Chocolate Eclairs – So easy a cavema…housewife could do it

Really! These chocolate eclairs were incredibly easy and I am still shocked. Not only that but the pastry and cream can be used in a myriad of other pastry desserts! Cream puffs are the first things to come to mind.

Coudn't help myself!

Now, I know what most of you are thinking, “ha! Eclairs! Hellooo, I’ve got a figure to watch!” Quite honestly I don’t think these are as fattening as people think. It’s not like eating a carrot, obviously, but as a nice treat for a holiday breakfast or for a special someone’s breakfast in bed these would be perfect. Of course you could also do what I do, eat one or two then bring the rest into work!

Split vanilla bean

I do like to eat healthy, make meals from scratch as much as possible, and canning/preserving fruits. Even though I was exhausted after preserving sliced peaches and pears last summer, I found that I can bake lovely pies or galettes with summer fruits in the winter! Baking your own homemade treats/pastries is just another way to help keep what you eat healthy.

This thickened up when I turned my back for 2 seconds!

With homemade goods you can control what goes in there, you can alter most ingredients to suit your health needs! I feel like buying baked goods from a store is just plain wrong! I do admit that bought goods sometimes taste better, though my tastes are changing and now most of them are just too sweet for me. They also stay fresh longer, however I can’t help but think what nastiness was put in there to make it last so long!

We want to avoid a film so place the cling wrap right on top

There are so many pros to baking your own treats compared to buying them that I feel like it’s worth the effort. I do understand the time constraints, it can be difficult to bake your own homemade goodies when you’re also cooking dinner, working full-time, and have children (or in my case, a cat). However, if you find a longing to bake something sweet, airy, chocolately, and creamy at the same time, make some eclairs!!

mmmm

Well, now I’m done pitching homemade baked goods and I’ll talk about the recipe! The filling was easy, however it’s got to be watched the entire time it’s on the stove. That filling thickened up as I was cleaning a counter and one more second could have resulted in a burnt filling! The recipe also calls for a vanilla bean, which I would highly recommend. I chose not to use extract because I did not know how it would affect the way it thickened.

Using a pastry bag to fill the pastry, which is magically hollow

Making the pastry was also different for me. I’ve never made pastry that starts in a saucepan! Yet again, even though it was a new challenge, it was incredibly easy. I will always have one piece of advice for new bakers/cooks. Just try it!! No matter how intimidating it looks, just try it!

Filled eclairs ready for the chocolate

Of course I’ve had failures, it does happen. But, trying something and having it turn out successful is such a great feeling of accomplishment for me. Seeing people’s faces light up and exclaim, “mmmmm!” just brings a huge smile to my face!

Making the chocolate topping

Even if a recipe is fattening, I still love to make it and I only end up eating one or two pieces. The rest is shared among family, friends, and co-workers. So hey! Have fun! Make anything you want, experiment with low-fat recipes, and enjoy baking!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I can’t even take a hint of credit for this recipe, so I will include two great links for the Chocolate Eclairs.

DIY du jour – Great blog and great recipe for Chocolate Eclairs. I want to thank you for providing this recipe and for making the instructions so clear and concise!

Good Food Gourmet – She provides more professional advice and provided me with some great information! Another great blog!

So, thank you DIY du jour and Good Food Gourmet for all your help!

Now, go bake your hearts out!

Tags: baking, recipe, breakfast, chocolate eclairs, pastry, choux, eclair

New Beginnings

Hello readers! Most of you know that I love everything that is outdoors (except mosquitos) and that I’ve pursued a career in natural resources.

My dream to become a park ranger got me through college and then onto working with some incredible agencies in Colorado. I saw how passionate people are about Open Space and saving it from the evil works of man. It would be an honor to work with them again, just not as a park ranger.

Between soul searching, getting older, and getting married I’ve discovered that I want to move onto something bigger. Something better. Something awesome! What that is…I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll know until I find it. However, I am extremely excited to work at my new job.

You see, I got a job with Colorado State Parks working at their headquarters right next to the Capitol! While the job I’ve got is just entry level I feel an excitement that can barely be contained! This is where stuff happens! This is where decisions are made! What an opportunity to really get behind the scenes and see how things are done in our parks.

I’ve worked in parks but haven’t had the opportunity to get behind the scenes. I feel that it is important for prospective Natural Resource career-seekers to understand that working outside is just 50% of what really goes on. Working outside draws so many people to our field, but it’s important to realize that there are office jobs that are just as important.

Historic lodge being renovated at a park

All of that to say, Hey! I got a new job and I’m excited! I may be extremely busy this summer, but be patient. I still intend to bake and cook as always. Stay tuned for homemade Chocolate Eclairs!

Tags: career, colorado state parks, natural resources, park ranger, parks

Canning peaches

Yes, it’s almost January. Yes, my post is about canning peaches…in the middle of winter! Even though I canned these peaches in summer I wanted to demonstrate how to preserve peaches (which means placing slices/cubes/whole peaches in the jar to use in pies later) and how to can peach jam. It is the best feeling to go down into my basement and grab a couple jars of sliced peaches to make fresh peach cobbler, in January!

Fresh Palisade peaches - doesn't get any better than this!

I always get a ton of peaches every summer. The first year I got them I actually froze the peaches whole. This worked great except they were a little mushy when they defrosted. So, onto “plan B”. Since I taught myself how to can I decided to preserve the peaches instead. This took a little bit more work, but in the end it is worth it. I sliced some peaches  and preserved them and used the rest of the peaches to make peach jam. I think I was basically “peached out” at the end of everything.

If you’ve never canned before I would highly recommend doing some research first. My first post on canning is a tutorial and provides some very useful links. Raspberry/blackberry jam.

Cutting the "x" on the peach

Almost everyone has a trick to peeling peaches, either passed down from their mother or grandmother. A little trick of mine to peeling peaches is to cut an “x” on the bottom and boil them for about 30 seconds to a minute then place in a bowl/sink/pan of very cold water.

Easy breezy!

This makes the skin peel right off! Brilliant!

Another trick I use is to use a grapefruit spoon to dig out the pit.

Bam!

I can also scoop out some of the gunk after I get the pit out as well.

The final trick, and this is key, is using a good knife. I don’t mean to go out and buy an expensive knife. But buy a decent quality knife and invest in a honing device. A honing device will help keep the straight edge on your knife, which will prolong the life of your knife before having to sharpen it.

Lookin' good!

Something else on sharp knives. They’re sharp!! So go slow because peaches are slippery. There is no competition or rush. I sliced all the peaches that I had…which was about this much:

Holy peaches....

Half of them were preserved as slices, unfortunately I must have been pretty busy because there are no pictures of that. However, there is a simple recipe in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. I found mine at my local grocery store for about $5.

The other half went into making jam. I made regular peach jam and spiced peach jam. My favorite has got to be spiced peach jam. Though either would work great as a cake filling.

Well that's a pan full of peaches

Added sugar and spice and everything nice. To make spiced peach jam I just combined the spices called for in the recipe in a bit of cheesecloth and tied it. Then I placed the cheesecloth into the jam to soak as the jam cooked. The spiced jam recipe is also located in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.

The moose are always watching...creepers.

Unfortunately, as I am still learning, this batch of jam did not work out at first. It was more like peach syrup. I had just 2 peaches left and decided to add them, little did I know that I should have added more sugar and pectin to compensate. Lesson learned (again), DON’T alter the recipe!!

It’s alright though. Remaking jam is incredibly easy, though more of an annoyance after spending a whole day canning, waiting 2 weeks, and finding out your jam still hasn’t set.

Filling the jars

Ah!

It is recommend to wait two weeks before remaking jam just to let the pectin do its job. Sometimes it can take a while before the jam sets. I remade this jam successfully and it tasted great! I still have a few jars waiting for me in the basement. However, there is no pectin when preserving peaches. I used my sliced peaches just 2 months after canning for a delicious peach and blueberry tart!

The blueberries exploded!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of yummy food from Jen’s Blog! If you have any questions regarding canning, or anything else I have posted about please feel free to ask me by leaving me a comment below. If I don’t know the answer, I will find it for you!

Tags: canning, peach jam, peaches, preserving, recipe, sliced peaches, spiced peach jam

It’s an Advent Conspiracy type of Christmas

Hey folks! I’ve got a special blog post for you today. I’m going to talk about Advent Conspiracy. Advent Conspiracy started in 2006 by a few pastors to make Christmas a revolutionary event. In the hopes of spending less money on wasted presents you can donate that extra money to help build wells in third-world countries.

Advent Conspiracy means to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. Yes, it sounds over the top cheesy and impossible. However, I’ve decided to work hard at Worshiping Fully, Spending Less, Giving More, and Loving All. That’s what Christmas is all about, right? We all talk about giving meaningful gifts, going to church more, spending time with family every single year, and before you know it, the year has come and gone. Again.

This year I’m taking small steps to accomplishing just that.

Worship Fully

Be present at church, and by “present” I don’t mean to simply show up. Be present in mind and spirit. Give yourself completely and fully.

Spend Less

I think we all find ourselves saying this before the Christmas season starts. Then before you know it you’ve got to spend a little extra on someone because they got you something nice. Or there’s a last minute White Elephant Gift to get. Or there’s this cute gift bag that would go great with that present. Or….or….and it could go on. I’ve had to set a budget for myself and others. While this is the first year of actually setting a budget, it has really helped me to think about if they really need that extra bag of chocolates or that cute vase from Target. The clinch is to stick to that budget! Here are ways that I’ve stuck to that budget, while still providing thoughtful gifts.

Learn a craft, or use an existing one

Earlier in the year I learned to knit, I hadn’t expected to use this craft for Christmas, but here we are! I knitted a few scarves and some nice pot-holders are in the works.

All beautiful scarves

I do recognize that not everyone can appreciate yet another scarf, hence why there is only three! I picked up knitting so quickly, as well as my ADD sister! It is a great craft to learn, and the types of yarn and the patterns that are available are mind-boggling! If you choose to pick a craft, I would recommend this one.

Painted wood ornaments

I found these ornaments at Michaels for .20-.50 cents! You really cannot beat that price, and I intend on attaching these to gifts.

Yes, I painted these by hand. And, no, it did not take that long!

I bought some wood paint ($5) and paintbrushes ($5) and badda-bing-badda-boom you got yourself a nice addition to gifts, plus a keepsake for someone to enjoy every time they put up the tree. I did paint these, but the lines were already there! All I had to do was fill in the lines!

Rubber stamps

I just love giving that little extra something to make something as simple as a card awesome

Buy rubber stamps when they go on clearance at the end of the year, or by using a 40% off coupon at Michaels or Hobby Lobby! It is a fantastic way to add something different to Christmas cards. I found that I really only needed 2-3 different stamps. This is also a cute way to add your own personal touch for any season of the year. I will work on building up a rubber stamp collection over the years.

Give More

I know it’s hard to give more. There seems to be organizations needing money left-and-right, and Christmas is the right time to pounce. I say, choose an organization that you care about and commit to it! We have a few organizations that we like to give to during the holiday season, that includes Advent Conspiracy, Unicef, and Angel Tree. Try not to get overwhelmed by Christmas giving, do give what is within your budget.

Unicef

I like to purchase at least one pack of Christmas cards by Unicef. Unicef uses every penny towards clean water, food, and medication for children in third-world countries. If I don’t donate outright, I like to support them in this way.

My teeny tiny, yet significant part to change the world

Unicef cards are available at most Hallmark, Barnes and Noble, IKEA, and Pier 1 Imports stores. The cards are cute, a good price, and I can help save a child’s life! Win-win!

Giving more doesn’t necessarily mean giving more money. Giving more to me means giving more time. I hold bake-a-thons every year, and they are gaining popularity! What a great way to spend time with people you love, and also give others your tasty treats!

Some gorgeous snowflake cookies that my friend made!

My highly requested peppermint bark!

Love All

These all seem insignificant, or cheesy, or time-consuming. But let me tell you, I have had more fun this Christmas season making crafts, spending time with family and friends, and NOT shopping! I can’t tell you what a relieve it is to avoid those holiday lines, to open the closet door and forget what I bought everyone, and to avoid the punch of the credit card bill in January. Taking all of these little steps has saved me money, stress, and grief.

What we plan to do with the extra money that would have been spent on gifts is going towards Advent Conspiracy. To build fresh water wells in third-world countries. So while technically we’re not saving any money, we are saving lives. Which is soooo much better.

So I urge you, this Christmas season, even if you don’t give to an organization, make time for family and friends! Make time to create crafts. Make time to make something personal. Make time to make something intentional. Making time is what will create memories and traditions.

Thank you for letting me jump on my soapbox, and now I’m off to watch an awesome video from Advent Conspiracy

Advent Conspiracy 2011 video

Tags: advent conspiracy, give more, living water international, love all, spend less, spending time with family, third world countries, worship fully

Apple Pie Extravaganza – a tutorial

I made four apple pies for Thanksgiving this year. You heard me right, FOUR! It may seem like a huge undertaking, but as long as there is considerable planning it can be a piece of cake…or pie!

Everything about the pie was homemade, except the apples. I didn’t grow those.

An unbaked apple pie ready to go in the oven!

I started two days before Thanksgiving making the pie dough and chopping the apples. Now pie dough has always frightened me, just like cheesecake and cinnamon rolls. OK, maybe frightened is too strong a word, let’s go for intimidation! My pie dough always came out too dry no matter what I added to it. When I rolled it out it would crack and fall apart as soon as I picked it up, it was discouraging!

Step 1: Combining flour, salt, and sugar in the food processor

Step 2: Chopped up COLD butter ready to be combined

Step 3: COLD shortening and COLD butter (sense a theme here?) ready to be combined with the flour

Step 4: Mixture will resemble cottage cheese and there should be no uncoated flour

Step 5: Add more flour and combine

Step 6: Turned out into a bowl and moisture added, it looks wet and sticky…almost too wet for pie dough…but wait!

Step 7: Wrapped in plastic wrap ready to be placed in fridge for a couple days

Step 8: The flour has soaked most of that wet goo, now it is a moist, supple pie dough ready to be rolled out! More on rolling dough later

But now the dough is perfect! It’s a matter of finding a good recipe, understanding your climate (if it tends to be dry or humid) and having a bit of patience. I will always have frozen pie dough ready to go in the freezer just in case. I think this is probably the 10th time I’ve made pie dough from scratch…so be patient, it will work!

My next step was to start chopping apples. And boy, I had a lot of apples to chop. 14lbs of apples were waiting for me in the livingroom in front of a nice movie!

They won't look like that for long!

I think it took me about 3 hours to chop all those apples. I was making two different pies and two of them required chopped apples while the other two required sliced. There may or may not be a slice of a thumb included in there somewhere.

The day before Thanksgiving was assembly and baking. I drained the apples from my water and Fruit Fresh (found in the canning section) combination. Fruit fresh helps keep apples from turning brown without adding additional flavor, like lemon juice sometimes does.

I do recommend using deep dish pie dishes

All those apples will let go of their juices once they get cooked. I found (from experience) that deep dish pie dishes are essential. I may toss the apples in some flour next time, but there is still going to be a lot of juice.

Oh, Crisco, my friend and enemy. My one and only "frienemy"

I used to hate Crisco…I still do. I’ve learned, however, that it can save my pie dough and I’ve come to embrace that. Not only do I use it in the pie dough, but on the counter as I’m rolling it out. I will rub some Crisco on the counter and sprinkle with flour and I haven’t had a single problem with pie dough sticking to the counter.

Look at this, isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen!!

Now look at this! It’s rolled out, minimal cracking, I can lift it without tearing, and it’s going to turn out nice and flaky because of the cold butter and shortening. If cold butter is integrated into dough then as it melts in the oven it will create pockets of steam, which promotes nice and flaky dough.

Place the rolling pin on the dough and gently lift one side and drape it over the pin...

Then gently drape the other side and pick up

This may take some practice, and people develop their own technique for transferring dough from the counter to the dish. But hey, it works for me!

You can see some tearing, but no biggie!

There is some tearing around the edges and it is still delicate but I consider this a huge success! The tearing around the edges isn’t a big deal because I’ll be placing more pie dough over the apples and then I’ll fold the edges over.

I guessed as to where the middle was, keep the cutouts and place them on top of the pie

Apples are ready!

My only regret...not getting a photo of the finished pies

Regretfully I did not take any photos of the delicious golden brown apple pies. They got demolished so quickly that I didn’t to eat any. Though ironically I won’t eat a lot of my own baked goods, not sure why. It’s a tremendous compliment that everyone seemed to love my pie and I’m sure I’ll be making 6 next year!

Tags: apple, apple pie, baking, pie, pie dough, recipe, thanksgiving pie

Traditional Pumpkin Bread

One thing you should know about me is that I love traditions and I love tried and true recipes. I’ll be more likely to make something if I know (either by reviews or personal recommendation) that the recipe is good. As a newish baker I don’t like taking chances with my time and ingredients.

One of my favorite bundt cake pans

Another thing you should know about me is I love bundt cake pans. If I could have an entire closet, scratch that, room full of bundt cake pans I wouldn’t mind that at all! As it stands we have a tiny townhouse now, so I’ll reserve my bundt cake passion and limit it to a pantry full of pans.

Pumpkin goodness coming right up!

I knew this recipe was for me when I saw it on a fellow bloggers web site. I know it’s going to be a delicious recipe because she said so! It also gave me a chance to use up my can of pumpkin that had been sitting around for a while. I think canned pumpkin could easily survive an apocalypse, right next to twinkies.

Smells delicious!

There is one picture I forgot to take for this recipe. I should have taken a picture of me banging the bundt cake pan filled with batter on the counter top. It would have been funny and it would have been a great way to introduce a great tip for preventing bubbles in bundt cakes. Lightly banging the pan with batter on the counter will help the bubbles to rise to the top. Another way is to pour the batter slowly and at an angle so that the batter will gently fill the pan. Sometimes I think I would need 3 hands to do this as the bowl of batter is typically heavy.

mmmmmmmmm

With intricate designs like this one it’s important to use a spatula and push some of the batter to the sides to make sure the batter will fill all the details. You can tell I’ve got tons of bubbles in mine, but that’s ok. The batter was very thick because technically it’s a bread recipe. Next time I will pour slowly and at an angle to reduce all those tiny bubbles.

Almost don't want to cut into it....almost

Overall, I absolutely loved this recipe and I will definitely make this again! I chose this recipe because the blogger stated that this was a family recipe, the only one that they ever use, so I knew it had to be good. The Sweet as Sugar Cookies blog is one of my favorites to visit. She always has great recipes, great photos, and she’s hilarious to read! I always check blogs for tried and true recipes before turning to corporations (cookbooks), and I’m glad I did!

You can find the most awesome Pumpkin Bread recipe here, on Sweet as Sugar Cookies website.

She did a fantabulous job and thank you for sharing the excellent recipe! It will now be one of my favorites and plan on making it every fall!

Tags: baking, bread, Bundt Cake, fall baking, leaf bundt cake pan, Nordic-Ware, pumpkin, pumpkin bread, Recipes

The race to finish before Christmas….

Can it be done? Can I make it? I’m so worried, what will happen if I fail? Will people laugh at me?

My stocking in progress

Nah, I’m not that worried, and I think people laugh at me anyways. Though I am starting to feel the time crunch, I really want to finish this Christmas stocking for this year. I always forget how long cross-stitch takes, though it is turning out better than I expected. Kudos Dimensions (a popular needlework company), they’ve done a really great job with this pattern.

Certain colors use more threads which gives dimension to the piece. I also love the amount of shading, the white snow pops but not too much. I also love how the birds use the cross-stitch while almost everything else uses the half-stitch. While my last project was impressive enough, it didn’t have as much dimension as this one does. The entire bottom row of snow took me about 7 hours yesterday, which includes distractions, but still. That’s a long time!

Anyways, what is distracting me from completing this project in time for Christmas is knitting! Yep, I am hooked. Literally! Bwaahaha!

This is called the Lazy River pattern

Whoever created this pattern called it the “lazy river” because it was so easy to do, however I find that it requires my attention almost as much as cross-stitch! I love how it looks and I used a “shimmer” yarn so it will be an awesome Christmas gift for a certain someone!

The "one row scarf" pattern

This is considered bulky yarn, and I love it! I love how soft it is to work with, how thick the scarf feels, and how quickly I can knit with it. This scarf is also a Christmas gift for a certain someone and I cannot wait until I finish it!

What crafts are you all into lately? Share it in the comments!

First snow of the season!

Tags: christmas gifts, cross-stitch, dimensions, knitting, lazy river scarf, needlework, one row scarf, projects, scarf

Pumpkin Trifle

I love my trifles. I love how versatile and delicious they are! You can have them any time of the year, cater to people who have picky tastes, make them sugar-free or fat-free and maintain tongue pleasing tasteness!

Making da pudding

My only complaint about these dishes is how large they can be. But thanks to miniature dishes, that solves all problems! Just halve the recipe and place them in any dish you desire, I did a special post on what you could use to make single-serving trifles. You can find it here.

Spice cake cubes ready to be drenched in pumpkin pudding

This particular trifle was awesome and perfect for fall. It’s versatile because you can use gingerbread cake, spice cake, chocolate cake, and the list goes on! For this one I used Spice Cake as it’s a little early for gingerbread cake. You could probably even use crushed gingerbread cookies!

Making the layers, I should have done a layer of whipped cream though

What sets this apart from other trifles is you mix canned pumpkin, spices, and butterscotch pudding together. This unique mixture is different from most trifles because they use simple puddings. The texture and flavor is unbeatable!

Ready for transport!

I wait to add the whipped topping until after it’s transported. I also set aside a little bit of cake to bring with me as garnishes.

She's a beaut alright

nom nom nom

That empty plate should tell you how delicious that was!

I got this recipe from Taste of Home.com

Ingredients

• 1 package (14-1/2 ounces) gingerbread cake mix
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1 egg
• 4 cups cold fat-free milk
• 4 packages (1 ounce each) sugar-free instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger, nutmeg and allspice
• 1 carton (12 ounces) frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, water and egg, beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into an ungreased 8-in. square baking pan.
• Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. When completely cooled, crumble the cake. Set aside 1/4 cup crumbs for garnish.
• In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mixes for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Stir in pumpkin and spices until well blended.
• In a trifle bowl or 3-1/2-qt. glass serving bowl, layer a fourth of the cake crumbs, half of the pumpkin mixture, a fourth of the cake crumbs and half of the whipped topping. Repeat layers. Garnish with reserved cake crumbs. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving. Yield: 18 servings.

Recipe from Taste of Home.com

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Tags: baking, canned pumpkin, dessert, pumpkin, pumpkin trifle, recipe, spice cake, trifle

My first wedding cake!

Hey folks! I wanted to share with you the first wedding cake that I’ve done. I have written some posts on how to make and decorate cakes and let me tell you, I have learned even MORE since then!

A beach themed wedding cake

I would like to share what I’ve learned since my earlier posts on cake decorating which can be found here (cake making/decorating part 1) and here (cake making/decorating part 2). Making and decorating cakes don’t have to be as intimidating as you think and you really don’t need all the fancy gear either.

Beginning the cake baking process

You’ll notice in this picture that I do not have a fancy schmancy Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. I bought my Cuisinart on clearance and it works great! Though I did end up borrowing one and I LOVE it. When planning a wedding cake you’ll want to make sure that the pans will actually fit in your oven. These are 12″ and had to be baked one at a time. An 18′ probably wouldn’t fit at all, so measure before you plan!

Yes....I cheated....a cake mix

The second part of planning is what flavors of cake, what kind of filling, and what kind of frosting to use. You can see here that I cheated and use cake mixes. No one knew. I’m serious! Everyone thought it was homemade! I will say this, multiple companies recommend Duncan Hines as this particular brand has minimal crumbling, excellent moisture, and it rises nicely. If you go cheap it will look and taste cheap.

I made these two days in advance

Here was my timeline:

• Day 3 – Made cakes and frosting. Wrapped cakes in seran wrap and placed in the fridge. It is just fine to make the cakes a week in advance and freeze them, though you’ll want to make sure to wrap them really good in seran and tin foil.
• Day 2 – Cut, filled, and crumb coated the cakes. Placed these in a fridge, no need to wrap. A few hours later I added the final layer(s) of frosting and placed in fridge, no need to wrap.
• Day 1 – Transported cakes to venue and completed final touches. I used minimal decorating so was able to decorate and pipe frosting at the venue.

Make sure to "glue" cardboard to the plates using frosting

I made a small batch of powdered sugar mixed with water to act as a glue. The cardboard ensures that the cake won’t slide around on the plates and the knife won’t cut the plastic plates.

A great tip I learned...crumb the top before adding a fruit filling

I learned an amazing tip; crumb coat the top of a cake before adding a fruit filling. This is especially helpful if the cake is being assembled the day before. Notice the barricade I made!

There ya go

The cut layers were thinner than I expected so this turned into a 3 layer tier. Thankfully I had enough fruit filling!

2nd tier crumb coated and ready to go!

The frosting I used was a swiss meringue buttercream so it was very light and airy, which also meant it could not hold up in warm conditions. I stuck this in the fridge for the crumb coat to set!

All crumb coated and made sure everything looked good before the final coat!

I did have to rush out and buy this cake stand. It was not worth it to stack the cakes on top of each other to me. I felt like you wasted a lot of awesome cake as well as wasted time and effort. I also had no idea how to cut the cake while saving the top tier! Thank you Hobby Lobby and your 40% coupon!

The bottom tier is in this monstronsity somewhere!

This is the day of the wedding. I arrived at the venue 2 hours early. We wrapped the bottom tier in 2 layers of tin foil and created a dome so that nothing would touch the frosting.

Piping the frosting at the venue

This really isn’t that hard! Take some time and practice, the movements and how much pressure to apply to the frosting bag comes very easily. The hardest part for me was building up some muscles in my wrist, and I have weak wrists.

Assembling the cake

I am assembling the cake using artificial flowers that I also used in her bouquet (yay for using up materials!). I’ll tell you now that I assembled the cake too soon, or I should have left it in the fridge a little bit longer. By the time we  were to cut the cake the frosting started to lose its structure.

Cute!

I used crushed graham cracker (which we had leftover from our road trip) and seashells (that someone gave to me). I made sure to boil the seashells for about 10 minutes after the point of boiling.

There it is!

There you have it! Yes, it was time consuming. Yes, it took lots of planning. Yes, knowing how to bake and assemble cakes beforehand helps a lot. BUT, it is really easy to do! I feel like with some practice anyone could make their own wedding cake!

I would like to mention that while I did not receive compensation for this cake, please make sure to follow County/State laws on selling baked goods made at home. If you are interested in starting any kind of company then certain certificates and requirements are needed.

Thanks for reading!

Tags: baking, cake, decorate cake, recipe, red velvet, swiss meringue buttercream, wedding cake

Knitting and Stitching

Now this is a side of me most of you haven’t seen.

I love to cross-stitch (counted cross-stitch to be more specific) and I just learned how to knit. Now I am hooked on knitting and can’t wait to start a million projects!

Yes, I am a baking, gaming, knitting, stitching Park Ranger!

My 16x11 cross-stitch

I’d like to share some of my projects with you as I am very proud of my completed works of art. Not only because I think they are cool but because I am so proud of myself for actually finishing a project!

This wolf cross-stitch took me five years to complete. Yes. Five years! I bought it after high school, it sat around unopened then I decided to work on it. Five years later and I finally finished!

Added details

My latest counted cross-stitch project is a Christmas stocking for MOI!

The beginnings

What I love about cross-stitch is how things look disjointed at first. You can’t really see it coming together until later…

Now look!

Stitch by tiny stitch it all comes together to form an awesome piece that can be enjoyed for years. I will continue to post updates on how my Christmas stocking is doing, I hope to finish by Christmas, of THIS YEAR!

Now onto knitting, I can’t believe how easy it is!

First knitting project

At first the stitches were uneven, but after a few rows it’s easy to get the hang of how to knit. I’m excited to make things that I can use around the house. It also gives a new appreciation on typical items because they were handmade.

New project!

My mom and I went shopping at Michael’s the other day and she fell in love with this yarn. Actually, she fell in love with yarn that cost $10 per skein (roll), but I told her to downgrade a little bit! I am making this boa/scarf for her, but it’s great practice for me!

Fun yarn

For $6 she’ll be getting a customized, handmade scarf that is worth much more in department stores!

I will stop boring you about the crafty side of me and look forward to a new, delicious foodie post! Have a great week!

Tags: Bernat boa, boa scarf, counted cross-stitch, cross-stitch, dimensions cross-stitch, handmade, knitted, knitting, stitching, wolf cross-stitch, yarn