Baked By Beanie

A Sprinkle For Gina

2009-03-27T15:54:00.003-04:00

My SIL Gina is pregnant again with her second daughter, Isabella. She's doing the day after Easter. My MIL decided to throw a small sprinkle for Gina for just the SILs and nieces and well as her hubby's mom and sister. I offered to make favors because I've never used my baby cookie cutters.

Of course I had some help....

It's Been Awhile

2009-03-13T16:42:00.003-04:00

I've been busy with trying to start a new job, but I've done some baking in the meantime. Here are my cupcakes and cookies from Valentine's Day. I have a few other posts coming!!

More Christmas Cookies

2009-01-11T21:06:00.003-05:00

I've been slow posting them! Here are my cut out cookies. Made the way I always make them, but I added orange extract to the royal icing for a change of pace!

Let the reviews begin!

2008-12-26T14:16:00.007-05:00

I'm going to start with my favorite new cookie! I received the recipe in Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies Newsletter that I receive EVERY year. It's a recipe by my favorite female chef, Giada DeLaurentis called Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookie. I LOVED IT. I knew I would and I did! I DID I DID I DID! Think of Starbucks Peppermint Mocha without the coffee.

I liked that she used store bought sugar cookie dough which I though would make my life simple. Or so I thought. She added extra flour to them the dough easy to roll out. I used a 2 inch cookie cutter like I was supposed to, popped them into the oven, and out came pancakes. They spread like wildfire. Next up was making the chocolate ganache. I used Creme de Menthe instead of extract and it tasted just as good. I didn't wait for the ganche to cool too long, just put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. After sandwiching the cookies together filled with ganache, I used dipping chocolate found in the supermarket baking aisle that I had stored away in my pantry. It gives the nice sheen without having to add oil to the chocolate. Super messy dipping but fun. I topped with Peppermint Pieces I picked up at Joann's. I think I only made 17 total cookies. They were too much work to do another batch.

Next time I'll try using a cut out cookie recipe instead and get more cookies. But a keeper recipe for sure! Pretty and festive!

Peppermint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis for 12 Days of Cookies 2008
Ingredients
1 (16.5 ounce) tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Decorating suggestion: crushed candy canes or peppermint candies; white, red and green sprinkles; or red and green decorating sugar
Special equipment: a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, and a 1/2-ounce cookie scoop
Directions
Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, knead together the cookie dough and 1/4 cup flour until smooth. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles from the dough. Knead together any scraps of dough and roll out again. Continue to cut out pastry circles until there are 24 pieces in total. Place the dough circles on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are slightly golden around the edges, about 10 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Reserve 1 parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Combine 1 cup of chocolate chips and the cream in a small bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the peppermint extract and refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Using a 1/2-ounce cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, place the chocolate mixture in the center of the flat side of 12 of the cookies. Place the remaining cookies on top and gently squeeze to distribute the filling evenly. Place on a baking sheet and freeze until the filling has set, about 25 minutes.

Combine the remaining chocolate chips and the vegetable oil in a small bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Dip the top of each cookie in the melted chocolate and return to the baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with crushed candy canes or peppermint candies. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight plastic container.

Cake-Gate 2008 Review #1

2008-12-23T14:19:00.005-05:00

It's done! It's done! It's done! Finito!

Everything is boxed, cleaned up and ready to go to the respective receivers of this festive collection of holiday treats.
To start, I'll show you how I packaged them. I bought the cookie boxes (the kind used in the food stores) for about 12cents each. YAY. Then I bought ribbon from Big Lots (which covered like 3 boxes because I didn't realize how much footage was in it) and I put together my label and that's it! I made about 16 boxes with some leftovers for the babies (and me!)

It's Raining...Snowing...Cookies!!!!

2008-12-19T23:29:00.002-05:00

MY GOD! I've been baking cookies EVERY day for the past week. As we speak I'm finishing up my 8th type of cookie. I feel like there's more and there could be some buried in the laundry room. I still have a few more to go (blushing). I will be taking pictures and giving my opinion on the recipe that I used (because EVERYONE cares?!) My laundry room has turned into a makeshift cookie shelter and my monsters that are my children keep running to the laundry room door screaming "COOKIE! COOKIE!") I unfortunately have been doing the same....my weakness. I'm afraid to get on the scale because I've been eating cookies like there's no tomorrow.

So far I have done:
1. My grandmom's Coginite (a fried ravioli of sorts with chocolate,nuts, chick peas and orange)
2. My grandmom's Cieli (thanks to my BFF Dana, my grandmother's recipe was identical to her grandmother's, but my grandmother just put "flour')
3. Giada DeLaurentis' Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (pretty to look at but messy!)
4. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (for my hubby)
5. Ricotta Cookies (another recipe of my grandmother's, just a bit different-these are like cookie crack)
5. Chocolate Chip Cookies (Martha Stewart Recipe)
6. Peanut Butter Blossoms (What a disappointment!)
7. Peanut Butter Snicker Cookies
8. Italian Polenta Cookies (jury is still out on these!)

I still have yet to make jam thumbprints, chruschiki (for my Polish side), and sugar cookie cutouts.
So stay tuned and take the cookies away from me....please!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! BUON NATALE!

Sweet December.....

2008-12-16T22:59:00.006-05:00

Oh Sweet December....every year two of my best buds, Nina and Dana, get together for Nina's birthday which she has coined "Sweet December" (after the movie). This year we celebrated with a Brunch at Cheesecake Factory in King of Prussia. Nina is my most glam friend. The girl was rockin a pair of leather leggings, knee high boots and adorable sweater on Sunday and a nice big phat bling ring (not from Robbie!). I meanwhile put on my UGGS, Ann Taylor jeans and GAP Puffed vest. Oh to be a mom!

I could only do so much for Nina's love of bling on a baked good. I used large crystallized sprinking sand on top of buttercream piped with my new tip!

Happy Sweet December Neen...

From Nina....

From Cara...

Adriana's First Birthday

2008-12-13T22:23:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile...I felt it this week while I was preparing for my niece's birthday party. My "icing" game was not on, I feel like I was decorating again as a novice. It has been a month since I last made a cake and decorated it. I've heard you need to keep up and practice practice practice. I didn't have any orders, but my little man Nicholas has been for four straight weeks. A case of tonsillitis, a cold, and an ear infection. My poor little man. Somehow Michael got away with just a cold. And I, somehow managed to catch the bug the day I had to make the cake.

The cookies were not a problem for me, it's like second nature to make, cut, ice, bag and store the cookies. I tried a new way of presenting the cookies that go in a favor bag. I saw this idea on another home baker's website and loved it. I used filler paper that is often used in gift baskets.I got a whole bag for $1.00 at Target. I picked pink to coordinate with the colors of the cookies. I put just a bit and used wrap string also found at Target for the ties.

So, my Ear hurts and pops, tonsils and throat are swollen and sore, and nothing but sneezing and coughing. Great. Luckily early in the week, with my MIL's help (Mike was in Milwaukee for three days) I made cookie favors. So all I had left was the cake and smash cake for Adriana's birthday party. During the boys three hour nap (LOVE THOSE) I got to bake the cake. I used Bakerella's Moist Yellow Cake WOW. YUM. I used extra vanilla because my SIL asked for a vanilla cake. This tasted like a better version of Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Cupcakes. I always found them to be dry so this was perfect. I even used her suggestion of simple syrup. Another trick in the recipe is to wrap the cakes while they are still hot to lock the moisture in, I had heard of this before but never tried it.

I used buttercream and a sugar cookie baked in a cake pan as the filling. I read about this on cakecentral. The cookie is supposed to become soft from the moisture of the cake. WOW. It was great. I was really impressed with the cake, definitely a keeper recipe.

I used my old standby, Buttercream Dream for the frosting but I tried a new method of making the icing which was so smooth and creamy. My second batch, I didn't add enough powdered sugar because my icing was soft for piping. I used the cookie favors for the toppers, it was 1230 in the morning and after a week of sick babies and me starting, it worked wonderful. I don't think I would have had the patience that night for a buttercream transfer or fondant toppers.

Here is the finished products, thanks to Cara again for the pictures. She refused to touch my cake after the last incident. LOL.
But first, my sweet little niece:

My SIL Gina picked the theme "Hugs and Stitches" for Adriana's party.

Cupcakes Cupcakes Cupcakes

2008-11-25T13:26:00.003-05:00

I have a lot to catch up on! I haven't had any big orders, so I've been filling my time by baking cupcakes for family and friends. My biggest project to work on was cupcakes for my nephew Tanner's birthday. I was a week late getting these to him but I've had sick babies. He loves vanilla, so I made vanilla/vanilla cupcakes. I tried a recipe out of Women's Day for Paula Deen's Vanilla cupcakes. They were good, but I found them to be on the drier side. I topped them with Buttercream Dream frosting in a 1M tip swirl. I topped half the cupcakes with a fondant soccer ball. Note to self: YOU SUCK AT MAKING SOCCER BALLS. I tried for an hour to get it right...finally, you'll see what I thought was the best I could do. I even tried to do a 3D soccer ball. Tanner plays soccer and his team just won the championship in his league. I couldn't think of anything else to top them with!

The other cupcakes were leftover batter from last week's Sophisticated Cake. Chocolate cake with Chocolate SMBC. I made these for my SIL and neighbor Mike's birthday. However, Mike's never got to him and I still owe him some.

A Sophisticated Cake

2008-11-19T20:40:00.003-05:00

Well one that's not for a toddler. I was asked to make my "Better Than Sex and the City Cake" for my MIL's co-worker. She wanted it for her birthday. I tried to do different, not just birthday cake flowers. I tried to make it fun and bubbly. I thought it turned out cute. But Cara- Miss "I'm Going to Drop Your Cake" must have thought it needed retouching. While trying to take shots of the cake, moved it and it slid onto her leg. Luckily it was fixed easily, gotta love SMBC.

I can't write much tonight, I can hardly breathe through my nose and my head is pounding. I'll write more in the next post. Off to get some NyQuil.....

Maddie's Mermaid

2008-11-17T12:54:00.006-05:00

Next up! A cake for my friend Jenn's daughter, Madeline. Jenn lives on the other side of my little suburban village that let's call A-town. I loved that when I told Jenn I lived right behind a place called "The Moose Lodge" she knew exactly where I was talking about. LOL. O, only in A-town.

Maddie loves mermaids and is quite the little lady. Jenn ordered the cake topper for me and we looked through pictures for some inspiration. I made it a combination of a few she liked. Jenn asked for a YELLOW cake, not a vanilla cake.

My favorite part was the cake topper, I used the top of a cupcake, frosted it, then used brown sugar as the sand. The weather was so humid here in Philly on Saturday that the icing was sweating and Ariel fell off. OYE!

Pumpkins for The Little Man!

2008-11-08T23:54:00.004-05:00

Mommy friend of mine, Kim, asked me to make a fall themed birthday cake for her son Grant's first birthday. I looked all over for inspiration for this cake and when Kim saw this picture, she said it was exactly what she was looking for. So we did a sheet cake with the same type of design.

The cake was chocolate, I torted the cake and used buttercream icing as a filling. The pumpkins are made of MMF and were easier to make than I thought! A smash cake for Little Man Grant and 24 pumpkin cookie favors were also part of the order. Thanks to Cara for the early morning photo shoot and tea chat. Up next week, a Mermaid themed cake for Madeline! I may have a few posts in between.

Cake Balls!!!

2008-11-08T11:20:00.004-05:00

I forgot to post this after the Better Than Sex and The City cake. I had extra cake leftover, so I made cake balls. I've read about them several times on cakecentral.com. I had some melting chocolate too. I added four shots of AMARETTO to the cake balls to moisten them up and roll into balls. After leaving them out overnight, I dipped (or tried to) them in the chocolate. The result was a new addiction. I think I had 10. LOL. Not very pretty this time around but oh so yummy and good, I'll try them on sticks next time.

In Recovery

2008-11-04T08:30:00.004-05:00

I'm afraid the Phillies winning the World Series has left me hungover. I was not in my typical schedule the days following (went to the parade, running around buying newspapers the next day, buying championship wear). I have an order this weekend and a few other posts, I just need to get over the Phillies Phever! Get out and VOTE today!!!!!!
MVP Cole Hamles.....mmmmm

Phillies World Series Cupcakes

2008-10-27T21:19:00.004-04:00

As I type this, I'm watching what may be the game that will bring Philadelphia it's first World Championship since 1980. I'm a huge Philly sports fan (particularly the Eagles, Phillies and Flyers!) and I have been waiting my whole life for a championship of some sort. I've seen the Eagles in the Superbowl (who lost to Dani's Pats!), I've seen the Flyers get close to the Stanley Cup only to lose, and the last time the Phillies were in the World Series in 1993, I was a freshman in high school. They lost.

I'm a fan who is used to let down. I'm hoping with us leading 3-1, this may be it. PLEASE LORD, LET THIS BE IT!!!!! To celebrate the occasion I threw together some Phillies cupcakes. I had a box of vanilla cake and some leftover icing. I also used some red clear sprinkly type things (I have no idea what they are called!) to help with the red.

I made just enough for us and our neighbors. Call me the Phillies rally girl of Hoag Ln.

GO PHILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Bouquet

2008-10-26T21:33:00.002-04:00

I didn't have much time to take pictures so I took one really quick this morning. I made this cookie bouquet for my BFF Dana. It was for her Aunt Maggie's birthday. Can't write much tonight....too busy cheering on the Phillies!!!

It's HERE!!!! My Better Than Sex and The City Cake....

2008-10-25T13:24:00.005-04:00

Finito! I worked for the past three days on this cake! If you know me well enough, which most of you do, you all know that Sex and The City is my all time favorite show, I've seen every episode at least 3 or 4 times and I can bang out anyone on a game of SATC trivia. I've been on the tour in NYC, I headed to the movies for the first time in two years to see the SATC movie, I even own the collector's series- you know, the one in the pretty velvet pink box. I have so much faith in this cake concoction that I believe it's better than my beloved SATC. There's some cake out there called The Better Than Sex Cake, haha, so I just played on the name a little bit.

This cake is for our dear grandfather Kar. He turned 80 years young earlier this month. Tonight we are headed downtown to Fork, with all the other 70,000 people headed to town to see the Phillies in the first World Series game in Philadelphia since 1993. Mike and myself, along with his siblings and their spouses, his parents, and one of Mike's cousins are taking Kar out to dinner. We've been to Fork several times (prebaby days!) and we are excited to head there again. After, we are headed back to Kar's little home in Port Richmond for CAKE. My Better Than SATC cake. LOL! How appropriate.

This cake is compromised of Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Cake, layered and filled with chocolate ganache, and made with the hell raising SMBC from my last post. This is not a cake you want to make when you are PMSing....like me. I gave myself a little sample with a scrap, some ganache and SMBC, OMG. Tastes like chocolate ice cream over chocolate cake.

I decorated it pretty simple, Kar is a very simple man who doesn't like to be made a big deal of. The writing is leftover chocolate ganache. I decorated with easy rosettes.

I also made some favors for each person attending the dinner. I tried out my birthday cake cookie cutter. I now know why it's not a very popular cutter. The candles break off easily! I used MMF as the base and tried Wilton's ready made decorating icing. UHHHH. Another mistake. I was full of disasters this week. It's very runny and the bottle doesn't allow you to control the flow very well. It says it dries within 45 minutes, yeah right, try overnight. Then I tried writing on the cookies with my new edible markers, THEY wouldn't write good on the cookies, so three cookies have random messages. But they did turn out pretty cute.

My wonderful neighbor and fellow foodie, Cara, once again came to take pics for me. I'll let you know how everyone likes the cake tonight. I cannot WAIT to dive into this cake. I'll be diving in feet first with a fork in my hand and a big glass of water and Midol in the other. Oh and I can't forget.....

GO PHILS!!!!!!!!!!
And a Happy 29th Birthday to my BFF, Dana!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream for Dummies

2008-10-24T23:33:00.003-04:00

They really need to make this book. I really really thought I f'ed up my SMBC for my Better Than Sex and The City Cake. When I took the icing out of the fridge tonight it looked curdled. I whipped it up in the mixer. Still curdled. OMG. It started separating and liquifying (is that a word?) as I tried putting it on the cake, it was dripping. O $HIT! I quickly put the cake and what was on it in the fridge. I jumped on cake central and quickly searched the forums and found out what I did wrong. I didn't let the icing come to room temperature before I whipped it up. So I let the rest of the icing come to room temp and whipped it up for 5 minutes...ahhhh beautiful chocolate SMBC. The cake came out great, Cara is coming over tomorrow morning to take pictures.

It's Coming....The Better Than Sex And The City Cake....

2008-10-23T10:01:00.001-04:00

Stay tuned. I guarantee this will be good. I'm going to call it the Better Than Sex and The City Cake.

Warm....Apple....Pie.....

2008-10-19T13:42:00.003-04:00

This isn't a decorated baked good. We had very good friends of ours over for dinner last night, Chris and Mary and their adorable son, Yanni. We went to Pumpkin Fest at the Tyler Aboreteum and then came back to our house for dinner. Chris and Mary are Greek, I mean, really Greek. I'm talking their wedding was My Big Fat Wedding Greek. 500 people, nothing but Greek music, and tons of Greek circle dancing (WHICH I LOVE!) My DH Mike was in the wedding, yeah their were five of us at the rehearsal who didn't understand what was being said- everything spoken in GREEK! So whenever we go to their house for dinner we are fed Greek foods, Feta Cheese, Greek Pizza, Olives, yum. Oh and I can't forget to mention that Chris is the person who set me and Mike up on a blind date!

So I decided to make some EYE TALIAN foods for our dinner at our house. We had bruschetta (not homemade, didn't have the time, courtesy of our favorite Italian specialty store- GIANT, Pepper Shooters with Prosciutto and Cheese, some olives, boccini of mozzarella, eggplant parmigiana, a nice salad with homemade balsamic vinagrette, and my DH's favorite WARM....APPLE...PIE....A La Mode. I also put a bottle of dessert wine into my crock pot and soaked a mulled spices pack while we were gone, boy did the house smell like fall when we walked in!

I was up until 1 AM the night before making the dinner so we could come back and just heat and eat. While baking the apple pie, my oven decided to set off the smoke detectors about 6 times during the 50 minutes of baking at 12am. Luckily the babies slept through it and my neighbors didn't hear it, so they say! :) I didn't have time to get Cara come to take pictures, so I tried my best artistic shot. LOL!

The recipe was from my bridal edition of Betty Crocker's cookbook. I made it with a crumb topping and served it warm with vanilla ice cream. I think the guys liked it the most, they had two servings each!

Autumn Cupcakes

2008-10-18T00:31:00.003-04:00

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. It's the only time of year (obviously besides Christmas) that my house is dabbled in the seasons colors. When I saw the Wilton display at my local Joann's and Walmart, I had to spend it up (much to my husband's dismay!). I had some leftover batter from my cakes this past weekend (WASC) and baked about a dozen cupcakes. I also tried for the first time making Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It's much different from what Americans are used (supersweet!) to as it's a European buttercream, obviously. It's made by beating egg whites and sugar together into a meringue and then adding butter. The end result is a light, buttery, and semi-sweet buttercream.

I first tried this buttercream when I was visiting my friend Danielle in May. We were at a Cheese Shop of all places and I saw the most wonderful cupcakes. We split one and I couldn't stop talking about the buttercream. After research, I found out it was SMBC.

I used my old standby- the swirl - with a dyed yellow color to the icing. I then used my cutie patootie miniature sized fall cookie cutters to cut out fondant toppers. My new employee and neighbor, Cara- who I'm paying with cake- came over to take some pictures. Her pictures really make my cupcakes look EXTRA good. I can't believe how wonderful the pictures came out. Thanks Cara! That's her little bambino Francesco taste testing with the boys.

You Are My Cupcake!

2008-10-16T13:53:00.004-04:00

On Sunday I went out to eat with my BFF's since HS, Dana, Nina, and Cheryl. We attended Merion Mercy Academy together. We celebrated my birthday (which was in August) and Dana's birthday (next week). I know Dana would appreciate a GAP gift card because she's owns stock in GAP (not really) but I also wanted to give her something tangible...or edible! I decided to try out my new CUPCAKE cookie cutter. I made the cupcakes her favorite color, PINK!!

More Cookies...on a Cake this Time!

2008-10-15T16:38:00.002-04:00

Occasion: Friend's son's 2nd birthday
Cake: Chocolate
Frosting: Buttercream

I wanted so much more for this cake! I had big plans for it and wanted to do so much more but just didn't have the time (NEVER DOUBLE BOOK AGAIN!). Amy picked out a picture of Cookie Monster (which Ryan liked) and asked for chocolate cake. I tried my best to make Cookie Monster look normal, but he has no neck, so it was hard. The buttercream transfer worked well (I froze it) and I just improvised with the additional accents.

C is For Cookie...

2008-10-14T13:39:00.008-04:00

So I wanted to talk a little bit about the process of making cookies. A lot of people gasp when they see the price of decorated cookies. But usually what people don't know if how much work decorating cookies is. Most people will charge $1 per inch of cookie, I think this is a bit much but I can understand why they do it. It took me three days to make 140 cookies for the shower last week.

Let's bring out the "Top Gun" shall we? My kitchenaid mixer.....I'm such a Maverick. LOL.

I always start by making the MMF (marshmallow fondant) because it needs to rest and cool after I make it. I start by melting 1 1/2 bags of marshmallows with vanilla and water. I then add it to a bag of powdered sugar in my top gun. After mixing, I put the dough hook on and let the mixer do the work.

I then start my cookie dough. Usually after the dough is mixed, I roll globs of it onto wax paper and then onto cookie sheets and insert it into my fridge. This allows it to chill quicker and I find it easier to roll. I let it chill overnight. Here's the dough and the fondant side by side.

I roll the dough out between slices of wax paper and use these handy dandy thickness tools (I have no idea what they are called) to make sure they are all about the same thickness.
Then after chilling, I cut out the shapes with my cookie cutter.
Quickly put them onto parchment paper and into the over they go. If they get too soft or warm I pop them back into the fridge. The secret to them not spreading out of shape is make sure they go into the oven COLD.
After they are baked and cooled, I can start decorating. I roll out my fondant and knead it with colored gel (not food dye) used for cake decorating.

I then cut out the fondant with the same cookie cutter.
"Glue" it on with corn syrup.

And voila! A cookie! I then let it dry a bit to let the fondant harden and put them in their bags with ties. Now do that 140 times and expect them to be 25 cents each! (This one is not one of the best but you get the idea!)

Moon Dance

2008-10-13T09:39:00.012-04:00

Occasion: Moon Themed Baby Shower
Cake: WASC
Frosting and Filling: Buttercream Icing
Cookies: Sugar Cookies covered in MMF

This song pops into my head anytime I think of the moon. I first heard it sung by Van Morrison, but I have to admit, Michael Buble's version is much better (anything of his is usually better in my opinion!) If you listen to the words it is really quite the romantic song, and a great romantic song for autumn. Dancing under the moonlight, leaves of the trees falling beneath October skies. So why the cheesy introduction to the post? I don't know, I really just listened to the words last week while driving in the car (and listening to Michael Buble!) and thought it was a nice song for this time of year. And also because it's a great (no, cheesy) lead in for my post about the MOON Themed Baby Shower.

I was asked to make cookie favors in the shape of the moon, a cake to feed about 60 people, and a small birthday cake for the Great Grandmother. I started the process of making the main cake about a week before it was due. The Grandmother (who was throwing the shower) asked if I could make moon and stars sticking out from the cake and tiny stars all around the cake. I made them out of gumpaste and let them dry for the week leading up to to the shower. The small birthday cake I was asked to do flowers instead of stars. Both cakes were supposed to have basketweave on the sides.

I started the cookies on Monday (my next post will about about the process of making and decorating cookies). I finished on Wednesday night with bagging the cookies. I put two three inch cookies in each bag.

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The Wednesday after finishing up all of the cookies I took a rest. I had a few glasses of wine with my neighbor Cara who also has her own blog. I also just asked Cara to take pictures for me because she's a great photographer, so I will be paying her with cake...and wine? So Thursday I woke up bright and early with the boys and with the help from my mom occupying them, I bake ALL the cakes I needed for this weekend (yes, FOUR cakes). The baby shower cake was to be a two layer WASC cake. I decided to torte the layers because I love how elegant it looks. I wish I had a picture of the cake cut after I finished it.

The finished product I was so happy with. Everything worked out just as I hoped. The basketweave on the big cake took me about an hour to do. Once that was done it was just a process of deciding where to put what! The small birthday cake was adorable!

After a Long Hiatus

2008-10-13T09:27:00.004-04:00

I didn't have any orders since Loralee's shower. It seems like it comes all at once! I have a few orders I'm going to post and also some side projects I'll be posting over the next week so keep checking back! Just because I feel I have to post a picture with my posts, enjoy some Tyler Florence action. And for you fools who don't know who he is, he's a chef on Food Network and he just also happens to be a very handsome man. He makes me VERY happy.

Tropical Baby Shower

2008-10-04T11:45:00.004-04:00

I made these scrumptious cupcakes for my friend Loralee's baby shower. She was doing a tropical theme and asked for cupcakes fill with mango. I made WASC cupcakes and filled them with mango jam. They were REALLY good if I say so myself. The boys loved them too!

As a side note, Loralee had a baby boy this morning as I post this! Congratulations! No name yet!

La La La La La La Elmo......

2008-08-28T12:39:00.002-04:00

Occasion: 1st Birthday Party for Luca
Cakes: WASC, Chocolate, Vanilla Cupcakes
Icing: Sugarshack's icing, Buttercream Dream on Cupcakes

I made these two sheets cakes for mommy friend Amy and her little boy Luca's 1st birthday! One is WASC, the other Chocolate. My first sheet cakes and they didn't turn out too bad. I was worried because I had read you need cores to cook sheet cakes, which I was not interested in buying. Amy asked if I can make a buttercream that would not melt in the heat as the party would be outdoors, so I used Hi Ratio Shortening.

Cupcakes were Vanilla with Buttercream Dream Icing. I made a little smash cake for Luca that was just a box cake with icing to match the theme.

Cinderella Cake

2008-08-08T13:29:00.002-04:00

Cake: Yellow Cake
Icing and filling: Buttercream Dream
Fondant Skirt and Accent Flowers

I made this cake for ANOTHER mommy friend's daughter, Katelyn. She was having a Cinderella themed birthday party. The cake was a 9 inch yellow cake, two layers, both torted and filled with buttercream icing. I used Buttercream Dream with hi-ratio shortening which made the icing really smooth. I felt like I made this cake so similar to Nate's baptism cake but it was similar to the cake we used for inspiration. The doll was a large cupcake that was topped with a Cinderella mini doll topper and her skirt is made of fondant and buttercream. Again, my writing sucks. Gotta keep working on that. The first cake is what we used for inspiration, found on CakeCentral.

Where were you Gram?

2008-07-26T13:38:00.004-04:00

Occasion: Mommy Group Christmas in July Cookie Exchange
Cookies: Ricotta Cookies, Leftover cookies from Baptism

I have a little group of friends I GTG and chat with that live in Philly, most of us used to talk on TheKnot or The Nest. We are having a Christmas in July Cookie Exchange tonight. FUN! Cookies? NO PROBLEM! My game was so ON with Tessa flip flop cookies I felt like I was on a roll. Until I started the Ricotta Cookies, I used the same recipe I've used since I've been married. Every year at Christmas biting into one of the small little crumb morsels was like biting into my childhood. Tasted just like Gram's! UNTIL LAST NIGHT! Really, I have NO IDEA what went wrong but these were not my Grandmother's cookies! The first batch came out undercooked and wet, so into the trash can they went...well 4 less of course...I had to try them, that was about 10 of my weight watchers points! Undercooked but good, but I couldn't give them to my fellow mommy's, some of whom are pregnant! So I made sure the second batch stayed in longer, looked good coming out. But when I went to taste the finished product today...UH. Still not right. Filomena was not channeling through me at all!!! Sometimes when I make her recipes it's like she's there and when my mom or I tastes it, it's just like hers. Not so much now!

I asked the girls if they would care if I brought some extra cross cookies from my order two weeks ago. Of course not, they were in the freezer and what women in their right minds would refuse ANY cookies. I had leftover MMF from Tessa's cookies and made some pink. I wanted to see what I could do if I let my creative juices go. AGAIN, not on at all. Polka dots? Hmm...somehow the idea of Christ on the Crucifix and Polka dots just doesn't merge well. Cornelli lace? Elegant! Yeah, it was easy when I followed the pattern in my Wilton class!! All in all it didn't look bad, just not like Cornelli lace. Then I tried some other ideas, no. So I just settled for scallop designs. I'm still loving the MMF on cookie look though! And cookies always look so pretty bagged up in cellophane!

I have two cakes this week, so I'll be busy! Look for posts next week.

Tessa's Birthday

2008-07-23T21:49:00.003-04:00

Occasion: My niece's birthday
Cookies: Confetti Cakes Sugar Cookie
Icing: MMF and Royal Icing

I had to try out my flip flop cookie cutter before the end of the summer. My niece's birthday was the perfect occasion! I made a new recipe for sugar cookies, Confetti Cakes has a recipe in her wonderful book that I so love. Tasty! I actually like it better than NFSC. I also tried a new recipe for MMF, I found it on my darling Danielle's blogwho found it on another blog, who found it on Cake Central. (Got it?) Not greasy and so easy to work with. I used the MMF (marshmallow fondant) as the base and Royal icing for the accents. I made the colors fun and girly.

I made them into a cookie bouquet for Tessa, complete with my favorite sparkly rhinestone stars. The pot is so throwing the whole thing off, but i couldn't find a "cute" pot at Joann's that wasn't ceramic (I was looking for metal!)

Bow Cake

2008-07-16T14:05:00.006-04:00

Occasion:Wilton 3 Class 2
Cake: Darn Good Chocolate Cake (Cake Dr.)
All fondant
I forgot about this one, this was a cake made for my class. My first time using all fondant.

Questions or Comments

2008-07-16T10:27:00.001-04:00

Questions or comments? Email me at bakedbybeanie at gmail dot com.

I'm on Cake Journal

2008-07-16T10:21:00.002-04:00

I am a faithful reader of CakeJournal and when she asked for people to send in pictures of their cupcake stands they made using her instructions I did. My friend Rebecca made the cupcake stand for her daughter's birthday so we could display the cupcakes I made. We are the lead picture! If you click on our picture you will see our information! Yay!

Nate's Cake

2008-07-16T09:10:00.010-04:00

Occasion: Baptism for DS of one of my friends from my mommy group
Cake: WASC
Buttercream Icing and Filling (Sugarshack's)
Cupcakes: Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes, Hershey's Chocolate Cake
Buttercream Dream Icing (for the kids, it's sweeter!)
Cookies: NFSC, Antonia's RI (Royal Icing)

I was very nervous for this cake! I was doing a lot of firsts. My first impression matte, all white icing as a base, a square cake. I had a lot at stake and somehow, someway, everything came out PERFECT!!!!

The cake was a WASC (White Almond Sour Cream). It was made in two 10 inch square pans. I used Sugarshack's icing recipe with Hi-Ratio shortening which is more expensive...but SOOO worth it. I had to buy the hi ratio shortening off the internet since I don't have a cake supply store nearby. I used the Wedding Bouquet flavor in the icing as she recommends. I still need to ask Michelle what she thought of the flavor because I wasn't a big fan of the smell.

Using Sugarshack's icing technique really does work. She works from the bottom up so that the icing doesn't shift. I also used her recommendation of filling the cake and letting it sit for a few hours to prevent the bulge that I so often got. I tried using her techniques for sharp edges on the corners, which still needs practice. The icing crusted quickly and beautifully and her trick of using computer paper to smooth the icing is unbelievable!

The impression matte was harder than I though, especially after not thinking and putting it in the dishwasher which made it warp a bit. But it made such a beautiful impression that was really classy and pulled together. I used MMF (marshmallow fondant) for the cross and roses. I wanted to have the cross stand up, but the gumpaste mixture I bought didn't quite work out. I am trying so hard to perfect my writing, I so desperately hate the Wilton template ones they sell. I bought some Tappit's, but have yet to try them out. I read about a technique where you can use fun fonts from the computer, but my printer is not working and with Mike being away, I won't be trying that anytime soon.

Michelle asked for two dozen cupcakes, one vanilla, one chocolate. My good old standby Billy's Vanilla cupcake worked out as usual and worked well with the recipe being halved. I tried a Hershey's Chocolate Cake recipe, and my search is over for an everyday Chocolate Cupcake. So moist and light but sooo chocolatey! The batter scared me, it was almost like water, I thought I left the flour out. Next time I will try making it with hot coffee like it recommends instead of boiling water. I used Buttercream Dream off cakecentral.com for the icing. The best kids (small and big!) icing around! Sweet, but not disgusting.

I also made cross favors for Michelle as I posted below. Practice makes perfect with each one I found myself getting better.Now I know why decorated cookies are pricey, it's HARD work. REALLY. I apologize for some dark pictures I need to change the batteries in the flash.

Father's Day Cake for FIL

2008-07-09T14:29:00.003-04:00

Cake: WASC
Filling: Lemon Cream Cheese
Frosting: Whimsical Bakehouse Buttercream
Fondant Accents

I made this cake on very short notice for my FIL. We wouldn't be spending it with him and I wanted to make sure he got it before he left for the shore. I made WASC for him since he loved it, I filled it with Lemon Cream Cheese filling (like Olive Garden!) and used Whimsical Bakehouse's recipe for buttercream, I liked it, but it wasn't easy to work with as far as decorating. I had little time to do the fondant decorations, but it was cute...not my best.

Baptism Cookies

2008-07-09T13:42:00.004-04:00

Cookies: NFSC (No Fail Sugar Cookies, Flavored Almond and Vanilla)
Royal Icing

One of my Mommy friends, Michelle, asked me to do a cake and cupcakes for her son Nate's Baptism this Sunday. I will be starting those bad boys tonight, but for the past few days I've been working on cookie favors for her. The cookie recipe is NFSC (No Fail Sugar Cookie) which is yummy and moist, but also keeps it's shape and is great for decorating. I flavored half the recipe vanilla and the other half almond. (I personally like vanilla!) I was going to try and use MMF (Marshmallow Fondant) for the decoration, but it was so sticky! It kept sticking in my grandmother's pasta machine (hand cranked!). I finally resorted to royal icing. Michelle asked that the cake be baby blue and white so I did the cookies to complement the cake and cupcakes.

Here are the pictures! (You can see Duncan Hines boxes in the back, my cakes are not box cakes! I use this as a base for my one cake and add on!) I will bag them tonight in individual bags and ties.

Mike's Wedding Cake

2008-07-07T13:41:00.002-04:00

Cake: Chocolate and White Duncan Hines (I use them for classes!)
Buttercream Icing and Filling with Gumpaste Accents

Well, sort of. When my hubby found out I was taking the Wilton III class he was really excited. I promised him that the final cake would be for him. You see, when we were planning our wedding, he wanted a cake with pillars and people on top....not my taste and it wouldn't fit our wedding IMHO. He always talks about the pillars and people toppers still to this day. I made my last cake for him- pillars and all. I couldn't find people to put on top so I made him use his imagination. The cake was done in Eagles colors...of course.

I also used a new method for icing and smoothing my cakes. I ordered Sugarshack's buttercream icing dvd and I was impressed I could do it! I had nice sharper edges and the icing got pretty smooth. I tried her buttercream recipe without hi-ratio shortening and it worked great. I can't wait to try it with the hi ratio shortening.I also tried out my new impression matte. I didn't wait long enough for the icing to crust so I had some issues. I need to practice, practice, practice!!!

I included our actual wedding cake...so pretty! Cake by Ann's Cake Pan, Horsham, PA. Photo by Studio 9 Photography.

Spring Cookies

2008-06-30T22:27:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend 2008
NFSC with Royal Icing

I had a hard time keeping the cookies the same thickness, I need to work on this! Any tips are appreciated! I like the way the RI looked on the cookies. I may try making some cookies this week with a fondant base and RI details. The NFSC (No Fail Sugar Cookie) is yummy and rolls great with no spreading. I used Antonia's RI recipe from Cake Central.

Wilton Course 2 Final

2008-06-30T22:20:00.003-04:00

June 2008
Cake: DH Chocolate Box Cake
Buttercream Icing, RI flowers

Excuse the bad background of a yellow dishtowel, I'm not used to taking pictures of food like many foodie bloggers do.
This wound up being one of my favorites.

Mother's Day 2008

2008-06-30T22:05:00.006-04:00

May 11, 2008
Cake and Cupcake: Vanilla
Buttercream Icing and Filling
RI flowers on Cake

I attempted the basketweave all on my own, before I learned it in my Wilton class. I actually found it easier to teach myself it than learn it in class. I wanted practice on my roses, so I tried with RI which I loved. I love how hard they get and the polished look it gives. I also wanted to try making a cupcake bouquet that I had seen so many times on Cake Central. Getting them onto the styrofoam ball was HARD! They kept breaking off and falling apart. Such a mess! Then I thought I had green tissue paper and I didn't...so all you see is styrofoam....luckily my family liked it!

Cupcakes and Babies

2008-06-30T21:56:00.002-04:00

March 12, 2008
Cupcakes: Vanilla
Buttercream Icing

I made these cupcakes for my friend Susan who was also my boss for two years. I pried myself away from the babies for a night and ventured to 2nd and South (where she lives) to see her and baby Jared. I bought the basket on clearance at Michael's and used that as my theme for the cupcakes. I wrote his name on the cupcakes and tried to place them nicely!

Mike's 31st Birthday- Another First Cake

2008-06-30T21:48:00.003-04:00

February 1, 2008

Cake- Vanilla

Buttercream Icing, Filling and Piping

I made this for DH right before my first cake class. It was masculine but fun. I didn't quite know what I was doing but tried winging it. My FIL thought it was from a bakery when he got to our house...so sweet.

Cute Flashback Cookie Post

2008-06-30T21:40:00.003-04:00

I found these in IPhoto. Thought it be cute to post. I wasn't even into baking or decorating cookies back then. But when Dana and I found out we were pregnant at the same time we told our friends by creating a secret message on the cookies. Our friends were floored both of us were pregnant.

Molly Ann's 1st Birthday Princess Cake

2008-06-30T14:59:00.004-04:00

June 7, 2008
Cake: WASC
Cupcakes: Vanilla
Buttercream Icing and Filling, Fondant Accents

My first real order was for my friend Rebecca's daughter's 1st birthday. She gave me a plate with the theme on it and said go to town!! Everything went pretty smoothly with this cake. Cake turned out beautiful, icing was working great, transporting the cake was scary, but thanks to BFF Dana- we made it. I found little accents for the cake and cupcakes at Partyland and added some sparkle with sparkle dust. I found out why I get the bulge in my cakes after they have set and I'm trying something new this week so I don't get that.

The One That Got It All Started

2008-06-30T13:33:00.000-04:00

February 9, 2008 Michael and Nicholas' First Birthday Party
Cakes: WASC, Chocolate
Cupcakes: Vanilla
Buttercream Icing and Filling, Fondant Accents

My "baking escapade" as my loving DH calls it started back in January with my LOs 1st birthday party. I knew exactly what kind of cake I wanted but didn't trust a bakery to do it. I ordered their Baptism cake from Ann's Cake Pan, the bakery our wedding cake was from and asked for the same flavor as our wedding cake. It was just as deeeeelish as I remembered, raspberry swirl pound cake.....mmmmmmm. But the cake was not done exactly as what I described to them. So I buckled down, started researching cake decorating and so it began....

The boys theme was cupcakes. I made a gazillion cupcakes and sent four cupcakes home with each family as favors. I bought Wilton's 3-D Cupcake Pan after my BFF Dana told me how cool her mother's was. Photo BirthdayExpress.com

Photo wilton.com

I bought fondant, researched recipes, and practiced. The boys each had their own cake, WASC (White Almond Sour Cream) and Chocolate Cake. The cupcakes were Vanilla.

You can tell there were errors and last minute icing issues that were quickly covered up with what I had. Transporting was an issue and more icing issues occurred. All in all I didn't think it was bad for a first timer!

Coming Soon

2008-06-30T09:57:00.000-04:00

I've finally gotten the blog up!!! I will be updating with past pictures of cakes/jobs I have done. Of course all of this depends on the boys letting me do it. Stay tuned!!!!

A huge huge thanks to my bestest friend in the world, Danielle, for making me this beautiful layout and logo which is ME. It totally reflects my personality and only she could get it perfectly. MWA!!!