spice Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream

~ Megan ~ 6 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Here’s hoping your Thanksgiving weekend was filled with friends, family and good food! 

My sister and I were on our own this year, so we had a simplified Thanksgiving dinner. CB tackled the entree, which was a delicious curried coconut turkey stew, and I was in charge of dessert. One of my favourite things about turkey dinners is YAMS! Seriously, it feels like you are eating dessert for dinner, which is exactly why I thought it would be a good idea to combine my two favourite things: cake and yams! Alas, the yam spice cake was born!

Yam Spice CakeAcorn cake

 

 

 

This cake is the perfect dessert: egg whites provide a light and delicate texture, and the spices enhance the natural deliciousness of the yam! All in all, it is the perfect combination, and a must-try for the fall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The acorn shape was carved out of two 6 inch round cakes, and its “hat” was decorated using chopped pecans. 

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Yam Spice Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream

Yam Spice Cake

Source: Cake for Thought

Ingredients:

  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened (85 g)
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional) 
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup roasted and pureed yam (approx. 1 medium yam)

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare 2 6-inch round cake pans.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar high speed until blended and lightened in colour, about 2 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, add the 
  4. dry ingredients and whisk until fully combined.
  5. Measure the milk and add the yam. Set aside
  6. Add both egg whites to butter mixture and beat on medium just until combined (about 15-20 seconds)
  7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on medium speed just until combined (about 15 seconds)
  8. Add the milk mixture and beat on medium speed just until combined (about 15 seconds)
  9. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remainder of the dry ingredients. Beat until fully combined (about 30-60 seconds), scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The batter will be thick.
  10. Divide cake batter evenly between the two pans. Level off the top using a spatula.
  11. Bake for 30-32 minutes, or until cake tester comes out dry and cake springs back when touched. Cool completely before decorating.

DSCN6996

Cinnamon Buttercream

Source: Cake for Thought

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 1/2 – 4 cups of icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp milk
  • Food colouring (optional)

Method:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth
  2. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.
  3. Add the milk, and food colouring if desired