Check out this "Eye Candy"

I know it is late for a Halloween post but I think these turned out too creepy not to share. I made my first batch of cake balls after discovering Bakerella back in the spring (yeh, I'm not really sure how it took me so long either - she rocks!). For my first attempt, I made red velvet Easter themed cake balls and sent them to my brother and sister-in-law. Fast forward 7 months and they were still requesting more, so when Halloween rolled around I knew it was time to send over another batch. Hmmm, what creepy, Halloween-y, sphere shaped item could I turn into a cake ball? I know! BLOODY EYE BALLS! They were so fun to make, and actually easier than my original batch because I decided to poke them with forks and serve them on a platter. Having the forks as part of the treat made them very dunkable. The basic cake ball recipe can be found on Bakerella's website but all you really need to do is bake a cake, let it cool and then crumble into a large bowl. Next, mix in an entire can of frosting until the entire cake is moistened. Using your hands or a small scooper create the cake balls. Chill in the fridge (I left mine over night and it helped a lot) then melt chocolate and dip each ball. Place an M&M on before the chocolate hardens. Once you are done with all the dunking, take some red chocolates and melt. Place in a small ziploc or piping bag (I used a #2 tip) and add "veins" to each eye ball. This project was fun!! Here are the pics:

I thought the tray gave it a bit of a dark, dungeon feel...or not?

Close up.

Eye on a fork! Nom, nom, nom!

Enjoy!

Apple Mania

I know it has been awhile, but I have a good excuse! My camera cord decided to quit working so I haven't been able to download all of my pics. Anywho, I finally borrowed one from a friend so here are some of my apple creations. First, I made an apple cake from good 'ol Martha. You can find the recipe here. This cake was delicious - perfectly moist, chewy, nutty and apple-y at the same time. I didn't even bother making the caramel sauce but I'm sure it would be a yummy addition. Greg and I enjoyed this dessert for, ohhh about a week's worth of breakfasts! Nom, nom, nom:) Enjoy the pics:

Floury, cinnamony!

Mmmmm

Plopped out of the pan.

Close up of the baked goodness!

Next up was apple pie. I have been slightly obsessed with Rose Levy Beranbaum and her books, The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible. I would still like to check out The Bread Bible anddddd her newest book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes is definitely at the top of my Christmas list. Just based on the cake from the cover along with all the positive reviews on Amazon, I know it's gonna be awesome! Rose (apparently we're on a first name basis) is extremely knowledgeable about all things baking. While some of her explanations can get a bit lengthy and in depth, overall I love her style of teaching. She is very detailed and answers questions that others assume you should already know. So, when I wanted to make an apple pie I decided to use her recipe. After all, it is titled "The Best All-American Apple Pie." I used the version from the actual cookbook, but I also found it here for anyone who would like the recipe. It was a lot of work, but let me tell you, it was worth it! This was one of the best apple pies I've ever had. Here are the pics:

Greg creating the world's longest apple peel!

The apples in all their glory.

Me attempting to do a cute cooking shot - lil bit too much clutter in the background, ha!

Me attempting to take an artsy food shot.

The pie all ready to pop in the oven.

Would ya look at this beauty?!

I should have one more apple recipe coming up for the season and then I will be all appled out! I will also be back with my "spook"tacular Halloween treats - stay tuned!

Gone pickin'

Today the hubs and I got moving at a reasonable hour to go apple pickin'. We searched "pick your own" spots in southeastern Wisconsin and located a few nearby spots. We had planned on going to two of them but since it was only about 40 degrees out and it started misting and SNOWING we only ended up going to one of them. One of the things I love about being in Wisconsin is the number of outdoor/nature-y activities available. It's like the people here cherish the few short months of outdoor opportunities each year and want to take full advantage of them. I had been to one apple farm on a field trip but we choose a new one called Barthel Fruit Farm. It was so much fun! I took a ton of pictures even though my hands were numb after about 5 minutes out in the cold. Here is our trip in pictures.

Honeycrisp apples are the absolute best!

Some of these apples were REALLY big!

Pretty berry bushes, too.
Crab apple trees.

Queen Anne's Lace and apples.

Greg climbing for the best ones!

You could pick your own pumpkins, too!

Apple on a post.

Our loot - all 17 pounds of it!

Apples taking a bath!

Now what,

exactly,

are we going to do,

with 17 pounds of apples??! We've got 38, oh wait, we already ate one, so 37 apples to use up. Here are some ideas I'm thinking of right now.

• Apple pie! I've been wanting to make one forever so this is a must.
• Apple cake. I saw a yummy one here via here.
  
• Apple butter. Just seems like a fun thing to try.
  
• And of course, the honeycrisps are so good we will probably eat them on their own - my mouth is watering just thinking of them!

I also picked up this handy chart that I plan to keep as a resource for future apple baking endeavors:

	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Earlygold	Tart	Good	Good	Chunky	Yellow	Mid- August	Mid- September
Jersey McIntosh	Tart	Fair	Good	Smooth	Cream	Late August	Mid- September
Paula Red	Tangy	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Late August	Late September
Gingergold	Sweet	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Early September	Late October
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Wealthy	Sour	Good	Good	Chunky	White	Early September	Late October
McIntosh	Mild, tart	Good	Excellent	Smooth	Cream	Early September	Early January
Mollies Delicious	Sweet	Poor	Poor	Chunky	Yellow	Early September	Late October
Jonathon	Tart	Good	Excellent	Chunky	White	Mid-September	Late October
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
20 oz Pippin	Tangy, tart	Best!!	Good	Chunky	Yellow	Mid-September	Late October
Cortland	Semi-sweet	Excellent	Good	Chunky	White	Mid-September	New Year
Spartan	Sweet	Fair	Good	Chunky	White	Mid-September	November
Macoun	Mild, tart	Good	Good	Creamy	Cream	Mid-September	November
Golden Supreme	Mild, sweet	Fair	Poor	Chunky	White	Mid-September	November
	Flavor	Apple Pie	Sauce	Sauce Texture	Flesh color	Harvested	Refrigerated Life Expectancy
Honeycrisp	Sweet	Fair	Fair	Chunky	White	Early October	6 months!
Red Delicious	Sweet	Poor	Poor	Chunky	Yellow	Early October	December
Golden Delicious	Sweet	Excellent	Excellent	Chunky	Yellow	Mid-October	December
Ida Red	Tart	Excellent	Good	Chunky	Cream	Mid-October	Excellent four months

Anyone else have any great apple recipes? Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,
lucy

Wilton Round Up #2

I started my fondant class this week so I wanted to sum up my last class before I get too far into this one. The second Wilton course was REALLY fun! We worked some more with buttercream and also learned a ton of flowers using royal icing, including:

Apple Blossoms

Violets

Leaves

Daisies

Pansies

Primrose

And daffodils (to the left)!

It all culminated in our grand finale cake and let me tell you, I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out. I reallllly took my time with the foundation of this cake and I think it paid off. I finally invested in the Baker's Joy spray that my teacher recommended on our first day of class (only took me about two months) and wow, it really does make baking a joy! I only had minor "stickage" but had no trouble fixing it with a dab of frosting. I then crumb coated my cake and let it set before smoothing on an even layer of buttercream before I went to class.

I smoothed it with the "Viva paper towel method" - This just means after it had a chance to "crust over" I gently smoothed over it with the paper towel to remove most of the lumps 'n bumps.

When we got to class, we had to move quick, quick, quick. Carol, being the artist that she is, did a great job! For some reason, though, it just took me FOREVER! What took me forever, you ask? Dundundunnnnn....the dreaded basketweave!!! Now, the basketweave is actually quite simple. For me, it just took lots of time to be sure it was all even. Carol breezed right around her cake without even making guidelines while I developed carpal tunnel from squeezing and balancing my piping bag for over one half of the two hour class! I took pictures each step of the way because I kept thinking I was on the verge of screwing up and wanted a record of how far I made it, haha! Here we go:

Working on my practice board

Half way there

Bottom rope border

And top border - YAY!

At this point, I only had about 20 minutes left to slap on my flowers so I just went for it.

Front

Back (which I kind of liked a little bit better than the front but you can see the basketweave seams so I kept it as the back)

Detail shot! So purty

I was so happy with how it turned out. Just like I said after the first class, it's amazing how great you can make a cake look with a few simple skills. There is just this one downside of cake decorating:

THE CARNAGE!!!

Guess it tasted good too!

Who's ready for the weekend - I am!! Hopefully going to apple/pumpkin pick with my hubby, if it ever stops raining! I would love to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves before they all get blown off in a storm!

Wilton Round Up #1

For the last couple of months I've been working my way through the Wilton cake decorating classes offered at Michaels.

It has been so much fun! I've been taking them with my friend Carol, so it's a great time to hang out and catch up, plus learn something new. I've found that I am generally a happier person when I'm working toward a goal or attempting to achieve something creative and challenging. Since graduating college, I haven't had many "organized" learning opportunities so this has been great for me!

In this post, I will be summarizing Wilton Course #1. I just completed Course #2 last week and am starting Course #4 this Tuesday (courses #3 & 4 can be taken in any order and it just worked out that our instructor wanted to do course 4 first). Each course takes four weeks and, in my opinion, they are pretty darn informative. Obviously, we are learning the basics of cake decorating but it's pretty amazing how much can be done with a few simple skills. The one downside I will mention is that each course has a student kit that costs around $20 with a Michael's coupon (ps. NEVER go to Michael's without a coupon, it's just senseless!). Granted, the kit comes with a lot of stuff, but don't let it kid ya, you will still need to buy at least another $20-$30 worth of stuff and that's not even including frosting ingredients! Ok, so my point being, it isn't a cheap hobby, but it's also not so expensive that it would keep me away either.

In our first class, we sat and listened and watched our teacher, Joy, show us how to mix the special "Wilton buttercream" and create the different consistencies for frosting a cake, decorating and making the "Wilton rose." Yeh, Wilton pretty much acts like they invented cake decorating but I roll with it for these classes. We learned that once the frosting sets a bit, you can use a Viva paper towel to gently smooth it out (I have a great example from Course #2 in which I got my cake very smooth with this technique!).

For week two, we had to bring a cake already frosted and then we used the star tip to complete a design of our choice. This tip is actually pretty easy to use. I think it's a great one for kid's cakes, when you are filling in simple shapes or covering an entire cake. It also looks like it would take hours but goes pretty quickly. Here's my very first cake - I think it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. (not to toot my own horn but...toot!)

I named it "Luigi," after my brother and sister-in-law's cat!

In week three, we began learning the Wilton rose, learned the shell border, made creepy clowns and learned the star and swirl flowers. I don't have pictures of everything but I will post the ones I remembered to take.

First rose, not too bad, but the edges came out really rough.

My creepy, yet sort of cute clown.

My cuppies from week 3 - I was not happy with them because I think my pink frosting was too thick and made the flowers VERY difficult to make.

Although week 3 was fairly rough, I believe I redeemed myself in week four, our course 1 finale week. In week 4, we basically brought together everything we learned in the course for our final cake.

Preparing my roses for class, I think they are looking a lot better!

Top view.

My final project. Biggest lesson learned on this one was to make sure you start off with a well- constructed, well-frosted base. My cakes were crumbley coming out of the pans and it made the entire process really frustrating. That said, I was still happy with how it turned out.

I think my final cake from course 1 is proof that you learn A LOT in a few short weeks. Now that I am through with course 2 I have gained even more confidence. I am still amazed at how just a few simple skills can take your cakes to a whole new level. I will be back with a summary of course 2 next week. I start the Fondant course on Tuesday so I'm sure I will have a lot to share from that, too! Hope you all had a great weekend!

xoxo,
Lucy

P.S. I have my first paid project in one week! A little girl's birthday "cupcake cake" for her school party!!!! I am soooooo excited but also a little nervous. Hey, you gotta start sometime, right?! Wish me luck!

3 Musketeer Bars!

Hello everyone! I am back today with a recipe for homemade 3 Musketeer Bars. Can I just say, YUM! After purchasing a candy thermometer a couple of months ago, I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make some candy. I have a feeling this trend will continue as the holidays approach since candy and sweets are always the perfect gift. Here's the recipe:

3 Musketeer Bars

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/8 tsp. salt
3 egg whites
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 bags milk chocolate chips (12 oz. each)

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Heat, stirring, to boiling, then continue to cook, using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature (this took a good half an hour or so for me, it's possible I could have done it faster but I didn't want to risk burning the mixture). Beat the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks. Don't use a plastic bowl for this. When the sugar solution comes to 270 degrees F, or the soft-crack stage, remove from the heat and pour the mixture in thin streams into the egg whites, blending completely with a mixer set on low speed. Continue to mix until the candy begins to harden to the consistency of dough. This may take as long as 20 minutes (this part is true!). At this point, add the semisweet chocolate chips.
• Remember that the candy must already be at the consistency of dough when you add the chocolate; the nougat will thicken no more after the chocolate is added. When the chocolate is thoroughly blended and the nougat has thickened, press it into a greased 9x9-inch pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut the candy in half down the middle of the pan. Then cut across into 7 segments to create a total of 14 bars. (I used an 8x8 pan and cut the bars into cute squares - they turned out soooo rich, I was glad I made them smaller) Melt the milk chocolate chips in the microwave for 2 minutes on half power, stirring halfway through the heating time. Melt completely, but be careful not to overheat. Resting a bar on a fork (and using your fingers if needed), dip each bar into the chocolate to coat completely and place on wax paper. (This is where I ran into trouble. I couldn't seem to get the choc chips to melt into a thin enough texture, so when I was dunking the squares they were getting overloaded with choc. I ended up mixing what was left from the first bag of choc chips with some "chocolate discs" made specifically for melting. I also melted about 1 tsp of veg shortening into the mixture for additional smoothness. This seemed to really help) Cool till firm at room temperature, 1 to 2 hours.
• Makes 14 candy bars. (or about 36 squares if you go that route!)

Here is some of the process.

Greg carefully monitoring the temperature - it's the chemist in him coming out!

Greg combining the "liquid hot magma" (name the movie!) mixture with the eggs - it's starting to look like he did all the work but I promise I did everything else!

Action shot of my shiny, new Kitchen Aid doin' it's thang.

Cooled bars cut into squares.

And a few of the finished products - it was fun decorating with the leftover chocolate:)

Greg approves!

See, not only does it taste like a 3 musketeer bar, it also looks like one on the inside!

This recipe was so much fun. Greg and I enjoyed a few each and then I sent the rest to work with him today. I knew they were too dangerous to keep around the house!

I will be back later this week with my final cake from the Wilton course I'm taking and I'll fill you in on class 1 and 2 - hopefully I "graduate" tomorrow night!

So what was everyone's sweetest moment of the day? Other than sneaking in one last 3 musketeer square, I was really uplifted to stumble upon this website called Operation Beautiful. It's a site focused on spreading positive body image among women via post it notes left secretly on bathroom mirrors, drive thru windows, dressing rooms, and other places women are likely to see them. It's great to see women encouraging one another for a change! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

xoxo