Busy making cake pops

I am participating in a bazaar on December 2 and 3. I am selling cake pops. I currently have 8 flavors made up. I still have many more to go. I have 14 cakes left to make, and then, put together my pops. I will be busy for the next week. Thankfully, it's a holiday weekend, so I don't have to worry about school.

TinkerBell is adorable

I am about to be blessed with two great-nieces. Both babies are due about two weeks apart, roughly in January. At first, I was upset with the prospect of becoming a great aunt at the young age of 35. But I soon realized that I am still young enough to enjoy the little girls while they are also young and energetic.

This week, one of the girls had her baby shower. She asked me to make the cake. Her theme is TinkerBell and lady bugs. I was very excited. I purchased some Tink cupcake toppers about 8 months ago and have been designing the cake in my head ever since.

The cake was pink champagne with buttercream frosting. I used gum paste flowers and I do believe this is the best cake I've made to date.

I spent the day with my other niece, whom I do not know very well, and I am extra excited about bringing her and her little girl into our family.

Children are a very big blessing.

Well, There is Dirt

Instead of making a "muddin' cake," I decided to make a construction themed cake instead. Less messy, but still has some dirt on it.

The first muddin' cake I made had lots of mess on it, and it wasn't very brightly colored. This is for a one year old's birthday, so I wanted to integrate some bright colors into the cake.

The little guy's favorite toy is Chuck the Truck, so I thought a dump truck and a construction theme would be closer.

It turned out really cute... But, when I put it in the box, the front was damaged. :( I was not happy. I think it's pretty easy to fix, but still. I'm not happy about that. :(

This is a chocolate cake with no filling. I used chocolate buttercream frosting. The "dirt" is made out of low -fat Oreos. Something I discovered about using low-fat instead of regular: when I crush the regular, I have a uniform color - dark brown. With the low-fat kind, there is more white and it's a lighter color. It's better as dirt. I used pretzels for the stack of wood and the orange fencing around the outside of the cake is orange colored candy coating. I used silver sprinkles for the gravel under the jeep and cement truck. I found the trucks at my local dollar store.

The biggest issue I had was writing on the cake. I made a couple mounds of dirt and the frosting rolled off as I tried to write on the cake. So, I made a sign instead. It looks kind of like one of those "The future home of..." signs that are always around construction sites.

Hope they like it.

Such fun!

I have another cake order for the very first "theme" cake I've ever made... The muddin' cake. It's for a one year old, so lots of bright colors and fun.

Very excited because this is a rectangular cake, so I have more room to play. Hooray!

Attempt #2: Refried Beans, not so Successful

I attempted making the refried beans again, using the recipe I made up. Still really tasty... except, I put way too much salt in them. So much that it burns my tongue. Of course, I'm not a big salt eater anyway, so to most people it's probably perfect.

Tomorrow I will make another pot of beans and make them up without the salt, then mix them to counter the extreme amount of salt in the first batch.

This time I used black beans. They are a little sweeter tasting, once I get past the salt.

Cake Pops Galore

Starting tomorrow, I will begin making more cake pops. I just got a new job and I will be extra busy between college and two jobs. So, I need to make a little every day so I can stock up. Also, I have that bazaar coming up in December. I want about 900 so I have an abundance, but also so I don't run out of any one flavor.  Plus a few hundred sample sized pops. Itty bitty pops on a toothpick. Those should be cute. I might even have to start another new fad. Itty bitty pop bites: 12 for $1.

Let me see how tough they are to make first.

Wedding Cake Success

My newest endeavor was a success. It's a 4 tier, stacked cake with the top on pedestals. It turned out quite lovely. I need to practice with fondant. I have a tough time smoothing it down the sides. I guess I'll have to make some cakes just so I can practice.

Too bad my neighboring cake testers are all getting married.